Courting Will (Escape To The West Book 8) Read online

  He stopped as the bedroom door opened and Dan appeared in the doorway.

  For a few moments, he simply stared at them, his mouth hanging open.

  Their father took a step towards him. “Dan, what is it?”

  Will opened his mouth, but his voice seemed to have deserted him.

  “I have a son,” Dan finally managed. There was a long pause during which Will wanted to grab his brother and yell at him to finish. And then he said, “And… and a daughter.”

  It took a moment for that to sink in.

  “Twins?” Will squeaked out.

  Dan nodded. He didn’t seem to be able to do much more.

  “How’s Sara?”

  “Good. Tired but good.” A look of wonder crept onto his face. “I have a son and a daughter.”

  Their father marched across the room and caught him up in a tight hug. “And you’re going to be a wonderful father.”

  Will swiped his hand across his eyes.

  Dan buried his face in his father’s shoulder for a few moments before looking at Will. “You want to come in and meet your niece and nephew?”

  Will nodded mutely. He was pretty sure that if he tried to speak at this point, he’d burst into tears. There was a room full of women in there, including Daisy. He really didn’t want that to happen.

  He followed his father and brother into the bedroom, slightly worried about what he might see. He couldn’t get the story of his birth out of his mind.

  Thankfully, there was no blood, no fluids, and no afterbirth. Sara lay on the bed, looking exhausted but happy as she watched Will’s mother cooing to a swaddled bundle in each arm. The rest of the women were unobtrusively tidying up.

  Sara smiled at Will as he walked in. “I think I’ll let you milk Pea for a while longer.”

  A relieved burst of laughter erupted from him. “You take as long as you need. Whenever you want to get back to it, me and Pea will be more than ready to let you.”

  Will’s father went to sit beside his mother, and she transferred the two precious bundles to him so they could meet their grandfather. Bess walked up to him, tail wagging uncertainly, and sniffed at one and then the other. Her tail sped up and she sat, resting her chin on the bed as she watched them.

  Sara reached out to stroke her head. “You did a good job looking after me, Bess. We’re all right.”

  Closing his eyes for a moment, Will said a silent prayer of thanks. Sara and the babies were all right.

  Babies. Two of them.

  Not even in his wildest dreams had he seen that coming.

  He opened his eyes to see Dan watching him.

  Dan mouthed, “Two.”

  Smiling, Will mouthed back, “I know!”

  Dan grinned. He seemed to be getting his color back.

  “Will, would you like to hold your new niece and nephew?” his father asked.

  He nodded, a little nervously. It wasn’t that he’d never held a baby before. He already had two nephews and a niece from his eldest brother. But he was still a little apprehensive as he took the two bundles from his father.

  And then he looked for the first time into the tiny, red, wrinkled faces of his brand new niece and nephew, and fell in love.

  “Hey, little one,” he whispered. “And little one.” He laughed softly. “I guess I’m going to have to work on the nicknames. I’m your Uncle Will, and I love you very, very much. I want you to know that I will always be here for you. If you ever need protecting, I’ll keep you safe. If you’re ever sad, you can cry on my shoulder. And whenever you fall down, I’ll be here to pick you up. I promise that I will never let you down.” He blinked the sheen of moisture from across his eyes. “And I will never, ever stop loving you.”

  Becoming aware that the room had fallen silent, he raised his eyes to see he’d become the center of attention. Everyone was gazing at him as if they wanted to ruffle his hair like a doting grandmother, even the two men. Suddenly self-conscious, he carefully set the babies into their father’s arms.

  Movement caught his eye and he looked up to see Daisy rise from her seat and hurry from the room.

  Smiling and wiping away tears, his mother stood and wrapped her arms around him. “My baby.”

  That was it. Much more and he was going to make a complete fool of himself. Gently extracting himself from his mother’s embrace, he smiled awkwardly at everyone and left the bedroom.

