Cash (The Rock Creek Six Book 6)

by Linda Winstead Jones

  She turned away from Cash and walked to the desk, running her fingers along the edge. “You ordered me a stethoscope?”

  “JD said the one you had was rather old,” he said sheepishly.

  “And surgical instruments?”

  “Only the best, and they should be here soon. I sent a telegram to the company in New York and offered to pay double if they’d get the order here quickly.”

  He no doubt wanted to see her settled before he rode away. Nadine turned and lifted herself to sit on the edge of her desk. Her calico skirt swished as she rocked her feet. “I never dreamed I’d have a place like this,” she said. “But, dammit”—she felt her face turn warm, and no doubt quite pink, as she cursed—“I don’t want to trade you for it.”

  He forced a crooked smile. “Trust me, it’s a pretty good trade.”

  She wanted to keep him and she didn’t know how. “I don’t think so,” she whispered.

  * * *

  The rain forced them to take their search indoors. Drops pattered against the hotel walls and on the roof far above, and the place was crowded, since no one could stay outdoors.

  Uncle Jed and Aunt Hannah and all their babies were in the lobby, and just about everyone in town came to see the triplets and wish the new parents good luck.

  They could take the day off, but JD was impatient. The gold was here somewhere, he knew it! Rafe and Teddy were searching for hidden crevices under the lobby stairs, and JD opened the door of the small room where the bathtub was located.

  It didn’t seem like a logical place to hide a treasure, but since they’d looked everywhere else...

  He knocked on walls, trying to be quiet so the people in the lobby wouldn’t hear. Nothing. Teddy joined him, leaving Rafe to continue the search of the section under the stairs, and together they began to examine floorboards.

  The treasure was probably hidden somewhere in the garden, JD thought, and it might take years to find it! He got down on his stomach and squinted to study the boards beneath the heavy tub. Some of the boards had been warped from getting constantly soaked with splashed bathwater, and a couple of them were darker in color than the others. One plank was loose, the end very clearly sticking up above the rest.

  His heart skipped a beat. “Teddy, help me move this tub.”

  Teddy didn’t complain about the weight, but took the opposite end and hefted. They moved the tub over so it blocked the doorway, and dropped to their knees. JD’s mouth went dry as he reached out and grabbed the end of the loosened board.

  The floorboard came up easily, as did the one next to it. Teddy helped him clear away loose boards until a good-sized opening was there for them to peek into.

  Gold. Not just coins, but bars of gold. Quite a few of them.

  Teddy stared at the bars, wide-eyed, for a long while, and then he scurried to the door. “Rafe,” he whispered. “Get in here.”

  Rafe was able to squeeze through the small space. With the tub blocking the door, it could swing open only a few inches. It was quicker to scramble into the tub than around it, and that’s what the kid did.

  “Look,” Teddy said, pointing into the hole.

  It was a special moment, one he would surely remember for the rest of his life. A hushed silence filled the room, and then Rafe let out a holler that rang in JD’s ears.

  “We did it!” Rafe shouted, hopping up and down. “We found the gold!”

  JD looked at Teddy and raised his eyebrows. The kid hadn’t found anything. Teddy just shrugged his shoulders. He had learned to live with the annoyances of a little brother, JD supposed.

  Soon the doorway was jammed with people. People who couldn’t get in. “What are you boys doing in there?” Sheriff Sullivan asked, sounding not at all excited.

  “We found the gold, Pa,” Rafe said, scrambling to the doorway.

  “It’s not nice to tease your old man,” the sheriff joked.

  “We’re not teasing,” Teddy said in a low voice.

  JD and Teddy moved the tub aside, just far enough for the door to swing in. Just about everyone was behind Sheriff Sullivan, since they’d all gathered to coo over the new babies. Jed was there, and the schoolteacher Mr. Reese, and Rico. Even the preacher. Cash brought up the rear, and he had a satisfied smile on his face. His eyes landed on JD, and JD smiled back. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think Cash was proud of him.

