The Turn of a Wheel (Kansas Crossroads Book 17) Read online

  The Turn of a Wheel

  Kansas Crossroads Book Seventeen

  by Amelia C. Adams

  With thanks to my beta readers—Amy, Becky, Bonnie, Cheryl, Cindy, Dorothy, Jessy, Joseph, Karilyn, Lara, Lisa, Mary, Meisje, Melissa, Renee G., Renee L., Rita, Robin, Sandy, Shelby, Suzy, Teresa, Theresa, and Trudy.

  Cover design by Steven Novak at Novak Illustration

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Topeka, Kansas

  1877

  “Ruth?”

  Ruth Barnes glanced up from the pie she was cutting and saw that Emma was motioning to her. “Yes?”

  “There’s a man in the dining room who said he’d like to speak with the cook.”

  Ruth sighed and set down her knife. At times like this, she missed Sarah, who always handled the customer complaints—not that they received a lot of them. They actually did better along those lines than most restaurants. Be that as it may, she still missed Sarah, who was now retired from the Brody Hotel and raising her baby boy, a pink-cheeked cherub they’d named Peter.

  “Did he say why?” she asked Emma as she wiped her hands.

  “No, just that he’d like to see you.”

  “And Mr. Brody’s out there with his pistol, right?”

  Adam Brody, the owner of the hotel where they worked, took the safety of his waitresses very seriously, and he often supervised the dining room during mealtimes. If he felt anything was amiss, he’d open his jacket and show the Colt he kept holstered there at all times, and that was usually enough to keep ill tempers from flaring up.

  “He’s out there, but I don’t think anything will go wrong,” Emma replied. “This man doesn’t seem the type.”

  “Well, I hope not. I’m a bit out of sorts today myself, and the combination might not be a good one.” She didn’t have time for this—not only were they in the middle of a busy meal service, but she had a wedding cake to make as soon as the dishes were washed and the kitchen was put back to rights.

  Ruth pushed through the door into the dining room and stopped in her tracks when she saw Wade Watkins, her old friend from the Lazy Q ranch, standing there, a grin on his face. His wife, Margaret, stood just behind him, also smiling.

  “Gracious. You could have thought of a less frightening way to say hello.” Ruth gave each of them a quick hug. “I thought I was coming out here to do battle with someone who didn’t like my chicken and dumplings.”

  “Impossible. Everyone likes your chicken and dumplings,” Margaret said. She motioned over to their table. “In fact, that’s what we were just telling Mr. Barker.”

  Mr. Barker? The owner of the Lazy Q? Ruth looked over at the table, but the man sitting there wasn’t the Mr. Barker who had hired her to cook out at the ranch two years previously. He stood up when he saw that they had turned his way and came forward with his hand extended.

  “Ruth, this is Alex Barker,” Wade said. “He’s Jeb Barker’s brother, and he’s been in town on business for the last week or so. Alex, this is Ruth Barnes.”

  Ruth accepted Mr. Barker’s handshake. Now she could see the resemblance between this Mr. Barker and her former boss. They had the same eyes, although Alex’s were much softer, and they were about the same height. Beyond that, the similarities stopped—the owner of the Lazy Q was not an attractive man, but his brother most definitely was.

  “Miss Barnes, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Barker said as he released her hand. “Margaret’s told me what an exceptional friend and a good cook you are.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Barker,” Ruth replied. “Have the three of you decided what you’d like for dinner?”

  “Now that you’ve mentioned chicken and dumplings, I think that’s what I want,” Margaret replied, and the two men nodded that they’d take the same. “Oh, and will you have a minute to talk after the meal?” Margaret added, her voice much quieter. Her eyes seemed serious, like this was more than just a friendly visit.

  “I’ll make sure there’s time,” Ruth said.

  “Thank you.”

