Inside, Amanda got out of the chair, walked into the bedroom and stared at the crucifix on her dresser. She wiped at more tears and lit the candles on either side of the cross. Then she picked up her rosary beads. She dropped to her knees.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, help me in my hour of need,” she whispered. “Forgive me for allowing another man to hold me, even in friendship. I pray that he understands, and that Moss will understand when I tell him. I just needed…to feel a man’s strength.” The tears started to come again. “Oh, please, Lord Jesus, I pray to You through the Blessed Virgin and through all the saints. Please, please protect my husband. There is something wrong. I feel it in my heart. And I…” She sniffed and wiped at tears. “I have to rely on You to help him. For I cannot be there. Whatever it is, Sweet Jesus, help him. Help him and bring him back to me. Only You know how much I love and need Moses Tucker. You brought us together, Lord Jesus. Don’t take him from me now! Not now, when I’m so certain Moss Tucker’s seed has taken root in my womb. Blessed Jesus, Son of God, let it be true that Moss’s child is finally forming inside of me. And if it’s so, then let him live to see his son or daughter. Please, Jesus! Keep him safe from harm. I don’t want to have a baby all alone. And I want my child to know his wonderful father!”
She choked on more sobs, looking down at her stomach and running a hand over it. Perhaps it was foolish to have so much hope. It was too soon. When she and Moss had made love before he left, it had been over two weeks since her last period. And now three more weeks had passed. That made close to six all together. She had never gone that long. Yet she was so afraid to believe it could be true. Every time she undressed she was deathly afraid she would see the first signs of blood. Oh, how she wanted a child! But how awful it would be if it finally happened, only to have Moss die and never see his child!
The door opened and she heard men’s voices. She made the sign of the cross and rose, clinging to the beads as Buck and three other men came into the bedroom after announcing their entrance and poured large buckets of water into the wooden bathtub.
“There you go, ma’am,” Buck told her with a grin as the other three left. “That ought to be enough. You sure you don’t want me to get Wanda?”
Their eyes met and Amanda blushed and looked away.
“No. I’d just as soon be alone anyway,” she replied, setting the beads on the dresser. Buck looked at the beads and back to her.
“You okay now?” he asked.
“Yes. I—I guess I have to leave things up to the Lord, don’t I?”
“Well, ma’am, I expect so. But you just remember all them men that are with Moss. They’ll take good care of him, ma’am.”
She nodded. “Buck, about the other thing—”
“Not another word, now, Mrs. Tucker. I told you it was all right. I wouldn’t say nothin’ for the world.”
“I know,” she replied quietly. “It’s just that—I’m just not myself. And I—I think I might be pregnant.” She remained turned away, reddening even more. “I thought you should know, so you’d understand why my emotions seem so…mixed.”
Buck stood there with his hands on his hips. “Well, ma’am, that’s—that’s right good news. I mean, that’s what you’ve been wantin’, ain’t it? You should be happy.”
“I am. At least I would be happier if Moss were here. I don’t know what I’d do if…” She swallowed. “Especially now.”
“Well, ma’am, I expect you’d just keep right on going, ’cause you’d be carrying Moss’s kid, and that baby would need its ma.”
She turned finally to look up at him. “Thank you. You’re a kind man, Buck. And thoughtful. Thank you for the water.”
He moved his eyes away from hers, feeling uncomfortable standing alone with her in the bedroom, trying to avoid looking at the bed and envisioning her lying there and doing what needs to be done to get pregnant.
“Sure enough, ma’am. I, uh, I’ll be leavin’ now. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. I’ll be fine. A prayer and—and a hug from a friend, that’s all I needed. Now a bath will get me right back to normal.”
“Sure it will,” he replied with a grin. “If you don’t mind, Mrs. Tucker, I’ll be, uh, goin’ into town tonight. And it bein’ so far and all, well, I don’t expect I’ll come back till tomorrow.”
This time they both reddened and then grinned. Amanda knew full well what he meant.
“You’re free to do as you please,” she told him.
His eyes took a quick inventory of Amanda Tucker.
