Chapter 24.

With his hands in his pockets, Silas leaned against the Salt Flatts post office, his head tilted back until it rested against the siding, enjoying the sun and the unseasonable warmth that came out of nowhere.

Once they'd returned to Kansas and more carefully checked the cabin, they'd discovered the bag Silas had bought for Anthony in Missouri was missing, but their son hadn't packed much-the only other things they'd figured he'd taken was an extra set of clothing and a few pantry items. If he was still in the area, the boy had someone he was depending on, or he likely hadn't survived the cold snap.

In the week since returning home, they'd traveled the roads, taken the train to five stops both coming and going, and called until their voices were hoarse in the fields surrounding his farm. No sign of Anthony anywhere.

Silas would have to give up his homestead to keep searching. But what if Kate didn't agree? She'd be back from her last attempt to question the school children soon, but after that?

The post office door beside him opened, but no one came out. He tilted his head to the side to look.

Jedidiah stood in the doorway. "You got business here, or are you trying to scare people away with your scowling?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry my mood's affecting your business."

"If people scare so easily, they don't deserve their mail." Jedidiah let the door slam behind him. "I take it you've had no luck?"

Not wanting to voice a negative response, he simply shook his head.

"You look like you need a drink."

"I do." He shook his head. "But I won't."

"That's what a woman will do to ya." He crossed his arms over his chest and sat on the short tree stump he had on his porch for a stool. "How's life with the missus?"

Silas smiled, more amused than anything by the disdain in Jedidiah's voice. "I was an idiot for ever joining your woman-hating club."

"Yeah, well, so was I."

"What?" He looked at the older man askance.

"Don't look at me like that."

Silas kept his mouth shut. If Jedidiah wanted to spill something, he would.

They watched the pedestrians walk by for a minute or so. Silas scanned the crowd for Kate, though he was pretty certain he'd know the moment she was within eyesight.

"What if Lucy hadn't died?" Jedidiah's voice held none of its usual scorn.

Silas licked his lips and swallowed. And here he'd thought Jedidiah'd be spilling his guts, not asking him to spill his. "I might not be as happy as I am now, but I'd have worked at our marriage-I was more miserable when she was gone."

"Yeah." Jedidiah's shoulders slowly deflated with a long, loud exhale.

Silas kept his gaze on the passersby. "Fannie's a good woman. You don't deserve her."

"I'd say she doesn't deserve me."

He wasn't about to argue with the man since that's why Jedidiah and Fannie were still separated-no one could change his mind for anything.

"How I've treated her, well, she shouldn't have to be strapped to me." Jedidiah squirmed in his seat. "Told her that a year ago, yet she still sticks around."

"Ah." So he meant he wasn't worthy of her. Now he definitely wasn't going to argue. "So you've chosen to let your pride steal your joy."

"I don't deserve joy."

"But it's nice to have." He pushed himself off the wall. "What's Fannie want?"

"Me, for some reason." And yet the man's arms stayed stiffly crossed over his chest, like a stubborn, chastised boy.

"If you hadn't just told me you've been waffling about this for more than a year, I'd have thought you'd finally smartened up. Why are you hanging on to being so dumb?"

Jedidiah sniffed and continued staring out into the street. "Well, you're no help." He stood and shoved his way back through the door into the post office.

A flash of ordinary brown far down Main Street caught his eye. Kate. If he could only outfit her in nicer things. He fingered the sales notice he'd penned while waiting for her. Maybe they could afford to replace her worn dresses soon, though she might not let him buy one after taking such drastic measures to get more money.

Her eyebrows lifted the moment she caught sight of him, and he shook his head. Her frown seemed to slow her pace. When she made it to him, she clomped up the stairs and went straight into his side embrace. Oh, if only they were home, he could bury his face in her hair, pull her body against his, and lose himself in the joy of loving her.

But he had to talk her into something that would take away the comfort of home.

He kissed the top of her head and stepped away to hand her the paper. "I thought of something after we split up this morning."

"What is it?" She eyed the paper in his hand suspiciously.

"I can't let my place keep me from going after Anthony like it kept me from finding Lucy."

"You tried your hardest to find her. She didn't want to be found."

"Neither does Anthony, apparently. But nothing's going to make me give up again."

"But your farm . . . It's your life."

"Was." He took her hand and rubbed his calloused thumb over her knuckles. "You two are my life now. I don't want to continually fret between searching for my boy or keeping my homestead, like I did in Breton."

"And if you don't find him before the money runs out?"

"I won't put you into poverty, but we could search longer this way. I'll pick up work wherever we want to take our time looking, and if we decide there's nowhere else to look or the money's running low, we can settle somewhere. As I can't put my trust in you for happiness, I can't trust my land either. I can only trust God will get me wherever He wants me, and I'm sure He'd rather I go after my son than hold on to a patch of dirt. He brought me to Anthony before-He can do it again."