  Ruth went back into the kitchen, glad to see that Kate had kept up with the orders while she’d been in the other room. Ruth hardly ever stepped away from her spot by the stove during mealtime, and truthfully, it was kind of nice to have that momentary break. She’d been thinking a lot about breaks over the last few months, and she’d nearly turned in her resignation half a dozen times. But she didn’t have anywhere else to go as of yet, and she didn’t want to quit this job before she knew there was something else waiting for her on the other side.

  Once all their customers had been served, Ruth asked Kate to take over in the kitchen, and she went back out into the dining room. Both Wade and Mr. Barker stood at her approach, and she sat down next to Margaret with a little sigh, glad to be off her feet.

  “Have you had your own dinner, Miss Barnes?” Mr. Barker asked.

  “Yes, I ate just before the service started. Thank you for being concerned.”

  Mr. Barker smiled at her, and she noticed a dimple in his cheek. His brother most definitely didn’t have one.

  “You say you’re here on business, Mr. Barker?” she asked, trying to ignore the dimple. Dimples were distracting.

  “Yes, I am. I came to convince my brother to sell his ranch, and I was quite successful.”

  Ruth couldn’t hide her surprise. “He sold the Lazy Q? I didn’t think he’d ever sell that place.” She turned to Wade. “What does that mean for you? Did you lose your job?”

  Wade grinned. “Well now, there’s a happy ending to this story. Seems the new owner of the Lazy Q is me.”

  Ruth blinked a few times, then held up a hand. “I think we should start at the beginning. What’s going on?”

  Mr. Barker chuckled. “I imagine this is all quite startling, Miss Barnes. You see, a few years back, I met a man who dealt with real estate and land sales, and he brought me on as an apprentice of sorts. I’ve worked with him ever since to help match up sellers and buyers, and I’ve enjoyed it—I’m not the rancher my brother is.”

  Ruth didn’t think the elder Mr. Barker was much of a rancher—he’d always relied on his employees to make things run like they should—but she decided it was best to keep her mouth shut for the time being.

  “A gentleman came to see me about a month ago,” Mr. Barker continued after taking a sip of water. “He’s getting ready to retire, and doesn’t have a child to inherit his property. It’s a large place, about three times the size of the Lazy Q, with twice as many animals. He said he’d make a good deal for the right buyer, and I just happened to know someone who was interested.”

  “So, you brokered the deal between this man and your brother, and he in turn sold the Lazy Q to Wade?” Ruth asked.

  “That’s right. I’m now a full-fledged rancher and not just a foreman anymore,” Wade said with a chuckle. “I’m also in a wagonload of debt, but we don’t need to talk about that when we should be celebrating.”

  “You won’t be in debt for long,” Margaret said, a gentle smile on her face. “You’ve made the Lazy Q more successful than it’s ev
er been, and it won’t be more than a few years before you’re turning a profit.”

  Wade squeezed her hand, then turned back to Ruth. “I’m making Big Mike the foreman in my place,” he continued. “He’s the one who’s always caught my vision and understood what I wanted the best.”

  “Oh, I’m so glad,” Ruth replied. “He deserves it. Sully’s still out there, isn’t he?”

  Wade laughed. “Yes, he is. There’s no getting rid of Old Sully. He can’t ride anymore, so we’ve got him in charge of breeding the stock. That’s a task he can oversee without hurting his leg too badly.”

  Ruth couldn’t help but grin as she thought about the men out on the Lazy Q. There were some true gems out there mixed in with the snakes.

  “Miss Barnes, I wonder if I could turn our conversation back to my brother’s new investment for a moment,” Mr. Barker said. She’d all but forgotten he was there.

  “Of course. I’m not sure what any of this has to do with me, however,” she replied.

  Mr. Barker folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “He told me you’re the best cook he’s ever hired, and he’d like to offer you the position of head cook on the new ranch. It’s about a hundred miles from here, so it would definitely mean uprooting your life, but he’s prepared to offer you a nice raise in salary, and you’d be supervising a kitchen of two other cooks, so you wouldn’t be handling the weight of the load by yourself.”

