White Vengeance

by Susan Edwards

  Mattie, she saw, sat off by herself. She was leaning back on her arms, face tilted up, hair loose and flowing in the breeze. For a moment Renny felt sorry for her sister. Being blind now, there wasn’t much for Mattie to do. She couldn’t even enjoy the beauty of the land, nor could she take a walk, not by herself.

  It was one reason they hadn’t gone back to their Sioux family after the death of their parents. Out here, in the open land, Mattie could not walk alone, tend a fire, or even go off by herself to relieve herself after a long day riding.

  At home, she knew the feel of her house, the distance from house to outhouse. Everything was kept in its place, the yard clean and organized. Mattie didn’t need her eyesight to live each day. But out here, there was nothing familiar but the scent of the air.

  Renny walked over to join her. “I’m back,” she called out softly so she didn’t startle Mattie.

  “I know.” Mattie glanced toward her. She wore a big grin.

  “What are you grinning at?” Renny eyed her suspiciously. When Mattie patted the ground next to her, Renny sat. She shifted her eyes away from Mattie as though afraid her sister could see the guilt of her stolen afternoon reflected in her eyes.

  “Could I not just be happy and pleased to see you?” Mattie was still grinning.

  Renny refused to look at her. She plucked a blade of ripening grass. “Well. Didn’t want you to worry.” She shifted then gnawed on her lower lip. “We were, um, gone for a long time.” She spotted Tyler talking with Reed.

  Remembering what she’d been doing made her flush. Renny slid an irritated glare at Mattie, who still wore a satisfied expression on her face. “What?” Her voice came out higher than she intended.

  Mattie reached over and took Renny’s hand in her own. “I approve of Tyler. Always have.” Her eyes gleamed with amusement.

  Renny scowled. Mattie might be blind, but her eyes still mirrored her thoughts, emotions and humor. Renny thought about pretending not to know what Mattie was talking about but knew that it was pointless. “Don’t tell me that you saw us in your visions, Mattie.”

  Mattie chuckled. “No. Of course not. But I knew you were safe.”

  “Then how—”

  “I just knew.” Mattie smiled mistily as though remembering her own first time with Reed.

  Once again Renny found herself watching Tyler and Reed. A horrible thought entered her mind. “You didn’t tell Reed, did you?” She squeezed her sister’s hand, a bit hard.

  Mattie rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away. “Of course not.”

  Renny’s relief was short-lived.

  “Didn’t have to tell him.”

  “He knows?” Renny groaned and plopped onto her back. She covered her eyes with her hands. “Great. How does he know?”

  She bolted upright. “Don’t tell me he had a vision?” Reed had only ever had one vision that she knew of.

  There was no doubt from the way he and Tyler were acting that Reed knew or suspected. Renny squirmed on the ground.

  Mattie sighed. “Renny, the two of you were gone too long just for one of your silly fights.” She laughed and reached out and touched Renny. Her hand trailed up Renny’s shoulder, past her ear, and skimmed over her hair.

  “Thought so.” She pulled bits of grass from her sister’s hair.

  Renny put her hands to her head and gave another groan. Her braided hair was a mess. She pulled out more bits of grass and leaves. She hadn’t once given her hair a thought.

  Quickly, she undid her braid, finger-combed her hair and braided it again.

  “Well…” Renny decided not to pursue that topic any longer.

  Before Mattie could tease her or make further comments, Renny rushed to tell her sister about the horse and the abandoned campsite.

  “That’s twice I’ve seen that horse.” She leaned forward. “Mattie, he is gorgeous. He’s yellow, a pale yellow with an almost white mane and tail. He’s the sun and the moon in one,” she said with a sigh. “I’d love to catch him.”

  Her chances, she knew, were slim to none because she didn’t have the time to catch him and break him. Too bad, she thought. He’d be worth the work.

