Logan forced himself to say, “I’ve spent my whole life in Chicago.”
Jared shrugged in disappointment. “I knew it was a long shot, but I had to ask.”
Logan struggled to calm his thundering pulse. “Do you know his name?”
“No. He was adopted and gone before my parents adopted me. If they ever knew, they forgot.”
Logan had no doubt that he’d found his brothers, but despite the joy that surged through him, he told himself to be cautious. He would wait until he met Colby so he could be sure. Even though he didn’t intend to reveal his relationship, there was no reason why he shouldn’t learn as much about them as possible. It wouldn’t be the same as being accepted as a member of the family, but friendship was far more than he could have hoped for.
“I hope you like your coffee strong. My father taught me to drink it hot and black.”
“Is there any other way?”
Logan had often thought about finding his brothers, but he’d never really considered what they’d be like. He’d assumed they’d be like him, but why should they? They were different men raised by different families with very different lives. Consequently, he was surprised and pleased when Jared settled without hesitation on the fallen log Logan had been using.
“You’ve got a comfortable little camp here,” Jared said. “How long do you plan to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I would appreciate another pair of eyes on my cattle. I can’t afford to lose any to cougars.”
“I haven’t seen any cats. I expect the dog would keep any from staying around.”
Jared looked at the dog, who was still unhappy about his presence. “Do you know if the calves are safe from him? He looks pretty big.”
“I’m sure they will be, but right now he’s too weak to chase anything faster than a three-legged rabbit.”
The coffee had started to boil, so he rifled through his tent for two cups. “I don’t have anything but tin,” he told Jared. “Crockery was too heavy for travel.”
“I was in the army,” Jared told him. “I didn’t eat off of or drink from anything but tin for seven years.”
“What made you decide to go into ranching in the Arizona Territory?”
Jared blew on his coffee. “My last army posting was Camp Verde, which is about twenty miles upriver. I was raised on a cattle ranch in south Texas, which isn’t a lot different from here. So when the Green River Ranch came up for sale, buying it seemed the thing to do. Besides, I was looking for my brothers. My parents went back east, but I figured at least one brother came farther west. It was just luck that I ended up close to Cactus Corner where Colby lives.”
“Did you recognize each other?”
“I was sure when I saw Colby, but he wasn’t convinced. He wouldn’t even consider it until he got proof after his parents died.”
“Are you close now?” Could brothers who’d spent nearly all of their lives apart regain that closeness? Now that he’d found them—if he’d found them—it would be easier just to watch than have his offer of friendship rejected.
“I can’t say we’re close, but we’re good friends. We don’t live near each other, but that’s not the real reason, either. We’re just different people who are busy with our own lives and families. My wife and I own the ranch, and she owns the mercantile in town. Colby transports stuff all over the Territory and as far away as Santa Fe. Still, it’s nice to know I’ve found one brother. I’d hoped to find both, but that was always more of a wish than a possibility.”
Logan wondered how he’d feel if he knew this disfigured stranger was his brother.
“How long ago did you find each other?”
“About two years ago.”
“There’s plenty of time to catch up.”
“I don’t know. Every time we think about doing something together, one or the other of us is too busy. Other times our children are sick, or our wives have a new baby. It looks like we won’t have time until we’re old men and can sit around reminiscing while our grown children do all the work.”
If they hadn’t managed to build a relationship in two years, how could Logan expect to accomplish anything in just a few months? His father and his uncle had never been able to build a relationship, and they had spent their lives in near daily contact. Logan was a commodities dealer who had bought and sold products without ever seeing what he bought and sold. What would he have to share with a rancher or a teamster, men who spent their lives outdoors and in direct contact with the fruits of their labors?
“I didn’t mean to bore you with all this talk about myself,” Jared said. “I just wanted to meet you and tell you that you could stay here as long as you wanted. Do you get into town very often?”
Apparently Sibyl and the others had been able to keep the secret about him shooting the robbers, but he figured it was best if everyone knew he was working with Sibyl. Too much secrecy would only cause problems.
“I plan to go in every day for a while. Mrs. Spencer needed some help understanding her husband’s books. I’ve done a little work in an office, so I offered to do what I could.”
“Is she planning to sell the bank once she figures everything out?”
“I think she’s planning to run it herself.”
Jared grinned. “Good. I hope she’s successful. That will put her father in his place.”
“Why’s that?”
“He has as poor an opinion of Sibyl’s ability to understand business as her husband did. He expected Sibyl to hand everything over to him to run or sell as he saw fit. I hope you have more than a little experience, though. I hope you’re a genius who can turn the bank around. Norman was a good businessman, but he was also an arrogant, interfering snob who managed to alienate just about everybody in town.”
