Dang. They'd be callin' for him back to the Evergreen, an sent me to fetch him." Gilcrest said.
Ralph just shrugged, thinking but not saying aloud 'not my problem'.
Then, in two swallows, the beer was gone. "Have me one more afore I go huntin' him." He laid a pair of nickles on the bar. "I thank ya, Ralph, knowin' it ain't none of your concern where that young fella is. He can shore get himself in a bind, though."
"He's young n' stupid. We were young once, don't know about you but I made my share of mistakes that age," the customer got a little bit of Ralph's philosophy on things.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Danged if we weren't!" Gilcrest stated, "Made are share of mistakes, that's fer positive sure. Time though, some of us lern't better, and did what we could ta be better'n we was. The war done thet for most all of us." He picked up his second beer, and once again, in a pair of gulps, it too was gone. "Thank ya kindly Ralph, be seein' ya next I'm in town."
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Gilcrest felt pretty good as he trolled the boardwalk, asking after Brendan Connolly. Finally a man said he was at the old funeral parlor where there had been some sort of shooting and proceeded to tell the wrangler of the people that had been going in and out of the place, from the Marshal and the Doc, to the saloon singer, Happy with the news, Gilcrest followed the given directions to the building in question.
Before he reached the door he ran into a young fellow wearing a badge so he stopped him, figure he would know about Connolly. "'scuse me Deppity, I'm huntin' Brendan Connolly, I was told he might be here?"
Brendan was still working out the cricks in his neck from sleeping in a haystack as he headed for the funeral parlor. This time, he had his gun in his holster. After the events of the previous night, he wasn't sure that he was safe walking down the street. Granny Miggins might get up an impromptu lynching party, and if that happened, he knew he couldn't rely on the marshal to get there in time to stop things.
As he approached the building, he squinted into the sun. There was Charlie, talking to...Gilcrest? Brendan's eyes narrowed even further. What was the Evergreen doctor doing in town? The doctor was one of the few hands on the Evergreen who wasn't a gun hand, and was dedicated to saving lives instead of taking them.
There were times when Brendan wished he'd been able to take Billy back to the ranch for Gilcrest to doctor up, but he knew that it wouldn't have made a difference to the gut-shot young man. Billy would have died either way. At least the way it had happened, Billy hadn't suffered much.
At the thought of Billy, the day turned gloomy. It wasn't as though everything had been all sunshine and roses before. His fight with Caroline was still weighing on him, and combined with the weight of his new responsibility for Bridget, Gilcrest's appearance felt like a bad omen.
After stopping to think for a few seconds, Brendan took action. Whatever was going on here probably couldn't be avoided, so why not just bring it to a head sooner? He strode towards Charlie and Gilcrest, lifting a hand in greeting.
"Hey, doc! Long time, no see!" He even managed a grin. After all, there was no reason to start things off by being onery to the doctor.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Well now, jest the feller I was lookin' fer. Seems that yer wanted back to the ranch." Gilcrest said. Not many ever called him Doc, but Connolly always had, he a a few others. Mostly it was 'old timer' or his name. he eyed the deputy who would overhear what he had to say, but he had long since failed to care about things like that, besides, he wouldn't go into much detail.
"Look, I'm here ta bring ya back. There's somethin' brewin' and the old man is purdy riled up about somethin' 'er other. Hell, I pay 'em no mind mostly, but Granger said you'd draw more'n yer time if you don't come back." Adding, "Carson leaned into a bullet along the way, so we're some short handed. Yer choice. Maybe you best find something ta use fer a backbone, if you decide agin ridin' back. Like I said, up ta you."
Why had Gilcrest been looking for him? The foreboding feeling in Brendan's stomach grew as the Evergreen doctor informed him of why he'd been hunting him.
There was no reason to go back to Evergreen after what had happened. Why was he wanted back there? "Yeah?" He put his hands on his hips. "Well..." Gilcrest wasn't done, so Brendan listened. He'd been about to tell the older man he'd just have to ride back alone, but realized that this might be just what he needed. He needed a job, and if he went back to the Evergreen, he'd have one.
But he also needed to be near Bridget; to be able to take care of her. He couldn't do that if he was way out at the Evergreen, and he sure as hell couldn't take Bridget out there with him. It would be like taking a rabbit to a dogfight.
His eyes narrowed as Gilcrest passed on Granger's threat, and he did feel his backbone shrinking. Granger wasn't a man he wanted to cross, especially with the new responsibility of caring for Bridget. How could he care for Bridget if he was dead? He couldn't.
