Uncharted Journey (The Uncharted Series Book 6)

by Keely Brooke Keith

  A pair of gossiping chickens fluttered off the drive and out of King’s way as he pulled the wagon past the inn and toward the stable block. Solo parked the wagon in front of the stable’s arched opening then jumped down and stretched his stiff legs. The puppy stood on the bench, wagging its white and brown tail.

  Solo tied King’s lines to the brake and gave the horse a quick pat. “Good job, boy. I’ll get you unhitched and to the trough in no time.”

  “Come on, pup.” He cradled the wiggly dog in the crook of his arm.

  Frederick Roberts limped toward Solo from the house. The older man’s gait was a little slower and a lot more labored than the last time Solo had seen him. Frederick squinted as he approached the wagon and he called out, “That you, Solo?”

  Solo stepped around the wagon to meet the inn’s owner. “Yes, sir. It’s me.” He shifted the puppy to his left side and stuck out his right hand. “It’s good to see you.”

  Frederick’s handshake hadn’t lost any strength. “Welcome back, son. Still planning on a long stay this time?”

  “If that’s still all right with you.”

  “It’s fine. Just fine.” He pointed over his shoulder at the inn. “I’ll let Eva know about our arrangement.”

  “I thought your daughter knew I was coming.”

  “Well, she expected your arrival for the foals’ births, but I forgot to tell her how long you plan to stay.”

  Solo was eager to settle in somewhere quiet and start writing. The last thing he needed was a take-charge woman taking charge of his stories. Or worse yet, criticizing him for wanting to write a children’s storybook. He looked at Frederick. “Can we still keep my plans between us… at least until I get into a good stride with my writing? I already have a dozen of the stories outlined, but it will take some concentrating to get them all down on paper in forty days.”

  Frederick gave Solo’s back a vigorous pat. “I’ll do my best to protect your privacy, but Eva catches wind of everything around here. Your endeavor won’t go unnoticed for long.”

  A young voice shouted in the distance, “Mr. Cotter! Mr. Cotter!” Zeke ran toward him from the barn at full speed, dust swirling in the young boy’s wake. He didn’t stop until he was toe-to-toe with Solo. “Is that your puppy?”

  “No.” Solo glanced at Frederick, who was smiling at his grandson. He held the dog out to Zeke. “This is your puppy. We had a deal, remember?”

  “Mine?” Zeke’s eyes sparkled as he took the little dog in his arms. His tight hold made it squirm. “What deal?”

  “Last time I was here, I told you if you were good for your mama, I would bring you a puppy from the ranch where I work in Riverside.” He pointed at Frederick. “Your grandfather told me in his letter that you have been well-behaved and you help your mama out. Is that still true?”

  “Oh yes, sir!” Zeke giggled while the puppy licked his face. “Can I keep her?”

  “It’s a boy and he’s all yours. What are you going to name him?”

  Zeke gave the dog a hug then set it on the ground, rubbing its fur all the while. “I’ll name him Joshua.”

  Solo smiled at Zeke’s quick reply. “Why Joshua?”

  “Grandpa told us about Joshua when we had our church time on Sunday. I like the name.”

  “Fair enough.” Solo tousled the boy’s hair then stood. “I know you will take good care of him.”

  “Yes, sir!” Zeke’s bowl-cut brown hair bounced as he ran to the grassy yard with the puppy yapping at his heels. “Thank you, Mr. Cotter!”

  “You’re welcome.” Solo turned to Frederick, who was watching his grandson play with the dog. “I hope his mother doesn’t mind.”

  “You’re about to find out.” The older man motioned toward the inn. “Here she comes now.”

  Over the years that Solo had been stopping at the inn during his travels for the ranch, the only thing that had changed about Eva was her last name from Roberts to Vestal. She marched toward them wearing the warm smile of a kind neighbor and the determined gaze of a shrewd businesswoman. Loose strands of dark hair blew off her shoulder as if getting out of her way while the getting was good. She may not have changed outwardly, but her fierceness had grown. When she reached the wagon, King shuffled a few inches to the side.

