“You okay?” I asked Jess.
“I guess.”
Gone.
Jess leaned on a crutch, sorting through boards, nails, and leather on the wagon. Quiet, never offering to hook them together or boast about how they would work. I went inside and sorted through the pantry, quietly did with Ben’s contributions here what Jess was doing with those outside. I reclaimed it for Jess and me while Ted did his part reclaiming the corral. He labored over it near the barn, his sounds different from Ben’s as they carried through the walls.
Gone. Ben shouldn’t have attacked Ted that way over a fire that had nothing to do with him, and a silly comment that didn’t even make sense. Young bucks that can’t shoot straight? What did Ben care about them?
I packed away every remnant of Ben, glanced out the window at Jess and Ted, then took Clyde’s letter and wire to the prairie. I was truly on my own now. I could do it. I’d planned for it.
Dear Regina,
I have to admit I’m relieved not to come out west. You’re so much more used to the terrain than I am, surely you can figure out who and where these men are faster than I. But of course, if you need my help…
“Clyde, get to the point.” I shook my cousin’s letter, rattled it in the air the same way I’d shake him if he were standing here babbling at me. “Just spit out their names, you imbecile. And don’t let Flynn be part of it.”
I hid the paperwork in a file at the bank but moved it home once I discovered things weren’t apropos.
I shook the letter again. “Clyde! Just tell me what I need to know!” I skimmed down through excuses, explanations, things he wouldn’t want my father to know. “Oh, never mind.” I stuffed my cousin’s letter into my pocket and opened his wire, instead.
Carlisle and Morgan. Those were their names. Clyde
“Carlisle and Morgan?” I looked across the prairie, grasses blowing between the ground and my furrowed brow. “Are they a company?” I extracted the letter from my pocket, went to the second page, and ran a finger through meaningless chatter until I spotted their names.
I only met Carlisle, but I worked mostly with his and Morgan’s representative. Those other two managed the money and it was their names on the small checks I received.
Carlisle and Morgan. I couldn’t recall Flynn ever saying their names. At least not here. Maybe back in New York? I stared at the two names, then the rest of my cousin’s gibberish, before folding everything and stuffing it all back in my pocket.
I turned to the house, the empty barnyard, and the vacant road that led to both. I walked this time instead of running.
Carlisle. I paused at the wagon to make sure Jess had put his hardware away. Nothing there except the empty crate and Ben’s blanket. I turned to the house. “Morgan…”
“You need something?”
Ted, scrubbed enough he smelled less like a forest fire, stepped from the barn.
“No. I was just thinking about someone my cousin wrote about…” A Morgan.
“But you said my name.”
“It was nothing. New York business. Family issues.”
“I heard Morgan.”
“Yes, I did say Morgan, but you know good and well I would address you by your first name instead of your last. I was talking about a different Morgan in New York. Rich, evidently.”
“A rich Morgan?” Ted made the effort to grin, the remainder of the black soot crinkling between the furrows of his skin. “Need a few more of those.”
“Rich people don’t make their money on horseback. Or ranching.” I glanced to the side at everything Flynn set his hands to. At least I couldn’t see that they did.
“Speaking of money and ranches…now that your husband is gone…well, sort of a husband…”
Agree to nothing. That’s what Ben had said. I ran my hand over my pocket. Carlisle and Morgan.
“Ben signed the deed. I have it inside.” I lied. We hadn’t done anything with it yet. Not together, anyway. I’d asked him to sign it, told him I wanted to keep it in Jess’s loft, under his mattress, until we could take care of it properly. A distinct hiding place. No secrets. No guessing games. He’d better have done at least this one thing I said.
Ted stepped around the wagon, the faint aroma of smoke coming with him. “Mrs. Howard…I mean, Mrs. Miller…” He hooked his thumb behind his belt. “I don’t mean to hurt you none, but Ben’s name is no better than Flynn’s. Especially now, since this husband up and left without covering the debt.” Ted extracted his thumb. “Flynn was a good man. He made a mistake, maybe, but he at least tried to do right.”