  They lifted the bars of gold out of the hole in the floor and handed them along the line and out of the small room, until JD heard a feminine voice, Teddy’s ma by the sounds of it, exclaim and then laugh. Then all the women laughed, and the little girls squealed.

  One of the babies, disturbed by all the excitement, started to cry. Another one joined in, and soon the place was in chaos.

  When the treasure had been removed from the place where it had been hidden for so long, JD and Teddy joined the others in the lobby to stare at the impressive pile of gold.

  JD and Teddy stood side by side, and Uncle Jed came up behind them to place a weighty arm over each one’s shoulder. “One day, these two are going to be my best men,” he said proudly.

  JD smiled.

  “Rafe!” Jed called. The kid was on the floor, his eyes riveted to the gold. “You going to come to work for your Uncle Jed one of these days?”

  “Sure,” he said halfheartedly. “If Ma will let me.” The kid looked up and grinned. “We’re rich! JD gets half, and Teddy gets half, and I get half of Teddy’s half—”

  “Not so fast,” Cash interrupted in a low voice. All eyes turned to him, and everyone grew silent. “When Eden got this place from that old grump, what was his name?”

  “Grady,” Eden whispered.

  “That’s it. When that old grump Grady left Eden this hotel, he said this building and everything in it was hers. That includes the gold.”

  “That is true,” Rico said with a curt nod. “I was there, and I remember well.”

  Mrs. Sullivan looked a little embarrassed. “Well, the boys did find it.”

  Looking at all the gold, JD wondered what he’d do with half of that pile. He didn’t need a big house anymore. And he had a job lined up when he was older and ready. He glanced at Teddy, and Teddy nodded silently.

  “Cash is right,” JD said evenly. “It’s not ours.”

  Mrs. Sullivan stared down at the gold. After a moment, she cocked her head to one side and smiled. “I have been talking about replacing this sofa for years.”

  “A sofa?” Hannah Rourke said with a smile. “You can do better than that, Eden.”

  “Well, we could use an addition to the hotel. I’m afraid we’re about to outgrow this place.” She laid a hand over her stomach. The sheriff smiled. Uncle Jed cursed. “And a new church!” she said, looking at the preacher and his wife. “Oh, we could build a new church, couldn’t we?” She shifted her eyes to the schoolteacher, a tall man who looked nothing like a professor, even holding his youngest daughter in his arms. “And a new school,” she added. “A grand school with lots of new books.” She looked up at her husband. “Is there enough here to do all that?”

  “Twice and then some,” the sheriff answered.

  “Then we’ll set aside money for the boys to go to college,” she said with a nod of her head.

  Teddy grunted and JD winced. “College?” JD muttered. “I don’t need to go to college.” What would a detective need extra schooling for?

  “What if I want to go to college?” Millie asked.

  “And the girls, too,” Mrs. Sullivan added.

  That decided, chaos reigned once again. Everyone talked at once, about plans for the school and the church and the addition to the hotel.

  “Add a billiards table to your list of things this town desperately needs,” Cash suggested.

  “Daniel!” Mrs. Sullivan said, laughing.

  The gunman smiled, turned away, and nodded to JD in what seemed to be silent approval.

  * * *

  The next day was the Fourth of July, and Cash dreaded the co
ming of the celebration and the inevitable leaving. What had possessed him to stay this long? How the hell was he going to leave?

  Tonight Nadine had dressed in her fancy white nightgown. She had no idea that the sight of her in white satin sometimes gave him nightmares, and he would never tell her. Besides, she was so beautiful in that nightgown, she took his breath away. It was enough to make him consider changing his name, shaving his beard, dressing in denim and leather, and putting away his holster.

  But he would never do that. Inside, he would be the same man, and he would not hide from who he had become. He would not run from who he was. Besides, a change of name and clothes was no guarantee that he wouldn’t be found, that his family would be safe.

  He stood by the window, and Nadine came to him. “When will you leave?”

