An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book Read online

  Remembrance slammed into Nick. He’d had the thought of looking through the wreckage since the accident, but in all the bustle of helping his sister, watching the children and attending the funeral, he had lost track of time.

  “Wait a minute, I’m gonna get my coat and I’ll be right out.”

  Nick hurried to finish getting dressed and pulled his heavy work coat on over his clothes. It wasn’t the ideal weather to be going and dissecting the accident site, but the deputy was right; it had been put off long enough. It could rain and drizzle for another week. It seemed like it had been raining forever already.

  He didn’t waste much time getting the horse saddled and mounting up. Soon the two of them were riding out in the direction that Ginger had described to him.

  The weather was fitting. It was somber, dreary and miserable. It was the kind of day that Daniel had always liked to stay in on and play a game of cards or chat with Nick and drink a cup of coffee by the fire.

  It was the type of day that meant Nick would have visited their house and played his fiddle while Ginger made dinner and the children danced to his tunes.

  But it wasn’t that kind of day anymore. It was the day he was going to look at the wagon that had cost his brother-in-law his life.

  When they arrived at the accident site, Nick didn’t need to ask. He could see the wreckage of the wagon there on the side of the road in the rocky field. The horse that had died in the accident had been removed and the other horse had already been taken back to Ginger’s ranch to recuperate from its injuries.

  It was strange thinking of it as Ginger’s ranch. It had always been Daniel’s and Ginger’s ranch. When they arrived, Nick leaped off his horse and handed his reins to the deputy who had also dismounted.

  He just stood there with the horses and Nick could feel him watching as he began to carefully inspect the wagon.

  The deputies had moved it off to the side when they had removed Daniel’s body from under the wreckage that night. The thought of it brought grief to his heart. Daniel had become like a brother to him.

  The wagon was twisted and broken in places and the wheel assembly was lying next to the wagon box. At first, he felt relieved as he felt nor saw nothing out of place. Just as he was about done, his hand stopped on the joint of the wagon wheels. His heart jolted and his blood ran cold. Something was amiss, something terrible.

  Where there was supposed to be a metal pin, there was a tree branch. It was round and the right length of the pin. If it hadn’t been looked at closely, you could barely tell. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make the soft wood resemble the real piece that had been there.

  It had been rubbed with grease and its gray color mimicked the steel gray of metal. But the broken off piece was white pine. He could see how the accident had happened. The stick had snapped, causing the front axle and wheels to fall off. That would have jerked the wagon downward and hit the heels of the horses. And that would have sent the horses leaping forward.

  Nick knew Daniel; he never would have done something like this. If he had needed a replacement pin, he wouldn’t have taken the wagon out without getting one first.

  No, this was intentional. Someone had put this fake pin here in an effort to cause an accident. Could whoever have done have had a reason to want to hurt Daniel and Ginger?

  Nick’s eyebrows drew together as he stared down at the broken piece of wood replacing the pin. He glanced briefly over at the deputy who was standing where he’d left him, a look of confusion on his face.

  If the deputy had known about this, surely he wouldn’t have let Daniel look at it without interfering with the evidence.

  But then again, how could he know who to trust? Whoever had done this had managed to get on his sister’s ranch without interference. It could literally be anyone, even someone that Daniel had known well.

  The question was, why? Why would someone want to hurt Daniel, and the even better question was why would they risk his family along with him?

  Nick shook his head and stood, walking back to the deputy.

  “Did you find anything?” The deputy truly looked concerned and as if he really cared. Maybe he was going out on a limb here, hoping there was some other explanation to his brother-in-law’s death than a simple accident.

  And maybe he had just stumbled upon real evidence that his brother in law had lost his life because of something other than a force of nature.

  “Well, yes there is something. The pin that holds the front axle on had been replaced with a piece of wood.” Nick’s throat choked a bit as the words came out. He shoved his hand into his pocket and touched the smooth, wet, wooden pin that was broken in two, that he had just pulled from the wreckage. He pulled it out and handed it to the deputy.

  The deputy turned it over in his hands and shook his head. “Are you sure that Daniel didn’t put that there as a temporary pin? Maybe the other pin was lost.”

  Nick shook his head. “No. I’ve known Daniel for years and I am certain he wouldn’t put his family at risk like that. This needs to be looked into. This could have been done on purpose.”

