Dangerous Men (Flynn Family Saga Book 2) by Erica Graham Read Free Book Online Page A

set.  Flynn helped her out of the wagon.  Frank looked up from the pot he
was stirring.  Tears shone in his black eyes.  He blew his nose noisily.  “Hello,
Magpie.”
    Maggie limped over to him.  She
hugged him hard.  “Hello, Frank.  Is there anything to eat?  I’m hungry.”
    Frank laughed and tousled her
hair.  “You’re always hungry.”
    Maggie laughed with him.
    One by one, the men gathered by the
fire.  Ben squeezed her shoulder.  “Hello, Magpie.  We missed you.”
    Maggie shook her head.  “Nonsense. 
You’re just relieved because now you don’t have to do Flynn’s job and your own.”
    Ben laughed.
    “Maggie.”
    Maggie turned.  Sam stood behind
her.  He looked solemn.  She licked her lips.  Her heart pounded in fear.  “I’m
sorry, major.”
    “For what?”
    Maggie looked down at her worn
boots.  “For chasing off after Flynn.”
    “Oh, Magpie.”  Sam touched her hair
gently.  “I was just afraid we were going to lose you, that’s all.”
    Maggie nodded, too moved to speak.
    Sam turned to Flynn.  “Maybe now
you can stop loafing and start doing your job.”
    “Loafing?  Major, if it wasn’t for
me, Maggie would be dead!”
    “If it wasn’t for you, she never
would have been bitten by that snake in the first place.  Besides, you probably
kept her drugged up on some herb or something so you didn’t have to go back to
work.”  Sam scowled at him, but he winked at Maggie.
    “If you think for one minute that I’d
rather nurse a kid through a little thing like snakebite than look for water in
the desert, you’ve been eating too much of Frank’s cooking.”  Flynn set his
hands on his hips.  He, too, winked at Maggie to let her know that he wasn’t
really angry.
    Maggie sat on a crate and listened
as Sam denigrated Flynn’s work and Flynn defended himself.  She sipped Frank’s
bad coffee and sighed contentedly.
    When they reached Fort Laramie,
Joshua Landon, Tommy's uncle was waiting for them.  Tommy ran to his uncle. 
The tall man with the thick black beard put his arms around his nephew.  Tommy
started to sob.
    Maggie turned away.  She had buried
so many people: her grandparents, her parents, the people who died of cholera. 
Sometimes, she was afraid that if she started to cry, she would never stop.
    *  *  *
    Two months later, they reached Lake
Tahoe.  The wagon train arrived at sunset, and the lake looked like molten
gold.  Maggie’s breath caught.
    Flynn rode beside Maggie’s wagon,
as he had most days, when he wasn’t scouting.  He grinned at her.  “I never
thought I’d live to see the day you were speechless.”
    Maggie took off her hat and slapped
his arm with it.  “Oh, you!”
    Laughing, Flynn rode to the front
of the line.
    They spent a week getting the
wagons into shape for the long, steep climb up Mount Doloroso.  Sometimes, the
lake was the color of sapphires.  Once, when clouds covered the sky, it looked
like a sheet of silver.  But on the last day, the wind ruffled it, and sunlight
sparked across the surface.
    “Like diamonds,” Maggie whispered.
    Finally, the wagons began to climb
the trail to the pass.  The going was steep, and the trail was slick with a
thin dusting of snow.  But one by one, the wagons made it to the top.
    Maggie stood at the top of the pass
and stared down at the Sacramento Valley.  The rich, green bowl spread out as
far as she could see.  “It’s beautiful!”
    Beside her, Sam nodded.  “It hits
me like that every year.”
    When they reached the valley
safely, Sam called a meeting.  Maggie looked around at the faces of the men and
women she had come to know and love over the past seven months.
    Sam cleared his throat.  “Well,
folks, this is the end of the trail.  Every crossing is different.  This one
was harder than most.  But I’m proud of you, each and every one of you.”
    “He gives the same speech every
year,” Frank whispered.
    “Hush,” Maggie whispered.