Page 6 of Whispers of Fortune (Golden State Treasure Book #1)
S IX
A plague of locusts had hit her kitchen.
Ellie watched the MacKenzie men take their third helpings of stew and their fifth biscuit each! She didn’t protest because they were obviously ravenous. But she had planned the stew for both lunch and supper—supper for seven. Yet all of it was being eaten by the MacKenzies, and she’d invited them to supper, which meant she would have to start cooking as soon as they were done.
Sorting through her supplies, Ellie said, “I’ve got to run an errand. Go ahead and have a good visit. You’ve got the house to yourselves.”
She went out to the root cellar and brought up a ham, a sack of potatoes, and another of apples—withered ones left over from last fall, but they’d taste fine in a cobbler. She had bread enough for supper, but none for breakfast tomorrow.She’d have time to make biscuits in the morning.
All these thoughts flooded her mind as she gathered food for another swarm.
Josh came down the cellar stairs. “Brody did a good job with Randy this morning,” he said, then took the ham from her and the sacks of potatoes and apples. That left her free to collect a basket of eggs and some flour. “I got called in when Debra’s girl cut her leg. Debra had two crying babies, plus Belinda was wailing. Brody looked a little overwhelmed. His first day and that was his fourth medical patient. Not all emergencies, but I think he’s wondering what he got himself into.”
They emerged from the cellar.
“We could really use him here,” said Josh. “We kind of blackmailed him into staying by not letting him ride off with his brothers.”
“Ride off on what?” Ellie shook her head. “We’re supposed to hand over the children we have guardianship of and let him steal two horses?”
Josh laughed. “We could have just ridden into town with him and brought the horses back. I suspect Dorada Rio could use another doctor. The one there’s getting older. He’d probably welcome the help.”
“Brody said he has to get back to Boston. We just have to find a way to make him stay. And we’re keeping him here—we’re not sharing our doctor, Josh. Just forget it.”
Josh rolled his eyes, grinning. “So how much do we pay him? Or do his patients pay him? Or do we pay him a little and let his patients pay a little more? Or is providing the office for free enough? Or—”
“Stop, I get it.” Ellie swatted him on the arm. “We need to make some decisions.” She looked over her shoulder at the house. “I wish Michelle were here. Whether she’s right or not, she’s always so sure she’s right.”
“Should we send a wire? Ask them what they think?” Josh and Ellie headed for the house. “Maybe they’d come home for a few days. With the train in Dorada Rio, they could get home, stay a day, and then go right back to the mountaintop. They’d hardly be missed.” Then Josh added with a smile, “Jilly might even be glad for the break from her overly helpful sister.”
It was no secret that the two older of the Stiles sisters squabbled. They loved each other and were profoundly loyal to each other, but both of them thought they should be in charge.
“Let’s send a wire.” Ellie looked at the food they carried. “Let me get the ham boiling, then I’ll send the telegram.” The telegraph machine was in the ranch house. No one else on the ranch fully understood Morse code, though Michelle was teaching it at school and had taught most of the Hart family the basics. “Then I’ll go with you and give the MacKenzies a stretch to visit in private. Annie’s at the school with Caroline today, and Gretel always stays home on Saturdays and Sundays.”
“Sounds good.” Josh hefted the ham. It was a big one, and they’d probably need every bit of it, considering the appetites of the MacKenzies. “I’ll help you get things set up before you send the wire. Michelle or Zane can give us some idea of how much money to offer the new doctor.”
As soon as the door swung shut and they were alone, Brody said, “I want you both to give up on this—” he looked around, listened, saw that the house was empty but whispered anyway—“this treasure nonsense. You should have lit that stove when Pa threw his journal in it. But I can’t blame you for leaving the old man to stew alone, considering the things he said to me when I got there.”
Pa had yelled and threatened and even swung a fist more than once. But he was so sick, Brody had ignored the noise, ducked the fists, and tried to make Pa’s last days on earth as comfortable as possible. “Even so, I wished you’d waited for me.”
“We couldn’t stand it anymore,” Lock whined, a bit too much like a youngster. “We had to—”
“You didn’t wait, so we won’t argue about it. That’s in the past.” Brody shook his head hard and swept both hands to erase what had already happened. It was over, no sense dwelling on it. “You want to stay here because of that journal. Ellie may not realize it, but I sure do.”
“We do want that, Brody, but it’s also a good place to stay. We’ve never eaten so well.” Thayne seemed sincere, and Brody had to admit his brother was right about the food.
“The kids who’ve been here longer say the winter doesn’t get all that cold.” Lock picked up the story. “One of them lived in Dakota Territory for a while, so he knows what he’s talking about. The beds are comfortable, our clothes are always clean, and school is interesting. Miss Hart told you I like geography.”
“That’s because you’re obsessed with the scrawled map in that stupid journal.”
“That’s what got me interested to begin with, but I love the maps. I love all I’m learning about the world and how big it is.”
“The reasons you’re giving me are good ones to stay, but I told you: I gave my word I’d come back to Boston. I owe a man money there, borrowed against my promise I’d partner with him in his doctor’s office. We’ll find a good house once we’re there. I’ll make a decent living.”
“You can earn money here and pay him back that way.”
