by Paty Jager
“He left to work.” Her darlin’ skipped over to Ethan.
“Can I go with you?” Shayla asked and smiled.
“No, I have a lot to do and some of it is dangerous for a little girl.” He patted her head. “But I’ll come by this evening and read to you. How about that?”
“Yipee!” Shayla clapped her hands.
Aileen’s heart banged against the inside of her ribs as his gaze sought her approval.
“That is if your ma doesn’t mind.” His eyes begged her to say yes. Her chest squeezed so hard she couldn’t speak, so she nodded her head.
“See you after dinner.” He patted Shayla one more time and disappeared out the office door.
She had a lot to mull over after their conversation this morning. And she’d have to keep an eye out for the bajin Irishman. He snuck up on her once, but he’d not do it again. At least and live to tell.
Chapter 26
Ethan kept an eye on Healy and Clay, making sure his brother kept the man busy and away from the office. He didn’t like the way the man snuck around. Something about the Irishman and Aileen didn’t make sense. Tonight, after he read to Shayla, he’d question her about the man and the things she’d said this morning.
He entered the stamp mill. The first loads of rock ran through the large stamps. The pounding, crunching, grating and loud din of steel striking rock made it hard to talk with anyone, so he wandered through the building checking on the stages and the men overseeing each phase.
Pride swelled his chest and balled in his throat. Over a year ago this was all a dream and now the twelve-hundred pound presses squeezed gold from rock that would have been tossed aside. Their oldest neighbor and long time friend of the family was given the honor of being the first miner to put his diggings through. The old man stood at the bottom of the mill watching the gold pieces accumulate in the riffles.
Ethan put a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“This is the easiest I ever acquired gold,” the man shouted, slapping Ethan on the back. “Your pa would be mighty proud of you boys.”
“Thanks, Joseph, that means a lot.”
“Ethan! Ethan!” Hank hollered from the door and waved him over.
He left the man staring at his collecting riches and hurried to his brother.
“What?”
“We’ve got company.”
He looked beyond Hank and spotted Zeke and Maeve sitting in a buggy. “They’re early.”
“Yeah, you going to tell Aileen her house guests are a day early?” A mischievous smile lit Hank’s face.
“What’s them coming early got to do with anything?” Ethan headed past Hank.
“She might want to wash the bedding before they crawl in.”
His brother’s insinuation hit him like dropping a spike hammer on his foot. Would the bed have the scent of their coupling?
“You give them a tour. I’ll go tell Aileen.” They approached the buggy together.
He hadn’t seen the two since their hasty wedding at the train depot. His brother looked almost civilized in a dapper suit and Stetson. If he had to pick, he’d say Zeke was the best looking of the brothers. Not so much because of his dark good looks, but more he carried himself with confidence and the love for the woman at his side glistened in his eyes. Maeve was a contrary woman. Tall, thin, almost fragile in appearance, yet she was tougher than half the men he’d come across in his lifetime. Her black hair and creamy white complexion resembled a china doll, but her piercing blue eyes showed her strength.
“Zeke, Maeve. Looks like your new jobs are agreeing with you.” Ethan slapped his brother on the back and nodded to his sister-in-law. He knew she wouldn’t favor a hug. The two of them were still working out their relationship.
“Hank, give them a tour of the place. I’ll be right back.” He didn’t miss Zeke’s raised eyebrow or Maeve’s curious expression. He hoped Hank didn’t fill them in on everything going on around the place.
He entered the office and hurried behind the counter to the door of the living quarters. He opened the door without knocking. Shayla sat on the floor playing with the doll he’d given her.
“Happy man!” She jumped up to hug his legs.
“Where’s your ma?”
“Kitchen.”
He pried her small arms from his legs and followed the spicy aroma filling the room. Pushing open the door, he inhaled the scent of apple pie and reveled in the sight of Aileen. Wisps of hair had fallen from her bun and curled around her perspiring face. She turned from placing the pies on the drain board and smiled.
“Did ye smell them clear outside?”
