Boone couldn’t shake the gathering of ladies in town for a private tea party, and he found himself still thinking about it the next morning. The ride up to the mines gave him time to think it over. Really, he thought only of Miss Turley sitting beside his mother. Had they known each other for long? When had Miss Turley moved to Creede? Why had her family come? There were many questions entertaining him that he wanted to find the answers to, hopefully from Miss Turley’s own lips.

He and Holt tied up their horses outside of the entrance of the Mother Lode mine. It was on the opposite side of the road from Cougar Flats, about halfway between Bachelor and Creede. They walked inside the cavernous opening of the mine to talk with Asa Young, although he hadn’t told Asa what it was all about when he made the appointment.

The cavern was chiseled out of the solid, rock mountain just inside the opening to the mine. It was warmer than the frigid temperatures outside. That was one thing Boone had learned about the mines in the last year—the constant fifty-five degrees underground was a blessing in summer and winter.  

Mining competition in Creede was fierce. Each owner’s interest was in grabbing a bigger share of the silver load that would be hauled out on train cars each month. As a result, every mine was heavily guarded as evidenced by several men standing around the outside edge of the cavern, clearly displaying six shooters on their hips.  

Boone had known Asa when he was the mine foreman, and they were both members of the congregation at Pastor Bing’s church in Bachelor. Now, Mr. Young managed the whole operation. When the Morgans had considered who they might approach first with a proposition to add electric lights to their mine, Asa’s name had come up first for both of them. Asa was a tall man with broad shoulders and arms that looked like he’d never taken a day off from swinging a hammer himself. Two of the guards peeled themselves off of the wall to stand at each flank behind him as he walked over to where Boone and Holt were standing.

“You’re back,” he stated, his voice loud and gruff. “I heard tell you were up in Telluride, and I had to wonder what you were doing with the mines.” All four of the hired men were now standing around the little group.

Boone lifted up his chin the slightest bit. “I got a few minutes to tell you if you got time for the hearing.” They stared at each other a moment.

Mr. Young motioned toward his office with one hand. “Reckon I got time to listen to that story,” he said. He took a step, and the hired guns moved to follow him, but Boone and Holt didn’t.

Boone knew the solid rock walls of the office would cut sound but the wooden door between the office and the cavernous area in the front would not. What he had to say would be too much risk if word got out. Even going down into the tunnels wouldn’t work since it would conduct his voice right back up.

“I’d like to talk with you outside, Asa,” Boone said. Not all their hopes hung on this conversation, but a good many did. The Mother Lode mine was just that—the biggest, most influential mine in all of the Creede area. If they installed new electric lighting, others would follow suit. Boone and Holt would have a thriving business.

The foreman got a suspicious look to his face, but curiosity overtook his expression. “I think I will go out for some air,” he said.

Boone and Holt walked back the way they had come in and out through the opening. After stepping a few paces off, they stopped and faced the foreman again. Two of the guards stationed themselves at the opening to the mine, one stopped a few feet in front of the mine, and the last one was following them.

“Stay here, Holt. I’ll step away with Mr. Young. I have something to discuss in private.”

The armed guard looked at his boss who gave him a quick nod and then went a few paces off with Boone.

“Lot of secrecy, Boone. I’m right curious,” Asa said.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty big secret. I know you to be an honest man, so I wanted to approach you first with the business offer.”

The man folded his arms in front of him, but looked Boone straight in the eye. “I’m ready,” he said.

“Have you heard tell of electric lights?”

Asa nodded. “I’ve never seen them, but I know what they are.”

“Well, Holt and I have spent almost a year learning how to make those things work, and we’re coming back home to start an electric company. We want to start using them town and in the mines. I’m giving you first shot at it.”

Asa’s eyes brightened and then he bit the side of his cheek, his eyes fixed with a stern look of consideration. “I might, but I think I need to hear a whole lot more before I commit.”

“Why don’t you come to Hearth and Home, and we’ll talk it over. We’ll let you know what we can do and what the price might be.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow night.” He turned on his heel and left, taking his armed guards with him as he walked back inside.

Holt joined Boone, and they rode the horses back to town together.

Boone thought about how his life was changing. A year ago, he had just come home from putting the cows away for the winter and witnessed Waylon and Vivian’s wedding. To say it shocked him would have been putting it mildly. He’d never really thought about marriage until then. Having Waylon unmarried was like having a closed gate so no one could pass through, but once that gate flung open wide, Boone had a choice to make. In some ways he thought of himself as that gate now, but after he met Miss Turley outside the mercantile, he’d never been fully able to latch it shut.

