“I’m happy to help you with that, but first we’re going to have a little talk.”
Lena groaned. “She told you what I said, didn’t she?”
“She did.”
He waited, knowing that his silence would make her think, and the longer she thought about it, the more she would convict herself.
“The way you two dance around each other is driving me crazy,” Lena said, looking cross.
“You know why I’m doing what I’m doing. Laura is too fragile right now to make decisions about anything romantic.”
Lena shifted, groaning as she tried to move her injured leg. “You need to stop deciding for people whether they are or aren’t too fragile to handle. Knowing you, you’ve given her bits and pieces of information, but you haven’t laid it all out to try to make her understand. To let her make an educated decision about whether or not you’re worth her trouble.”
He should have known that Lena wasn’t going to automatically take his side. Even though they often put on a unified front around others, Lena wasn’t one to hold back when they were alone.
But he was surprised that Lena was defending Laura so strongly. “And what if it’s exactly as I fear? And she can’t love a rancher with twin girls? These feelings are coming from an abnormal situation. What happens when we get back to my normal life?”
Instead of looking like she understood, Lena laughed. “As I understand things, she let a rooster destroy her parlor, and it lived to tell the tale. Anna speaks of her as though she’s the greatest hero who ever lived. Emma has similar stars in her eyes.”
After yesterday’s conversation with Laura, Owen knew that being a mother to the girls wasn’t going to be so much a problem as the rest of it. He had the power to make her deepest longing come true. And, unlike other men who might be interested in marrying her, he wasn’t expecting more children. He didn’t need a son to carry on the family name. As far as he was concerned, his family was complete as it was.
But was the attraction she felt for him based on the danger or based on something deeper?
And could either of them know the difference?
Lena scooted to the edge of the bed. “If you ask me—”
“I didn’t,” Owen reminded her.
Lena snorted. “Well, you ought to have. I’ve known you your whole life, and not one woman has ever looked at you like Laura does. I know you think Sadie loved you in the beginning, but that one always had her eye on the door. Laura just needs you to let her know that her heart is safe.”
“What about my heart? How do I know it’s safe with her?”
“You’re hopeless.” Lena sighed as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Now are you going to help me out or are you going to sit there dithering about whether or not love is going to hurt you?”
“Fine. Come on. Lean against me, and you can hop on your good leg.”
“You’re not going to carry me?”
Her false pout made him grin.
“You’d never trust me not to drop you.”
“Because you would.” Lena used her good leg to stand, then leaned on him. “I’m still not sure you’re not going to try something.”
Owen couldn’t help but grin. “You deserve it for all the meddling you’ve been doing. If you do any more, I’m going to have every deputy who’s available take turns coming in to keep you company. You’re pretty enough, and with so few unattached women in Leadville, at least half of them will be interested.”
Lena’s face reddened, but she didn’t say anything. She knew he’d make good on his threat, and she was even more averse to marriage than he was. Not only that, but his sister detested having anyone comment on how pretty she was. Lena was quite attractive, and when they lived in town, he had a number of men ask if they could court her. Lena had always said no.
“Just get me out there,” she said. “I want to see for myself the damage that no-good rooster’s done. Laura’s far nicer than I would have been.”
Owen helped Lena out to the parlor, where Laura had already arranged a chair with a footstool for her. She could keep her leg propped up as the doctor had told her, but she’d be far more comfortable than she would have been stuck in bed all day.
“This is a nice room,” Lena said. “From the way the girls made it sound, I was expecting everything to be in shambles.”
Laura entered the room, carrying a tray. “I’ve got tea and some baked goods the ladies brought over. Owen, there’s coffee and eggs in the kitchen.”
“I’d rather have the coffee if it’s all the same to you,” Lena said. “And I wouldn’t mind some eggs either.”
With a smile that Owen was getting used to seeing from Laura as she served others, Laura said, “Of course. You didn’t eat the eggs I gave you yesterday, so I assumed that you wouldn’t want any. I should have asked. But I do hope you’ll try some of the muffins. Emma Jane Jackson made them, and she’s becoming quite famous for her baking.”
Lena reached for one of the muffins. “Emma Jane Jackson? I didn’t know you were acquainted. She would sometimes come with Mary to call on us. She’s so refreshing and without pretense.”
“Well, if Owen says it’s all right for us to have visitors, I can send a message to her and see if she’d like to come by.” Then Laura turned in his direction. “I forgot to ask yesterday, but my conversation with Mary reminded me that I would love to spend some time with my good friend Nellie Jeffries.”
Owen tried not to flinch at the name. Hers was the last case he’d worked. Though no one seemed to fault him, because he’d gotten distracted, he’d failed to protect Nellie and her children from a wanted criminal. True, no one had been hurt, and the man had been apprehended, but Owen couldn’t forget the fact that lives had been in danger because he’d lost his focus for just a moment. It was as if Laura had to poke and prod into all of his wounds, even if she was unaware of it.
“I’ll have to discuss that with Will,” Owen said, trying not to let the hopeful glances from both women get to him.
