Tamera Alexander - [Timber Ridge Reflections 01] (32 page)

Her smile faded. “No.” She shook her head. “I’m just the daughter of a real important man.”

Daniel waited on the boardwalk outside the sheriff ’s office. He rubbed his face and sighed, tired from lack of sleep. Beau rested at his feet.

Over an hour had passed since he’d escorted Elizabeth inside to speak with James. She’d looked frightened. James was a man you wanted on your side at times like this, but he hadn’t faulted her for being nervous. One thing you didn’t want to do to James McPherson was lie.

The door to the sheriff ’s office opened and Beau jumped up.

James closed the door behind him, looking as tired as Daniel felt. “Willis is going to stay with her awhile, and Lyda Mullins is bringing her some lunch.” He motioned. “Let’s take a walk. I think better when I move.”

Daniel fell into step beside him, and Beau followed without command. James set out on what used to be their customary route.

“I feel better keeping Miss Westbrook in my office than letting her walk around town right now.”

Daniel slowed his steps. “Do you think she’s in danger?”

“Not with us watching over her. But talking to her just now makes me think that whoever was in her room yesterday was looking for something. Oh, they took her money, all right, but I don’t think that’s what they went there for.” James looked over at him. “Did you know she took another picture of Coulter’s body?”

It took Daniel a second to track with him. “You mean besides the one Turner printed in the paper?”

James relayed what Elizabeth had told him, and as Daniel listened, it struck him that she really was a reporter, just like Turner. No, that wasn’t fair. She was nothing like Drayton Turner. Elizabeth might share a similar curiosity, but he couldn’t imagine her printing some of what Turner had published in his paper in recent months.

Beau ran on ahead and with a whistle, Daniel encouraged him back. “Can she get you that first photograph?”

James paused at the edge of Maroon Lake. “She’s wiring her employer at the
Chronicle
today to ask them to send it back. It might take two or three weeks, she said. But that’s one picture I want to see. I talked to her about Josiah too. I’ve got a telegram on its way to a judge in Tennessee. If anything doesn’t check out about Turner’s story, we’ll know it soon enough. Turner says that what he printed about Birch is true.” He stooped to pick up a rock, then hauled back and threw it. It angled sideways over the water—one, two, three skips—before plopping full under the surface.

Well-chosen stone at the ready, Daniel followed suit. One, two . . . five, six. His stone skimmed farther across the lake, leaving barely any wake. He heard a snort of disgust beside him.

“How do you do that? You’ve always shot farther and thrown longer than anyone I know.”

“I had to have something. You could outwrestle me and every other man in Tennessee.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything, and Daniel’s thoughts centered on Elizabeth and what she would do next. She obviously wouldn’t be going on the expedition, which was a good thing in his mind. It was a dangerous undertaking. Not for the weak of heart—or lungs.

Standing there, a familiar sense of ease settled between him and James.

“It’s good . . . to be doing this again.” James gestured between them. “It’s been too long.” He stared out across the lake. “Which makes what I have to say all the more difficult.”

Daniel attempted to read his expression, and couldn’t.

“When I became sheriff, I took an oath to do everything in my power to keep the people of Timber Ridge safe. And it’s not safe for Miss Westbrook or Josiah to be in this town right now.”

“So send her to Denver for a while. Josiah too. Until things blow over.” As soon as he’d said it, Daniel realized he hadn’t suggested sending her back to Washington. And from the look James was giving him, so had he.

“I could do that. But I’ve spent quite a while talking with her just now, getting to know her better, weighing her options . . . and only one makes any real sense to me. And, for what it’s worth, I talked with Josiah earlier, and he’s in agreement.”

The moment seemed to hang.

Realization crept over him and Daniel shook his head. “No . . . James. I won’t do it. I’ve already told her I wouldn’t take her, and I gave her my reasons.”

“I’m not just thinking of her, I’m also thinking of you. Have you considered that her father’s a U.S. senator? You’ve been writing those letters for how many years now? Three . . . four?”

“Seven. But I’m not going to use her just to get to her father.” Though that thought
had
occurred to him.

James frowned. “I’m not suggesting that and you know it. I’m asking you to use this opportunity. Show her the territory. Let her know what you’re trying to do. You’ve said yourself, countless times, ‘If those people in Washington could only see this land, they’d do something to protect it.’ Well, let them see it! She can do that for you. And she would, if you’d just ask her.”

Daniel raked a hand through his hair. He couldn’t believe they were having this discussion. “Even if she got there, she has no camera. There’s no reason for her—”

“We’ve already worked that out. Timber Ridge has wanted a school for a while now, and it seems her father is sending everything but a teacher. He’s already provided the books and slates, and Miss Westbrook tells me furniture is on its way. Seems only right that the town should buy her a camera and some equipment in exchange for all that. We’ll order the camera and supplies from back east—then all we’ll need is to find a way to ship it from New York to Mesa Verde.”

The freighter he’d recently met came to mind, but Daniel wasn’t about to mention him. “You saw her last night, James. She’s not healthy enough to make the trip, and neither is Josiah.”

“You may be right about Josiah. The doctor seems to think it’s possible he could travel. He’ll make the call when the time comes. But Elizabeth is determined to do this, and I think she can. What’s more—” James laughed softly—“I want to help her do it.”

“Then you take her!”

James shot him a look. “Brookston thinks her problem yesterday was the chemicals in the room. Keep her away from the concentrated fumes and that shouldn’t happen again.”

Though he was out in the open, Daniel felt as if walls were closing in on him. “It’s too hard a trip. Too risky for someone like her.” He scoffed. “I don’t even know if she can ride!”

