His amusement faded. “My dear, it is out of our hands. The best thing I can do is help our community through this time.”
“I respect all that you’ve done, Milton. Truly, I do. But we can’t allow our town to die.” Sometimes she had to be a bit more forceful to ensure her opinions were heard.
He sighed. “I don’t believe Kalispell will die.”
“How can you be certain? We know what happened to Demersville.” She sat up straighter and leaned forward. “Perhaps I need to get my ladies involved. Rally the troops, so to speak.”
“There is still much to be seen. But I’m certain the citizens of this town will do their best to keep everything running. Forgive me, but the meeting this afternoon was enough on the subject for me. We should pray about it and keep our attitudes positive. If you believe your ladies’ groups can be of a benefit, I’ve never stood in your way before and I shan’t begin to do so now.” With that, he picked up the paper. He clearly had no desire to continue this conversation. And why would he? It was depressing.
A yip from the right side of her chair tore her attention away from her husband. Smiling down at the little white ball of fluff, she stroked the dog’s silky hair. “Sir Theophilus ... I believe you and I have our work cut out for us.” She glanced at her husband one more time. “If you’ll excuse me, dear.”
“Of course, my dear.” The words were slightly muffled by the paper.
Marvella stood and picked up her little companion. If no one else was up to the task, she would not shy away from it.
Someonehad to save Kalispell.
“Train just got in.” Carter’s friend had his gaze focused on the sheaf of papers on the counter he was flipping through. The tall red-headed man often had his head buried in papers after a train arrived. “But your part was the first thing I checked on. It’s being unloaded as we speak.”
Carter started to nod, and winced. His whole face hurt but he didn’t have time to worry about that now. “Glad it made it in, Gus. That machine at the mill has been down for over two weeks. Slowed our production something fierce. I figure we’ll be back to grinding on a stone if we don’t get that part.”
Gus chuckled as he shuffled another stack of papers. “I can just see it too. We can’t let that happen, now can we?” He looked up ... and frowned. “Whoa. What happened to you?”
“Town meeting riled everyone up.”
“So you thought it was a good idea to shove your face into the middle of it?” Gus released a low whistle. “I had a feeling it wouldn’t be pretty. Just didn’t know it would be your ugly mug that would take the brunt of it.”
Carter laughed and then moaned. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“You really should go take care of that.” His friend pointed at his mouth and cringed.
“The part is more important. I’ll deal with my injuries later.” He needed to change the subject, so he leaned in. “Doesn’t look good for us, does it?”
“Nope.” The man looked around the room and then leaned forward as well and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell anyone, but we’ve already been told we’ll need to move to Whitefish. Things are really hopping up there and they intend to have everything done by August.”
The news was like a blow to Carter’s gut. “I was afraid that was the case. Does the mayor know?”
“I don’t know. If he doesn’t, he will when Mr. Hill gets here. It’s kind of funny. You know the Hutchinson and Baker logging companies used to float their logs down here for processing. Now our mills are gonna have to find a way to get theirsupto Whitefish.”
“Jerod McVey spoke on the mill’s behalf at the meeting, he said it will ruin them. Maybe triple their prices and put them out of business.”
“I suppose it was inevitable.” Gus shook his head. “I’ve been on the route into Kalispell over the Salish Mountains. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a laborious chore to be s—”
“Excuse me, but are you the freight master?”
At the feminine voice behind him, Carter turned—and felt his eyes widen. A beautiful young woman dressed in a dark green traveling suit stood there. Her hat appeared to be missing something from the top, but it was perched in a fashionable manner atop a nest of blond hair. Her blue eyes glared at him in a most unnerving way.
“I’m the assistant.” Gus’s tone was polite enough, but Carter could tell he didn’t appreciate her interruption. “Be with you in just a minute.”
Her gaze darted between the two men, her eyes narrowing. “But it really can’t wait. I’m here with my father andwe’re meeting a very important man. I need to arrange for our luggage and my bicycle.” She stepped closer.
“When I’m finished with Mr. Brunswick, I’ll get right to whatever you need.” Gus turned back to Carter and gave him a knowing look.
It took everything in Carter to keep from snickering at his friend. So he kept his face turned away.
The woman cleared her throat. “You two have been talking for some time now. I have tried to be patient, but you seem more caught up in your conversation than doing your job. I need to arrange for our things to be delivered and I insist you help me.”
Whowasthis woman? Carter turned. “Where are you from, Miss?”
