A Cowboy for Christmas (9 page)

Nick stayed on in the chapel for a little while longer. Offering a prayer of thanksgiving for all the blessings in his life and a prayer asking for the fortitude he would need to deal with whatever he found out about the stranger the following day.

It was late, well after midnight, when the train reached Tipton. Dan gathered their bags and hired a carriage to take them to a hotel in town. The hotel wasn’t fancy, but it was far cleaner than the way stations they would be sleeping at for the rest of the trip. He saw Penny and Dwylah safely to their rooms and then bedded down himself. He’d considered going to one of the saloons a few streets over for a drink, but he decided against it. He wanted to stay close to the women, just in case they needed him.

Dan got up early so he could check at the stage office to find out how soon they could leave for Sagebrush. The news was good. There was a stage heading out before noon. He booked their passage and returned to the hotel to let the women know when they would be leaving.

Penny was wearing a fashionable traveling gown, looking quite the lady, and he couldn’t help wondering how she was going to fare on the rough stagecoach ride. “I was just down at the stage office and found out our stage will be leaving later this morning. We’ve got time for
breakfast and then we’ll have to get on down there.”

Dwylah spoke up. “A good breakfast sounds wonderful.”

“Yes, it does,” Penny agreed.

Dan escorted them to the small dining room in the hotel. The food was delicious eggs and hotcakes, bacon and biscuits. They ate hungrily, especially after Dan warned them about the quality of food they would be served at the way stations. They wanted to enjoy a good meal while they could. After packing up their suitcases again, they checked out of the hotel and made their way to the stage office, ready to continue their journey.

Dwylah was delighted when she discovered they were the only passengers on the stage. She sat beside Penny and kept a close eye on Dan as they got as comfortable as they could. The driver checked on them one last time before climbing up to his bench with the man who was riding shotgun with him. The stagecoach jerked into motion, and they were on their way to Texas. They had blankets to use in case they needed them, and they put the leather window coverings down to keep the cold air out.

“It’s so nice that we’re all by ourselves today,” Dwylah remarked. They had had no real time alone with Dan yet, and she was interested in learning more about him.

“Enjoy it while you can, because it won’t last,” Dan told them. “Usually there are seven or eight people crammed in the stage.”

“That would be awkward,” Penny agreed, trying to imagine sitting so close to strangers.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind sitting close to you or Dan. We’ll just have to make sure we do that if anyone else gets on,” Dwylah added. Then she looked at Dan and came right out to ask, “All right, Dan Roland. Here I am running off to Texas with you and I don’t know a thing about you. Tell me all about yourself. We’ve got a lot of time to talk now.”

“There’s not a lot to tell.”

“Of course there is. Where are you from originally? Did you grow up in Texas?”

“No. My parents were from Tennessee. My father wanted to go west.”

“Where did they end up settling down?” Penny asked.

“We didn’t.” Dan kept his expression guarded. “My mother died on the way, leaving my dad with me and my younger brother to take care of.”

“Oh, how tragic!” Dwylah exclaimed. “How old were you when it happened?”

“I was just twelve and my brother, Nick, was nine.”

“That must have been so hard for the two of you,” Penny sympathized. “I know what it feels like to lose your mother, and you and your brother were so young.”

“It was hard,” he agreed.

“So where did your father take you?” Dwylah wondered, and she was surprised by his answer.

“He took us to an orphanage and left us there.”

“He did what?” Dwylah’s outrage rang through her voice. “But you were only babies!”

Dan met her gaze. “Not for long.”

“Did he come back for you?” Penny asked hopefully.

“No. We never heard from him again.”

“I’m sorry,” Dwylah said. “But despite all your hardship, you’ve grown into a fine young man, Dan.”

“Why, thank you,” he said, giving her a warm smile. “Not everything has been hardship. I’ve got a good job on the Lazy Ace.”

“Where’s your brother?” Penny asked.

“I don’t know,” Dan answered. With his having just visited the site of the orphanage, the pain of missing Nick was real within him again.

“You don’t know? What happened to separate you?” Dwylah asked.

“Nick was adopted from the orphanage—”

“And you weren’t?” Dwylah sounded as though she wanted to take on the adoptive parents herself. Dan had no doubt she’d give them quite the earful if she could.

