by Sara Orwig
“That’s cooking and cleaning.”
“And she’s taken care of a tipsy father and raised two younger brothers.”
“Hmpf. He will break her heart! And what if you can’t get him off? It will divide the family again!”
“I’ll do my best.”
If I had just married you, I would not want you turning yourself in for a trial where you might hang!”
“Honey, it’s something he’s tired of living with. And he’s afraid someone may kill him one day. There’s a reward whether he’s dead or alive, which makes shooting him in the back mighty tempting. Would you want to live with that? Or explain that to your sons?”
“Luke, I’m frightened for him. We never see him much, but he’s so much like Hattie, and I know he’s good. He’s part of the same blood as you.”
“You have a soft heart,” he said, hugging her. She clung to him, her head against his chest.
“I wouldn’t be able to stand it if I were Mary.”
“You’ve stood a lot of things.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Catalina, trials like that can get people stirred up and angry. And it’s in an area that’s very remote. It won’t be in a city. It’ll be a little adobe jail surrounded by the local people.”
“I want to go. Mary will need a woman with her.”
“Hattie will probably be there.”
“I want to go,” she persisted. “It will look better if he has family there. It will make him look like a better character.”
“That’s true. Why do I win courtroom battles and lose in the bedroom?”
She wiggled her hips against him and held him tightly around the waist.
Luke laughed. “That’s why?”
She slid her hand over his thighs. “I think the boys should go with us.”
“Dammit, no! They don’t belong in a courtroom.”
“They can go with us the first day. It will look better if he has a lot of family.”
Her hands moved over him, sliding along his legs, and he shook his head. “What an unfair, cheating way to win an argument!”
“And you like it, Luke Danby. You know you do. Tell me to stop if you don’t.”
“You’re going to get what you’ve asked for,“ he said in a husky voice, bending down to kiss her and wrap his arms around her.
Later he lay in bed, staring into the darkness, mulling over what she had wanted. It would look better for Dan if some family members were present. He didn’t want the boys in it, yet Jeff and Knox were growing, and Luke had taken both the older boys to trials before. He looked down at Catalina, who lay in the crook of his arm, and smoothed her black hair away from her face. He was thankful he didn’t have to face the trouble Dan did. And coming so soon after his marriage would make it doubly bad, but Luke suspected Mary wasn’t the child Catalina thought she was, and he hoped she would be there at her husband’s side.
As Dan packed the night before they were to leave, Mary stepped in front of him. “I’ve waited until the last minute to tell you something, because I don’t want you to argue about it.”
He grinned at her. “And what’s that?”
“My family is going with us.”
His smile vanished. “Aw, Mary, no! I don’t want them involved.”
“They’re already involved, and if they didn’t go, I don’t think I would ever speak to them again! But I didn’t threaten them. They said they’d go. Pa and Michael and Brian.”
“Look, if something happens to them, I’d never forgive myself.”
“Shh. I don’t want to hear that. They’re going. They’ll be here to go with us when we leave in the morning. They have their wagon.”
He crushed her to him, wanting to hold her and never let go. He dreaded going back. It brought back too many bad memories, and he could still remember being in jail and how he had hated it. And he was afraid of hanging. Bending his head to kiss her, he knew they both felt desperate to keep what they had found. He picked Mary up to carry her to bed, prolonging their lovemaking, trying to stop time while he held her in his arms.
They met Luke at the New Mexico Territory border. He rode forward to meet them, standing in the stirrups, shaking hands with the men, giving Mary a quick hug, and moving around to Dan’s side of the wagon. “I left Catalina and the boys in town.”
“Catalina and the boys came?”
“Yes. I think it’s good. It was her idea. The whole family is there. Hattie and Javier are waiting at the hotel. April and Noah are there. Ta-ne-haddle said he didn’t think a Kiowa would weigh things in your favor since there’s so much trouble right now, but he’s in town with Lottie and Dawn.”
