“That’s my house, Ellen and Jared are my children, and Sarah is my wife. It’s my right to sleep in the house. Hell, it’s my duty.”
“I’m not going to let you enter.”
“How are you going to stop me?”
“Any way I have to.”
The man rushed Salty like a bull, head down and arms flailing. Salty didn’t know if that had worked for Roger in the gold fields, but it never worked for him in fights with other boys in town when he was growing up. He stepped aside and simply let the man rumble past.
Roger pulled up and turned, a surprised grin spreading over his face. “You’re afraid of me.”
Salty shook his head. “I’m just giving you a chance to go back to the shed. You’re not sleeping in the house.”
The grin stayed in place. “I think you’re afraid.”
“If you can stand up and fight like a man, I guess you’ll find out.”
The insult wiped the grin from Roger’s face. Raising his fists, the man stepped forward to meet Salty, who was trying to determine what kind of fighter he was. Did Roger rely solely on punches? Would he go for more body contact mixed in, or would it turn into a wrestling match?
He stood poised in front of Salty, apparently waiting for him to strike first. “Aren’t you going to fight?”
“You’re the one who wants to fight,” Salty said. “All I want is to keep you from entering the house.”
“So you’re just going to stand there?”
“Until I need to do something else.”
It appeared that Roger was unsure how to start a fight besides rushing blindly at his opponent. He hesitated before moving closer, then threw a tentative punch.
Salty blocked it. “If that’s how you fought in the gold fields, no wonder they drove you out.”
“They didn’t drive me out. I left.” Roger threw another punch, which Salty blocked as easily as the first.
“You make a habit of running away early, don’t you? Did you leave the army before the war ended?”
“You bastard!”
Roger attacked in a flurry, but landed only glancing blows because Salty feinted left or right while offering a few punches of his own.
“Stand still and fight,” Roger shouted. “Are you a coward?”
“I can win this fight a half dozen ways,” Salty said. “I’m just trying to decide which will be the easiest.”
Roger charged a second time. It wasn’t difficult to avoid him and land a sharp jab in his ribs as he lumbered past. The man’s stride faltered, but he turned and attacked again almost immediately. The blows were weak, and both men soon backed off to take a breather with little visible hurt.
“If you want to win a fight,” Salty pointed out, “you have to apply steady pressure.” He danced forward, offering a series of quick shots to Roger’s various body parts. “You don’t try for the deciding blow right away.” Two more quick jabs to the stomach and he moved out of range. “You keep your opponent off balance and on the defensive, never knowing what you’re going to do next.” He landed a quick uppercut and feinted left to avoid a body blow.
“Stand still, you son of a bitch!” Roger panted.
“If your opponent is bigger, stronger, or heavier, it’s important to keep moving,” Salty continued. “Getting suckered into a slugging match is the dumbest thing you can do.” They exchanged some quick punches, and Salty danced away again.
“All that stuff you’re saying is a bunch of horseshit. You’re just dragging this out.”
Salty grinned, which so distracted Roger that Salty was able to land a punishing blow to the man’s gut followed by another swift uppercut. Roger staggered. Salty pummeled him with a half dozen shots before moving out of range.
“Quit now,” Salty offered. “I’m not going to let you in the house.”
Roger closed with him and they grappled, and at close range they pounded each other with blow after blow. Stomach. Ribs. Jaw. Nose. Chest. No part was spared. Roger wasn’t a good fighter, but he was strong and his punches hurt.
A boy’s voice rang out: “Hit him again. That’s not hard enough!”
Salty was so startled, Roger was able to land a punch that staggered him. He moved back a couple of steps. “Get back inside,” he said to Jared.
“Not until you pound him into the ground.”
Roger put all his weight behind a punch. It made him just slow enough that Salty was able to avoid him and land a punishing blow of his own.
“That’s right!” Jared encouraged. “Knock the bastard out.”
“Why are you pulling for him?” Roger asked. “I’m your father.”
“You’ve never been my father, and you never will.”
His son’s disloyalty angered Roger so much that he turned, giving Salty an opportunity to land several punishing blows. Roger stumbled badly but didn’t go down. He staggered upright and glared, bleeding from his nose and mouth.
“Why don’t we stop now?” Salty asked. “I don’t want to humiliate you in front of your son.”
Roger’s response was to close in once more for another series of punches. He was growing weaker, but he wasn’t ready to give up. It looked like one of them was going to have to be knocked out. Salty was determined it wouldn’t be him.
As he lost energy, his punches lost power and Roger started to lean on Salty, to wrap his arms around Salty’s middle and rain ineffectual blows down on his back. Salty finally punched him in the kidney, causing the man to fall to his knees.
“Are you ready to quit now?”
Roger got to his feet and attacked, but his swings lacked direction.
“Knock him down,” Jared said. “I hate him.”
Salty struck twice. “You don’t hate him. You’re just angry at him.”