“No.”

“That’s terrible!” Penny cried.

“I didn’t find out until Nick was already gone. We hadn’t been at the orphanage very long when
it happened. I’d been doing fieldwork and when I got back from working, the headmistress gave me the news that Nick had been adopted by a family who only wanted one boy.”

“You didn’t even get the chance to say good-bye?”

“No. They probably figured we’d give them trouble if they did let us see each other again.”

“Did you ever try to find him?”

“Oh yeah. I ran away that very night to look for him, but I couldn’t find any trace of him or the Miller family who’d adopted him.”

“What did you do?” Penny questioned.

“Once I realized I wasn’t going to find Nick, I knew there was no going back. I’ve been on my own ever since.”

“You should be very proud of yourself,” Dwylah said.

He shrugged slightly. “I did what I had to do.”

He still remembered the hard times he had finding a way to survive all those years ago. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d done it.

“It’s a shame you lost each other that way,” Dwylah said. “Maybe one of these days you’ll find each other again.”

“After all these years, I doubt it. What about you? How did you end up being our chaperone?”

“I’m a widow. My husband died when we were still young, and I’ve never found another man to take his place.”

“You don’t have any children?”

“No, and I regret that a lot these days, but I can’t change it. As for how I came to be your chaperone—well, I’ll tell you,” she began, her expression turning mischievous, “when I heard you were the one taking Penny back to her father, I knew I had to make the trip.”

“You did?” Dan was surprised.

“The night of the ball when you walked in there, unannounced, determined to find Penny and give her Jack’s message—well, I knew right then and there that you were a very special young man. There aren’t many men out there who take the risk that you did to find her.”

“I had to do it for Jack.” He was a little embarrassed by her praise. No one had ever complimented him this way before.

“And you did,” she continued. “I’d say, you’re not only Jack’s foreman, you’re his friend.”

“That’s true enough,” Dan remarked; then he looked at Penny. “Your father is a hardworking, honorable man.”

“And we’re going to get to see him real soon,” Dwylah told Penny cheerfully. “Well, almost real soon. How many more days do we have to go, Dan?”

“At least twelve more,” he answered. He found himself growing fonder of their chaperone with every passing mile. He couldn’t believe Dwylah hadn’t remarried. She was certainly a delight now,
and he could only imagine what she’d been like thirty years before. “I’ll have you and Penny safely back to the Lazy Ace just as soon as possible.”

Nick concluded the morning prayer service and said a blessing over the children as they got ready to file from the chapel. His heart was filled with love for them as he watched them leave. He followed the children out into the hall to find Miss Lawson and Steve waiting for him.

“Are you ready to go?” Steve asked eagerly.

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“This is so exciting!” Steve smiled widely as he looked up at him. “Aren’t you excited?”

Nick was so used to being disappointed at moments like these that he’d learned to control his eagerness. Steve’s enthusiasm, though, touched him, and he smiled down at the boy. “Yes, Steve. I am.”

“Then let’s go!” Miss Lawson encouraged.

The trip to the train station didn’t take too long, and Nick was glad to find there was a clerk on duty.

“Where you heading?” the clerk asked.

Nick stepped forward to talk to him. “We don’t need tickets, I just wanted to ask about a passenger who left town yesterday on the afternoon train.”

“What about?” he hedged, leery about giving out private information on his customers.

Nick knew what he was thinking and offered, “I’m Reverend Miller from the Children’s Home. I saw a man boarding the train who might have been my brother—”

“Your brother?”

“That’s right. I was wondering if you could check and see if Danny Roland was one of the passengers.”

“If your name’s Miller and his name’s Roland, how could he be your brother?” the clerk questioned.

Nick told him the truth. “My real name is Roland, but I was adopted. Danny wasn’t.”

“Oh.” The clerk pulled out the ledger. “You say it was the afternoon departure?”

“Yes.”

The clerk paged through until he got to the passenger list for the afternoon train.

“Let’s see here . . .” He quickly read through the list of those who’d booked passage that day. “There were two ladies, several married couples, and—” The clerk looked up at him. “Why, yes—here it is. There was a Dan Roland on the train.”

