lady in my company.”
“I-I’m s-sorry, Duncan. I meant n-no-”
“Then watch what you say.” Briar released his hold, aware that he’d allowed all the tension of the past few days to form the fury of his fist. He was ready to kill the man if necessary, all because he’d slighted the woman he cared about. And care about Mina he did, in a depth he’d let no emotion reach in years. Briar backed way, lest his opponent notice and think he feared completing the threat.
“Your machine’s going off,” Brett Harris announced. “Do I need to call Sam in here to take it for you?”
Briar noticed the hum of the wire, realizing it had been sounding off for a while. He’d thought his rage had taken voice and sang through his veins.
Nathaniel was finally coming home. And with a wife!
“Bad news?” Brett asked.
“No.” Briar placed the telegram to the side and reached for the message Brett wanted to send. “As a matter of fact, it’s good. Things will start getting a little easier around here. Nathaniel’s on his way home tomorrow.”
“Does that mean you won’t need your new telegrapher?” Brett’s question stirred the other men into further comments.
“I hope she sticks around town.”
“I think you ought to keep her on and let Nathaniel help somewhere else.”
“We’ll decide all that when Nathaniel gets here.” Briar didn’t want to hear any more. His head already began to throb with the decisions he knew he’d have to make within the next twenty-four hours. Why keep Mina on after Nathaniel returned? He could let his friend and bride have the house as long as they allowed Violet to keep her room. He could continue to sleep here at the station, until he found some other place for him and Violet. Maybe Nathaniel’s wife would be willing to watch after Violet while they worked. After all, school would start up soon again, and it wasn’t like Violet would be taking up most of her time as it had Mina’s the past two days.
Then again, a new bride might not want to be saddled with watching a child that wasn’t her own.
“Next?” Briar held out his hand for the next missive. He wanted nothing more than for Sam to finish up with that last delivery so he could take over the wire for him. He made quick work of the remaining requests and took in two more messages before his replacement arrived.
“I’m going to run this over to the mayor and check on Violet, then I’ll be back.”
“Still sleeping on the cot?” Sam asked, taking his seat at the wire.
Briar hadn’t told his coworker that he’d not tried to help find Mina another place to stay and didn’t feel like a long discussion now. “Yeah, looks like for a while now. If Nat’s bringing home a wife, they’re going to need a place to stay.”
“That mean Miss McCoy will be looking for one too?”
Add that to another list of his decisions to make. He supposed Violet could share her room until one opened up at the hotel or boarding house. “Women sure do add a whole lot of trouble to a man’s life, don’t they?”
Sam grinned. “Yeah, but they’re worth it.”
“Shut up and wipe that grin off your face.” Briar felt his mood lighten slightly and was grateful that his barrel- chested friend always easily put him in a better mood. He was a family man with six daughters and a wife who could do no wrong in his eyes. He might not have the wealth of some of the others around town, but he was richer than most in other ways. “You’re just spoiled rotten to the core.”
“Uh-huh, and loving every minute of it. You ought to rope that Irish hellion for yourself, laddie.” Sam imitated their coworker’s brogue.
“I don’t need to. She’s already thrown a loop herself and almost got me hog-tied,” he finally admitted to his friend and even to himself. “
Sam’s laughter echoed over the incoming message which reminded Briar that he needed to be on his way to the mayor’s house and to decide just what he planned to do with Miss Mina McCoy.
“And you say Chaplin’s arriving tomorrow?” Mayor Beasley’s face beamed with pleasure. The ceiling fan over the tall man’s head chased the smoke away from the cigar that puffed steadily amid its mooring between his broad span of teeth. The black pin-striped waistcoat he wore nearly swelled to its seams as he puffed his pleasure. “Did Nathaniel say how he got the information?”
“No, but you know Nat. He wouldn’t get you all riled up, knowing how big a fan you are. If he says Chaplin will be on the eastbound, then count on it. That means he’ll arrive late afternoon.” Briar watched the man grab a pen and start writing.
“We’ll need to rouse the Ladies Auxilary and have them fire up their ovens.” His Honor scribbled as fast as he talked. “And I’m sure the churches will allow us to borrow their tables to set up along the platform. We can put up the banners we use for the Fourth, and I’ll have Silas inform the band to polish up their instruments and brush off their uniforms.”
“So we’re going full throttle on this?” Briar asked after he’d heard enough to keep him and the rest of the community up all night making preparations for Chaplin’s arrival.
“Of course, man.” Surprise raised Beasley’s eyebrows almost to his hairline. “It’s not every day a man of his re-known and influence graces our township. Just think of the interest Amarillo will gain once the world knows he’s been given the key to our city. Yes, yes. I deem this our civic duty to make him feel most welcomed.”
“The train only has a thirty-minute stop. He’ll barely have time to freshen up, much less eat or anything else you’ve got planned.”
“At least it will be available to him. Savory food, fine music, and convivial company. He can choose whichever he prefers for that thirty minutes.”
“Then you best let me get started on all of this.”
“My secretary will call the Auxilary. You call the others. Send me a bill for any charges you accumulate. Oh and invite that lovely young lady I’ve seen around town with your daughter. I hear Chaplin appreciates a handsome woman.”
“Chaplin and every man west of the Mississippi, it seems,” Briar muttered on his way out.
Chapter 11
Mina and Violet arrived back from Boot Hill well past sundown. She thanked the preacher for the ride and gently lowered the sleeping child onto her shoulder.
“I’ve never seen her so tired before.” The preacher thumbed back the black slouch hat he wore. “But then I’ve never seen her remain quiet for that long either. She was quite the somber soul this evening.”
“She had a lot to think about, Reverend. Four years of wondering in that little imagination would be an ballyhoo of exhaustion. Now she knows what a grave site looks like and what it means. The lass is too smart and she wouldna stop asking me questions. Better that I satisfied her curiosity about a graveyard than have her stumble over Katie’s grave. But ’tis sure and certain I am, once I tell her da what I’ve done, he will send me on my way. Still, I know I did the right thing.”
“Do you want me to talk to Briar for you?”
“No, Reverend. ’Tis my doing. ’Tis I who will suffer the man’s anger.”
The sound of hammers echoed in the dusk, urging Mina to look past the preacher’s surrey. “It seems some late builders are working this fine Friday night. New kit houses going up?”
The preacher shook his head. “I don’t believe so. I noticed a lot of the striped banners we hang over the storefronts on the Fourth of July are in place. Looks like we may be having a big to-do tomorrow. Though, I don’t remember being informed of such.” He tipped his hat again. “If you’ll excuse me, Miss McCoy, I’ll see you safely inside then I’ll go find out what’s stirred up my flock.”
