by Tony Masero
‘And your ma?’
‘She died five years back when I was a thirteen year old.’
‘So you’ve been house mother ever since.’
‘I guess, pa sorely missed her when she passed. I think that’s why he took on the role as sheriff, seemed to be a way to occupy himself and get away from the memory for a while.’
‘They have much call on the law around here?’
‘No, not really. Maybe some fool who drinks too much down at the saloon and lets off steam with a six shot pistol or some ass passing through causes a hubbub and gets in a fight but nothing real serious. You’ve been the worst thing that’s happened here in a long while.’
Diehard went quiet, his dark thoughts causing a frowning glower. Looking up from her peas, Aileen caught the expression.
‘You still troubled by all that?’ she asked.
Diehard nodded slowly.
‘Look here,’ she said suddenly remembering and fumbling in the pocket of her pinafore. ‘Pa found your saddlebags, they were empty of course but they had thrown this out.’ She held out the dangling beaded thread of the rosary to him.
‘Why, thank you,’ said Diehard, smiling as he took the beads. ‘These mean a lot to me, they was given me by my ma.’
‘You’re of the Popish persuasion then?’
‘It’s how she raised me,’ said Diehard, letting the shining beads run through his fingers. ‘Though I guess I been pretty much a sinner ever since,’ he said grinning at her impishly. ‘But she meant well and it’s a hard thing to shed.’
‘We should all have a faith, it’s what keeps us together,’ she admonished, her head bent over her shelling.
‘You the church going sort then, Aileen?’
‘When we can. If a preacher comes to town and work up here ain’t too pressing, then we’ll make it our business to attend services.’
Diehard looped the rosary over his head and tucked it into his shirtfront. ‘I reckon I’d best go visit with Herido, I got a lot to thank that animal for.’
‘He’s a beauty alright,’ smiled Aileen, lifting her head, her eyes shining at thought of the horse.
‘You want to come?’
‘Sure,’ she said, setting her bowl aside.
As they walked towards the barn where the horse was stabled, Diehard felt the weakness in his legs and he paused a moment.
‘You all right?’ she asked, frowning over his obvious difficulty. ‘It’s too early for you to be up and about.’
‘I’m okay.’
‘Let me help.’
She took his arm and Diehard felt her body press against him to take some of his weight. It felt good to him and he thought he might get to be sick a while longer if this was the treatment he was going to receive.
‘You’re a regular angel of mercy, Aileen. You surely are.’
‘Go on now,’ she dismissed his praise as they walked on. ‘You just take it slow.’
Herido whickered at sight of Diehard and the cowboy went into the stall and took the horse’s head in his arm and nuzzled it affectionately, ‘Hey there, boy,’ he greeted. ‘Why, don’t you look fine?’
Diehard stroked down Herido’s neck and felt the glossy hair under his touch, ‘You’ve been taking good care of him, Miss Aileen,’ he noted.
She nodded agreement, ‘He’s worth every moment.’
‘Isn’t he though?’
‘What a shame about that scar, it must have been an awful thing that happened there.’
‘Yeah, looks like he was hooked on some barbed wire. Guess he ran plumb into it in the panic.’
‘What do you think happened to them?’
Diehard shook his head, ‘No idea, something pretty bad though, I reckon. They all must have been running for many a mile.’
‘From down in Mexico you think?’
‘I reckon so.’
‘That’s a mighty long way.’
‘Probably took them a spell to get up here.’
‘They were lucky it was you that found them.’
‘You reckon?’ he asked, curious as to why she would think that.
‘You have a way, Charlie, that’s obvious. Herido likes you and I think animals have a keener sense about people more than most people do.’
Diehard snuffled a laugh and patted the pony’s shoulder, ‘Well, I like him right well too.’
They were standing side by side as they looked at the stallion and Diehard could feel the soft nearness of her body. It was almost as if she emitted invitation and enveloped him with her warm presence, the pressing desire came over him to take Aileen into his arms. It was a surprise to him and he blinked and tensed to suppress the sudden urge.
