by Cassie Hayes
“Because we’re married to them,” Callie said.
Colleen giggled. “Just two of them!”
Callie snickered, while Mrs. Obregon rolled her eyes. The men glanced at each other, then made their way to the door.
“Well, we couldn’t have asked for a better source of information,” said the tall man as he passed the women. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about your shipment,” Colleen said, still grinning from her silly joke. “No criminal in his right mind would dare to rob a train within a hundred miles of White Fox. It’s the safest town in Manitoba, thanks to our husbands.”
The shorter man was already out the door, but the tall man paused to give her wink and a smile. “Ma’am, I’m not worried in the slightest.”
* * *
Spring rains and melting snowpack had the potential to cause major flooding in the prairies of Manitoba, which could jeopardize entire farms and families. Helping with such natural disasters was one of a Mountie’s many obligations, and when the call for help came in, all four men were often needed. As was the case when Harold Benning’s creek overflowed its banks.
Normally, Peter would have left at least one man behind for any emergencies that might come up while the rest were out doing their duty, but some situations called for ‘all hands on deck’. Besides, the train carrying a large silver shipment from the mines had just left the White Fox stop and was probably already making its long, slow turn before taking on the hill outside town.
So when Peter stopped the troop and sent Marshall and Andrew back to check on the train based on a hunch, Marshall sighed with annoyance. They were already halfway to Harold’s place, and there’d been absolutely no sign the robbers were anywhere near White Fox. At first, it seemed like a waste of resources.
But as the pair galloped through town, he realized it was the right call. There would be no better time to hit the train than when the entire station had been called out on an emergency. Peter had been promoted to Commander for a reason and had never made a bad call since they’d arrived in White Fox. Marshall wasn’t about to start second-guessing him now.
“The bend just before the hill?” Marshall called to Andrew as they pounded down the road to town.
Andrew didn’t say a word, merely nodded, and in unison they turned their horses off the road and across a field. Even though the train had left some time earlier, it would move slow until it made that long, laborious turn. That’s when the tracks straightened out, giving the locomotive enough time to gather up speed to make it over the hill. If the robbers were going to try anything, it would be at that bend in the line, when the train would be easy to board.
Up ahead, a plume of white smoke rose above the tree line. Relief washed over Marshall. Maybe their fears had been exaggerated. Maybe the outlaws had no intention of—
Even at a distance, the violent shriek of a train braking in a hurry nearly pierced their eardrums. One surprised glance between them and they pushed their mounts harder than they ever had. A single badly placed gopher hole would spell the end — both for the horse and for the mission — but they were moving too fast to see much of anything clearly.
As luck would have it, they reached the tree line without a single mishap. They dismounted as quietly as they could, just in case the bad guys were nearby, and hid themselves behind some trees and shrubbery. They watched and waited as the train belched to a full stop, hoping for a clear view of what was happening.
The men must have been on the other side of the train, so Marshall and Andrew had no idea how many they were dealing with. Marshall thought hard about what Peter would do and quickly worked up a plan he prayed would work.
“I’ll move through the tree line to the end of the train. When I give the signal, we’ll both come out and close in on them.”
Before he could so much as move from his hiding spot, a small, clear voice cut through the trees. Marshall recognized its owner: Lily, Andrew’s stepdaughter. She was saying something about her uncle David, who’d just left town after his visit, and how he must have made the engineer stop the train because he wanted to stay in White Fox with them.
Marshall shot Andrew a confused look, but Andrew appeared to be just as shocked. Before the two men knew what was happening, Lily and three boys bolted out of the relative safety of the woods and headed straight for the train.
In the space of a heartbeat, Andrew’s entire mission shifted from protecting the train, its occupants, and the silver in the cargo hold, to saving Lily. Marshall couldn’t blame him, but there was also a train full of passengers who needed just as much protection as Lily.
Marshall sensed Andrew tensing to leap out and snatch up his daughter, but before he could, a masked man rounded the engine and spotted the children. The boys — who’d probably read all sorts of tall tales about train robbers, outlaws and bandits — took one look at the bandana around the man’s face and bolted back into the woods. Lily however didn’t notice him until it was too late.
She cried out when the man grabbed her arm, and that was the last straw for Andrew. He sprinted out into the open and demanded the man release her. “You may as well give yourself up, we’ve got you surrounded,” he added for good measure.
Marshall froze. Their plan had been torn asunder and their presence had been revealed to the bandits. Now what was he supposed to do? Marshall still had no idea how many men they were, so he stayed hidden and crept along until he was even with the man holding Lily.
The masked man called for someone named Dirk — their leader, from the deference in the man’s tone — who came hurrying over. Crouching low, Marshall scanned under the train, looking for legs. A pair of feet belonging to a third man kicked up dust on the other side of the train. It wouldn’t take but a few seconds for him to join the rest of the party. A fourth leaned his head out of a small window in the engine to see what was happening. That was obviously the one who’d forced the engineer to stop the train. Hopefully no one had been hurt yet.
Four outlaws, two Mounties.
