An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book

by Lorelei Brogan

  “How are you, Ginger? Should you be out here?” Nick eyed Ginger’s bad leg and leaned up against her as if giving her support.

  “Nonsense, of course, I should be out here. You expect me to stay locked up in the house all the time? What kind of life is that?”

  “Calm down. Soon enough, you’ll have healed right up and you’ll be walking around this ranch giving orders just like old times.”

  Lana giggled and Ginger glowered at them in a comical way. “I don’t give orders. In fact, I did most things myself.”

  “That you did. Just consider this time you’ve had to take to heal as a well-deserved break and gift after all the work you did.”

  Ginger nodded but didn’t look in the least convinced. “It’s easy for you to say. If anything ever happened to you, you’d go crazy if you had to just sit around while everyone else takes care of everything.”

  Nick looked somber suddenly. “I can’t promise that nothing will happen to me, but if I can help it, I’ll never end up in that situation.”

  Ginger shook her head, “You know, the two of you are really making me feel weird. First, it’s Lana telling me all this stuff about what if she dies and now you are saying you can’t promise anything.”

  “What did Lana say?” Nick glanced between Lana and Ginger and Lana met his eyes timidly.

  “Never mind. We should all get inside and get you settled before I have to leave.”

  Nick motioned for Lana to help him and she didn’t waste time in doing so. She hurried over to Ginger’s other side and supported her arm. Between the three of them, they moved quickly and it didn’t take long to get to the cabin and seated around the fire that was burning with a steady soft glow in the fireplace.

  “Tell me, is there anything you want specifically from town? I’m taking Lana to-”

  “To see the doctor.” Lana interrupted him. They hadn’t agreed on the reason she would be going to town with him before this plan had started and she didn’t want their excuses to collide. That would only cause for Ginger to suspect something was off.

  “To the doctor,” Nick repeated obediently. He raised his eyebrows at her for a moment and his mustache twitched as it often did when he was thinking too hard.

  Ginger was looking back and forth between them as if she suspected something was off. “I did want some cinnamon for some tea.”

  “Well, I will pick some up for you on the way home and look forward to a cup of cinnamon tea.”

  Lana wished that Ginger knew exactly what Nick’s words meant. They meant so much more than what he had said.

  They were his way of saying that he hoped he would come home all right. Of course, in theory, their plan would work. They would catch Jake and they would all leave unharmed. But none of them really knew how it would happen.

  What would happen tonight? How would it go down? And would all of them come home unharmed? Those questions burned in both of their minds.

  “We should go before it gets any colder. I wouldn’t want to get any sicker on my way to the doctor.” Now that she was saying it out loud, her excuse seemed silly. She hoped that Ginger didn’t think the same.

  “Certainly. We’ll try to hurry back, Ginger. Be safe,” Nick added.

  Ginger nodded and gave them a little wave and smile as they went out the door.

  “Don’t look so somber. We are going to be all right.” Despite his brave words, Nick didn’t look all that certain of what he was saying.

  “What are we going to do Nick; what is Ginger going to do if this goes wrong? Maybe…”

  “Maybe what?” Nick turned towards her, a look of frustration on his face. “What do you want me to do, Lana? Should we just let Jake leave with the townspeople’s’ money and with Daniel’s murder unavenged?”

  “No…it’s just, I don’t want anything to happen to you. You are the last thing that Ginger has left.”

  “It’s going to be fine. Come on, I’m sure Derek is waiting for us and getting nervous with every second that passes.”

  Lana nodded and mounted her horse. With Nick’s instructions, she was actually comfortable riding now and he had been right. It was useful and she did prefer it instead of having to walk such a long distance.

  They were on their way. Ginger had been told an excuse, Derek was waiting. Lana looked back to see the figures of Freddy and Lydia playing in the yard. She had become attached to those little ones. They had been so hard at first, but they had found a special place in her heart.

  She hoped that she would be back, later tonight, to tuck them in and read them the next chapter of Gulliver’s Travels.

  Chapter 28

  When they arrived at the meeting spot, Derek was pacing furiously. As they dismounted, he threw his hands up in a frustrated gesture.

  “It took you long enough. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here? What if we don’t get set up in time? What if they rob the bank before we even get there? I mean I would almost prefer that because it keeps us out of danger, but you both should have been here earlier.”