He crossed the room and swept her into his arms, lowering his mouth to her tempting lips. She was all he would ever need. As the thought ricocheted through his head, he deepened the kiss. Slowly, with much regret, he pulled back and stared into her hazy eyes.
“Woman, you make me do things I’ve never even thought of before.”
She shook her head and smiled. “What?”
“I never thought I’d look at a woman and want to kiss her so bad it made me ache.”
“Sweet talkin’ me will no’ get ye pie any sooner.” She pushed against his chest and stepped out of his embrace.
“Momma! Momma!” Shayla rushed in the room. “A lady and man are talkin’ to Hank.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ethan ran a hand over his face. “Seems Zeke and Maeve arrived a day early.”
Aileen stared at him. The guests she was preparing for had arrived early. The bed.
“Ah have to wash the bedding.” She couldn’t look at him. The things they did would surely be noticed by their guests.
“I’ll bring around the tub, you start some water boiling.” Ethan headed out the kitchen door.
“Shayla, darlin’ those people will be stayin’ with us. Go to my room and put all my clothes in yer room. Ah’ll be sleepin’ with ye.”
The child screeched with delight and ran out of the room. Aileen filled all the pots with water and placed them on the stove. At least she had baked goods to go with dinner tonight.
Ethan came back in. “What else can I help you with?”
“Go to the lean-to and brin’ in a roast.” She hesitated. It was only fitting the whole family eat here tonight. “Make it a large one as ye and yer brothers are welcome to eat here tonight with yer family.”
“I hate that this is making more work for you.” Ethan started across the floor. She raised her hand.
“Keep yer distance until yer family leaves. Ah’ll no’ have any more Halseys thinkin’ bad o’ me.”
His eyes flashed with irritation, but he headed back out the door.
The closeness they’d enjoyed last night would have to wait until the house was empty of visitors. She’d not be caught in a compromising position and have Ethan’s family force them to marry.
She hurried into the bedroom and stripped the bed of the sheets and hung the blankets around in an attempt to air them out. Shayla had moved her few belongings and was gleefully hanging them on the pegs in her room. She had to smile at her lassie’s delight in sharing the room.
Ethan picked up a pot of boiling water as she entered the kitchen. He nodded and hurried out the door with it. She followed, dumping the bedding in the tub. She shaved soap into the water as Ethan dumped the rest of the hot water. There was a bite to the air. On his last trip, Ethan brought her coat. She slid her arms into the sleeves and began stirring the contents of the tub with a stick polished from all the years she’d used it to stir the laundry.
“There you are.” Hank came around the side of the building followed by a man dressed in a wool suit and warm coat wearing a Stetson and a woman dressed in a stylish gown of blue wool and a dark, long, wool coat. The woman was tall and elegant. What she could see of her hair under the stylish bonnet was shiny black, a stark contrast to her translucent skin. She wasn’t pretty, she was breathtaking.
For the first time in a very long while Aileen was conscious of the state of her dress
and plainness. She wanted to make a good impression for Ethan’s sake.
Ethan stepped beside her. “Maeve, Zeke, this is Aileen—” he glanced down at her and she nodded, “Miller. She lives in the back of the office and is our office assistant.”
Zeke extended his hand. “Mrs—”
“Nae, just call me Aileen.” She extended her hand to the man who looked so much like the other brothers there was no denying he was a Halsey. He had an air about him she’d noticed in Ethan. This was another man who liked to take charge of situations.
Zeke’s brow furrowed, and he scanned the area. His gaze rested on the shack across the creek. “Isn’t this where Miller was found—”
“We’ll explain all the particulars later,” Ethan pulled his brother’s hand from her grasp and his attention back to the group.
“Aileen, I’m pleased to meet you, and sorry we’re causing you any inconvenience.” Maeve stepped forward, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Let me go in and change, then I’ll help you with the laundry.”
“Ye must be tired from travelin’. Ah can manage.”
“No, I insist. Zeke, would you get my bags from the buggy?” She turned to her husband. Aileen noticed the quick look that passed between the two, but had no notion what it was about.
