Cowboy Heart (Historical Western Romance) (Longren Family series #3, Kitty and Lukes story)

by Amelia Rose

  William kept running, hard, into the woods and Sarah, shouting, followed him. I took a bucket from one of the men, ran for the creek and tried to scoop water to throw on the fire. The water was so low and the fire far enough away, I abandoned the effort and ran back to where men were creating a fire break, shoveling dirt on the flames, moving in a circle to contain the blazing cottonwoods.

  The tall trees burned like candles, lighting up the afternoon, giving off intense heat. The men worked one after another, each shoveling then stopping, handing off the shovel, backing away from the heat, stomping out any leaves that blew further into the grasses.

  I wanted to follow Sarah and William. He'd gone after the Getties and Sarah had gone after him. Anything could happen. Both men were armed, tempers up, the trees burning. Everything had gone too far.

  The trees still flamed but the wind had died down and the circle of dirt kept the fire inside. Men were starting to fill buckets, cursing at the low water, handing buckets one after another to drench the ground around the trees and any fallen leaves or smoldering grasses.

  When a shot came from the trees, I began running. I got as far as the entrance where the path led into the deeper underbrush and felt someone latch hard onto my wrist.

  I spun back, yanking my wrist, trying to free myself. "That was a shot!"

  Robert shook his head at me. "Go get help. I'll follow them." He released my wrist and started past me.

  "I don’t know where to go!"

  "I'll go," Luke said and ran for the ranch.

  I stared after Robert, stared after Luke, and tried to follow Robert into the trees. There was another gun shot. Mike threw a bucket of water onto a blazing leaf and grabbed me round the waist, lifting me off the ground as he spun me back the other way.

  "Go with Luke. Ride for the sheriff." He went back to the bucket as if, of course, I would obey him.

  I stared in the direction William, Sarah and Robert had gone, then turned and ran as hard as I could toward the ranch. There were weapons there I could fetch, return; I could run with Luke for the sheriff, I could—

  "Kitty!"

  Luke, in the stables, saddling a horse.

  "Can you ride?"

  Of course I could ride. I'd even been riding with him. I caught the reins, mounted up, and waited to see if he'd saddle another horse or come with me.

  The trail team's horses lulled nearby. Luke untied the reins from one and threw himself on. I looked back at the way I'd come, at the creek that led to the cottonwoods. From the trees, I could see smoke rising in black coils into the pristine afternoon sky.

  No more gunshots, no sound of anyone heading our way. Redding was five miles to the east.

  We rode at a gallop and made town before 30 minutes had gone by. The Sheriff's Office was a few buildings away from the hotel where Robert and I had eaten, on the main street where I had seen Luke watching us before he disappeared into the dancing crowd on a previous Saturday night.

  There was a deputy in the office.

  "Shooting on Big Sky Ranch," Luke said, even as he entered.

  The deputy rose from his desk, clapped a hat on and followed. "That fool Getties again?"

  "Set fire to the cottonwoods on the tributary," Luke said.

  The deputy glanced at me but didn't waste time asking.

  "Who's armed?"

  "William Kennedy and Joshua Getties, both."

  "His wife might have lit the fires," I said.

  Neither man bothered to answer me.

  We were back within the hour, riding hard, galloping at times, the horses lathered. Tiny met us at the entrance to the ranch.

  "William's in the ranch house. Shot."

  I grabbed the saddle horn, dizzy, and slipped down from the horse meaning to go there. "Where's Sarah?"

  "With him." Tiny was already mounting my horse, leading the deputy and Luke.

  Where's Robert? I wanted to ask, and couldn't. I ran for the house. "What about the fire?" I called back over my shoulder.

  "Burning," Tiny called just as I got inside.

  William was on the davenport in the parlor. Sarah, her face ashen white, knelt beside him in a spill of tears. A tall, thin man bent over William and I could see blood on a partially torn shirt from where I stood, suddenly trembling too hard to go any closer.

  "Sarah?"

  She reached for me with one hand without even looking away from William. I went over to her instantly, one arm around her shoulders, one hand taking hers.