Apparently no one had a good word for Norman Spencer. Why would Sibyl have agreed to marry a man so unlike herself? Surely her father couldn’t have forced her down the aisle, and he didn’t believe Sibyl would have married him just because he was rich. Norman hadn’t been unattractive, but he wasn’t so handsome a woman would lose her head over him.
Jared swallowed the last of his coffee and stood. “I’d better be getting back. I hope you’re able to help Sibyl. I’d like to see her succeed, but she’ll need to find a way to win back some of the customers Norman drove away.”
“She wants to succeed, but she doesn’t want to compete with the other bank.”
“That’s because one cousin runs it, and another cousin’s husband is the primary investor. Sibyl is very loyal to her family.”
Logan valued loyalty to family, too, but it shouldn’t determine how you do business. If his father had been so loyal to his brother that he’d refused to go against him, their company would have been bankrupt years ago. He’d have to help Sibyl understand that. She owed it to herself, her daughter, and her employees.
“Where do you have your accounts?” Logan asked Jared.
Jared grinned sheepishly. “With the competition. Norman was particularly cruel to my wife when her first husband died. That’s the main reason the new bank was formed. Neither she nor I would do business with Norman.”
“But Norman is dead, and Sibyl is your wife’s cousin, isn’t she?”
Jared’s gaze narrowed. “What are you getting at?”
“Since both banks are owned by your wife’s cousins, wouldn’t it be a gesture of goodwill to use both banks equally?”
Jared’s features relaxed. “I’d never thought of that.”
“That’s not surprising with Norman’s death being so recent. But now that you have, I hope you’ll consider it.”
Jared favored Logan with a speculative gaze. “I get the feeling you’re a very clever man. I hope you’re an honest one as well. I’ll talk with my wife about your suggestion, but I hope you
know that everyone in Cactus Corner loves Sibyl. They would be very upset if your efforts to help her were to have any negative effects.”
Logan smiled inwardly. Jared might not have been able to develop the brotherly relationship with Colby he’d hoped for, but he clearly had developed a protective feeling for his own wife’s family.
“I know I don’t look like an upstanding citizen. I live in a tent in the woods with an abused dog as a companion. I’m not in good health, and no one knows who I am, where I came from, or why I’m here. All I can tell you is that my time is my own. I have nowhere to go and no place to be. I offered my help because Sibyl needs it, but I have no plans to stay here. In fact, I’ll be gone before the end of summer.”
“I’m not trying to run you out of town,” Jared said. “Steve likes you, and Sibyl obviously trusts you. And if you’ve managed to win Cassie’s approval, that’s good enough for me. She comes across as flighty sometimes, but that woman can smell a bad apple hidden at the bottom of a barrel. I just want you to know that people will be watching you.”
“Good. I’m glad everyone is so concerned about Sibyl. And I hope you’ll encourage people to give her bank another chance. They’ll get a very different reception.”
“I can’t appear to favor one cousin over the other.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to do that, but it would help if you’d let it be known that things are going to be very different now.”
“No one doubts that. They’re just waiting to see what happens. As much as everybody loves her, they don’t know if she can successfully manage the bank.”
“She’ll do fine,” Logan said. “You just wait and see.”
“Will she let people know that you’re responsible for some of that success?”
“I’m just helping her figure out what everything means. All the decisions will be hers.”
Jared seemed skeptical. “If you’re as good as I think you are, she might benefit from your advice.”
“What makes you think I know anything about banking?”
“There’s something about you that doesn’t fit. You live like a hobo yet you speak with the confidence of a successful man. You’ve already talked me into thinking about supporting both banks equally. Besides, I trust Sibyl and Cassie’s judgment.” He glanced over his shoulder at the dog that was still watching him with unfriendly eyes. “On top of all that, you’ve got a dog with plenty of reasons not to trust anybody defending your campsite like it’s his own. I’d say that speaks well for your character.”
Logan ached to tell Jared they were brothers and that he’d do everything in his power to be worthy of his respect and friendship, but he didn’t want to start something he couldn’t finish. He would do everything he could to help Sibyl. When they learned after his death who he was, they’d have reason to think well of him without having to deal with his illness and death.
“I’ll talk to my wife about your suggestion tonight,” Jared said. “I may be able to let you know tomorrow.”
“Tell Sibyl, not me—but don’t let her know I had anything to do with it.”
“Why?”
“I feel more comfortable not taking credit for something she would have thought of once she got over the shock of the robbery and Norman’s death.”
Jared looked like he was about to say something when a thought made him stop and regard Logan with a curious expression. “You wouldn’t be the stranger who shot all the thieves, would you?”
His question stunned Logan. “Why would you think that?”
“Sibyl says he was a stranger who disappeared before everyone came rushing into the bank. She says she was so shocked she never really got a look at him. As far as I know, you’re the only stranger in town.”
“Do I look like a gunman to you?”
“I doubt he was a gunman. I’d say a marksman was more likely.”