  He found Daisy outside, sitting on the bench. Taking a seat beside her, he gazed at the distant mountains casting dark shadows against the lightening sky.

  He wanted so much to take her hand, draw her into his arms and hold her.

  “I think I made a bit of a fool of myself in there,” he said.

  “A fool?” She laughed in disbelief, wiping at her eyes. “You’re a liar, Will Raine.”

  Will scoured his memory for what she could be talking about, but couldn’t find anything he’d actually lied about. “I... am?” he said carefully.

  “You said you aren’t the kind of man who should be a husband and father.” She turned her gaze on him. “But you’re exactly the kind of man who should be a husband and father.”

  Without another word, she stood and walked back into the house.

  And Will was left staring after her.

  Chapter 15

  “That one. I think. Wait.” Will studied the two babies lying on the kitchen table. “Um… no, definitely that one.”

  “Are you sure?” Dan asked.

  “Yes. That one. Maybe.”

  “Wrong. It’s this one.” He touched his fingertips to the baby on the right with a smile.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I’m their father.” His smile slipped a little.

  Will pointed at him. “Ha! You can’t tell them apart either.”

  “I… can.” Dan looked between his six-hour-old twins and his shoulders slumped. “Shouldn’t I be able to tell the difference between my own children?”

  Will shrugged. “Why should you be able to any more than I can?”

  “Because I’m their father.”

  “Well, look at it this way – eventually they’ll look very different, so you only have to guess until then.”

  One of the twins, the one on the right that Will guessed was his niece, whimpered a little.

  Bess got up from where she’d been lying beneath the table and hooked her nose over the edge to look at her. She hadn’t left the babies since they’d been born. She was almost as obsessed as Will was.

  “I’ll bet Bess can tell the difference,” Will said. “They probably smell different.”

  “Maybe we can train her to tell us then. All right, so this one is Susannah, are we agreed on that?” Dan indicated the baby on the right.

  Will nodded, although in truth he had no idea. They looked exactly the same to him, right down to the strawberry blonde hair the color of their mother’s.

  “And this is little Will,” he said, gently lifting the other tiny tot and settling him against his shoulder.

  “Stop calling him that. You’ll confuse him.”

  Will kissed the baby’s forehead, smiling when he opened his deep blue eyes for a brief moment. “The only thing that will confuse him is why you failed to name him after his favorite uncle.”

  “And explain to my father-in-law why our first son isn’t named after him like Sara promised? I don’t think so.” Dan unswaddled the twin remaining on the table to check. “Anyway, this is Levi. You’ve got Susannah.”

  Will looked between their two faces again, eventually giving up. Even knowing which was which, he still couldn’t tell the difference.

  “So,” Daniel said, rewrapping his son, “are you going to talk to me now?”

  “Nope.” Susannah squirmed and Will bounced her a little. He’d quickly discovered that if they weren’t asleep, the twins tended to start fussing if they weren’t moving.

  Dan lifted his son from the table. “I know something’s wrong, and whatever it is, it’s k
eeping you away from Daisy. And don’t tell me it just didn’t work out. I see the way you look at her.”

  Will sat, cradling Susannah in one arm so he could take Levi in the other. He smiled at his niece and nephew as Dan went to the stove to check on the beans and eggs he was cooking for breakfast. Will loved the two of them so much he felt as if he could barely contain it. If anything happened to them, if Briggs got anywhere near them, it would destroy him.

  Truth was, he wanted to tell Daniel about Briggs, and get the advice and support of his big brother. But the last thing he wanted Dan to know was that something Will had done could put his wife and children in danger. Will didn’t want to let him down, not again. He didn’t want to let anyone down. He’d done enough of that already.

  “I just realized that I wouldn’t be a good husband or father, that’s all.”

  Dan glanced back at him. “You look like you’re doing fine so far.” He nodded at the twins.

  If only being a father just involved adoring his children so much it hurt, he’d be the best father in the world. He had that part down. “It’s not about me.”