  The deputy looked skeptical. “There really isn’t any other evidence that this was done maliciously. I will talk to the sheriff about it and see what he thinks.”

  “Ok, but I would prefer you keep this quiet. I don’t want to worry my sister unnecessarily and if this was done maliciously, the person who did it could find out we’re onto them.”

  “Sure, I understand,” the deputy said thoughtfully. “I’ll mention this to the sheriff though. He will need to know.”

  “Ok, just keep an eye out is all I ask. I will see if anything turns up on the ranch,” Nick said.

  He was going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what it took. But he couldn’t focus on it today. Today he had to prepare Ginger and the children to move back to her ranch. He knew that it was going to be a difficult transition for them to go back to a home they had shared with her husband and their father for years alone.

  He had told Ginger that she and the children could stay with him for as long as they wished but she insisted they return home and learn how to manage right away.

  He knew that when his parents had died, their house had felt empty and dead without them. He had hated every second he had spent there, feeling their absence. It had been one of the driving factors of why he had come after Ginger out west. Ginger and her family were the only family that he had left and he had to protect her and be there for her.

  For a moment he contemplated again telling her what he had found, but then decided against it. Telling Ginger would only worry her more and increase her guilt. She would think that there might have been something she could have done to stop it, or that the accident had been preventable somehow. She was already grieving and Nick knew that it would only hurt her more to turn that grieving into remorse and guilt.

  He clamped his jaw and set his shoulders. This was a burden that he would have to bear alone. But he would spare it no effort or expense. He was going to find out what had really happened to Daniel and he was going to find justice for his brother. Despite the fact that they weren’t family by blood, Nick had considered Daniel every bit of a brother.

  He was going to do right by his brother. It was a chance he hadn't had with his parents. His parents had perished due to a disease, something that no one could fight. But this, what happened to Daniel, maybe could have been preventable and that was on Nick as much as it was on anyone.

  Chapter 5

  “There you are. Is there anything else that I can get you before I head out?” Nick set Ginger’s satchel down beside her bed and turned to survey the small cabin that Ginger had shared with Daniel for the past several years. The children ran off to their rooms as if to check if all was as they had left it.

  Ginger watched him with love and admiration. “I think that’s everything. I’ve got my crutches here. If I need to go to the bathroom or something I’ll be fine. And the children will help me too.”
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br />   Nick nodded. “I’ll be going out then. I won’t be back for a couple of days, I’m going to go to Greyson to see about getting a few new head of cattle. I’m taking the old cow in to sell too. She doesn’t give enough milk anymore to earn her keep. I hate to see her go but we need the money to get by next winter.”

  Ginger nodded. She wanted to ask how he planned to take on even more cattle when he was so busy already, but she kept quiet. She knew that her brother was trying his best to take care of everything. She didn’t want to make things worse for him by making him worry.

  She watched as he knelt down and gave both Freddy and Lydia a hug. “I’ll be back before you two know it. Now you need to help your mama and don’t get into mischief while I’m gone. Do you hear me?”

  The children nodded but didn’t look very convincing. A pang of sympathy and grief washed over Ginger. She knew that the past couple of weeks had been a huge adjustment for the children.

  They had lost their father and lived in their uncle’s home. They had seen her at her worst, unable to do much to care for them, or anything else for that matter, for many days.

  Ginger fought tears. She needed to stay strong. She couldn’t let Nick keep putting his life on hold for hers.

  She knew that she needed to handle things alone as best she could for the time being. Her heart leaped a little as she thought of what would happen in a few days. Lana had written back agreeing to come. She would be arriving any day now, something that Ginger still hadn’t gathered the nerve to tell Nick about. She knew that regardless of how he would react, he needed to know soon.

  “Nick wait. I have something I need to tell you.”

  Nick shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to face her. “What is it? Do you need anything else before I go? It’s still early, maybe I can…”

  “No, actually I needed to just tell you something.” Ginger felt the words getting tangled and twisted in her throat but she knew she needed to find a way to tell him.

  “Well, what is it?” Nick looked anxious to get out the door. Ginger wished momentarily that she hadn’t waited until the last minute to tell him.

  “Remember my friend from school back in the city? You should remember. She used to come and play with me when our mothers visited each other.”

  “Yeah, Laura or something. I remember you two were thick as thieves.”

