An Unlikely Place for Love Page 21

  “I was married before. I know what women go through once a month. Do you feel up to eating?” Sometimes Georgia didn’t have an appetite during that time of month.

  “My appetite is fine. Did you get things taken care of with Billy?”

  “I did.”

  “I hope he wasn’t in trouble.”

  “No, he’ll be fine.” Chad figured that Billy had bigger things to worry about than an upset soiled dove. He had to worry about the killers who were seeking him out.

  “I’ll help you make breakfast,” she offered.

  He knew it was pointless to argue with her so he nodded and walked with her to the house. He was struck by how natural it felt to be with her. It was something he could easily get used to. She really is a good woman. She’s the kind of woman a man would be very happy to be married to. She was so beautiful with her long hair flowing gently down her back. She was so unlike Georgia. Kate had no idea how much he appreciated her.

  They worked on cooking the eggs and making a side of hashbrowns from the potatoes he had saved from his garden. When they were almost done, he walked to the cabinets and took down the plates and glasses. He put the dishes on the table.

  “You haven’t read the papers yet.”

  She sighed. “I would rather eat first. It’s hard to have an appetite after thinking about Senator Tanner and his wife.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “I do appreciate you picking them up for me.”

  “I was happy to do it.” He was happy to do anything for her.

  “I think I’m done. Will come over and tell me if I can take the skillet off the burner?”

  He walked over to her and looked at the food. “It looks done to me.”

  She took a deep breath. “Let’s hope it’s half as good as what you make.”

  “I don’t know. It’s hard to mess it up.”

  “You’re obviously an experienced cook.”

  “I had to cook a lot. I used to make fancier dishes but with being alone and feeding farmhands, I got used to making simple meals.”

  “Didn’t she cook for you?”

  He noted that she didn’t refer to Georgia by name or by the position of wife that she used to hold. “No. She didn’t wish to concern herself with trivial details.”

  “She must have thought she would have servants to cook and clean for her.”

  “Pretty much.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry, Chad. I didn’t mean to bring up the past.” She turned her attention to carrying the skillet to the kitchen table and putting the food on each plate.

  “I suppose there is one thing I can say,” he ventured. “If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t appreciate you as much as I do.”

  She finished emptying the skillet and smiled at him. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever told me.”

  “Surely, you had men tell you better things than that.”

  “They weren’t sincere. You are.”

  A knocking at the door interrupted them.

  “That must be Billy,” he said.

  “Why would he knock?” she asked.

  The answer was obvious. He wouldn’t. He was used to coming in unannounced. Chad walked to the front door. He didn’t recognize the blond haired, blue eyed man about his height who was standing in front of him.

  “Paul!” Kate greeted and ran over to hug him. “Chad, this is my brother, Paul Ingram. Paul, what are you doing here?”

  Paul looked stunned. “Paul?”

  “I want to thank you for dropping me off here so I can spend some time with our brother Billy. It’s been nice here. I have so much to tell you. But first, I want to introduce you to Chad Walker. He gave Billy a job as a farmhand and has graciously let me stay here so I can spend time with Billy. You know how Billy is always running off to visit other parts of the country. Anyway, it was nice of you to drop me off earlier this week. Did you have a successful trip out to Virginia?”

  Paul stood still and stared at her.

  “Would you like something to eat?” Chad offered. “She helped me make eggs and hashbrowns.”

  The younger man who looked to be in his mid-twenties suddenly grinned. “Kate cooked? Now this is something I have to see.”

  Chad decided that Paul was probably overwhelmed from all his traveling. He decided that he would make some sandwiches for Billy to eat since Paul would eat his breakfast. “Billy is going for a walk in the field,” he told Paul.

  “Is that where he is?” He chuckled. “That Billy’s hard to pin down, isn’t he, Kate?”

  She nodded. “Go ahead and try this.” She sat Paul down at the table and motioned to the plate of food.

  “You’re reading a lot of newspapers.”

  Chad sat across from him, and Kate sat between them at the round table.

  “Yes,” she began, “I am keeping updated on Senator Tanner and his wife’s murder. Did you find out anything?”

  Chad noted the sorrow that momentarily passed across her brother’s face.

  “They’re still looking for the person who did it,” he reported.

  “I hope they find them soon,” she said.

  “Them?” He looked at her in interest.

  “Oh. Well, I have my suspicions. It’s as if I can picture it in my mind.” She gave him a meaningful look.

  It suddenly occurred to Chad that there was a secret message she was giving her brother. He wondered if Billy told her what happened but before he could dwell on it, she turned to him.

  “I didn’t intend to meet Chad when I came here,” she told Paul. “But I’m very glad I did.” She looked at Chad and smiled.

  He smiled back, pleased by her words.

  “I can tell.” Paul grinned. “What does Billy think of Chad? No offense that I’m speaking of you as if you’re not here.”

  Chad didn’t mind. He ate his meal. Kate did a good job of cooking.

  “Billy thinks the world of Chad. There aren’t a lot of men who are as honorable as he is. Chad’s letting me stay in the loft and Billy sleeps under the loft in the barn.”