  Solo gave his horse a calming pat then offered the inn’s manager a smile. “Afternoon, Eva.”

  “Good afternoon, Solo. How was your journey?”

  The breeze carried the scents of soap and spice from her skin, briefly distracting him from her question. “It was… peaceful.”

  “I’m pleased to hear it.” She lifted her pixie-like chin at the grass beside the barn where Zeke was running with his new dog. “Is that a puppy he’s playing with?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I gave it to him.”

  She stared at her son and the dog for a moment, her symmetrically arched brows slightly raised.

  Solo’s stomach turned. He should have gotten her permission before giving a dog to her son. At the time, telling Frederick in his correspondence seemed like enough, but now standing near Eva, he wasn’t so sure. The woman emitted an authority powerful enough to knock over a mule.

  Solo opened his mouth to explain himself but stopped when thin lines curved around Eva’s mouth. A grin broke through her imperial expression. “That was very thoughtful of you. Zeke could use a friend out here.”

  Solo almost sighed in relief.

  Eva snapped her attention to the contents of his wagon. “You brought more than usual. Is this all for trade?”

  “Some of it. The trunk is mine though.”

  She gave one brisk nod. “Do you need help to carry it to the bunkhouse?”

  Frederick lumbered between them. “Solo will stay in a guest room upstairs during his visit this time.”

  The creamy skin of Eva’s forehead furrowed. “I don’t have any single rooms available tonight.”

  Frederick shook his head. “He will stay in Room Four.”

  “A double? No offense, Solomon.” She glanced at him then at her father. “A single man doesn’t need a double.”

  Frederick ignored her and looked at Solo. “The double room on the northeast corner of the inn has the extra space you will need. It should suit you just fine for… how long was it we said?”

  “Forty days.”

  “That’s right.”

  The outer corner of Eva’s left eye twitched. Her voice took on a sharpness that could cut glass. “Forty days?”

  Solo wanted away from her before she erupted. He kept his focus on Frederick. “It will suit me fine, sir. Thank you.”

  “Father!” Eva crossed her lean arms. “Why so long?”

  “He has saved up the payment for a forty-night stay in trade with me.”

  “But a single man doesn’t need a double room. Do you, Solomon?” She spit her question with such force he nearly agreed just to stay on her good side.

  Frederick lifted a hand, halting his daughter’s protest. “Solo and I have an arrangement, Peach.” He motioned to the back of the wagon. “Take your trunk upstairs, son. Eva will get you the key to Room Four.” Then he turned to the paddock and rubbed his abdomen. “Where in blazes did it go?”

  Eva uncrossed her arms and concern changed her expression. “Where did what go, Father?”

  “The outhouse.” Frederick pointed vaguely at the pasture. “It used to be right over there. Who moved it? Where did it go? I can’t go back into the house with dirty boots or Mother will yell at me.”

  Eva moved close to her father’s side and whispered. “You can go into the house. It’s all right.” She flashed a worried glance at Solo then gently took Frederick’s arm. “Come on, Father. I’ll take you inside.”

  Chapter Three

  The inviting aroma of slow-roasted venison filled the inn as Eva carried dinner plates into the bustling dining hall. She slid the full plates onto the table in front of the guests. Steam rose from the buttery mashed potatoes, and pan gravy ran around the hunks of tender mea
t and garlicky green beans. Her sister’s cooking made her mouth water.

  Zeke sat next to Frederick and across from Leonard and Claudia at the family’s table in the corner of the room. Her son’s hungry gaze seared the meat on their plates better than any skillet would have. “Mama,” he whined impatiently.

  The sooner he learned that guests come first the better. She held up a finger to him. “I’ll be right back with yours and Grandpa’s.”

  Leonard snapped open his napkin and tucked it into his collar. His back hunched, making his chin protrude over his plate. Claudia folded her hands, waiting for everyone to have food before she picked up her fork. Leonard took Claudia’s hand and gazed at her sweetly, his weathered fingers caressing her swollen knuckles. They had spent fifty years working at the inn—Leonard as the inn’s farmer and Claudia as the housekeeper. Now approaching their seventies, they seemed more in love with each other every year.

