under me.”
The lawyer pulled on his collar as though it bothered him and sat down behind the huge desk.
“Then I guess I’ll have to write him and see if he can come,” Riley said, her face a wad of frowns and confusion as she squeezed the handkerchief between her fingers.
“That’s part of the reason I came to see you, to help me figure out how to legally obtain my own money and land again.” Riley tried to be tactful and gracious.
“Ethan Morgan, I’ll write that down so I can have papers drawn up for you then.”
“Thank you, that would be helpful, and I must contact my cousin,” Riley explained, glancing down at her kerchief in her hand; she fondled it and tried to appear composed as the lawyer seemed to watch her every move. “It would take a few days.”
“Would he come all the way out here?”
“I don’t know. It’s a great sum of money and I must get hold of it. I’ll be in touch. Thank you.” She dismissed him and hurried out of the room. Feeling lost and helpless again, she walked out into a crowded room full of people that barely gave her a glance.
The storm had made a mess of the streets and she had to lift her skirt to get across to the boardwalk without getting muddy.
Sam wasn’t in the room though when she returned and she knew she couldn’t go looking for him just yet, it was too early. He was probably sleeping since he’d been up all night. She flopped down on the bed and shook her head. What was she going to do now? She couldn’t just return out of the blue, could she?
She needed to talk to Sam, and see what he thought.
Stopping by the local café, she ate alone. How she wished she could dine with Sam. She hated being alone. She remembered the last time her father treated her to a night in town and took her to the only place to eat in Crossbow. She’d been fifteen at the time and she and her father had a huge fight about her going to an all-girls school back east. She realized now that he had tried very hard to be both mother and father to her. Perhaps she should have gone, but she wanted to stay with her father.
She moved the ham and eggs around in her plate, not tasting them.
As she was about to leave she noticed two cowboys staring at her and talking and tried her best to ignore them, but they followed her. She didn’t recognize either of them but it was plainly obvious they were following her.
When they accosted her near an alleyway, she screamed. They tried to get hold of her, but she struggled against them, managing to kick one in the shin, the other she punched him in the nose and after he recovered he grabbed her harder.
“Leave me alone…” she hollered.
“Get her purse…” One of them swore when she bit him.
“Look you little hell-cat, you better stop it, or I’ll kill you, you understand.”
In the distance she saw Sam strolling toward her, his face a storm of reactions. They couldn’t be seen in public together, she knew that. She had to handle this herself.
With a quick knee jerk she nearly paralyzed one of them and the other saw Sam coming and ran.
Without a backward glance at Sam, she straightened herself and walked away, toward the hotel. She ignored the fact that they must have bruised her ribs and hurt her arms.
Tears ran down her cheek as she entered the hotel lobby. The clerk saw her and shouted, “Is something wrong, miss?”
“N-no, I’m fine.” And she continued on her way.
In her room, she threw the small purse on the bed and stood shaking.
“You okay?” Sam asked, coming from the shadows of the room.
Wanting to be strong she nodded numbly, but inside she was shaking.
“What did they want?” Sam asked, coming to stand in front of her.
“My money, I guess…” She swallowed hard and finally looked up into his face.
“How’d they know you had any?” Sam frowned.
“Well, when I went to pay for my meal, I took out a large amount.” She saw Sam’s frown. “Well, I couldn’t help it, that purse is way too little…”