“I’d be glad to do that,” Mel said, cutting her off. “I should have thought of it myself. I know you need to be here until your parents get back.”
“Yes, well, Sister Margaret has a niece who may be taking my job. We haven’t asked her yet, but Sister Margaret thinks she’ll agree to come. We’re hoping only a week or two will pass before she arrives.”
Mel went to Sadie and slid an arm across her shoulders. “Don’t worry about how long I need to help out. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll talk to Pa and make sure it’s all right, but it’s quiet at the ranch right now. This is a good time to keep busy elsewhere.”
Mel began talking with the ladies, and they all got along so well that Sadie felt left out. Far too easily replaced. She thought her work at Safe Haven was so vital, but now a woman with true financial need would take her job and her good friend would fill in for her in the meantime. She shook off the feeling of no longer being needed.
Mel headed for her black mare tied to the hitching post, swung up, and rode for home. Sadie invited the ladies to sit and have some coffee.
Sister Margaret very sweetly declined the invitation. “I want to get a wire sent to Angelique right away. I appreciate the offer, but I think we should hurry for home and get on with our planning.”
Nodding, Sadie walked the ladies to their carriage. “I’m sorry to abandon you so suddenly, but I’m . . .” Sadie shrugged. She didn’t want to air the strange demands her father had made, not even to someone as discreet as Sister Margaret.
Her friends hugged her, then climbed in the carriage and hurried back toward Skull Gulch.
As they left, it struck Sadie that she’d spoken no less than the truth. With Ma gone, there was plenty for her to do. Even Rosita’s capable hands couldn’t maintain this house. And someone who loved the house and was a member of the family needed to be here making decisions and running things.
For the first time, she was glad that she was back home. It was as if a simple truth had been revealed to her.
She was home to stay.
Angelique DuPree accepted the telegraph with shaking hands. It was the cold making her tremble . . . mostly. But exhaustion and hunger also played a part, and besides, telegraphs always brought bad news. Angelique didn’t think she could take yet another blow.
The ragamuffin boy who’d brought it to her stood shifting his weight, watching, wishing. He was hungrier than she was. It twisted her heart, and as foolish as she knew it to be, she reached into her threadbare reticule—once a soft pretty black velvet, but now shiny, the nap worn away—and tipped the boy a penny.
The boy doffed his hat and ran. He knew the neighborhood they were in. He was lucky to get that penny.
Heading up the narrow stairs, every step of the four stories taken in darkness, she hurried to her bitter-cold room and let herself in, as always, careful to lock the door behind her.
A candle, nearly burned to a stub, flickered to life. It was the only heat in the room, and Angelique knew she didn’t dare leave it burning long.
Angelique STOP Need your help at once STOP Send wire if agree STOP Will send train fare to First National Bank STOP Love Aunt Margaret
Gasping, Angelique clutched the telegraph to her chest.
Aunt Margaret. Safe Haven Orphanage.
Kind Aunt Margaret. And calling her Angelique too, rather than Angie, just as she’d demanded.
Angelique burst into tears. She sobbed until there was no water left to spill, then gathered her wits and started planning. She could afford to send the wire, but it would be with the last coins she possessed.
She doused the candle and opened a tin to draw out her last crust of bread. She kept it tightly sealed or the rats would take it. She could eat only half. It would barely push back her gnawing hunger, yet she needed something for breakfast. She sat on her bed in the dreary boardinghouse. More tears spilled from Angelique’s eyes—she hadn’t cried herself dry after all. Her tears salted the bread.
When the paltry meal was gone, she whispered into the darkness, “I’m saved. Aunt Margaret, you’ve saved me.”
She lay down on the hard, cold mattress, fully clothed, wrapped in her only blanket. The early-November weather was too cold for her to think of shedding her only dress, or her stockings and shoes. She’d consigned her tattered nightgown to the ragbag months ago. Everything else of her once lavish wardrobe was gone now, taken by bill collectors, along with the house, all of its contents, and any money she had in the bank, which was almost none. All to pay Edward’s debts. She had no idea he was in debt until after he’d died.
For the first time in her overindulged life, Angelique had gone to work. And then found out what it meant to labor hard for terrible wages, to eat little, to live among poor folks.
Aunt Margaret would be ashamed of her. Angelique couldn’t believe how thoughtless she’d been of her dear old aunt’s love. And even now, when Aunt Margaret should have long ago washed her hands of her ungrateful niece, her kindly aunt remembered her and had sensed perhaps Angelique’s loneliness, her need.
In the few letters she’d sent to her aunt, she’d tried hard to hide her financial troubles. After the haughty way Angelique—and worse, her mother—had rejected Aunt Margaret when she’d approached them for donations to her beloved orphanage, Auntie shouldn’t have had much interest in Angelique or feel any responsibility. But Aunt Margaret was a woman with a forgiving soul and a loving heart. It was natural that she would be the one to give Angelique hope.
Tomorrow she’d be paid, but only if she worked the full twelve-hour shift. How was she to find time to send the telegraph?
She needed that money to feed herself during the train ride.
The telegraph office was only blocks from her work. It might be possible to slip away for a few minutes, long enough to send a wire.
