Queen of the Cowboys

A Smoking Gun

Dinner was a tame affair. It seemed like one conversation about Burnshire was enough for the day, so the dinner conversation strayed away from her whenever it got too close. They opted for safer topics such as the mining opportunities in Lanore Hills, the fur trade, different hunting techniques, and personal histories.

Buchanan learned that Andrew Langstrum, formerly Andrew Harding, grew up in a border town, one that was relatively poor compared to the neighboring town with its tobacco plantations. His mother died when he was young, some sickness no doctor was able to diagnose, and his father was a wretched man, too focused on finding enough money to support his bad habits that Andrew was often left home alone and with little, if any, food. At sixteen, he ran away and changed his last name. Stole his father's hunting rifle and his neighbor's horse and rode North, eventually connecting with some French furs traders and learned the art of the trade. Once he made enough money, he sent some as payment to the neighbor whose horse he stole and went West to expand his small enterprise. He met a dime from southern Georgia, and they were among the first to settle in what was now Lanore Hills. Andrew Langstrum's generous spirit came from his not wanting to be anything like his father and embodying the love he remembered from his mother.

Nancy Langstrum was less forthcoming with details from her life before Lanore Hills. What Buchanan was able to gather was that she was born in southern Georgia to the equivalent of Southern royalty. A few years ago, her parents tried to marry her off to another aristocratic family in the state, a match that was supposed to be for her sister before her sister ran away the year prior. Rather than relenting to her parent's wishes, Nancy took the first train West, planning to meet with a relation who had established themself. Before meeting that relative, however, she met Andrew Langstrum, a man with dark, sad eyes and a big heart, and they fell in love. They got married in the nearest church before putting down roots in Lanore Hills.

Buchanan also had an opportunity to speak with Molly, who ate dinner with them in spite of her role in the household as a cook and maid. As he suspected, she was of French descent. It was her family's trading party that Andrew met when he first ventured out on his own. Molly adored her life and the freedoms and adventures it afforded her, but she never had the desire to be a fur trader in the way her parents did. She and Andrew formed a quick friendship, one in which they could talk about their goals and dreams for the future. After Andrew set off West, Molly made her way East, passing through major cities, looking for that next great adventure. The industrial Midwest, and the attitudes of the people who lived there, clashed with the way she was raised and so, after sending a note to Mr. Langstrum, she met with him in Lanore Hills and has been a part of the household, more as a sister to Andrew than a servant, ever since.

The stories passed around the dinner table made the time fly by. Buchanan couldn't help but notice how similar his own story was to all of theirs; the yearning for a life worth living, free from the things that bound him to the past. In their own ways, each was able to find what they were looking for.

The West truly proved to be the land of opportunity.

Before Buchanan knew it, the dinner was over and the sun had long ago set below the horizon, the last remnants of orange and red replaced with inky blackness and a star-studded night sky.

"Molly," Mrs. Langstrum said, getting up to help Molly with the dishes. "Remind me when your trip to visit your family is?"

"I leave the day after next, ma'am," Molly said. Buchanan was surprised to hear of the upcoming trip, considering how Molly departed from her family to find her own adventure. But he supposed that leaving one's family wasn't always on bad terms.

"I do hope you'll convince them to visit Lanore Hills in the near future." Then, in a quieter voice that Buchanan could only barely hear, she said, "I know Andrew would like to see them again, even if he doesn't say so."