That night, Philip moved his family back to the relay station. He wanted them safe and knew that he’d need to do chores and ride the Pony Express trail. The thought of Marlow Brooks breaking in on Bella and the boys again worried him.
Thankfully Josephine and Thomas didn’t mind them all moving back. Josephine even teased that with Bella around, they’d never go hungry for fresh bread. The boys were happy to sleep in the bedroom with Bella and Philip again. They all four slept on the floor.
The next morning, Philip hitched up the wagon and he and Bella headed to town. Caleb and Mark stayed behind with Thomas and Josephine. Both boys were excited because a rider was going to pass through and they loved watching them come and go.
Their first stop was the sheriff’s office, where Bella told the sheriff all the things that Marlow had said and done since he’d arrived in town. She also told him that Marlow had bragged about breaking into someone’s home and living there while they were away.
“But I’m not sure where the house is. All I know is that there aren’t any neighbors for miles around,” she explained.
He smiled at her. “You know enough. There is only one farm like that. It’s the Miller place.” The floor creaked as he stood. “They are an older couple who have started going to their daughter’s place during the winter. I’ll go out now and get our man.”
Bella stood also. “Will he be free soon?”
Philip and the sheriff exchanged grins. “Mrs. Young, I can hang on to him until spring. I have it on good authority that’s when the Millers will be heading home.”
She sighed but then caught her breath. “Will I have to see him?”
“No, ma’am. He’s squatting on someone else’s property. That’s nothing to do with you.” He opened the door for them to leave. The sheriff held out his hand to Philip. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ll keep you posted.”
Philip shook his hand and nodded. “Appreciate it.”
Just as they stepped out onto the boardwalk, the sheriff asked, “You folks going to be in town long?”
“Most of the day,” Philip answered. He placed his hand on the small of Bella’s back. She seemed to be trembling.
The sheriff untied his horse from the hitching post. “Then I’ll be seeing you in a while.”
They watched the sheriff ride out of town. Bella shuddered. “I’d hate to be Marlow today.”
Philip laughed. “Now that that is done, are you ready to go to the bank and see if there are any buildings in town to buy or rent?”
She nodded. “Are we going to be able to afford a house and a business?”
Using the palm of his hand, Philip guided her to the bank. “I guess we’ll find out.” He’d had the same thought but hoped his savings would be enough to at least put a down payment on something and then carry a loan with the bank.
Bella led the way inside the bank. There didn’t appear to be any customers. The teller cages were located at the back and a small office was off to the left.
The banker stepped out and grinned. “Philip Young, what are you doing in the bank with such a pretty lady?”
Philip laughed and clasped hands with Mr. Peters, the one and only banker in town. “Good to see you, Mr. Peters. This pretty lady is my wife, Bella Young. We thought we’d come by and see if you had any property for sale.”
“Come on into my office.” He indicated they each take a seat in front of the big oak desk. Before shutting the door, he called out, “Mrs. Crabtree, make sure I’m not disturbed.”
Philip heard a young voice answer, “Yes, sir.”
Mr. Peters shut the door and walked around the desk. He sat down and leaned back in his chair. “What kind of property are you folks looking for?”
“Business.”
He studied Philip for several long moments. “You giving up on the Pony Express?”
Philip nodded. “Yes, figure it’s time I settle down and start my own business.”
The banker leaned forward and began to go through stacks of papers on his desk. “What kind of business?”
“Making furniture.” Philip pulled up one leg and laid his booted foot over his knee.
Mr. Peters nodded. “I heard the telegraph lines were going to put the Pony Express out of business. I’d hoped that wasn’t the case.” He pulled out a couple of sheets and laid them in front of Philip.
“Me, too.” Philip left the papers where the banker had laid them. His fingers itched to reach for them, but he didn’t want to seem too eager.
“What do you think of this business idea, Mrs. Young?”
Bella sat up a little taller. “I think my husband has real talent when it comes to wood and making furniture.” She smiled broadly at Philip.
Mr. Peters laughed. “Spoken like a true newlywed.” He pulled out another sheet of paper. “I have three properties you might be interested in.” He pushed the papers closer to Philip. “Look at those and let me know if they might be something you are looking for.”
Philip did as he was asked. They were all a little more expensive than what he had saved. He recognized the locations of each of them. Two of them were close to the church, school and parsonage. The other one was closer to the new restaurant. “Would you mind showing them to us?” he asked.
“I’ll do you one better and let you have the keys. You and the missus can go look at them to your heart’s desire.” He turned behind him, where a board with pegs had several keys hanging on it.
Bella leaned over to look at the papers in his hands. The soft scent of cinnamon drifted up into his nostrils. “Mr. Peters, the two that are close together, are they both business buildings?”
He turned back around and handed Philip the keys. “No, one is for business. The other is a small house that, as the family grows, can be added onto.”
She turned her head up and looked at Philip. “That might not be too bad.”
Mr. Peters reached across the desk and tapped the other paper, drawing their attention. “That property is two stories. The upper portion has living quarters; the bottom was meant to house a business. So you might like that one also.”
Philip stood. “We’ll go look. Are you in a hurry for us to get back? After we look, we’ll go grab lunch and talk about the properties.”
He came around the desk and opened the door. “No hurry at all. Take your time.” Mr. Peters looked out into the empty lobby. “As you can see, we aren’t that busy today.” He walked with them to the door.
“Thank you.” Philip opened the door for Bella, who smiled at the banker and stepped out into the sunshine. He followed her down the steps and onto the boardwalk. “Which do you want to go see first?”
