The Cowboy Who Saved Christmas

cards close. He never bragged when he won or complained when he lost. Tonight the game was casual, slow moving. It seemed the men at the table were simply drinking and playing to pass the time.
Trapper was about to call it a night when a barrel-chested teamster sat down at the table. He played with coins for a while, then offered his next hauling job as his ante.
“It’s a three-week haul and pays five hundred dollars. Best part is I don’t have to come back to Jefferson with the wagon. It’s a one-way trip that pays ten times the normal rate. That should be worth money.”
The drunks at the table laughed. “Yeah, all you have to do is stay alive between here and Dallas. Outlaws, raiders, storms, and who knows what. I heard this morning that one guy is already thinking about ambushing your wagon thanks to all your bragging. Must be something special if they pay so much.”
Another man added in a mumble, “You shouldn’t have been crowing so loud, mister. You just may have signed your own death certificate. There are men in this town willing to do anything for money.”
The teamster smiled at the men. “But if you win this pot, and make it to Dallas, you’ll have more than you made last year in your pocket. All you have to do is transport one wagon full of something priceless.”
The big man patted his chest. “I may have got a bit drunk and said too much, but when I win this pot and take all your money, I’ll be able to hire help. If one of you wins the pot, the trip will no longer be my problem.”
Every man was in on the hand. A year’s salary for a few dollars bet would be worth the chance.
Trapper didn’t even smile; he simply played his cards.
Ten minutes later all were out but the teamster and Trapper. The pot was worth more than any since Trapper had been in Texas. If he won, he’d have money and a free ride to Dallas.
The teamster called. Trapper showed his hand. A pair of jacks.
The teamster smiled and laid down a pair of eights. “Looks like you win, stranger.”
Trapper raised an eyebrow. The man looked too happy to have just lost.
The teamster leaned closer and whispered, “One thing I need to tell you. The cargo is five little girls. Spoiled and pampered rich kids. You’ll need a lady’s maid, a few men to ride shotgun, and probably a cannon to get them to Dallas. Every outlaw within a hundred miles has probably heard of the girls coming home and plans to ransom them after they leave you for the buzzards.”
The teamster shook his head. “I might still have tried the trip except for one thing. The little girls’ daddy has sworn to kill me if his daughters arrive with even a scratch. I figured out tonight that I’d be double dead if I took this job.”
Trapper looked in the man’s eyes and saw true fear. “Why don’t the parents come to meet them?”
“Word is there’s a big range war north of Dallas. If he leaves, he stands to lose all the land he’s fought for. Some say he tried writing to the school to keep them over the holiday, but the girls were already on their way.”
The teamster shrugged. “You’ll spend all your money hiring guards and still not have enough.” He stood. “Well, I’m heading home fifty dollars richer thanks to the advance they gave me. I’ll keep the money left after I bought the wagon and supplies. You can collect the rest if you make it to Dallas. If . . .” He walked away whistling.
Trapper didn’t argue. It was too late. He’d won the pot. “Where do I find them?” he yelled at the teamster’s back.
The man turned around. “They’ll be arriving before noon tomorrow by paddleboat. The nurse with them will turn them over to you and return as soon as the boat is reloaded. A wagon will be waiting for you by the dock. It ain’t big, but it’s got a cover. I stocked it with enough food and water to last the trip.”
“Aren’t you going to be there to see us off?”
“No. I’m staying home with my wife. She’s been complaining about having to go along since I signed on. She might be happy enough to be nice to me.”
Trapper nodded. He’d faced worse odds before, like every night in the war, when he’d crossed enemy lines. Five hundred would give him a real start. So he’d take the job no matter what danger came with it.
Besides, how much trouble could five little girls be? They’d probably look at it as an adventure.

Chapter 2
Emery Adams watched the card game from the door of the kitchen. She usually tried to be invisible once she stepped into the saloon, but she liked serving supper to the tall man called Trapper. Once he’d glanced up at her, and she’d seen kind eyes in a hard face that rarely smiled.
He couldn’t be much older than she was, twenty-four maybe, but he looked so confident. Sandy brown hair a bit too long, as most Westerners wore it, and blue eyes as blue as a summer sky.
He wasn’t like the other men. He never tried to talk to her or kidded her about being so homely that men wouldn’t take her upstairs even if the ride was free.
A few men would try to see if she was developing, but her mother wrapped her breasts every morning before Em slipped on the dress made of rough wool. It hung to her ankles and was hot in the kitchen, but it was the only way her mother would risk her working in the saloon.
If anyone knew she was twenty, she wouldn’t be invisible. So she dressed the part of a girl not grown and shuffled her feet as she stared at the floor.
Eight years ago, when she’d just turned twelve, her father pulled