Lena wanted him to be open with Laura, to see what the future held for them. But his feelings for Laura were already too much of a distraction. That’s why his sister was sitting in a chair at Laura’s house with her leg propped up.
If he couldn’t keep his focus on making sure Laura and his family remained safe, they wouldn’t have a future to talk about.
“That would be wonderful,” Laura said, her face lighting up. “We usually have Bible study on Wednesdays, and I’d hate to miss it this week. If Will thinks it safe, I’d be happy to host the ladies.”
Laura turned to Lena. “That is if you don’t mind. I believe you mentioned that you were once involved in a Bible study when you lived here.”
The way his sister looked at Laura gave Owen pause. It was clear she’d found a kindred spirit in Laura, and Laura, too, was fond of Lena. Though Lena had always had friends, she’d acted like she could take them or leave them.
“Yes. I don’t regret moving to the ranch at all. But the one thing I miss most dreadfully is being able to share in God’s word with other women. Owen will talk about the Bible with me, but I don’t think men understand it in the same way.”
People often thought Lena’s notions were odd. But Laura nodded like she understood. “I think men and women do have different perspectives, but I appreciate both.”
Then she looked at Owen like she expected something of him. “Though you’ve never discussed the Bible with me, so I have no knowledge of any insight you might have.”
Lena let out a belly laugh. “Like I said, you would be a fool to let her go.”
Clearly his threats of doing some matchmaking of his own no longer worked. But he’d deal with that later.
Instead, he turned to Laura. “I’m surprised to hear you say that, considering we spent hours discussing your fears over how divorcing James would
impact your ability to hold your head up high in church. You might recall that I encouraged you to spend time with Pastor Lassiter.”
It had been the one time he’d been tempted to cross the line back then. She’d looked so forlorn at the thought of being rejected by God that all Owen had wanted to do was take her into his arms and tell her that it was going to be all right. But he hadn’t. He’d done his best to explain that Laura wasn’t obligated to remain married to a serial adulterer and murderer. When the desire to kiss her became too strong, he’d brought her to the pastor so she could get answers and he could remove himself from temptation.
His words seemed to shame Laura. “I’d forgotten,” she said. “Looking back, I thought I was annoying you with my silliness, which was why you’d had me visit the pastor.”
So many miscommunications between them. Yet Owen didn’t feel free to explain his actions then, or now.
Gunshots rang out at the front of the house, a reminder of why getting caught up in these emotions was dangerous.
Pulling his gun out of its holster, Owen made his way to the front door.
By the time Owen got to the porch, two of Will’s men were headed up the steps. “False alarm,” one of them said. “Just a scuffle at a saloon a few blocks over.”
The trouble with Leadville was that despite all of the attempts to make it a more civilized place—with the Tabor Opera House, fine hotels and legitimate businesses—saloons and the riffraff that came with the miners and dreams of easy wealth still seemed to dominate the area. Still, it was unusual to have this type of activity at this time of day.
“Which saloon?” Owen asked.
The men looked at each other like they hadn’t expected the question, and the one who’d told him it was a false alarm looked a bit shifty. Like something wasn’t right with the situation.
Finally, he shrugged. “They all look the same to me.”
“I think it was The Thirsty Miner,” the other man said.
Now Owen knew something was off. While The Thirsty Miner was notorious for its criminal activity, so much so that most of the lawmen in the area were too afraid to enter, it was on the other side of town. But the man was clearly trying to get him off the line of questioning, counting on the fact that Owen was among those who wouldn’t dare enter the place. He was wrong. Owen had been inside many, many times, and it seemed odd that these men were trying to lead him astray.
But Owen nodded pleasantly. “Thank you. Nice work. What were your names again? I’m sure Will would be pleased to hear of your efforts.”
Laura might have been distracting him before, but the smug way the two men looked at each other gave Owen confidence that he was finally getting his edge back.
“Jenks, sir, and this is Pitts,” said the man who’d given him the inaccurate information about The Thirsty Miner. Not that Owen trusted that these were the men’s real names at this point, but it would at least help identify them to Will.
“Well done,” Owen said, hoping his words of praise would give these men the false confidence that their plan had worked.
The trouble was, even though Owen knew something was amiss, he couldn’t say what it was. There had been gunshots nearby with no explanation. The men were trying to lead his suspicions to The Thirsty Miner, or at the very least, get him to dismiss the gunshots and carry on.
Owen went back into the house, where the women were chatting amiably over coffee that Laura had brought in. Lena had an almost empty plate of eggs on her lap, and it was good to see the color back in her cheeks.
“Is everything all right?” Lena asked.
“No,” Owen said. “But I’m not certain what is wrong. Where are the girls?”
Laura smiled. “I just sent them to get a brush and some ribbons so I can do something with their hair. It looks so bad, you’d think Henry had gone and made a nest in there.”
Owen walked to the stairs and called up them. “Girls! Come down and say goodbye to me before I go out for the day.”
