Shadow of Legends (13 page)

Abigail folded her arms across her thin chest. “Mr. Dover, you require me to make a decision that will drastically affect my daughter for the rest of her life. I do not consider such a proposal lightly. I appreciate the counsel of such friends as the Fortunes. However, if that is unacceptable, I could arrange to have my attorney present at this discussion.”

“Oh . . . no . . . ,” Dover mumbled, “it's not that I don't . . .”

“Perhaps Judge Bennett is home.” Rebekah patted her husband's knee. “Todd, would you step down and ask the judge to sit in on this?”

Dover wiped perspiration from his forehead with a white linen handkerchief and shook his head. “No, no . . . that won't be necessary. I just want to keep everything confidential, out of respect for all involved.”

Todd stretched out his legs in front of him. The more he relaxed, the stiffer Dover became. “I assure you, my wife and I can be trusted to keep things private,” he said.

“Me, too . . .” Dacee June echoed from the porch. Her words caused Dover to twitch all the more.

“Perhaps I can make all of this easier,” Abigail announced. She stood, then laced her fingers together in front of her narrow waist. “I have considered Dr. Gordon's proposal and find it unacceptable, Mr. Dover. So, there is really nothing to discuss, nothing to keep secret.”

“I believe that is a decision you will regret,” Dover stammered.

“If it is, I will learn to live with it, as I have other decisions that I regret. However, I believe this is one that will produce no remorse.”

Dover's round, bearded face flushed. “Dr. Gordon said that you might very well turn him down and, therefore, he has authorized me to offer you ten thousand dollars, instead of five thousand.”

“What?” Abigail gasped.

“It is a generous offer beyond all necessity. It reflects Dr. Gordon's sincere compassion and mercy.” He smiled as if in triumph.

Rebekah Fortune marched over to the grinning attorney. “Mr. Dover, your presence in our home is a disgrace! I must ask you to leave immediately, and you are not invited to return.”

“What? You're throwing me out because I made a better offer?”

“I'm throwing you out, Dover.” Todd joined his wife. When he did, Dover grabbed up his coat as he scurried to the door. “You came to town to barter a daughter's future with her father. You offered a cut-rate amount to see if you could save money. When there were no bargains, you upped the ante like a poker game. I believe Mr. Lincoln abolished the buying and selling of humans years ago.”

“What are you talking about? This is not slavery. This is a business deal.”

“Not to me, it isn't,” Abigail stormed over next to Rebekah.

“What's wrong with putting into writing what is already in practice? Dr. Gordon has no contact with the child now.”

“That's a fact he will have to live with. If he wants to come discuss this with me in person, he may do that.”

“He doesn't have time to . . .”

“People have time to do anything they choose,” Abigail snapped.

“But, if you turn this down, little Amber will never get one penny from Dr. Gordon. You are condemning her to a life of poverty.”

“As long as I have breath, she will not live in poverty,” Abigail corrected.

“Dover . . .” Todd nudged the man to the front door with his clenched fist jammed in the man's stomach. “If you or the good doctor thought there was absolutely no chance of Amber receiving part of the Gordon inheritance, you would never have traveled this far and made this offer. Obviously, you are worried about something.”

“Ten thousand dollars is a lot of worry,” Dacee June called out from the porch.

“This whole matter is preposterous! I came in good faith trying to help a young child and . . .”

“You came trying to save money, Dover. Good day. I would appreciate that while you are in Deadwood you would avoid our home, our store, and especially hassling Mrs. Gordon.” Todd led the man down the steps to Williams Street and watched as he ­descended the steps to the end of Wall Street. “Remember, Mr. Dover, this is the frontier. Justice is swift and thorough for those who harangue women and children.”

“Are you threatening me?” Dover snapped.

“You are much wiser than I've given you credit for.”

When Todd returned to the house, Dacee June had led the children back into the parlor.

“What have I done?” Abigail sighed. “I'll never save up ten thousand dollars in my whole life.”

“You've done the right thing,” Rebekah counseled. “Amber needs to have a chance to choose whether she knows her father or not. I'm sure it is what the Lord would want you to do.”