“Hank, Ethan, help me gather my wife’s belongings. It will take more than one man, I’m afraid.” Zeke laughed jovially and headed around the side of the house. Hank fell in step behind him. Ethan hung back, watching her.
“Go.” Aileen waved in the direction his brothers disappeared.
Maeve smiled and crossed her arms. “I never thought I’d see the day Ethan was waiting on a woman.”
Aileen jerked her gaze from the man’s retreating back. “What is that to mean?”
“I’m impressed with any woman who can get that man to fetch and carry.”
She narrowed her eyes and studied the woman. Was Maeve afraid of Ethan? What could he have done to make his sister-in-law fear him?
“He dinna fetch and carry for me.” She stirred the contents of the tub. “Now, my darlin’ Shayla—she’s got him fetchin’ and carryin’.”
Maeve laughed. “Your daughter? That I believe. The only time I’ve seen a gentle side to that man was with a newborn foal.” She pulled her gloves off her hands. “Lift out one of those sheets, and I’ll hang it on that tree limb.”
People didn’t help her willingly. Aileen watched the woman warily as she raised the heavy, wet bedding out of the tub. Together they wrung out the excess water and carried it to a tree not far from the building.
“Your bags are—” Zeke and the other men came out the kitchen door as she and Maeve hung the pillow cases over some low hanging limbs.
“Guess you don’t need to change after all.” Zeke grabbed his wife around the waist, snugging her body up next to his.
Envy whistled through Aileen. She cast a quick glance at Ethan. He watched her intently. It wouldn’t do to have him think she wanted more than what they had right now.
“Ah’ll put the roast in the oven.” She hurried past the men and into the kitchen, creating distance between herself and Ethan.
She no sooner had the door shut than it opened.
“Do you need help?” Maeve unbuttoned her coat and hung it on the peg by the door.
“Ye must be tired. Go clean up and settle in.” She plopped the roast in the pot and began slicing an onion over it.
“I’m fine. In our line of work we don’t get a lot of sleep at times and have to be ready to work at a moment’s notice.” The woman moved across the kitchen like a cat on the prowl.
“What kind o’ work are ye in?” She didn’t remember Ethan ever saying what his brother and sister-in-law did.
Maeve watched her. “Ethan hasn’t told you? I thought—” Aileen scowled. “Well, you two seemed—” She picked up the coffee pot. “Ummm, I guess I got the wrong impression.”
“And just what was yer impression?” Aileen finished slicing the onion and picked up some carrots she dug out of the ground the day before from her small vegetable plot by the shack.
“As soon as we arrived Ethan hurried to you, I assumed warning you we were early. Which, he wouldn’t have done unless he wanted to stay on your good side.”
Aileen nodded then stopped her motion and stroked the knife harder on the carrot to strip away the tough skin.
“And when we came upon you at the wash tub, he looked at you for approval before he introduced you. Again, trying to make you happy.” Maeve filled a cup with coffee.
“And ye noticed all this because…”
“It’s my job. To notice how people act and memorize their faces.” Maeve leaned down and sniffed the pies. “Yum. Are these for tonight?”
“Aye.” What kind of job did she have? She wanted to find Ethan and ask him, but didn’t want the woman to come up with any more ideas than she already had.
“Momma?” Shayla came through the door from the living quarters.
“Aye, darlin’?” She turned to her daughter, glad for the change of thought.
“Hi!” Shayla smiled at Maeve with her hands behind her back, her small body twisting.
“Shayla, this is Mrs. Halsey, Ethan’s sister-in-law.” Aileen put her hand on her lassie’s shoulder. “Mrs. Halsey, this is my gem, Shayla.”
“Please, call me Maeve. And I can see why Ethan is fetching and carrying for this beauty.” Maeve leaned down and held out her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Shayla.”
The child took her hand and pumped it like the water spout at the drain board. “My momma’s gonna sleep with me cuz you’re here.”
“I see that makes you very happy.” Maeve captured her hand and Shayla’s pumping arm in her other hand, stopping the motion.
