Page 72 of Wyoming Promises
“We can’t risk Tyler catching wind of it, or else he could pull the whole operation and set up elsewhere. Then we’d need another year to put him out of business.” Jake slid his hat back from his forehead and drew a deep breath. “If you jump the gun too soon, we lose him. Or worse, endanger them. You understand that, right?”
Anger flared in Bridger’s chest. “I know my part.” He stepped away, damp grass whispering against his boots.
Jake stood to full height, his hard expression showing how he generally dealt with that tone in others.
Bridger held up a hand. “I’m sorry. I have no call to blame you. I got myself into this mess.” He rubbed his face. “I’m just happy you believed my story and were willing to help me.”
Jake shifted the sack of money in his palm. “I promise you, Bridger, you’re coming out a hero on this.”
“I don’t give a beaver stump about that so long as no one gets hurt,” he said.
Jake’s whisper carried on the evening breeze. “I know you’re worried about your brother. We can move him out of town, somewhere no one needs to know.”
Bridger shook his head. “That would be worse. Frank and I haven’t been separated since I walked home from the war and found Ma had died, left him on his own for the last year of the fighting. You should’ve seen him. I...” He drew a deep breath, thinking of conditions his brother had faced in the burned-out shell of their home. “He wouldn’t do well, separated from me. He wouldn’t stand for it.”
“I could help you explain—”
“I can handle Frank. I considered all that before I ever talked with you. He would insist I helped you, anyway, if he knew.” Bridger hunkered down, staring out along the rush of water heading far away from town, getting swallowed up into bigger and bigger streams and rivers until it mingled with the wide ocean. “I haven’t told him anything because I figure the less he knows, the better off we all are.” Lola’s safety would be at risk, too. He wished he held enough faith in Ike’s feelings toward her to believe she’d remain safe, but instincts told him otherwise. “Frank’s not the only one who could be hurt by the time we’re through.”
“When do you head out again?” Jake asked.
Bridger paused before drawing his focus to the task at hand. “In a couple days. Ike wants me to take Jimmy’s route this week, my own a couple weeks after that.”
“Does he consider this a promotion?” Jake scribbled in his notes.
Bridger nodded. “Of sorts. Jimmy busted his foot when he dropped a bedpost while moving it to the top floor in the hotel. I figure Ike aims to punish him for his carelessness.”
“This gets us a step closer. You’ll get the information to me next week, then?” Jake moved to place the sack of money into his saddlebag.
“We can meet here when I get everything squared away with Ike.”
Jake grabbed the pommel of his saddle but made no move to mount. “Take heart, man. We get closer to having all we need every time he sends you out.”
Bridger agreed, but it didn’t mean he could relax anytime soon. “I only hope it’s not too late by that point.”
Jake gazed toward the creek. “I wish I could tell you no one will be hurt and you’ll be exonerated of everything in folks’ opinions. I can’t make their minds up on that, but I can promise they’ll hear about the good you’ve done to restore true law and order in this town.”
Bridger nodded. “I know I’ll likely have to move on by the time we’re done, and if it puts Ike out of business, it’ll be well worth it. Besides,” he said, climbing into his saddle, “I’ve been moving on my whole life.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Lola smoothed gloves over her fingers as she trudged the steps to the Jamison brothers’ room. The squeak and groan of a chair against the floorboards rattled through the thin door, and moments passed before Frank opened it.
“Good morning, Frank. It’s Sunday and I’ve come to take you to church with me.”
He rubbed his bleary eyes, glancing at the room behind him. A forlorn shadow crossed his face. “I don’t reckon I ought to,” he said.
“Whyever not? Aren’t you feeling well?” She stretched the back of her hand against his cool cheek.
Frank stepped away and plunked down on the edge of the narrow bed, leaving the door open wide. “No, ma’am. I mean, yes, ma’am, I feel fine. But Bridge wouldn’t like it.”
Lola leaned her head against the doorjamb. He looked so pitiful, his disappointment keen. “He brought you himself last week. I’m sure he would want you to continue.”