Nick was shocked. “It really was Danny!”

Steve let out a yell and all but jumped up and down beside him in his excitement. “I told you to ask! I told you to!”

Nick couldn’t help himself. He grabbed up the boy and gave him a quick hug. “Yes, you did, Steve! Yes, you did!”

Miss Lawson was equally excited for Nick, but she managed not to jump around like Steve had done. “This is wonderful news!”

Nick looked at her, all the wild, tumultuous emotions he was feeling showing in his expression. “Yes, it is.” He turned back to the clerk. “Thank you. Could you tell me where he was headed?”

“He was booked to Tipton.”

“Is there any way of knowing if that was his final destination?”

“As a matter of fact, he was asking me about the fastest way to get to Texas. He was heading to some place called Sagebrush, but there ain’t no trains heading anywhere near Sagebrush.”

“Sagebrush?” Nick repeated, having never heard of the town before. “How far is it?”

“As I recall, from what he said, he’ll be lucky if he makes it there in two weeks.”

Steve stepped up and asked, “When’s the next train leaving so he can get to Sagebrush, too?”

“You think he’s eager to get there, sonny?”

“Yes, sir,” Steve answered respectfully.

The clerk quickly checked. “The next train will be late tomorrow afternoon.” He glanced at the man standing before him. “You want to book a seat, Reverend?”

“Yes, I do.” Nick’s determination was real, but he wasn’t sure how he would handle things at the Children’s Home. He glanced at Miss Lawson. “Do you think we can get things organized at the home that fast?”

Miss Lawson didn’t hesitate. “Of course we can. We’ll find a way to take care of things while you’re gone. You can’t miss this chance to find your brother after all these years.”

“You’re right.” Nick smiled at her and looked to the clerk. “Yes, I’ll take a ticket for tomorrow. How much will it be?”

The clerk told him the price, and he promised to bring the payment back later that day.

As they left the depot, Nick noticed young Steve had become unusually quiet, scuffing along in the road beside them. Nick stopped walking.

“What is it?” Miss Lawson asked.

“There’s one other thing I should have done.”

“What?”

“I’ll be right back. Wait here for me,” Nick directed.

He left them standing there as he went back up the street to the stage office and then came back a few moments later.

“There. Everything’s taken care of.”

“What did you forget?” Miss Lawson asked.

“I forgot to tell the clerk that I needed a second ticket.”

“A second ticket? What for?”

“Because Steve is going with me on this trip,”
he announced, looking down at the boy affectionately. “If he hadn’t run off yesterday, I wouldn’t have been at the depot when Danny was boarding the stage, and then later, Steve was the one who convinced me to check and see if the man really had been Danny.”

Steve’s eyes had widened in disbelief at his words. “You’re gonna take me with you? Really?”

“Yes, son. I’m going to take you with me, if you want to go. I owe this all to you, and I want you to come along and help me find my brother in Sagebrush. Are you willing?”

“Yes, sir!”

“I guess we’d better get back to the home and get everything organized so we can be away this long—especially with Christmas coming.” Nick was concerned about the other children, but he knew taking Steve with him would help ease the pain of the boy’s first Christmas without his family.

“I’m sure everything will work out just fine,” Miss Lawson assured him.

“I hope you’re right,” Nick said.

“She is! We’re going to Texas,” Steve said, eager for their adventure to begin.

“Yes, we are.” Nick just hoped he’d be able to track Danny down once they reached the town of Sagebrush.

It was midafternoon, and the stagecoach had only been on the road for a few hours when it stopped in a small town to pick up more passengers. The
time of privacy Penny, Dan, and Dwylah had enjoyed was over.

“Come on, Dan. Get over here with us. There’s room for you,” Dwylah said.

She scooted over so Dan could sit between them, and he quickly switched sides. Dwylah had liked looking at him, but she enjoyed sitting by him even more. She certainly appreciated his warmth beside her.

Penny was not immune to Dan’s nearness, either. A shiver went through her that had nothing to do with the cold as Dan settled in next to her. Their shoulders were touching and the long, lean, powerful length of his leg was pressed against hers. She glanced up at him, to find him looking down at her, and for a moment, their gazes met.