Sweetwater (Birdsong Series) Read Online Free

Miss Emily.”
    She pulled her hand back suddenly, and stood up, gazing down
at the man behind the desk. “I am grateful, sir, for your considerate
attention to this matter. It is not your fault that the owner of my farm is a
skunk! A pig in a man’s hat! A lily-livered sidewinder! I hope he does come
to town. I hope I meet him.” The more she said, the madder she got and the
stronger her resolve. She would not fall apart, now. Her voice raised in
volume along with her temper. “He’ll never forget tangling with me! Goodbye,
Mr. Johnson. Oh . . . and by the way . . . my name is Miss Falkenrath , sir!” Emily marched out of the office and down
the street, holding her head high, and looking as if she was a general,
mustering his troops for battle.
    “What a woman,” the banker sighed.
    Emily’s bravado was fueled by rage and it left little room
for self-pity. She needed a plan, and she’d get the girls to help her. Maybe
she could persuade Blake to help her, too. He was handy with his
fists—why was that, she wondered? Oh, well, she knew he could handle
himself in a fight. She’d seen evidence of it, before.
    Slamming the door, Emily got the attention of everyone in
the hotel . . . even a few of the guests were intrigued.
    “Well.” She stood, just inside the door, out of breath and
filled with righteous indignation. “It seems I am not the owner of my own farm. The owner refuses to sell.” Against
her will, her bottom lip began to quiver. She could feel her strength begin to
leave her body as her knees began to tremble. “He may come to town, though,
and I pray he stays here, for a night or two. I’ll get even with that mangy
polecat!”
    The guests, sitting in the lobby, looked uncomfortably at
one another, feeling a bit of apprehension. What was this lovely lady capable
of doing to a paying guest?
    Patty saw the guest’s looks of concern and she needed to
reassure them that everything was just fine. “Please, if you’d all like to go
into the dining room, I believe Dora is serving a cold dessert, just for today.
We want you to be comfortable here, at the Birdsong, and we hope you’ll
recommend us to your friends.” Patty expertly guided the men and women to the
elegantly appointed dining room for refreshments. Hopefully, Dora had something prepared, Patty prayed.
    Cassie took her cue. “Psst. Emily,” she whispered. “I
think you should go into the kitchen if you want to yell. Yes?”
    Emily looked around her, as she realized the scene she had
created in front of paying guests. “Oh, no. What have I done? Is Patty mad,
do you think?”
    Cassie grinned. “Heck no. You should have been here when
Ben Singleton came by. He wanted to follow me around the hotel while I did my
work. He got as far as room number three, before Patty caught up to him.”
Cassie’s eyes were filled with mischief. “I swear . . .the kiss she saw? It
was the first one, all day! Really! ”
She smiled broadly. “Now— that made Patty mad.”
    Both women giggled at the thought.
    “I’m sorry you didn’t get your farm, Em,” Cassie muttered.
    Giving the young girl a hug, Emily smiled. “It’s not the
only farm in Kansas, kid. But I vow to make the owner sorry he didn’t sell it
to me!”
    “I believe you will.” Cassie nodded.

CHAPTER TWO
    The railroad was pushing westward, slicing through the
wilderness and connecting cities and towns. With its expansion, came a flood
of immigrants. The men worked laying track and the women followed their men,
trying to keep some sort of home.
    Fort Hays was busy during this time, as well. All of this
activity meant the Birdsong Hotel was usually filled to capacity. There was
precious little free time, and that was good enough for Emily. It kept her
mind off revenge.
    Patty and Dora were never idle, it seemed. With vast
amounts of cooking to be done, the never ending ordering of supplies, and the
overall managing of the business, the two women fairly dropped into bed at the
end