Hearts Desires
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The next morning, he woke to the sound of horses’ hooves clattering on wooden planks. He sat up in bed and saw a horse tied at the front door and heard the jingle of harness bells. The smell of fresh bread wafted through his bedroom window as the wagon stopped outside his house. A man jumped down from the driver’s seat and ran toward him. “Mr. Sutter? It’s me, George.”
“George! What are you doing here?”
“I’m delivering your order for tomorrow morning,” the baker said. “And I brought some fresh bread too. You haven’t had any yet this week.”
“It’s been busy,” he admitted with a grin. “Come inside and let me pay you for it.”
They walked into the kitchen and George opened the bag to show him that all five loaves were still wrapped in wax paper. They’d be perfect for breakfast sandwiches. He took out two dollars and handed them to George before they left.
As soon as George was gone, he put away his money and went upstairs to shower and shave. Then he dressed and went downstairs to check on his business. Most of his men would already have started working; only one or two might not make it until later because their wives hadn’t prepared lunch for them.
His men loved being able to come home for lunch and eat in peace instead of having to rush back to work after eating. He smiled when he remembered how worried they’d once been about the future of the mine since his father died.
But now his wife could run things so smoothly that no one worried anymore. She even kept an eye on the miners who came in off the street just to get something to drink or to talk politics. Some of those guys wouldn’t know which direction to turn if they didn’t see her sitting behind the bar every night.
When he stepped into the saloon, the bartender greeted him by name. “Morning, Mr. Sutter. How many beers did you buy last night?”
“Just one, but it tasted like ten!”
“You’re probably right,” the bartender agreed. “But don’t worry, we’ll give you another chance tonight.”
“Sounds good. Where’s my brother?”
“Upstairs.”
“Thanks.” He went upstairs to find his brother standing over the open safe where the money was stored. Benji was watching his workers counting coins. He wore a black shirt and a blue vest with suspenders and held a silver dollar in each hand. “That’s enough for today. Put away the rest,” Benji told him.
His brother looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I want it locked up tight for now. We can count the day’s receipts later. And stop asking questions; you’ve done well these past few months. Don’t ruin what little success we’ve made.”
Benji nodded and closed the safe. After he finished locking up, he turned and headed for the stairs leading to the second floor. Just then, someone called from below, “Hey, Benji, do you remember the time you got drunk and tried to steal my horse?”
“No,” he answered, and continued climbing the stairs without looking back. When he reached the top, he found himself staring at his younger sister, Annabelle. He hadn’t seen her in weeks. In fact, she’d never visited his office before. “Hello, Annabelle.”
She hesitated for a moment before coming closer and putting her hands on her hips. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought maybe you wanted to take care of some business for us,” he offered. “We need help with our taxes this year and we’re trying to figure out whether to hire a bookkeeper. Can you help us?”
“Not really,” she said. “My husband works at the bank, so I don’t have much experience dealing with numbers.”
“Then why are you here?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you actually want to help us?”
Annabelle sighed and shook her head. “No, I couldn’t possibly. My husband doesn’t want me anywhere near anything financial. If he ever finds out—”
“Oh, come on, Annabelle. There’s no reason to lie to me.” He laughed. “If he finds out, he’ll only yell at me for letting you into my office. That won’t happen. Your husband is such a nice guy. Besides, I’ll be glad to keep you out of trouble. Why don’t you go ahead and sit down? You must be tired from traveling.”
After she sat down across from him, she explained that she’d traveled with her husband and four children. The youngest child, a baby girl, had been born three days ago. Since there wasn’t room in their wagon for everyone to ride together, Annabelle rode ahead on a mule while the other family members followed in their buggy.
It seemed strange to hear her speak about the trip as if it were nothing more than a short excursion. Only a couple of years earlier, she’d been married to a man who owned a ranch and a cattle herd. Now she lived in Denver with her new family and worked as a seamstress.
He noticed the ring on her finger. “So your husband isn’t around to object?”
“Well…he’s out west somewhere, helping a friend who owns a ranch. They’ve been friends since childhood and both families decided to move west together. But he left before the others arrived, and he hasn’t yet returned.”
“Do you miss him?”
“Yes, but we talked about leaving too. So far, we haven’t managed to sell all of the lands we own. I’m afraid if we stay any longer, we’ll lose everything.” She paused and then added, “The truth is, we weren’t happy living there anymore.
We kept wondering why we didn’t live closer to town. We knew there would be better opportunities for us out here. Better schools and more work—more things to do. Our kids will grow up knowing how to read and write and they’ll know how to run a store or a mine.
I just hope we can get a start soon because I hate to see them growing up poor and uneducated. Maybe when we return home, we could buy some property nearby and build a house. I’d love to raise chickens and goats, and even have a garden. But first, we have to pay off our debts. Then we might be able to save enough money to make it possible.”
