Every Perfect Gift Read Online Free PDF Page A

admit there’s problems up here.”
    Torchlight flared as Sheriff McCracken’s men fanned out through the crowd, shouting orders and dispersing the men. Over her interviewee’s shoulder, Sophie saw Ethan Heyward talking with one of his workers, one hand resting on the man’s shoulder. “You mentioned problems. What kind of problems, exactly?”
    The man took a step back. “I’m not saying. And I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell nobody what I just said. I need this job.” He frowned. “You never did say what you’re doing up here with the sheriff.”
    The crowd melted into the darkness. McCracken spoke to Mr. Heyward before heading toward his mount. Sophie watched Mr. Heyward head back inside. He moved with the confidence of a man who understood his place in the world and reveled in it. She was attracted to his power and slightly afraid of it. Apparently his men felt the same way.
    “I must go.” Sophie hurried over and met the sheriff beneath the trees. Mr. Foster and Mr. Trotter, their torches burning low, joined them.
    “Well, Miss Caldwell.” McCracken swung into the saddle and held out his hand to her. “Looks like you came all this way for nothing. Just a few drunks letting off steam. Don’t seem like there’s much of an interesting newspaper story after all.”
    “I wouldn’t say that, Sheriff.” Sophie mounted up behind him, her brief conversation with the men playing in her mind. What sort of problems existed at Blue Smoke? And why was Mr. Heyward loath to speak of them?
    The answers to those questions might prove interesting indeed.

    Sheriff Eli McCracken, in the company of six townsmen, quelled a disagreement last week at the Blue Smoke resort. According to eyewitnesses, violence has marred the project from the beginning due to conditions the witnesses were unwilling to discuss. What does seem clear is that tensions among the various groups of men working on the resort erupt into gunfire on a regular basis, gunfire that has resulted in death for two workers. Steps should be taken to resolve whatever conditions are responsible for this atmosphere at Blue Smoke before some other unfortunate man loses his life.
    Sophie rolled the paper from her typewriting machine and scanned it, then placed it in the wire basket with the other stories she was accumulating for her first issue of the Gazette . The piece still needed work. But today was Sunday, and she had promised to visit Ada’s friend Carrie Daly Rutledge at her horse farm outside town.
    She removed her reading spectacles and rose from her desk, glancing over at the steam press in the composing room. The new type trays and composing sticks she had ordered from Chicago had arrived. Too bad there was no time to begin setting the type for the first issue. Placing the lead letters one by one into the trays wasa time-consuming and filthy task, the only part of newspapering she found tedious. It was always a relief when the trays were neatly filled and ready for ink.
    The front door opened and a young man, his thick blond hair wind-tousled, peered in. He grinned. “Sophie Robillard Caldwell.”
    “Robbie? Oh my goodness.” Her heart lifted at the sight of her only childhood friend. All grown up now, of course, but she’d know Robbie Whiting anywhere. He’d often accompanied his mother to the orphanage and kept Sophie company while the other children played or studied. Together they had roamed the hills in search of arrowheads, picked wild blackberries along the riverbank, shared penny candy from Mr. Pruitt’s mercantile, and reveled in the dime novels Robbie bought from Mr. Chastain’s bookshop. Her mixed-up parentage, whatever it was, had never mattered one whit to Robbie. For that alone, she was prepared to love him forever.
    Robbie swept her into a bear hug, twirling her around until she felt dizzy. “Mother said Miss Ada wrote her that you were coming back here. I’d planned to surprise you at the train station, but I had to make