She couldn’t see the sides of it, it was so big. She stared up at the thing slack-jawed. She probably would have stared all day if Kelvin hadn’t cursed under his breath.
Cici looked around to see Sheriff Rupert park his horse right next to the buggy. He swung down from the saddle and tied the animal to the hitching post. He stood there waiting for Kelvin and Cici to alight from the buggy.
“What’s he doing here?” Cici muttered.
“The Lord only knows,” Kelvin murmured back. “Like you said, just try to ignore him. He won’t try anything as long as you’re with me. Come on. Let’s go see what this is all about.”
“Is this….?” She swallowed the words.
“This is Merrill Fox’s house. Don’t let the place fool you. He’s just a money-grubbing weasel like so many others.”
He got down and helped Cici out of the buggy. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress, and she and Kelvin headed up the steps into the house. The Sheriff tagged them all the way. He cast his poison shadow over the whole experience.
Kelvin let himself into a room off the entrance hall, a room bigger than any house Cici ever lived in. The Sheriff sidled in behind them. Three families could have lived in the large parlor and never stepped on each other’s toes.
Graceful carved chairs of deep brown wood dotted the colorful floral carpet. A desk the size of a fishing boat sat under the big bay windows. A portly man with close-cut grey hair rose from the large seat behind it.
“Have a seat, Mr. Kirk.” He frowned when he Cici entered. “What’s the meaning of this? Since when do you invite a lady to a business meeting?”
“This is Miss Cecilia Cope,” Kelvin replied. “She’s my guest in town at the moment. I met her through the Matrimonial Times, and I invited her here to see if we might like to get married. I’m sure you’ve heard of that sort of thing. Jed Wilcox married a bride from that publication, you know.”
Merrill Fox narrowed his eyes at Kelvin. “You want to get married? May I ask just how you think you’re going to handle married life while you’re managing my ranch?”
“I don’t see any problem with that,” Kelvin replied. “I just took Cici out to the ranch to show her the old manager’s cottage. We’ll live there, and the new arrangement shouldn’t interfere with my duties at all.”
Merrill’s mouth twitched. “You think you’re going to bring a new bride onto my ranch?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Kelvin asked. “The last manager was married for thirty years. He didn’t have any trouble managing the ranch while he was married.”
Merrill dropped all his weight into his chair and glared across the desk at Kelvin. “You won’t get married as long as you’re manager of that ranch, and you certainly won’t live with her in that cottage.”
“Excuse me, Sir,” Kelvin replied, “but you can’t exactly stop me getting married. It’s still a free country the last time I checked.”
“I can’t stop you getting married, but I can stop you being manager of that ranch,” Merrill returned. “If you marry her, you’ll have to give up your position, and that’s all there is to it. It’s not open for discussion.”
Cici gasped out loud, and her hand flew to her mouth. How could this be happening? How could this aging windbag destroy all their hopes in a single blow?
Kelvin’s eyes shot daggers around the room and clenched in fists, but he said nothing in front of his boss. The Sheriff leaned an elbow against the big stone fireplace across the room and let out a loud guffaw of laughter right in Kelvin’s face.
Merrill waved his chubby hand. “None of that matters, anyway. I called you here to inform you that I’m removing you as manager of the Rocking Horse anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“What?” Kelvin thundered. “What did I ever do to deserve that? Haven’t I worked my tail off for you for more years than I can count? I’ve always done a good job, even when I was just a kid, and I’ve earned you hefty profits as manager. I demand to know why you’re punishing me this way. If this has anything to do with me getting married, then I’ll…”
“This has nothing to do with that,” Merrill interrupted. “I was going to do this before I ever found out about your lady friend here. I’m moving you to the Diamond Star Ranch south of town. You’ll take over as manager there next Tuesday, and once you do, you can marry Cici with no problem. In fact, I’ll even give you a bonus in honor of your marriage.”
Kelvin threw up his hands. “Keep your rotten money. I don’t want it.”
