The golden spoon
(Large Print)

"In the boomtown of Eagle Bar, twins Charlie and Cassie Vincent, open The Golden Spoon, gambling on their chance to cash in on gold rush fever with down-home cooking and sky-high prices. Matthew Ramsey should be in San Francisco, helping set up the family's west coast shipping office; instead he arrives in Eagle Bar, restless, ready to make a name for himself. The three form a fledgling friendship just as Victoria de Vere, worldly wise and slick as hair oil, sashays into town with big plans. Matthew unknowingly steps into a family feud between the Vincent siblings and their conniving mother. When he helps Victoria build her Palace gambling hall, the Vincent siblings cut him off cold. But Charlie, Cassie, nor Victoria, share the true nature of their relationship. Charlie and Cassie reach an armed truce with their mother, while keeping Matthew in the dark. Angered by their snubs, Matthew throws his lot in with Victoria and The Palace. Her underhanded tricks force the owner of a rival saloon out of business. Charlie and Cassie suspect The Golden Spoon is next on her hit list. They hire Petey, a friendly thirteen-year-old, to spy on Victoria so they can counter her next move. Sure enough, as soon as Charlie leaves on a supply run, Victoria wages a wily campaign, offering to help Cassie with the business while undermining her daughter's self-worth. When gold strikes increase along the river, tensions increase as more miners pour into Eagle Bar to claim their share. Misfortune befalls Charlie and, unable to return, he sends word for Cassie to abandon The Golden Spoon and enlist Matthew's help to bring her safely back to civilization. Cassie refuses her brother's edict and remains in Eagle Bar, planning to run the eatery and amass as much gold as she can. A makeshift crew of friends pitch in to help, but as supplies run low, she's faced with the dilemma of accepting her mother's offer to buy in to her business, or leave as Charlie suggested. Matthew faces his own dilemma when Victoria sets a trap for a cardsharp as underhanded as herself. It leads to a vigilante hanging. Matthew comes face to face with the ugly truth of his unwitting part in the poor man's fate by playing into Victoria's scheme to crush another of her rivals. Matthew quits The Palace, but can't escape Victoria's hooks. She uses his guilt to coerce him into one last job: he and his friend, Judd, must erect a figurehead on her palace, as the crown jewel of her business empire. Matthew escapes to the one place in Eagle Bar that still holds a scrap of decency, The Golden Spoon. Hat in hand, he offers to work for Cassie. With her brother's words about trusting Matthew ringing in her ears, Cassie warily accepts his help.Disaster strikes when Judd is killed while working at The Palace. Angry at Victoria, and himself for not being there to help his friend, Matthew lashes out at Cassie, pulls the plug on his life in Eagle Bar, and leaves for San Francisco. Cassie throws herself into her quest for gold, but the boomtown violence escalates, destroys the eatery, and injures her friends. As the embattled crew of The Golden Spoon pack up to leave, Cassie's blindsided by the ultimate betrayal-her cache of gold is stolen by Petey, the boy she befriended and trusted. With a broken heart and empty pockets, Cassie leaves Eagle Bar, poorer than when she arrived. When Matthew returns to Eagle Bar, he finds a mean town run by a gloating Victoria. He settles the score with his former boss and trails Cassie to the lumber camps of Oregon Territory. Under the towering trees, with Cassie at his side, Matthew at last sees the vision of his future in the masts of schooners, the roofs of a town, and the boards of a home"--,Provided by publisher.