‘What’s wrong?’ she said, noticing the stiffening of his body.
‘Guess you’re right,’ he said to cover his embarrassment. ‘Maybe I am a mite tired.’
‘Yes, indeed, I thought as much. Come on, mister, you’re going back to your bed,’
He rejected her attempts to help him on the way back to the house. He was afraid that he would not be able to control himself and as he stumbled along he felt a wretched sense of guilt that he should have considered such an inexplicable and basic urge of need for his kindly hostess.
There was a proper way to behave with womenfolk and like most simple men on the Frontier he too considered all females as entities to be cared for and treated with respect. Helped when needed and protected at all costs, so to find himself wrought with such a basic carnal instinct rubbed against that code and also aroused the latent sense of sinful remorse so often encouraged by his religious upbringing.
Chapter Four
‘I have word,’ said Baldwin.
They were seated around the evening meal table and the Sheriff’s statement caused Diehard to look up sharply.
‘You’ve heard something?’ he asked.
‘A drover passing through town today,’ explained Baldwin, laying down his fork on the edge of his dish carefully. ‘He said there’s an auction planned at Marionville. That’s a town about forty miles north of here, the man said they have a livestock sale on and the prize piece on offer is a dun mare. A perfect animal of fine breeding that is drawing considerable attention.’
‘One of mine,’ cut in Diehard eagerly. ‘It has to be.’
‘Could be,’ agreed Baldwin cautiously.
‘I’ll have to go see.’
‘Now wait a minute,’ said Aileen. ‘You’re in no state to travel.’
Diehard ignored her and turned to the Sheriff, ‘Will you loan me a pony? I’ll see it’s returned safely.’
Baldwin shrugged, ‘Sure, if that’s what you want but maybe you should hear Aileen out.’
Diehard looked across at Aileen apologetically, ‘I have to go, you can understand, can’t you?’
‘You know you’re not fully healed yet, Charlie. I’m no doctor and I did the best I could but there maybe more inside I didn’t figure on.’
‘I’m okay, besides maybe they got a sawbones in this place and I can get checked out properly. But I feel fine, Aileen. Sure, I ache some and am still a mite wobbly but I feel a whole lot better now. I have to get up there.’
Baldwin rubbed his jaw, ‘Could be that with a sprung seat a buckboard would be easier travelling. Might make it less stressful.’
‘That’s it; I’ll go by wagon. How does that sound, Aileen?’
‘Well…’ she frowned. ‘I guess….’
‘There you go, can I take the buckboard, Sheriff?’
Baldwin allowed a slight smile, ‘Reckon so, although without no bill of sale I don’t know how you aim to prove the mare is yours, given that it is one of the stolen ones.’
‘I just need to know,’ said Diehard with a look of determination.
‘I’d come up there with you if I could,’ said Baldwin. ‘Just that I can’t really leave the town without a law officer and the mill needs to be kept going.’
‘I appreciate that,’ said Diehard. ‘You two have done enough for me alrea
dy, I wouldn’t ask more of you.’
‘Except maybe a buckboard,’ added Aileen wryly.
‘Just that,’ agreed Diehard with a smile. ‘I’ll head out at first light if you’re willing.’
Later, after supper was over and he had helped Aileen clear up, Diehard stepped out into the night to consider the prospect of Baldwin’s lead on the stolen horse. He walked over to the barn and after seeing Herido was settled went across to the corral and leaned against the pole bars looking out to where the sunset had left a faint glimmer of light on the horizon.
He knew Baldwin was right, given the value of the mare there was probably little hope of seeing it returned. He held no proof of ownership but his true ambition was to find out where the two men who had stolen her had gone. It burned in Diehard’s gut that they should get away with what they had done to him and restitution lit a bright yet secret flame of retribution in his heart.