Dan felt his throat tighten as emotion gripped him, and for a moment he couldn’t answer Luke. He nodded. Luke clasped him on the shoulder. “Here we go.”
He turned to lead the way, and Mary leaned close to Dan to hug him. “See, they all came because they love you,” she said. “They won’t hang someone who has all these good people with him.”
He squeezed her tightly to him. “One thing, I have the best wife and family a man can have.”
They rode into a sleepy little town, settled years earlier, called Santa Rosita. Adobe houses lined the roads, and cacti grew among the dirt. Chickens ran across the road, and a goat ambled slowly past, a bell jingling around its neck. People sat in shadowed doorways and watched them until they reached a small one-story adobe building that said “HOTEL Y CANTINA.”
They dismounted and went inside. “Let’s unpack, get settled, and then you and I’ll go over to the sheriff,” Luke suggested. “I’ve already checked. The judge will be here tomorrow or the next day. That’s why I picked today for us to arrive. I’ve heard about this judge, and if it’s the one we’re supposed to have, he’s fair.”
Dan nodded, hoping the Craddocks weren’t as powerful now.
They paid and got a key to a room, then went down a wide hall. Luke knocked on a door, and it opened on a roomful of people. Dan and Mary entered to find the rest of his family and Ta-ne-haddle and Lottie, and while everyone hugged and greeted each other, for a short time Dan could forget the grim purpose that had brought the family together. An hour later he and Mary stood in the tiny sparsely furnished room they had rented, and he kissed her long and hard.
Her heart pounded with fear for him and she clung to his hard body. “Whatever happens, my brothers will get you away from here!”
He held her away. “Dammit, you have to promise me you won’t ride with them if they try to get me out of jail. Promise me, Mary, or I’ll tell Luke to lock you up.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll leave it to the men…but I would be willing.”
He gave her a crooked grin that made a knot come in her throat as he crushed her in his arms for a final hug.
“It’ll be over soon,” he said. He unbuckled his gunbelt and took Mary’s arm. “Come down the hall and stay with my folks.”
He left Mary at the door where Luke waited. Then Dan walked away with Luke, without looking back at her. Grimly the two men crossed the wide, dusty road. Dogs barked and two boys ran across the road. Dan and Luke entered the jail. Just inside the door was the sheriff’s desk. Dan stepped up to it and unfolded a wanted poster. “I’m Tigre Danby Castillo.”
“Related to Javier?” the man said, standing, his dark eyes friendly as he offered his hand.
“Yes, I’m his son,” Dan said as he shook hands. “This is my brother, Luke Danby. I want to turn myself in. Luke is my attorney.”
The sheriff stared at them, blinked, and looked down at the paper. He looked up at Dan. “Wanted for murder?” he said, sitting down to study the poster.
“Yes, sir. For murdering Fred Craddock.”
“That was years ago. You’re Javier’s boy. I’ve heard about you. Heard you were killed out west. I’m Gilberto Padilla.”
“I was told Judge Farnsworth will be here tomorrow or the next day, so we can have a trial right away,” Luke said.
“You’re giving yourself up?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Where you folks staying?”
“At the hotel,” Luke answered. “As a matter of fact, if possible, Sheriff, since my client has voluntarily come in and given himself up to stand trial, can he just stay at the hotel tonight? His parents are here.”
“Javier is at the hotel?”
“Yes.”
Dan couldn’t believe what Luke had just asked, but he kept his features impassive.
“Yes, you may stay at the hotel. And tell your father I’ll come say hello. My brother worked for him for a time. I don’t like the Craddocks.”
“Thanks, Sheriff,” Luke said cheerfully.
“Thank you,” Dan said, shaking hands again with Sheriff Padilla.
“Judge Farnsworth gets here tomorrow. We’ll have court right here in this room. Get yourself over here about eight in the morning. The Craddocks will be here. They know everything that happens.”
“Thank you, sir,” Dan said.
“You’re wanted for murder. I don’t remember the details of the case.”