  Ruth sat back in her chair and stared at the man, so startled she could hardly think. She glanced over at Wade and Margaret to see that they were watching her warily. How could she even come up with a response? It was so . . . preposterous. Finally, she dragged in a breath.

  “Mr. Barker, I wouldn’t come back to work for your brother if it meant the difference between a warm place to sleep and freezing to death in a snowbank. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to start some bread.” She pushed back from the table and walked as quickly as she could toward the kitchen, knowing that she had to escape before she embarrassed her friends and her employer right in the middle of the hotel dining room.

  ***

  Alex Barker watched Miss Barnes disappear into the kitchen, his jaw slack. Wade had said she wouldn’t be interested, but her response was far more than a simple rejection.

  “I don’t understand,” he said at last, turning to Wade and Margaret.

  “It’s not our story to tell,” Margaret replied softly. “It’s her decision, and hers alone.”

  Another waitress approached the table and asked if they’d like anything else. Alex wasn’t hungry anymore—he was too startled to be thinking about food—but he wasn’t ready to leave yet, either. “I’d like some pie, please.”

  “Cherry, apple, or peach?”

  “Which one did Miss Barnes make?”

  The waitress quirked an eyebrow. “She made them all, sir.”

  “Then I’ll take peach.”

  He settled back in his chair, barely noticing that Wade and Margaret also asked for pie. He needed to speak with Miss Barnes and smooth out . . . well, he wasn’t sure what had happened. That’s what he needed to find out.

  When Jeb, his brother, had told him about Miss Barnes and her cooking, Alex had envisioned a middle-aged woman with a waddle to her step and a smudge of flour on her cheek. He hadn’t expected her to be young—he guessed she was twenty-one or so—with hair the color of chestnuts and eyes that looked like spring moss. He’d found it difficult to speak with her at first because he was so surprised at her appearance. How had a woman that beautiful managed to hide herself in the back of a hotel kitchen for so long?

  And now she didn’t want to speak with him at all. He wasn’t bothered by that on account of his brother—he knew Jeb would find another cook with little trouble. He was bothered because he hated the idea of hurting her, and he couldn’t leave until he’d set things right.

  The waitress brought their slices of pie, and Alex took a few bites. It was delicious—there was just a hint of ginger mixed in with the cinnamon—but he put down his fork after a moment. His stomach was tight and wouldn’t allow him to enjoy any more.

  “Do you think she’d talk to me?” he asked, turning to Wade and Margaret.

  “She might, if she believed you would listen objectively,” Margaret replied.

  Alex didn’t understand the significance of that—why would he need to be objective? But he nodded. “I can do that.”

  “She means a lot to a whole lot of people,” Wade added, a hint of warning in his tone that Alex understood immediately. He gave another nod.

  “Go outside and around the back of the hotel,” Margaret suggested. “Going in through the kitchen door will give you the best chance of privacy.”

  Alex rose. “Thank you. Wish me luck.”

  As Alex walked through the lobby to the front door, he paused at the counter and paid for his meal as well as for Wade and Margaret’s, and then he continued outside. Someone had put a lot of care into the planting of the spring flowers that grew along the foundation of the building, and he was greeted with a riot of colors he’d somehow missed on his way in.

  He continued around the building until he saw a door which looked like it might lead to the kitchen. Pushing down his feelings of awkwardness, he stepped onto the wraparound porch, peered through the window to make sure that he was indeed in the right place, and then opened the door.

  The waitress who’d brought out his pie was putting some dishes away on a shelf near the door, and she looked startled to see him. “May I help you?”

  “Margaret told me I should come around this way,” Alex replied, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. “I was hoping to speak with Miss Barnes, but . . .”

  “You can come in, but best stay out from underfoot,” the girl advised. “We’re all in a flurry to get the dishes done right after a service.”