  “What is it about then?”

  Will shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over with Daisy, and that’s that.” Even just saying the words made his chest clench with pain.

  “It doesn’t look to me as if you feel like it’s over.”

  Will narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you know? You can’t even tell your own children apart.”

  Dan smiled. “Well, just so you know, when you’re ready to talk, I’m ready to listen.”

  “I do know that.” He just didn’t know when he’d be ready to talk. Maybe when Briggs’ threat wasn’t looming over him. Maybe never.

  There were only two more days until his one week deadline was up. Two days for Will to either do the impossible and find two thousand dollars, or think of some way to protect the people he loved.

  Sara shuffled in from the living room. She was still wearing her nightdress and robe, and she hadn’t brushed her hair.

  Daniel rushed over to her. “What are you doing out of bed? I told you Will and I would take care of everything. You need to rest.”

  “I don’t want to stay in bed. It’s already past eleven. And I’m fine.” She slapped a hand over her sudden yawn.

  Will had finally fallen asleep sprawled on the settee at around seven, after everyone had gone home. He’d milked Pea at ten thirty. Pea had made her feelings on the lateness of the hour very clear.

  “You’re exhausted,” Dan said, helping his wife into the chair next to Will’s. “Mrs. Wilson said you should stay in bed. And you were up almost all night.”

  “So were you.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t give birth to two babies as well. I’m making breakfast. It’s all under control.”

  Sara glanced at the stove. “Beans?”

  “It’s my specialty.” And by specialty, Dan meant one of the few things he or Will could cook.

  “Your specialty smells like it’s starting to burn.” As Dan rushed back to the stove, she leaned forward to take Susannah from Will. “How’s my baby girl on her first morning?”

  The brothers exchanged a look.

  “Um, how do you know that’s Susannah?” Will asked, attempting to sound casual.

  Sara kissed her daughter’s forehead and smiled adoringly at her. “She and Levi look completely different.”

  “Yeah, Will,” Dan said in a reproving tone, “how can you not tell your own niece and nephew apart?”

  ~ ~ ~

  Will spent the rest of the day on the farm.

  Daniel didn’t want to leave Sara and the babies alone, so he stayed around the house and yard while Will went to the orchard to harvest the cherries by himself. He didn’t check on the bees though. He would do anything for his brother, as long as it had nothing to do with bees.

  Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin arrived just before lunchtime with enough food to last them for at least two days. Will gave Mrs. Goodwin a hug, thanking her profusely. At least they’d be putting off beans for every meal for a while, and eating Mrs. Goodwin’s wonderful cooking.

  Will left after lunch to go back to the orchard, saying to Dan before setting off, “If you eat the rest of that queen cake before I get back, I will make it my mission to poison your children’s minds against you so they love me and treat you with barely veiled disdain.

  He was holding the twins as he said it, to give the threat extra weight.

  “I make no promises,” Dan replied. “And my babies already love me more than you. You can see it in their faces.” He took Levi (or maybe it was Susannah; Will had lost track) from him. “Don’t you, sweetheart? You love your pa the best.”

  Levi burst into tears.

  Will burst into laughter.

  Dan waved him away. “Get back to the orchard before I dock your pay.”

  Will passed Susannah, who was now crying along with her brother, to Dan to take to Sara for their next feed.

  He went back to the orchard with a smile on his face, and it barely left before he returned home hours later and got to hold his niece and nephew again.

  Chapter 16

  Something metal pressed to Will’s skin, jolting him awake. His eyes snapped open to see the barrel of a gun pressed to his forehead.

  He scrambled up in the bed and pressed against the wall behind him, as far away as he could get.

  Briggs loomed over him with the pistol, a smirk twisting his mouth.

  Fear for Sara and Dan and the twins eclipsed Will’s fear for himself. “If you’ve done anything to them…”

  “Don’t worry, your precious family is safe. For now.” Briggs backed away and sat on the other bed. “Just wanted to remind you, you have two more days to get me that money.”