  William was propped up against the arm of the davenport, his legs out on the cushions, dusty boots still on. His blue work shirt had been partially ripped from him, exposing a shoulder covered in blood.

  The room around me danced briefly. I shut my eyes and waited for the dizziness to pass. When I opened them again, I could see dark stitches in the wound and that the wound itself was high on William's shoulder in the fleshy part of his arm. If he was lucky, no bone had been broken.

  The doctor nodded at me briefly, looked at Sarah, and looked at me again as if having decided Sarah was unlikely to move any distance from William any time soon. "Is there whisky somewhere in the house?"

  "Whisky?"

  "He doesn't want morphine."

  Not with a fire burning so near his ranch, I thought. He probably didn't want a lot of whisky either, but I went looking for the crystal decanter Sarah treasured and poured out a healthy measure, returning with it to find the doctor packing up his bag and telling Sarah how to keep the wound clean, that he'd be back the next day, and that there was a birth he needed to attend to in Redding itself.

  "He arrived here fast," I said as the doctor let himself out.

  "Tiny found him on the trail. He was on his way to Redding."

  "I hope the baby has waited for him," I said.

  Sarah looked blank. "I don’t care," she said.

  "I'm alright, Sarah," William said. He tried to sit up and subsided promptly, turning even whiter than he had been.

  "He could have killed you," she said, fiercely.

  "Only if he'd been aiming at something else completely."

  "How can you laugh?"

  "I'm not laughing, Sarah. But I'm not dead, either." He tipped the glass up and took a swallow, grimacing. "Help me up. I need to get out there."

  "No," Sarah said.

  "No," I echoed, though no one had asked me. "Your ranch hands are doing everything you could do and they're not bleeding."

  "Damn it, Kathryn, Sarah, I'm not asking you."

  "Good," Sarah said. "Because we're not helping you. Kitty, where are you going?"

  "To look for Robert, Luke and the deputy." I went out the door before Sarah could get off the davenport and try to stop me.

  One of the Juans, Mike, and a couple ranch hands whose names I'd never quite figured out were in the pastures, riding with the dogs, rounding up the herds in case the fire spread. Tiny had taken the deputy into the trees. There were still saddled horses tied to the stable gates. I untied the first I came to, ran a hand over her muzzle and tugged her after me until I could get to the stile, climb up and mount.

  Seconds later, I was following the path along the creek again, already beginning to cough as the smoke blew toward us. The horse pranced uneasily as we rode closer. I allowed her to slow. No need hurting the horse or allowing her to bolt. From the underbrush, I could hear the fire crackling, maybe under control but still burning. The voices of the men came back as well.

  When the other horses came into sight, I left mine tied with them and went on foot. Clouds of smoke made it dim as twilight on the path.

  Abruptly, I entered the clearing where they worked. Several hands looked up, blinked at me, and went right back to shoveling. The deputy wasn't there and neither was Robert.

  Luke was. He didn't go back to shoveling right away, but came over to me.

  "Go back to the house. Help Sarah if you can." He put one hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me around and give me a push.

  I pushed his hand of
f. "Your concern is appreciated. Mrs. Kennedy is caring for William, Mr. Michaels, and doesn't need me. The doctor has been to see him. This is where I'm needed."

  Luke rolled his eyes, shot a beseeching look at the other hands, who didn't even slow what they were doing, and said, "This isn't safe. Go pack for yourself and your sister, then. Likely we're going to have to give up on the fire and get the animals out."

  Anger rose. He'd ignored me for weeks. Now, his concern was out of place. "It's not your place, Luke Michaels," I said and stepped past him to take a shovel.

  I heard him slap his hat against his dusty denim leg before he grabbed his own shovel again and went back to it.

  Maybe an hour passed. The fire roared in the cottonwoods, still burning hot and starting to consume the trees. They'd given up on the buckets—the water in the creek was too low and the process was too slow. As soon as a bucket began to dampen the flames, another patch would roar up.