  He nodded and closed the door behind him, then tried to find a spot to stand where he wouldn’t be in the way. It looked like the only safe place was in the corner behind the table, so he edged over there and watched as the girls moved back and forth, washing and wiping and putting things away so quickly, it made his head hurt trying to follow it all. They must have worked together for a long time to have developed such a seamless system.

  Miss Barnes had been scrubbing down the counter, her head bent to her task, and hadn’t seen him yet. When she did look up, she was clearly exasperated.

  “Mr. Barker, what are you doing back here?”

  “Margaret told me that if I wanted to talk to you, I should come around the back,” he replied.

  “And why do you want to talk to me? I thought our business was concluded.”

  “It might be, but I couldn’t just leave things as they were. I wanted . . .”

  She raised an eyebrow. “To soothe your conscience?”

  His conscience? He didn’t have any idea what she meant. “I wanted to clear the air. Do you think you’ll have a minute to spare once you’re done here?”

  “I already gave you a minute, Mr. Barker. In case you couldn’t tell, we’re a very busy hotel and restaurant, and we’ve already started preparing for the next meal. It never stops. Not only that, but one of our waitresses is getting married tomorrow, and I’m in charge of making her cake.” She set her rag down on the counter and put a hand on her hip. “What more could you possibly have to say to me?”

  “That’s what I was hoping you could tell me,” he said slowly, meeting her gaze. He didn’t know much about women—anything at all, really—but he knew enough about wild animals to know the importance of staying calm, and Miss Barnes was reminding him quite a bit of a cornered mountain lion at the moment.

  She studied him, then shook her head. “Fine. I don’t know why I’m agreeing, but meet me out on the back porch in fifteen minutes, all right? I’ll have Kate start the bread and pull out what I need for the cake, but I can’t be gone very long.”

  “Understood.”

  Alex slid out from behind the table and walked b
ack outside, taking a breath and letting it out a bit at a time. If this were a regular business matter, he would have thanked Wade and Margaret for their time and headed back to the ranch, ready to move on to his next task. But this was a mystery he had to solve. What had made Miss Barnes so upset? It obviously had something to do with Jeb, but what?

  He stepped off the porch, deciding to walk around a bit and see what else this hotel had to offer. Off to the side was a huge pot set up on a tripod, a fire merrily blazing beneath, and next to that was a series of washtubs. Must be laundry day. Just as he had the thought, two waitresses exited through the kitchen door, each carrying a large basket, which they set down near the washtub.

  “Hello,” he said, thinking that being friendly might help ease the awkwardness of his presence. “Thank you for the meal—it was delicious.”

  His waitress from earlier nodded. “You’re welcome. So, why is Ruth mad at you? Fess up—we’ll just hear it from her later if we don’t hear it from you now, so there’s no point in keeping secrets.”

  “I’d love to tell you, but the fact is, I don’t know. She’s going to meet me out here in a few minutes and tell me.”

  The two girls looked at each other, then back at him. “I sure do hope you’ve made out your last will and testament,” the second girl said. “I’m not sure you’re going to make it out of this conversation alive.”

  “I’m starting to doubt that myself, even though I still don’t know what we’re talking about.” Alex gave them each a nod. “I’m Alex Barker, by the way.”

  “I’m Emma, and this is Carrie,” said his waitress. “And here comes Nora.”

  Another girl exited the building, also with a basket, and she eyed him up and down. “If you need to make a hasty exit, the train’s just over that way,” she said, nodding toward the station.

  “Thank you. I did see it.” Alex was amused by the way these girls were leading up to his talk with Miss Barnes, but he did wonder if he should be a little more nervous than he was. She would have strong feelings, no doubt even stronger than the ones she’d just displayed in the hotel, but he could handle that, couldn’t he? He’d sat in business meetings with men so furious, their faces were nearly purple. Couldn’t he deal with one angry young woman?