Chapter 57

It was a week later that Tom went to find John. "He had been doing a lot of thinking and had made a decision. When he found him he asked to talk to him in the library. John could tell from his expression that it wasn't going to be good, but he waited for Tom to give him the news.

"John, I am going to be taking a little trip, and I will be going alone." Tom knew that John would protest and he was ready for it. He held up his hand to stop the flow and explained, "John, I will need you here to look after my women, and yours. Robert needs to be here, and Peter could come with me, but I don't want anybody with me. This is something that I feel that I need to do alone." John looked at him and knew that if he really set his mind on it, he could disappear without a trace and there wouldn't be anything that could be done. He didn't like it, but he had to admit that Tom really could take care of himself. It was just when there was more than one, or two, that somebody needed to watch his back. John nodded his head.

Tom didn't tell the girls, he left that job for John after he left. Early the next morning when they were still asleep Tom rode away from Magnolia House. The warriors watched him go and thought that he was a brave man, except where his women were concerned, but they had to admit that none of them wanted to be the one to tell them either.

It was Tuesday afternoon, almost a month later when Tom rode in. It was the middle of harvest and everybody was busy. Even the house staff was boiling jars and canning just about everything for the coming winter. He managed to sneak in without drawing any attention. When he showed up for dinner pandemonium broke out. The girls were all over him, but he didn't know if they were still mad at him or not. The warriors were glad to see him and happy that he was back. Even Nana had a big grin when she saw him. Tom wouldn't tell anybody where he had gone, or what he had been doing.

For the rest of the week Tom locked himself in the library all day, and wouldn't let anybody in. On Saturday afternoon Tom called all of the warriors into the library. After everybody was sitting comfortably Tom spoke, "Do you trust me?" Tom looked around at the surprised looks and waited until every man nodded his head. "Okay, I'm going to need your help with something. It will seem strange, but it is something that I feel that I have to do." Tom watched each of the men shrug before he continued. "I'm going into town this afternoon. I'll be going to the saloon, and looking for a poker game."

Tom saw the surprised looks, but ignored them. "What I am going to need your help in is watching my back. I'm sure that it will be in danger. I want Robert and Peter to go into town and settle into the saloon. John and I will come in about a half hour later. Just before the trouble will start I'll take off my hat and wipe the sweat off the inside. When I do that I want all of you to be alert for trouble. I imagine that most of it will be coming from the card table, but there may be others in the room. I want John to watch the table and Robert and Peter to cover the rest of the room."

Tom looked at each man and got a nod of understanding. "Once I sit down at the table, I want anybody that leaves that table to join you for a drink. Keep them in the saloon until after the trouble is over. You can tell them that something interesting might happen, but I want them to stay." Tom made sure that all of the men understood. He then stood and nodded to Robert and Peter, and they left quickly without a word to anybody.

John spoke after the others left, "You've been acting strange since you got back." Tom nodded his head and sighed, "I've been working on this a long time and I don't want anything to go wrong. I decided to confront Stark about the markers that he holds, and I don't think that he is going to like it. Normally I wouldn't get involved, but he has a strangle hold on this town, and he is getting more powerful by the day. If I don't deal with him now, I might as well give him Magnolia House, because once he takes over he won't let us stay and he won't pay anything for it. So, I have to deal with this now, before it gets any worse."

Tom looked at John and saw him nod his head, "Would that really be so bad? Do you really want this place?" Tom grinned and shook his head, "No, not really. But, I won't be run out either, and that's just what he will be doing. It became clear to me when he had young Randolph try to kill me. He couldn't handle the situation himself, so he sent the boy to do the job. I'm sure that he will find somebody else, and when I beat them it will be somebody again. He will keep it up until he finds somebody that can kill me. Then he will make his move, either with the boy or directly on Janet. If I'm dead it won't matter, but I would rather handle things before they come to that." John thought about it and nodded his head.

Tom looked at his watch and nodded to John. They both stood and went to saddle their horses. Nobody asked where they were going, and they didn't talk to anybody as they prepared to leave. The ride into town was slow with both men keeping their own thoughts. When they could see the town Tom suddenly became alert, "Okay, from here on in, stay alert. Anything that looks suspicious, shoot first. And make sure that you watch Jacob Fenning." John nodded his head as he started scanning the area.

When they got to the saloon it was already about half full. Tom looked the place over and found the poker table that he needed. There were five men sitting at the table. He ordered a beer and casually walked over to the table. After he watched the players finish a hand he asked, "Have you got room for another player?"

The men looked at the young man and one of the older men asked him, "Son, I don't know you, and I don't like playing with men I don't know." Tom smiled at the man and nodded his head, "I can understand that sir. My name is Tom Sherman, and I'm the new owner of Magnolia House." He saw the older man's suspicious look. He kept his eyes on the older man until he looked away. The man nodded his head and moved his chair over a little to make room. The man beside him moved a little the other way and Tom could take a chair and place it in the space.

