Only My Love by Jo Goodman Read Free Book Online

injury."
    "Ma'am," Happy said as he took up his post at the forward door of the car, "if it'll loosen the grip on that voice throttle of your'n, me and my friends'd be right tickled to make a space for you. Never thought I'd hear a woman what could talk more than my Em, but you've edged her out. And so much sass, too."
    "That's enough," Houston cut in. "Finish with these passengers while I escort the lady and the doctor to the emigrant car." He gestured with the barrel of the carbine toward the forward door and Michael and the doctor obliged him by moving in that direction. As they stepped outside the car Houston paused behind them and spoke softly to Happy. "Find that damn Chronicle reporter by the time I get back. Ten minutes." He slipped quickly through the door.
    * * *
    Ethan Stone leaned out of the mail car's sliding side door and looked up and down the track. He squinted, straining to see something in the blue-black night air. Oil lamps from the passenger cars gave off an eerie yellow glow but did little to illuminate the track.
    "I can't see anything," Ethan told Ben. "Maybe you should finish loading the bullion and I'll go back and see what's keeping them. Will you be all right?"
    "Sure." He pointed to the two unconscious guards and the remaining payload. "No problems here. I'll have this stuff on the mules before you get back. Fire off a round if there's trouble. Can't say that I like it that Houston's not here yet."
    "Can't say that I like it either." Ethan jumped out of the car. Gravel shot out from beneath his feet as he landed. A stone ricocheted off one of the car's steel wheels and Ethan found himself instinctively ducking for cover at the sound. "Good reflexes," he whispered to himself. It made him feel a little less foolish.
    He didn't encounter anyone on his walk to the rear of the train. He supposed it was a good sign. Houston, Happy, and Obie must have things under control. There was no screaming or shouting that he could hear which suggested the passengers were, if not entirely accepting of their fate, then at least resigned to it. It wasn't until he reached the last car and stepped aboard that he realized something totally outside the plans they made had taken place. The caboose was gone.
    Ethan checked the coupling and found the pin lying between the railroad ties. Happy or Obie? he wondered. Had Houston ordered it or had they acted on their own? "Goddamn," he swore softly. There wasn't supposed to be any killing. He'd done everything in his power to see that there wouldn't be and in the end it wasn't enough. He swore again, more loudly this time and watched the single epithet take on substance as his breath misted in front of him. He watched it disappear before he pulled up the scarf to cover his mouth again. Colt raised, angered and frustrated by his own helplessness, Ethan walked the length of the train again and entered the foremost first class car.
    Even though it was rendered at gun point, Hannah Gruber was grateful for the doctor's care. The emigrant passengers sat stone still while Thomas Gaines examined his patient.
    "They're all very quiet," Houston said to Michael. "Do they know what's going on? Don't they speak English?"
    "You could have saved your breath when we came in here," she said, looking pointedly at Houston's gun. "They're familiar with the universal language of thuggery."
    "You are more sassy than Em." He paused, smiling genially. "That's a mule by the way. No one's sweetheart."
    Michael pretended to ignore the comment, but she could feel the tips of her ears growing red. She spoke to the doctor instead. "Have you determined what's wrong with her?"
    "Pneumonia." He straightened and opened the black leather case one of the Gruber children held up to him. "I'll give her what medicine I have. If these cars don't get side-tracked too many more times, it should last until she reaches California." He took out several brown bottles, brusquely explained how much of each she was supposed to