Jake (3 page)

Becky looked over at the tall man striding quickly toward her, the little girl running in his wake. The other two men followed at an easier pace.

“Hello, I’m Liam Anderson,” he said, extending his hand toward her. He was a looker. They all were. And they were all tall. She was tall, for a girl, but Liam was easily six foot four, a good eight inches taller than her, with brown hair and gray eyes that were old, older than the rest of him. They told her he’d been through a lot. But his sharp features stretched into a friendly smile.

“Becky Finnegan,” she gave him a firm handshake.

“Miss Finnegan, let me introduce my family. You’ve already met my son, David. This is my daughter, Hannah and my brothers, Zachariah and Jacob.”

The black haired one stepped forward. “Zach. No one except Liam uses Zachariah.”

She nodded and accepted his outstretched hand. “Pleased to meet you, Zach.” This one would have all the women in camp swooning with his coal black hair and piercing blue eyes. The little girl looked just like him. If she hadn’t been told otherwise she would have though him the girls father.

“And this is Jacob,” said Liam, introducing the last brother. He was also tall, about six feet she guessed, with dark blond hair and brown eyes that twinkled with laughter. He had a strong, square jaw and friendly smile.

“Jake,” he said, eyeing his brother as he shook her hand, “not Jacob.”

His voice, deep as Grandma Bess’s well, washed over her. This man was dangerous to her peace of mind.

“Becky,” she said, shaking his hand. She went still. When they touched, she filled with heat. Not just the warmth from his hand, but one that went much deeper. Warmth that seemed to touch her soul.

Her green eyed gaze flew to his and saw that he was as affected as she was. She snatched her hand from his grasp, looked down and rubbed it. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Maybe that her fingers and palm were on fire because they sure burned.

“Becky,” he repeated, his voice like satin on her jangled nerves.

“I…I…ah, came to welcome you to Deadwood. You have the Discovery #9 claim. Mine is Discovery #3. We share a border along there,” she pointed and moved her hand showing the boundary from the bluff down through the creek and over to the middle of the trees. “I’ve been working your claim for Lily Sutter until you could get here. Keeping her rights to the parcel active so she could sell it to you.”

“I’m much obliged. Do you work your claim by yourself?” asked Liam.

“My da and I are both owners on the paperwork, but I’m the one who works it. You might meet Da tomorrow. I’m heading to Deadwood now to fetch him from
The Gem
.”

“
The Gem
?”

“It’s a saloon and whor—,” she stopped mid word and looked at the two children, “house of ill repute.”

Liam smiled. “Thank you.” He ruffled the hair of his children. “Why don’t you two go play over by the tents.”

Becky watched them go. She turned to the three men before her, “I should warn you this ain’t a good place to raise kids. I’m not tryin’ to tell you your business, just that my da is a no good drunkard and I can’t guarantee his behavior.”

“Thank you for telling me,” said Liam.

“I’m on my way to fetch him now. He’s more than likely passed out and I’ll have to bring him back tied over the saddle of my mule, Buster. It could be upsetting to your children, but they’ll have to get used to it.”

“We understand,” said Jake. “Do you need some help with your father?”

It happened again. Every time he talked to her. His voice was smooth, warm like her favorite treat…hot chocolate. Something she could definitely get used to if she let herself. “No, but thanks. After all these years I know how to handle him and,” she smiled, “I don’t much care anymore, if he hurts himself when he falls off the mule. He don’t remember it anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jake. “It must be hard for you.”

Becky backed away from the handsome man that gave her shivers just by looking at her. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I get on just fine. I been takin’ care of Billy since I was seven years old. I’m used to it now.”

Jake put his hands up in front of him, palms out. “I meant no disrespect.”

Becky nodded, went over to Buster and swung up on his back. “Well, I just wanted to say, ‘Hi and welcome.’”

“Miss Finnegan,” the men said in unison and tipped their hats to her.

She turned Buster east and started him walking down the rocky path to Deadwood.

~*~

“Well, she’s a bit prickly,” said Zach.

“Sounds like she has a right to be,” said Jake in her defense. “Can you imagine having to take on the care of your father at such a young age?”

“No, I can’t,” said Liam. “She’s obviously had a hard life.”

Jake watched the mule’s retreating form, the tall, slender, red-haired girl with eyes as green as a new born leaf shining in the morning sun, sat ramrod straight on the mules back. Her vibrant copper hair captured in a single plait down her spine. She wore men’s clothes, wool pants, chambray shirt, suspenders, a baggy coat and a revolver on her hip.

He supposed she wore them because of the work she did, panning for gold wasn’t something that could be done in a dress. If it was to hide her figure, they did a poor job. He saw the flare of her hips and the outline of her ample breasts, pressing against a shirt that was a bit too small and had been washed too many times.

About two hours later, she returned walking the mule, a man tied over the saddle. The man had red hair, the same color as Becky’s. If he hadn’t known before, that alone would have been a dead giveaway that he was her father.

Jake ran over to her. “Hi, Becky. That your father?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, who else would it be?”

“Uh, no one,” Jake said as he walked beside her. “Just trying to start a conversation.”

“Not very good at it, are ya?” She continued walking up the gulch.

Jake ignored the barb. “So, how far is your claim from ours.”

“Not far. Just around the bend. They adjoin each other.”

“Mind if I walk with you?”

She shrugged. “Your choice. Makes no nevermind to me.”

“I’m only trying to be your friend.”

“Don’t need no friend.” She kept walking along the path that wound its way through the green valley full of tall grass and colorful flowers. Next to the swift flowing river with its small gold nuggets and large trout..

“Everybody needs a friend now and then,” said Jake, “or family.”

“I don’t.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?”

