The Circle Eight: Nicholas (23 page)

Nicholas struggled to a sitting position, batting away
Vaughn and Caleb’s helpful hands. He growled at them and looked at her. She saw the same raw determination in his gaze that rose inside her. She held out her hand and he grasped it with his own shaking one. He got to his feet and wavered for a moment before he steadied himself. She laced her fingers with his.

“You’ve made up your mind then. You’re choosing her and her lost daughter.” Matt
kept his voice neutral but Winnie heard an edge to it.

Nicholas nodded tightly. She felt him shaking beside her and knew it cost him every ounce of strength he had to stay upright.

“Wife.” When he repeated the word, tears sprang to her eyes.

“I can’t judge your choice, brother. Hell I picked my wife over a bunch of turnips after Caleb mouthed off to her.”
Matt looked at Caleb, Brody and Vaughn in turn. “I needed to be sure.”

Winnie started at his last words. “
Pardon me?”

“Give us a few minutes, Layton.” Matt turned to the lawman. Brody opened the door and ushered the sputtering policeman out. After it was family only, Matt spoke again. “I don’t know you very well, ma’am, but I do know Nick well. He’s struggled with a lot since our parents died. I think you know what I mean.”

Winnie did. She’d sensed the same darkness in Nicholas that she struggled with in her life. “That makes no difference to me. I love him for who he is, the good and bad.”

“Good. He needs someone with a mouth as sharp as his. I think you’re doing the right
thing no matter what Layton says. That girl deserves a family.” Matt surprised her more than she thought possible.

“But I thought
you were against my plan. You were testing me?” Her original fury dissipated only to be replaced by annoyance. “You don’t trust me.”

“I trust my family. I trust Nicholas. You weren’t part of the Circle Eight until now.”

Winnie sucked in a breath and tried to calm her racing her. “Are you making me part of your family?”

“It seems Nick’s already done that.
I’m just agreeing with his choice.”

Winnie let the tears fall, overcome by the sense of belonging and the strength the Graham family had surrounded her with. She glanced at her sleeves, stiff with Nick’s blood and used her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now help your husband back onto that cot before he falls.” Matt reached for Nick at the same time Caleb and Vaughn did. Winnie let them take his weight, still reeling from
Graham family acceptance.

“Now, you are going to stay here and let the doc take care of you.” Matt shook his finger at Nicholas. He raised his gaze to Winnie’s. She was struck by how much the brothers looked alike, the beautiful blue-green eyes unique to the family. Matt was a harder, older version of the man she loved, but now he was her family. “The rest of us are going to get Martha.”

Winnie’s heart leapt. “Truly?”

“I suggest you change your duds, but yep, we ain’t leaving her
with the bastard who bought her.”

Winnie hadn’t thought about where she would live, but it didn’t matter, as long as she was with Nicholas and Martha.

She knelt down and kissed Nicholas gently. He was pale but calm. There was a peace in his gaze as he stared at her. Whatever they shared had affected both of them at the deepest level.

“I love you.” She had never spoken the words in earnest until she’d met Nicholas, until she had finally found where she b
elonged.

He mouthed
, “I love you,” and she smiled so hard, her face hurt. To her amusement, he turned a scowl at his brother.

“I’ll take care of both of them, I promise. We’ll be back later, no matter what.
With all of us.” Matt took Nicholas’s hand and squeezed it. “Ready?”

Winnie had never been more ready in her life.

Nick hated lying in the damn cot with the damn bandages and the damn doctor hovering over him. He wanted to be out there with Winnie and his family. If a bastard hadn’t tried to kill him, Nick would be.

His mind drifted as he lay there. To her of course. She’d told him she loved him. Twice.
The words had washed over him, soothing him as nothing had ever done. The years of fighting his own demons faded in the light of what they shared.

He’d meant it when he called her wife. They might not be legally wed, but to him, they were married in their hearts already. Life would not be worth living without her and he refused to consider that possibility.

Matt promised to keep her safe and help her retrieve Martha. He trusted his brothers, Brody and, to his surprise, Vaughn. They would do what was needed.

He must have fallen asleep because the next time he opened his eyes, Layton was back in the room
. The lawman leaned against the open doorframe, his stance relaxed.

“I know you can’t talk so I’ll do much of the talking.” Layton
shifted his feet and glanced at his feet. “No matter what you think of me, I’m doing my job. I arrest people who commit crimes and try to keep Houston safe.”

Nick blin
ked twice.

“I plan on getting to the bottom of the child slavers. Rotten bastards ought to hang from their balls. I can’t step outside the law to punish
’em, though. I know you and yours will get that girl back.” Layton looked up at Nick. “I was going to arrest your brother-in-law but I figured the rest of your family would bust him out, or your wife would.”

Nick’s lips quirked up. She was a woman with
a spine of steel.

