by Nerys Leigh
“Yes.”
“There was a storm a couple of nights ago,” Grace said. “It washed away some rocks and a bank collapsed. That’s where we found them.”
Mr. Cook nodded. “Well, that would explain why stones this size haven’t been discovered before now.”
Gabriel swallowed. “How much are they worth?”
“As they are now, the smaller I’d put at around one and a half thousand dollars. The larger, two thousand. If you had them professionally cut, however, that value would rise considerably.”
Gabriel was vaguely aware his mouth was hanging open. He glanced at Grace. She appeared no less shocked than he was.
“I can put you in touch with buyers, if you’d like,” Mr. Cook said.
It took Gabriel a couple of tries to get his voice to work. “We have more of them.”
One side of Mr. Cook’s mouth curled up. “Then it looks like you are about to become very wealthy indeed.”
~ ~ ~
It wasn’t until after they had gone to a restaurant to eat and were on their way back to Green Hill Creek that either of them said anything about what had happened at the assay office.
“I still can’t quite believe it,” Grace said.
“Me neither.”
He suspected he wouldn’t believe it until he actually had the money. Things like this didn’t happen to him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something would go wrong.
“Do you think Mr. Fowler’s employers knew, and that’s why they’ve been trying to buy the claim from you?”
That same idea had occurred to him. “I don’t see how they could have known for sure, but I think they suspected. That’s why they’ve been buying all the land around mine. They think there are diamonds in the area.” The thought of how close he’d come to selling made him feel sick. “If it wasn’t for you, I might have sold it. I would never have known those diamonds were there.”
She nudged his arm with her shoulder. “So I suppose marrying me has been worth it after all.”
He wrapped one arm around her and kissed her temple. “Marrying you is the best thing I’ve ever done, and diamonds have nothing to do with it.”
They lapsed into silence, Grace resting against him with her head on his shoulder, just the way he liked it.
“I’m a bad person,” she said after a while.
“Oh? How so?”
A smile spread across her face. “I can’t stop thinking about how jealous Felicia is going to be when she finds out.”
Chapter 25
Gabriel closed the gate to the pasture, slid both bolts into place, and headed for the house with Brutus trotting along beside him.
He looked around as he walked. He was more familiar with everything there than any place he’d lived since he’d left home, but now he viewed it through the eyes of a man who would soon have the means to change it. He had to admit, he wasn’t at all sure what he would do. Improve the barns? Build new ones? Build onto the house? Have an entirely new house built? The possibilities made his head spin.
He’d never even dreamed of having as much money as the diamonds would bring. It was surprisingly daunting. But at least he wouldn’t have to make those decisions alone.
Reaching the open door of the house, he leaned against the frame and watched Grace at the stove. She slid four pancakes from the frying pan onto a plate piled with several more keeping warm on the stove and replaced them with bacon, arranging the rashers around the pan.
Without even thinking about it, he was smiling.
When he’d asked a stranger on the far side of the country to marry him, not having any idea what she looked like or who she really was, he couldn’t have dreamed how his life with her would be, how happy she would make him. Thirty-four years of his life lived in darkness, until he’d met her. Well, maybe darkness was a mite harsh, but that was what it felt like. She’d brought light and joy into his life. She’d taught him what true love was.
Brutus nudged his legs, pushing past him to follow the enticing smell of the bacon.
Gabriel pushed away from the doorframe and walked inside. “Breakfast smells good.”
She glanced back at him. “I thought I’d do something extra nice. A celebratory breakfast.”
He walked up behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and kissed the side of her neck. “I love all your cooking, but I do especially love your bacon and pancakes.”
She turned around in his arms and treated him to her beautiful smile. “I...”
Brutus spun from the stove to face the door, a growl edging past his bared teeth.
“Silversmith! Get out here.”
Gabriel stiffened at Fowler’s voice.
He released Grace and marched for the door, grabbing his rifle on the way. “I swear, if that man doesn’t leave us alone...”
He came to an abrupt halt on the porch.
Fowler stood in middle of the yard, a revolver in his hand. Three other men were with him, all of them armed, all of them holding their weapons.
He heard light footsteps behind him. Keeping his eyes on Fowler and his men, he said, “Grace, get back inside.”
“Unless you want your husband shot, you’ll stay out here, Mrs. Silversmith,” Fowler said.
All trace of his previous counterfeit cordiality had vanished. Gabriel was in no doubt that he would follow through with any threat.
“You leave her alone.” He still held his rifle, the barrel pointed at the ground, for now.
Brutus, hackles raised, stalked to the edge of the porch and growled.
Fowler aimed his gun at the angry dog. “Put the rifle down, Silversmith, and lock the dog up or I’ll shoot it.”
Gabriel tightened his grip on the stock. You didn’t let go of your weapon unless you had no other choice.
Grace wrapped her fingers around his arm. “Please. I don’t want you to be hurt.”
He glanced down at her frightened face and then back at Fowler and his men. There was no way he’d be able to shoot all of them before they fired back. He couldn’t risk her being hurt.
Every battle-sharpened nerve screaming at him not to, he placed the rifle down on the porch then called Brutus. It took three sharp commands before his dog reluctantly obeyed and allowed Gabriel to get him back into the house.
