Chapter 20
It was late in the afternoon the following day when Nathaniel walked into his office with a frown. He hadn’t been by the boarding house since early yesterday morning but felt he needed to give Chloe some room.
He had intended to spend most of his day in town but there’d been an issue needing his attention regarding two neighboring ranches to the northeast of town.
The ongoing dispute was over water. A shallow river separated the border of one ranch from the other and each rancher proclaimed the water belonged to his property and cattle herd.
His thoughts already busy with Chloe’s almost fearful reaction to his presence early yesterday morning, and mulling over the information that Thomas had brought back to him the day before, he’d had little patience for the two ranch owners by the time he got to the scene of the altercation.
The two of them were in the midst of another argument when Nathaniel quickly dismounted and stepped between the two, an arm on each chest, pushing them away from one another.
“Enough!” he shouted. “This is the third time I’ve come out here! Enough!”
The two men stared agog at him, never having seen their sheriff lose his temper like this. He didn’t care. He pointed a finger at Jerome Reynolds and then at Ezekiel Barrows, twice Jerome’s age. “I don’t see what you two keep arguing about. The river is big enough to supply both of your herds.”
“It ain’t just that, Sheriff,” Ezekiel grumbled, pointing at Jerome. “His cattle cross the river and mix with mine—”
“And yours do the same!” Jerome interrupted. “If I—”
Nathaniel interrupted. “Let’s not make something out of nothing. As I’ve told you before, there’s enough water for both your herds, and if you’re gonna keep arguing about it, just keep them separated, understand?” He glared at both of them.
“If you have a problem with a few strays crossing over, then go ahead and throw up a barb wire fence right down the middle of it!” He knew exactly what kind of response he’d get from that. He wasn’t disappointed.
“What?” Jerome gasped. “You think I’m gonna put up one of them ugly barbed wire fences?” He shook his head and glared at the sheriff, sweeping his arm about. “Why put a fence out here in this wide-open country?”
“Then quit fighting over it. I’ve come out here too many times already,” Nathaniel growled, glancing at both of them. “How long have you two been neighbors?” He already knew the answer.
“Since I was little,” Jerome murmured.
Nathaniel glanced at Ezekiel. “I know you’ve been here a lot longer than that, Ezekiel, and in that time you’ve bought more land and cattle.
You’re a good steward of the land and your herd, and always have been, but if you want to put up a fence smack dab in the middle of that river, I suppose that would be your right. ”
“I don’t want to put up no barbed wire fence anywhere,” Ezekiel grumbled.
Nathaniel lifted an eyebrow. “How else do you think you can keep your cattle from wandering across or his cattle from crossing over onto your land?”
“Can’t,” Jerome sighed.
“Nope,” Ezekiel agreed. He heaved a deep sigh and turned to Jerome.
“I got my brand on mine.” He looked at the waist-deep river, the water rippling gently, sometimes parting around the rock before continuing onward.
“You got your brand on yours. I guess we could figure out a way to keep track once in a while.”
Nathaniel nodded and glanced at Jerome. “Well?”
Jerome heaved a sigh, glanced at the river, then at Ezekiel, and nodded as he extended his hand. “Okay. No more bickering. Once a month well have our hands take stock. If some of your cattle have mixed with mine, we’ll return ‘em and you can do the same.”
Ezekiel shook Jerome’s hand and gave him a single nod before returning to his horse. The old man crossed the river and disappeared into a grove of trees on the other side. Nathaniel turned to Jerome. “I don’t want to come out here to settle this again, you hear me?”
“You won’t,” Jerome replied, slowly shaking his head. “Thanks for coming out.”
“I shouldn’t have had to,” Nathaniel said. “You two are old enough to have settled this on your own. Why didn’t you?”
Jerome inhale deeply, then turned to look off into the distance, slowly shaking his head. “Call it stupid pride, arrogance, being thought weak …” He looked at Nathaniel. “Take your pick.”
Nathaniel said his goodbyes and returned to town, thinking once again of Chloe.
She had some problems too, but as far as he was concerned, stubborn pride and maybe something else prevented her from telling him about them.
Didn’t she trust him? It appeared to be something serious that bothered her great bit.
He stiffened when he realized he was ruminating about it overmuch, wasn’t he?