He stormed out of the room so fast Cici had to race to catch up with him. She overtook him in the big entrance, but he wouldn’t stop until he flew down the steps to the buggy.
“What in the world is going on?” Cici asked.
“Don’t you see?” he fired back. “He just kicked me in the teeth and threw me in the gutter. The Diamond Star is a sandbox in the middle of the desert. It’s the worst job he could have given me. I’d rather quit and go work on the cattle drives than work out there.”
“Why would he do that?” Cici asked. “What could possibly make him demote you like that with no warning?”
“It can only be because of the treasure,” Kelvin replied. “He wants to get rid of me because he knows I’m Jed’s friend and we’ve worked on the treasure mystery before. He doesn’t want me bringing you to the ranch because he doesn’t want an outsider poking around to see what he’s up to.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“I’m taking you back to the Hotel,” he replied, “and we’re eating supper together tonight—if you still want to. Right now, that’s all I know for certain.”
“What are you going to do between now and seven o’clock?” she asked.
“I’m going to the forge,” he replied. “I have to take this buggy back, and I have to tell Jed what’s happening on the ranch. Maybe he can help me make sense of all this, ‘cuz I sure can’t. I need to talk to someone who understands everything that’s going on.”
“Can I come with you?” she asked. “I’d like to visit Betsy. I need to talk to someone who understands all this, too, and she’s the only other person in this town I know besides the Sheriff.”
His head shot up, and he leveled her with that searching gaze of his. Then he nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
Neither spoke on the way to the forge. Cici’s mind churned with everything she saw and heard that day. Kelvin was right about one thing. She shouldn’t want to keep seeing him with all this going on.
She ought to end it right now. This town was a powder keg ready to blow with Kelvin right smack dab in the middle of it. Even thinking about marrying him was a bad idea. She ought to make up her mind right now that she wouldn’t consider him as a marriage prospect anymore. She ought to start planning her next move and get out of town on the next mail coach.
She already knew she wouldn’t do that, though. This situation wasn’t Kelvin’s fault. Merrill removed him as manager of the Rocking Horse Ranch, not because Kelvin hadn’t done a good job. Kelvin did a fine job. Merrill demoted him out of some greedy notion of finding the treasure.
Kelvin was a good man. His closest friends said so, and now that Cici saw what he did with that cottage, she knew it was true. In the short time she knew him, she found out he really was the kind of man she wanted to marry.
The buggy rolled up to the forge. Kelvin got down from the seat and scowled. “Something’s wrong. Jed’s not working.”
“Why is that?” Cici asked.
“Maybe he went into town on business,” Kelvin replied. “I’ll put the horse and buggy away. Then we’ll go inside and find out. I’m sure Betsy will tell us.”
Kelvin brushed the horse down and put the animal away in its stall. He wheeled the buggy into the barn and gave the horse grain and water before he rejoined Cici. Then he led the way through the forge to the back door. He knocked, and Betsy Wilcox answered.
She beamed when she saw Kelvin and Cici together. “Well, look who finally tu
rned up. We thought you two got ambushed by wild Indians or something. Get in here and tell us all about it.”
Kelvin and Cici followed her into the kitchen, where they found Doctor Kearney bent over a man sitting at the table. The patient looked up. “Well, howdy-do, folks. Betsy told me you got yourself a mail order bride. How was the…. Ow! What are you doing?”
He rounded on the doctor with a snarl, and his black hair fell over his eyes. Kelvin waved at him. “Jed Wilcox, meet Cici Cope.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Cici told Jed.
“It’s a pleasure,” Jed replied, “or should I say, it would be a pleasure if the county torturer wasn’t here putting the thumb screws on me.”
“What’s going on, Doc?” Kelvin asked. “Nothing serious I hope.”
“It might not be anything serious now,” Doctor Kearney replied, “but it will be soon if I don’t get this wound cleaned up. You’ll have to keep still, or I might as well leave.”