  “Lana,” Ginger corrected him.

  “Oh, right. What about her?”

  “When I was at the doctor’s house I sent a telegram and invited her to come and live here to help me with the children while I adjust… you know, to everything.”

  The silence stretched between them, filling the room until Nick opened his mouth, his face turning red. “You invited her to come and live here? Why in heaven’s name would you do that?”

  “I- I need the help, Nick. I know you can’t be here all the time. You have a ranch to care for. She’s my friend and she's a teacher. I think she will do the children a service as well. She’s very knowledgeable.”

  Nick shook his head and Ginger could tell that he was more than a little bothered by what she had done. “We don’t need some stuck up city stranger living here, Ginger. Can’t you tell her to not come anymore?”

  “No, actually I can’t. She’ll be here any day. Probably before you get back from your trip.”

  Nick let out a groan and ran his hand through his tousled hair. “I’ll have to deal with this when I get back. Thank you for telling me Ginger, but I don’t like this, not even a little bit. She’s a city girl. And she isn’t part of our family.”

  Ginger nodded slightly and watched as Nick paced the room for another minute.

  Ginger had known she would need help and she had decided to take things into her own hands the only way she had known how.

  She had never been so relieved as the day she had read Lana’s telegram telling her she would come. Ginger only hoped that Nick would accept the idea once Lana was here. She had pretty much expected this reaction from him, but it felt worse than she imagined. He made it seem like she was betraying him.

  For some reason, she really wanted Nick to like Lana. It was going to be hard to have a friend that her brother disapproved of so strongly.

  He had been quite vocal the past couple weeks on how he would find a way to manage both his own ranch and Ginger’s. Ginger knew that he meant the best and that his heart was only filled with good intentions. But there was a reality that both of them had to face, regardless of how they felt about it.

  Ginger knew better than to think he could do everything alone. She had grown up watching her uncle struggle to keep his own ranch going. She knew that it was a challenge to keep one up and running, and nearly impossible to keep two going virtually alone with no help.

  Of course there were always the ranch hands, but it was never quite the same as doing things yourself.

  “Be careful, okay?” Ginger watched with a pang of worry as Nick retreated toward the door of the cabin.

  She hated to see him go. Especially after the accident, she couldn’t keep from worrying. Images from that horrific day filled her mind. They had been so happy; everything had been going so well and then all of a sudden it had crumbled before her.

  “Mama, are you all right?” Lydia’s soft voice was at her side. Ginger looked down at her young daughter. “I’m okay, little one. I’m just a little sad.”

  Lydia nodded as if she understood and then she and Freddy retreated to the other side of the room.

  A pang of guilt and pain for her children struck Ginger. She had never thought that her children would lose their father so young.

  A knock at the door made her sit up a little straighter. It was the man who cooked for the farmhands on Nick’s ranch. Ginger could see his telltale hat through the window. He wore it everywhere. In fact, Ginger wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen the man without it.

  “Come in!” Ginger called as loudly as she could.

  Craig pushed his way into the cabin. “I’m sorry to disturb you, ma’am. I wasn’t sure if Nick let you know he had me stay in the farmhands’ quarters to help with anything you might need while he is gone.”

  Ginger nodded. Nick had let her know. She thought that it might be better to get a woman from town, but Nick had insisted that Craig was trustworthy and the only person he would trust in such a position.

  “I’m fine for now, Craig. I’ll have one of the children let you know if we need anything.”

  Craig nodded and tipped his hat at her as he left out of the door, closing it softly behind him.

  Ginger sighed and leaned her head back against the pillow. She hated being so dependent on others. Things before the accident had certainly been hard enough. She had adjusted to being married and then had to adjust to taking care of a lot of the ranch and two young children on top of that.

  But this was so much worse. Not only was she grieving for her husband, but she was also barely able to get around and felt tired all the time.

  She let her eyes close; maybe she would just rest them for a few moments.

  ---*---

  Ginger, I know that we have barely started to get to know each other, but I already know that there is no one else I would rather spend my life with.” Daniel was kneeling down, holding her hand in his large ones.

  Ginger smiled and tears of happiness filled her eyes. For some reason, it felt wonderful to see Daniel again. It felt as if he were going to slip away at any moment, leaving her behind to mourn him.

  “Daniel- I don’t know what to say.”