“Nah,” he muttered. “I’m just concerned about her. ”
No, he admitted to himself. Yes, he wanted to keep her safe, but he also knew that his feelings went much deeper than that.
By the time he returned to town he decided he would speak to her about it, but not tonight.
He was tired and in a poor mood and didn’t want to subject his family, nor Chloe and Eliza to it.
He’d sleep on it. No one should have to stand alone with their fears and uncertainties in life.
He decided he needed to somehow make her understand that she wasn’t alone anymore, that his mother and his sister, and yes, he himself wanted to support her.
He also realized that he wasn’t thinking this way just for clarity’s sake. It was for him as well. It was time to admit his growing feelings for her, if not out loud to her, at least to himself.
The following morning, after performing his rounds, he’d decided to just head over to the house now and talk to her. Unfortunately, he was sidelined by Orval Ainsworth, the bank manager, who had apparently been watching the sheriff’s office for his return.
“Sheriff!” Orval hollered, waving his hand. “I need to talk to you.”
Nathaniel heaved an inward sigh and dismounted, looping the reins over the hitching post outside his office. He removed his hat and swept his fingers through his hair. “What is it, Orval?”
Orval quickly shut the bank door, locked it, and then hurried across the small field separating the sheriff’s office from the bank. He stopped in front of the hitching post and glanced around. Nathaniel got the impression that the banker might appreciate some privacy. “Let’s go inside.”
Orval nodded, obvious relief in his face as he followed Nathaniel into the office. Nathaniel sat down in his chair as he gestured for Orval to take the one in front of the desk. He waited.
Orval sat down, his eyes constantly looking out the window, from which he could see the bank. “I don’t want to be gone too long, but there’s something that I need to tell you.”
Nathaniel said nothing but lifted an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure if it means anything, but there was a stranger in town a while ago.”
Nathaniel waited. Sometimes Orval could take a while to work up to something. He shrugged. “We get occasional strangers riding through town.”
Orval frowned and nibbled on his lower lip before he continued.
“Well, for one, I’ve never seen him around here before.
Tall fella, looked like he’d been on the trail for a while.
Dirty. Dusty. Dirty dark brown hair, green eyes from what I could tell, ‘bout a week’s worth of a beard …
” He sighed. “He looked around and asked where I kept the bank safe.”
Nathaniel hid a frown. “Kind of an odd question for a stranger,” he said softly.
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Orval nodded.
Again, Nathaniel watched the banker fidgeting in his chair until he got tired of waiting. “And?”
“And he said if he was thinking of putting money into the bank, he wanted to know if it would be kept in a safe or just under a cupboard in a bag or something.”
“Still unusual, but understandable,” Nathaniel said.
Actually, he was surprised that Orval didn’t get asked that question more than he did.
How were new customers supposed to know he had a rather large cast-iron safe manufactured by Hall’s Safe and Lock factory from Ohio?
It was a large cast-iron safe with gilded edges and dials, a safe rumored, and reputed by its manufacturer, to be impossible to break into.
Orval stared at him and Nathaniel stared back. “What exactly do you want me to do, Orval?”
Orval frowned. “I just wanted to let you know. He didn’t look like a man who was interested in opening an account.”
Nathaniel still wasn’t sure what Orval wanted from him. “Maybe he’s a new ranch hand in the area.” He paused. “And even if you think he did seem suspicious, there’s no law against asking a question like that in a bank.”
“I know, Sheriff, and I feel kind of foolish coming over and mentioning it to you, but well, we had that attack on the stagecoach not all that long ago by those outlaws and I figured you might want to know about it.” His bushy eyebrows rose.
“Maybe it was one of them, thinking to come into town and rob our bank.”
Nathaniel sighed and gave the man a nod. “I’ll keep an eye out.” He stood, prompting Orval to do the same. The man left and Nathaniel watched the banker quickly cross the small field once more, then pull a key from his pocket to open the bank door before he disappeared inside.
Nathaniel shook his head and returned to his desk, once again pondering the issue with Chloe.
He would speak to her and find out not only what was bothering her, but also to tell her, if he could work up the courage, that he’d grown fond of her.
How did a man just come out and say something like that?
What if his feelings for her weren’t returned?
What if he scared her off? His sister would tell him to just say it.
His mother might suggest the same thing. He wasn’t so sure.