  “Will you be staying there as well?” Chad asked him.

  He chuckled. “No. I will stay at the inn in town.”

  “I suppose it is getting crowded in the barn,” she replied.

  “This is a good meal, Kate,” Chad told her.

  She beamed at his compliment. “Thank you.”

  Paul took a bite and shook his head. “I have to agree with Chad. I didn’t think you could actually pull it off.”

  “I watched Chad do it, so I just did the same thing he did.” She paused for a moment. “There’s a potluck today in town at the fairgrounds. Will you go to it?”

  “That depends. Who will be there?”

  “Chad, are you going?”

  He was still upset from his encounter with Lacy and her brothers. “No, I won’t be going.”

  She looked disappointed. “It would be much more fun with you there but I understand.” Turning back to Paul, she said, “Billy will be there.”

  “He will?” Paul looked like he was ready to laugh.

  “Of course. They do horse races at the potluck lunches. Billy doesn’t miss an opportunity to show off his skill on a horse.”

  “That is true. So, you and Billy will be going?”

  She nodded. “Of course. We’ll go on Chad’s horse, Reliable.”

  “I wouldn’t miss this potluck for the world,” Paul decided. “I’ve got to see you and Billy in action with the townsfolk.”

  “You two probably want a chance to talk in private,” Chad stated as he stood up. “I’ll go take care of some chores. Don’t worry about the dishes, Kate. I’ll wash them. You just enjoy spending time with Paul, alright?”

  “Thank you, Chad,” she replied.

  He put his dishes in the sink. “It’s nice meeting you.” He shook Paul’s hand.

  “Likewise,” the man stated.

  As Chad left the house, he thanked the Lord for bringing Kate into his
life.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After Chad left to do chores, Kate knew she had to quickly explain the situation to her brother, Bob Tanner whom she had nicknamed Billy when they were children. She and Billy sat at the kitchen table with the newspapers opened in front of them, and she used the articles she found regarding the mystery of their parents’ deaths to support why she dressed up as man named Billy Ingram and headed out of Virginia.

  “Your name was the first one that popped in my head,” she told him. “I figured if I stuck with something familiar, then I would be able to stay in character better.”

  “So now I’m Paul?”

  “Well, I don’t think our younger brother will show up here. Do you?”

  “He can’t. He’s got too many cases to judge.”

  “Does he know where I went?” Was that how Billy was able to track her down?

  “No. He has no idea where you went after you left his wife’s costume shop, and it took me a couple of weeks to narrow it down. I recalled our discussion about that book you were reading on the Dakota territory. You had mentioned an interest in this particular town, so I came here, asked several people if there were any newcomers, and they led me right to this place. If you’re supposed to be dressed up as me, then what are you doing as yourself?”

  “It was uncomfortable to wear the binding around my chest all the time, so I slept naked. Well, Chad climbed up the ladder, thinking I was Billy, and saw me. I had to do something. So I told him that you, Paul, dropped me off here so I could visit our brother Billy who is a hobo checking out the country.”

  “A hobo?” He looked offended. “Can’t you do better than that?”

  “No. Senator Rich will be looking for me, and since we’re rich, he’ll stick with the bigger areas. I had to be far out of the way, and this farm is in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Did you return to Virginia in the middle of all of this and tell the police what happened?”

  She nodded. She had a hard time not crying whenever she thought of that night.

  “So the article that Calvin York wrote is accurate? Did Derek Robin and Dave Reinhart do it?”

  “Yes. But I suspect Senator Rich is behind it. Did any of the articles mention that?”

  “No. It just said that both men have been arrested. There have been some talk around town though that those men have connections with the senator you mentioned. Apparently, one of your library employees found several articles that picture the three men together at various social gatherings and a bank employee alerted his boss to a large transfer of funds that went from Senator Rich’s account to Dave and Derek’s accounts. Conrad Leroy is currently searching for anyone else who might have received a big sum of money recently as well. Those things are just circumstantial. This case will ultimately hinder on your testimony unless the men confess.”

  “I know. I just don’t know when it’ll be safe to go back. Senator Rich most likely has someone looking for me.”

  He nodded. “That is probably true.” He leaned towards her. “Will you tell me what happened?”

  She explained how she slipped into their parents’ home to get the picture in the den, how she heard a struggle and how she saw the murder of her father and Dave running after her mother. She related how they saw her and came after her, how she managed to escape from them, and how she went to Paul and his wife to get her Billy disguise. “Then I jumped on a train and came out here. Paul and Olivia have no idea where I am. I’m sure as soon as they found out about our parents’ deaths, they figured out why I was in such a hurry to get out of Virginia,” she concluded.

  “You must have been scared,” he softly stated.

  “I thought once Derek and Dave were arrested, I’d return home and confess to what I saw. If I stayed in town, they would have come after me to kill me. But this goes deeper than them.”

  He sighed. “So, how many people are you pretending to be?”

  “Up to this point, I’ve done two people. You and me.”

  “How are you going to be both people at this potluck?”

  “You will have to help me.”

  “What?”

  “You need to carry the bag of my costumes for me. Just leave them with the horse you rode out here.”