Jed grumbled and sat straight in his chair while the doctor went back to work. “The bullet wounds in his shoulder have been festering lately,” Betsy told Kelvin. “They’ve gotten so painful it’s interfering with his work.”
“Take a seat, you two,” Jed called out. “Heck, we might as well sell tickets and the whole town can watch me get bled by the town leech.”
“Take it easy,” Betsy murmured. “The doctor’s here to help you. You don’t have to get nasty about it.”
“It’s all right,” Doctor Kearney replied. “Most people get grouchy when they’re in pain. I’m used to it.”
“How much longer?” Jed asked.
“I’m done,” Doctor Kearney replied. “Why don’t I take a look at your back while you’re sitting here, Mr. Kirk?”
“What’s wrong with your back?” Jed asked.
“Nothing,” Kelvin muttered.
“Take your shirt off,” Doctor Kearney told him.
“I’m just fine,” Kelvin replied. “We’re here on a different matter, not a medical one.”
“Take your shirt off and let him take a look,” Cici told him.
The others exchanged glances. Kelvin held firm for a moment. Then he wilted before her orders. He flicked his shirt buttons open and peeled off his shirt. “For heaven’s sake, make it quick. It’s bad enough you babying me in front of the woman I’m trying to impress, and now she’s seeing me undressed in public.”
Jed and Betsy laughed. Cici flushed. Doctor Kearney inspected the wounds on his back.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Jed asked Kelvin while the doctor worked.
“It’s about the ranch,” Kelvin replied. “A bunch of Merrill’s gunmen were out there today. They were poking their noses around some out-of-the-way corners. Cici and I saw them. It looks like they’re going after the treasure, and now Merrill’s taken me off as manager. He’s moving me to a different ranch so I don’t make any trouble for him.”
Jed opened his mouth to answer when the doctor spoke up. “He’s wasting his time. The treasure never was at the Rocking Horse Ranch.”
Everyone in the room spun around to stare at him. “How do you know that?” Jed asked.
The doctor glanced up and immediately bent his head again behind Kelvin’s back. He muttered to himself. “Martha told me.”
“Martha!” Jed gasped.
The doctor nodded. “I was talking to her in the days before she died.”
“What did she…. did she…” Jed stammered. “What did she say about the treasure?”
“She said it wasn’t on the ranch,” the doctor replied. “She said all Merrill and Wendell’s efforts were wasted.”
“How did she find out?” Betsy asked.
“Well, she never got around to telling me that before she…” The doctor broke off and bent over his work one more time.
“I don’t see why she would tell you anything about the treasure when she didn’t tell her own family,” Jed fired back. “Maybe you’re making it all up.”
The doctor shot him a glare over Kelvin’s head. “She told me lots of things she never told her family.”
Jed opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out.
“Am I missing something?” Cici asked.
Doctor Kearney drew himself up and directed a fierce gaze at Jed. “We were sweethearts. I was going to marry that dear girl. She loved me and I loved her, but she never got around to telling her family that, either. It’s just one of the many secrets she took to her grave.”
Jed threw himself back in his seat, thunderstruck. “Well, I’ll be! Martha! My own sister!”
Doctor Kearney draped Kelvin’s shirt back over his back. “That looks line, young man. You’ll heal up in no time.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Kelvin replied.
Doctor Kearney leveled Jed with his clear black eyes. “I’ll tell you one thing. I wouldn’t mind going after that treasure myself, if only to find out what Martha was doing that got her killed searching for it.”
“If you’re going after it,” Jed replied, “then I’m coming with you. My family has been involved in this since the beginning, and I want answers.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Betsy snapped, “and you sure as blazes aren’t going after any treasure as long as I have anything to say about it.”
“Now listen here, darlin’,” Jed began.