Abigail took a deep sigh and slumped her shoulders. “It's not easy. Sometimes doing the right thing is just a strain. I can't believe I just said good-bye to ten thousand dollars.”

“There are still some things money can't buy,” Todd reassured her. “It is a lesson that both the doctor and the counselor at law needed to be reminded of. If this is as big a concern as it seems, I believe you have not heard the last of Dr. Gordon.”

Abigail fingered her rings. Todd noticed for the first time a gold wedding band.
She still wears her wedding ring?

“You mean, he'll make another offer?” she questioned.

“I'm not sure of that,” Todd replied. “But you said you'd discuss it with him if he came in person.”

“He won't come. He doesn't care two figs about Amber. He was highly insulted when she wasn't a boy. He never took any interest in her . . . or me . . . after she was born.”

“He might not come for her sake,” Rebekah offered. “But he might come to settle financial anxieties.”

“I wish Amber was here right now,” Abigail murmured. “I need a hug.”

Rebekah swung around and pulled Abigail to her. “It's not like hugging your Amber . . .” Abigail Gordon threw her arms around Rebekah and held her tight.

It was after dark when Todd hiked up the stairway to his house on Forest Hill. Every bone in his body ached. Each step seemed to tug at his thighs and calves. His right shoulder was trying to cramp, and he kept swinging his arm to find a more comfortable position. Draped across his left arm were his suit coat, vest, and black tie. His white cotton shirt was unbuttoned at the top. The sleeves were rolled to the elbows.

He opened the front door slowly. Dacee June sat on the parlor floor reading a book to two children who seemed to be fast asleep on a blanket at her feet. She waved to him but kept reading in a soft, low voice. Todd walked lightly toward the kitchen where Rebekah was washing dishes.

“Evening, Mrs. Fortune,” he said.

Rebekah pulled her hands out of the dishwater and began to dry them on a tea towel. “You had a long day.”

“I hope Carty made it up the hill to warn you that I'd be late.”

“Yes, he said the steel plating came in and you needed to deliver it to the mines.” She took the clothes from his arm and laid them across the back of a kitchen chair.

“Only half the order arrived.” Todd opened the lid on the coffee­pot and peeked inside. “So I split it among the three biggest customers.”

“Were they happy about that?”

“Partially. They all need the remainder of the plating.” He slumped into one of the kitchen table chairs. “We're a long trail from suppliers, no matter what direction you travel. Someday the railroad will finally decide that Deadwood is here to stay and they'll build a line to us. Then we can get things more quickly.”

She started to say something. Instead, she turned back toward the counter and retrieved a plate. “I'll fix your supper. I hope you didn't mind if we went ahead and ate.”

“Of course not. What were you going to say?” he prodded.

“About dinner?”

“About something else.”

“Nothing.”

“Rebekah?”

“It was a foolish thought about railroads.”

“You were about to say that plans had already been made to bring a railroad into Rapid City, weren't you?” Todd challenged.

“I suppose. But then I got to thinking it would be too much like nagging. Anyway, it's been a long day for all of us. That discussion can wait for another day.”

Todd looked down at a bowl of boiled cabbage, potatoes, and leftover ham chunks. “I'm surprised to see the children still here. I take it that means that Columbia is no better?”

Rebekah stepped over and rubbed the back of his neck. “I paid her a visit this afternoon and . . .”

Todd let his shoulder slump but didn't look back at her. “You went out across town by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“All the way to Ingleside?”

“It's only a couple miles. I hailed Mert Hart's hack.” She stopped her rubbing. “You act like I never leave my house. Do you want to hear how Columbia is or not?”

“Most definitely,” Todd replied as he reached for the pepper grinder.

“The doctor says she must stay in bed until the baby is born. He's afraid the child is in the wrong position.”

“Is it . . .” he paused and glanced over his shoulder at Rebekah. “Could this be dangerous for Columbia?”

“Having a child is always life-threatening. But the doctor didn't seem alarmed.”