Marshall’s heart thundered in his chest, playing out every possible scenario. Not a single one ended well. Unless Peter and Bert magically turned up out of the blue, he couldn’t see a way this situation wouldn’t turn sideways. He even glanced behind him, hoping to catch a glimpse of red serge rushing through the trees behind him. No such luck.
The third man from the other side of the train finally rounded the engine, giving Andrew the distraction he’d no doubt been waiting for. He lunged at the man who’d captured Lily, then the world erupted.
Marshall bounded out of the tree line, his gun at the ready. The one called Dirk aimed for Andrew, who was tussling with Lily’s captor. The little girl was thrown clear, but Dirk managed to crack off a shot before Marshall could get him in his sights. Andrew shouted in surprise, then fell to the ground, motionless.
Marshall’s vision turned a dark scarlet, the same color pouring out of Andrew’s side. He heard nothing but his own blood surging through his veins. He saw nothing but the target of his fury.
Dirk.
“Not on my watch!” Marshall shouted before leveling his pistol on the man who’d shot his friend.
Dirk didn’t have time to blink, much less raise his own pistol in defense, before he was lying on the ground next to Andrew, writhing in pain and squealing like a wounded animal.
“Get him!” Dirk screamed to his men.
They faltered, glancing around to see if more Mounties were going to pounce. Of course none were coming, and that would leave Marshall to fight off three very bad men on his own. As much as he wanted to shoot them all dead on the spot, he knew he’d only have time to hit one, if he was lucky, before the others emptied their guns into him, Andrew and Lily. Worst of all, understanding was dawning in the eyes of the man who’d grabbed Lily. Marshall had to act swiftly.
Pressing his index finger and thumb into a circle, he raised his left hand to his lips and let out the shrillest whistle he could manage, all while holding
his gun on the bandits. “I’ve got ‘em, boys! Come on out!”
It was a bluff, one their leader probably would have dismissed, but he was on the verge of either dying or passing out, and his henchmen were far from bright. Their gazes bounced around again, wondering from which direction the posse would come. Instead of taking any chances, they grabbed Dirk’s arms and dragged him around the train, leaving a wide trail of blood.
As soon as the thunder of hoofs reached him, Marshall holstered his gun and kneeled next to Andrew. Lily ran up, sobbing for her Papa, but Marshall pulled her away before she could reach him.
“Not right now, Lily,” he said. Lily wriggled against him, fighting to reach Andrew until she fell limp in his arms and wept.
“I’ll take her,” a man’s voice said behind them.
Marshall reached for his gun as he spun around, then let out his relief in a whoosh. It was Lily’s uncle.
“David! Yes, take her. We need to get Andrew back to town before it’s too late.”
Together they wrestled an unconscious Andrew onto Marshall’s horse, but before riding for town, Marshall glanced behind them and spotted a cloud of dust in the distance. He clenched his jaw and his lip pulled back in a vengeful snarl as he whispered, “Not on my watch.”
6
Colleen chewed on her lower lip as she waited for someone to answer Ida and Andrew’s front door. Callie opened the door and smiled broadly.
“The gang’s all here,” she said, stepping aside so Colleen could enter the crowded cabin.
Marshall, Peter and Ida were tending to Andrew, who lay propped up in the bed, while Madelyn busied herself in the kitchen. Lily, Mary and Millie sat on the floor playing with dolls at the foot of Andrew’s bed.
“Bert’s holding down the fort, in case any word comes in about the robbers,” Callie informed her. “What’s that?”
Colleen feebly glanced at the pot in her hands. “I made some stew,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Callie took it from her and handed it off to Madelyn, then guided Colleen to a seat at the table. Kneeling in front of her, Callie stared into her face.
“Are you feeling ill? You look white as a sheet.”
“I’m fine, I just—“ She broke off, unable to continue without breaking into tears.
“Ah, Mrs. Bowman!” Peter smiled over at her. “How does it feel to be married to a hero?”
For the first time, Colleen caught a full glimpse of Andrew. Marshall had told her he’d only suffered a flesh wound in his side, and that he should heal up nicely. He lay propped up against the headboard, rolling his eyes dramatically at the commander’s question.
“Hero?” he scoffed. “A real hero would have saved my life and caught the bad guys!”
Everyone in the cabin laughed — everyone except Marshall. He smiled, but Colleen knew it was forced. They’d lain awake late into the night talking about the events of the day, and in the darkness he’d admitted how guilty he felt about not chasing after the robbers. Of course, no amount of persuasion from her had been able to convince him otherwise.
“Well, he’s certainly a hero to me,” she said, giving her husband a soft smile from across the room. Then she turned her attention to the patient.
“Andrew, I’m so sorry for—“ Her voice cracked again, and the mood in the cabin grew somber. Marshall wasn’t the only one in the room who felt a tremendous amount of guilt over what had happened. “I’m so sorry I told them you were all leaving town.”
The tears would no longer be held back. She let them flow freely, her gaze bouncing between Andrew and Ida, pleading with her eyes for them to forgive her.
“It’s not your fault,” Ida said, rushing to her friend and pulling her into a tight hug.
“Agreed,” Andrew said from his bed.
Marshall sat down next to her and clasped one of her hands between both of his. The simple touch gave her more comfort than words ever could.