Diehard was picking idly at the remaining pine bark on the corral post when Aileen came up on him.
‘I know you have to go, Charlie but I’ll be sorry to see you leave.’
He turned to look at her dark shape in the gloom. Diehard could not make out her face only the outline of her hair in the fading light that hung like a thin halo around her shoulders.
‘I’ll be back,’ he promised. ‘I owe your pa a buckboard, remember?’
‘I wonder,’ she said, the sound of doubt obvious in her voice.
‘What? You reckon I’d make off with it?’
She shook her head fiercely, ‘No, nothing like that, it’s just that I think you have more ambition that just taking a look at this horse.’
‘You think so? And what might that be?’
‘I think you intend tracking these villains down.’
Diehard turned away abruptly, resting both arms on the corral bar and staring into the distance.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ she pressed. ‘You are going after them?’
‘Given your pa’s occupation there still ain’t much law in this country,’ he said quietly. ‘All we got is the right way of doing things. I mean by that, doing what a body believes is right, what he feels in his heart and soul to be right. What they did was low, Aileen, real low. I welcomed them in as a traveller should and they took advantage. Them two don’t have no notion of what is right or wrong, they just please themselves.’
She moved up to stand beside him. She was close, so close that their bodies almost touched, ‘So you aim to set them straight?’ she asked, in a low voice.
‘I don’t know about that exactly, it’s just how I feel.’
‘By your own word these are bad men, Charlie. They could hurt you again or maybe even worse.’
He smiled into the night and turned to her with a bold show of youthful bravado, ‘Aw, shucks! I’m just a no-account travelling cowhand, Aileen, do you really care that much?’
‘Of course I do!’ she said sharply.
The force of her response took Diehard aback, his glibness had been an attempt to lighten the mood and he had not expected such a reply.
‘Well….’ He began apologetically. ‘I’m right sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.’
‘You should think more of yourself, Diehard Charlie,’ she said crossly. ‘You’re not just any no-account cowhand. I believe you have fine moral standards and are an upstanding man and consequently should hold a higher opinion of yourself.’
Diehard was stunned and surprised, ‘I guess I never figured it like that,’ he admitted.
‘Well you should,’ she huffed.
‘Miss Aileen,’ he began tentatively as he gave into the urge that pounded in his heart. ‘Do you think I might come calling on you sometime?’
‘Calling on me? You mean as in walking out together?’
Her tone was softer now and somewhat teasing.
‘You know what I mean,’ he said awkwardly.
‘I do,’ she whispered. ‘I think I might like that’
‘You know I ain’t got a thing to my name now, just these duds I’m standing in.’
She arched a rueful eyebrow, ‘Oh, I’ve seen all you’ve got to offer, mister.’
He caught the look in the remaining light and knew she meant she had seen him naked when she dressed his wounds.
‘Now that ain’t fair, Aileen. What I meant was that I lost everything I owned to them thieves. If I could have sold those horses I would have had a sight more to offer.’
‘That don’t matter,’ she admitted softly. ‘It don’t matter at all.’
‘Can I kiss you, Miss Aileen?’
‘I think you’d better.’
He held her then, took her soft warmth in his arms and felt the blessed pressure of her lips on his. It was a long kiss, so deep and mellow that he felt a pang of dizziness when they finally parted. Her eyes were closed he could tell and she stood there a long moment in the darkness, unmoving.
Then she reached up and laid both her hands on his chest as she leaned towards him, ‘That was nice, Charlie, real nice,’ she murmured.
‘Miss Aileen, you are a peach, you really are,’ he husked.
He held her close and felt the glossy fringe of her hair against his cheek and heard her mutter a soft sigh of contentment as she rested her head on his shoulder.
‘Make sure you come back to me, won’t you, Charlie?’
‘How could I not?’ he promised.