“Why are you?” She stopped, halted the mule and turned to face Jake. “I didn’t ask you to be my friend. Just ’cause I stopped and said ‘hello’ doesn’t mean nothin’. Just bein’ polite ’cause you’ll be seein’ me a lot. That’s all. Nothin’ more.”

“Alright, then. We’ll be on friendly terms but we won’t be friends.”

“Fine.” She started walking again and pulled the reins on the mule’s bridle to get him moving again.

“Fine,” he said.

They walked in silence. She may not want his help with her father but damned if he wasn’t going to try to help her get the man off the animal.

When they reached the camp, Becky pointed at him and said, “You just stay right there. I’ve got Billy.”

Reluctantly, he nodded his ascent. Jake saw that their camp was similar to his own. There were two tents. Mining pans lay stacked neatly on the ground in front of one of the tents. He thought that one must be Becky’s since she was the only one to work the claim.

There was a rope strung between two trees for a clothes line. Laying across the line was a shirt, pants, chemise and drawers. Jake pretended not to notice them so as not to embarrass her.

He needn’t have bothered. She wasn’t paying him any attention.

Jake did as she asked and stayed put, though it nearly killed the gentleman in him to do so. Meanwhile, she pulled the end of the slip knot she’d tied around Billy’s wrists and dropped the rope to the ground. Then she went around the backside of the mule and held on to the other end of the rope that was tied to his ankles. She pushed on his butt until he started slipping off the mule away from her and then she used her weight to slowly lower him to the ground. With about six inches to go, she abruptly pulled free the slip knot around his ankles and released the rest of the rope, letting him crash onto his shoulder on the ground.

“Hey, wh…what the hell is going on?” he slurred.

“Wake up you ol’ bastard,” said Becky. “We got company.”

“What company?” growled Billy

“The new owner of the Discovery #9. Come now, get up.”

He crawled to his knees and promptly vomited.

“You never want to be near him when he wakes up. He does that every time. I made the mistake,
one time
, of getting myself trapped under him while trying to help him off Buster. He woke up before I could get out. That’s when I devised this method.”

“I noticed you let him go a little soon.”

“Soon? For who? It wakes him up. You can shake his shoulder all day and he’ll sleep right through it. Drop him on the ground and he wakes right up. At least long enough to get up and go in the tent to sleep it off.”

Jake took a deep breath and shook his head. “You go through this every day?”

“Not every day,” she said defensively. “Three to four times a week, is all.”

“That’s a lot.”

“I warned your brother about Billy. He’s a drunkard and a bully. Don’t be surprised if he shows up at your digs and tries to get money off you. He won’t hesitate to use those kids for it either, so warn them to stay away from him.”

“I will. Thanks.”

She looked him up and down appraising him like he was a prime piece of horseflesh. Then she surprised him.

“Thanks for walking with me. I didn’t need your help but the company was nice.”

“You’re welcome. I liked it, too.” He took his hat off and held it in front of him. “Look, we’re going to be neighbors. There’s no reason we can’t help each other out. Why don’t you come to dinner and tell us a little about Deadwood. Then, we won’t seem like quite the greenhorns.”

She thought about it a moment, looked down at Billy, disgust written on her face and said, “Fine. I’d like that. Let’s go.”

Jake put his hat on and they walked back to his campsite. He hoped this was the start of a wonderful friendship. Despite the prickly Miss Finnegan’s beliefs, he knew that everyone needed a friend now and then. He was determined to be hers and much more if she let him.

CHAPTER 2

Over a dinner of scrambled eggs, fresh baked bread, crisp bacon and coffee, Becky told them about Deadwood.

“It’s growing fast. Faster than anyone ever expected. Of course, no one expected the quantity or quality of the gold. Even small claims like mine are yielding some color.”

When she saw the confused look on their faces, she explained. “When we say color, we mean gold and its yellow color.” Taking another bite of the delicious eggs, she continued, “It’s hard work though. Even though there’s a lot of poor man’s pickings, that’s getting harder and harder to find. Poor man’s pickin’s is gold you can just pick up off the ground. That’s gone. Now you got to work for it. I hope y’all are prepared.”

“We are,” said Liam. “We came here to work. Like everyone else we hope to make our fortunes but we at least want to make a living.”

“I don’t know about making a fortune, not out of the creek you won’t.” She glanced and pointed up at the bluff. “If there’s a fortune to be had, it’ll be up there.”

“Have you been up there looking for it?” asked Zach.

Becky shook her head. “Nope. Not something I can do alone. You need to be able to work the ropes and a pick axe. You’ll be able to mine the cliff because there are three of you. As for me, well there’s only me. Billy is worthless. I’d never trust him not to drop me reaching for a drink.”

“What about Deadwood itself? Who runs things? There’s got to be someone,” said Liam.

“Oh, there is. That’s the one thing that you need to know. Al Swearengen, the owner of
The Gem
saloon, sort of runs things in Deadwood. All major decisions go through him. It’s all unofficial, of course, but it’s the way of things. Folks seem happy with it because no one else wants the job.”

“What about the businesses? Don’t they get tired of being told what to do?” asked Jake.

“That’s the beauty of Al’s way of running things. He don’t interfere in how folks run their regular businesses. He’s got a few rules. He don’t want no more booze, gambling or,” she gazed down at the kids sitting around the fire with them, “anything else, if you know what I mean.”

All three men nodded.

“I don’t know what you mean,” said David.

“You will when you get older,” said his father.

Becky couldn’t help but smile at his innocence. How long since she’d been as innocent? She guessed about fifteen years. As soon as she came to live with Billy her innocence had fled, along with any hope she might have had that she would have a home. A place she could be safe.