“Well, ma’am, I—I wouldn’t exactly say that neither.”
It took a moment for her to realize what he meant, and she reddened even more, and tears of embarrassment coming to her eyes.
“No offense meant, ma’am. God forgive that I should offend a woman like you. I only meant—well, I think Moss Tucker’s got the best wife a man could ask for. You’re quite a woman, Mrs. Tucker. And I’m proud to know you, to be your friend. Maybe you’ll include me in some of them prayers. I wouldn’t mind findin’ somethin’ like you for myself.”
She smiled shyly and finally met his eyes again.
“Well, thank you for the compliment. I will pray for you, Buck.”
“Well, I consider that the next best thing to havin’ a saint pray for me,” he said with a grin. “Say, is it true? Was you really almost a nun once?”
“Yes,” she replied, dropping her eyes. “But then I—I met Moss Tucker.” She blushed again and smiled. “My plans got changed.”
Buck laughed lightly. “Can’t imagine why,” he told her with a wink. Now she laughed with him. “There, you see?” he told her. “You can still laugh. Everything’s gonna be okay, ma’am. Ole Moss will be ridin’ in here any day now.”
“I hope you’re right, Buck.”
“I know I am. I’ll be seein’ you, ma’am. There’s plenty of men around to keep watch for the night.”
“Fine. Thank you.”
He walked to the bedroom door and hesitated a moment.
“Ma’am, you, uh, you’re stronger than you think. I mean, with your kind of faith, I expect you’re stronger even than most of us men. You remember that, no matter what happens.”
“I’ll try to, Buck.”
He nodded and quickly left. Amanda closed and bolted the door, aching to feel Moss’s body next to hers, needing to hold and comfort him and be held and comforted in return, trying to remember the taste of his lips and picturing the glory of taking him inside of herself. How wonderful to love a man and be loved. There was a time, after her rape, when she had not thought that could be possible for her. But Moses Tucker had shown her differently. She undressed, lowering her naked body into the blessedly cool water, and wondered how long it would be before Moses Tucker would see her this way again, touch her in secret places, and whisper her name in the night.
The loud explosion startled Moss from unconsciousness. He lay sprawled on the cot, his face almost unrecognizable from the beating, his ribs and groin screaming with pain. Yet none of it equaled the pain in his right arm. There was another explosion, and his body jerked. He moaned, the room spinning around him. He could hear running and screaming. But his mind could not comprehend what was happening. He tried to rise, but nothing worked, and a horrid, black pain shot through his arm.
And then he remembered the words: “We ought to cut off his other arm! His other arm! His other arm!” His eyes popped open, but everything was gray.
“Noooo!” he found himself screaming into nothingness. “My God! My God!” Again he tried to rise. The pain! So much like the pain he had had in his left arm before. Was it gone? Was he now a horrid monster without arms? Was he to go home to Amanda that way?
He heard deep, sorrowful moans in the room. Were they his own? There were more explosions around him, more shouting. Now he heard a crashing sound around him. What was happening? He smelled dust—a choking dust.
Pappy and Sooner climbed through the rubble; they had tied ropes to th
e jail cell window and pulled it out, causing a good deal of the wall to also fall.
“Moss!” Pappy gasped. “What the hell have they—” He stopped short and stared at the half severed arm. “Oh, my God! My God! God, no!” He looked over at Sooner, who had tears in his eyes. “Ain’t nothin’ to do but get him the hell out of here. We can’t help him till we get him back to the E.G.” Pappy’s voice was choked and strained. They had waited too long. They had failed Moses Tucker. If not for the fact that Moss needed help, Pappy would have shot himself that very moment.
Moss felt someone picking him up. There was gunfire seemingly everywhere, along with screams and shouts. The pain shot through his arm again.
“Mandy! Mandy!” he screamed out. “Don’t let ’em cut it off! Help me, Mandy! My arm! My arm!”
“It’s gonna be okay this time, Moss,” a man’s voice was telling him. “We’re gonna save it this time! We’re gonna save it! I promise you!”
