Kisses With KC (Cowboys and Angels Book 11)(8)

“No. I don’t have a family. I’ve been on my own for quite a while.”

For the first time since he sat down for the meal, Eliza’s face tipped up, and her eyes connected with his. He wondered if he saw compassion in her gaze.

The family began eating again, then Kailin piped up. “Do you want to have a family?”

Ellis barked out a laugh, and Mrs. Turley said, “What she meant is . . . well, there’s no way to make that one better. Just ignore the question.” To Kailin, she said, “You’ll eat now, and no more questions. Understood?”

“Yes, Mother.” KC noticed that Kailin’s face seemed sincere, but by the way she blinked repeatedly, he doubted that she would stop.

The family ate in silence. KC was glad for the respite until Kailin got a broad smile and said, “Eliza isn’t engaged anymore.”

Mr. Turley spoke up. “You’re finished with your dinner, Kailin. You may be excused.”

“But it wasn’t a question.”

Ellis laughed out loud, and Eliza turned as red as a beet. KC thought he might be red, too.

“I’ll be up to talk with you later, Kailin.” Mr. Turley picked up his fried chicken and took a determined bite.

“Will I get pie?” Kailin asked while standing in the doorway.

“No,” rang from both ends of the table. “Sorry,” Mr. Turley said.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Mrs. Turley added.

After dinner, KC helped Ellis with the evening milking.

KC settled beside a cow Ellis had introduced to him as Fancy. As he began milking, he asked, “How long has your family been homesteading?”

“Five years last summer. Pa owns this land now. Uncle Ted came at the same time, and he’s all proved up too. I guess my folks have dreams of having their family stay around them ’cause in a couple of weeks, Eliza and I turn twenty-one, and we’ll each file for another one hundred sixty acres that abut the first two.”

KC whistled. “That’s over seven hundred acres between you. I guess you can double your operation, then.” He admitted that having a large family around would make for happy times. The comfort of that kind of arrangement tugged at his heart.

“That’s the idea. My pa’s going back to Texas to see about his other brother. He’s got some kind of paralysis developing. Pa’s hoping to bring him out with his kids and pick up enough acreage to support that big of a family. Several of them can file for land, too.”

“Are there enough tracts of land near here to have you all together?”

“There are right now.” KC thought Ellis’s voice sounded uncertain. “The Turleys are going to fill up this little valley quick like.”

The conversation lulled with only the sound of cows chewing and the shish-shish of milk hitting the tin buckets to fill the silence. KC wondered how to turn their conversation toward the homestead mysteries.

That’s when Ellis spoke up again. “I reckon you should know. We aren’t sure, but it seems there could be someone threatening the homesteaders—well, some of them.”

“Have you been threatened?”

“No. But we’re going to stay alert. It’s a bad time for Pa and Uncle Ted to leave. They’ve been putting it off, and now they have to go. You might be needed for more than farm work.”

“Tell me what to look out for. What happened to the others?”

“The rumor about the first one was that there were threats made against those settlers, so they sold and moved. It didn’t seem suspicious at the time since we didn’t know if it was true, but now it does. The second homesteader suffered a house fire that also took the barn and fields. Fires don’t normally skip around like that. We all think several fires were started at once.”

“Any others?” KC thought with even just those two, it seemed suspicious. Eliza was right that there might be someone behind all this.

“The third one was a big surprise—happened a week ago. The man who had set up on that land was as mean as a rattler—they called him Bad Egg Baldwin. He started fights in town, yelled at anyone who watered their horses at a pond near his property line, swore at people who crossed the street in front of his wagon, and made sure everyone in Creede knew he’d never sell. It seemed likely that the man could have died in any variety of ways by the number of enemies he was racking up.”

“Was he killed?” KC asked.

“Not that we know of. He had talked about receiving threats and putting out a fire on his place. One day, he was gone and hasn’t been seen since. Legal papers came, saying he sold.” Ellis removed the bucket from under his cow and set it on a table. Then he went to the head of the animal and untied the lead rope. “I don’t believe he sold it. I’m not sure he’s still alive, either.”

KC finished milking Fancy and led her out the barn door.

Ellis came to stand beside KC. “I’ll ask you to watch out for my sister, too. She’s taken it in mind to find out what’s happening. She goes out investigating—alone. I caught her coming back in the other night.” Ellis looked him straight in the eye. “Anything could happen. She’s tough, but things have happened before.”

KC nodded his understanding, and the two men separated ways.

That night in the barn, KC settled down on the hayloft and spread his bedroll. He pulled out his notebook and wrote up what he knew so far. One—there were three homesteads that had been sold suddenly. He’d have to find out where they were and take a look.