Aaron was sitting at a table in the barroom, studying papers he had brought back with him. If he was going to own and operate machinery, he was going to understand how it went together and why it worked. That was the only way to know if repairmen and installers were cheating you by taking shortcuts, or, worse, only making cosmetic changes.
No one was going to cheat him. Not easily.
He thought he had the assembly of the unit he was studying firmly pictured. Tomorrow he would go back to the storehouse and actually fit the parts together. He patted the pocket holding the key Mr. Bolt had given him.
Of course, it would be better if he had a building to install the unit into, but that could be remedied. It would be a bit peculiar if a sawmill couldn't be built for lack of wood, wouldn't it?
The evening crowd was starting to thin out. Not that anyone would know the difference, if they hadn't sat there through it.
Miss Lottie was fretting, so she thought the night had been slow.
He couldn't say. He would have called it steady, but he was too new to the area to be any judge.
He knew that.
Everyone looked up when the door opened, and several faces brightened and voices raised in greeting, as the three Bolt sons entered, with the oldest carrying the youngest.
"Well, well, well," Lottie greeted them. "Your da's gone off, has he?"
"Yeah, he wanted to go visit Mama," the blond boy explained.
The youngest looked up guardedly.
The oldest looked into the child's face and said quietly," At her grave, Jeremy."
The boy's face fell, and he leaned it against his brother's shoulder.
Lottie set a mug of beer in front of the oldest, while the blond (had Aaron even heard his name yet?) went behind the bar and helped himself to a soft drink and a glass. "Would you like some milk, Jeremy?" Lottie asked.
He shook his head and turned away.
"I'm gonna share with him," the middle boy said, pulling his chair up beside his brothers, and pouring half the contents of the bottle into the glass.
"Thank you, Lottie," Jason said, and shifted the boy in his arms to his lap.
Already men were stopping to talk to the oldest, and he was more interested in answering them than drinking.
Aaron's lips curled. The worst kind of person, that one. Drawing attention just by entering a room. If he didn't have an answer for any man, he had a question. Or a joke. Nothing more than personality.
Personality didn't create jobs, or educate, or fill any useful role. Personality didn't signify success.
Business did.
Successful, practical businesses that were founded on hard work with hard cash. Businesses such as he had been trained to run. Businesses such as this hellpit cried out for, and needed.
Businesses that would create more money than they swallowed.
The blond emptied his bottle (he'd given the glass to the boy) and went back outside.
The little one cautiously peeked around his brother and surveyed the room. His eyes stopped on Aaron just as he disapproved of the oldest of the brothers. His blue eyes met Aaron's black ones squarely with a mild curiosity. For the first time this encounter, the thumb went into the mouth, and the child seemed to tire suddenly, turned away, and leaned heavily against his brother.
Lottie spoke to them, and Jason patiently pulled the boy's hand away from his mouth. Jeremy's thumb-sucking embarrassed Da, especially in public. Why it did Jason didn't understand. He remembered too clearly how much work they had all put into teaching the too wee baby to suck.
Lottie spoke to the child and he sat up, nodding eagerly, both hands reaching for his drink.
As she passed Aaron's table, she asked if he wanted anything. She had some pie left, and cookies she'd been afraid were going to go stale, or so she thought. They might not have the chance after this unexpected visit by the Bolts.
"I thought they were regulars."
"Jason is, but Jonathan doesn't like the boys being in a barroom. A dining room being an entirely different thing you understand."
Aaron didn't understand, but he nodded agreement, and thanked her but refused the offer of any sweet.
What a strange family they were.
What a strange place this was.
But there was independence here and that was what mattered most. For now.