She’s good with children. Aileen couldn’t help but like the woman after the way Shayla cottoned to her.
“Shayla, be a darlin’ and show Maeve the living quarters.” She motioned to the kitchen door and wasn’t surprised when the woman continued to hold her daughter’s hand and they both practically skipped out the door.
It was easier to work on the meal without the woman watching her every move. Her stomach clenched. She had to find a way to tell Ethan not to do anything untoward during the meal.
****
Ethan turned to Zeke when they finished visiting the mill. “What brings you here?”
His brother leaned against the rock outcropping. “We’re following a man who killed a Pinkerton client’s son.”
“You think there’s a killer here? In Sumpter?” He didn’t like the idea of a cold blooded killer in their community.
“We know he headed this way.” Zeke pushed away from the rocks and lowered his voice. “He killed a boy. A twelve-year-old boy, Ethan.” Zeke paced back and forth. “I’d be after this scum even if I wasn’t being paid.”
“How do you know he’s here?” Ethan thought of Colin and every other boy that age in the area.
“He doesn’t know he’s being followed and doesn’t seem to care if he leaves a trail.” Zeke stopped. His jaw twitched as he stared him in the eye. “We believe this isn’t the first time the man killed a boy. Since taking on this job, William Pinkerton discovered other instances in the last five years. Each year the boy is a year older.”
“Tell me about your client’s son.” There had to be a reason the man came to Sumpter.
“The father is a big holder in a mine in South Dakota. He’s got a nice wife, three daughters, and he had a son. The first born. Just about broke their hearts when they found the boy.” Zeke narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to find the killer, and so help me—”
“You can’t take the law into your own hands.” Ethan put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. He knew Zeke had a passion for bringing murderers to justice. After their parents and youngest brother were killed, Zeke talked nonstop about ridding the world of murderers. His decision to join the Pinkertons hadn’t surprised him as much as Zeke’s choice of the prick
ly woman he married.
“I won’t. But it doesn’t mean I can’t make the man’s life hell until I get him to a lawman.” The smirk on his brother’s face told Ethan the man would make it to a jail barely alive.
“Do you have a name for this person?” Having been involved in the stamp mill he may have missed some newcomers that arrived in the area the last several months. When he and Aileen ate at Myrle’s he’d noticed a couple new faces. The one stranger he did know about was the conniving Irishman. Just thinking of the man put a foul taste in his mouth.
“Don’t have a name. But he talks with a fake Irish accent.”
“We just hired an Irishman. Orin Healy. I knew there was something about the man…” Ethan wanted to find the man and beat him to a pulp.
“He’s not an Irishman. Least ways that’s what our client’s wife said. She’s Irish and said the man wasn’t a true Irishman.” Zeke scanned the area. “But it wouldn’t hurt for you to point him out to me.”
“He’s easy to find. I have Clay dogging him, learning about the gold recovery process and keeping him away from Aileen.”
Zeke grinned. “I thought there was more going on than her being an office assistant.” He sobered. “But didn’t she kill her husband?”
He shook his head. “No. She didn’t do it. Though if she did, no one should fault her for it. The man was a beast to her.”
Zeke’s eyebrow lifted a fraction.
“Her son can vouch for the beatings. He takes protecting his mother from men very serious. A word of warning, you don’t want to rile that boy. He’s got something simmering underneath I haven’t figured out.”
“How old’s the boy?”
“Twelve.”
Zeke whipped his gaze around to stare him in the face. “Aileen isn’t Irish. What is she?”
“Scots.” Ethan scanned his brother’s blank face. “Why?”
“Nothing. Just keep the boy close. Don’t let him go off anywhere alone.”
“You think…” Ethan couldn’t say it. If something happened to the boy, Aileen would be devastated. The bond between mother and son was strong.
“I don’t know. He’s the right age. We know the man is in the area. Could be your Healy fellow.” Zeke stared at the stamp mill. “Think I’ll go find Clay and get a look at this fellow.”