  “The morning of the fifth,” he said. It was the only lie he would ever tell her. Tomorrow night, while she slept, he’d slip away without saying good-bye. It would be easiest, he knew, to leave that way. Like a coward, escaping in the dark of night.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight, looking up bravely into his eyes. “I wish I could convince you to stay,” she whispered.

  He spun Nadine around, unable to look her in the eye any longer, and snaked his arms around her, pulling her back snugly against his chest. “It’s been great,” he said, trying to sound indifferent. “But I can’t stay.”

  Nadine sighed, melted into his chest and his arms. “I know why you won’t stay, but I don’t agree. You can protect us.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  “Maybe that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “With your life and with JD’s?”

  She sighed. “Is it such a bad trade? A father who loves you against the possibility of danger. Besides, you’re right. JD is almost grown. I can’t... smother him forever. If you gave him the choice...”

  Cash’s hand dipped down to lay flat over her belly. “And this one? What kind of a choice will this one have?”

  She held her breath for a silent moment. “How long have you known?”

  “We’ve been lovers over a month, Nadine.” Cash didn’t tell her that he’d known about the baby for weeks.

  He couldn’t explain how he knew, so he kept that information to himself. She wouldn’t understand if he told her the understanding had come to him in the same way he knew when a poker player was bluffing, or when a gun was pointed at his back. “Uninterrupted lovers.” The hand that didn’t press against her belly rose to her breasts and cupped one. “And as of last week, your breasts are fuller. More sensitive.” He laid his mouth against her neck. “Were you going to tell me?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t want to keep you that way. I don’t want to beg you to stay for the sake of the child, and then have you resent us days or months or years from now.”

  It hurt more than he had imagined it could to know another child would grow up and he wouldn’t be around to see it. He hated to leave Rock Creek, but he was grateful to be leaving his family here, where the people would love and care for them, protect them when he could not.

  “If I thought you would be safe with me—”

  “Ask me if I care about living my life safe,” she interrupted, frustrated and close to tears. “Ask me what I want.”

  He didn’t dare.

  Chapter 15

  The day was bright and hot, but the lump in her throat was cold and the celebration was dimmed by the knowledge that come tomorrow, Cash would be gone.

  And she would be left alone with a stubborn, almost-grown child and a baby on the way.

  She hadn’t wanted to tell Cash about the baby for all the reasons she’d told him last night, but she was glad he knew. He deserved to know. He deserved the chance to make the choice to be a part of his child’s life this time.

  But he was still planning to leave. She had felt it in the desperation and sadness that had tinged his love-making the previous night and that morning. Cash didn’t want to go, but he would. And he wouldn’t come back.

  She had too much pride to beg. She was a woman who could take care of herself no matter what the circumstances. But her life would never be the same. How could he ride away from what they had? It wasn’t fair, not to her or to him.

  Kids played games in the street, and tables laden with food and drink had been set up along the boardwalk. Flags flew, and red, white, and blue banners hung from many of the businesses, including the Paradise Hotel.

  JD and Teddy and Rafe, along with a number of the other boys from town and the surrounding area, played football at the far end of town. She heard them shouting, and they sounded like little boys, not treasure hunters, not budding detectives.

  Three Queens had been turned into a family place for the day, and the only drinks the bartender served were lemonade and coffee. Accompanied by Johnny on piano, Lily sang patriotic songs, throwing in a good number of favorite Confederate tunes. Those old war songs were probably not fitting for the occasion, but the crowd loved them. The music and merriment from Three Queens spilled onto the street.

  Eden had prepared a number of pies, and she was not the only one. There was to be a pie-eating contest in the afternoon, Nadine had heard, as well as sack races and a number of other games.

  Cash was here. She had seen him more than once, mingling sullenly in the crowd. But he didn’t join her. He didn’t stand beside her with his arm around her shoulder or her waist, the way his friends stood with their wives. He was determined to protect her, still.

  She didn’t want to be protected. Not from Cash.

