Chapter 14 #2
“Well, that’s what cowboys are for, but for what it’s worth, I have every confidence in the world that you could rope a steer if I gave you a rope and a good horse.
” Ronan smiled, and for a moment, it didn’t feel like they were two neighbors out on a ride and making sure whoever was lurking wasn’t out there.
Instead, it felt like he and Cressida were just a man and a woman who were out for an afternoon ride. Two people who enjoyed spending time together and had nothing else they would rather do with their day,
And that was a dangerous line of thinking to have.
“Why don’t we have some coffee before I ride with you back home?” Ronan asked as his house came back into view.
“I wish I could, but I have to help Etta with some things that need to be taken care of.” She looked down as she spoke, before her gaze flickered back up to him.
“Maybe we could have that coffee another time, though? We did some baking today, and I made far too much. Why don’t you and Tobin come over tomorrow afternoon? ”
“I’d love to.”
Cressida shifted in the saddle, turning back toward her own property. “I hope you find out who was watching you and what it is they want.”
“I do, too. Have a good day.”
“You as well.”
He stayed and watched her disappear through the trees, taking the warmth from his day with her and leaving only the cold reality that his past might finally be catching up to him.
Ronan rode back to Tobin, stopping for a minute when he found the other man already saddled up and waiting. “We need to scour through the trees lining the property. I’m going to cross to the other side of the river to make sure there are no camps being set up there.”
“Want to tell me why someone might be watching you?” Tobin asked, eyeing Ronan like he was trying to see straight through him.
“Best guess I have is that it’s the robbers coming to finish the job,” Ronan said, which didn’t entirely feel like a lie. It was a possibility. They had seen the watch, and they had been interested in it, which meant that he couldn’t rule them out entirely.
“You think they’d care that much?” Tobin looked around the property like he was waiting for something to jump out at him. “I don’t mean to offend, but it doesn’t look like there’s much here that’s going to be worth something to anybody.”
“I’m not offended,” Ronan said, also glancing around, staring at the shadows a little longer than he had before. When he was alone, he would take the time to track properly. “We should split up and cover as much ground as possible.”
Tobin nodded. “I’ll take the west side of the property, you take the east, and we’ll meet in the middle.”
“Make sure you look for tracks, and if either of us finds anything, two long whistles.” Ronan glanced at the dark shadows of the trees, an uneasy feeling crawling along his spine. “And if either of us finds any trouble, three short whistles.”
The men separated, Ronan riding to the trees and starting to look through them. He got off his horse, crouching low to the ground and looking at the dirt to see if there were any unfamiliar boot prints marring the earth. There was nothing other than his own prints.
He got back on his horse and kept riding around the perimeter of the property, analyzing the branches and bushes for any sign of fabric that might have ripped. There was nothing, though. Nothing to show that the man had been on his property.
Ronan reached the river, the water low, flowing slowly. He eased his horse into the water, petting its neck as they started to cross. The horse moved confidently, stepping through the water, not spooking when a fish jumped in front of them.
They got to the other side, and Ronan rode along the bank, looking for any sign of a camp that might have been set up, but there was still no sign of who might have been watching him.
He didn’t like it, but even if he were to go back to the road where the man had been watching him, he wouldn’t be able to track him.
The ground was too dry there to show any prints that would be of use, and the road was too well-traveled by the people of town.
He seldom went more than a few hours without seeing people riding up and down the road, or buggies going by at the end of a day for evening rides.
***
It was late at night when Ronan finally admitted to himself that he had no hope of sleeping without knowing who was lingering around his property and why.
He climbed out of bed and went to the writing desk, pulling out the watch again as if hoping there would be new answers when he looked at it this time. Though he knew it was impossible, he still hoped.
Ronan turned on the lamp, looking down at the watch, turning it over and over. He took off the back of the watch again, looking for something among the gears that might hint at what he was missing. There had to be something.
Still, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the gears apart when he didn’t know how to put them back together again.
“I don’t know what you’re hiding from me,” Ronan whispered, as if Evander’s ghost would spring free from the watch and tell him what he was missing.
The ghost didn’t, and Ronan was still left barely understanding all that had come to pass in his life recently.
One day, all of this will make sense. I just have to keep holding onto faith.
Ronan was about to put the back on the watch once more when he saw a little nick in it that he hadn’t noticed before. It was small, on the inside of the watch beside one of the gears, like someone had done some damage there before.
It was odd, given how much Evander had treasured the watch, but maybe it had gone to a watchmaker for repairs at one point or another.
He sighed, pressing his fingers to his temples and massaging, trying to fight off the headache that was slowly building. Something about the watch was important, but Evander never told him what.
Mysteries were his least favorite type of story, and now he was trapped in one.
Those robbers had taken notice of the watch, though, and the attack had seemed pointed, like they had known he had it. There had to be some importance to the watch, even if he couldn’t remember why.
At first, he thought those robbers had just been looking for money. But the thought that maybe it was more than that sat heavy in his chest, leaving him wondering if he was going to put everyone around him in danger.