Tom looked around the table, "I like to know who I am playing with, too. If you would be so kind." The older man nodded his head, "I'm Bert Haskins, I own the Morning Bird plantation." Tom nodded his head and looked at the next man.

He saw that it was Ed Stark, "We've met." Then looked at the next man, and waited for him to

Respond. "I've heard some things about you. I'm Henry Beaumont and I own the bank." Tom nodded his head once and then looked at the next man.

He saw that it was Jacob Fenning, "We've met, too." He saw the surprised looks on the next man's face and grinned. "I'm Samuel Johnson, but everybody calls me Sammy, I own the Four Feathers plantation, just a few miles south of town. I'm surprised that you haven't visited since you have been here. I invite everybody to visit with me; it's one of my true pleasures." Tom suspected that now that he was started, he might not ever shut up. Apparently Bert Haskins thought the same thing, "Shut up Sammy, we're here to play cards, not chew the fat."

Tom noticed that Sammy looked crestfallen and believed that he would rather talk than do anything else. Since he was new player they passed the cards to him, for the deal. Tom quickly shuffled and passed the cards to Sammy to cut. Tom dealt and was looking at a pair of kings. He glanced around the table and when the bet came to him, he folded. Tom won more than he lost.

About an hour later Bert Haskins lost a big hand and threw his cards down in disgust, and said that he had had enough. Tom watched as he moved away from the table. He knew that he would be intercepted so he didn't watch. A half hour later Tom watched as Henry Beaumont bet big on a King high flush and lost to Ed Stark with a full house. Henry signed a marker and called it a night.

Tom had been nursing his beer all night and called the bartender, and raised his glass. It was a usual occurrence and nobody paid any attention. While he was waiting for his beer, Tom wiped the sweat out of his hat. When his beer came Tom said, "Hey barkeep, these cards a starting to feel a little bit used, can we have another deck?"

Tom watched the bartender look confused, "Them ain't my cards. They belong to Mr. Stark. He always uses his own cards. I don't have nothing to do with them." Tom nodded his head that he understood. When the hammer of his pistol cocked it sounded loud enough to be heard across the room, and everybody froze. Ed Stark looked over to find Tom's pistol pointing at his chest. "Just keep your hands on the table, where I can see them."

Stark had a vicious smile on his face when he heard another hammer being cocked. Neither Tom nor Ed looked over, but Ed said, "Did you hear that? Jacob has a gun pointing at your chest, too. Why don't you put the gun down, or do you just hate to lose that much?" Tom smiled and said, "Why don't you look again? That wasn't Mr. Fenning's pistol that you heard." Ed quickly looked and his eyes got big. Jacob Fenning was sitting with his pistol half out of his holster and John had his pistol resting against the back of his head.

Ed looked back at Tom and grinned, "Well, it seems that you came prepared. Are you going to rob us now?" Tom smiled, "Nope, if I wanted to rob you, I would just play cards with you, but I hate a cheat. You Mr. Stark, are a cheat." Tom saw Ed Stark wanted to reach for his gun, but looking at the barrel of one slowed him down a little.

"That's awful brave talk, when you have a gun pointing at me." Tom smiled even bigger, "Yep, and it's gonna keep pointing at you, or would you rather that it went off?" Tom saw Ed Stark slowly shake his head. Tom didn't take his eyes off of Stark when he spoke, "Barkeep, I think that you better get the sheriff over here."

The bartender agreed with him on that point. He called into the back room, "Billie, get out here." It was the same boy that they had seen before. He looked at the guns before he looked at the bartender. "Go get the sheriff, and be quick about it." The boy was off at a run.

Tom never took his eyes off Stark. John took Fenning's pistol and kept it pointing at Stark as well. When the sheriff and two deputies arrived they were all carrying shotguns. They sized up the situation quickly. The sheriff moved over to the table and looked the situation over. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

For the first time Tom looked somewhere other than at Ed Stark's eyes. "Well sheriff, it seems that Mr. Stark here is a cheat and a thief." The sheriff looked hard at Stark, "I sure hope that you can prove what you say, young feller." Tom smiled and looked over at John, "You got'em?"

John nodded his head. He stood casually, but with a pistol in each hand you knew that he was ready for action. Tom picked up the cards and shuffled them. He looked at the sheriff. "When I asked for a new deck of cards, the barkeep told me that Stark only uses his own cards. That means that these cards are his." Tom called out, three of spades, and flipped the card over in front of Ed Stark. It was the three of spades. Tom called the ten of hearts and flipped the card. It was the ten of hearts. He had everybody's attention now. He kept calling cards and flipping them over.

