LITMIR.BIZ

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It is ready to come out.” Maggie pulled the bread from the oven and sighed. “Dinah, I think I’ll take the baby and go lie down.”

      “You want me to do the dishes?” Dinah asked.

      “No, sweetie. Why don’t you come upstairs with me? You can play with your doll and blocks while I take a nap.” She tugged on the girl’s ponytail. “Then we’ll get up and put those beans on to boil.”

      Dinah put the beans into the bowl Maggie had supplied earlier. She yawned. “Maggie, how come baby James sleeps so much?”

      “He’s new to the world. He’s going to be doing a lot of growing, so he needs to sleep. You used to sleep a lot, too.”

      Carrying the baby, Maggie made her way back up the stairs, each step painful and slow. Dinah tagged along behind her. “You remember when I was a baby?”

      “It was only five short years ago,” Maggie reminded her. She continued placing one foot in front of the other until she finally reached the top of the stairs.

      The front door opened below them. Maggie turned to see who had entered her house. Gus stepped inside. She frowned. When had Gus become so bold as to enter without knocking?

      “Aw, Maggie. It’s good to see you are up. I take it the baby is in good health?” Gus walked across the room and stopped at the foot of the stairs.

      Maggie tightened her hold on the baby. “Yes. What did you come to the house for, Gus?”

      He laughed. “Always getting straight to the point, huh, Maggie?”

      She didn’t answer him. Maggie waited for him to continue. From experience, she knew he’d continue whether she answered or not.

      “Now that the baby is here, you have even less time to invest in the ranch. Sell it to me, Maggie. I’ll give you a good price and you and the kids will be able to live a life of comfort for years to come.” He advanced farther up the stairs.

      Dinah hid behind Maggie’s skirt.

      Maggie understood the little girl’s fear. Most often Gus’s eyes blazed his anger at whatever situation they were confronted with, but today, cunning and desire to own the Fillmore Ranch shone clear as day. She shook her head. “Thank you, Gus. I’m sure that your offer would be generous, but I promised to keep the land for baby James. I can’t sell it.”

      His jaw clenched. “Jack is dead. He’ll never know if you kept your word or not.” He leaned a hip on the stair railing.

      “You’re right. He is dead. But I am not. I made a promise to him and I will not break it. This ranch belongs to Jack’s son and I won’t sell it, not to you, not to anyone.” As confident as her words sounded, inwardly Maggie trembled.

      Gus’s face turned bright red. His jaw clenched and unclenched several times. He stood taller and fisted his hands at his sides. His eyes blazed with anger and loathing.

      Maggie tightened her hand on the railing. “Please let yourself out, Gus.”

      He jerked around and headed to the door.

      Just as his fingers touched the bar to open it again, Maggie said, “Oh, Gus. I’d like to see the ranch ledger. Please have one of the men bring it to the house this evening.”

      He jerked the door open and slammed it shut behind him.

      Baby James awoke with a start. His small face puckered as if he’d bitten into a persimmon. Then he opened those same lips and wailed out his displeasure at being awaken so rudely.

      Maggie wanted to join the baby in his tears but knew she had to stay strong for Dinah’s sake. She patted the baby’s back and made shushing noises.

      “Come along, Dinah.” Maggie led the way to her bedroom. Once inside, she closed the door and locked it. Her hand trembled as she changed the baby’s diaper.

      “Maggie, why does Uncle Gus want the ranch so bad?” Dinah had scrambled up on the bed with her rag doll.

      “All men want to own land, Dinah. Gus thinks this ranch should rightfully belong to him since it was his cousin’s.” Maggie shuddered to think how far Gus might be willing to push to get the Fillmore land.

      Dinah picked up her doll and hugged it close. “But you aren’t going to give it to him, are you?”

      Maggie wrapped the baby up tightly. She lay down on the bed and then cuddled James close again. “No, this land belongs to James.”

      “I’m glad.” Dinah yawned. “I don’t much like Mr. Gus.” Her eyes drifted closed.

      Maggie wished she could fall asleep as quickly as Dinah and the baby. Her mind was having no part of rest at the moment. She knew Gus Fillmore wasn’t going to give up on owning the ranch. Today he had showed just how badly he wanted it, and the depth of that desire scared Maggie.

      How far would Gus go to get his cousin’s ranch? And how was she going to stop him from taking it? Her thoughts went to Clayton Young and the doctor. Did she dare close her eyes and rest until they arrived?

      * * *

      In town, Clayton spotted the doctor’s shingle hanging on the doorpost of a small house. He dismounted. After tying the horse’s reins to the hitching post, he entered the front door. A bell over the entryway clanked his arrival. Clayton’s gaze moved about the waiting room that appeared to be empty.

      A side door opened and the doctor motioned for Clayton to follow him into the examination room. He was a tall man with thinning hair and sharp gray eyes. “Is this an emergency?” he asked.

      Clayton shook his head. His gaze moved over the country doctor. The dark-haired man was older than Clayton had expected, with grass-green eyes. He wore a white coat over his regular clothes, and a stethoscope hung around his neck.

      “Then you won’t mind if I wash up, will you?” He turned and moved to the washbasin beside the examination table.

      “No, sir.”

      Clayton felt as if he were right where he belonged. His gaze traveled over the examination table. A cabinet sat to the right where he assumed the doctor kept medication and medical instruments. A desk and chair stood on the other side of the room.

      Clayton’s gaze moved to a bookshelf that rested beside the desk. Its shelves were packed with volumes of books and loose papers. He imagined the books were filled with all kinds of cures and advice to help the sick.

      “Have you had any doctor training?” The elderly man finished washing his hands then moved to the desk.

      Clayton turned his attention back to the doctor. “No, sir. But I’ve read a couple of medical books and was the family doctor.” He grinned as memories of his brothers’ cuts and bruises came to mind. When you grew up with six adopted brothers, you tended to stay busy with bandaging and sewing up gashes.

      Thankfully, nothing serious had come up. Clayton’s grin slid from his face. If it had, he wouldn’t have known what to do. Josephine, his brother Thomas’s wife, had known more about healing than he had when one of the other Pony Express riders had arrived with a gunshot wound. The event had forced Clayton to realize that he needed more schoolin’ if he intended to be a doctor.

      “I thought as much, the way you are eyeballing those books.”

      Was he so transparent that the doctor had read his desire to become a doctor just by watching his expression when he’d looked at the books?

      He held out his hand. “I’m Charles Anderson and the only doctor for miles around.”

      Clayton took his hand and shook it. Doc Anderson’s handshake wasn’t as forceful as Gus Fillmore’s, but then again, the doctor didn’t have anything to prove. “Clayton Young.”

      “Ah, the new Pony Express manager out at the Fillmore place. Bill mentioned a new man would be arriving soon.”

      “Yes,

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