He rubbed his hand over his face wearily. Why could nothing be easy? He wanted nothing more than to tell Gilcrest to tell Carson to go to hell, but that would be shooting himself in the foot, figuratively, or shooting himself, literally.
He decided to play nice with Gilcrest for now, since the man was only doing what he'd been told. So he spread his hands and shrugged. "Listen...I do need a job. But...the thing is, I'm sorta tied up here with...a girl." How much could he embellish this tale and get away with it? Not much, since Charlie was standing right there.
"She...she needs lookin' after," he finally mumbled, hoping that was ambiguous enough. If Gilcrest thought he'd gotten a girl pregnant, he might sympathize and back off. (It was just as likely that the older man would see it as precisely the reason why Brendan should go back to the ranch, but Brendan's brain hadn't gotten there yet.)
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Well now, ain't thet a doozey. Mind tellin' me a bit more? You get this girl in trouble? You know what I mean?" Gilcrest asked. "Ain't sayin' there'd be much understanding back to the ranch, can't say that at all. But, what I can say is this, maybe they'd be more understandin', I mean dependin', was it more'n jest ya got her in a family way. Ya best be straight with me on whot the problem is. I'll carry the word back, but you best have a good reason, More'n whot ya said already. Which weren't much"
Gilcrest was not making threats, he was wanting something better than what he had already heard. "Now, 'spose you an' I step over here some, away from the Deppity, but not runnin' off. Then you'd have the chance to speak your mind." He looked to both men in turn. "Or, you can get yer horse and we'll ride on back."
Not that Elias ever really fretted of much of anything, the idea of the Lost Lake hands trailing the wounded Carson back to the evergreen had him some concerned. That just might start a range war, and that was not what he wanted at the moment. If there was to be one, he wanted it on his terms, not theirs.
Of course, he could send riders out to ride the line that separated the two ranches. Yes, there was a fence, but no cattleman ever liked using the word. Once the two were under his control, Elias would have the wire down, and he would see to it that the farmer, Aurelian Redmond and his seed were taken care of, the land would provide good graze and additional water for his herd.
With his plans, things in the valley would change, as it would in the county. He would hold the power few men could wield like he could. He would put men in office favorable to him, all the way to the Governors office, and perhaps beyond. Yes, once he had Lost Lake, things would change, and change dramatically.
He stood, looking out his window at the mountains in the distance that sat on Lost Lake land. That was the future, his future.
Brendan, prepared for Gilcrest's disbelief or scorn and expecting conflict - or at the very least an argument - was taken aback by the older man's response. Gilcrest believed him? That was something he hadn't expected. A chance to tell his side of the story and maybe find the easy way out: a way that didn't involve leaving Bridget or putting a target on his back.
The thing was...he hadn't gotten Bridget in the family way. It was impossible, according to Crabbe. But the only people who knew that were Crabbe, who was dead, Caroline, and himself. He glanced at Charlie again and finally shrugged, then sidestepped down the boardwalk a ways. Not quite out of earshot, but not inviting an intrusion either.
"She ain't in the family way yet. I don't know that she can...be that way." He rubbed his chin, searching for words to explain everything that had happened. "Her guardian was gonna make me marry her, but he...had a...heart attack." The new phrase tripped him up, but he kept going.
"He's dead. Problem solved, right? Well, it ain't. This girl, she's an orphan and a cripple and she...she ain't right in the head. She needs someone to look out for her," he finished defensively, knowing how ridiculous his story sounded. But it also strengthened his resolve. He couldn't leave Bridget without knowing she would be taken care of.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Hell's fire Brendan! What have ya got yerself mixed up in? A cripple girl what's tetched in the haid? Ya been pokin' her an' ya ain't sure ifin' she can produce a child? Fer Christs sake!!" What had he stepped into here? He was just supposed to bring the no account back to the Evergreen or not. Now the boy says he's responsible for this unfortunate young woman.
"Look, mebee I oughtta see this here girl 'o youren. That way I kin be sure 'o what ya say and when I deliver the message they won't set the hounds on ya. Otherwise yer liable ta be as full holes as a cabbage leaf after a hail storm, by God!"
Now, he could not be sure what would happen if he rode back to the Evergreen without Connolly with his story, even if he did see the girl in question, but it would be his best chance for survival, and why they wanted him back was a mystery. But then, that too was none of his concern. If they wanted Connolly, they wanted him.
"So, what about you takin' me ta see this here cripple girl?" Gilcrest asked, squinting at the taller man, but dead serious.