Hunter's Moon (Hunter Family Saga; Half-Moon Ranch 1) (10 page)

"Good." Dan turned and positioned himself so he
had, an unobstructed view of the stage. He wanted
to make sure he could see her perform.

Bill turned to wait on other customers. The saloon
was busy, and he was glad. Opal always played to a
full house. He was pouring a whiskey for a man at the far end of the bar when Belle came up to the
bar and signaled for his attention.

"What is it?" He noticed she looked worried.

"I have to talk to you," she said urgently, but kept
her voice low.

"So talk. I got customers to wait on."

"Not here."

Bill finally understood something was really
wrong. "Let's go in back for a minute."

Belle came around the bar, and they disappeared
into the small storage room.

"It's Opal," she began.

"What about her?"

"She's not here, and she's due to go out onstage in
a few minutes," Belle explained.

"Opal will be here," he said. "She came by
earlier this afternoon looking for you, and she
seemed fine."

"She may have been here a while ago, but she
ain't here now," she insisted.

"You checked her dressing room?" He frowned.

"I've checked everywhere. There's no sign of her."

"This isn't like Opal," Bill said, growing
concerned. "She's never missed a performance
before."

"That's why I'm so worried. She would have told
one of us if there was going to be a problem."

"Maybe she got sick and went back to her room at
the boarding house. I'll send one of the boys over to
check."

"Thanks, Bill." Belle was relieved that he was as
concerned as she was. Any of the other working girls
they wouldn't have been worried about. The other
girls were known for their wild ways, but not Opal.
Opal was far different from the rest.

Bill took Gus, one of the men who worked for
him, aside and sent him off to the boardinghouse to
see if Opal was there. He went back to tending bar,
hoping that everything was all right, and that she
would show up on time for her performance. He
didn't need a bunch of drunk cowboys getting angry
at him.

Just a short time before Opal was due to make her
grand entrance, Gus returned. Bill was relieved when
he saw him.

"Well? Is she on her way? What did you find out?
Is she sick?" he asked when they'd gone in the back
room to speak privately.

"I don't know what happened to her, but she
wasn't there."

"What do you mean, Opal wasn't there?" he
demanded. "Where is she?"

"Damned if I know," Gus answered. "The lady
who runs the boardinghouse checked her room and
said it looked like Opal packed up her things and
took off. She didn't realize she'd left until then."

Bill was shocked and troubled by Opal's sudden
and unexplained disappearance. It wasn't like her.
She'd proven herself reliable the whole time she'd
worked for him. He couldn't believe she'd go off without a word-especially since he'd just talked
with her that afternoon.

Disgusted, he prepared himself for the fury to
come as he went out into the crowded saloon to
announce that the show had been canceled.

"I got bad news," Bill shouted out as he climbed
up on the stage.

"What kind of bad news?" one cowboy yelled
back as a rumble of discontent went through the
crowd.

"Miss Opal won't be performing tonight."

The rumble turned to a roar.

"Quiet down, now! The poor woman's feeling
sickly," he lied. "She'll be back performing
tomorrow night. She sends her regards to you."

The roar didn't abate much.

"Tell you what-I'll buy everyone a drink, and
you can toast Opal's health. How's that?" he offered,
desperate to quiet them down.

Their anger abated at the offer of free liquor, but
their disappointment was still obvious.

Bill managed to keep smiling as he served up the
liquor, but he couldn't help wondering what had
really happened to Opal.

"Does Opal do this often?" Dan asked as Bill set
his free drink before him.

"No. As a matter of fact, this is the first time."

"If you'll tell me where she lives, I'd like to go pay
her a visit. I'm not going to be in town for very long,
and I don't want to miss seeing her."

Bill didn't know what it was, but something
about this man bothered him. "Sorry. I don't give
out that kind of information. Come back tomorrow
night. She'll be here."

Dan was furious. He wanted to grab the bartender
by the shirt and beat the information out of him, but
he didn't. Instead he merely smiled.

"I'll do that. I'm looking forward to renewing my
acquaintance with her."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to see you, too."

Dan didn't respond as he took a drink. He didn't
want to wait until tomorrow, but what was one
more day after all these months? He believed he'd
finally caught up with her despite her efforts to hide,
and that was all that mattered.

Dan got another drink and went to join in a
poker game to pass the time. If he was going to be
stuck at the Six Gun, he might as well enjoy
himself.

"Damned shame Miss Opal ain't performing
tonight," one of the men lamented as he anted up.

It sure is. It ain't like her not to show up. She
must be sick, like Bill said," another added.

"I'll bet you she ain't sick," the first man said with
a knowing gleam in his eyes.

Dan listened attentively to their conversation,
hoping he could learn more about her whereabouts.

"Why ain't she here, then?"

"I say she ran off with Andy!" He guffawed.

They all laughed except Dan.

"What's so funny?" Dan asked, suddenly fearing
Crystal had gone away with some man, eluding him
again.

You ain't from around here, are you?" The first
man looked at him.

"No. I'm) ust passing through, but the way you've
all been talking about Miss Opal, she sounds real
special." He pretended not to know anything about
her to find out what these men knew. He hoped
they might be able to tell him where she lived.

"Oh, she's special, all right. We all love her. She is
a very talented lady."

"I see," Dan responded.

"No, you don't see," the man corrected him,
understanding what he was implying and wanting to
set him straight.

"But you just said she might have run off with
some man named Andy."