  That was the life Eva was supposed to have with her late husband. The shock of losing him had faded in the seven years since his death, its edges dulled and less likely to slice her heart open, but the old ache never left. Claudia always said it was because grief was fueled by love, and since she’d loved Ezekiel with all her heart, her whole heart was scarred by his death.

  Frederick put his arm over the back of Zeke’s chair. “Your mama serves us last, but we get the biggest portions.” He winked at Eva. “Isn’t that right, Peach?”

  It wasn’t right. It was an odd thing for her father to say, but such comments were coming from him more often of late. Eva tried to ignore the dread building in her chest. She put on her public smile. “Sure, so long as you wash dishes to pay for your keep.”

  A few of the men at the next table laughed. Solomon Cotter forked potatoes into his mouth and gave Eva a closed-lip grin as she passed his table. He wiggled his eyebrows as if trying to get an extra smile out of her. He’d already gotten a double room and a long-term stay. He wasn’t getting special attention too.

  She took a quick second look at the scar that divided Solo’s left eyebrow vertically, then dashed into the kitchen to get more plates from the countertop. Sybil Roberts was ladling gravy on a hefty portion of meat. “This should make sixteen plates. Is that all, Eva?”

  “Don’t forget yours and mine.”

  Her sister nodded and took two more pewter plates off the shelf above the countertop. She blew a stray brown curl off her forehead as she fished chunks of roast out of the stove pot. “Full house?”

  “I’ll say. Two of the single rooms will have men sleeping on cots tonight.”

  Sybil frowned. “I always feel sorry for the men who sleep on cots.”

  “Most of them don’t mind. They have been on the road, sleeping on the ground or in the back of a wagon for so long that they are just happy to be indoors.” She picked up the last two plates. “Everyone is complimenting your roast. After I serve Zeke and Father, I’ll come sit in here with you.”

  When Eva walked back into the dining hall, her little Zeke was telling everyone at his table and the table next to him about his new puppy. He had half the room’s attention. “And he likes to chew sticks and I named him Joshua and I’m going to make him a red collar.” He looked at Claudia. “Do you have any red fabric I can use for his collar?”

  The older woman stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth and grinned at Zeke. “I’m sure I can scrounge up something.”

  Zeke continued talking about his new puppy. “He’s a fast runner and I’m teaching him to shake hands. Mr. Cotter gave him to me,” he announced, pointing at Solo.

  A trader from Good Springs who was sitting next to Solo gave him a thump on the shoulder. Both men watched Eva as she passed the table again to leave the room. If she acknowledged them, they would want to talk to her. Her stomach rumbled, begging for dinner. She hurried out of the dining room, through the short hallway, and into the kitchen.

  Sybil had both of their plates waiting on the kitchen’s dinette table. She was sitting in her usual seat where she could see the door should anyone come from the dining hall needing anything.

  Eva sat across from her sister and filled her water cup. “Did you hear what Father did?”

  Sybil shook her head, too polite to speak with her mouth full.

  “He gave Room Four to Solomon Cotter. A double. Father didn’t even ask me first. Didn’t even look at the reservation book. Thank the Lord no families arrived today.” She paused long enough to take a bite of roast. The delicious meat’s savory flavor briefly made her forget her troubles. As soon as she swallowed, she remembered them again. “And not just for the night. No, no. Father told him he could stay here for forty nights.”

  She watched her younger sister, waiting for her to appear surprised.

  Sybil simply nodded as she listened and ate, so Eva tried again. “Forty nights! Isn’t that ridiculous? Neither of them would tell me why so long. Father said Solo had saved up the nights and they had a deal. He shut me right up. I am the inn’s manager. Why did Father give me the office and title and responsibilities if he wasn’t going to give me the authority to make decisions?”

  Eva stabbed her fork into the meat a little harder than intended and it screeched on the plate. Her mother would have slapped her hand for that. She flashed a mock grimace to Sybil, and her sister giggled like she did when they were children. But Sybil still hadn’t reacted to their father’s arrangement with Solo, so Eva asked, “Does it seem like Father is behaving oddly to you lately?”

