“So did you give any consideration to what I asked before?”
She frowned. “What was that?”
“I wondered how you might feel about living on a reservation. I’ve scarcely had a chance to tell anyone, but Mr. Blevins said if I still wanted to go and preach on a reservation, the job was mine. I’d have other responsibilities as well. Oh, and he did say that it was fine for me to bring a wife. Given your nursing skills and education, you would be a valuable addition for the government, and a precious and vital one for me. I don’t know that I could face each day without you by my side.”
“Is this your way of proposing marriage to me?” Laura asked, her heart racing at the very thought.
He chuckled and kissed her hand again. “I suppose it is. I love you, Laura.”
She pulled away, shaking her head. “But my father may have killed your mother and sister, or at least have been responsiblefor it. How can there be a future for us with that between us?”
“It’s not between us. I’ve considered that question, and the answer is simple. You had nothing to do with it. If your father is guilty of the deed, then he and his men bear the responsibility. I will never blame you for what happened, nor hold it against you.
“I’ve lost a lot this year, and it did cause me to guard my heart as well. Why let myself get hurt again? Why risk loving someone? But you know, life is a risk. Every day presents new challenges and heartache. But it also allows for happiness and good gifts. And no matter which come our way, God is there to help us through. I’d like it very much if you were there too.”
“I do love you, Will Porter. But ... I’m worried about this entire matter. My father is not easily cast aside. He has his plans, and the men to make those plans come together. If he wants you dead, I fear you will be. I can’t bear the thought of you risking your life this way.”
“Life will be full of risks, Laura. We have no way of knowing what will happen tomorrow, but God admonishes us to not be afraid—to seek His kingdom, His righteousness.” He pulled her close and gave her a light kiss. “I’m willing to take whatever risk allows us to be together for the rest of our lives. Are you willing to take it too?”
She had thought she would say yes immediately should Will truly propose, but now she hesitated. “Let me pray about it,” she said, hating the puzzled look on his face. “I want to say yes, you know that. At least I think you do.”
“I do, that’s why you should say yes.” Will put his arms around her again. “I’m afraid we may get talked about. It seems I’m always embracing you in the middle of the street.”
She shook her head. “I don’t care. I’m not worried about my reputation, although I do worry about yours. You’re a preacher. You must live above reproach, and this isn’t exactly the way to do it.”
“Speaking of which, I’m to leave for Fort Bridger on the first of June. I love you, Laura, and I want you to be my wife. I want us to have a future together and to share the Gospel with the Indians. Do you feel that you might be called to this as well?”
Laura knew she would cherish a life sharing God’s Word with the native people. The very idea had appealed to her since she first heard Will speak of it. It didn’t frighten her to imagine living with Indians, at least not like the last few days of living with her father did. She supposed there would be a great deal of adjustment, and daily life would certainly be harder.
“As I said, I will pray about it. I think I know the answer, but I want to make sure.”
Will nodded. “I respect that and agree. I will pray too.”
“So we’ll set it in place. I’ll have Will and Laura marry on the twentieth of April,” Granite said, looking at the calendar. “The committee intends for Will to leave for Omaha on the twenty-fifth. I’ll make sure that he puts all his affairs in legal order before he leaves by calling him to a meeting with my lawyer. I’ll explain that I am setting things up so that he and Laura will inherit all my money should anything happen to me. I’ll have a new will written out that shows all the transfers of ownership upon my death.
“Will can see for himself how much I believe in him, and when I mention casually that he should put his affairs inorder as well, leaving everything to Laura, then we will be ready for him to go.”
Granite sat back and picked up his whiskey and fixed his right-hand man with a stern look. “I want you to go with whichever men you choose. We can’t afford any mistakes on this job. You’ll leave for Omaha the week before to scout things out and make the final decision about how to kill them both. Either poison in the governor’s food or a shot in the head. Whichever you choose is fine, just make sure Wilson Porter gets the blame and is killed in the process.”
Gus nodded. “It won’t be hard to manage.”
It was glorious to imagine resolving everything in one fell swoop. Laura would inherit a vast fortune from her dead husband, and the governorship would come to Granite as President Grant’s number two choice. His poor widowed daughter, in time, would then be married off to another rich and powerful man, and who knew what might happen. Perhaps the presidency could come even sooner than Granite had hoped.
“Everything I’ve worked for is about to come together.”
Will stepped inside the city marshal’s office. Edward had sent for him, saying it was of the utmost importance. Thankfully, it was before he was due to report to Granite.
The marshal, sheriff, and Edward Vogel stood just a few feet away, interrogating someone. Edward waved him toward the group, then turned back to the man sitting in front of them. “So you’re willing to testify, to tell everything you know?”
The man pulled at the brim of his hat. “That’s what I signed on for. I haven’t put in all this time to watch a man likeGranite Evans go free. Up until this last stagecoach robbery, it had been possible to keep people from being killed. That time one of the new men got spooked. He was one of ours, but he’d been through too much in the war, and something just broke inside him. Once he started firing, that was it. The men who weren’t a part of my group started firing as well, and then everyone was dead.” The man looked up at Will. “I sure did what I could to keep it from happening.”
Will’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the man’s face. “So you knew about Evans and the things he was doing?”
“We did, and the president intends to see him prosecuted. We were sent to get in close—earn his trust and then expose him for the criminal he was. I’m truly sorry I couldn’t save your ma and sister.”
“Thank you. I’m confident you did what you could. I wish we’d known the government already had a fix on Granite Evans,” Will replied. “It would have been nice to know someone in power is on to him.”
“President Grant has known about his double-dealings since the war, but Evans always managed to slip out of the grasp of the law. He even used an alias at times. We could never get anyone close enough to take direct orders from him. Until now. He’s ordered the death of the governor, and I have all the details needed to see Evans put behind bars for the rest of his life.”