“It sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought. I admire that. No wonder you came all the way to Denver.”
“Thank you,” she replied, smiling.
“When do you plan to leave?”
“In a week or two. My husband should be back by then. His friend is a bit behind schedule, and I guess we should be grateful that he still has a job.”
“How many men does he employ?”
“Three.”
“And what sort of jobs do they perform?”
“Mostly maintenance duties.”
“Doesn’t sound very exciting,” Benji remarked.
“They aren’t paid much, but at least they’re not starving.”
“You mean you’re paying them?”
“That was part of the deal. Otherwise, I wouldn’t let them come along. Not after what happened last time. Anyway, they seem happy now.”
Benji looked over at Annabelle and saw that she’d turned toward the window again. He wondered why she always preferred to look outside instead of directly at him. Was she embarrassed about something? What else could it be?
Did she think she owed him an apology? Or did she feel guilty about leaving him? Whatever the case, he couldn’t ask her because he knew she’d refuse to answer. Still, he wanted to talk to her, and he figured it would give him another chance to find out whether she’d lied about her knowledge of numbers.
As he watched her, his gaze shifted away momentarily to the desk. A letter lay atop a pile of papers. When he reached for it, she jumped to her feet.
“I’m sorry. Can I borrow that? I promise I’ll bring it right back.”
She nodded and handed it to him. He placed it next to him on the table, where he picked up one of the documents lying beside it. It appeared to be a bill of sale. On top of it, he found a few sheets of paper covered with writing.
One sheet contained instructions regarding a payment made by a miner named Jimson to a man named Ransom. Another sheet showed a receipt from Ransom for supplies purchased from Jimson. And then there was a third sheet of paper showing the number of dollars exchanged between Jimson and Ransom.
“What are these?” he asked.
“These are some notes written by my brother-in-law. I think they belong in his journal, so I keep them here until I’m done reading them.”
He glanced down at the document and recognized it as the same sheet of paper he’d seen earlier. The date of the transaction had already been crossed out. This was the page containing the instructions to send Jimson’s account to Ransom.
“Did your husband write this?” he asked.
“No, I wrote it myself,” she said. “This is actually my handwriting. You know, I used to type his letters and bills before he left for Colorado.”
“Why did he want to hire someone else to take care of business matters while he was gone?”
“My father-in-law died recently and he needed help managing things. He hired me to assist him because I speak English and I understand how businesses operate.”
“But why were you doing this without telling anyone about it?”
“Because it was hard for him to trust people. That’s why he insisted that I learn to read and write and learn how to manage a bank account. But I never told him I understood banking because he might have suspected something.”
“So why didn’t you tell your husband about this?”
“The day he left, he got angry and accused me of hiding something from him. He threatened to divorce me if I hadn’t done anything wrong. So I decided to pretend nothing unusual was going on. We were both under so much pressure that neither of us wanted to cause trouble.
Besides, we had no choice. If word got out, my father-in-law’s enemies would have attacked the mine and killed everyone working there.” She paused for a moment and shook her head. “If only we’d known then what we know now.”
“Who exactly is your father-in-law?”
“His name is Jules Tabor.”
“Sounds like quite a character.”
“Yes, he was. Unfortunately, he also had enemies who hated him for being too successful. They tried to kill him several times, and he finally fled to Colorado. There he started a new life with his wife, Sarah. He built a house for us, and we lived there until a year ago when the fire broke out.”
“Was anyone injured?”
“Not seriously. My husband and I weren’t home. Luckily, the flames didn’t spread to the main building. Even so, we lost everything.”
“It sounds terrible,” he muttered. “You must have suffered terribly.”
Annabelle gave a sad smile. “We did, but at least we escaped with our lives. We’ve learned since then that fires often happen around mining towns and that it wasn’t a coincidence.”
“I can see why you don’t want to leave Montana.”
She shrugged. “I guess we’ll stay awhile longer and see how things go. For the time being, though, I’m not sure we should discuss any more family business with each other. Maybe after I get to know you better, you could teach me some basic accounting skills.”
“That won’t be necessary. I do know a little bit about finance and banking.”
“How nice. Then maybe I could use your advice sometime.”
He laughed softly. “Well, let me show you something first.”
A minute later, Annabelle stared wide-eyed at an old photograph of two men standing in front of a saloon. Next to the picture hung another photograph taken inside the saloon. In the background stood a sign that read, “Dinner served daily.”
“Is that where your father-in-law owned this place?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s called the Silver Slipper. It still operates today.”
“And who are those men standing outside?”
“Those are my brothers-in-law.” He pointed at one of the pictures. “That man is Tom, and the one next to him is James.”
