“Here it is,” Percy said, taking in the town with a sweep of his arm. “What do you think?”
“It’s very . . . small,” Sara Sue said.
“Well, yeah, maybe so, but that just means you’ll get to know everyone. Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of my friends before we go out to the ranch.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sara Sue said. “We’ve been on the train since five o’clock yesterday morning. I must look a mess.”
Percy laughed. “Darlin’, if you was covered in mud right now, you’d still be the most beautiful woman in Chugwater. You’d better come on, now, because once we reach the ranch we won’t be coming back into town that often.”
Sara Sue smiled and put her hand to her hair. “All right,” she said. “At least I’m not covered with mud,” she added with a laugh.
The first place Percy took her to was Fiddler’s Green. Sara Sue hesitated just before they were about to go in.
“Percy, isn’t this a saloon?”
“Yes, but that’s all right, because it’s almost like some sort of fancy club. Nice ladies come in here all the time. Miss Meagan comes in here, ’n there’s not a lady with more quality in the whole town than Miss Meagan.”
“Oh?” Sara Sue said, lifting an eyebrow. “Should I be worried about your Miss Meagan?”
Percy laughed. “Darlin’, you don’t need to be worried ’bout no other woman in the whole world. ’N anyway, she ain’t ‘my’ Miss Meagan. She belongs to Mr. MacCallister.”
“Are you talking about the MacCallister who is our neighbor?”
“I sure am. There ain’t no finer man anywhere than Duff MacCallister.”
“I can’t wait to meet him.”
“I expect you’ll be seeing him real soon. But for now I want you to come on in and meet Biff Johnson. He’s another real good man.”
Percy led Sara Sue into the bar, and Biff, who was talking to one of his lady servers looked up, saw him, and smiled.
“Percy Gaines,” he said, starting toward him. “Welcome home, my friend, welcome home!” He smiled at Sara Sue. “And so this is your new bride?”
“Biff Johnson, I would like you to meet Mrs. Sara Sue Gaines.”
“Mrs. Gaines, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Biff said with a broad and welcoming smile. “Percy, she is every bit as beautiful as you said she was. Please, come join me at my table.”
“Oh my,” Percy teased. “Sara Sue, you must have really made an impression, because Biff doesn’t invite just everyone to his special table.”
“That’s only part of it,” Biff said. “Mim?” he called back to the girl he had been talking to when Percy and Sara Sue came in. “A bottle of champagne for the newlyweds.”
“Champagne? I don’t know,” Percy said. “I’ve never had any champagne before, I don’t know what it tastes like.”
“You’ll like it,” Biff promised.
A moment later Biff popped the cork to the squeal of delight from Mim, who was standing by. He poured the champagne, then held the goblet out in a toast toward Percy and Sara Sue.
“To a fine young man, and a beautiful young woman, may your days together be long and fruitful.”
They drank their toast, then the smile left Biff’s face and he grew more serious.
“Have you heard from anyone here while you were gone?”
“No, why?”
Biff shook his head. “Things aren’t going well. Houser has laid claim to all the open range in the valley, and he has cut off water supply to half a dozen of the small ranches.”
“There’s nothing he can do to me. I’ve got enough grazing area that I don’t need any of the open range, and the Bear and the Little Bear creeks that I use for water come from Sky Meadow.”
“Are you about to go out to your ranch now?” Biff asked.
“Yes, I parked my buckboard down at the livery. I figured I would need it to carry all of Sara Sue’s things, and I was right. I think she brought half of Kansas City with her,” Percy teased.
“Duff asked me to tell you if I saw you, to stop by Sky Meadow before you went out to your place.”
“Oh, I’ll do that for sure, because I want him to meet Sara Sue,” Percy said. “But I’d rather do that later. Right now I’m anxious to get back home, and I’m anxious to show off the place.” He smiled at Sara Sue. “I can’t wait until you see it.”
“No, you don’t. Listen to me!” Biff said rather sharply. “I’m telling you, that you need to go see Duff first.”
“What?” Percy asked, surprised by the sharpness of Biff’s words. “Biff, what is it? What has happened?”
Biff was quiet for a moment.
“Percy, please, don’t go home now,” Biff said, now his words soft and pleading. “Because if you do, you’ll see that there is nothing to go home to.”
Percy felt a hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach, and a light-headed dizziness.
“Biff, please tell me what happened.”
“Your house is gone. It burned down.”
“What? You mean it caught on fire and there was nobody there to stop it? I thought Mr. MacCallister was going to have someone watch the place for me while I was gone.”
“There was someone there, Percy. Sam Kirk was there.”
Percy nodded. “Well, Sam’s a good man. I know he would have prevented the fire if he could. But what happened to Ollie? I thought Ollie Keegan was the one who would be watching out for the ranch.”
“Ollie Keegan was killed the very next day after you left.”
“Keegan killed? Who killed him?”
“Nobody knows. And about your house, Percy, it was no accident. It was arson. And they found him—Sam—shot dead, lying on the ground outside what was left of your house.”
“What? Ollie and Sam both killed? At my place?”
“Yes. And Percy, I think there is
