He was a Jensen, after all.
Now, as Luke gently let go of Doc’s hand, he drew in a deep, ragged breath. He had lived a hard life and generally kept his emotions well in check, unless he was mad as hell at some outlaw he was going after. What he was feeling now, though, was something he hadn’t experienced in . . . well, ever!
He rose to his feet and looked down at Ace and Chance as they sat with Doc’s body. Smoke came up and rested a hand on Luke’s shoulder.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Luke rasped. “All those varmints accounted for?”
“They are. I’m not sure what they were after, but I reckon Ace can explain all that . . . later.”
Matt moved up on Luke’s other side, as if sensing that his brother might need him right now, and asked quietly, “What was that fella talking about, Luke? It sounded like you and him maybe knew something that nobody else does.”
Slowly, Luke nodded. “That’s true,” he said. “We were the only two people in the world who did know. And now there’s just me.”
That was right, he realized. He was the only one who knew the truth. He could make up some lie, and if he did, he could still ride away. He could turn his back on the responsibilities he’d never known he had. It wasn’t his fault, after all. Lettie had never told him. Hell, even she hadn’t known when he rode off to war. But she’d known later, and she could have written to him before the boys were born. She hadn’t, and even though they were good young men, he didn’t owe them a damned thing....
But even as those thoughts went through his head, he knew better. The bond was there, and it could never be broken. He should have figured it out before now, he told himself. He should have sensed it.
So there was only one thing left to do. As they looked up at him, he said, “Ace . . . Chance . . . I’m your father.”
CHAPTER 44
Big Rock
Sally Jensen was annoyed. It seemed like every Christmas, something happened to ruin everyone’s plans for a joyous holiday.
More than just being annoyed, though, she was downright mad. Mad that somebody would shoot Chance and kidnap Ace and Doc. Even though she knew it was better that she hadn’t gone along with the men who had pursued the kidnappers, a part of her wished she could buckle on a gunbelt and throw her leg over a saddle like Smoke, Luke, and the others. She had fought evildoers side by side with Smoke in the past and was always willing to do so again.
Then Matt had shown up, and of course, he and Chance had charged off to join the chase. That was frustrating, too.
By mutual agreement, the social was cut short, and everyone who was left in town adjourned to the Baptist church for the Christmas Eve service. With the town in a state of uproar, that didn’t last long, either. Several of the local ministers each gave a short message, the combined congregations sang a hymn, and then the benediction dismissed everyone into the night.
One thing Sally noticed about the service surprised her. Sebastian and Mariana Aguilar weren’t there, and Mariana had specifically stated that they would be in attendance. Clearly, the events of the evening had changed their minds.
As they left the church and went back into the chilly night, Cal came up to Sally and asked, “Should we wait here in town for the others to get back or head for the Sugarloaf, Miss Sally?”
“Do you think Smoke will come straight back here?” she asked.
“Hard to say. The trail those varmints left led northwest out of town. There’s no way of knowing how long it’ll take the fellas to catch up to those no-good skunks, whoever they were. When it’s all said and done, it might be closer and quicker for ’em to head back to the ranch instead. They’d do that for sure if—” Cal stopped short.
Sally asked the young cowboy, “If what, Cal? If someone was hurt and needed medical attention?”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s what I was thinking, all right. Smoke would go there if somebody needed patchin’ up, and then would send a rider to town to fetch the doc.”
“Then we’ll go back to the Sugarloaf,” Sally said. “We can’t know for sure, but I believe the odds are that’s where Smoke will go.”
“I’ll get everybody rounded up, then,” Cal replied with a nod.
Sally had left Adelaide to watch the three children while she talked to Cal. When she rejoined them, Bodie looked up at her and said, “We’re going to wait here for Mr. Jensen, aren’t we? Mr. Luke Jensen, I mean.”
“No, we’re going back to the ranch,” Sally told him. “Cal and I believe there’s a better chance Luke and Smoke and the others will return there instead of coming here to town.”