She had to risk it. Because nothing would stop her from going to the one woman left in the world whose love she could depend upon.
Nothing.
Sadie longed for a moment alone with her brothers. It would have been fine to have talked to either of them alone, but Justin had gone back to work by the time she came in from seeing the ladies from the orphanage off. And it appeared Cole was gone for the day. She didn’t see them again until it was nearly time for supper.
She found them sitting together, talking quietly in Pa’s office. Heath was there too, as was John. Sadie wished they’d leave so she could talk with her brothers in private. For some reason, she couldn’t bear to sit and make pleasant conversation, so she backed away. She’d just come from helping Rosita, but there might be more to do before the evening meal.
“No, don’t leave, Sadie.” Cole stopped her. “We need you to join us.”
They needed her? She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard those words from either of her brothers before.
Justin said, “Heath told us the two of you saw someone on top of Skull Mesa yesterday.”
Sadie’s gaze flew to Heath. “That’s what I came in to talk with you about. I thought you might prefer to hear it without company. Heath knows more about it than I do. But yes, there had to be someone up there. Nothing else would explain what we saw.”
“But there’s no way up,” Cole said. “Justin and I have tried climbing it a few times.”
“More than a few,” Justin added with a grin.
Sadie smiled but remained silent about the many times she’d tried to climb it. She was quite sure she’d gotten higher than either one of them ever did. Her fine-boned hands could cling to ledges their husky, manly fingers couldn’t.
John nodded. “Your pa and I tried to get up there, and I remember old stories of your grandfather wanting to scale that mountain. Most every cowhand around over the years has had a go at it. Of course, we didn’t try that hard. Not a lot of time for nonsense like climbing a mountain just because it’s there. We tried a few times and then got back to our work.”
“I’ve certainly never been up on that mesa.” Sadie couldn’t resist
looking at Heath. He fit in here with the other strong men. “We couldn’t have been mistaken, could we?”
Heath shook his head. “Even if we’re wrong and it was a broken piece of glass, then someone had to take it up there.”
“A stone?” Cole asked. Sadie could see him thinking. Cole had a fine mind, and he used it to his advantage all the time. He’d done a good job of proving, in a land where muscle ruled, that a sharp mind was to be respected and sometimes feared.
“Iron pyrite maybe.” Heath’s bright blue eyes shifted between Cole and Sadie.
Justin said, “You mean fool’s gold?”
“Or real gold,” Heath said, looking amused, as if he knew he might cause trouble.
Sadie wondered if Heath had seen people act like madmen over gold before. She wondered if he could handle what might happen if they found gold on top of the mesa. The Bodens would manage. They’d owned a mining operation for a long time. But Heath might be in for a shock even if he knew there could be trouble; his imagination might not be good enough to brace himself for how bad it could get.
“The shine wasn’t right.” Heath must have decided there was no excitement coming from his mention of real gold. “It reflected too well, don’t you think, Sadie? And it wasn’t against the ground, right at the rim of the mesa top. It was higher. My guess is it was a spyglass or a rifle scope, held by someone standing behind some bushes. Someone was up there. Watching us.”
Heath looked around the room. “I grew up near this cavern that was so dangerous it made grown men tremble. I got to do a lot of exploring down there. Even though it was a cave underground, there were deep pits and tunnels you couldn’t reach without climbing sheer stone walls. I’ve climbed up and down rock without so much as a toehold. With the right tools I say I can defeat that mountain. If you’re willing, I’d like to try. Before last night, I’d’ve done it just for the fun of it, but someone needs to get up there and find out who was watching Sadie.”
Cole said, “I’ve got to get my office from in town moved out here, and I’m in the middle of some important negotiations with the railroad about shipping ore. I think I’ll be tied up until after Christmas at least, but I want in on this mountain climbing. Can you wait?”
“And John and I have to put some time in on the ranch to make sure all the men understand Pa being gone doesn’t change anything,” Justin added. “It’ll be a while before I’m ready, but I’d like to see what kind of tools you use to climb a rock wall. I want you to wait for me, too.”
Heath shook his head. “If someone was on that mesa with a spyglass, then he might as well be up there with a rifle. And Sadie was well within range.”
“Don’t say that. You’ll scare Sadie.”
“I don’t scare that easy, Cole.” Sadie glared at her big brother.
Cole ignored her and scowled at Heath. “And why would anyone want to shoot Sadie?”
“No reason I can think of, but why would anyone want to be watching Sadie, or the whole ranch for that matter?”
That got their attention. “I’m just telling you how it struck me. I felt a cold chill up my spine, like someone had a bead on me with a rifle. And even if they didn’t, they could have. We got out of range fast, putting the horses between us and the mesa.”
“And you between me and the horses, Heath,” Sadie was quick to add. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you put yourself between me and a possible gunman.”
Cole and Justin both gave him a look of male understanding, which made Sadie want to yell at them all. She didn’t want someone killed because they were protecting her—it made her heartsick to think of it.
“Unless you’re willing to order every man on the place to stay a half mile away from the base of Skull Mesa, someone needs to get up there, and they need to do it now.”
