Portersville, J.W. Osborn [free ereaders txt] 📗

anything about him. There was nothing there, she was a infant when The Caldero gang attacked the settlement. Sam had no memory of the man who carried her and her brother to safety and handed them both over to their mother, and never came back. She had heard the story of his bravery many times but she could not remember him at all. “Does Doc know about this?”, she asked.
“Yes.,” I replied “But he said he needs proof before he will accept the truth about Dakota Joe.”
“That is what I need.,” Sam snapped “Proof that my father is dead and buried and this imposter exposed for who or what he really is and what he really wants from us.”
“Sam.,” I said firmly as I could see she was getting ready to bolt from the room at any second. “ Look at your brother. Then look at Joe. Even I can see the resemblance in them.
“I have heard that in this world, there is a double for everyone,” she said “Why not my father too?”
“She was in pain and I could see it on her face. ‘Sam. Honey,” I said “We need to talk about this with Scrub Pot. I believe that Dakota IS Joe Dodge and I would not say so if I thought he was some double, or imposter.”
She glared back at me. “Fire him,” she said coldly, “I want him gone before I get back. Do you understand??” With that my wife did what I had been expecting her to do, and we both heard the back door of the kitchen slam behind her and she was gone in seconds. Scrub Pot turned his dark eyes to me as we sat at the table across from one another. I could not help but notice how tired and sad he looked. “That did not go well,” I commented.
“I had not expected it would, Jerrod Bently,” the old man replied. I pushed my chair backward and rose to my feet and crossed to the door, taking my hat off the peg where I’d left it hanging in the wee hours of the morning, when Sam and I had come in from the barn. “I am going after her,” I said firmly.
“She will go to my cabin,” Scrub Pot answered “You will find her there.”
“What about Dakota Joe?” I asked “I am not going to fire him just because Sam is upset right now.”
“He has all ready gone, my son.,” Scrub Pot replied “Early this morning.”
That was not welcome news to be hearing. “Scrub Pot!” I said, unable to hide my own disappointment at hearing what he said. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
The old man looked up at me and grinned. “Because he was hungry for Esparanza’s corn cakes and he went to my cabin to have breakfast with her. I was supposed to be there myself, but I had to get this matter settled first.”
I was relieved. To lose a foreman like Dakota Joe would not do the ranch or the horses any good. And then it dawned on me what the old man had done. Sam would confront Joe and they would have to talk things out and maybe the outcome would be a time of healing in our family. No matter what had happened to Joe that caused him to lose his memory, he was still Sam’s father, and he deserved to have a place in her life and her in his. Just then the swinging door of the kitchen opened and a yawning , very tired Brian Dodge came through in search of the coffee pot. Scrub Pot looked up at his grandson. “How is the colt?” he asked.
“Still on his feet and nursing. Catus Nell is fine and looking after her baby. Joe said she stood by him the whole time he was down. Joe never gave up, he held that colt in his arms for hours to keep him warm, and finally he got him to nurse. He’s going to be fine. Thanks to Dakota. Where is he?”
“Gone to Bear Claw,” I replied. Brian crossed to the black iron stove and grabbed the old enamel coffee pot. Brian poured himself a cup of coffee. The aroma was a bitter one and the taste was worse. Being a polite young man, he took a sip and tried not to grimace. “I guess Esparanza is out at the cabin this morning,” he said. Scrub Pot just smiled. “Chicory makes a better brew, Grandson,” he said “Didn’t they have chicory up in Philadelphia?”
Brian sat down in the chair his sister has vacated only moments ago. “Did you tell Sam about Dakota being our Pa?”, he asked.
“I did,” Scrub Pot replied stoically. “It did not go well with her. Your sister is a strong woman, but this will be harder for her to accept than it was for you.”
“My brother in law looked up at me, seeing that I was ready to leave. “”Give her a while before you catch up with her, Jerrod,” he advised. “She needs some time to think. I knew from the beginning who Dakota Joe was. I remembered him. Sam wouldn’t remember any of it.
“I will ride slow,” I promised as I headed out the back door.


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Esparanza Dodge flipped corn cakes on the hot griddle she had heated earlier on her new black iron cook stove. A warm fire blazed in the cabin’s fire place, warming the room. Joe Dodge shook the snow off his heavy trail jacket and hung it on one of the wooden pegs by the door. “Sit down, Dakota,” the stout woman said “Breakfast will be ready in just a minute.”
“I love the smell of you cooking, Ma’am,” he said as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “Both here and at the ranch. She turned from her work and smiled at him. “Was my mule all right out there in the lean-to?” she asked as she cracked eggs into a brightly colored glazed bowl.
“Yes,” Joe replied ,” she was eating hay and staying out of the wind. I left before Scrub Pot did. He should be here by now.”
“He stayed over at the ranch.” she replied as she took the coffee pot off the stove and poured him a cup, “Did Catus Nell foal? Joe reached for the steaming blue and white enamel cup and clasped it between his hands. The warmth felt good as it flowed into his cold fingers and he found that comforting.”Yes.” Joe replied “She dropped a sorrel stud colt.”
“My father is a good man,” Joe commented thoughtfully as he sniffed the aroma of chicory.
“Yes,” Esparanza replied “His is a good man and he believes in you.” She stacked corn cakes on a chipped white china plate and placed it in front of Joe . “You look like him, Dakota,” she commented as she returned to her cook stove. Joe buttered the corn cakes generously and drowned them in molasses. “He is my father,” he said quietly “That I have been able to remember. It comes in glimpses that feel like broken pieces of something that was once whole.”
“We both believe that you will one day remember what happened to you,” Esparanza said, “Brian does too and as you know he is a doctor.”
Joe took a thoughtful sip of his coffee. “My son.,” he said sadly “ I try to remember our past, but I can’t. Something stops me. He’s a fine young man and he knows horses well.
“Yes, he truly is a good man and a good doctor too. He set my grandson’s leg when he broke it last year.” Esparanza replied as she joined him at the table.”The more I see you and Brian together, I can tell that you are his father and he is very much like you. A look for frustration crossed Joe’s darkly handsome features and his blue grey eyes seemed haunted for a moment. “I believe my father,” he said “Scrub Pot has no reason to lie and he has told me many things about my life with him and at Bear Claw, yet with every attempt to recall any of it, there is only darkness with flashes of light.”
“Have faith, Dakota,” she said “The answers will come. Now, eat, before your breakfast gets cold.”
“Good idea,” Dakota Joe agreed. Talking about his lost memory and past made the man feel very uncomfortable, sometimes even fearful.


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Sam was upset and very confused. She felt betrayed by the people she loved the most and most of all by Dakota Joe, whom she had grown so close to over the past few months. Could it be true? It