The sweet smile on her face felt almost as good as the kiss she was considering giving him-if he was reading that look in her eyes right.

He took hold of her wrist and pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear. "Too bad there's people around or I'd take the kiss you're offering, sweep you off your feet, take you inside, and-"

"Silas," she hissed as a man in a dirty Boss of the Plains hat passed by on his way into the post office.

Silas lifted Kate's hand and kissed her palm, giving her a look that produced exactly what he wanted: Her cheeks turned scarlet.

The door shut behind the dusty cowboy, and she gave Silas a sorry excuse for a chastising glare. "You're going to get us into trouble. No telling what that man thinks of us now-"

"What could he think that ain't true?"

"Come on." She pulled on his arms and opened the door. "You have an advertisement to hang."

That was certainly one way to stop his teasing. "No argument?"

"As you said, family matters more than possessions. Though I'm going to miss having an orchard-you have so many beautiful trees." She sighed. "Wherever we settle, promise we'll put trees in first thing."

"Well, that depends on the state of the fields we end up buying, the type of soil and time of year, and the amount of money we have left-"

"Just say, 'Yes, my love.'"

"Ah, so now we're starting the bossy-woman part of the relationship."

Jedidiah glared at them as they entered-as if Kate's laughter was a hardship.

"Ignore the grumpy man behind the counter; it's an act," he stage-whispered.

Jedidiah pretended as if he hadn't heard and grabbed another handful of mail to sort.

Kate dropped his hand. "Can't ignore him. I've got to check for mail unless you have already?"

"No, go ahead." Silas went over to grab a thumbtack off the advertisement board where the cowboy stranger stood reading the flyers. "You don't happen to be in the market for a homestead?"

"Nah, looking for work. You know of any?"

"Not off the top of my head. How long you looking to work?"

"Up to a month."

Silas pinned up his handwritten sales announcement. "Have you checked anywhere already?"

"A few places."

"Are you looking for a good job or just money?"

The man looked at him warily.

He held out a hand to ward off suspicion. "Just that I know Ned Parker's always asking for hired hands. He pays well, since people willing to put up with him are scarce, so if you just wanted cash-"

"Already tried him. He hired my brother. Said he didn't need me with the kid he's got doing the grunt work."

"Kid?" Silas's heart sped up. There'd been no kid at Ned's when he'd stopped by when Anthony first disappeared. "Boy? Girl? What age?"

"I'd say a boy of nine, maybe. Didn't see him but from afar. Mucking stalls."

"Dark headed?" At the man's nod, Silas refrained from grabbing the man's upper arm and squeezing information from him. "How was he being treated?"

"Don't know. Kid was working hard though."

"Thanks." Silas strode over to the counter where Kate waited for Jedidiah to finish going through a stack of unsorted mail. "I have to go."

"Where?"

He shook his head. What if it wasn't Anthony? They'd already asked Ned if he knew anything about the boy and he'd answered negatively. But Ned wasn't trustworthy. What if he was treating the child like he treated his ex-wife or the hired hands he'd had over the years? He treated people no better than his oxen, and his teams never lasted long.

Silas fisted his hands. If Ned had hurt Anthony, he didn't want Kate around when he gave the man a lesson with his fists.

Kate cocked her head. "What are you thinking about? You look . . . murderous."

He tried to smother the rage that had taken over-he wasn't even sure Anthony was the boy the stranger referred to. But if he was . . . "I want you to go to Fannie's and stay there until I get back."

"What's wrong, Silas?" She reached for his arm.

He cupped her chin. "Trust me." He shot a glance at Jedidiah. "Maybe you could walk her to your wife's place after you close up?"

They all knew Kate didn't need an escort, but would Jedidiah take the opportunity?

Jedidiah shrugged. "Sure."

Kate's face turned stubborn. "But I can come with-"

"No." He didn't need more than one person to worry about. "Trust me." He charged out of the post office and jumped into his wagon. What other kid could it be? No parent in Salt Flatts would allow their child to work for Ned.

As much as I don't want Anthony to have endured Ned's heavy hand, please let it be so. And keep me from murdering the man if he's indeed working my boy into the dirt.

Before his team came to a complete stop, Silas jumped from his wagon and charged toward Ned and the stranger setting a corner fence post.

His tense muscles made his whole body tremor. "Where's the boy? If I find one bruise on him, just one-"

"You got a problem, Jonesey?" Ned straightened and leaned on his sledgehammer. "Threatening me on my own property?"

"Where's Anthony?"

"I'm not about to answer a man who's got no respect-"

"So help me, Ned." He charged toward him, fists raised.

The stranger slid between them and held out his arms. "I think both of you better shut your yaps and talk to one another instead of at."

"He knows why I'm here." He hadn't denied having Anthony. "I can't believe you'd steal him away."

"I didn't steal him. The boy said he didn't want to talk to you. Who am I to tell him otherwise?"