“Kerry’s going to sell, and fast. I told him a private buyer would net him more than I could, buying it back for the railroad. Then I told him I might have someone in mind.”
“What’d he say to that?” Liam had turned completely toward Gilbert, his work forgotten.
“Well, he wasn’t thrilled about selling to my brother, given that he’s in Denver with our father, but James has plenty of money and—”
“Enough with the witticisms,” Liam said with a groan as he leaned back in his chair. “Does he want to sell to me or not? And for how much?”
Gilbert laughed at his own joke. “Yes, he’s interested. And you can name the price. You know the railroad would offer him pennies on the dollar for what he paid originally.”
Liam nodded, already lost in thought. He’d borrow the remainder from the bank this time, as he should have done before if he’d had the patience to see it through. But if he could get that parcel of land for a good price, he wouldn’t have to borrow much. He had put away every extra cent he’d earned since he’d picked up this work at the land office, and he had some extra left from selling his house and his previous hotel property. Kerry’s lot was a good one, too. Perhaps even better than Liam’s original location. It was off the main road, but centrally located, just steps from the depot. His mind went wild with the possibilities.
“Your son’s here,” Gilbert said, interrupting Liam’s thoughts.
Liam shot Gilbert a look as Daniel Cook burst in through the door. Gilbert grinned at Liam before going to busy himself with the fellow who entered behind Danny.
“Hey, boss,” Danny said, leaning awkwardly over the counter. The kid had probably grown five inches in the past fivemonths, and he never seemed to know what to do with his limbs. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at Liam with such an eager expression that it made Liam cringe just a little.
“Hi, Danny. How’s your mother?” Liam tapped an envelope against the counter, trying to come up with an answer for the question he knew Danny would ask next.
“She’s good. She’s over that cough and back to cleaning at Darby’s. She sends her regards.”
“That’s kind of her.” Mrs. Cook had her hands full, trying to support both herself and two boys who ate more than most grown men, all without a husband.
Danny shook out his arms and then awkwardly stuffed them back into his pockets. Liam wondered if he’d been just as jittery at sixteen. If he was, he surely didn’t remember it. But then again, confidence had been his closest friend most of his life, often to his own detriment.
“I don’t suppose I can do anything for you? Take a message to someone? Make a run up to the bank?” Danny looked at him hopefully.
Liam pulled a key from his pocket and handed it over to Danny. “I left some mail on my desk at the boardinghouse. Meant to take it with me and drop it by the post office, but I forget. Do you mind posting it for me?”
“Mind? I don’t mind at all, sir. I’ll be back so fast . . .” Danny’s words were drowned out as he raced for the door and disappeared into the street.
Liam shook his head, unable to keep the smile from his face. He didn’t know what he’d done to endear himself to that kid so much, but it was worth the coin he forked over once a day to make the boy happy.
Maybe one day, after he’d gotten himself set up well enough to actually send for that wife, he’d have a boy like Danny.
Some day.
Chapter Two
GREAT BEND, KANSAS
“I don’t know about this, Tilly. Don’t you think you ought to have written to him first?” Emily Wright asked, clutching Tilly’s carpetbag to her stomach as if she were holding on to her sister instead.
Tilly glanced down the tracks from where they stood on the platform. The train was just visible in the distance, beyond where her breath turned into freezing clouds. She was beginning to regret telling Emily anything about her plans at all. But someone needed to know where she was, and she hated the thought of worrying her family. Mama and Papa would stop her from going, and so it had to be her younger sister.
