Page 100 of My Stepbrother's Plaything

“You Sam Bishop?” he asked.

“I might be,” he said.

“Well either you is or you ain’t? I knowd why it’s a might confusin’ on account of this lady here married a man who said he was Sam Bishop. He’s what give her this har baby,” said the man.

“You on the other hand,” he continued. “You the Sam Bishop what owns this place. I hear tell you struck in rich over tharn in Deadwood. I knowd this because the Sam Bishop she married done told me. How he pretended to be you. Was going to take this har place out from under you but then this little lady came along and he just walked off with purty good tidy sum. When we heard yall struck it rich he was going to parlay his little ruse into taking your gold but then he had the bad taste to up and die.”

“Nice story,” said Sam Bishop. “Get to the point.”

“Well I heard you all left town. I figure you to come back to your place. I got to thanking that what happened here did happen here. You tuck up with this little lady. I also got to thanking that it might be worth something to you to pay off a fellar with a little bit of that gold to keep your secret. You all living in sin,” he smiled a toothless smile.

“We are married,” he said. “You got nothing over us.”

“I got this har Sharps rifle mister. That ain’t exackly nothing,” said the man.

Sam laughed. “You are right about that! Hey I am sorry for laughing but that was funny.”

“Glad you think so,” said the man.

“How are we supposed to do this?” asked Sam.

Shauna assessed her immediate surroundings for makeshift weapons. Some of the tools Sam had been using to repair the porch were still out. She trusted Sam was going to take care of the situation but just in case, she wanted her own plan.

Haya stood as still as a statue with the baby who was good as gold. Still Shauna believed he needed to be out of the sun which had to be hot on him. If they lived, Shauna was going take this man’s head off for holding a gun on her baby.

“I reckon you can tie these women up and I can I foller you to get the gold,” he said.

“How do you know I got it here?” asked Sam.

“Now don’t play coy with me, now you hear? Otherwise, I’ll just shoot you all and search the place myself. In fact I may still. If you asked me questions like that I can’t work with you. The nearest bank is fifty miles from here. Neither you nor I would trust that amount of gold to bank robbers.”

“Fella, I came in to some good fortune but I don’t know how much you think I got with me. Legend may have stretched the facts somewhat,” said Sam. “If I was a rich man would I be here?

“I am warning you,” said the man as he turned his rifle on him.

Quick as a flash, Haya flung a knife at him. The man dropped the rifle and grabbed his throat. The blade went right through his neck. Down he went. The baby started bawling. Shauna went right to him. She wrapped her arms around both her friend and her baby.

Chapter Nine

Sam said something to Haya in her language as he took hold of the feet of the dead man.

“What did you say?” asked Shauna.

“I told her I am building her own house,” he said. “Giving her land.”

“Tell her thank you, please?” Shauna asked.

Sam laughed. “I am also telling her we are teaching you to two talk. I never know two friends who love each other as you do without barely saying a word.”

“Where are you taking him,” sniffled Shauna.

“I gotta bury him. I’ll be damn if I bury him near the house. I am taking him out a ways,” said Sam.

He pulled a horse out of the barn and hooked up it to their wagon.

Shauna panicked. “Don’t leave!”

“I am not going anywhere, Mrs. Bishop,” he assured. “You’re safe. You’re in very good hands with Haya here.”

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