  Sybil dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “He’s just getting forgetful. In mother’s last letter, she said Grandma and Grandpa are that way too but much worse. That’s why she can’t come to visit us. She has to stay with them every moment. She says Grandpa wanders off if she doesn’t keep an eye on him.”

  There was more to their mother’s decision to go live with her parents in Southpoint eight years ago than their health, but no one acknowledged it. Eva pinched off a corner of her bread roll and popped it into her mouth. “I wonder if that’s what is happening to Father. He’s so much older than Mother—almost the same age as Grandpa and Grandma. Lately, he can’t remember what he intended to do when he walks from one room to the next. Seems to me like Solo is taking advantage of Father’s forgetfulness.”

  Sybil shook her head. “Mr. Cotter isn’t like that.”

  “Maybe you’re right. But, Father is getting too old to—”

  “Excuse me,” a man’s voice said from the doorway. Eva looked over her shoulder to see the trader from Good Springs.

  Sybil stood and dropped her napkin on her chair. “What can I get for you?”

  “Nothing, ma’am.” He motioned for her to sit back down. “The food is quite good. Can’t remember when I last had such a meal.” He slid his hand into his breast pocket and withdrew a creased envelope. “I have a letter for Eva.” He held the envelope out and inched into the kitchen as if it were forbidden territory.

  Eva met him mid-way. “Thank you.”

  “Sorry, I forgot to give it to you earlier. I felt it in my pocket just now and remembered.” He backed out of the room.

  “Thank you all the same.” Eva sat and opened the envelope made of gray leaf paper. The letter was folded over several times, but she immediately recognized the sloppy pencil writing. “It’s from Revel.”

  Sybil froze with her water cup at her lips. “What does it say?”

  Eva read slowly, trying to decipher his scribbles. “He will be staying with the Colburns in Good Springs for a while longer. He is working with the outsider, Connor Bradshaw, on organizing the Land’s security force.”

  Sybil lifted her thin brows. “Sounds exciting.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” She lowered the letter. “He probably will never come back.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “No.” She blew out a long breath. “When Revel was a kid, all he ever wanted to do was go with the traders all around the Land. As soon as he turned eighteen, he did just that. He’s been
living as he pleases for a decade now. I doubt he will settle down just because Father’s arthritis is acting up.”

  Sybil lowered her volume even though the chatter in the dining hall was so loud no one in the other room could have heard them. “Maybe if you wrote to Revel about Father’s forgetfulness and just how badly his knees pain him… maybe then he would know you are serious.”

  “I did.”

  Her sister raised a palm. “And?”

  She held out the letter to Sybil. “Here. Read it yourself.”

  Sybil didn’t take the paper. “What will you do?”

  “I don’t know.” Eva leaned her tired back into the chair. “We need two more permanent workers—one for Father’s job and one for Leonard’s. Father doesn’t approve of anyone I suggest and says it’s not up to me to hire more men, but I must do something.”

  “Will you hire someone without his approval?”

  “How can I?” She refolded Revel’s letter, not wanting to see his handwriting for another minute. “If I did and Father told them to leave, they would obey him and not me. Besides, it’s not easy to find men willing to move away from the villages. And I would need to find married men, or at least one of them should be married so his wife can take on some of Claudia’s work. She won’t be able to manage the laundry and cleaning the rooms forever.”

  Sybil set down her fork. “I know. I had to help in the laundry house this morning. Of course…” She grinned a little and got a mischievous look as if hatching a secret plan.

  “Of course what?”

  “Well, if you hired single men, maybe…”

  “Maybe what?”

  “Maybe you could have a…”

  “A what?”

  “A companion. And Zeke could have a daddy.”

  If an adorable smile hadn’t immediately followed Sybil’s remark, Eva would have become defensive. “Very funny, Syb.”

  Her sister looked up at the ceiling. “Perhaps it’s time?”

  “I beg your pardon.” Eva couldn’t entertain the idea of marrying again—wouldn’t let herself even imagine it—or she would get sick with guilt at the thought of betraying her late husband. “Zeke has his grandpa and Leonard for father figures. I think he is doing just fine without a daddy.”