“The one by the restaurant is closest, but if we go to the one by the church first, we can eat after we look at the one by the restaurant.”
Her reasoning made sense. “Sounds good to me.” They walked down half a block and then over two more. The town of Dove Creek was small.
Bella pulled her coat tighter around her body. She stepped carefully around the patches of ice and snow, reminding Philip that it was still wintertime. He should have considered her before suggesting they walk to the various buildings.
“Are you cold?”
She smiled. “A little, but I’m also enjoying being out in the sunshine. So I’m all right.”
They arrived at the business building first. Philip liked that it sat on a corner lot. The parsonage, church and school filled the lot directly across from the business building. “I like the location,” he said, opening the door and then stepping back for her to enter first.
It wasn’t very big. Philip tried to picture in his mind what it would look like.
Bella nodded. “This would work. You could have your counter and register over there. The furniture could sit here and here.” She pointed at each spot as if she could see it in her mind’s eye. “I would set up a wall here and make that your work space.” She turned to look at him. “What do you think?”
He thought she was beautiful. Everything about Bella made him happy today. He couldn’t say that, so instead he said, “I think it will work. You’ll probably need to help me see your vision if we get this place. How about we check out the house now?”
She practically danced out of the building. For the first time in a while, Bella seemed happy. Philip enjoyed spending time alone with her—he didn’t want to admit it, but Philip wanted to be with Bella forever. And the love he felt was growing. He tried to ignore it but feared it was too late.
* * *
Bella looked around the house. It was much nicer than where they lived now. The hardwood floors shone with fresh polish. The walls were a soft cream color. The kitchen was a room by itself on the left. The sitting room was on the right and the bedrooms were more toward the back.
“Would you want to live here?” Philip asked, looking out a window.
“It’s very bright and sunny in here.” Bella walked to the kitchen. “Oh, look. A real stove.” She touched the black metal.
Philip smiled. “I bet you could make wonderful bread with that.”
“Maybe.” Bella didn’t want to show her excitement at having a real stove. Cooking over an open flame wasn’t the easiest, but she was used to it and her meals came out just fine that way.
The two bedrooms were simple rooms. Bella decided the boys would use the one with no windows. That way she could be sure they were safe at night. “It’s a nice house, but let’s not make any quick decisions until we see the last one.”
He nodded. “Agreed. Are you ready to go to the last one?”
“Yes. We might like it even better, since we can live in the top half and run the business from the bottom.” Bella walked out the door and onto the wide porch. She could picture herself sitting in a rocker, enjoying the quietness of evening.
Philip talked about the business as they walked. “I liked your idea of blocking off part of the store to create an area for building. I wonder if we can do that at this next building.”
“I don’t see why not,” Bella answered. Her feet were starting to get cold and the wind seemed to have picked up since they were in the house.
“I do believe it’s getting colder,” Philip said as he entered the big two-story building. “This place looks huge.”
Bella agreed. She hurried inside to get out of the wind. The downstairs had one large entry room and then three more rooms that created a circle. “I’ve never seen a house like this.” The stairs wound from the top floor to the bottom right beside the doorway.
Philip walked around the large area. “Well, there is lots of space. I could use one of those rooms to build in. And this main area as a store.” He looked in the last room. “But what would I use this one for?”
Bella grinned. “You can always use it for a bedroom. We could shut it off and no one would be the wiser.”
He bobbed his head. “Yes, I could. Or make it into a guest room.”
“Oh, I know. You could rent it out to an employee when you get so busy you have to build all the time and they could run the store.” She started up the stairs. “Let’s go check out the house part of this building.”
“Right behind you.” Philip followed her up the stairs.
Bella came to a small landing. She looked around and saw that there was a door to the right of the stairs. “This is different.” She walked to the doorway and opened it.
To her delight, it opened into a sitting room. Stepping inside, she felt sunshine from all directions. Windows filled the room. “This is wonderful, Philip. Look at all this natural light.”
Philip grinned. “It’s amazing what you find wonderful.”
Bella turned. “You don’t like it?”
“I don’t know. All we’ve seen is a large room with lots of windows.” He walked past her to the kitchen. “Uh-oh.”
She hurried after him. “What?”
He stood in the center of a huge room. The largest cookstove she’d ever seen stood against the back wall. Built-in cabinets filled one wall. A sideboard ran across the wall under the cabinets. A door led to what Bella could only assume was a pantry. “Oh” was all she could think to say.
Philip grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the most wonderful kitchen she’d ever seen. “Let’s check the bedrooms.”
Bella wasn’t nearly as impressed with the bedrooms as she was the kitchen. One of the bedrooms had windows much like the sitting area and the room was filled with light. The other had only one window. Both had tall, freestanding closets. Of the two, Bella preferred the one with the windows. She looked to Philip. “This place is really something.”
“Yep, and it’s also the most expensive of the three.” His stomach growled.
She giggled. “Maybe we should go eat and discuss the three places.”
They returned downstairs. Philip locked the door. The wind had picked up and now tore at his hat and her hair combs. They hurried across the street to the new restaurant.
Once seated, Philip asked, “So, which one did you like best?”
Bella smiled. She wasn’t going to let him off that easy. This was his business and he needed to decide which one he liked best. After all, if they found out that Marlow wasn’t lying and she was wanted for murder, Philip and the boys would be the only ones living in the house.
The thought of being separated from Philip and the boys saddened her. Even though she’d tried to convince herself that Marlow was lying, she still feared the possibility of being arrested for a murder she didn’t commit.