  Will gritted his teeth. Every fiber of his being wanted to lunge forward, grab the gun, and then…

  And then…

  What?

  Kill him? Will couldn’t do that.

  Have him thrown in jail? All he’d done was trespass and walk into the bunkhouse through an unlocked door. He’d be out within days.

  “I have no way to get that much money. I’ve got ninety-seven dollars saved. You can have that, even though I don’t owe you anything.”

  Briggs sliced his hand through the air impatiently. “I told you how much I want.”

  “I don’t have it! And I have no way to get it.”

  Briggs rested his elbows on his thighs. “There’s a way you can get it.”

  Will frowned. “How?”

  “There’s a private high stakes poker game happening this Saturday at the Royal Flush. You can win it by cheating, just like you did with me.”

  Will’s mouth went dry. The prospect of going back into the saloon scared him almost as much as something happening to his family or Daisy and Nicky. “I can’t get into a private game. You have to get an invitation from Rufus.”

  Back when he was a regular, he’d managed to get Rufus to let him in once, but he’d won too much and the other players, men from out of town he didn’t know, didn’t like it. He was never invited again.

  “Got you an invitation.” Briggs pulled an envelope from inside his jacket. Royal Flush High Stakes was written on the front in elaborate lettering. It looked legitimate.

  “How did you get that? Does Rufus know it’s for me?”

  Briggs tucked the envelope back into his inside pocket. “He knows. He was happy to do it. Says he’s missed you.”

  Missed Will’s patronage, more like. Rufus was probably hoping to lure Will back into his saloon. He no doubt thought that once Will got a taste of it again, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

  The problem was, Will wasn’t sure he was wrong.

  Briggs rose from the bed. “You’ve got two more days to get me that money. If you haven’t by then, either you go to that game and give me your winnings, or… well, you know what will happen.”

  Will scowled at him as he backed towards the door. “You won’t get
away with this.”

  “Get away with what? I haven’t done anything. Which means you can’t do anything to me.” With a final smirk in Will’s direction, he was gone, closing the door behind him.

  Will leapt from the bed and ran to the door, yanking it open in time to see Briggs mount a horse and ride away.

  He stayed there in his nightshirt, shivering in the open doorway as he watched the moonlit yard for any sign that Briggs would return. When, after a good ten minutes, nothing had changed, Will closed the door and dropped onto his bed.

  Closing his eyes, he pressed his hands over his face. He’d sworn to never go back into the Royal Flush saloon. For the first few months after he left, every time he walked past he would feel the pull to go inside. It would have been so easy to slip back into his old ways. But that urge had gradually lessened, helped by the time he spent with Daisy, until now, he didn’t feel any desire to return to that life.

  But what would happen if he went back in there? Would it all come back? Could he do it again? And what would Dan think of him? His parents? Daisy?

  “What do I do, Father?” he whispered into his hands. “What am I going to do?”

  Chapter 17

  After a fitful night’s sleep, Will woke the following morning in a despondent mood. He hoped Dan and Sara would put it down to his split with Daisy.

  Just about the only thing that lifted his spirits was being with his new niece and nephew. Even though they didn’t do anything yet other than sleep and cry and eat, sitting with the two of them nestled in his arms brought him a peace nothing else could. Temporarily, at least.

  “Are you going to see Daisy today?” Sara asked him as she walked from the bedroom to the kitchen, just about the only thing Daniel would let her do.

  Will purposely looked down at the babies on his lap, so he wouldn’t have to meet her gaze. “I don’t know.”

  “Isn’t it Nicky’s birthday?”

  He didn’t look up. “Yes.”

  “Will…”

  “Please don’t ask me,” he said, finally raising his eyes. “Please don’t.”

  She padded over to sit beside him. “I wish you’d talk to me or Daniel. He’s worried about you. We both are.”