  Nadine let the sunshine warm her, she listened with an open heart to the beautiful music, but she couldn’t make herself truly join in the festivities. Today she didn’t feel at all like celebrating.

  * * *

  “Are you lost?”

  Cash turned around to find a smiling Nate descending on him, a baby in his arms, a lightness in his gait.

  “Do I look lost, Rev?” Cash asked coolly.

  “A little. I don’t recall you ever attending one of the town shindigs before.”

  “I do usually make plans to be far away,” he said, squinting at the joyful crowd. “The Fourth of July slipped up on me this year.”

  Cash laid his eyes on the squirming baby, Angelo, in Nate’s arms. He still had a difficult time seeing Nate as a father. “What have you done to your hair?” he asked. “It looks like shit.”

  “I’m letting it grow. And it doesn’t look like shit; you’re just not accustomed to it yet.”

  “I see a little bit of dark hair there,” Cash gestured casually to Nate’s head as he exaggerated a bit, “but I also see a helluva lot of gray. No wonder you kept your head shaved for so many years.”

  Nate just laughed. Laughed! The man Cash had fought, drank, and caroused with was still there. He saw the man he remembered, but he also saw more. A man who was content after a lifetime of discontent. A man who was comfortable with who and where he was. It was downright unnatural.

  He wouldn’t be here long enough to get accustomed to the reformed Nate. Just as well.

  “How come you’re not escorting Nadine around today?” Nate asked casually. “You’re not going to leave her to fend for herself all day, are you?”

  Disheartened, Cash sighed. Was there no one in this town who did not see how he felt? “For God’s sake, the woman is not my responsibility. I’m sure she can fend for herself quite well.”

  Nate scoffed. “Don’t give me that line of bull. I know you too well, Cash.”

  That was the problem. Everyone here knew him too well. And he had never been able to fool Nate. “She’s too good for me.”

  “They usually are,” Nate confided in a low voice.

  He had ridden away without a word before, but this was different. This time he was leaving for good. If anyone deserved to know that, it was Nate. “I’m leaving tonight.”

  He managed to surpris
e the Rev. “Leaving? Why? For how long?”

  Nate was surprised. At least Eden hadn’t spread the news all over town. “I’m not coming back.” It hurt to say the words, so he turned his eyes away from the man who saw too much.

  Nate didn’t argue, at least not right away. Cash felt quite sure there was an argument coming. Drunk, Nate had always managed to have his say. Sober, he was unrelenting.

  “Here,” Nate said, shifting the baby and deftly depositing Angelo into Cash’s arms.

  “What the hell...” Cash said as he tightened his grip on the squirming kid. “What are you thinking? What if I drop him?”

  Nate grinned. “You’ve never dropped anything in your life unless you planned it. I have every confidence that you will not drop my son.” The preacher turned away. “I have to find Jo. Stay right here.”

  “But....” Cash began, but it was too late. Nate was gone.

  Cash stared at the baby. Just like he’d told Eden, a toothless parasite. Useless. Ugly. Much too fragile. Angelo looked at the man who held him with complete and total trust, so Cash could add half-witted to the list of infant qualities.

  Fiona was one thing; she was like a train and could not be stopped. But Cash had studiously avoided being put in this position with any of the babies who sprouted constantly around town. Hands under Angelo’s arms, Cash held it away from him and looked the kid in the eye.

  Angelo looked back, kicked his little legs, and smiled. Hmmm. He hadn’t known they smiled when they were this little. Maybe babies weren’t altogether ugly, Cash decided as he pulled Angelo in a little closer. The big eyes and the fat cheeks were almost endearing.

  Angelo gurgled and grabbed his own ear. Moments later, he reached out and grabbed Cash’s nose.

  “You look just like your father used to,” Cash said softly. “Hardly any hair at all, arms and legs a little wobbly, a great deal of drool on your chin.” In spite of himself, Cash grinned, and the baby reacted by smiling again and kicking his legs. A few blubbering words of nonsense escaped from the kid’s mouth. “And there were many times when he made no more sense to me than you do now.”