  “Calm down, everything is going fine. We have plenty of time.” Nick gave his friend a pat on the shoulder.

  Derek pulled his flask from his coat and raised it to his lips. Nick pushed it back down before Derek could take a sip. “Don’t be doing that tonight, Derek. We need you as sharp as a tack.”

  “Come on, this is going to be miserable enough without-”

  Nick put a stop to Derek’s complaining with a firm shake of his head. He couldn’t have his friend impaired by drinking. It just wouldn’t do. They all needed to be prepared for anything.

  “Fine, fine. I won’t drink anymore until afterward. I’m sure then I will need to drink. Happy?”

  Nick nodded, but he could tell that Derek was certainly not happy about their agreement.

  He glanced over at Lana. She was pacing in a tight little circle. She was holding her elbow with her hand and was chewing on her thumb, a concentrated worried look on her face.

  Nick could understand why she was so worried. He was worried about it himself. He couldn’t imagine what he would do if anything happened to Ginger, and now, he realized, Lana too.

  He was sure that if something happened to either one of them, Ginger would suffer terribly. That was exactly why Nick was going to try to think about it as little as possible and just focus on pulling this off.

  This was the one way that they could keep the bank from being robbed.

  “Come along then, we should get going.” Nick slowed down until he was keeping pace with Lana while Derek walked on up ahead.

  Nick wasn’t sure if Derek didn’t realize that he was leading the way, or maybe he was just in a really big hurry to get this whole thing over with.

  “Lana…I’m not saying that anything is going to happen right now. I hope it won’t. I mean I guess what I’m trying to say is that if something does happen, I am really glad I got to meet you.”

  There was so much more that Nick wanted to say. There was so much that he was feeling. But he couldn’t find a way to put it into words. As he tried, the words got stuck in his throat.

  “Are you saying that you don’t hate me anymore?” Lana looked up at him with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.

  “I never hated you. I just… It’s a hard thing to explain. I never had any ill will towards you personally. I just wanted to protect my family.”

  “I never meant any harm to Ginger or the children. I just wanted to help.”

  Nick’s heart pounded in his chest; he felt bad for how he had acted toward Lana at first. “I know,” he admitted.

  Now he had seen her true colors. She had soldiered on bravely despite his pranks and his making life hard for her. He had to admire her for that.

  “Thank you for including me with this. I know that you didn’t have to. You could have done this alone, but you are letting me help. Protecting Ginger is something that feels right for once.” Lana’s words surprised him and distracted him from anything he was going to s
ay.

  “Here we are. We’ll just tuck behind this house here.” Nick stopped at a small townhouse that was in a clear line of view of the bank. There were several thick bushes there to hide in.

  They could see the entrance and the back, because of the position of the house. Nick knew that most people started going to the saloon at this time of day. Dusk was falling and it was getting hard to see clearly. He was glad that the weather had held out so far. It had sprinkled several times during the day and was still overcast.

  He knew that the robbery could start at any time now. He suddenly felt anxious to get prepared. He didn’t want to miss their opportunity. He knew that once things started, they might not have much time.

  “Remember, as soon as they are at the bank, you go for the sheriff. You can’t leave too soon, or you’ll bring the sheriff too soon and they won’t be trapped inside the bank.”

  Lana nodded with wide eyes.

  Somehow, despite the look of fear on her face, Nick felt like he could trust her.

  “When you get there, don’t tell him anything about me. Tell him you were by the bank and you saw men robbing it at gunpoint.”

  Nick hoped that the sheriff wouldn’t express doubt. As long as Lana didn’t mention Jake or him, he should come quickly.

  Of course, everyone had seen him and Lana around together and at church together, so he would possibly think that Nick was in on it. But hopefully, at the moment he would act quickly and listen to Lana. It wouldn’t be a lie since they really would be robbing the bank.

  They were only helping the sheriff do his job. There was nothing bad about it. In fact, they were serving the community.

  “Are you sure you two will be okay?” Lana’s eyes were two puddles of fear. Nick wanted to tell her that her fears were unfounded.

  He wanted to tell her that he did stuff like this every day and nothing happened to him and he would be fine. But he knew that it wasn’t true.