“I suppose it puts a strain on Quiet Jim.” The cabbage tasted flat, but Todd knew he was far too tired to care.

“He has that lumber mill running so smoothly, he hardly needs to supervise. So he's spending most of his day taking care of Columbia and baby Sarah. Dacee June has agreed to take Quint and Fern for now.”

“That will be a large assignment.”

“Yes. I told them I'd come by each day right after lunch and give Quiet Jim a break. You don't mind if I spend the afternoons in Ingleside?”

Todd reached his hand back and pulled her around to his side. “I would appreciate it greatly if you did. You know that Quiet Jim is just like family to us.”

“There's no ‘just like,' Todd Fortune. Quiet Jim
is
family. He misses having Yapper Jim and Daddy Brazos in town.”

“I reckon those two are out there pretending to be Lewis and Clark, exploring new territory.”

“I think the sheriff misses them, too,” she added. “I suppose you heard about that shooting in Terraville?”

“What shooting?”

“A storekeeper and his clerk were shot by a couple of bandits.”

“I was over at Central City and didn't hear anything,” he said.

“The sheriff just found out late this afternoon. He wanted Quiet Jim to go with him, but he couldn't leave Columbia. He came up here looking for you.”

“He did?” Todd slurped a spoon of soup broth. “He's so desperate he had to look for the reserves?”

“I told him you were out on deliveries. I suppose he rounded up some others.”

Todd fished out a bite of sweet ham, then stared at it on his spoon. “Am I going to get a lecture on how dangerous life is in the Black Hills?”

It was a voice of peaceful resignation. “Life is dangerous. Anywhere. Anytime. It's the legacy of sin that we brought into this world.”

“Spoken like a Baptist preacher. You're beginning to sound like a natural-born Fortune,” he said.

“Yes, it's frightening, isn't it?”

“I like it.”

Rebekah brought two cups of coffee to the small table and sat down next to him.

“We had quite a day. Important decisions were made,” he commented.

“At least, for the time being,” she corrected.

“Oh?”

“Everything is up for review from time to time. Did you ever look at Olene's proposal?”

“I didn't have time.”

“Well, I did,” she reported. “He is making an incredibly generous offer for the store.”

“But he won't agree to help people rebuild after a fire.”

“Why not write that into a counterproposal and see what happens? You never know what you will get.”

The knock brought both children out of their nap with a cry. Todd scurried to the door.

A breathless Carty Toluca pranced on the porch. “Someone broke into the store, and I can't find the sheriff anywhere! The window's busted, and the front door is kicked in!”

Todd grabbed the shotgun by the front door and took the steps two at a time. Dacee June held her long denim skirt up over her ankles and clamored after him, which left Rebekah with two whimpering, sniveling children.

“Is anyone still in the store?” Todd hollered to Carty several steps ahead of him.

“I couldn't see . . . it was too dark in there. I didn't want to go in alone.”

Only the kerosene street lantern at the corner of Lee and Main Streets lit the deserted sidewalk. Behind him, Todd could hear the usual shouts and songs of the badlands. Several of the cluster of small window panes on the Main Street window were shattered.

Todd examined the busted lock on the front door.

“What if they are still in there?” Carty asked.

“Have you got a gun on you?” Todd asked the clerk.

“I have a pistol. Do you want me to go in with you?”

“You stay here at the door. Don't shoot anyone, unless they try to shoot you.”

“How about me?” Dacee June asked.

“Do you have a gun?” Todd replied.

“Yes!” She reached in her pocket and retrieved the revolver. “I'll go with you.”

“You'll go across the street and watch.”

“I'm not afraid,” she pouted.

“I am. I need you to watch. If there's gunfire, I need you to run for some help.”

“Who do I fetch? The sheriff's out of town.”

“Eh, go get Quiet Jim. He'll know what to do.”

Todd entered the dark building and immediately turned to the wall-mounted lantern next to the front door.
Lord, if someone's in here with a gun, they are going to take a shot at the person next to the lantern. I wish I knew if someone's in here. But then, there are a lot of things I wish I knew . . .