Peter approached her. “Colleen, you had no way of knowing those men were the ones we’ve been searching for. Please don’t blame yourself for any of this. You were only trying to help.”
Colleen sniffled and laughed at the same time. “I tried to help the outlaws and that ended up almost getting Andrew—“
She stopped when she spotted Lily’s wide, frightened eyes. The poor girl adored Andrew and she’d almost lost him.
“Listen,” the commander said, sitting next to her. “These men have been plaguing the line, all the way down to the mines. Quite frankly, it was inevitable they’d try their luck with us. The fact they’ve managed to get away scot-free for this long is a testament to their wits. They’re smart and wily, so please don’t be ashamed about your trusting nature.”
Marshall had tried to tell her the same the night before, but his words of consolation had worked about as well as hers had. Her mother had always said she talked too much and the proof of that was lying in a bed recovering from a gunshot wound.
“Besides, we never had much of a description of them before,” Peter continued. “All we knew was that they were four masked men in total. That’s it. But now we have a good description of two of them.”
“Don’t forget one of them is wounded,” Andrew pointed out, though his voice sounded sleepy.
“Yes, I hit the one who shot Andrew,” Marshall confirmed, standing and joining the rest of the group. “He wasn’t dead when they dragged him off, but he couldn’t walk on his own.”
“Doesn’t that mean they could be close by?” Madelyn asked from her place at the stove. “Hiding out while their buddy heals up?”
“Not likely.” Peter’s air of authority comforted Colleen a bit. “They’ve never hit the train in the same place twice in a row, so they probably had a new hideout already set up somewhere down the line. As I said before, they’re smart.”
“But what about their wounded man?” Colleen asked.
Peter shrugged. “Not a lot of honor amongst thieves, you know. Either he survived the ride to the new rock they’re hiding under or…he didn’t.”
Silence fell over the cabin, but it was quickly broken by Andrew’s snores. Snickers started, then turned into roars of laughter. The perfect way to break the tension that had built.
And through it all, Andrew snored on.
“You said you didn’t have good descriptions of the men,” Colleen said to Peter once things settled down, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
“Thanks to you and Callie, we now have two more than we did before.”
“Wouldn’t sketches of them be better?”
His eyes popped open wide. “More than you can imagine. Are you an artist?”
“Hardly, but I love to draw,” Colleen said, blushing furiously at the idea of her being an artist. “I could try.”
Marshall’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t know you drew.”
Colleen gave her husband a coy smile. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Mr. Bowman.”
Marshall flashed her a wicked grin before Peter stepped between them.
“Marshall and Callie, you sit with Colleen and see if you can all agree on what these devils look like. I’m going to check on Bert, see if he needs a hand with anything. Back shortly.”
For the next hour or so, the three sat at the table, arguing over the smallest details of the two robbers the women had seen at the mercantile. Marshall was certain the man he shot, Dirk, was not either of the ones they’d seen in the shop. As the man had writhed around in the dirt, his bandana had fallen away from his face, but everything had happened so fast, Marshall had barely had time to glimpse Dirk’s face, much less commit it to memory. By the time Peter returned, Colleen had finished two very detailed sketches, and a vague one of Dirk.
“These are just as realistic as any photograph,” Peter said as he examined the sheets of paper.
Colleen had never really shown her drawings to anyone except family. Under any other circumstances, she would have been far too self-conscious to show t
hem to her husband’s superior, but the stakes were too high for her to succumb to pride. That she was receiving compliments on them certainly made her feel good though.
“And just as accurate too,” Marshall said, grinning as he stood.
He held his hand out to her. She took it and looked around in confusion as he helped her stand. “What—“
“I just want everyone to know — I want the world to know — that I love this sassy, talented, smart, beautiful and sassy woman—“
“You said ‘sassy’ twice,” Andrew called out in a drowsy voice from the bed.
“Hush now!” Colleen said, flapping a hand at him to be quiet already, before turning her eyes back to Marshall’s. “You were saying?”
His smile softened as he gazed down at her and hooked a finger under her chin. “I was saying that I love this woman more than I ever thought possible, and I want the world to know. I may not be perfect, but you are, and never again will I hide my feelings for you.”
Colleen could hardly believe what she was hearing. Marshall Bowman, the man who barely touched her when others were around, was standing there in a room full of people, professing his love for her. Just when she thought she couldn’t love him any more than she already did, he did something to surprise her.
Marshall pulled her close, and Colleen snaked her arms around his neck, ready to accept his kiss. She’d wanted him to show more affection for her, but she’d never imagined he’d do it in front of all their friends. Just as his lips were about to connect with hers, Madelyn screeched.
“Chip, quit spying on us!”
* * *
Marshall stood on the small porch and watched the half-witted and incredibly curious bison amble down the street. Peter tromped out of Andrew’s house and stood next to him for some time before finally speaking.
“You did the right thing, you know.”
Marshall sighed and crossed his arms. “Then why does it feel like I failed?”
“A man’s duty is to provide and protect. You provided for Andrew by treating his wound and getting back here so fast. If you’d waited for even a few minutes, things could have turned out very differently.”