“I do hate him. I want you to knock him dead.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Salty noticed Arnie approaching from the direction of his wagon. He was followed by Dobie. That unsettled him so much Roger was able to land a punch.
“Pay attention,” Arnie shouted.
“It would be easier without an audience,” Salty grunted.
The prospect appeared to have energized Roger. He came in with a flurry of punches so forceful it took Salty a moment to regain his balance.
“Quit being easy on him,” Dobie called. “Put an end to this so I can get some sleep.”
“We all need some sleep.” Sarah had come out of the house. An excited squeal told Salty Ellen had come out, too. This was turning into a farce. He had to bring the fight to an end, and as quickly as possible.
He waited for an opening. When Roger took a swing, missed, and was off balance, Salty moved in. He landed another series of punches to Roger’s gut. When Roger doubled over in pain, Salty kneed him in the jaw.
“Way to go. Hit him again!”
Roger was all but beaten, but he still wouldn’t go down. As he rose and swung, Salty finished with a direct shot to his throat. The man fell, gasping.
“Is he going to die?” Ellen asked.
“Naw,” Arnie said. “He’ll live to make some other woman’s life hell.” And with that, he turned and walked away.
“You want me to help drag him back to the shed?” Dobie asked, eyeing the wheezing and bloody Roger.
“Go on and get your sleep,” Salty replied. “He can make it on his own.”
“Doesn’t look like it to me,” Ellen said.
“I wish you’d killed him,” Jared growled. With that, he tucked his crutch under his arm and went back inside.
“Is he hurt bad?” Sarah asked.
Salty eyed him. “No. He just needs a few minutes to get his wind back.”
“I’ve never seen a fight,” Ellen said. “Do you think he’ll want to fight again?”
“Let’s hope not,” Sarah said. “Now it’
s time for you to go back to bed.”
“But I want to see what happens when he gets up!”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Salty said. “Your father’s going back to the shed and to sleep.”
Such a tame ending obviously disappointed Ellen. She went inside without further protest.
“I’m sorry this had to happen,” Sarah said.
Salty shrugged. “There was nothing you could do. Roger had to try to get inside, and I had to stop him. Now that we’ve settled that, things should be easier.”
Sarah knew Salty was trying to reassure her. Maybe they would be easier in some respects, but there wouldn’t be any true relief until they came up with a legal solution. It was possible for Sarah to divorce Roger and marry Salty again, but that would take a lot of time and money they didn’t have, and it would put everyone through an emotional nightmare. He wanted to avoid that.
“I knew he’d try to come inside,” Sarah admitted. “I put a loaded shotgun next to my bed.”
Roger had managed to sit up. “You wouldn’t use a shotgun on me.”
“Only as a last resort.”
“But I’m your husband. We were married.”
“You ran off and left us. Now, I’m going to bed. If you want any breakfast, you’ll do the same. If you get into another fight with Salty, you’ll have to leave until I can get a divorce. I won’t allow you to upset my life again.”
“I have a right to be here,” Roger insisted. “No matter what you and this man think.”
Sarah had already gone inside, so Salty answered. “Then don’t make it impossible for me to allow you to stay. Now go back to the shed.” When Roger showed no sign of picking up his bedding he asked, “Do you need some help?”
“This isn’t over,” Roger snarled.
“It will take a judge to decide which marriage is legal, but until then you’ll sleep in the shed and do your share of work. You’ll show respect for Sarah, and you won’t make any more belittling remarks about Jared. That boy has shown more courage and determination than all of us combined.”
Roger snorted. “He’s a cripple.”
“His limitations are only physical. One of these days he’s going to make you proud to call him your child.”
Roger laughed. “How?”
“There’s not much he can’t do when he sets his mind to it. I’d be proud to have him for a son.”
“Then you can have him.” Roger bent down to pick up his bedding. The beating he’d taken made it hard for him to stand up again, but Salty had no sympathy.
Roger turned, a look of surprise on his face when Salty growled, “You son of a bitch! What you’ve suffered is nothing compared with what Jared goes through every day, yet he endures it with grace and courage while you whine about your misfortune and bully anybody weaker than you. I’m glad Jared got nothing from you but his looks. He’s already twice the man you think you are.”
“You don’t know a damned thing about me,” Roger shouted.
“I know you were too blind to realize you’d married a wonderful woman. I know you were too shallow to know children like Ellen and Jared are gifts to be cherished. I know you were too lazy to keep a successful ranch running. I saw at least a hundred boys shot to pieces who should have come home to their families instead of you.”
“Is your vision so impaired you can’t see anyone except yourself? Are you incapable of caring for anyone, or do you merely think it’s unnecessary?”
“You don’t know what—”
“How could you squander so many advantages? You had a working ranch handed to you, a beautiful wife who was willing to do virtually anything to earn your respect, and two wonderful children anxious to love you for no reason at all. Why would any man who wasn’t criminally stupid throw all that away?”