“Mandy!” he groaned. How he longed to hear her soft voice, to feel her lying next to him. If she could only touch him perhaps it would heal him.
His whole body screamed in agonizing pain as he felt himself being slung over a saddle.
“I don’t know no other way to do this,” he heard a voice saying. “I didn’t expect him to be in this condition. Goddamn, all mighty, they beat him half to death! Ralph Landers is gonna pay for this! He’s gonna die slow! He’s gonna suffer worse than anybody suffered in his life!”
“We’d all like a piece of him,” another voice replied.
“And you’ll all get a piece: we’ll tie him down and each take turns carvin’ off a piece of flesh!” came the reply. “And if Moss loses this arm, we’ll cut off his arms—both of them, and maybe his balls too! That man-lovin’ son of a bitch!”
“Come on, Pappy, let’s get the hell out of here! The dynamite has done its job. Everybody’s busy tryin’ to put out the fires. This is our chance to get away before they all realize what’s goin’ on. Let’s move!”
Moss felt a terrible jostling, and the blessed unconsciousness surrounded him again.
Pappy and Sooner rode hard out of town, while the rest of the Tucker men kept Landers’s men busy in and around the Golden Spur, where they had started to run out when the commotion started. The three men who had been guarding the jail were already dead, and the town hall and the back side of the Golden Spur were blown to bits. Pappy and Sooner had torn out the cell wall and hauled Moss away; the other Tucker men now sat in strategic places, raising long-barreled rifles that flashed in the sun as they took careful aim and kept more men from riding out after Pappy and Sooner.
This was a chance for the small group of hard, lonely men to get some revenge for losing one of their own. Hank Stemm’s fresh grave was still in their minds, let alone the fact that Moss had been beaten and jailed. Ralph Landers had totally underestimated the capacity of the Tucker men, not realizing their awesome need for vengeance once they were riled. It brought out a hard meanness difficult to equal, and it gave them the edge they needed. The Landers men were not so emotionally involved as the Tucker men. They were simply men hired to do a job; men who really didn’t care one way or another how things turned out. And so they didn’t have the spunky fight in them that the Tucker men had.
The firing continued, the buildings blazed, and the local citizens huddled out of range. It seemed an all-out war had broken loose, as guns boomed around them and wounded men cried out. Wood chips, dust, and rocks flew while horses side-stepped stray shots, whinnying and rearing. The entire town was in turmoil, and Slim Taggart grinned, looking across the rooftop at Darrell Hicks.
“That ought to keep them hoppin’ for a while!” he shouted. “I ain’t had this much fun since that great big posse come after us up in Montana after we robbed that bank! Remember?”
“You bet your ass I do!” Hicks replied with a wide grin. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
He waved his hat, signaling the others. The Landers men had pulled back now, hoping Tucker’s men would leave so they could get out on the streets and take care of their wounded. The citizens also hoped it would end soon, so they could try to put out the fires before the whole town burned down.
Ralph Landers huddled with Miles Randall in a stable outside the Golden Spur, watching the saloon burn.
“My papers!” Landers groaned, barely able to move his lips when he spoke. His face was severely swollen from Moss’s kicks. His nose was crooked and ugly, and his mouth ached fiercely. He looked hideous, with two and a half teeth missing in front and lips puffed up three times their normal size. How he hated Moss Tucker! He’d waited too long. He should have heated up the crowd faster and had Moss hanged right away. Now his men had him back. And the only way to end the fighting would be to go out and attack the E.G. But he’d lost a lot of men today, and would doubtless lose more. The Tucker men were a heavy match, and he knew some of his men would give up the fight, not willing to die for land that was not even their own. “I’ll…kill him…myself!” Landers muttered.
“Give it up, Ralph!” Randall replied, almost in tears. “It’s not worth it! Let her have the damned place! He’ll kill us! He’ll kill us both!”
“Give it a couple of days. He’ll die from the beating and from the arm. Then his men will just go home.”
“But, what if—what if he doesn’t die!” Randall shrieked, shivering from fear. “You don’t know what he’s capable of!”