“We have to use that pasture around the mesa. It’s my best winter grass.” Justin crossed his arms and slumped in his chair, his eyes narrowed. “There’s risk for anyone climbing. It stands to reason someone scaling that mountain will have to be within rifle range. And climbing something that sheer is a slow business. You’d be sitting ducks.”
“Nope,” said Heath. “Once I’m up against the base, they’ll have a hard time taking a shot. They’d have to lean far out and aim straight down. They can’t do that without exposing themselves. I propose two people go. Slip up to the mesa before sunrise. Then one can climb partway while the other watches the mesa rim. Then the other can find a good spot on the rock wall and stand guard while the second climbs.”
“And that’s if whoever is up there is still up there,” Sadie said. “If they’ve come down—and they must, since no one could live up there—then we’re at no risk at all. But whether they’re up there or not, climbing as a team makes it safer.” She thought of all the times she’d tried to scale that blasted mesa on her own. Pa and Ma wouldn’t let her climb it, so she’d snuck her way there.
Heath then pulled her thoughts from her childhood misbehavior. “And if someone is up there, they had to get up there. I aim to find the path they took and take it myself. If I can’t find an easy way, then we’re talking about a long, hard climb. I got plenty of rope, but the other things I need will have to be made by the blacksmith in town, and that’ll take a while. Then again I might find an easier way and get up fast.”
Cole and Justin looked at each other. Then Justin grinned. “I’d really like to climb that old beast. Heaven knows I tried often enough as a youngster.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait,” Heath said.
Cole asked, “Who should we send along with him?”
The men all stared at one another, thinking so hard it was insulting, because of course they never thought of the most obvious person.
“Me,” Sadie said a little too loudly. She sounded exasperated.
Justin surged to his feet. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Nope. You’re not going.” Cole was one second behind him. “Out of the question.”
“Get that idea right out of your head, young lady.” John seemed to think he could order her around just like the rest of them.
“None of you get to decide.” Sadie stood rather than let the three most important men in her life—not counting Pa, who would be on their side—tower over her even more than usual.
“You’ve all known me all my life. You know I’m good with a gun. I’m a dependable lookout.”
“That’s a stupid reason for a woman to risk her life.”
“You and Cole have a lot to do, and I’m tending the house with Rosita, but I assure you she won’t miss me for a day. I’m not going to sit in here and be a decoration.”
Justin strode up to her and bent down until his nose almost touched hers. “You always were reckless.”
If he was trying to intimidate her, the effort was laughable. “So then, you should have expected this.”
Cole, ever the diplomat, came and circled her shoulders with one of his strong arms. “You aren’t a decoration. Running a home is a big job and a noble one. And Ma being gone leaves a sizable gap.”
He was absolutely right. Too bad it wasn’t going to work. “Use your sweet talk on someone who will listen, Cole. I’m going with Heath.”
She glared at Cole and saw a genial, reasonable expression. It was completely false. That strong arm tightened until Sadie thought she might have to punch her big brother to stop him from crushing her.
“You’re not going, even if I have to lock you in your room,” John said, and for a second she wavered. Of all the menfolk in the room, John was the one hardest for her to defy. Her brothers were no problem at all.
Cole patted her shoulder—too hard. Justin fumed and issued a few more threats. John gave orders as though he saw it as his sacred duty.
A voice from outside their tense little circle said, “I think she’d be a perfect partner in this search. I’ll keep her safe.”
The other men turned on Heath as if they were hungry wolves and he a wounded antel
ope.
Heath grinned and those eyes flashed, making her wonder for the first time if a wild man lurked deep inside him.
Sadie smiled back. He was her new favorite man in all the world. And it wasn’t even close to a tight race.
Justin said to Heath, “You’re fired.”
Heath returned that bad news with another smile. “I don’t mind getting fired. It’s been that kind of week.” Then he looked at Sadie and arched his brows. “And mountain climbing is something a woman can do, I know that well enough. My sister-in-law taught me how.”
8
Heath got ordered off the property.
He refused to go.
Justin called him a trespasser and threatened to beat him senseless.
Sadie gave her permission for him to stay, including staying on as their guest in the bunkhouse. She also impishly invited him to stay in the house since he was fired. He was now more of a friend of the family.
Cole said something about the law and a sheriff and arrest.
“You can’t arrest me for climbing a mountain with the owner’s permission, Cole.”
“Well, I’m the owner and you don’t have my permission,” Cole shot back.
Sadie raised her hand and wiggled her fingertips. “I’m the owner. I say he can climb that mountain anytime he wants.”
He was enjoying himself. He decided to keep making trouble. “You know you should be hollering at Sadie, not me.”
She gave him a baleful look that made his smile stretch wider.
“You were all in favor of me climbing that mesa until she said she wanted to come along.”
“That’s right, Cole.” She moved so she stood beside Heath, her arms crossed. “Why aren’t you threatening me with jail? And, Justin, you should be threatening to punch me, not Heath.”
Justin narrowed his eyes. Heath knew there was a lot better chance that Cole would arrest her than that Justin would punch her. But of course there was no chance of either. Not to her, but they would probably do both to Heath.
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