“What kind of soldier were you?” Roger demanded angrily.
“A damned good one, but that appalling waste of life taught me at least one lesson you never learned. Everybody, young or old, plain or beautiful, is just as important as I am and therefore worthy of my respect. You spent years thinking you were better than others because you were handsome, but look at you now. You probably thought you were going to win the war by yourself only you never rose above the level of foot soldier. You chased the dream of easy riches and ended up with nothing. You never valued your family until you had no one else to turn to.”
Roger started to speak then changed his mind.
“You could have been a hero to your children just by coming home. You didn’t have to win battles, be rich, or handsome. All you had to do was be their father.”
“They were babies.”
“Babies grow up. But you couldn’t see beyond Jared’s withered leg any more than you could see Sarah was more than just a wife, a possession to be owned like livestock. In your blindness, you wasted the two most valuable blessings a man can have, a faithful wife and loving children.”
“I know I didn’t do everything I could—”
Salty didn’t let him finish. “You didn’t do anything except think of yourself.”
“I did come back.”
“Why?”
Roger seemed to be searching for an answer. For the first time in his life he might be about to admit he’d made mistakes.
“I felt like I belonged here. Nowhere else seemed like home.”
Salty wasn’t sure he didn’t really mean that nowhere else could he continue to live without regard for anyone but himself, but he was willing to credit the man with a small degree of self-realization. The war had changed him. It probably changed Roger, too.
“This ranch can never be your home again, but that’s something to work out later. Go to bed. We both need some sleep.”
He sighed as he watched Roger hobble back to the shed. He was tired of Roger. He’d much rather think about Sarah, about the way she’d felt in his arms, the way she’d responded to his kisses, the way she looked when he said he loved her. Roger was a more serious obstacle to their happiness than holding the ranch together, but he’d nonetheless figure out a solution. He’d found everything he wanted in life here, and he wasn’t about to let a worthless piece of cowhide like Roger Winborne take it away.
* * *
Sarah couldn’t sleep. It annoyed her that Salty felt forced to sleep outside on the ground to protect her from Roger. It angered her that Roger thought he still had a right to her body or any part in her life. It made her furious that he’d forced Salty to fight.
Growing more restless by the minute, she got out of bed and put on a robe. Salty’s nearness was another reason she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about last night. Not just the physical pleasure, though that had been a revelation; she found it hard to believe how much she loved Salty, and how happy she had been upon learning he loved her back. She knew she ought to go to sleep, that she ought to stay in her room—or at least not venture from the house—but she didn’t bother trying to argue herself out of what she had decided to do. She put on sturdy slippers, tied the robe, and left her room. She was going to see Salty.
She eased the front door open in case he was asleep, not wanting to wake or worry him. She just wanted to feel close to him, to feel his warm and comforting presence. She’d never imagined a man could have such an effect on her.
Salty lay on his side facing away from the house. He’d pulled the blanket up under his chin to ward off the night chill. Seeing that made her want to hold him, to keep him close and warm.
“You ought to be in bed. You’ll be exhausted tomorrow.”
She smiled. “I should have known you’d hear me.”
“You shouldn’t have come out.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Next thing you know Jared will be here. Then we’ll have Ellen up. Once she starts asking questions in her usual quiet, understated manner, the whole ranch will b
e up.”
Sarah laughed. Only Salty would make a joke of this situation. Was it any wonder her spirits had been raised lately? “I have a lot on my mind right now, and being with you helps me feel calmer.”
Salty turned over. “This is the first time anybody’s felt that way,” he said.
She shook her head. “I doubt that. But you’ve made everything better for me and the children. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“You keep making leading statements like that, and I won’t be able to stop myself from showing you.” A salacious look had come into his eye.
“I was thinking about that, too,” she whispered. “Is it awful for a woman to admit that?”
He shook his head. “It’s natural for a woman to enjoy being with the man she loves, so I don’t see any reason why she can’t say so.”
She sat down on the steps, tucked her robe around her legs and over her feet. “Women don’t talk about what it’s like to be with a man.”
He grinned. “Boys don’t talk about anything else.”
“Do you think I’m different from most women?”
“It’s normal for a woman to enjoy being with a man. If she doesn’t, it’s because she’s too afraid.”
“I was afraid, but I’m not now,” she said. Salty had made all the difference.
Even in the moonlight, she could see his eyes soften. “You’re not afraid of anything. You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known.”
No one had ever thought she was brave, or smart, or dependable. That a man who’d lived through the war would say such a thing made it even more wonderful. “I just did what I had to do.”
“Without help from anyone. You’re a remarkable woman, Sarah Wheeler.”
Sarah Wheeler. She still found it difficult to stop thinking of herself as Sarah Winborne. Sharing Salty’s name made her feel closer to him, made her want to be close to him. Physically. She needed his touch, his warmth…his confidence in the future. For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel alone.
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