  Men shoveled, throwing warnings and suggestions to each other and to me. I worked alongside them, my shoulders and arms aching. A few animals ran from the brush. The fire spread, became contained, and blew and burned again. The sun began to drop to the Cascade Mountains in the west. Still mid-afternoon but time was passing.

  "McLeod was going to ride on for help," one of the men shouted finally as another line of flame jumped the dirt barriers.

  "We're losing ground," another called back.

  "We can't stop," I yelled, trying to be heard, and coughed on the smoke in my throat.

  "Get her out of here," Luke bellowed to no one in particular.

  "We all need to fall—" Juan started and shouted something incoherent. One of the biggest remaining branches on one of the cottonwoods gave way, crashing down through the black branches that snapped with flames.

  Instantly, the fire spread outward, catching in grass that had been smoldering or put out, jumping the barriers easily.

  "Go!" Juan shouted.

  "Is anyone coming?" I yelled. We couldn't just stop, there was no break in the trees and grasses and pasture land before the ranch.

  "Sheriff and Tiny'll send back people." Luke had come up behind me, was shouting above the sound of flames and the other men shouting to each other. He had a hold of me by the waist.

  "I'm not going until everyone goes." I kicked at him, childish but furious.

  "We're all going. We have to get the herd out."

  The fire chased us back to the ranch. I'd have given a lot to have it in front of us rather than behind. Running from it was terrifying. Phantom flames flickered from the corners of my eyes.

  Not always phantom. The fire was coming, out of control, jumping fire breaks.

  "What about the ranch?" I asked Juan because he was beside me.

  "There are breaks all over," he said. "Rock walls. Barren spots. The yard is mostly dirt."

  "There are breaks in the trees, too," I said.

  He nodded but didn't answer.

  Back at the ranch, the ranch hands yelled back and forth to each other, each seemingly knowing what he was meant to do. I remained on my horse, confused, until Luke shouted to me to go inside and get William and Sarah and pack anything I needed to take.

  I'd come to Big Sky with almost nothing. There was nothing I needed to take except family. I rode all the way to the porch and left the horse tied off there. My boots sounded loud on the porch. My thoughts were with Robert. He'd gone with the Sheriff, after a man who had shot Sarah's husband. I wanted to be wherever he was, know what he was going through.

  "We're taking the cattle," I said, as if I were a part of that. I had no idea how to drive cattle.

  Sarah looked up from where she sat with William. "I have to get the documents," she said.

  William swung his legs off the davenport and stood, clearly in pain but neither drunk nor on any kind of morphine.

  "I'll get the horses," he said.

  "You can't," Sarah and I both protested.

  He didn't answer, just went out. Sarah said, "Help me," and ran for the kitchen.

  "Where are you going?"

  "Documents," she said and dug into the cold pantry, digging them out of piles of earth and potatoes. "Mortgage, loans."

  "Clothes? Guns? Food?" I asked.

  "We can stay with friends, eventually family. If we have to, we can drive the cattle to Alturas, stay with Mother's parents."

  "What can I carry?" Almost everything I owned was back in Virginia City. I could do without different clothes, could wait until we arrived somewhere. I could carry for her.

  "Photos," Sarah said. "The trunk by my bed. You should bring a wrap and blankets for us. It's cold at night." She took just enough time to stare at me. "Do you have a dress?"

  "Yes," I said with no intention of getting it. I went for her photos, blankets and wraps for both of us—the blue one Cynthia Getties had handed me on the trail was thrown across Sarah's bed.

  William had reappeared when I came downstairs. Sweat stood out on his forehead. Just moving jostled his shoulder and pained him.

  Outside, the smoke was becoming worse, coiling up into the blue sky in black waves. Thick billows of gray drifted into the yard. William had brought Mike and one of the wagons. The hands were coming out of the ranch house carrying packs, everyone running. Horses were being saddled, dogs were running wildly, barking.

  "You go with Kitty," William told Sarah, and kissed her in a way that made me long for Robert—and strangely, for Luke. The thought of both of them made me start up in panic. I didn't know where either was.