When the sheriff had seen enough, he called a halt. "Okay, so he is cheating, but how is he doing it?" Tom looked at the cards." These are special cards. A company out of Saint Louis makes them. They say they are for magic tricks, but we both know what they are rally for. They have made their way up and down the Mississippi, until they were outlawed. Anybody found with a deck of these cards, are shot on sight. You see sheriff there are special little marks in the pattern. Once you get used to them, you can see them from across the table. You know every card in everybody's hand. Really, I'm surprised to see them so far east, but I bet that Mr. Stark came from out west somewhere."

Tom watched as the Sheriff started to grab Stark, "Hold it sheriff. He still has his gun, and I don't know how many he might have on him." The sheriff called his two deputies and had then search him, while he held the shotgun on him. They found two guns, three knives and one piece of wire. When they were finished Tom interrupted them again, "You better search Fenning the same way, they are partners." The sheriff looked surprised but waved the deputies to him. John took a step back, but kept his pistol pointed at him. They found another gun and two knives.

Before they were hauled away the two big losers from the game came up to talk to the sheriff and he refunded their losses for the night. The rest he dropped in front of Tom. Tom looked at it and called the Bartender. He handed the money to him, "Free drinks to everybody until this runs out. And you know how I feel about cheats and thieves." The bartender nodded his head and hurried away. The sheriff grinned at him, "That was real nice of you. There are gonna be a lot of people celebrating around here for a while. We will be tearing up markers as soon as we find them. Can't do much about what he already took away from people, but we'll be able to put a stop to that now."

Tom nodded his head, "If I see him loose again, I'll shoot him on sight." The sheriff knew that he meant what he said, "You and half the county, son." Tom grinned and decided to call it a day. His back was slapped so many times before he could leave that he was sure that he had bruises. The warriors were still cautious and watched everybody, but let them have their fun.

It was well after dark when the warriors rode into the stables of Magnolia House. The stable boys were quick to appear. As usual, they didn't want the men taking care of their own horses. Tom shrugged and handed his horse over to their attentions.

The warriors made their way into the kitchen, from the back door. There they ran into an ambush. All of the women were waiting, and none of them looked happy. Robert took one look and decided that it was time for him to head to his bed. He had taken over Mr. Storey's cottage some time ago, to be closer to the workers, and the fields.

Tom wondered if it was too late to go hunting. He looked at the angry faces of his women and decided that he might as well get it over with. He noticed Victoria in the mob, but was surprised that she wasn't paying him any attention. He suddenly realized that since he had got back she hadn't visited his bedroom once. He looked to see what she was looking at and found Peter had a funny look on his face. He suddenly realized that things had changed while he had been gone, and he considered them good changes.

He did notice that Jess was present, but she seemed divided between him and Peter. Tom grinned, that was also a good change. He looked each women in the eye until she looked away, then he walked past them and to his room. He wasn't surprised when they followed.

Once he was in his bedroom, he calmly removed his clothes and climbed into bed. The girls realized what he was doing and quickly started shedding clothes. As Tom was waiting for them to finish he began to speak and all of the women stopped to listen to him. "I don't know what that little demonstration in the kitchen was supposed to mean, but I will tell you this, I come and go as I please. If any of you don't like it, tell me and I'll find someplace else for you to live. I don't answer to you, or anybody else." Tom looked at the stunned faces around the room.

Janet was the one that finally spoke, "Tom, we worry about you, and we don't want anything to happen to you." Tom snorted in disgust, "You had better realize that I'm already dead. I'm just waiting to stop breathing. I accepted my death a long time ago, and whenever it happens I will meet it like a warrior; not hiding behind some woman's skirts. You have each claimed that you are my whore and that I am your master. Not one of you acted like I was her master this night, and I'm ashamed that my warriors saw you acting like that. I don't want to see any of you until tomorrow, and you will not be allowed in this room until I tell you otherwise. Now, get out!"

Tom turned over to go to sleep, to the stunned silence that quickly turned to crying and snivels. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. He felt the bed shift and his eyes popped open to see Janet reaching for him. His hand shot out and his fist connected with her jaw. She tumbled from the bed, back on the floor. Tom's eyes flared with anger as he looked at the women. "I don't know how stupid you are, but there are people that are too stupid to live. I should kill every one of you. First you forget your place, then you embarrass me in front of my warriors, and now you disobey me." Tom looked at each of them and saw that they wouldn't meet his eyes. His glare did not go unnoticed though, as each of them was sneaking peeks when they could.

"I will tell you this one last time, get out of my sight. And, from now on, you will not speak to me until I decide that you have earned the right. If you speak to me or touch me, I will put you on your ass." Tom looked at Janet and he knew that she was aware of his attention, "And that was just a love pat, for what you have to look forward to. Now get out!" Tom watched the four women scramble for the door and noticed that the crying and sniveling had started up again.