“Mr. Nick?” A little dark head appeared in the door. It was Enrico. “Miss Winnie sent me to tell you they were headed to Conklins.”

Nick was not surprised to find she had sent one of her errand boys to assure him. He gestured to the boy to come in. With a suspicious glance at the lawman, the boy slunk in and stood in the corner.

“I’ll be on my way. I’ll send word when I know more
about the folks responsible.” Layton tipped his hat and left the room.

Nick didn’t know what to make of the man. He’d insisted on arresting Vaughn for a crime he didn’t commit, harassed Winnie, and yet he obviously had a heart.
A puzzle Nick wasn’t keen to solve.

“I don’t like no police.” Enrico frowned at the now empty doorway.

Nick made a motion with his hands as though he was writing. Enrico nodded. “You want to send a message?”

Nick nodded.

The boy pulled a piece of paper and a stub of charcoal from his pocket. Nick found himself smiling. Enrico was an enterprising young man.

Nick wrote only two words.
Love. Wife?

Enrico smiled and folded the paper, tucking it into his pocket. “I’ll be back
, mister.”

Nick had to watch the boy leave and
lie there waiting. His crude marriage proposal would either be received well or laughed at. Then of course, there was the matter of his woman doing battle without him by her side. His head throbbed and his throat burned. It was going to be a hell of a long day.

Winnie smoothed her hand down her hair and looked at her reflection with a critical eye. She was washed, dressed and coiffed once again. The Graham men waited downstairs for her. All four of them were going to Conklin’s store with her. It was like having a personal army of muscled gunmen. She couldn’t say it didn’t feel good but she wished she didn’t need them.

A soft knock sounded on the door. She opened it to find a very worried looking Vaughn. Without hesitation, she fell into his arms and accepted the comfort. Her emotions were in tatters and it was wonderful to have her friend there to support her.

After a few moments of pure self-pity, she pulled back and took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He smiled sadly. “Are you ready to give everything up again?”

She had left behind everything except the clothes on her back when she escaped from her father. For two years, she’d hidden from him, with Vaughn’s help, and survived. The next three years, she worked hard and smart, doing anything and everything to earn enough money to live, then to thrive, and finally, to buy the boardinghouse. It was a personal triumph to come from eating scraps from a slop bucket outside a restaurant to being a business owner.

Now she
was starting anew again. With Nicholas and Martha.

“Yes.” Winnie
didn’t hesitate. This was when she proved to herself that she was the person she wanted to be. Someone the Grahams would be proud to call their own.

They headed downstairs where Matt, Caleb and Brody waited in the parlor. Seeing that room full of men made it appear so small. They were an intimidating lot.

“What’s the plan?” Caleb looked to Matt.

To her surprise, Matt turned to her with his brow
s raised. He was deferring to her. “Winnie?”

She had been thinking about what to do since they’d left Nick at the hospital. Mr. Conklin knew her so the approach had to be done carefully. Wisely.

“Since Mr. Conklin and I are acquainted, I’m going into the feed store alone. If he sees this wall of muscle, he may refuse or, worse, bring out a gun and threaten to shoot us if we don’t leave.”

“I don’t like that.” Matt frowned.

“You can watch me through the window while I speak to him. Trust me. I have lived in Houston all my life. I’ve learned how to manipulate people, not that I wanted to. For once, the underhanded skills my father taught me will be used for good.” She glanced at each of them. “I’m going to offer him a deal to give up Martha in exchange for not being prosecuted for buying her illegally.”

Vaughn scowled, Brody twisted his mouth, Caleb shook his head and Matt crossed his arms.

“I’m ready to battle for her against anyone and nothing any of you say will change my mind. I’m going up against him alone.” Her stomach twisted at the thought of the man refusing to give up the girl, but she had to fight for her daughter.

Now all of the men spoke at once, each growing progressively louder as they argued against what she had decided on. Winnie clapped her hands over her ears and walked out of the parlor and out of the house.
She smiled at Enrico who walked toward the house, a puzzled expression on his face.

“Miss Winnie, do your ears hurt?”

“You have no idea.”

It took a few seconds before the Graham men followed her out.
They wore the same expressions but at least they weren’t shouting.

“I have a note from Mr. Nick.” Enrico held out a small paper.

Winnie didn’t expect to hear from Nicholas so soon. It had been less than an hour since she’d left the hospital. She wasn’t sure what she expected but it wasn’t what the note contained.

Love. Wife?

He had told her he loved her and asked her to marry him with two words. Her heart smiled with the promise of what they would share, what they already had, and the love that overlaid it all. She folded the paper and tucked it into her stays. Nicholas would rest beside her heart as she faced the second hardest moment in her life.

Confronting her father and
the ensuing gunfire encompassed the end of who she had been. A rebirth of sorts and now, she would be born again. This time as a mother. She looked up to find all of the males watching her.

“Is there a note to send back?” Enrico scratched
is head.

