Twilight in Texas Read Online Free PDF Page B

listened. The old man didn’t strike him as one given to idle gossip. He wouldn’t be speaking out of turn if he didn’t consider it necessary.
    “I asked around about you, Captain.” Ephraim lowered his voice. “You’re respected in this town. Talked about like a legend for the good you’ve done since you’ve been in Texas.”
    Wolf took a sip. “What’s the problem?”
    Ephraim nodded as if understanding Wolf’s modesty. Any man who was old enough to have fought in the war had memories and regrets enough to keep him from getting too proud. “She’s a fighter, just like her father. Some folks can see a wrong and walk right past it. Others got to stop and try to fix it. She’s like that, Molly, always wanting the world to be a better place and taking on the job of improving it like it was her calling.
    “Her father was the same. I remember when the first battle of the war was over, he watched the wounded try to walk and crawl back to Washington because all the ambulance wagons the army hired took off at the first shots. He fired up like an avenging angel, donating his own buggy to use as transport and demanding at gunpoint others able to walk do the same.” Ephraim laughed. “He made some gentlefolks mighty mad, but he saved many a life that day.”
    Wolf fought his impatience. He’d also been at that battle, only on the other side. The South claimed victory, but when the fighting was over and there was one doctor per thousand men, it was hard to see the win. He’d heard the North hadn’t been any more prepared. Wounded wandered the streets of Washington waiting for room in the hospitals.
    If Molly was in trouble today, though, he needed answers. “How’s trouble finding her?”
    Ephraim swallowed his coffee hard, as if it were only grounds. “We hadn’t been here a week when she started fighting the opium trade on the back streets. I told her there was nothing we could do about it. Folks got a right to sleep in them beds if they want. There’s no more law against it than against drinking. Half the men who came back from the war have been trying to drown their memories in alcohol.”
    “She needs to stay away from the back streets.” Wolf hated to think of Molly walking in front of some of the shacks where opium was sold.
    “I told her that. But—”
    Footsteps sounded on the stairs, bringing the discussion to a halt. Wolf walked back into the store as Molly and Callie Ann reached ground level. The child let go of Molly’s hand and ran to the door. Opened it. Then closed it back.
    When she turned to Wolf, she was clean-faced, and fighting mad. Tiny fists rested on her hips. “You left him outside!” She stormed at Wolf. “Don’t do that again.”
    The ranger frowned and glanced at Molly. Molly shrugged.
    “I left who outside, Princess?” He tried to sound calm before the child’s anger.
    “Uncle Orson! He doesn’t like to be left outside.”
    Wolf raised one bushy eyebrow. He refused to look around the room for the invisible uncle.
    Molly winked at him. “The captain is sorry,” she said to Callie Ann. “May we meet your uncle?”
    “Oh, no. He never meets anyone this early.” Callie Ann looked bothered that Molly would even ask such a thing. “He would like a chair.”
    Molly stared at Wolf. “Well, Captain? Get Uncle Orson a chair.”
    Wolf opened his mouth to argue that he’d be damned if he’d get a chair for a transparent man, but Molly’s eyes warned him to tread carefully.
    “There’s one in the kitchen,” Wolf mumbled. “He can talk to Ephraim while he sits.”
    Callie Ann opened the curtain wide. After a moment, she passed through.
    He looked at Molly. “I not only got stuck with a kid who wants me to call her Princess, she’s got an invisible relative.” He tried his best to whisper.
    Molly slapped both hands across her mouth to keep her merriment inside. She motioned with her head toward the door.
    Wolf held it open for her. He couldn’t help but grin as she