A Big Sky Christmas Read Online Free PDF

quite a journey.”
    â€œAnd it’s not finished yet,” Moses said quietly. “But I need your help to get where I’m going, Mr. MacCallister. All of us with the wagon train do.”
    â€œEagle Valley, eh?” Jamie mused.
    â€œYes. If you could find it in your heart to at least talk to Mr. Hendricks and meet the others . . .”
    â€œWell, I suppose that wouldn’t hurt anything.” Even as he said it, Jamie wondered if he was making a big mistake. He wasn’t the sort of man to brood over such things, though, so he put that uncertainty out of his mind. All he’d agreed to do was talk to Lamar Hendricks. He could try to convince Hendricks that it would be best to lay over in Kansas City until the spring. By then, they ought to be able to find another wagon master.
    Shoot, if it came right down to it, he could help those pilgrims out with enough money to tide them over. He’d never miss it. As long as he had enough for food and ammunition and a few other supplies, that was all he needed while he was on the drift.
    Moses had a big grin on his face. “That’s wonderful, Mr. MacCallister. Come with me and I’ll introduce you. You’ll stay for supper and get to know everyone. You’ll see what a fine group it is.”
    â€œI need to fetch my horses first and find a livery stable for them.”
    â€œBring them with you,” Moses suggested. “You can put them in with our livestock. I’m sure you’d all be welcome to spend the night.”
    â€œYou’re bound and determined to rope me into this, aren’t you?”
    â€œIt just seems like such a fitting solution. I mean, since you’re the one responsible for Mr. Ralston’s injury—”
    â€œHe brought that on himself,” Jamie said.
    â€œI know, I know. I’m just saying that everything works out for a reason. Like tonight, when Captain Hendricks asked me to look for Mr. Ralston and I had a feeling I’d find him in that saloon—”
    â€œI was wondering what you were doing there.”
    â€œI was looking for the man who’s going to lead us to the promised land.” Moses chuckled. “And I think I found him, just not the one I intended.”
    As they started walking along the street, Jamie scowled. “If I remember right from reading the Good Book, it was an hombre named Moses who led the Israelites to the promised land. Maybe your name is the Lord’s way of saying that you should have the job.”
    â€œMe?” Moses said with a squeak in his voice. “The biblical Moses took the Israelites to Canaan, all right, but he never set foot in it himself. All he could do was look across the River Jordan at it and see that it was good.” A worried note came into his voice. “Do you think that’s a bad omen for me, Mr. MacCallister? That I’ll make it to Montana but never set foot in Eagle Valley?”
    Jamie didn’t know how to answer that. His ideas of faith and spirituality came more from the Indians than from any of the so-called organized religions.
    He slapped a big hand against Moses’s back hard enough to make the smaller man stumble a little. “Don’t worry about that. For now, let’s try to figure out the best way to get there.”
    â€œDoes that mean—”
    Jamie shrugged. “It means I’ll talk to those folks and think about it.”

C HAPTER S IX
    Inside the Bella Royale Saloon, people were still talking about the brutal fight between Jeb Ralston and Jamie Ian MacCallister. It wasn’t every day folks got to see a brawl involving a legendary frontiersman like MacCallister who was known from one end of the West to the other. It was something many of them would tell their grandchildren about.
    Eldon Swint didn’t seem too impressed. He sat at one of the tables with several of his men, a bottle and glass in front of him. He filled his glass again, then leaned