“You’ll hear about it in court,” Luke said, taking Dan by the arm to get him out of the sheriff’s presence. They walked back across the road, Luke’s spurs jingling with his long steps.
“Damn, if the rest is as easy as that—”
“It won’t be. I can promise you,” Luke said grimly. “You tangled with men who are powerful in this little bit of the territory. Word will go around like wildfire now. First of all, we have to keep watch that Craddock’s boys don’t ride in to finish the job they started years ago.”
“You think they’d try to come to the hotel and take me after all these years?”
“How easily are these things forgotten? You’ve gone other places, done other things, but they’ve been sitting right here, and your pa won his battle with them.”
“How will they even know to come in and testify against me? Who’s going to prosecute?”
“Dan, this won’t be like a city trial. Hell, last time, they didn’t give you a trial at all before they tried to string you up. We’re damned lucky a federal judge is coming through here to listen to this. There may not be anyone to testify against you. There won’t be a prosecutor. I’ll stand up and plead your case. If word gets out, someone will testify against you. The judge will decide, and it’s over. You’re still on a frontier, where justice is primitive and law is often determined by a Colt.”
When they returned to the hotel, the men agreed to watch for trouble, and the family cooked in a shady expanse behind the hotel. They had brought food, and soon enticing aromas wafted into the air. Dan felt reprieved to have one more night with Mary instead of spending it in a cell, as he had expected. They told the others good night early in the evening and shut themselves in their room. He held her tightly in his arms, unable to sleep after their lovemaking, knowing she wasn’t asleep either, both of them clinging together.
In the morning, in the early light of day, Dan heard a rap on the door. Mary was dressed, braiding her hair, when Dan went to the door to see a grim-faced Luke. “You want to see your opposition. Go to the window.”
All three of them crossed to the narrow windows that looked out to the east. A string of riders was coming down the street, eight abreast.
“Holy saints,” Mary whispered, sliding her arm around Dan’s waist.
“It occurred to us—Ta-ne-haddle brought word of them riding into town—that if we win today, they may try to gun you down before you go. I don’t think they’d do it in front of the judge, so it’ll come on the way home.”
“Dammit! The whole family is here. Get them out of here.”
“I agree,” Luke said over Mary’s protest. “After the trial, Mary’s father can go with the women and children. They can all ride southwest toward Albuquerque. These men will expect you to go back north. There are eight of them, six of us.”
“A gunfight?” Mary sounded stricken.
“It’s better than being shot in the back,” Luke said grimly. “We have to be ready for it. If it doesn’t come in a day’s ride, I don’t think it will. We can drop back, and Mary’s brothers and Paddy can bring her back to you.”
“What about them leaving before the trial?”
“No. You should have family here.”
Dan nodded as he watched the riders pass. “What’s to keep them from gunning me down right now?”
“We’re ready for that. It’s time to go. The judge is in town. He came in half an hour ago.”
The family waited in the lobby, the women dressed in stylish clothes, the men in suits with broad-brimmed hats. They crossed the street and filed into the small room where planks had been laid across cottonwood stumps for seats. The small jail was crowded. The Craddock men already filled seats to the left of the center aisle, and Dan’s family filled the seats to the right, nearest to the door. Spectators took any empty space and crowded around the back of the room.
Mary felt as if she had turned to ice. Dan and Luke sat at a table to the left of the judge. The sheriff was at the front. People crowded in to watch, and the morning air warmed with the crowd. Sheriff Padilla called the court to order and Judge Farnsworth sat down behind the desk.
The first to testify was Paul Craddock, a tall, heavy-set man in a broad-brimmed hat. He came forward, spurs jingling. He told how Dan had killed one of his men and escaped when they tried to hang him.
Luke was next, his deep voice eloquent in the small room as he told Dan’s side and then asked to swear Dan in as a witness. Mary glanced to her left at the men who filled two rows. They wore pistols and looked grim and strong, and she feared them more than the judge.