His brother’s wedding had affected him in more ways than that one. Boone had started wondering if he was going to be a ranch hand for the rest of his life too. Waylon inherited the bulk of the ranch, but Boone and Holt were each given property as well.

He remembered his first night in Telluride, standing outside the hotel, when lamps up and down the street flickered on. He and Holt both gasped. For the rest of the night, folks in the town could come and go from the mines with a little less worry. The sheriff in town told him that it had reduced crime, at least on Main Street.

The silver rush in Creede had started just a few years ago. There had always been less than a thousand people in his town. Then it swelled to the over ten thousand residents that it had today—and not all of them savory. Boone felt strongly that Creede needed electric lights to make the town safer.

“Do you think he’s going to do it?” Holt asked.

“Don’t know. We’ll see when he comes to dinner if he’s going to take us up on the offer,” Boone replied.

“I usually have the watch at that time of the day,” Holt said. “I’ll come for dinner though if you think you’ll need me.”

“Yeah, I’d like to have you there. You can sit at another table, and if you need to leave, you could.”

“I’m going to go see Paul Von Hemberg at the freight station,” Holt said. “It would be a good place for installing lights too.”

No sooner had Boone and Holt parted ways that Boone signaled his horse to turn right toward the Cattleman’s Hotel, when, of its own mind, the horse turned hard to the left, cutting in front of wagons and weaving across Main Street, nickering loudly as she went. He pulled on the reins and tried to guide Magnificent with his knees, but the mare wouldn’t obey. Like most women worth knowing, she had a mind of her own.

She came to a stop at the side of the road and Boone noticed his mother standing there, talking with Miss Turley. A few seconds ago, he thought he might not like his horse, but he took that all back. She was brilliant.

“Good afternoon, Mother,” Boone said, tipping his hat. Then nodding to Donella, he said, “Hello, Miss Turley.” She was lovely. He’d never imagine himself to be the love-at-first-sight kind of man, but her beautiful face looking up toward him made him wonder if he was.

Boone couldn’t help but notice the surprised look on his mother’s face. He’d made a grave error letting his ma witness that he greeting her by name. She wouldn’t leave him alone about it now. He broke eye contact with his ma and dismounted from Magnificent.

“Well, since introductions aren’t needed,” Seffi said, “tell me how you two met.”

He heard a dainty moan from Donella, but she quickly said, “I dropped some packages, and your son help me retrieve them.”

Seffi turned her face toward Boone and winked, saying, “I’m glad to hear your manners have not suffered from living away from Creede for so long.”

Donella’s eyes brightened and just a hint of a smile curved up the ends of her lips.

Quick-thinking and beautiful. “Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked the ladies, hoping desperately that there was. How did Donella and his mother know each other anyway? He remembered Donella commenting that his mother had said there was some kind of secret her boys were up to.

“No thank you, Boone,” Seffi replied. “We’re both headed to the Crowther’s Dry Goods store.”

He really knew nothing about Donella, but he sensed that he wanted to. He trusted his mother’s sense of character, and if they had a sort of friendship, he knew Donella would be a woman of quality.

Magnificent nudged her nose into Seffi’s shoulder and nickered softly. “Yes, Magpie, I know you’re here.” His mother’s gloved hand softly caressed the horse’s nose. “I remember your mischief, too.” Then she turned back to her son. “Will you eat supper with me tomorrow night at Hearth and Home?” Seffi asked with a laugh in her voice.

He had to break his eyes away from staring at Miss Turley. Of course his mother had noticed. “I’ll eat at Hearth and Home but with Asa Young.”

“That must be another hint to your mysterious secret,” Seffi said, lifting a finger to her cheek and tapping it.

It really was amazing that he and Holt had kept any part of the secret away from their mother. In less than five minutes, she’d determined his interest in Miss Turley and the key person in his future business deal.

“Not a worry, Boone,” Seffi added. “Miss Turley and I will keep ourselves company. Good day to you. I’ll see you tonight, but I won’t disturb your meeting.”

Although the words were easy enough to understand, Boone wondered why his ma’s expression looked like she knew something he didn’t. His whole life, Ma had been a few steps ahead of her boys, no matter what they were up to.