Heart Of Texas (Historical Romance) (12 page)

Sam had discovered their uncle Bob's buckboard
stored in the barn. After he had cleaned and oiled
it, he was relieved to find it sturdy and reliable.

On the way to Mariposa Springs, Casey sat in
the back with jenny while Sam drove, and Kate
sat beside him, her rifle resting across her lap.

When they reached town, Sam slowed the team
to the same pace as the other wagons. Jenny was
chattering away, while Kate slid her rifle under
the seat.

Casey looked about her and quickly concluded
that the town was nothing like Charlottesville; in
fact, it was nothing like any town she had ever
seen. The dirt road was muddy from the rain that
had fallen during the early-morning hours, and
the wooden buildings all looked alike, or so it
seemed to Casey. The bank was small, and she
could see through the window that the walls were
a drab brown. There was a general store and a barbershop. They rode past a saloon, where a
man had just stumbled out the door with his arms
around a scantily clad woman. Casey quickly distracted jenny by directing her attention to the
bolt of material that was displayed in the window
of the dry-goods store.

"Wouldn't you like to have a new yellow gown?
That material is just right for you."

"I don't want to see it right now," the child said,
struggling to turn around and watch the drunk.
"I want to see if that man is going to kiss that
woman."

Casey placed her hands on both sides of her
sister's face. "That is none of our business, Jenny.
Now, how about that yellow material?"

"I'll let you make me a dress out of it if you'll
put all the sparklies on it like that woman has on
her gown."

Kate chuckled as she pointed out the attorney's
office. "You got your hands full with her. Land of
mercy, that child makes me laugh."

Sam halted beneath the sign that swayed overhead: BARTHOLOMEW J.MURDOCK, ATTORNEY-ATLAw. He handed Kate the reins and hopped to
the ground, then took jenny in his arms and
helped Casey disembark.

"I'll meet you over to the general store when
you've finished up here," Kate stated, still grinning at Jenny's antics.

Casey was worried about the meeting with Mr.
Murdock. Most likely he would have grim news for them. "Let's get this over with," she said, moving toward the door. "If he has bad news for us,
we may as well know it right now."

The bell above the door tinkled when they entered. The office was sparsely furnished with only
a desk and three chairs. No one was in the outer
office, but they heard someone shuffling through
papers in the next room. They waited for several
moments before a man finally appeared in the
doorway.

He smiled and nodded. "Good afternoon, ladies, gentleman. How can I help you?"

To Casey's way of thinking, the man looked
very much the way she had pictured him: he was
small and wiry with thinning brown hair, a pair of
glasses perched on his nose, and a studious expression on his face.

"Are you Mr. Murdock?" she asked.

"Yes, madam, I am." His smile was genuine.
"What can I do for you, young lady?"

"Sir, I am Cassandra Hamilton. This is my
brother, Sam, and our younger sister, jenny. You
wrote us a letter about our uncle's death."

He looked surprised for a moment but quickly
recovered and flashed her a grin. "I had the understanding that your father would be with you.
Did he not come into town today?"

Sam glanced at jenny and lowered his voice.
"Papa died before we reached Texas, Mr. Murdock."

He heard the pain in the boy's voice and saw the deep sadness in his eyes. "A tragedy. Please
accept my sympathy. And please draw up chairs
and be seated. I've been expecting you for some
time."

It took him some moments of fumbling in his
desk drawer before he came up with the correct
papers. He glanced up at the three of them with
a smile. "Your uncle was a good man. Since he
had no family of his own, he kept in touch with
your mother until her death. After that, he corresponded with you and your father so he would
not lose touch with you. He often told me that he
wanted you to come to Texas while he was alive,
but, of course, that did not happen. He wanted
you to get to know Texas, since this is where your
mother was born and grew up. He told me about
your losing your house; he wanted the Spanish
Spur to become your home."

Casey folded her hands in her lap. "My mother
had great affection for her brother. And I want
to assure you that my brother and I intend to pay
any debts he might have left behind-if his creditors will only be patient with us. We have no
money to speak of at the moment."

Murdock looked amazed. "Debts? My dear
young woman, your uncle owed no man. The
Spanish Spur is clear of debt." He shifted the papers around and looked at the three of them in
turn. "But let me read you the will."

Jenny became bored by the attorney's talk and
squirmed off Sam's lap. She peeked under the desk but found nothing interesting there, so she
moved across the room, where she pressed her
nose against the window to look outside.

The attorney cleared his throat. "Your uncle's
will includes Cassandra Jane Hamilton, Samuel
Trace Hamilton, and Jennifer Sue Hamilton.
There is a small bequest for another person,
which I will speak to you about later. For now, I'll
skip the preliminaries about Bob Reynolds being
of sound mind and so on, and get right to the
meat of the matter. Your uncle was a frugal man,
and as I said, he left this world without owing anyone anything. He bequeathed the Spanish Spur
and everything he owned to the three of you, free
and clear, with the exception of one piece of
property."

He pushed a sheet of paper toward Casey for
her inspection. "These are your uncle's investments and bank statements showing the net worth
of his estate. It isn't a fortune, but many folks have
a lot less. There are six hundred head of prime
cattle roaming the range, and at today's prices,
that'll give you a substantial amount of money."

"There aren't nearly that many cattle now, Mr.
Murdock," Sam told him.

The attorney glanced over his bifocals at the
boy. "Are you sure?"

Sam nodded. "As far as we can tell, there's a
little more than a hundred head."

"The foreman took off right after your uncle's
death. I tried to keep someone out there to look after things, but no one would stay for long. The
cattle probably strayed, or someone could have
even rustled them. There's just no way to know
for sure."