“Where did you meet them?”
“In jail.”
“Really? How long were you behind bars together?”
“Long enough to form an unlikely friendship. Both of them had wives and kids, and they were desperate to make money. One night, I was playing cards with my brothers-in-law and others in a nearby town.
Someone stole their horses, and I knew that if they went after the thief, they might lose all their property and even be arrested again. I suggested they rob the robber instead and split the reward.”
“What happened?”
“They agreed and followed me back here. The thief turned out to be a woman who had robbed several banks. Her accomplice was her lover, and he shot himself afterward.”
“Wow! What a story.”
“Yeah, it was pretty wild.” He glanced down at her. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”
“Actually, yes, I am. Thank you very much.”
When he offered her a glass of water, she took a sip, hoping that if he thought she was weak, he wouldn’t suspect anything.
***
After dinner, they sat across from each other in the living room, talking and enjoying the quiet. After a while, Annabelle noticed a strange expression cross his face as he studied her. His gaze seemed to linger on her lips and then moved to her neck. Did he just kiss me? Was he trying to figure out whether I’m pregnant? Or is he thinking about kissing someone else?
Suddenly uncomfortable, Annabelle cleared her throat and smiled at him. “Do you mind if I ask you something personal?”
He nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Why did you decide to come here tonight?”
He hesitated for a moment before answering. “My mother told me I should take the time to get to know you better. That’s all.”
Annabelle felt relief wash over her. At least he wasn’t interested in her for any reason except to find out more about his family. She sighed happily. This was certainly turning into a far different experience than she expected.
The conversation soon drifted away from her father-in-law and toward Annabelle’s past. When he discovered she’d worked as a detective for five years, he wanted to know what kind of cases she’d handled.
“Mostly murders and missing persons.”
“But never anything like this,” he said, shaking his head. “You must feel overwhelmed by this situation.”
“Very much so,” she replied quietly. “This has been a terrible shock to us.”
“Let me help you. I can arrange for a lawyer to handle the estate and help you with any legal issues. But right now, I think you need some rest.”
She gave him a grateful nod. “Thank you. You’re too good to us.”
He reached for the bottle of whiskey, poured a generous amount in both glasses, and handed hers to Annabelle.
“Here, drink up.”
As she lifted the glass to her mouth, he watched her intently. She set the glass down slowly. “It would mean a lot to me if you could tell me what happened to my father.”
His eyes hardened. “There will be plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now, you have to get some sleep.”
Annabelle frowned. “We haven’t discussed finances yet.”
“Right now, there isn’t much to discuss. We’ll worry about it tomorrow. Now, please, try to relax and get some rest.”
She nodded reluctantly and drained the last drops of whiskey. As soon as the door closed behind him, Annabelle let out a relieved sigh. Then, when she looked around, she saw that she was alone. With a groan, she flopped onto the sofa and curled herself into a ball. If only I didn’t have to wake up, I could fall asleep right now and not ever wake up…
“Wakey wakey.” A gentle hand shook her shoulder. “Time to get ready for bed.”
Annabelle opened her eyes to see Sam leaning over her.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked gently.
“No, not really. Too many nightmares.”
Sam came closer. “Come on, get up. I brought you your clothes.”
With a heavy heart, Annabelle got off the sofa and picked up her clothes. They were neatly folded on the table beside her suitcase.
“I hope you don’t mind sleeping in these,” he said softly.
“Not at all. They fit perfectly.”
“Good.” He turned away. “Now, if you want breakfast, you’ve got to get dressed first.”
A few minutes later, she stepped through the door wearing her jeans, boots, and shirt. While she brushed out her hair, Sam went outside to light a fire in the stove.
“I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. And coffee, too.”
“That sounds wonderful. Thank you.”
“So, how do you like it here so far?”
“Well, I suppose I like it better than I expected to.” She walked over to the fireplace and stared at the flames dancing inside. The fire seemed to beckon her back to sleep. It also reminded her of another place where she had spent the night: jail cells. She shivered. What kind of man locks people up in a cell without even giving them blankets or food? How horrible!
Sam returned to the kitchen. “Sit down and eat. There’s plenty for two.”
Annabelle joined him at the table and ate until she couldn’t hold it anymore. Afterward, they sat in front of the fire, sipping hot coffee.
“What are you going to call me?” she asked finally.
He glanced over at her. “Would you prefer to be called Miss Marsh instead of Mrs. Fletcher?”
“Yes, I’d like that very much. Can I assume we’ll always be friends?”
“Of course. Friends forever.”
“How long will you stay here?”
“For as long as you want me to.”
“And when do I start helping you look for your husband?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
She smiled. “Okay.”
“Why don’t we take a walk then? That way, you can get acquainted with the area while I go over our plans for today.”
The End