“It was because of Frances that we came to Luke,” Doris said, her eyes glistening.
“Yes,” Maude agreed. “You would have made the trip by yourself even if we hadn’t joined you. And I’ve never thanked you for insisting. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you two go all sappy,” Frances growled, willing her eyes not to fill with tears herself. Ever since they’d come to Wyoming, she’d struggled with crying. It’d been even worse since Christmas when she’d blubbered like a baby on Luke’s shoulder just because he’d given her a piano. At least then it’d only been her brother and Nick who’d seen the terrible display.
“Abe,” Nick asked, a furrow between his brows, “are you saying William Lancaster would have killed Frances if the girls hadn’t come here?”
Everyone looked at the older man, and he shrugged.
“It’s already looking like he poisoned his brother. I’ll bet he thought these two would be easier to control than Frances. No offense, ladies.”
“And they surprised him.” Frances nodded at her sisters with pride.
“About the key...” Edgar said, breaking into the conversation. He held it up. “It looks like it could be for a safe deposit box.”
Frances shifted and stared at Nick who looked thoughtful.
“Well, whatever William Lancaster’s trying to get hold of must be in that box,” Marshall said. “We have to go with Frances and Nick to find out what it is.”
“Yes,” Maude and Doris said at the same time.
Luke groaned. “I knew I should have invited Judith to this meeting.”
“You don’t have to come, Luke,” Frances said. “We’ll understand.”
“But I need to be there with you when you face him.”
“Only for the damage he did to your herd,” Maude said. “If it’s going to cause problems between you and Judith, I think you should stay here.”
“No,” Luke said emphatically. “Ten years ago, I let your father keep me away from my family. I won’t let William Lancaster do the same now. We’re in this together.”
Frances surprised everybody by being the first to jump to her feet and throw her arms around her brother. Then her sisters joined, and the four of them clung to each other.
“Well,” Luke said, his voice rough, “I need to have a talk with Judith before she hears about this from someone else. She’s not going to be happy.”
“She might surprise you,” Marshall said. “I’ll telegraph my friend to arrange for a private car for our journey. How long did you girls take to travel here by train?”
“Five days,” Doris said. “Considering Uncle William, I don’t believe we should bring Florence and Lydia.”
Frances agreed. Marshall’s two young daughters from his first marriage would be disappointed in missing out on the trip, but it would be safer to leave them in Lilac City.
“Will it be a problem if I’m gone for this and then Maude and I leave for our wedding trip in April?” Charles asked the sheriff.
“Nothing big is planned around town, so don’t worry about it.” Abe grinned, his expression turning gleeful. “I kind of wish I could go along. I’d enjoy seeing this Lancaster fellow get his comeuppance.”
“I, for one, have no wish to be in the vicinity when that happens,” Edgar said. “As I know far too well, William Lancaster has some unsavory connections. However, I shall put pressure on my friend to get us the results of the autopsy.”
Everyone departed, leaving Frances and Nick alone in the parlor.
“It seems everyone has assignments except us,” he said.
“Well, we did just get married yesterday. They probably assume we’ll be preoccupied with other things.” Frances didn’t quite look at him but could tell his cheeks were flushing as bad as hers. “I want to go to town and get some pajamas like you have.” When Nick made a choking sound, she realized he’d been thinking she meant to go shirtless like he had. Chuckling, she did look at him then and slugged his arm. “And we’ll both need comfortable shirts to wear with them. Probably a matching flannel will do nicely. Let’s go hitch up the sleigh.”
12
As Nick sat beside Frances in the back of the sleigh on the way to the station and the special train car, he could hardly believe he’d been married a week. Preparations for the trip had kept them all extra busy. Marshall had been correct that Judith would insist both she and Luke should accompany his sisters.
Nick had his arm around Frances’s shoulders, something he’d made a habit of doing whenever they were in the company of others. He thought she was getting used to the casual touching and often now initiated holding his hand. It was something he thought he could get used to but had to warn himself not to like it too much.