Once the door was closed, Fowler beckoned to them with his revolver. “Now come on down here, both of you.”
“Stay behind me,” Gabriel murmured as he led the way down the stairs to the yard.
Grace’s hand pushed into his. It was icy cold and trembling.
Fowler would pay for frightening his wife.
“What’s this about?”
“I think you know what this is about. Heard you found yourself more than just gold up on your claim.”
Gabriel kept his voice level. “Where’d you hear that?”
Fowler’s mouth curled into a humorless smile. “Let’s just say we have friends in the assay office.”
“Thompson,” he muttered. He’d known it was unusual when he remembered his name. Fowler must have been paying him to look out for Gabriel.
“So now we have a problem,” Fowler went on. “See, those diamonds should belong to the people I work for. They would have, if you’d taken their very generous offer for that land at the start. You know, they only wanted to offer you a thousand, but I persuaded them to make it two. Didn’t figure anyone would turn down two thousand dollars for a worn out claim. But you just had to be stubborn.”
“Seeing as how things turned out,” Gabriel said, “seems I was right to be stubborn.”
“I don’t think so, because now, as I said, we have a problem. My bosses want that claim. They’ve bought up a lot of land searching for those diamonds. Had a geologist or some such do surveys and he said the chances of there being diamonds here were high.” He gave a sharp, hollow laugh. “Of course, it would turn out that they’re on the only piece of land around that doesn’t belong to them. Now they’re not happy, and when they’re not happy
, I’m not happy.”
“Can’t say as I care if you’re happy or not.” He might have been able to reach the nearest of them and get his weapon before any of them could react, but the problem was Grace. How would he protect her?
“Well you should, because now I need that land from you, and since you haven’t exactly been cooperative up to this point we’re going to have to do it the hard way.” Fowler nodded to one of the men with him. “Chavez, take Mrs. Silversmith aside so Mr. Silversmith has some motivation to cooperate.”
“Yes, Mr. Fowler.” He stalked forward, his eyes fixed on Grace.
Gabriel moved between them, fists clenching. He had survived three years of war surrounded by blood and death, and had fought for his life and the life of his friends daily, but he had never experienced such a deep, primal terror as he felt with Grace in danger.
“You stay away from her.”
“Get out of my way,” Chavez growled, now only a few feet from them.
Lunging forward, Gabriel grabbed at his gun and thrust his arm upwards. Chavez tried to shove him away.
Their brief scuffle was brought to an abrupt halt by the sound of a gunshot. Barking erupted from the house.
“Silversmith,” Fowler snapped, lowering his revolver, “if you don’t stop now, the next bullet goes in your wife’s head.”
Gabriel sucked in a breath and looked between him and Chavez. Terrified as he was, he couldn’t win, not like this.
Slowly, he released Chavez’s arm and raised his hands. Chavez rammed his fist into his gut. A shock of pain shot through him, doubling him over, and all he could do was watch, helpless, as Chavez grasped Grace’s wrist and pulled her to the side, pointing his revolver at her head.
“Gabriel!” Her frantic gaze found his and his heart broke at the fear he saw there.
Please, God, he prayed desperately, please protect her.
Straightening, teeth gritted from the pain, he moved his gaze to Fowler. “What do you want?”
“What I’ve always wanted – that claim.” He beckoned one of the other two men forward. “Davis has the papers ready for you to sign to transfer ownership to my employers. Give us that and any diamonds you’ve found and neither you nor your wife will get hurt. Refuse and she dies.”
“No!” All eyes turned to Grace at her cry. Her eyes were fixed on Gabriel. “You can’t. This is your dream.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to think of another way. But there was none. All the diamonds in the world weren’t worth one hair on her head.
Opening his eyes, he nodded once.
“Finally,” Fowler said, motioning to Davis, “you see sense.”
Davis walked forwards, lowering his rifle to reach inside his jacket. Gabriel briefly considered grabbing him when he got close enough, but he rejected the idea immediately. He had little doubt that Fowler would shoot even his own men rather than let anything get in his way.
Keeping as far back from Gabriel as he could, Davis pulled folded papers and a pen from his pocket and handed them over before stepping away and raising his rifle again.
Gabriel scanned the papers. It was a legal document to transfer the claim.
“Just sign at the bottom of both pages,” Fowler said. “Then we’ll leave you in peace.”
Peace. After this, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have peace again. A sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he signed the line at the foot of each page and handed them back to Davis who carried them to Fowler. He nodded to Chavez.
When he released Grace’s wrist, she ran to Gabriel, throwing herself into his arms. He held her trembling body tight and glared at Fowler.
“You shouldn’t have done it,” she whispered, looking up at him. “That claim means everything to you.”
Did she still not know how he felt about her?
He brushed a thumb across her cheek. “You’re worth more to me than all the gold and all the diamonds in the world.”
Her face lit up in awe. “Truly?”
Despite the circumstances, he managed a small smile. “Don’t you know how much you mean to me?”
Fowler interrupted the moment. “Touching as this is, we should be going. Davis and Hinkle, take care of the dog and search the house for the diamonds. Chavez, kill them both.”