“And I want to do right for him. Give him the honor of respecting his name. I’m sorry, Ted, but I can’t have just anyone sign that deed. It has to be someone in a family relationship to me and Jess.”
“Family enough to run out on you? That fellow you call family didn’t even argue when you sent him off. I’m here, and I aim to stay.”
“I never called Ben family, but he married me, and that honors Flynn. And just like Ben, no one will stay here if I tell them to go.”
The smoky smell came closer, near enough the heat came with it. “I’ll be saying when I come and go on this land, Mrs. Miller, at your husband’s—your real husband’s—wish. And just remember, my name’s the only one worth anything.”
Chapter 53
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. ~Rex
The saloon was the best place to find a man like Morrissey. I stayed to the back of the building, low and close. The ruckus inside was plain as day, but I wasn’t—I was staying hidden in the fading light. The music wailed, then was gone. Coming and going. Sounds no better than a broken piano could make.
I leaned against the wall and listened to the voices in between the scattered notes. Giggles. Maybe the girl that had served me the drink I didn’t want. Deeper laughter. The sounds of a card game, conversations so loud I knew they didn’t matter.
I slid to the side of the building, came close enough to the front to look at the horses tied in a line there. The hitching posts looked charred, but they still stood. Someone had laid fresh boards over the burnt ones in front of the buildings. I glanced back at the horses. A bay, a palomino, and Boss. I eased into the shadows. I wasn’t surprised this was where Ted went when it was quiet below my bed in the loft. I’d be even less surprised to find Morrissey in there with him.
I kept my back to the wall of the saloon, my thoughts louder than the chatter and music inside. For all the years Luke wanted to be tall like me, I’d gladly trade him sizes tonight. I edged to the front of the building, keeping low and swinging wide of the gaping doorway where smells and noises spilled out. I swung far enough to come at the horses from the rear, keeping with the dark of the street. I spoke gently as I came close and made my way to the one horse I knew.
“Hey, Boss.” I wasn’t much of a whisperer. I laid a hand on his rump, ran it along his side as I came to his head. “Easy, boy.” I unlooped his reins from the hitching post, patting his neck while I backed him from the line.
The saloon doors swung wide when we were half a length back. I ducked even lower than I was, and pressed close to Boss’s side. Two men. No, one man and a woman. A woman in trousers and boots. I crouched lower and peered between the legs of the horses still in line.
“Boss, what are you doing loose?”
Her boots came my way. Weaving between the forest of hooves, I scooted behind the horses and slipped between two farther down the line.
“You rode a horse this late?” That was Doc. I nearly ripped a muscle craning my neck.
“No, I have the wagon.” Regina. “I borrowed the neighbor’s horse. Ted rode Boss.”
How did I miss her coming into town? Unless she came in the long way. But she shouldn’t have.
“Come on, boy.” Regina eased Boss forward to the post and re-looped his reins. “There you go.” She patted his neck, then walked back to the new boards on the walk, where Doc stood. I watched from under the horses’ bellies. It sure
didn’t take my wife long to recover from me leaving.
“Thank you, Doc. This should help Jess.” She took a small bottle.
“Just a little at a time. I had the barkeep dilute it. Sorry I didn’t have any of the real pain medicine I gave you before.”
“You had it diluted?”
“Of course. He’s just a boy.”
“But it was a pretty good fall he had this afternoon, and he’s been complaining an awful lot.” Regina sounded sweet, too sweet, and her story sounded wrong. Like an excuse to hie it into town and meet up with Doc. I crouched lower so I could see her better, see her lying red head, as I kept myself well away from the hooves of the horses I was annoying.
“Should I come look at his leg?”
“No. No, that won’t be necessary.” Regina shook her head, hard enough some of that curly red stuff fell loose. “No. But thank you.”
If I wasn’t so sure Morrissey was in that saloon, I’d stand up and make the widow—I mean, my wife—admit she was spinning a yarn. One the size of Oklahoma Indian Territory.
“Regina, I…”
“I know, Doc. And I’m sorry. But it’s for the best.”