“It’s not just about the money, Lock. It’s about honor, too.”
Lock’s mouth hardened into a mulish frown. “You can make promises for yourself, but not for us. We don’t owe a man money in Boston.”
“I sent that money to Ma and to you. You do owe him. Boston is a beautiful city. You’ll love it there. Why keep chasing after a treasure that was probably born out of Grandpa’s fevered imagination? I can make honest money being a doctor. You can finish school, and I’ll help you go to college, get an education that will give you a good life. Thayne, you were a great help today. Maybe you’d like to consider medical school. Lock, there are schools where you can study cartography—that’s maps. Let’s build a life together back in Boston. I want us to be a family again. But I want you to hand over that journal and give up on Grandpa’s strange notes and Pa’s obsession. He ruined our family. He made life hard for Ma and for all of us. Stop the treasure hunt and search instead for something real.”
“But Brodeeeee...” Lock, the worst of the two for certain, as good as wailed. He gave little Belinda a run for her money. “We don’t—”
The door opened, and Ellie came in carrying a basket of eggs and a flour sack. Josh followed her in bearing a bounty of food.
Ellie made no secret that she’d heard what Lock had said, and she obviously wanted to know what was behind it. But beyond that hard, curious look, she got busy at the stove, Josh working beside her.
Since they couldn’t talk anymore, and he seemed to be eternally hungry and there was a scoop of stew left, Brody served himself more food. Thayne and Lock both grabbed for another biscuit, but Brody snagged the last one.
Ellie said, “Josh and I are going to send a telegram to our brother, Zane. He and his wife have a better idea, we hope, on how to handle paying you a salary, Brody. And we haven’t moved beds into the doctor’s office yet. Um, I’m not sure how we’ll handle that. Maybe just mattresses on the floor for now.”
“We don’t mind sleeping at the school, Miss Hart,” Lock said with a sweet smile, which usually meant Lock was up to something, though Brody silently admitted his experience with his brothers was long out of date.
“Don’t add more work to your day, not yet.”
Thayne added, “We can help if you want to build new beds and fill mattress ticks. Maybe others would like to help. We have a class on carpentry one day a week during the last period. For now, we’re comfortable at the school.” Thayne sounded as if he didn’t want to create more work on such a busy day.
Brody added, “Don’t do any extra work on the doctor’s office because we aren’t staying.” He did need money to get back east, though, so working for a while would be necessary.
Ellie gave him a narrowed-eyed look, unhappy with his continued insistence on leaving.
“I’ve got a ham on for supper. It needs to boil for two hours. Then I’ll bake it awhile. Annie’s on duty at the school until suppertime. Gretel has the day off. After I get the wire sent, you’ll have the house to yourselves for two hours. I’m sorry we interrupted you, but I wanted to get the ham started.”
“Ham?” Brody’s mouth watered just thinking of it. Decent food had been scarce for him for a long time.
Ellie nodded. “Please join us for supper. I hope to have a reply to my telegram by the time I get back. My sister and her husband are involved in the lumber industry, and there’s a telegraph wire that runs right to their house in the mountains. I usually get a fast response.”
Ellie and Josh left the room. Brody guessed it was for the telegraph. They were soon back. Ellie got a platter of cookies out of a cupboard, pulled the coffee forward on the stove, and set the cookies on the table. “Have all the milk you want—it’s in the icebox. Or coffee if you’d rather.” Her eyes shifted to Brody. “If someone needs a doctor, we’ll come running for you.”
Her eyes held Brody’s for just a moment too long before she nodded, glanced at Josh, who tugged at the front of his hat, then left a pace behind his sister.
“Two hours?” Brody looked at Lock and Thayne.
“Two hours to get to know each other again.” Thayne said it with deep satisfaction, which helped Brody let go of some of the hurt he felt when his brothers wanted to stay here rather than leave with him.
He took three cookies off the platter and munched on them while he poured himself coffee and got milk for his brothers. They all sat down to the delicious treat and chewed for a while.
Finally, Brody brought up the only thing his brothers probably didn’t want to talk about. “Where’s Grandpa’s journal?”
Lock reached behind his back and shifted around until he’d pulled the journal out of his pants. The boy dropped the book onto the table, his eyes roving between it and Brody. “We think we know where to go. Come with us, Brody.”
“Absolutely not. I’m not here to help you wreck your life. I’m here to make you see sense and give up on the nonsense Grandpa wrote down.”
Lock’s eyes flashed with the wild high spirits Brody knew might lead him to ruin. He’d seen them in his father’s eyes. Furrows appeared on Thayne’s forehead. A much more thoughtful young man, Thayne had felt the hardship their father’s obsession had wrought on the family much more keenly.
“You have to hear us out before you go telling us what to do. We think we understand right where to go now. Pa didn’t read that journal right.”
“But you have?” Brody felt that whisper in his heart for fortune. He really did. He knew how they felt. But he fought it down. He had to—they all had to.
“Yes. And we’re not going to let up until you listen to what we’ve discovered.”
The almost fanatical light in Lock’s eyes told Brody there was no dissuading Lock until he’d had his say. Brody braced himself to listen, really listen, then poured everything he had into showing his brothers the error of their ways.