Free A Cowboy for Christmas by Bobbi Smith Page B

office, and he’s worried.”
    “What’s he worried about?” Nick was truly concerned. He hadn’t thought the boy felt threatened in any way.
    “He’s worried about you,” the prim teacher explained.
    “Me?” He was completely caught off guard by her answer.
    She nodded. “Evidently you told him a little about your own childhood, and then he said you saw someone who resembled your brother today.” She saw the sudden change in his expression.
    “Why would that bother him?”
    “Steve is a good, sensitive child at heart. Being alone in the world, he understands how wonderful it would be to discover you still had some family.” Miss Lawson met Nick’s gaze straight on. “Steve wants you to go check with the people at the train station and find out if that man was your brother.”
    Nick gave a slow shake of his head and managed a wry half smile. “I was just praying about that and wondering what to do.”
    “It looks like your prayer was answered. Go to the station and check. See if they’ll tell you whowas on the train. If it wasn’t your brother, there’s nothing lost. But if it was your brother . . . “ “
    “I can’t even let myself hope that it really could have been Danny,” he said quickly. “Not after all this time.”
    “Oh, ye of little faith,” she countered. “Don’t ever give up hope. Do it. I’ll be glad to go with you, if you’d like, and I’m sure Steve would like to go along, too.”
    Nick was trying hard to control the glimmer of hope that was burning within him. “It’s just after looking for him all those years ago, I was afraid something terrible had happened to him, that he was dead. I never found a trace of him anywhere in the city after he disappeared from the orphanage.”
    “You can’t pass up this chance. It may turn out to be nothing, but what if it really was your brother?” She looked up at him again, her gaze challenging as it met his.
    “All right.” Nick gave in to her urging. “I’ll go.”
    “Good. What time will we be leaving?”
    He was surprised that she really wanted to accompany him. “After the morning prayer service.”
    “Fine. I’ll let Steve know first thing. He’ll be excited for you.”
    “Bring him along,” Nick said, knowing without the boy’s concern he wouldn’t be going to check.
    “I will.”
    Nick stayed on in the chapel for a little while longer. Offering a prayer of thanksgiving for all the blessings in his life and a prayer asking for the fortitude he would need to deal with whatever he found out about the stranger the following day.
    It was late, well after midnight, when the train reached Tipton. Dan gathered their bags and hired a carriage to take them to a hotel in town. The hotel wasn’t fancy, but it was far cleaner than the way stations they would be sleeping at for the rest of the trip. He saw Penny and Dwylah safely to their rooms and then bedded down himself. He’d considered going to one of the saloons a few streets over for a drink, but he decided against it. He wanted to stay close to the women, just in case they needed him.
    Dan got up early so he could check at the stage office to find out how soon they could leave for Sagebrush. The news was good. There was a stage heading out before noon. He booked their passage and returned to the hotel to let the women know when they would be leaving.
    Penny was wearing a fashionable traveling gown, looking quite the lady, and he couldn’t help wondering how she was going to fare on the rough stagecoach ride. “I was just down at the stage office and found out our stage will be leaving later this morning. We’ve got time forbreakfast and then we’ll have to get on down there.”
    Dwylah spoke up. “A good breakfast sounds wonderful.”
    “Yes, it does,” Penny agreed.
    Dan escorted them to the small dining room in the hotel. The food was delicious eggs and hotcakes, bacon and biscuits. They ate hungrily, especially after Dan warned them about the quality of