He’d left the front door slightly ajar, and though he hated the idea of potentially using Laura and his family as bait, if Jenks and Pitts were up to something, it would be good for them to think Owen was leaving.
For a moment, his only answer was silence, and Owen’s heart fell into the pit of his stomach. But as he started up the stairs, the girls came rushing at him, Henry in tow.
“Do you have to leave?” Emma asked, sadness in her voice. “Laura said that if we got our hair fixed up, we could play a game as a family.”
Anna nodded solemnly. “And she said that Henry could join us.”
Why did Laura have to be so kind and generous with his daughters? As much as he enjoyed seeing them interact, and how readily the girls had taken to her, Owen couldn’t help but fear the way their hearts would be broken when Laura decided that the grand adventure wasn’t so adventurous after all.
“Perhaps later. I need to go check something out.” He ruffled the heads of each of the girls, noting that Laura’s description of their current hairstyles hadn’t been far from the truth.
The girls looked sad as they both said, “All right, Papa.”
This reaction was one of the biggest reasons he didn’t regret moving to the ranch. As a lawman, he’d often had to leave his family for days at a time and spend more time away from home than he liked. Worse, with such a dangerous job, the difference between life and death was a man’s focus. He seemed to be losing it more and more. And he couldn’t leave these precious children without a father.
He gave them a quick hug and kiss and asked God to keep him safe, to keep the girls safe and, if the Lord was feeling particularly generous, to give him a way after this was all over to sort things out with Laura.
The girls went to the kitchen, presumably for their breakfast, and Owen returned to the parlor. Laura was clearing the coffee things.
“Can you set that down for a moment and sit next to Lena? I’d like to speak with you both, but we need to be quiet about it.”
Laura did as he asked, and he was pleased to see that she’d kept her word about following his directions more closely in the future. Hopefully, she’d be willing to do the same today.
Leaning into them, Owen said quietly, “Something isn’t right. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t trust the two men out front, Jenks and Pitts. I want you to keep the girls close. If you could stay in this room or the kitchen, that would be best. No one upstairs or outside until I come back.”
Owen looked at Lena. “If I leave you a gun, are you able to use it?”
Lena nodded. “Laura, too. She’s the one who covered you when you went to the barn yesterday. I was in too much pain to hold up the gun. Even under pressure, her arm was steady.”
The look Lena gave him was meant to shame him. He’d underestimated Laura and her abilities, and she wanted to be sure Owen knew it. He supposed she wanted him to see all the other areas in which he’d underestimated Laura, but there was no time for that now.
“Fine.” Owen walked to the closet and pulled out the two shotguns he’d stashed—his and Lena’s. He couldn’t walk around town carrying one, so he might as well leave it for Laura.
“Do you have a place to hide these closer to you? I’d rather you take people by surprise with the knowledge that you can defend yourselves. If they think you’re armed and know how to use a gun, they might come in with more force.”
Hopefully, Owen was wrong. He prayed he was wrong. But it never hurt to be extra careful when you didn’t have all the information.
“We can put one under the sofa, and the other one can easily be concealed behind the screen. Does that work for you?”
Laura’s question seemed innocent enough, but it stung to see the doubt in her eyes. Like she was trying so hard not to offend and to prove that he could count on her.
He wanted so desperately to reassure her, and yet, wi
th Lena’s watchful eyes on him, it seemed like any encouragement he could give Laura would only serve to further Lena’s cause.
But would Laura be able to look confidently in the face of any attacker to protect herself and the girls?
Owen would like to think it wouldn’t come to that, but so far, he’d been wrong in all of his predictions about how this situation would go.
Looking Laura in the eye, he said, “That sounds fine. Thank you. I have every confidence in you and Lena.”
His words didn’t change the questions in Laura’s eyes, but Lena’s self-satisfied snort told him that he could say no more.
“I’ll just put these things away and get the girls to come in here, then,” Laura said. “Besides, the kitchen is no place for a rooster. The girls will have to learn how to give the room a good scrubbing when all this is over. Lena might be particular about how things are done in her kitchen, but I am not.”
As Laura exited the room, Lena nudged him. “You’d be a fool not to go after her.”
He shook his head. “And you’re a fool to continue this line of discussion when greater things are at stake.”
Lena looked slightly put out that her words hadn’t hit the intended mark, but Owen wasn’t going to let his thoughts get muddled. Not when he needed all of his focus to figure out what was going on.
Chapter Thirteen
It was dark by the time Owen returned to the house. Laura had so many questions, but she was doing her best not to pester him since it annoyed him to have to discuss things with her.
Besides, it seemed like every time they talked, things only became more confusing. Especially when Owen continually alternated between acting like a friend who might want something more and a man terrified of getting burned.
As Laura pulled open the door, she pressed a finger to her lips. “The girls made themselves a pallet on the parlor floor. We told them we were pretending to have a campout. They thought it was great fun. I didn’t know if it was safe to put them to bed or not, so this seemed like the easiest way to keep them with us without causing them to be afraid.”
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