A hoof came close as I pressed my face nearer to the ground. I wanted to see her eyes.
“Ben’s a good man. He’ll be good on the ranch.” She was looking up into Doc’s face, the tiny bottle in her hands.
“I’m…I’m sure he will.”
Rotten music and loud laughter filled the gap between them. The gap Regina was pretending to put me in, while I was down here under a horse instead of up there by her side.
Doc took the bottle from her hands. “I’ll get you something stronger, if you think Jess really needs it. But I advise against it.”
The doors swung open. Boots scuffed the boards. Two sets of boots.
“You still here?” Ted stopped near Regina. “Kind of late for you to be out alone. I could ride with you.”
“I was just leaving. Thank you, Doc, for the medicine for Jess.” She snatched the bottle from Doc’s fingers, her boots turning Ted’s way. “I can handle myself, late or not.”
The other set of boots made themselves comfortable near a post.
“I’ll walk you to your wagon.” Doc extended an elbow her way. Regina nodded. I sank lower, watching the man who wasn’t, but probably should have been, her husband escort my wife away.
“That her?” It was Morrissey. He rearranged his feet near the post.
“Yup.”
“Pretty thing. Looks better in those trousers than most women look in dresses. Not every ranch comes with one of those.”
“Pretty wears thin when they’re smart.” Ted moved near the edge of the boards. There was no softness in his gravel, not like he used at the ranch. I ground my teeth. I had no use for a man who changed his story whoever he was with. “She’s smarter than her husband was. At least quicker to figure things out.”
“Wouldn’t follow you on anything?”
“Has to question everything, then do it her way.”
I thought of her broken comb. Glad I’d left it where she could find it. She needed to know what sort of scallywag Ted was when he came back and tried to act like her hero. She was bright enough to figure out it didn’t appear there by itself. Hopefully bright enough to tie it to her ranch manager.
Morrissey snorted. “Why is it men are so easy to lead around, and women so much trouble? Never met a ranch owner yet that couldn’t be sent on a wild chase with dollar signs in his eyes.”
“We don’t waste time asking questions, just get to the point. Just some aren’t watching for what’s behind that point.”
Maybe like Flynn. Ran off, ran into an accident. Left a deed and a handsome widow behind.
Morrissey straightened. His feet shuffled Ted’s way. “I laid a path a mile wide for the young buck I was telling you about that’s been tailing me. Did everything but invite him to my house. He’s still straggling behind. A real cowboy would have found me days ago; his brother would have. But not this fellow. I could have plugged him a dozen times. Too easy. Too stupid. Too much talk and not enough smarts. Taking all the fun out of having the last word with him.”
So Ted had heard about Luke, even if he wasn’t sure Luke was tied to me. At least wasn’t sure before I laid him out on the ground. Next time I had Ted under my boot, he wouldn’t get back up.
“Flynn wasn’t slow, just green. He had a bunch of New York know-how that was no good out here.” Ted laughed. I’d never heard him laugh before, and I never wanted to again. And I’d never give Morrissey the chance to insult my little brother that way again. Ever.
People spilled in and out of the saloon. Eventually one would want one of these horses I was crouched under. I eased backward, staying close to the ground, and moved into the dark street. Luke and Regina. I didn’t like choices like that. I couldn’t be both places at the same time, and I didn’t want Luke to come here to make it easier for me. Because it wouldn’t be.
I made my way to the far side of the street and watched. Too far to hear, but I’d heard enough. Ted left first. I watched him go, my gut feeling like I’d swallowed a boulder as he swung up on Boss, said something to Morrissey, then wheeled toward home. Home, maybe to tell Regina I wasn’t Ben Miller, if he was sure. If I went after him, taught him a lesson that would drive him off, I’d likely lose Morrissey. Maybe even Luke. If I stayed… The boulder doubled in size.
Blood ain’t thicker than water.
I stepped off the walk. I could catch Ted, even in the dark, even with his lead. I swung to the right, far outside the ring of light cast from the saloon. Walter was far enough out there to be hidden, but not so far I couldn’t hie it to him. Luke would pay me back for this someday. Walking away from Morrissey was something I swore I’d never do.