James turned to face him. “You know . . . you’re not the same man you used to be. You used to claim you could hunt anything, climb anything, teach anybody to do the same—and it wasn’t a lie. You could. But now—” Something akin to pity clouded his eyes. “Now you seem scared of stepping too far from your own shadow.”

James always had a way of getting to the truth. It was infuriating at times, like now, and heat poured through Daniel as he recalled a childhood wish. To be able to knock James McPherson—just once—flat on his face.

“What are you afraid of, Daniel?” James asked the question as if he already knew the answer.

“I’m not afraid of anything.” Daniel’s throat tightened and he turned away.

“You know these mountains better than anybody. You’ve made the trip to Mesa Verde several times.”

“By myself!” Too late, Daniel realized what his quick response had revealed.

The ripple of wind over water filled the empty space between them.

“So that’s what this is about. Still . . . after all these years . . .”

Daniel looked anywhere but at James. “I won’t be responsible for something bad happening to her, James. Josiah either.”

“I could stand here and tell you that nothing bad’s going to happen. That you’ll all get there safe, but we both know that may not be the truth. But I do know this—if anything happens along the way, it won’t be due to your negligence or lack of experience. Elizabeth and Josiah couldn’t be in better hands. Why do you think I’m entrusting you with this?”

Daniel stared out over the partially frozen lake, glad he didn’t have to respond.

“The war is over, Danny,” James whispered. “You’ve got to find a way to move past what happened back there.”

Daniel shook his head, hoping his voice would hold up. “You think I haven’t tried?” He winced. “I still see Benjamin’s face . . .
every day
. Him looking up at me for the last time. I carry that inside me, James. That and my mother telling me, over and over, not to let anything happen to him.”

A frosty breeze carrying traces of pine caused Daniel to turn up the collar of his coat. He willed his friend beside him to hear the silent question he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

James studied his boots for the longest time. “I wish I could tell you that I put all that behind me, Danny. But I still carry it with me too, every day. It just doesn’t rule me anymore like it used to. At first, I cried so many tears I wondered if I was still a man. But it was either that or . . . stay there on that battlefield in my mind, lying among my fallen brothers. Except they only died once, Danny, with glory and honor. You’ve been dying every day since then, holding on to the past, to something you can’t change. Let Benjamin’s death mean something. Be the man he saw in you, the man who he loved.” James’s tone grew more resolute. “And about Miss Westbrook . . . I’m not asking for you to do this anymore. I’m relying on your honor.”

Recalling the debt was like a knife in Daniel’s gut. “You know that doesn’t count for this. It can’t.”

James laughed softly. “You mean your honor has limits now?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“Your pledge years ago was that if I ever needed anything,
anything
, you’d be there. And I need this. Because I can’t afford to have something go wrong. Not like it did before in this town.”

Daniel knew what he referred to. He could probably see the graves from where he stood if he turned, but he didn’t.

“Rachel and the boys depend on me now. That’s a burden I willingly took on. I love my sister, and I love those boys. But trying to enforce the law in a place like this while having the responsibility of a family . . .” Sincerity layered James’s voice. He’d never been one for anything less. “That gives some people a target. I’m fine with them coming after me. I knew that risk when I took this job. But if my trying to protect someone else resulted in anything happening to one of them, I don’t know what—”

“I’ll do it,” Daniel whispered, only too aware of the price Thomas and Rachel, and their sons, had already paid for their decision to move west, and at his encouragement, no less. “But if Elizabeth Westbrook shows the least sign of being unable to make this journey—same for Josiah—or if the passes are too risky, I’m turning back. I’ll take them to Denver and get them situated there.”

James held his stare. “Agreed.”

As they walked back to James’s office in silence, all that could go wrong on such a journey ran through Daniel’s mind. He didn’t know what he would do if something happened to her along the way. Elizabeth Westbrook already meant more to him than any woman ever had, and far more than he’d ever imagined she would.

29

S
he stared up at him with eyes the fragile blue of a robin’s egg, frowning as if she thought she’d misunderstood him. “So . . . you’re taking me?”

“I am.” Daniel detected suspicion in the way she glanced at the door, then back at him. And it only fed his irritation.

“Is Sheriff McPherson forcing you to do this?”

“It’s my choice, Elizabeth.” He moved to James’s desk.

“But you told me you wouldn’t. Remember that day when you said leaving early was a bad idea. I—”

“The reasons I gave you before for not wanting to leave that early in the season are still valid. And leaving a week earlier is even worse. But circumstances have changed, so we’ll adapt. Where are your supplies being stored?”

“In Ben Mullins’s back room.”

“I need a list of everything you’ve already purchased. Once we leave Timber Ridge, it’ll be two weeks before we pass another settlement. And it’s not really a town, more of a miners’ camp, but they sometimes have supplies, depending on how long it’s been since the freighter came through. Do you have gloves?”

She nodded.

He looked at the pair lying atop her reticule. “Other than those?”

She shook her head.

He picked up the quill and a piece of paper. “From there, it’ll be another two weeks until we reach Mancos, which is near the cliff dwellings. So whatever we need, we take. Or we do without.”

The delicate lines around her eyes and mouth framed her smile, and chipped away at his frustration. “I promise I’ll follow your lead, Daniel, like I said I would. I won’t be difficult and I won’t complain.”

He dipped the quill. “May I have that in writing, please?”

She slipped it from his hand. “The list of what Hawthorne purchased is in my room. Should I contact him about not—”

“I’ll do that. If there’s anything you can think of that you need, write it down. Starting with gloves. We’ll go to the store first, then to your room at the boardinghouse, then to check on Josiah. We’re staying with James and Rachel for the night, and we leave at daybreak. Do you know how to ride?”