Hannah said, “But if we’re not here, won’t they get lost?”
Sally smiled and said, “No, dear. Don’t ever worry about those men getting lost. I don’t think it’s possible. If they do come here and don’t find us, they’ll just ride on out to the ranch. We’ll all be together again soon, I promise you that.”
“Good,” Hannah said firmly. “Everybody who loves each other should be together on Christmas.”
Sally looked at Adelaide and said quietly, “Out of the mouths of babes . . .”
Adelaide nodded solemnly.
The group left Big Rock a short time later. Sally drove the buggy that she and Smoke had brought into town, and Adelaide rode with her. The three youngsters were on the buckboard with Cal, and another of the Sugarloaf hands drove the buggy Preacher and Adelaide had used, with his mount tied on behind. The other cowboys were on horseback.
No more snow had fallen on Christmas Eve, but the temperature had never risen above freezing, so the world was white and peaceful around them. As long as Smoke and the others brought Ace and Doc back with them and settled whatever trouble had caused the fight at the town hall, the holiday could still be salvaged, Sally told herself. There was still Christmas Day, and as Hannah had said, if they were all together . . .
The ranch headquarters came into view. Sally couldn’t see any lights up ahead, but she knew where they were by the way the mountains loomed darkly against the sky on both sides of the valley. This was her home, and while she might not know every foot of the range the way Smoke did, she would never be lost here. Skillfully, she brought the buggy to a stop in front of the house.
She was about to step down from the vehicle when the front door opened and a man stepped out. Sally frowned in surprise and puzzlement. The few cowboys who had been left to watch the ranch should have been in the bunkhouse. It wasn’t as if the ranch house was forbidden to them or anything like that, but they shouldn’t have had any reason to go in there tonight.
“What’s wrong?” she called to the man. She still held the buggy’s reins.
He moved closer to the edge of the porch and the steps leading up to it, out from under the shadows of the porch roof, and Sally caught her breath as she recognized the slender, deceptively casual figure.
“Not a damn thing wrong, Miz Jensen,” drawled Travis Hinton as he tilted up the gun in his hand.
More men, who had been lurking in the gloom along the porch, stepped forward. The sound of gun hammers being pulled back filled the cold, quiet air. Some of the hands exclaimed in surprise. Sally knew they were probably reaching for their guns.
Winchester levers grated behind the riders. More gunmen emerged from the barn and leveled rifles at the punchers on horseback.
Hinton said, “You’d best order your men to take out their guns nice and easy and throw ’em on the ground, or those young’uns are gonna see some things they hadn’t ought to see, ma’am. And with all the lead that’s gonna be flyin’ around, there’s no telling where some of it might land.”
Sally’s voice was colder than the snow on the ground as she said, “You’d threaten innocent children?”
“No. That’s why I said you’d better be reasonable.”
“Miss Sally.” Cal’s voice was low and angry. “You know what Smoke’d want you to do.”
“I certainly do,” Sally said. Her left hand st
ill gripped the reins attached to the buggy horse. Her right slid down into the seat cushions and closed around the butt of the little pistol hidden there. She was an expert shot, and she believed she could lift the gun and fire before Travis Hinton realized what she was doing. The gun was a small caliber, but big enough so a head shot would put him down. As soon as she pulled the trigger, she would whip the horse and make it lunge ahead, away from the pitched battle that was sure to erupt behind her. She knew that Cal would protect the children to the best of his ability, even if it meant throwing himself over them and protecting them with his own body....
But before any of that violence could break out, another figure stepped through the doorway onto the porch, and Mariana Aguilar said in an urgent voice, “Please, Sally, do as Señor Hinton asks. If you do, I promise that no one will be hurt. Not Señora DuBois, not those three poor children, and not you or your friends. Por favor, Sally, just let us have what is ours.”
“It’s not yours,” Sally replied through clenched teeth. “The Sugarloaf is mine and Smoke’s! It always will be, as long as we live.”