  Sarah took the reins. William had hitched two of the faster horses. I piled in beside her. All over the yard, men were yelling, mounting horses, calling to the dogs and getting ready to ride the herd.

  The smoke was bad. "Go that way," I said, pointing to the east exit from the yard.

  "This is faster," Sarah said, grimly.

  "I want to see." I was craning my neck as if I could see around the buildings, spot what was happening in the east and north pastures, whether I could see any of the hands I could identify.

  Sarah sighed. "I do too." She turned the horses, drove us in that direction.

  Flames were heading down into the north pasture, just beginning. Big Sky was going to lose grazing land. Not anything else, I prayed. This was Sarah's life.

  She turned the horses again, started for the front gate. Men were pumping water now, bringing up buckets, getting ready to stave off the fire as long as they could. Other hands were in the pens, freeing the cattle, starting the drive.

  We made it to the end of the first approach to the ranch before I grabbed the reins in Sarah's hands. "Stop!"

  She batted at me, stared, appalled. "What are you doing?"

  I was already jumping from the wagon. "The two calves!" I shouted. They'd been separate, the calves and their mothers. "I'm going back."

  "Kitty, you can't!" She was trying to turn the horses but they balked, refusing.

  "Just go, Sarah." I turned and ran, scared that I was too far away, scared that something would happen—Sarah would follow me, William would get hurt, fall from his horse because his arm wouldn't support him, something would happen to Robert or Luke, I couldn't stand the thought of either being hurt. There were too many people I cared about all of a sudden, nothing at all like the day I'd come to Big Sky when I'd felt abandoned by everyone in my life, Johnny gone, Sissy triumphant, Sarah too far away, my mother engaged and busy.

  I ran. I heard a voice behind me. "Go, Sarah, William's counting on you getting out, go to Lord's Acres."

  Then, behind me, I heard hooves drumming hard and fast. I moved off the track, spun to look and saw Luke bearing down on me. He reined to a stop, held out his hand, gave me a stirrup. I shoved a boot in, grabbed his hand, pulled myself up behind him, and he kicked the horse instantly, flying forward.

  "Where are you going?" he shouted.

  "There are two calves and their mothers in the small barn, they—"

  "I know the ones."


  Wind in my face where I clung to him, I stared over his shoulder. The distance fell behind us. I felt utterly safe behind him, like he'd never let me fall. I could see the ranch house, the bunkhouse, the outbuildings and barns. No fire had reached them yet. There were ranch hands and dogs everywhere, getting the animals out, riding backlit by the storm clouds lowering and the fire burning down from the north ranch.

  The flames were coming down fast, burning through the pastures. The barn with the calves and their mothers was farther than some of the other outbuildings. Sarah had wanted to keep the calves separate from the other cows, less fear of the weak young things becoming sick. The barn the milkers were kept in was just north of the ranch house and east of the bunkhouse. The stream Getties kept damming ran from the north behind the milk cow barn.

  The barn with the calves and their mothers was to the east. A line of fire rapidly approached it.

  "Faster," I whispered to Luke.

  He gave no indication of hearing me. The horse galloped, jumped the creek easily. I slid from the horse before Luke had completely reined it in. He was right behind me, leading the horse, which jittered, nervous from the oncoming flames.

  The barn door was shut. I heaved at it, got nowhere, and felt Luke behind me pressing the reins into my hands so he could use both arms to spring the door open.

  The air inside was heavy with smoke. I could hear the calves bellowing, the mothers lowing and pacing. They were in the closest stall.

  "Stay with the horse. Get back on!" He moved away from me in the haze of smoke and thick sunlight. Clouds were gathering heavier, thunder rumbling but a good distance off. Another dry thunderstorm might spell the end of Big Sky Ranch but rain would be a godsend.

  I clamored back onto the horse, held the reins, and waited for Luke while stepping the horse around out of the way of the cows that came barreling out now, all four of them bellowing, charging past me, heading for the escape promised by the open barn door.

  Luke remounted instantly, slapped the horse forward, following the cows and their calves, guiding them toward the herd that streamed southward.