  She had to know he didn’t do things like this all the time. This was his first time trying to stop a bank robbery and he felt scared on the inside just like she was showing on the outside.

  “Stop being so doubtful,” Nick chuckled. “When this is all over you’ll be laughing at yourself. It’s going to be so easy that you’ll hardly realize we did anything. We are just barking dogs. The sheriff has the harder job.”

  Lana nodded, “You’re probably right. I’m sorry, I just-”

  “Guys, look,” Nick turned to find Derek looking pale and pointing in the direction of the hills behind the bank.

  Three riders on horseback were barreling down the hill, clouds of dust kicked up by the horses' hooves curling around them.

  “There they are.” Nick ducked a little further down against the house. “You need to go, Lana. Be careful, don’t let them see you.”

  Nick grabbed Lana’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “Remember, you can do this. You have it under control.”

  Lana’s lip trembled as it curled into a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

  It sounded as if she were trying to convince herself more than anything.

  “You will be.”

  Lana pulled her hand out of his and he felt a little cold and empty without it. He watched her slip away, ducking in and out between buildings as she went.

  As she disappeared from sight, he sent up a quick prayer that she would be safe.

  Seeing her running behind the buildings, glancing over her shoulders in fright, made him realize just how special Lana had become to him. He would have never thought she would mean so much, but she did.

  “Are you worried about her? We can still call this off and hope that the sheriff gets here in time. That way we could go with her and make sure she gets there safely.” Derek looked concerned but Nick knew that it was his last-ditch attempt to get out of their plan.

  “Come on Derek, we have our parts to do and she has hers.”

  “You know, all jokes aside, I never thought you would be so worried about her. Last I knew you couldn’t wait to send her back to the city.”

  “People change and people change their minds, or both in this instance.”

  Derek nodded but it didn’t keep him from giving Nick a playful elbow in the ribs.

  “It’s not that strange. She just turned out to be completely different than who I thought she would be.”

  “They’re not all going into the bank.” Derek’s voice was fraught with worry. Two of the men had gone into the bank but one of them had stayed behind.

  “We’re going to have to come up on either side and get him into the bank, then bar both doors and the window.”

  “There’s only two of us.” Derek leveled him with one of his famous doubting gazes.

  “I know, I left the back door jammed yesterday afternoon. I’ll get the window, you get the door, it should be easy enough.”

  Nick knew that Derek wasn’t convinced as always, but they had no choice. Their chance was here and if they didn’t take it there would be no second chances.

  Nick gave Derek a thumbs up before creeping towards his side of the bank. If the man standing outside saw that they were coming, he would warn the others and then this would turn ugly.

  While Nick was carrying a pistol, he wasn’t sure if Derek was and he knew that even if he was, they would be no match for the Linden Bandit gunslingers. They had a reputation for being merciless and effective.

  Though he was a little confused as to why only three people were robbing the bank. He was fairly certain that one of them was Jake. Even now as he crouched down outside the bank, he recognized the man’s voice.

  He knew that the gang certainly had more than three members. Why had only half of them come to rob the bank? Maybe they had figured it would be easy since they had planned everything so carefully. They had picked the time of day when the fewest people were there. The man who bagged up money for the stage was out on his break leaving the teller there alone.

  Once Nick was below the window, he peeked above the sill a moment to make sure that the shades were down.

  It was a rather large window, and he knew it would be a bit of a challenge to cover.

  He’d nailed up one board across the bottom of it the evening before. It was so low it wasn’t really notable from the inside.

  He would have to come back for it later. They had to take care of the man standing outside first.

  As he reached the corner, he peeked around it. The man was standing there nonchalantly, smoking a large cigar as he shot his gaze side to side.

  Nick gave a sigh of relief when he spotted Derek ready on the other side. They were ready. Everything was going as planned. He only hoped that Lana was on the way back with the sheriff by now.

  He knew it didn’t take that long to rob a bank and they needed the sheriff to catch these men in the act.

  Nick nodded to Derek and the two rushed the man as quickly and quietly as possible. The man managed to let out a little yelp before the two grabbed him and shoved him inside the bank.

  As Nick did so, he managed to get a quick look inside. There was total chaos. The teller was scrambling to fill the robbers’ bags with money, and the four or five people who had presumably been in the bank to get money or leave money were being tied up and placed against one of the walls.