"Miss Opal is a lady, and Andy... well, he's her
biggest admirer in town, and he's also her oldest. How
old do you boys think Andy is? Eighty? Ninety?"

The other men chuckled in good humor. "A
hundred if he's a day," one replied.

He finally understood their joke. "Oh, well, the
barkeep said she'd be back tomorrow. With all that
I've heard about her, I was looking forward to seeing
her performance tonight."

We all were. I guess we'll just have to satisfy
ourselves with playing poker instead."

It was late when Dan left the saloon and made his way to the hotel where he'd taken a room for the
night. Frustrated though he was by his sister's
nonappearance, he had won handily at the poker
table. He figured that was a sign his luck was finally
changing. He needed some good luck for a change.

The next night Dan went to the saloon early,
ready for the confrontation to come with his little
sister. The Six Gun was crowded again with many of
the same cowboys who'd been there the night before,
and he eyed the poker tables with interest, trying to
decide which game to join.

"So you did stay over to see Opal," Bill
remarked as Dan came up to the bar. Bill had
already made the announcement to his regular
customers that Opal would not be performing that
night, and he didn't look forward to telling this
man about her absence.

"I had the time, and I wanted to see Opal," he
explained simply.

"Well, I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you,"
Bill began.

Dan went still, and the look in his eyes turned
cold. "What kind of bad news?"

"Miss Opal won't be performing tonight, either."

"Why not?" he ground out, barely in control.

"She's decided to take some time off," Bill said,
stretching the truth.

"How much time?" Dan demanded.

Bill had known the stranger would be angry, but
there was nothing he could do about it. He had checked back at the boardinghouse again that day to
see if Opal had returned, only to learn that no one
had seen her. She was really gone.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? Didn't you
talk to her today?"

"No."

"Then how do you know? Where does she live?
I'll go find her myself."

I already told you, I don't give out that
information. Besides, it doesn't matter. Opal is gone."

"She's gone?" Dan repeated. "What do you mean,
she's gone?"

"Just that. She took off."

"Why, you son of a bitch!" Dan lost what little
control he had. He lunged across the bar and
grabbed the bartender by the shirtfront. "You told
me she would be here tonight!"

"Take it easy!" Bill struggled to break free of his
hold.

The customers around them started forward to
come to the bartender's aid.

"Take it easy?" Dan raged back at him. "She's
been gone for more than a day now, and you're
telling me to take it easy?"

"Let him go," one of the customers demanded,
ready to reach for his gun to protect Bill.

Dan gave the bartender a disgusted shove
backward as he released him. He stepped away and
gave him a look of pure hatred. "Where did she go?"

"She didn't tell me-but even if she had, I
wouldn't tell you," Bill said, reaching under the bar
for his shotgun. He brought it up for the stranger to
see. "Get out of my saloon. Now. We don't want
your kind around here. Right, boys?"

"That's right," his customers echoed.

Dan looked around at all the men ready to fight
him, and knew there was no use protesting. He
backed away from the bar and didn't say another
word as he left the saloon.

"I need a drink," Bill announced with obvious
relief in his voice.

His customers laughed and relaxed.

"What was that all about?" Belle asked nervously,
coming to his side.

"He's out to find Opal for some reason."

"Then I'm glad she's gone."

"So am I. I never knew she was in trouble. If I'd
known, I would have done more to help her," Bill
said with regret.

"Don't go feeling bad. You and the boys treated
Opal real good while she was here. And even though
you didn't know it, you did help her. If she was
trying to get away from that man, you managed to
give her a full day's head start."

Bill felt a little better. "Let's just hope one day is
enough of a lead for her. I don't want that bastard to
find her."

"I don't know why you ever started concentrating on
workhorses," Jack said critically as he and Brent
studied the stock in their pasture.

Brent glared at his father as he answered, "I would
think that's obvious. Without them, the Half-Moon
would have gone under years ago."

Jack snorted in disgust. "My plan for the
thoroughbreds would have paid off."

"Your plan for the thoroughbreds nearly cost
us everything." Brent stated the plain
truth harshly. He had known his father's return
was going to be difficult, but he'd never
thought it would be this hard. "If it wasn't for
these workhorses, you'd be homeless right

"From the very beginning, my dream for the Half-Moon was that it would be known for its
thoroughbred racing stock."

Brent was disgusted. "That's a great dream, Pa,
but a dream isn't reality. Reality is paying back
what you owe people and keeping food on the
table." Brent turned back to watch the horses,
remembering those hard early years when he'd
been trying to hold the family together and keep
the ranch going.

Jack looked over at his son. It had been three
weeks since he'd been released from prison-three
long weeks. In all that time, it seemed they'd only
been circling each other-talking at each other, but
not to each other. He'd come to realize that Brent
had grown into a fine man. He was smart with
business and not afraid of hard work.

"Son..."

Brent warily glanced over at him, a bit surprised
that he'd called him "son."

"It probably doesn't mean much to you, but I am
proud of what you've done here," he said solemnly.
"It couldn't have been easy for you."

Their gazes met and locked. For that one moment
in time, all the ugliness of the past disappeared, and
it was the way it used to be between them.

"It's been hard work, but this is our home."

"But with Quince leaving when he did, and Matt
showing up only when he wanted to..." Jack shook
his head in disgust. "We both know how much help
Matt is."

The moment of understanding was shattered by
his father's comment about Matt. Brent had never
understood why Jack was always so hard on his
youngest son. He'd been rough on him even before
Matt had started getting into trouble. Brent
defended his brother. "Matt's helped me a lot."