He shrugged his shoulders. “She takes care of me,” he answered vaguely. “Are you gonna help her?”
“I’ll try.” David nodded in affirmation, then walked back to stand in front of Coalie’s chair.
Coalie stood to face him. “There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“We ain’t got the money to pay ya.”
“Don’t worry about it.” David shrugged.
‘Tessa and me don’t take charity.” Coalie straightened to his full height. “But I’ll work for ya. To pay for T
essa.”
David thought for a moment. The little boy looked at him so proudly, David had to take him seriously. “I could use a helping hand to run errands, do a few chores, keep an eye on the place…that sort of thing.”
Coalie looked around the office, taking in the stacks of books and papers scattered across the desk and table.
“I’ll give you a key to the back door and a bed of your own,” David said, “but there will be rules to follow. I expect you to go to school like the other children in town. And you’ll do your chores in the mornings and after school.” David had learned that Coalie lived with Tessa Roarke, and with Tessa in jail, Coalie had no place to stay.
David stretched his tired muscles and ran his long, lean fingers through the silky strands of his ink-black hair. He was a fool—and probably would be served right when Coalie and Tessa skipped out in the middle of the night. But he was willing to take a chance. And in the meantime Coalie was a vital link to Tessa Roarke. Maybe his only link.
David stuck out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Coalie stared at the large outstretched hand, then at the face of the man offering it. “What about my shoeshine business?”
“You can continue in your free time if you want to,” David told him, “but only after your schoolwork and chores are done. And only if you agree to stay away from the saloons.”
Coalie nodded, having apparently decided to trust him. He placed his hand in David’s. “You sure do have a lot of rules, but it’s a deal.”
David studied the small hand. It was caked with dirt, red from cold, and roughened from hard work. Black half-moons marked the fingernails. If he had his way, no child would have to work for a living. But David recognized pride when he saw it. He took the boy’s hand and gripped it firmly. “I’m pleased to meet you, Coalie.”
Coalie shook his hand in reply.
“Come on,” David prompted. “I’ll show you your new room.”
By David’s standards the room was tiny. It was smaller than his sleeping quarters at the office and much smaller than his room in the bachelors’ wing at the ranch. The room was barely large enough to hold a narrow bed, a dresser, and a washstand, but Coalie’s big green eyes lit up in wonder at the size of the room and the furnishings. He walked around, reverently touching the down coverlet and the quilt folded at the foot of the bed. Walking over to the window looking out on the back alley, he fingered the checked fabric of the curtains.
Coalie glanced at the windowsill and grinned at the orange tomcat, showing David an uneven smile where permanent teeth were filling the gaps left by baby teeth.
“I hope you like cats,” David said. “Horace Greeley has the run of the place.” David affectionately scratched Greeley’s head. The cat bumped at his hand, rumbling his pleasure.
“I don’t mind ’em at all,” Coalie replied.
David placed his hand on Coalie’s shoulder. “Good. Follow me. I’ll get your key.” David led the way back down the hallway, walked to his desk, and removed a key from the top drawer. “This is for you,” he told Coalie. “It unlocks the back door.”
Coalie carefully pocketed the key.
“That’s settled, then,” David said. “Now I need to find Tessa a place to stay.”
“She always stays with me,” Coalie said. “We stay together.”
“Not this time,” David replied. “I’m a bachelor. Tessa can’t stay here with me. She’ll have to have a room of her own, someplace other than the Satin Slipper.”
He looked down at Coalie. “I guess you know Myra Brennan at the Satin Slipper has already given Tessa’s room to someone else?”
“Yep.”