Westward Holiday by Linda Bridey

Author:Linda Bridey [Bridey, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mail Order Bride Dept, Gold Crown Press
Published: 2014-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Pa, if you don’t take the medicine, it won’t do you any good,” Jake admonished his father the next morning.

Tuesday mornings he usually went to check up on his father.

Calvin let out a sarcastic noise. “Yeah, I know that, but half the time I forget to take them,” he said. “Well, come on and sit down, son. I made breakfast.”

Jake sat at the scarred kitchen table that he remembered from his childhood. He’d lost count of the many meals they’d eaten at this table. Jake always sat at the place at the table where he’d carved his name when he was seven. His pa had scolded him fiercely, but his ma had laughed and said that Jake just wanted to carve out a niche for himself in the world.

Jake traced the lettering with a finger now and smiled at the memory. Calvin saw and chuckled. “Your ma used to get the biggest kick out of that every time she wiped the table. She’d laugh and say, ‘there’s Jake’s niche’. Lord, how I miss that woman.”

Jake swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Me, too, Pa.”

Calvin sat a plate of scrapple and eggs in front of his son and then made his own plate. Jake took a pill out of the bottle and sat it near his father’s plate. Calvin sat down slowly across from his son and took the pill before he forgot to do it again. Jake got his height from his father, but got the rest of his looks from his mother.

“There. Happy?” he said to Jake.

“Yeah,” Jake said.

“So how’s things at the saloon?” Calvin said as he took a bite of scrapple.

“Good. Real good,” Jake replied. “Good scrapple, Pa.”

“That Sammi lady still kicking tail?” Calvin asked. He’d developed a strong liking for Sammi upon meeting her.

Jake laughed. “Oh, yeah. She’s something to watch in action. You gotta come down some night, Pa. Everyone would love to see you.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna have to do that,” Calvin agreed.

“Of course, I just found out last night that she and Mitch are trying to start a family. I don’t know what I’m gonna do for a bouncer once she gets pregnant,” Jake said. “But they want a family and I’ll be really happy for them when they start one.”

“You’ll find someone, son, but it won’t be as entertaining. You tell her I want her to come visit, ok?” Calvin said.

“Ok, Pa. So how you feelin’?”

“Some days better than others. That new doctor says my ticker’s just a hair worse, but not too bad considering. If someone had told me that Ralph Samuels’ youngest boy would become a doctor someday, I’d have told them they were as crazy as bat. But, Doc kept tellin’ me how good he was and dang if he ain’t. He’s always got that big wolf with him, too. I love that wolf. He does all kinds of tricks,” Calvin said.

Jake smiled. He appreciated Marcus coming to see his father every week. “Yeah, Roscoe’s something else all right.

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