Alexander tapped his fingers on one of the bars. “Want to tell me about the shootout with Claunch?”
“It was self-defense.”
The newspaperman chuckled. “Of course.”
“I’ve got nothing else to say.”
“Well, I’ll see you at the trial, then. Good luck to you.”
Ridge watched Alexander leave, hoping that Bruckner wouldn’t make the same connection the newspaperman had.
The trial was held two days later. Handcuffed, Ridge sat beside the lawyer Nettie had hired to defend him.
The trial was surprisingly short. Nettie related her reason for being at Victor’s and seeing her husband’s watch in his possession. In a voice that shook with emotion, she told how Victor had confessed to killing Seamus and trying to kill Martha Jean.
The fact that Marty was in the courtroom, her injured arm in a blindingly white sling, gave credence to Nettie’s testimony.
The jury deliberated for less than half an hour and returned a verdict of self-defense.
Ridge breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief.
Marty wept.
Dani and Nettie hugged each other. Finally, it was over.
A few evenings later, the Flynn family sat out on the porch talking softly and sipping lemonade. It was a lovely, star-spangled night. A gentle breeze kept the heat at bay.
Marty and Ridge sat on the swing holding hands. Dani and Sanza sat on the top step. Nettie sat in the rocker, idly petting one of the barn cats that had curled up in her lap.
“I still can’t believe you had the nerve to go search Victor’s house,” Dani remarked after a while. “You could have been killed.”
Nettie shrugged. “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that we’re all here together, where we belong.”
Marty glanced from her sister to her mother. “Do you think this is what Pa wanted to happen when he left you the ranch?”
“I’m sure of it,” Nettie replied softly.
“I guess things happen the way they’re meant to happen,” Dani said, smiling at her husband.
“I guess so,” Ridge agreed. He counted himself the luckiest one of all. He had happened onto this place and found a home and a woman to share it with.
Marty looked up at him, her eyes shining with love, and Ridge Longtree knew he’d found what he had been searching for all his life.
Epilogue
Five years later
Martha Jean shook her head, wondering if things would ever be peaceful again, as she tried to settle a squabble between her four-year-old son, Luke, and Dani’s four-year-old daughter, Alyssa.
Nettie sat on the rocking chair on the porch, laughing softly as she watched her daughter and her grandchildren. She held Marty’s four-month-old daughter, Katie, cradled in her arms, while Marty’s three-year-old daughter, Marissa, sat on the porch step trying to put a sweater on one of the puppies.
The ranch had prospered in the last five years. Dani had used her inheritance to buy Victor Claunch’s ranch, and she and Sanza lived there through the winter and spring, leaving the foreman to manage the place in the summer, when they went to stay with the Apache. Sanza had adapted well to ranch life.
Each summer, Sanza and Ridge drove two hundred head of cattle into the stronghold. Of course, Dani and Marty went, too. The more Marty got to know the Apache people, the more she loved and respected them. They could be fierce enemies, that was true, but they were also loyal friends, and she looked forward to spending summers with the People, hearing the old stories, renewing acquaintances. She intended to make sure that her children were proud of their Apache heritage, that they learned the language and the customs. No man or woman could be whole unless they knew who they were and where they came from.
Nettie had surprised everyone by marrying Joe Alexander, the newspaperman. Though she had moved into town, Nettie came to visit often, usually bringing presents or candy for her grandchildren. Marty declared that Nettie was going to spoil them something terrible, but Nettie just laughed and told her that was what grandmothers were for.
The squabble settled, Luke and Alyssa went down to the barn to look at the new kittens that had been born the week before.
“I think I’d better go along,” Nettie said. She descended the stairs and placed the baby in Martha’s arms. “She’s a little beauty, isn’t she?”
Marty nodded. Her children were all beautiful. They had their father’s dusky skin and black hair and Marty’s brown eyes.
Thoroughly content, she watched Nettie hurry to catch up with Luke and Alyssa.
She was about to go into the house when she saw Ridge striding toward her. Time had not dulled her reaction to him. He was still the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Just looking at him made her insides turn to mush and her toes curl.
He smiled as he swept Marissa into his arms and swung her up on his shoulders. “How are my girls?”
“Never better,” Marty replied. “How’s our favorite fella?”
“Never better,” Marissa echoed. “Want to see the kitty.”
Side by side, Ridge and Martha Jean walked down to the barn, smiling at each other as their son ran out of the stable, the sound of happy laughter filling the air, the sun shining down on their family like a benediction.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Under Apache Skies. I really had a good time writing this book. It was fun having two heroines and two heroes. Originally, Sanza was going to be the “bad” guy but, as happened with Ravenhawk in Spirit’s Song my bad guy simply refused to be bad. Men can be so contrary sometimes!
Under Apache Skies is my thirty-second historical romance and my forty-fourth full-length novel. I’m happy to say that even after all those books, writing is still fun and I still get a thrill out of seeing my books in stores.
Thank you for your letters and support. I love hearing from you.
May God bless you and yours.
Madeline Baker
www.madelinebaker.net
About the Author
Madeline Baker started writing simply for the fun of it. Now she is the award-winning author of more than thirty historical romances and one of the most popular writers of Native American romance. She lives in California, where she was born and raised.
Under Apache Skies
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Under Apache Skies Copyright © 2011, 2016 Madeline Baker
Published by Butterfly Kisses Press
Cover design by Cindy Lucas
Under Apache Skies Page 28