Gabriel’s heart hit his throat. “What?”
“You didn’t think I’d leave you alive to tell the authorities, did you? When your bodies are discovered, they’ll just assume bandits came, ransacked this place, and killed the two of you. It’ll be a terrible tragedy.” Fowler’s smirk disappeared as he addressed Chavez. “Do it.”
“With pleasure,” he replied, raising his pistol.
A window shattered and a snarling blur hurtled off the porch, crashing into Chavez and throwing him to the ground. His gun spun away across the dirt.
Gabriel launched himself at Davis, grabbing for the barrel of his rifle. It fired as he shoved it into the air, the sound slamming into his skull. Ignoring his ringing ears, he rammed his boot into Davis’ gut and wrenched the rifle from his grasp.
There was a flurry of movement from the direction of the pasture and Hinkle yelped, pitching forward onto his face. Goat jumped onto his back and bleated.
Too late, Gabriel saw Fowler swing his revolver in his direction.
Another shot ripped through the air.
Fowler’s eyes widened and he looked down at an expanding spot of red on his chest.
For a moment, everything was still.
And then he collapsed.
Grace held Chavez’s pistol, the muzzle still aimed at where Fowler had stood.
Davis staggered backwards and thrust his hands into the air above him. “Don’t shoot!”
“On your face on the ground!” Gabriel barked.
He obeyed immediately.
“Grace, are you all right?”
Turning her eyes slowly to Gabriel, she said in a small voice, “I shot him.” She still hadn’t lowered the gun.
“Yes, you did.”
“Is he dead?”
He glanced at Fowler’s still form. “I don’t know.”
She licked her lips and swallowed. “I don’t want him to be dead, but he was going to shoot you.”
“You did the right thing. You saved my life.” He wanted to take her into his arms and never let go, but he couldn’t do anything until Davis and Hinkle were incapacitated. “Do you think you could get some rope from the barn?”
She moved her eyes from Fowler, finally lowering the pistol. “I... yes. Rope.”
He’d seen enough soldiers experience their first battle to know she was in shock. But, unlike many of them, she hadn’t frozen. She’d responded to the danger, she’d taken action, and she’d saved him. He couldn’t have been more proud.
She started in the direction of the barn. After a couple of steps she stopped, changed direction, and walked slowly towards Fowler. The papers transferring ownership of Gabriel’s claim lay on the ground by his hand, fluttering in the slight breeze. She bent to pick them up, ripped them into pieces, and pushed them into her pocket. Then she picked up Fowler’s gun and resumed walking to the barn. Goat jumped down from Hinkle’s back and trotted after her.
When she returned with the rope, he bound Davis and Hinkle and went to check on Fowler. To his relief, he was breathing. He didn’t want Grace to have to live with the knowledge that she’d killed a man. He knew what that was like and it was the last thing he wanted for her. Of course, Fowler might still die, but he hoped she would never find out about it.
With the immediate danger over, he drew her into his arms and held her tight against him, silently thanking God. “Are you all right?” he whispered into her hair.
“I will be.”
“We’ll take them into town to the marshal. Can you get Fred and Jed ready while I deal with them?”
She drew in a deep breath, looked up at him, and nodded. “I can do that.”
The color was returning to her face. She would be fi
ne. His wife was strong.
“Can someone get this dog off me? I can’t breathe.”
They looked at Chavez where he lay pinned on his back on the ground, Brutus sprawled across him. The window Brutus had crashed through lay in a wreckage of glass and wood on the porch. As they watched, R.B. walked up to them, sniffed at Chavez, and climbed up his shoulder. Chavez’s frantic protestations were swallowed in a mouthful of fur as the kitten sat on his face and sank his tiny, razor-sharp claws into his forehead.
Grace snorted delicately, raising smiling eyes to Gabriel, and he grinned back.
They left the task of freeing Chavez until last.
Chapter 26
When they finally arrived back home, it was past midday.
Chavez, Davis and Hinkle were in jail. Fowler was still with Doctor Wilson, but would be moved into a jail cell when he was done being treated. Deputy Filbert was with him to keep him in line.
The bullet had gone straight through his torso, just missing a lung. Fowler wasn’t out of danger yet, but an inch one way or the other and he would have been dead. When Doctor Wilson told them, Grace had burst into tears.
“I think I might need to build a higher fence,” Gabriel remarked as he brought the buckboard to a halt in the yard. “Now that Goat knows she can jump that one, she’ll probably try it again.”
“She should get extra supper today though,” Grace said.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
She climbed down from the buckboard without waiting for him to help her and started towards the house. All she wanted to do was get back into her home and sit down. The events of the morning had left her exhausted.
Seeing the red patch where Fowler had lain after she shot him, she came to a halt.
She didn’t regret what she’d done. If she could have gone back and done it all over again, she would still have grabbed the gun from the ground when she saw Fowler aim at Gabriel, still brought it up just as he’d taught her, squeezing the trigger as her arm rose. Nothing could make her sorry for saving her husband. But she hoped she would never have to do anything like it again.
Gabriel walked up beside her and touched her arm. “You all right?”