  Mattie leaned toward her, her features intent. “You’ve seen this horse twice? Are you sure it’s the same horse?” She pursed her lips. “My visions showed two horses.”

  “It’s the same horse. I’m sure of it. Describe the horses you’ve seen,” Renny demanded, hope rising slowly within her. This horse had to be one of the horses in her sister’s visions. He’d led her and Tyler to the abandoned campsite.

  Mattie closed her eyes. “The one you saw today is one of them. I see light, like the sun and moon,” she said excitedly.

  She frowned. “The other is pale. Maybe white. I’m not sure, as I could barely see it.”

  Renny jumped to her feet. She thought best when she moved about. “Okay, so I’ve seen the yellow horse not once, but twice, and each time he’s pointed me in the right direction. That’s good.” It wasn’t a question. A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. She was on the right track. She had to be.

  It was too much of a coincidence for that animal not to be important. But the second horse. Pale. Maybe white.

  A distant memory flitted around the edges of her mind and shimmered into focus for only a moment. It was a horse. White? No, clear like crystal and bright like the diamonds her aunt had sometimes worn. A fairy-tale horse. But where had she seen it?

  The memory hovered like a tiny hummingbird but refused to stay still and clarify. Renny shook her head and figured it must have been a picture in a book. Something she’d seen and read when they had lived in St. Louis.

  Mattie folded her hands and rested them in her lap. “I know this is of no help to you, but in many ways this second horse doesn’t seem real. More a ghost,” she said softly.

  Renny sat back down. She had too much on her mind to puzzle over something not real. “Well, we’ll wait for it to show itself.” She sat back on her hands and continued to mull things over until Maze stood to fetch the food bundles and called that it was time to eat.

  Renny rose and helped pass out fruit and jerky and some leftover cornmeal bread. They ate gathered together as though the land was their table. But tonight they were all strangely quiet.

  Everyone already knew about the campsite, and that it could belong to someone who’d shot Matthew. Or it could just belong to a trapper or anyone else out traveling the land.

  She just knew it wasn’t Matt’s. It somehow seemed to confirm Mattie’s vision of Matt getting shot. It was a wild, untamed land with wild, untamed men roaming across it.

  Kealan scooted over to Renny. He stared at his meal then set it down as though not hungry. “Will we find Matthew tomorrow?”

  Renny pulled her seven-year-old brother close. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. She wasn’t sure if Kealan understood the significance of the campsite—that whoever it was could be the one who’d shot Matthew.

  Across from her, Daire gave her a hard, steady look. Renny knew Daire understood. He was only two years older than Kealan but his eyes seemed much older.

  Renny was saddened that he’d had to grow up so much faster than any of them. She watched Daire take out a wooden flute from his shirt pocket and put it to his mouth.

  A low, haunting melody flowed from the flute and wound around them. It was sad, yet there was a thread of hope in the notes that seemed to shimmer and hang in the air.

  No one spoke until the last note died away. Then Tyler stood. “We’ll want an early start. I’ll take first watch.”

  Renny stood as well. “I’ll take second,” she said. Since leaving home, she, Reed and Tyler alternated standing watch at night.

  She listened to Reed say he’d take the last shift. Everyone was moving away. Maze had already gone to
bed, taking Caitie with her.

  As Renny turned to go find her blankets, Daire blocked her way. “No,” she said before he had a chance to speak.

  “I want a turn,” he said. He looked fierce. And determined.

  “No,” she said again. Every night he asked and every night she refused.

  Kealan ran up to his brother. “Can’t,” he said, “too young.” He looked quite pleased that there was something that Daire was not yet allowed to do.

  Immediately, Daire began arguing and Kealan started saying if Daire got to, then so did he.

  “Shut up, Kea. You’re just a little boy.” Daire glared at Renny. “I’m not.”

  “I’m nearly as big as you,” Kealan shouted. His fisted hands were on his hips.