“No note.
Just please tell him yes.” She smiled at the young man and pressed a coin into his hand. He saluted the men and winked at her before he ran down the street back to the hospital. “If you insist on coming with me, we need to go now before it gets any later. I want to be back at the hospital before supper with my daughter so she can meet her new father.” She thought she saw a muscle twitch in Matt’s face but he nodded and gestured for her to precede him.

After they all mounted the horses, they rode toward the feed store.
Her pistol weighed down her pocket on the other side. Her anxiety grew with each step the horse made toward Conklin’s. Her mind ran through all the worst possibilities from death to arrest or possibly the man had already sold Martha to someone else.

The last thought forced bile up her throat. She swallowed the acrid taste and promised herself no matter what, or who, had her daughter, she would find her.
Nothing would stand in the way of Winnie and her family again. Ever.

Some folks stopped and stared as the group of them passed. As she expected, they were visibly intimidating on horseback, armed and fiercely frowning. She’d held people at bay for so long, not allowing most people to get close to her with few exceptions. Ruby, Josie and Vaughn were the only true friends she had made. Until N
icholas. And now Josie was gone.

Winnie understood loss but not at the scale of losing someone you loved. Her daughter had been an infant, someone she had refused to allow herself to love because she knew she’d be giving the baby away. What she hadn’t understood then was she already loved her daughter. The loss was a constant ache she had long since accepted as part of life.

It wasn’t a sudden loss but rather like a wound she’d kept putting salve on but would not heal. Now it was time to face that loss and finally close the wound that had festered in her heart for so long. Her hands shook but her heart and head were ready to do what she must.

Vaughn helped her dismount with true concern on his face. “Are you sure about this?”

“Never more sure about anything.” She patted his arm. “Thank you for your friendship and your support. Elizabeth is a lucky woman.”

He smiled and took her arm. Winnie allowed him to walk her up the steps, but then she turned and held up her hand. “This is where you stay.” She glanced at the Grahams standing at the bottom of the steps. “All of you. If I need you, you will know it.”

“Not if he knocks you out and drags your body to the back of the store.” Brody was not quite a chipper sort of man.

“Or slits your throat.” Caleb wasn’t much better.

Matt raised his brows as if to confirm their predictions. She pinched her lips in exasperation. “Then wait on the porch where you can see me through the window but don’t come inside unless I call you.” She turned, not waiting to see if they listened to her.

“Do you have a gun?” Matt asked.

She patted her pocket. “Always.”

“I do like her.”

“She’s got gumption.”

“Not a lick of sense
, though.”

If the situation were not so dire with regard to Martha, she might have laughed at their antics.
Their foolish behavior had chased some of the nervousness away.

She wiped her damp palms on her skirt and entered the store. As it had been previously, the store was empty and smelled faintly of sawdust and oats. She forced herself to walk forward. Her mouth had gone cotton dry and she needed to pee.

“Can I help you?” a small voice asked. As if in a dream, Winnie turned to her right and saw a figure emerge from the shadows. A girl with a crooked gait.

A child who had already laid claim to Winnie’s heart.

“Martha?” Winnie’s voice was a trembling whisper.

“Yes, ma’am.” She stepped closer and allowed Winnie a better look at her. She wore the same shapeless clothes and her hair was in a crude braid. There was a smear of something on her cheek but she had a lovely face. Although her skin was more olive toned
, like the man who had fathered her, the girl was petite and the heart-shaped face was a copy of Winnie’s.

The girl’s dark eyes watched Winnie warily. “You were here before.”

“Yes, honey, I was. I’ve come back for you.” Winnie smiled although her hands itched to snatch the girl and run like hell.

“For me?” Martha looked surprised.

“Yes, I was speaking to Mr. Fuller about you.”

The girl’s expression softened. “Mr. Fuller is a nice man. He got sick and the home closed.”

“I heard about that. I was very sorry to hear it closed. The home was a good place for children.” Winnie searched for the right words. “I’m sorry, Martha, but I am very, very late in coming back for you.”

“I don’t—
”

“Girl, what the hell are you doing?” Conklin stormed in, his face a mask of rage. He raised his hand and slapped Martha hard across the face before Winnie had a chance to realize what he was going to do. She shouted and threw herself between them. Martha had fallen to the floor with a small whimper. Up close, the man was worse than she expected. His lips were pulled back to expose his teeth as though he were a dog in a fight. His scent was malodorous, rotten.

“Get the fuck out of my way and out of my store, bitch.” His foul breath gusted across her face.

“No. I came here to do business. Isn’t that what you are? A businessman?” Her calm tone
appeared to confuse him. She wanted him off balance.

“A’course I’m a businessman. You see the store, right? It says Conklin’s Feed Store.” He reached for her, but Winnie stepped back, toward the girl. Martha scurried back a few feet but didn’t run.