“No, you listen here, darlin’,” Betsy fired back. “You’re a married man now and you’ve got a business to run. Besides, you’re injured. You can barely hammer with your shoulder the way it is. You’re not going after that treasure. I’m putting my foot down, and that’s final.”
Kelvin spoke up. “I’ll go with him. I’ve got another week as ranch manager before I have to move to the Diamond Star. If anybody can find out what’s going on, it’s me. Even if the treasure isn’t at the Rocking Horse, I can keep an eye on those hired guns.”
Doctor Kearney shut his medical bag on the table. “All right. The more the merrier.”
“Come on, Cici,” Kelvin told her. “I’ll take you back to the Hotel, and you can start primping for our date tonight.”
“Can’t you stay a little longer, Cici?” Betsy asked. “We haven’t had a moment to talk since you came to town. I promise we’ll get you back to the Hotel in time, and if you left now, you’d have to walk or ride on the back of Kelvin’s horse. Stay, and I’ll drive you over in the buggy later.”
Cici beamed at her. “All right—if it’s all right with Kelvin, that is.”
“It’s fine with me,” he replied. “Just as long as you’re at the Hotel by seven to meet me, I don’t care what you do. We’re not married, so you’re a free and independent woman.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you later, then.”
6
Doctor Kearney took his bag and left the kitchen with Kelvin. Jed followed them outside. Betsy waved her hand toward a door leading the opposite way. “Won’t you step into the parlor? It’s much nicer than the kitchen.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather stay in here,” Cici replied. “A kitchen is such a more comfortable place to talk, don’t you think? I would hate to think of you treating me like formal company.”
Betsy laughed. “Sure thing. I agree with you. Do you know I’ve been dreading the day I had to entertain someone in that parlor? I never had one back home, and I’m not sure I could do Mrs. Wilcox’s parlor justice.”
“Really?” Cici exclaimed. “I never had a parlor, either. We always lived in small houses, just my mother and father and my sister and me. I wouldn’t know how to act in a parlor.”
Betsy laughed again. “It sounds like you and I have a lot more in common than just being mail order brides.”
“I’m not a mail order bride,” Cici muttered, “and now I’m not sure I ever will be one.”
Betsy stirring a pot of jam on the stove. She turned around with the wooden spoon in her hand to regard Cici. “Is it as bad as that?”
“I like Kelvin,” Cici replied. “Don
’t get me wrong. I’d love to marry him.”
Betsy’s eyes flew open. “You would?”
Cici blushed and looked down at her hands. “Well, you know what I mean. I’d like to marry him if all this other stuff wasn’t going on.”
“What other stuff are we talking about?” Betsy asked. “Are you sure it’s not just a passing circumstance you can overlook?”
“How can I overlook him losing his job?” Cici shot back. “That’s not a passing circumstance.”
“He hasn’t lost his job,” Betsy pointed out. “Merrill is moving him to another ranch. That’s all, and even if Kelvin was losing his job, he would get another one. Everyone in this town knows Kelvin. They know he’s hardworking and honest. He’s taken care of Merrill’s operation as though it was his own. Someone would come along and give Kelvin another job. If he didn’t find something here, you could move to any town on the frontier and do just fine.”
“It’s not just that,” Cici replied. “He’s already on the outs with the Sheriff, and now Merrill is acting hostile toward our marriage, too. How could we live in this town with that going on?”
“Well, if that’s true, then the answer once again is move somewhere else,” Betsy returned.
Cici hung her head. “Oh, Betsy! You just don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t,” Betsy replied. “I don’t see why you’re giving up so easily. If you really want to marry him so bad, what’s stopping you? You should be dragging him to the altar instead of finding excuses why it’s not going to work. Then again, maybe you don’t really want it to work. Maybe this is your way of convincing yourself it’s okay if you don’t marry him, in which case you should just tell him so and be done with it.”
Cici cocked her head and grinned at Betsy. “Now you’re starting to sound like my mama.”
The Forgotten Bride (Brides 0f Brimstone Book 2) Page 4