“Come on out here and face me like a man.”
Come on, face me like a man; get out here where I can see you. I stopped. I knew that voice. I’d know it anywhere. The same one that called to me from our father’s burning ranch. I bent low and scurried deeper into the dark, wanting to run instead to the light where he shouted from. I half squatted, half ran, circling toward the side of the saloon. Be quiet, Little Brother. Go home. Leave Morrissey to me.
“I said get out here! Get out on this street so I can plug you.”
I didn’t care if Luke plugged Morrissey, even though I’d prefer the rat suffered longer than just a gunshot, but Luke most likely would miss. Then Morrissey’d plug him. Little Brother.
I edged along the side, up to the front corner of the saloon. Luke stood in the street, facing it, his feet spread far too wide, the tremor in his arms and voice evident even in the night. Stop him, Ma. Can you do what I can’t? Her hair, that Luke had, was hidden under his hat. The light spilling from the saloon wasn’t enough to show her eyes.
Morrissey leaned against the post, his back to me, staring at Little Brother. He spit into the street and crossed his legs at the ankles. The loop was off his pistol, his hip out where the gun would be easy to grab. I laid a hand on my pocket, on the flint and steel. Naw. Not this time. Luke never did master maneuvering through smoke. I flipped the loop off the trigger of my pistol, and positioned myself to shoot.
“Now, Luke Duncan. What are you doing up here in Kansas? You have to move since you got no place to live?” Morrissey spit in the street again.
Luke spread his legs a little wider. That boy had learned nothing at all from me.
The crowd gathered, yet cleared. More folks appeared on the street, but none came close. They moved back, like the ring in a pond when you threw a rock in.
I’d married the widow, and it looked like part of that ranch ring Jim wanted was standing right in front of me. All I had left to do was wring the other names from that part before I took it down and saved my little brother. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a knife as I looked back to Luke, praying him to be quiet and off the street. The widow’d be rid of me soon enough when I took Morrissey—or his bod
y—back to Oklahoma. And rid of Ted, too, once she realized what a snake he was and I took care of her deeds. I straightened and leaned forward to take Morrissey.
“Here, here, I won’t have any of this outside my saloon.” The barkeep stepped out. Bravest barkeep I’d ever seen. “I run a civilized place, and I’ll have the law on both of you if you don’t move away from here.” Or stupidest.
While Luke’s and Morrissey’s lock on each other was broken, I moved. Faster than a striking rattler, I was up on the walkway, Morrissey in my grip. Down we went. I heard a shot over Morrissey’s grunt as the wind gushed out of him. Women screamed. Glass broke where Luke’s wild shot hit. I rolled Morrissey while I had the chance, while the wind was out of him and the advantage was mine.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot again.” Luke moved with us as I kept turning Morrissey toward the dark. “Stop!”
Once I had Morrissey at the side of the building where Luke couldn’t see, I brought him to his feet with one arm and took the rest of the wind out of him with the other.
That was when the next shot came. It followed my name. Rex… It hailed with Luke’s scream.
Chapter 54
Plans weren’t made to be broken. Only hearts. ~Regina
My neighbor had promised his horse could run like the wind. I snapped the reins from the wagon seat, made every noise I’d heard Ben make to Walter. Even came up with a few of my own, and yet this horse moved like its feet were plugged into the ground.
Carlisle, the name and where I’d heard it, had come back to me. After Ted left, long after Ben had gone, and too late to save poor Flynn. I had a plan. A better plan. And this time I wouldn’t fail.
“Faster, you idiot!” I snapped the reins again. My house and barn materialized in the low light. Jess was with the neighbor until I returned for him. I rode straight to the barn and around to the far side, where I stood and yanked back on the reins. “Whoa,” I shouted. The smell of horse, tired horse, was overpowering as I jumped down from the wagon and rounded the sweating animal. “You shouldn’t be that sweaty.” I tapped him on the nose as I passed.
The Lady's Arrangement (Help Wanted) Page 24