“Then, I am very sorry to say . . . you will not live. My husband will not be denied.”
“He’s a thief! Let him come out here and make his demands himself!”
Aguilar’s knife-edged voice said, “I am already here, Señora Jensen.” He stepped up beside Mariana and aimed the gun in his hand at Adelaide’s head. “And unless you want that old lady’s brains splattered all over you, you will do as you are told.”
“You’re not an aristocrat,” Sally said. “You’re nothing but a bandit!”
Aguilar shrugged and said, “Either way, I get what I want.” He clicked back the gun’s hammer. “Now choose.”
She couldn’t risk it, Sally realized. Too many innocent lives were at stake. Adelaide. Bodie, Hannah, and Teddy. And Cal and the other cowboys, those rough-edged but loyal, courageous, honorable young men.
She took a deep breath, blew it out, and said, “Cal, tell the men to throw down their guns.”
“But, Miss Sally—”
“Just do it, Cal. This isn’t over yet.”
She knew he would understand what she meant. Aguilar and his gun-wolves might have the upper hand right now.
But Smoke, Luke, Matt, Preacher, Chance, and hopefully Ace and Doc were still out there somewhere, as were Pearlie and Monte Carson.
No, Christmas Eve was far from over....
* * *
It was a solemn group that rode through the night toward the Sugarloaf. Doc’s body was draped over the back of a horse led by Ace. Chance rode to his brother’s right, and Luke was to the left. They didn’t say much. Ace and Chance were still too stunned by everything that had happened tonight, from the raid on the town social to Doc’s tragic death to the revelation that Luke was their father.
Smoke, Matt, and Preacher were in the lead of the little procession. Smoke thought enough time had passed that Sally and the others would have returned to the Sugarloaf by now, so he was heading for the ranch headquarters rather than Big Rock. Monte Carson was the only one who had angled back toward the settlement.
Ace had explained who the outlaws were and why they had kidnapped him and Doc. He had overheard enough of the conversation between Doc and Thackery while he was still pretending to be unconscious that he had a pretty good understanding of the situation. As happened all too often, greed had brought death and destruction to what should have been a festive occasion.
The bodies of the outlaws had been left where they fell. Monte Carson and Tom Nunnley would bring Nunnley’s wagon back in the morning to recover them—although at this time of year, there was a chance that wolves would have been at them by then. Nobody was going to be too upset if such a grisly fate befell a gang of outlaws and killers.
Preacher said quietly, “You reckon ol’ Doc was tellin’ the truth about Luke bein’ those boys’ pa?” They were far enough ahead of Ace and Chance that it was unlikely the brothers would overhear.
“I can’t think of any reason he’d lie about it,” Smoke replied. “I remember Lettie Margrabe teaching school there in Missouri, where we grew up. I was just a kid, but I know that she and Luke were fond of each other. I guess it was more serious than I was aware of at the time.”
Matt said, “So you’ve run into those boys several times in the past, knew their last name was Jensen, but had no idea they were actually related?”
“You met them, too, and didn’t suspect,” said Smoke. “There are a lot of Jensens in the world. The whole thing is a mite far-fetched, maybe . . . but life is far-fetched a lot of the time.”
“Well, I can’t argue about that. If fate hadn’t taken a hand, I never would have wound up being a Jensen.” Matt shrugged. “So now there are two more of us. Can’t ever have too many Jensens, I reckon.”
They rode on, and as they approached the ranch headquarters, Pearlie urged his horse up alongside Smoke’s and said, “I’m gonna ride on ahead and let folks know we’re comin’ in. Cal and the other boys are probably a mite on edge after what happened in town tonight. They ain’t trigger-happy sorts, mind you, but it never hurts to be careful.”
“I was about to suggest the same thing,” Smoke told the foreman.
“You want me to tell Miss Sally about Doc?”
Smoke shook his head and said, “No, I’ll do that when we get there. But you could let her know that we don’t have any wounded men who’ll need tending to.”