  Renny held up her hand. “Stop,” she ordered. “You’ve both been told no.” Ready to order them to bed, she paused when Reed joined them. He cleared his throat. It was a soft sound but both boys heard and immediately subsided.

  Reed glanced at Renny. “Can I have a minute?”

  Frowning, Renny let him lead her a short distance from her bickering brothers. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited.

  “Let Daire sit watch with me, sister.” Reed used the formal way of speaking of her mother’s people. And like her mother, his voice was gentle and respectful.

  The moment Reed had asked for a word, she’d known he was going to give his permission. He was interfering with her authority. That didn’t just make her mad, it also saddened her.

  Once, her word had been law, but Reed was now the head of the house. Neither boy argued with him, not like they argued and rebelled against her.

  Reed met her resentful glare. “Look, I know how hard this is for you, me stepping in like this—”

  Renny felt small-minded and selfish. She held up her hand. “No. It’s your right now.” Surprisingly, she found she meant it.

  Daire was old enough to sit with Reed. Had their father been alive, he wouldn’t have hesitated to agree. Renny took a deep breath. It hurt to know that neither of her brothers would ever be able to share that kind of bonding with the man who’d sired them.

  If she gave in, changed her mind, the time Daire spent with Reed would provide valuable time for the two men—one on the cusp of becoming a man, the other tossed into the role of father.

  No matter her own fears and insecurities, the happiness of her siblings came first.

  Reed held out his hands. “You are their sister. I just thought, well, never mind,” he said. “I didn’t have the right to step in like this.”

  Renny grabbed him by the arm before he walked off. “Wait, Reed. You are not just their brother by marriage, you are their father now. They look up to you,” she said, without any trace of bitterness.

  For the first time in a long time, Renny could admit that. Reed had a part in their lives and it was time she allowed him that right.

  “As their father, you have the right to make decisions like this.”

  Reed smiled down at her. “You will always be very important to them, Renny.” Reed put his hand on her shoulder. He didn’t argue, which meant he was right, and she was wrong for trying to hold on to them.

  Renny sighed. Life was so damn hard these days.

  “Renny, thank you. Daire needs to be doing something while we search for Matthew. He needs to be a part of it, not a bystander.” He grimaced. “Kealan—”

  “Needs to do it because Daire is doing it.” Renny laughed softly as she said it. She didn’t want to let go but supposed she had to.

  Reed put his arm around her and walked back to the two boys, who were pointedly ignoring each other.

  Reed addressed Daire. “You will stand watch with me.”

  Daire nodded back seriously. “Then I will take myself off to bed.”

  Kealan stomped his foot. Renny, ready for his protest, held up her hand and waited for him to acknowledge her command for quiet. Then she nodded seriously to him. “You will sit with me. I have second watch so you’d better get to bed now.”

  Kealan gave a happy whoop and ran off to get his bedding. He set his roll beside his brother, talking excitedly to Daire. Reed walked over and ordered him to get to sleep. Kealan immediately buried his head beneath the covers.

  Tyler came up behind her. “Nicely done,” he said.

  Renny shrugged her shoulders and shoved her hands down into her pockets. “Well, I suppose they are old enough.”

  Tyler leaned forward and kissed her quickly. “Yeah, they are, but I was referring to the way you and Reed worked this out.”

  Tyler had gotten out his smoking pipe and lit it. The woodsy scent drifted between them.

  “Reed feels bad taking your place.” Tyler let out several rings of smoke.

  Renny watched them float on the breeze, the circles widening, distorting, then fading. Sighing, she let him put his arm around her for a moment. She needed his touch, his warmth, even if it meant letting everyone know that she was developing feelings for this man.

  “Guess I have to let go.” It was a scary, and hard, thing for her to do.

  “Then hold on to me. I won’t let you fall.”

  Renny rolled her eyes. “Better not, Troll, or I’ll be doing some foot stomping.” She shrugged away and went to her bed. She might as well try and get a couple hours of sleep.