  “I had to rent that horse.”

  “Alright.” How he got the horse was irrelevant.

  He paused. “You care a lot about Chad, don’t you? That’s why you decided to be Kate too.”

  “He’s going to be my husband. It’s just a matter of waiting for his proposal.”

  “You turned down about ten wealthy bachelors in town who came by to court you, yet you come out here and fall in love with a farmer.”

  “Billy, don’t be a snob. Money isn’t everything.”

  “Does he know you’re rich?”

  “No. Like I said, he thinks we all came from a small town and Billy’s a hobo who happened to see Senator Tanner and his wife’s murders.”

  “You told him that much?”

  “I knew I could trust him.”

  “Yes. I get a good feeling about him as well. Anyway, I do feel better knowing he isn’t after you for your money. I can tell he loves you.”

  “Oh, I should warn you that his deceased wife, Georgia, was popular in this town, so you’ll be hearing a lot about her at the potluck. People think she was this wonderful woman but she really wasn’t.”

  “Is that jealousy talking?”

  “No. Look around this place. Would you ever guess he was married?”

  He glanced around. “No, I wouldn’t.”

  “He couldn’t stand her, though he did everything she wanted.” She turned her attention to the newspapers.

  “I should warn you that Billy Ingram is a popular person.” He held up the featured article of her. “This is you, right?”

  “It is. I couldn’t sit by and let a boy die in a fire.”

  “Let’s just hope no one on Senator Rich’s payroll makes the connection between you and Billy Ingram.” He put the paper down. “Well, you’re my big sister. I’m not going to let someone hurt you if I can stop it. You should know that Paul and I would do anything possible to protect you.”

  “I know. I just didn’t want to put your lives in danger.”

  He smiled at her. “If we can’t put our lives in danger for our sister, then who can we take a risk for? I can understand why you did what you did. I don’t blame you for running. But you have help now. Alright?”

  She returned his smile. “Thank you, Billy.”

  “Just call me Paul.”

  She was grateful that he was such a good sport about it. Then again, Billy always had a great sense of humor.

  They sorted through the papers and found articles Calvin York wrote regarding the fact that Senator Rich was a suspect in the murders. Nothing was conclusive and neither Dave nor Derek, whose alibis were found to be false, were talking.

  When Chad returned with the pail of milk, Paul winked at her and stood up. “I think I’ll go find Billy and have him show me around the farm before we go to the potluck.” Just as he was about to leave the house, he turned back. “Are you expecting company?”

  She glanced at Chad who shook his head. She went to the front door and sighed. “I didn’t expect them to come today.” She turned to her brother. “They’re Sam and Tim Montgomery and they work here as farmhands.”

  “Except they usually only come during the week,” Chad blandly added.

  “Are they aware that there’s a beautiful attraction here?” her brother asked her.

  “Unfortunately,” she whispered. She looked back at Chad who was pouring the milk into the bottles. Did it bother him that Sam and Tim were coming out to see her? She turned back to her brother. “It’s going to be a long day.”

  “There’s no need to be rude. Introduce me to them,” her brother insisted.

  She nodded and led him outside. At least with him there, the men would behave themselves. As they reached the men on their horses, s
he forced herself to smile as they smiled widely at her.

  “These aren’t as pretty as you but I wanted you to have them.” Sam handed her some daisies.

  “Thank you,” she uneasily replied.

  “And you can’t forget candy,” Tim added as he handed her a box of chocolates.

  Her brother looked amused. “How thoughtful. I didn’t know this was part of the work that farmhands do.”

  “Paul,” she warned.

  “Who’s he?” Sam wondered.

  “This is my other brother, Paul,” she said. “He thinks he’s funny but he’s not.”

  “Yes, it seems that Kate got all the funny genes in our family,” her brother sarcastically replied. “So, you two would like to court my sister?”

  “We figured it was too soon to ask,” Tim responded. “We don’t want to scare her off.”

  “That’s a good plan. As her brother, I wouldn’t want her to feel pressured into making a bad decision.”

  “Oh, of course not.”

  “We will be happy to escort you to the potluck,” Sam offered.

  “As long as I’m there to chaperone,” her brother inserted. “I must make sure no one mistreats her.”

  “We wouldn’t dream of mistreating a lady,” Tim replied.

  She forced herself not to roll her eyes. Instead, she said, “I’ll take these things to the loft.”

  Before anyone could stop her, she ran to the barn. She was relieved to see that her brother was still talking to them so they didn’t follow her. She was tempted to spend the day as Billy but knew Kate couldn’t just disappear, even though she wanted to. This is going to be a long day.

  ***

  Around noon, she had her Billy disguise in the bag. She noticed that Chad continued to do his usual chores while Sam and Tim hovered around her and her brother. Doesn’t it bother him that Sam and Tim are here? She pushed the question aside as she got on Reliable. She had told Sam and Tim that “Billy” planned to join them later. She wanted to say good-bye to Chad but he was nowhere in sight when they left. She was relieved that her brother was with her to keep the two farmhands in check.

  When they reached the town, the potluck was already set up. They got off their horses and several men walked over to them.