Dark Journey Home (23 page)

Henry J. Adams, alias Henry Birch, had smiled grimly
to himself, as he watched Olivia.  “It won’t be much longer, my lovely
Olivia.”  He had murmured to himself.  “We were meant to be together, and it
will happen.  Have no doubt about it.  No matter how far you travel, I will
always be right there to receive you to, my heart.  I need you, and of course,
my traveling funds are dangerously low, so the time should be getting near to
our joining.  Be patient, my dear, it will be soon.” 

But of course, Olivia had no idea that Henry was
anywhere near, and was enjoying the afternoon with her friend Maria. 

Back in Lord Claude Beckford’s hotel room, across the
road, the older man had been gazing out of the small window as he held the lace
curtain aside, watching the hustle and bustle of what was going on in the
street below his second floor room.  As he noted Olivia and Maria walking to
the shops, weaving back and forth in between buckboards, horse-drawn carriages,
and men on horseback, his eyes caught the figure of a man dart into a doorway,
then as the ladies had entered the mercantile, the fellow reappeared, glancing
furtively down the road, then began walking down the boardwalk to the opposite
end of town. 

Claude was shocked.  There was no mistaking the
familiar walk, or the out of shape figure of Henry Adams.  Claude wished right
at that time, that Logan and Ricardo would return quickly from the Triple-B
ranch.  Didn’t they have enough problems with the ranch, without the added
peskiness of Mr. Henry Adams?  And just what was he up to anyway?  He should
know by now, that no matter what he did, Olivia would never have a thing to do
with him.  Was he that ignorant, or in his twisted little mind, did he really
feel that he still had a chance? 

Claude walked over to his valise, took out his new gun
belt, strapped it on, and then made sure that the colt six-gun was fully
loaded.  He would keep it at hand at all times now.  Glancing out the window
again, he noted that Henry was almost out of sight, though seeming to be headed
in the direction of the boarding house down the road.  Possibly that would be
where he was staying.

Claude turned away from the window, then heard the
loud rumble and screech of an approaching stagecoach.  He glanced out again,
just as the vehicle came to a stop amid swirls of dust, in front of the
hotel/stage stop.

Several local men ran from the board walkway to assist
passengers, then help in the unloading of valises, trunks, and other luggage
from atop the stage.  It seemed that the arrival of the stage into town drew
much attention.  Even Claude watched from his window on the second floor. He
wondered why little things like this now held his interest, when to be honest
he usually wouldn’t have given the occurrence a second thought.  After all,
Claude Beckford owned a whole fleet of cargo and passenger ships, along with
warehouses situated all over the various ports of the world.

He shook his white head, and chuckled to himself, as
he thought of the flirtatious, red-haired Lulu, and her scheming ways.  If she
only knew.  But then Claude wasn’t the kind of wealthy man who wore diamond
stick-pins, rings, or fancy watches.  Not advertising his wealth, he was a
down-to-earth ordinary chap, though a very attractive older man,  who just so
happened to be a very wealthy man, and he had worked hard all of his years for
what he had, building up a small business to a very large world-wide industry. 

The woman, Lulu, probably thought he was indeed a
western rancher.  Claude could easily buy most ranchers out, ten-thousand times
over, and never blink an eye.  The amount wouldn’t even make a dent in his vast
holdings.  Well, maybe she could flirt with one of the locals.  Surely someone
would appreciate her efforts.  Although Claude ignored society groups of London, he thought it would be funny to thrust someone like Lulu into their midst.  He
chuckled again at that thought.  He had to admit that she was a very colorful
lady, to say the least, if he could use the term ‘lady’ so loosely. 

Well, Claude had had many a close call, along with
much experience in dodging the various techniques of scheming female fortune
hunters, though this lady was much more obvious and forward than most.  Her
track record at keeping husbands at hand wasn’t all that good either.  She must
have been quite hard to live with, to say the least. 

His nephew, Garth, would get a kick out of hearing the
story of Lulu.  He was sure that, given the chance, Olivia would inform Garth
of how she and Maria had to save her helpless uncle from the clutches of the
female ‘fatale’.  They were ready to literally lay down their lives for his
salvation.  Anyway, he had been avoiding the local mercantile, knowing she was
now clerking there, her sister being the owner.

Speaking of his nephew, as Claude watched the
passengers leaving the stage, the first lady to be assisted down from the
vehicle, was a beautiful redhead, and Claude thought she looked a lot like
Bridgett, Garth’s wife. 

“Wait a minute, what the …………”  He breathed.  Then,
“Well what do you know?”  He watched closely as Garth himself, bushy auburn
beard, grinning from ear to ear, exited the rustic stagecoach.

Lord Claude Beckford headed for the door of his room,
hurriedly walked to the stairway after locking the door, then grinning all the
way across the lobby and out the front hotel doorway and onto the boardwalk, he
happily welcomed Garth and Bridgett to the picturesque little town of Coyote
Springs, Texas, U.S.A. 

“By Jove, will you just look at what the gale blew in?” 
He began, as he slapped his nephew on the shoulder, then gave him a big bear
hug.  Bridgett got a hug and a kiss on the forehead. 

“Good to see you too, Uncle.”  Garth laughed, putting
his big muscular arm around his uncle’s shoulders.   

Claude just shook his white head of thick wavy hair,
and said, “How in bloody hell did you two manage to head out west?  Though you
are so welcome, more than you know at this point.  Just as soon as we get you
checked into a room, there is a lot to tell.”

Garth patted his massive abdomen, and said, “I believe
a good meal would be about the first thing that Bridgett and I would like to
order, Uncle.  The menus that were available during our journey here were not
in the best of taste, and I believe that at some stage stops, they just scraped
some of the sawdust off the floor and heated that.  I just hope the meals here
are better.”