“You tried to defend yourself?” Luke asked Dan after he had told his version.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you almost had your throat slit by one of the men?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Show us the scar.”
With a jingle of spurs Paul Craddock stood up. “He could have the scar from anything!”
“Sit down, Craddock,” Judge Farnsworth snapped, and the man sat down.
Dan pulled down his shirt to show the faint white line. “And you were not given a trial before a judge or jury at the time?”
“No, sir.”
“That’s all. One more witness, Judge. Will Dr. José García come forward.”
A man standing in the doorway moved forward. His hair was gray and he was stoop-shouldered as he walked to the front and was sworn in by the sheriff.
“Have you seen this man before, Doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell the judge when and where?”
They listened as the physician told about tending Dan’s wound. Dan had been brought to him by two men the night of the incident.
“Thank you,” Luke said, dismissing him. Luke gave his summary in front of the judge, pointing out Dan’s lawful life in Colorado, his family, his voluntary return.
“Now, look, Judge—”
“Craddock, you get up and interrupt again, and I’ll fine you. Sit down.”
Luke finished and sat down beside Dan.
Judge Farnsworth studied notes he had made, shuffled papers, and finally looked up. “After hearing testimony in this case, I declare Tigre Danby Castillo not guilty of murder.” He banged his gavel. “Now we’ll get to the bank- and train-robbery charges. Mr. Danby, what have you to say for your client?”
“Judge, I protest!” Paul Craddock shouted, standing up. One of his men yelled, and another stood up.
“Craddock, you’re fined. Sheriff, put this man down for contempt of court. Five dollars.” He banged the gavel again. “Mr. Danby?”
Once again Luke stood and gave a long plea about circumstances, Dan’s youth, that he had reformed and voluntarily turned himself in. Luke swept out his arm and pointed to the family, extolling Dan’s character, and finally he sat down.
“Any arguments?”
“Sit down. I didn’t ask for opinions.”
There was silence in the room and Judge Farnsworth banged his gavel. “Tigre Danby Castillo, I hereby find you not guilty. Case dismissed.”
“No!” Craddock thundered, jumping to his feet to fire at Dan with pistols in both hands.
Noah came up in a crouch, his colts blasting while women screamed. Glass shattered as shots hit the windows.
People dropped to the floor. Mary pushed Aaron down, covering him. In seconds there was silence. Noah stood with his pistols aimed at Craddock’s men. Javier also held a pistol pointed at the men, and Michael aimed at them as well as Brian. “Drop your weapons,” Luke ordered. “Doc, look at the judge first.”
“I’m all right. Padilla was hit. Two of Craddock’s men are down.”
Dan’s gaze swept the room, which reeked of gunpowder, and he felt faint with relief when he saw the family was all right. The windows behind him were smashed. He noticed a red stain on Luke’s coat sleeve.
“Doc!” Rage filled him and he wished he had a pistol He looked at the man who had caused the trouble. White-haired and broad-shouldered, Paul Craddock stood with his hands in the air. Two of his men lay still on the floor, and another clutched a bloody leg.
“Doc, get over here as soon as you finish with the sheriff,” Dan called.
Judge Farnsworth stood up. “You’re under arrest, Craddock. You and your men, every damned one of you. One of you boys with a pistol, herd ’em into a cell. Drop your weapons first. Slow and easy.”
Dan wiped his forehead, feeling a wet stickiness, and realized he had been cut by glass from the windows. He helped Luke remove his coat, and Catalina ran to him.
“I’m all right.”
She talked in rapid Spanish in an undertone, peeling back the sleeve of his shirt.
“They’re locked up, Judge,” Noah said, tossing the keys in front of Farnsworth.
“How’s Padilla?”
Dr. García stood up. “He’ll be fine. Some of you come carry him to the saloon. Put him on the bar. I can work on him there. It isn’t bad. If he comes around, give him some whiskey.” He walked over to Luke to look at his arm. “Not bad. Lucky it wasn’t a few inches to the right.”