Legend of Link Bonner by Shorty Gunn

Author:Shorty Gunn [Gunn, Shorty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The carriage pulled to a squeaky stop in front of Lola’s home surrounded by a copse of huge, shadowed oak trees. She opened her small, jeweled purse, paying Sam, before she and Link stepped down.

‘Thank you, Miss Montenegro.’ The driver tipped his hat. ‘I’ll be looking for you tomorrow night again after work.’

‘Not tomorrow, Sam. I’ve got the day off.’

‘Oh, all right, ma’am. Then the night after that, if you’d like.’

‘That would be fine. Goodnight, Sam. Say hello to your miss’s for me. And thanks for the ride.’

Sam pulled the wagon around, starting back toward the distant glow of Sacramento, slowly disappearing into the night to the fading clop of hoof beats. Lola and Link stood a moment watching it go.

‘Let’s get inside and start a fire,’ she urged, wrapping her arm around his. ‘It’s not winter yet, but I love a fire even when the night’s just get a little cool like this. Don’t you?’

‘Yes, I do. As long as I don’t have to chop the wood for it,’ he kidded.

Inside the adobe-walled home Lola lit a pair of lamps, illuminating a large, central room. Fancy Mexican sombreros hung from the wall like expensive paintings and coarse, woven, multi-colored wool rugs carpeted the red tile floor. She pointed to the fireplace. ‘Why don’t you get a fire going while I change into something more comfortable? Then I’ll get our drinks.’

Link already had a good fire crackling to life when she came back into the room, wearing a full-length, dark-blue evening robe that swept the floor when she walked. She looked even more breathtakingly stunning than before. Link’s long stare instantly got her attention.

‘Haven’t you ever seen a lady in her evening robe before?’ she smiled.

‘I’ve seen my share. But none of them were quite as pretty as you.’

‘Thank you, Link. That compliment will get you a glass of sweet wine.’

Lola poured two glasses from a new bottle, handing Link one then sat on the couch, taking a pencil-thin, dark-colored cigarillo from a ten-pack wrapped in black paper. Lighting it she sipped at the glass as the two began talking about their pasts, good times and bad. Link was especially keen to learn how Lola ended up in Sacramento of all places, to eventually become the toast of the gambling crowd and many others in town as well.

‘My mother, father and I were from Ensenada, in Mexico. We lived in the hills above the bay. He was a fisherman. As a little girl I used to run down to the beach and play, waiting for him to come back in. My mother was never very well. She suffered from many things and we had little money to live on. When gold was discovered here, my father told us we were all moving north. He thought he would become rich digging for yellow iron. It’s the same thing that still drives many men mad today. But the only luck we had was all bad. My mother died after only one year living here.

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