Next morning early in the pre-dawn light, he found that Baldwin had brought out the buckboard and already hitched the two mules in the shaft. The Sheriff stood waiting beside the front wheel, his hand resting on the seat armrest.
‘Morning,’ he said, as Diehard stepped out of the door.
‘Why thanks, Sheriff,’ Diehard answered seeing the wagon all prepared.
Baldwin eyed him keenly, ‘You’d better be calling me John now, don’t you think?’
Diehard gave him a faintly embarrassed smile, ‘You know I mean well,’ he said, understanding that the Sheriff was a wily old man and knew full well what had gone on the night before with his daughter. ‘Weren’t no intention to go behind your back.’
‘I know it,’ nodded Baldwin. ‘Been any other way and you’d be riding out of here on a rail. She’s all I got since her ma died, Charlie, you make sure you do it right.’
‘I will, you have my word.’
‘Good,’ Baldwin said decisively, his horny hand slapping down on the seat. ‘I ain’t got an extry pistol to spare but I put a cut down double-barrel in the seat well, that’s for just in case, you realize?’
‘I appreciate that,’ said Diehard.
‘There’s shells and some vittles in the sack there beside her.’
‘Should I say farewell to Aileen?’
‘I’ll do it, best you go before she’s up.’
‘Tell her….’ Diehard paused, unsure of how to proceed. ‘Tell her….’
‘Don’t worry, she knows. Now get along or you’ll have me in tears also.’
They shook and Diehard climbed up onto the buckboard.
‘You got two good mules there; they’ll see you through. Take the road towards town, then when you reach the north fork, head along there and it’ll lead straight on to Marionville.’
‘Obliged for all you’ve done, Sheriff…. Um, John.’
‘Stay safe, boy.’
It was slower by the wagon but the sprung seat did something to ease Diehard’s ribs where the road got rough. He wished he could have taken Herido but knew that he needed to pacify Aileen’s concerns and with the stallion stabled at the Baldwin’s it was also a politic move on his part to show he would be sure to return.
As he travelled he sought down into the deep well and brought out the scattergun. It was a double-ought; twelve gauge shotgun, and the barrels sawn off with enough length to make it a lethal weapon at close quarters, as the shot would spread out in a wide cone on firing. Diehard swung the lock and broke the barrels open to see with satisfaction that the gun was already loaded.
The
road ran on down out of the hills and short of the town he found the turn off and followed it until the way branched through a narrow soft-sided pass in the hills. The hills were still forested along these northern slopes but the trees were shorter and more sparsely separated and surrounded by scattered brush. Once through the pass he was in open country again which rolled and dipped away into a distant pallid skyline of heat haze that developed as the sun rose higher in the clear blue sky.
The way was empty and there was no sign of any other travellers but Diehard did not relax and although his mind was full of Aileen and the prospect of seeing one of his string at Marionville he still kept his wits about him. There was still the ever present danger of wild Indians and he did not want to be caught napping, despite the fact that the buckboard was slow and there would be little he could do with only a shotgun and miles of open space around him.
Thoughts of Aileen filled him with pleasure and he rotated the memory of their kisses and the feel of her body close to him over and over again. It was a strange thing he realized, to find a girl like her so easily in a country were so few free decent women were available. He had never walked out with a female before and any he had come close to had always seemed a set above him and creatures to be handled with kid gloves. Whilst he had been working at the Leaning-T and on the drives north Diehard had not been a man to associate with the other hands when they visited the bawdy houses in the cow towns along the way. He had drunk with them and taken part in their wild games but never found it right to pay his way with a cot-girl and spend time that was as empty of significance and held little more meaning than a few moments of relief. Some had called him prudish in that respect but Diehard kept his council and did things by his own lights and eventually the teasing had let off and he was accepted by the other rangier cowhands as one with certain preferences that did not coincide with theirs. As with any group of men in close quarters and often relying on each other in dangerous situations, you either got along or you got off and most working hands on the range were decent enough fellows who could live and let live.