Chapter Eight
THE CHILDREN TUMBLEDout the back of the wagon, and Levi couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he watched them. They were immediately drawn to the other children playing outside the schoolhouse.
“It looks as if we’ve timed it perfectly,” he said as he reached up to help Rebecca down. “Shall I wait here with the wagon?”
“Oh no, go on! I’ll find the teacher, and then we can walk from here to Eleanor’s house. Will you meet us there?”
He nodded.
“All right.” She stood there a moment, looking at him with those beautiful dark eyes. Then she laughed.
“What is it?” He ran a hand over his face, wondering if she saw something amiss.
She grinned at him, and then leaned forward. “I’ll need my hand if I’m to go inside the schoolhouse.”
“Oh. Oh!” He’d still held her hand in his. He let go, feeling oddly adrift without it.
She waited, as if she expected him to say something else. Levi could hardly piece two words together in his embarrassment, so he simply nodded and then rounded the wagon to climb back up into the driver’s seat.
She waved as he began to drive away. How was it that he was so utterly awkward around her at times? He was fine if theywere simply conversing, but even the slightest brush of her hand against his arm sent every rational thought flying from his head.
He pulled the wagon alongside the train depot, which also held Crest Stone’s post and telegraph office. Inside, he borrowed a pencil and a scrap of paper from Mr. Thomason behind the counter and set to work writing out an update to send to Denver.
Project ongoing. Location not confirmed but confidence high. L.W.
He read over the words again, ensuring they were vague enough to give no clues to anyone but the intended recipient. This was precisely the sort of thing he didn’t want Roger happening upon in his desk. He ought to burn those old telegrams—and anything else that might give away the real reason he came to this valley.
Satisfied with the message, he approached the counter and handed the note to Thomason.
“Denver, please,” he said as he glanced around the room. No one waited for the train, thankfully. The only people present were himself the telegraph operator. “Address it to Mr. J.J. Smith.” The name was an alias, intended to keep prying eyes away.
The older man nodded and set to work at the telegraph. “Will you be waiting for a response?”
Levi shook his head. Oliver wouldn’t send a response unless he had new information. Speaking of which . . . “I don’t suppose you have any mail or telegrams waiting for me?”
“Whiteside, right?” When Levi confirmed his name, the man handed his note back to him and searched through a stack of files and envelopes on the counter. “Nothing here.”
“Thanks for checking.” Levi shoved the handwritten note into his coat pocket and extracted coins to pay for the telegram. “Have yourself a good day.”
He tipped his hat toward Thomason and stepped back out into the cold. He glanced down the road toward the schoolhouse and spotted Rebecca walking with the children toward the livery and blacksmith’s shop. Her sister and the smithy lived in a small house behind the shop.
He smiled as he watched them. The older children carried books and slates that Rebecca must have gotten from the schoolteacher. Johnnie tossed his book up into the air, over and over, until Rebecca plucked it from his grasp. Meanwhile, Sarah, looking almost entirely lost in thought, ran into a woman coming from the other direction.
Levi had thought it would be crowded with all of them in the house. And it was, but it was a pleasant sort of crowded most of the time. He almost couldn’t remember what it was like before, when it was only him rambling about alone.
A glint in the sunlight caught his attention. A man passed directly behind Rebecca and turned onto the main road from the cross street that she and the children had just cleared. The sun caught the metal on his belt again, and Levi squinted.
Something about the man was familiar.
The second he realized what it was, his heart jumped into his throat. He didn’t think twice. In fact, theonlythought that went through his mind was how close Alexander Prather had been to Rebecca and the children. Levi broke into a run, winding around his wagon and dodging horses in the road. His boots sunk into the muck where the snow had melted into mud and manure, but his focus was on one thing only.