Claude laughed, “A nourishing meal is just what you
will get, and yes, the food here at the hotel restaurant actually is better
than to be expected.  Now tell me just how you managed to get here so quick.  I
just received the cable you had sent right after we left, although the clerk at
the hotel desk had held it for me all this time, then almost forgot to give it
to me when we did arrive.”

“Actually Bridgett and I decided to leave right after
you did, and I sent you the first telegram upon hearing about Captain Devlin’s
arrest.  I had kept in touch with the authorities in New York, and then I sent
you another telegram from one of the stops along the way.  We left New York three days after your departure.”  Then Garth continued on a more serious note,
“My instincts are usually right, guess I take after you in that respect, Uncle
Claude, and visiting the ‘wild west’ part of this country just seemed the right
thing to do at the time.  Tell me if I was wrong, and also tell me why you are
still in town, and not at your ranch?” 

“That subject, my lad, shall wait until you two are
settled here, freshened up, and had a good meal.  The dining room here is quite
nice, and we can visit there while we have our after dinner coffee.”  At
Garth’s raised eyebrows, Claude laughed, “Oh yes, I drink coffee here in the
territories, actually more than tea now, although Olivia still prefers tea.”

Garth chuckled deeply, “Actually I prefer coffee also
now, got into the habit after hauling goods from some of those South American
countries, especially the flavors from Brazil.  Nothing like those.  I’ve heard
that the cowhands out here in the west like their coffee strong enough to sink
ships, just as long as those ships don’t belong to either one of us.”  Then he
looked around and asked, “By the way, where’s Olivia?”

“Now wouldn’t you just know that a lady would be
shopping on such a fine afternoon?”  Claude answered.

With a twinkle in his eye, the auburn bearded Garth
replied, “We are not talking about Olivia, now would we be?  Uncle Claude, my
sister would be the last person to be shopping, especially on such a hot dusty
day as this.  She is one of a kind, and not usually taken to shopping, though
if you say so, then I’ll just have to believe you, and although you may think
this is a fine day, I call it ‘bloody well hot’.”

Just then Bridgett leaned over and mentioned, “Isn’t
that your sister crossing the road right now, dear?”

Olivia and Maria had heard the noisy stagecoach roll
into town, and as some of the other customers had done, they had gone outside
to watch as the passengers exited the stage.

That is, they had exited the mercantile after Maria
had finished reciting to Lulu, her favorite recipe for tortilla soup, topped
with crushed jalapeño peppers, amid Lulu’s animated protests that she had
enough recipes to last her for the duration of life on earth.  Olivia had made
a mental note to have another serious talk with her friend.

Once across the road, the two women were delighted to
see that Olivia’s brother and sister-in-law had arrived via the stagecoach. 
Getting situated on Claude’s ranch, the Triple-B would only be a matter of days
now, with Garth here.  Things would work out. 

<><><> 

It was the morning of their fourth day at the ranch,
and Logan and Ricardo had been working hard during their three full days,
though Logan still hadn’t met the ‘supposed’ owner of the spread.  Chester had informed them both the night before, that Holderman needed them out on the
range now.   Most of the mustangs on hand had been broke to the saddle, and the
roundup would begin soon. 

Logan
had been ordered
to head up to the north range, and Ricardo to the southern pastures.  Being
aware that no more progress would be made, and not wanting to be sent so far
from the main ranch buildings, also feeling that they had learned enough for
now, they figured it was time to head back to town with the bit of information
that they had garnered from Hank, the windy cook.  Logan’s friend, Jake, would
be staying on at the ranch, undercover working as a ranch hand, though would
manage to contact Logan in a few days, to set up a time to bring Claude and
Olivia to the ranch.  The time had to be right for Lord Beckford to step in and
take possession.

They went ahead and had breakfast with the remaining
hands at the ranch, nodded a farewell to Hank the cook, and an appreciation for
the good meal, then hurried over to the stable to saddle up their horses. 
After picking up their gear from the bunkhouse, they hunted up Chester to collect their pay, and to inform him that they had to head back to town.  The
job just wasn’t working out for them, and anyway that they only had needed to
make a few extra dollars. 

“Holderman’s not going to take kindly to you two just
walking out on us like this, with a roundup beginning.”  Chester grumbled, as
he grudgingly counted out the few dollars they each were owed, along with a
small bonus they’d been promised for taming the dozen or so, mustangs they’d
worked with.  “You’re lucky you’re getting paid at all.” 

“We said we’d give a day’s work for a day’s pay, when
we hired on.  Didn’t say how many days that would be.”  Logan drawled.  “Anyway,
maybe we’ll be back soon.” 

They were each handed their pay, and Ricardo said,
“This place does grow on a man, Señor Chester.  Maybe we will come back sooner
than you expect.  Who knows?” 

Chester
glared, then
growled, “You won’t be welcome here.  Holderman won’t want you on the place
again.” 

“Señor Chester, for shame.  We are good honest hands,
though we need to return to town for a few days.  Maybe less.” 

“That’s right.”  Logan calmly agreed.  “We will head
back here.  You can surely count on that fact.”

“Guess you boys didn’t hear me well.”  Chester’s temper was flaring, and though he appeared puzzled at the same time, his face
turned red as he stomped back into his office.

Logan
rode out of the
ranch yard, with Ricardo following a few seconds behind.  They didn’t look
back.  If they had, they would have seen Trudy Perkins, the ‘owner’s’ daughter,
watching as they rode out, then running to the stable to saddle up.