  Renny bedded down with everyone else. She tried to clear her mind of everything. She felt like she had a beehive of activity in her mind. Memories of her afternoon with Tyler, fear for Matthew, and even her own terror of failing, swirled through her head. So much going on, she figured she’d be awake all night.

  High above, gleaming jewels of light welcomed the slowly rising moon. The light of the stars and moon turned everything a silvery white.

  She listened to the rustle of blankets as her family and loved ones settled for the night. On the other side of the doused fire, she heard Mattie and Reed whispering. She imagined that Kealan would fall asleep fairly quickly despite his excitement.

  Daire, on the other hand, would probably lie awake for a long time, thinking and worrying over what tomorrow would bring—as would she.

  She was too restless to sleep—her body wound tight, her nerves on edge. So many worries crowded into her mind: Matt and Brenna. What had happened to them? Were they alive? What would she find in the morning?

  She dreaded finding a body. Or two bodies. She only really knew that Matthew was still alive. No matter what she thought of Brenna, or what the girl had put them through, she didn’t wish her harm.

  That brought her around to what she would do if they couldn’t find a trail to follow. The camp was not fresh, it was many days old, and the tracks could have been erased. She and Tyler had not explored the area for fear of treading on any visible tracks in the growing dusk.

  Renny fidgeted. She resented having to waste these precious hours sleeping and doing nothing. Yet there was nothing to be done until sunrise. She turned onto her side.

  Unfortunately, patience was not her strong suit. She needed action, had to do something. Minutes later she flipped over onto her stomach. A stone beneath her blanket dug into her ribs. Moving, she removed it, then flopped onto her back.

  Staring up into the star-studded sky, she tried thinking of something else. Tried to think of anything but Matthew or what she might or might not find come morning.

  She stared up into the heavens. One of her favorite things to do when she slept outdoors was to play connect the stars. With her eyes, she’d draw invisible lines and create shapes and pictures. As a child, she’d always fallen asleep quickly while connecting the stars.

  She tried it now. Her gaze traveled over the night sky but she couldn’t concentrate on the task she’d once enjoyed. Her head fell to the side and she saw the dark shadow of Tyler sitting at the
edge of camp.

  Closing her eyes, she inhaled the aroma of his pipe. It so reminded her of him, the combination of tobacco, man and the sweat of the day.

  And that once-unfamiliar scent that hung in the air after lovemaking. It had clung to them both, combining their individual scents into one unique to them.

  Her eyes flew open and she scowled up at the heavens. She didn’t have time for distractions, and there was no doubt that Tyler was the biggest distraction of her life.

  She needed to concentrate on Matthew, remember that Matthew needed her and she needed her mind sharp. Not muddled with mushy thoughts and wild yearnings.

  She tried once more to empty her mind but it just kept filling with thoughts, images and those heady sensations. The way they’d kissed, touched and joined as one, like a man and wife.

  Renny drew in a sharp breath. She was a woman now. The thought stunned her. Up to that point, she’d just thought of how it had all felt. She hadn’t looked deeper at what had happened between them.

  She’d given herself to Tyler. Totally. Completely, body, mind and spirit. How had this happened? How could she have done that? She hated the man, cursed his presence in her life.

  Trowbrydge Tyler Thompkins Tilly.

  Sheriff Troll, her enemy, a sharp, irritating thorn in her side and the man she had a feeling she was going to fall in love with.

  Maybe already had.

  Renny groaned softly. She wasn’t sure if she liked this or not. Much easier to just hate and resent him. A lot less complicated.

  But that option had been taken from her along with her maidenhead. After today, she’d never be able to hate him. And she could never blame him for having her siblings’ interests at heart. All that he’d done, he’d done out of concern. He cared. Maybe even loved them all as a family loved each other.

  Tyler might have been wrong, but his heart had been in the right place. Renny sighed. Maybe her heart had already been claimed and she had been too busy protecting what was hers to notice.