Logan was glad to know his brother was intelligent, but he didn’t like what Jared was doing with that astuteness at the moment. “No doubt you’re right,” Logan said. “That means it was probably someone who’d been in the army. You said there was a fort not far from here.”
“I never met a soldier who wouldn’t have been eager to take credit for a feat like that. They’d have been after a reward, too.”
“Maybe it was a retired soldier who didn’t need the money or want the notoriety.”
“Or maybe it wasn’t a soldier at all. Sibyl, Cassie, and Horace say they can’t describe him, but I don’t think they’re telling the truth.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Sibyl and Horace can tell a lie with a straight face, but Cassie is as transparent as glass. A child could tell she was lying.”
“Why would they pretend they couldn’t describe him? You’d think they’d be eager to tell everyone what the man looked like and who he was.”
“That’s what you would think, which makes them doing the opposite intriguing.”
“Well, I’m sure they have their reasons. When the time is right, I expect they’ll tell you what they know.”
“We’ll see. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a stranger who’s handy with a gun. Until then, I’ll be keeping an eye on you. A friendly eye,” Jared added. “Like I said, Steve likes you, and I trust the boy’s instincts.”
“I liked him, too,” Logan said. “He seems to be a fine young man.”
Jared turned to the dog, who had never taken his eyes off him. “Have you given him a name?”
“He’s not mine. Why should I name him?”
“I think you’re his,” Jared said. “You might as well give him a name. Dog seems an unappreciative way to refer to such a staunch friend.”
Jared mounted up. “Why don’t you drop by the ranch sometime? I’d like you to meet my family.”
“Why?”
“Why not? Do you have anything against meeting new people? My wife loves company. She says the ranch is too far out for most people. She keeps threatening to move back into town.”
“I’ll think about it, but it’s usually late by the time I get back from the bank.”
“Then come for supper. Laurie is a great cook. That’s the main reason half my men still work for me.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll send Steve to persuade you.” He rode away before Logan could respond.
Logan watched him go, pensive.
Jared had too much of what Logan had missed in life—a wife, children, friends, and a focus in life other than work. He wondered if his father had missed those things. Did adopting a son make up for everything else? Would he have gone through life thinking of little beyond work if he hadn’t gotten sick? Was one of the reasons he had been willing to marry Bridgette—despite knowing she didn’t care for him—that she wouldn’t distract him from his job? He couldn’t answer those questions, but he did know that getting sick had changed all the answers.
“I suppose being beaten so badly changed things for you, too,” he said to the dog. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be willing to spend your time in the woods with me.”
The dog whined and moved closer. He didn’t appear ready to come within reach, but he seemed willing to trust Logan. At least as long as he fed him.
“Would you like a name?” he asked the dog. “I suppose you already have one, but I don’t know what it is. I guess a new life deserves a new name. What do you think?”
The dog whined and crept a little closer.
“How about Trusty? It’s not very imaginative, but it’s something that’s important to both of us.”
The dog dipped his head and whined, but he didn’t move any closer.
“I don’t blame you. I’d never hurt you, but I’m not the person I thought I was. I wonder if any one of us is.”
The dog just watched him.
“How about I fix something to eat?
After that, we can go hunting. Would you like that?”
The dog’s tail thumped against the soft earth.
“I thought you would. Always thinking about your belly. Come on. I’ve got a little deer meat left.”
He headed to where he’d stored the meat in a bear hang, the dog padding after him.
* * *
Bridgette waved a telegram in Dr. Pittman’s face. “The Pinkerton we sent found him just like you said he would, but he refuses to come back.”
“I didn’t expect he would.”
James had come to take her to the opera. For the occasion, Bridgette was wearing her new Worth gown made of pink silk. The skirt and muslin overskirt were trimmed with a plaiting of white French muslin headed with a Valenciennes insertion. It had a cuirass bodice and muslin sleeves. It had cost her far more than she could afford. If Elliot couldn’t be convinced to return to Chicago and marry her, she’d soon be out of money.
“Why not?” she asked. “What reason could he have for staying in a place like Cactus Corner? That sounds like a desert.”
“I doubt it matters to him where he is,” the doctor said.
“But he’s got one of the biggest houses in Chicago. He’s got a cook, maids, a butler, and goodness knows how many more people to look after him. Who will take care of him in a place like that?”
“He thinks he’s going to die. Maybe all that doesn’t matter as much to him now.”
Bridgette frowned. “You sound like you sympathize with him.”
“I’m only trying to put myself in his shoes, imagine what he is thinking.”
Bridgette flounced across the room, dropped onto a sofa, and fanned herself vigorously. “While you’re at it, imagine what will bring him back to Chicago.”
“I don’t think anything will except you.”
“Me! Why not you?”
“You’re the one he was supposed to marry.”
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