Page 54 of Inventions of the Heart

Edgar’s eyes flashed with fury. He looked at Nick, who stood with his hand resting on his six-gun. Then he slid his eyes to Caleb. Two burly men stepped out of whatever room Edgar had been in. Caleb saw they had guns under their coats. Caleb didn’t carry a gun. Maybe that was a mistake, and heaven knew he’d used one back east, though he wasn’ta gunman. He’d used a gun to feed his ma until she died. After that, he’d fallen into a life of crime—but there was no shooting involved in his crimes.

But he was a good shot, and he knew it.

He braced himself to dive in front of Laura, leaving Nick to protect them all, and prayed it wouldn’t come to shooting trouble.

That’s when Old Tom and Carl came inside. They were still standing guard over the Stiles women. Both heavily armed. Glancing back at them, Caleb didn’t see many qualms in Old Tom’s eyes about buying into a gunfight. He looked eager for some retribution against Edgar.

Edgar saw he was outgunned, and with a sniff, he said, “We’re leaving. But this isn’t over, Margaret.”

Caleb guided Laura and Margaret away from the door. Nick, Old Tom, and Carl stood in front of the women. Caleb tried to think of what God would have him say, and all he could think of was the futility. He prayed as the men went past, out the door, and down the front steps.

“I’m sorely afraid he’s right about this not being over,” Margaret said after Edgar and his men were gone.

Carl closed the door with solid finality.

“What now, Mama?” Laura leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder, sounding exhausted.

“I need to personally visit and talk with every business enterprise we are involved with. That will be at least a dozen stops. Five ... no, six of them here in San Francisco. We need to go out to the sawmill, especially, and make sure Edgar doesn’t meddle there. I need to make sure my voting rights on all the company boards your father served on, or had part ownership of, are converted to you, Laura. Eachof those many companies needs to be aware of the change of status. That may take days. Then we need to get home to the mountain. Or no, maybe we should go to see Michelle and Jilly instead. Old Tom and Carl could head back to the mountain and take charge there.”

Margaret seemed frozen with indecision and had a look of exhaustion to match Laura’s that dragged down the corners of her mouth.

Caleb didn’t give anyone a chance to voice further opinions. “For now, we rest. It’s been a long stretch of days. Tomorrow we’ll plan for what’s next.”

Margaret nodded, then headed for the stairs. “I’ll show you men where you can sleep.”

“I’m sleeping across the front of your door, ma’am,” Nick said.

“We’ll watch the locksmith and make sure he does his job well, hands over every copy of the keys, and is on his way,” Old Tom said.

From the startled look on Margaret’s face, Caleb was sure she’d forgotten all about the locksmith.

“Thank you, Tom, Carl,” Margaret said. “I’d be lost without all the help you’ve given me. Nick too.” She smiled at Caleb and slid her arms around Laura’s waist in a gentle hug. “Everyone. You’ve kept me going.”

The men looked bashful and dragged off their hats.

“We’ll decide what’s next when we aren’t nearly out on our feet,” Margaret said. “Come on then, Laura, Caleb, Nick. We’ll try and get some sleep.”

She led the way up a sweeping staircase that rose before them with great majesty. When it reached the wall, the stairs divided to the left and right and went on to the second floor.Margaret led the way to the right. By the time they reached the top, Caleb had one arm around Margaret and the other around Laura, practically carrying them upstairs.

Nick followed close and would have helped if the stairs had been just a bit wider.

---