Casey was staring at the paper in front of her.
She swallowed a lump in her throat as the column
of figures danced before her eyes. Holding her
breath, she handed the paper to Sam.

"Is that... Does that mean Uncle Bob has nineteen thousand dollars in the bank?" Sam asked,
going pale. It sounded like a lot of money to him,
since Casey had given Kate most of their money
to buy the supplies they needed.

`That's right, young Samuel. As I said, it's not
a great deal of money, but it'll get you started."
He was gratified by the look of relief on the boy's
face. Murdock had always prided himself on being
an honest and fair man, and he respected that
trait in others. The young people had come to
him today prepared to make arrangements to pay
off any debts their uncle might have incurred,
and that said a lot about their character.

"I am stunned," Casey stated, wishing she had
known their benefactor better. Her uncle Bob
had once written them that he might come to
Virginia to visit, but he never had.

Murdock flipped through other papers and
tucked some away in a drawer. "Your uncle would
often tell me incidents about your lives. He knew
when jenny took her first step; he knew that you,
Cassandra, were going to a ball with a handsome young cavalry officer. And, Samuel, he was proud
that you made such good marks in school."

Casey suddenly wished she had known her uncle better. She had grieved when they had received Mr. Murdock's letter informing them that
their uncle had died, but she had no face to put
on her mother's brother. It amazed her that he
had followed their lives so closely. "If only we had
come while he was still alive," she said.

"Yes, well, that can't be helped now. Let me say
that the three of you are the beneficiaries of his
generosity, because the plum in all this is the
Spanish Spur-nine thousand acres of prime
ranch land. Of course, your uncle had expected
that if you came to Texas your father would be
with you."

"We wish he were," Sam said.

Murdock frowned as if struggling for words. "If
Bob Reynolds were here today, he might well advise you to sell the Spanish Spur." He looked into
Casey's eyes. "If you haven't met Cyrus Slaughter,
you will. He's had his eye on the property for
many years. Your uncle was the one man who
didn't bow down to Slaughter. But I have to warn
you that Cyrus is a very dangerous adversary."

Casey had to agree with him on that. "I have
seen that for myself."

"My sister's already met him," Sam remarked.
"He came to see us and said he wanted to buy the
ranch. Then he made some threats to my sister. I won't let him come on our land again, and I
won't let him hurt my family."

Murdock could have pointed out to the boy
that he'd be no match for Slaughter, but the lad
wanted to protect his sisters, and the attorney
found that admirable. "Your uncle was afraid Cyrus might try to push you into selling the ranch.
Now, with the three of you having no one to look
after you, I'd advise you to consider any reasonable offer."

"Do you think that is really what our uncle Bob
would have wanted us to do?" Casey asked pointedly .

The attorney glanced down at the will without
seeing it. "No. Bob Reynolds was a fighter. He
withstood Slaughter for many years, but he had
twenty cowhands working for him, and he was a
man who could stand toe-to-toe with Slaughter.
I've heard that Slaughter spread the word around
that anyone who agrees to work for you, or tries
to help you in any way, will be considered his enemy. No one around here will be willing to go
against him. I don't know how you'll make it without good hands to work the place and to help
guard against Slaughter and his men."

Casey looked at her brother. "The way I see it-
and I think my brother feels the same way-our
uncle entrusted the Spanish Spur to us, and I say
we keep it. What do you say, Sam?"

"Mr. Murdock, my sister's right. We are not going to sell to Slaughter or anyone else."

The attorney looked worried. "It is my place to
warn you that you're facing terrible odds."

Sam didn't hesitate before he remarked, "We
are prepared to do whatever we must, Mr. Murdock."

In that moment, Murdock wished Reynolds
could have lived to meet his kin, because he
would have been proud of them, but he would
also have worried about what Slaughter would do
to them. "Then that's the way it'll be. If you don't
have any objections, your uncle wanted me to
guide you financially."

"Yes, please," Casey said. "Our uncle trusted
you, and so do we."

"I'll introduce you around town today. I'll take
you first to Finnegan's General Store so you can
set up credit. Since you are the oldest, Cassandra,
I'll make arrangements for you to have access to
the bank account. I'm sure there are many things
you need." He cleared his throat. "I have just one
other matter concerning the will. Your uncle has
asked that you allow Kathryn Eldridge to live out
her days in comfort in the house he had built for
her."

Casey and Sam smiled at each other. "I don't
know what we would have done without Kate. I'm
glad my uncle left her the house," Casey said.
"And I want to tell you," she added, "just so you
won't worry so much about us, Mr. Murdock, that
we've hired a man to help us. And he isn't the only help we have. There will be two more arriving any day now."

Murdock was suddenly suspicious. He wouldn't
put it past Slaughter to plant some of his own
cowhands on the Spanish Spur so he could keep
an eye on the Hamiltons. "Do you know anything
about the man you hired? Maybe I need to ride
out to the ranch and meet him for myself."

"Kate says we should trust him, although he
didn't give us his last name. He goes by the name
Gabe. Do you know him?" She looked into his
clear brown eyes expectantly.

Murdock frowned and rubbed his chin. "This
Gabe you speak of wouldn't tell you his last
name?"

"No, sir," Sam said. "I don't think he has one."

"Then tell me this-the men he has coming to
help you... would they, by chance, be Indians?"

Sam shifted in his seat so he could keep an eye
on jenny. "Yes, sir, they are."

"Did he happen to mention whether the Indians were Comanche?"

"Yes, they are," Casey said. "Is it usual in Texas
to hire Indians to help out on a ranch?"