“You bet.” Pearlie trotted off into the darkness, ahead of the others.
Luke moved up to join Smoke, Matt, and Preacher. He said, “I don’t know if those two boys are ever going to come around. Both of them act like they’re mad at me.”
“They’re young,” Smoke said. “Give them some time to get used to what they found out tonight.”
“Yeah, I know,” Luke said with a sigh. “But I don’t suppose I can blame them for being upset that they didn’t know the truth.”
“Well, you couldn’t have told them, because you didn’t know, either,” Smoke said. “I imagine they just don’t know what to think right—”
He stopped short as gunfire roared in the night, somewhere not far away.
CHAPTER 45
Smoke knew instantly that the shots came from the vicinity of the ranch headquarters. The blasts stopped abruptly, and that was even more ominous.
“What the hell!” Preacher exclaimed.
Smoke reined up and turned in the saddle to call to Ace and Chance, “You boys stay here with Doc.”
“We can’t do that, Smoke,” Ace said.
“That’s right,” said Chance. “We’re Jensens. If there’s trouble, we’re coming along to help.”
“Listen, you two—” Luke began.
“You can stop right there,” Ace said. “You may be our father—Doc wouldn’t have lied about something like that—but that doesn’t mean you can give us orders.”
“Yeah, we’re all a little past that,” Chance added.
Luke glared at them for a second, then jerked his head to indicate that they should follow.
“Come on, then,” he said. “Let’s find out what that shooting was about.”
The six of them galloped through the darkness, Smoke leading the way because he knew the terrain better than any of the rest of them and didn’t need daylight to know where he was going. Ace still held the reins of the horse carrying Doc’s body. They weren’t about to leave him behind for the wolves.
As they came closer, Smoke slowed and finally stopped. The others did likewise. Preacher said, “You’re thinkin’ we’d best not go a-chargin’ in there without knowin’ what’s goin’ on, ain’t you?”
“I think that occurred to all of us,” Smoke said. “The rest of you, split up and close in quietly. I’m going to ride in, right out in the open.”
Matt said, “You’ll be putting a big target on yourself if you do that, Smoke.”
“Maybe, but that’s the quickest way to find out what’s going
on. And I’ll wait a few minutes to give the rest of you time to get into position. Boys, if there’s no one around the smokehouse, you can put Doc’s body there. It’ll be safe from any animals.”
Luke said, “Smoke, you sound like you have a hunch what that shooting was all about.”
“I do. I think Aguilar’s decided not to wait and let the lawyers hash it out. He probably figured with all of us chasing after those owlhoots, now was the best time to move in with Hinton and the rest of that gun crew and take over the ranch.”
“Wait a minute,” Matt said. “Aguilar?”
“Yeah, with everything else that’s been happening, there hasn’t been time to tell you about that. Some Mexican aristocrat, Don Juan Sebastian Aguilar, says an old Spanish land grant gives him ownership of the whole valley.”
“Sebastian Aguilar!” Matt spit out the name almost like it was a curse. “He’s not any sort of aristocrat, Smoke. He’s nothing but a damn bandit. The Rurales ran him out of Mexico, and then lately I was helping the Texas Rangers track him down in the Rio Grande valley. He and his gang hit some banks down there and grabbed considerable loot, but then the Rangers caught up to them and wiped out the rest of the bandidos. Aguilar got away with the money, though, along with some señorita he picked up in a border cantina.”
Smoke’s jaw clenched. He asked, “Did you and Aguilar ever come face-to-face?”
“We sure did. We got a good look at each other—over gunsights and through clouds of powder smoke!”
“Then that’s what happened,” said Smoke with a curt nod. “Aguilar saw you come into the town hall tonight, recognized you, and slipped out before you spotted him. He knew he couldn’t keep up that masquerade as Don Sebastian anymore, so he got his men and rode out to take over the ranch and fort up.” Smoke’s heart twisted a little in his chest. “He’s liable to have Sally as a hostage.”
“And Adelaide,” Preacher said.
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