“He’s not capable of anything now!” Landers hissed, despising Moss with a passion for what the man had done to his once-handsome face. “I tell you the man is going to die. And at the least, he’ll lose that other arm! What’s he going to do then!” He laughed in spite of his pain. “He’ll be a broken, useless man! I’d like to see the look on Etta’s face—and his own wife’s face—when they see him walking around with no arms at all! When I walked in that jail cell earlier this morning and saw the way it hung there, it just warmed my heart!”
“Listen, Ralph. The shooting—it—it stopped,” Miles spoke up.
“Good. It’s over. Let’s go check the damage.”
They both got up, picking straw from their suits. They stepped out of the stable into the sunlight. The Golden Spur was completely engulfed in flames now. They stood there watching it burn, as someone approached them through the alley. Ralph Landers began to pale when he realized it was Lloyd Duncan. Had the man just been a spy after all? Was he coming now to shoot them down? Landers pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at the man.
“Did you have something to do with this?” Landers asked the man. Duncan’s eyes opened in surprise.
“Hell, no, Mr. Landers! I told you, I’m on your side. Don’t you remember? I was one of the men who helped kick the hell out of Moses Tucker last night. And I’m the one who suggested cuttin’ off the other arm.”
Landers eased the gun back into his vest. “Oh, I—well, I was in pretty bad shape myself. I don’t remember much.”
“I, uh, came to see if you was all right,” Duncan told the man, studying the horribly beaten face. “And, uh, to tell you an idea I have.”
“For what?”
“For gettin’ rid of Moss Tucker. It would make things real simple, Mr. Landers, if you could just get the man to leave. It’s obvious most of us are no match for his men when it comes to usin’ guns.”
“I already tried to get rid of him the easy way. I offered him money—lots of it. He wouldn’t take it.”
“I ain’t talkin’ about money, Mr. Landers.”
“What other way is there to get rid of him?”
Duncan grinned. “He’s got a woman back in Utah. He’s right fond of her, too.”
The two men studied each other, and then light appeared in Landers’s eyes.
“Duncan, if my face wasn’t so sore, I’d be grinning and laughing right now. Why in hell didn’t I think of that!”
“Well, sometimes it takes more than one head to figure somethin’ out,” Duncan replied. “Ol
e Tucker, he’s right proud and protective of that woman. I seen them together when I went down there with Etta, and he’d go to hell and back for his wife. You can bank on it. I figure if he finds out somebody’s gone down there to, uh, harm her maybe he’d hightail it out of Wyoming so fast you wouldn’t see him for dust. Then you could just move in on the E.G., arrange to have Etta quietly shipped off, and that would be the end of it.”
“It sounds so easy—maybe too easy. And what’s in it for you, Duncan?”
“Just Etta. I’ve got a fondness for your wife, Landers. I want five thousand dollars for the job, and I want Etta kidnaped and shipped up to Canada. Hide her in a cattle car or something. I have a cabin up in Canada where I go to hunt sometimes. I was born there. I want some of your men to hold her till I get there. Then I’ll just tie her down and do what I want with her. Once she realizes she’s got nothin’ left—no money, no friends—she’ll come around.”
“You’re quite a devious man, Mr. Duncan. I suppose you realize that you’d have Moses Tucker after you, if he lives.”
“How’s he gonna find me? I’ll grab his wife and take her down to a whorehouse I know down in Tucson where they drug pretty young girls and turn them into prostitutes. I’ll leave her there. By the time Tucker recovers from this beating—if he does—then gets all the way down there to her, I’ll be long gone back to Canada, and only you and couple other men would know where I was. Tucker don’t even know all your men. So how’s he ever gonna trace me? I expect he’d probably go on down to Mexico lookin’ for me, never thinkin’ I’d head back north. I’ll leave today. It takes about eight days to get there. Give me at least four or five before you approach Tucker. Then just let him know what’s happened. Him and his men will ride like hell to try and catch up with me.”
“Do you really think it can work?”
Lawless Love Page 38