by Duane Boehm
Realizing that Gideon had backed him into a corner, Zack returned to Finnie and the two men resumed their sparing. Finnie still had a hard time believing how far Zack had come with his boxing. His original intent had been to get the young man adequate in a fight, but Zack had picked things up better than expected and he had naturally fast hands. It had gotten to the point that Finnie had to stay on his toes to thwart his punches.
Irritated at Gideon, Zack punched harder than normal and stayed the aggressor. Finnie blocked his punches easily enough and countered with his own. The two men carried on this way for a couple of minutes before Zack threw a straight uppercut that Finnie missed defending, catching him square on the jaw and dropping him to the ground.
Zack rushed to Finnie, dropping to his knees. “Finnie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
Finnie held his jaw and shook his head. “I’m fine, my boy. I’m fine. I just slipped. It takes a lot more than that to hurt a square–jawed, hardheaded Irishman, but I must admit that was one whale of a punch. I’ve taught you well.”
The entire group hurried over to Finnie and Mary kneeled down beside him.
“Are you sure that you’re okay?” Mary asked.
“My dear, I have taken many a shot worse than that one and kept right on fighting, but I believe that I’m finished for this day,” Finnie said before wobbling to his feet. He walked unsteadily to the porch with Mary by his side and sat down on the swing, still rubbing his jaw.
Gideon followed them up to the porch. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I will be fine. I just need to sit and clear my head is all,” Finnie answered.
“Looks like maybe you taught your pupil a little too well,” Gideon said.
“Aye, it surely feels that way,” Finnie said.
∞
Zack hitched the horse to the buckboard wagon to go pick up Joann. Nerves had gotten the best of him and his hands shook as he adjusted the harness. He had made a point to bathe the night before in the stream behind his cabin and he had shaved that morning before heading to work wearing his best shirt. Berating himself as he worked for letting Joann upset him so badly, he wondered if he should take a vow to remain a bachelor.
Sarah walked out to the barn, startling Zack out of his ruminations. “Zack, I wanted to talk to you before you left. Gideon kind of put you on the spot, but he was really trying to help you get that first meeting over with and out of the way. You would have stewed about until it did happen otherwise. I know it is easy for me to say, but getting all nervous and worrying won’t change anything. Just be yourself. I don’t have a clue on how Joann will behave, but just make the best of it. She’s going to be here for a while so don’t try to win her back in a day.”
“Thank you, Sarah. I know you care and I’ll do my best, but women are just not my best subject. I guess I wasn’t around them enough growing up,” Zack said.
“Well you won Abby and me over right from the start and you won Joann over too until she headed back to Wyoming. You are better around us than you think, but Joann is such a spirited girl. The one thing with her is not to let her get the best of you. You look weak otherwise. Just try to be yourself and don’t act as if the world is ending because she moved on. I really think that she will come around in time,” Sarah said.
“I best be going. Thanks again for the talk. In case I don’t show it enough, I really do appreciate the way everyone has taken me in,” he said.
“We appreciate you too. I don’t know what I would have done when Ethan was hurt if you hadn’t been around. Now get going,” Sarah said and turned to walk back to the cabin.
Sarah’s talk helped to calm his nerves as he rode to town. Trying to think of anything but Joann, he planned the ranch that he dreamed of owning someday. Ethan had taught him so much about ranching and even though he still had much to learn, he realized that he was a natural at it. He hoped to be as successful as Ethan was at ranching. The daydreaming worked and it seemed as if he were in town in no time at all.
Parking the wagon, he waited in front of the hotel for Joann to arrive. He checked his pocket watch as the stagecoach approached from up the street. It arrived right on time. As the stage pulled to a stop in front of him, Zack could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest and had to use his shirtsleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow. Joann stepped out of the coach with the assistance of another passenger, looking prettier than ever. Gone were remnants of childhood that had still shown in her face the previous fall. She appeared to be a young woman in all aspects now.
Upon seeing Zack, the first words out of Joann’s mouth were, “Where is Daddy?”
“Well hello to you too. He wanted to stay with Abby and asked me to bring you to the cabin,” Zack answered.
“Is Abs worse?” Joann inquired, ignoring his sarcasm.
“I don’t think so. When I saw Gideon yesterday he said that she was fine,” Zack said.
“Oh, okay. You scared me there for a moment,” she said.
The driver handed Joann’s trunk down to Zack and he carried it to the wagon. “You must have all your earthly possessions in this thing,” he said as he heaved the box onto the buckboard.
“No, but I’m going to be here for a good while. I need some of my things,” Joann said defensively.
Joann climbed into the wagon on her own before Zack could get over to help her. He decided that she didn’t want him touching her so he climbed aboard and made sure he gave her plenty of space on the seat. They began the journey in silence, traveling a mile out of town with neither of them saying a word.
Finally, Joann broke the silence. “I hope that you’re not upset with me for wanting to just be friends. I met somebody in Wyoming and I didn’t want to lead you on.”
“I’m fine. It’s a free country and I think that you should do what makes you happy. Sarah tells me that there are a couple of the girls at church that are always talking about me. We can both move on and still be friends,” he said.
“That’s good. I would like that,” she said.
“I always figured that you’d end up with somebody with some status and not some ranch hand like me anyway,” Zack said.
“Zack Barlow, are you accusing me of being shallow? I’m no such thing and I don’t appreciate that,” Joann said with indignation in her voice.
“I never said anything of the kind, but I’ll bet your new beau’s daddy has money, doesn’t he?” he said.
Joann grew flustered and stammered in answering. “Why yes, yes he does, but that had nothing to do with it. We just hit it off one day.”
“Just a coincidence then, I guess” Zack said with a smile.
“You can believe what you want, but I would never be interested in somebody just because of their wealth. And besides, I feel I have an obligation to stay close to the people that raised me. I love being down here with Abs and Daddy and they might have brought me into this world, but Momma and Poppa raised me. It just makes sense to have a boyfriend from where I live,” Joann said.
“You can tell yourself whatever you want to sleep easy at night. It’s your life,” Zack said.
The conversation ended for most of the trip until Joann began talking about her excitement over the baby. She had already come up with names that she planned on suggesting and wished for a baby boy. Giggling, she wondered if her daddy had ever held a baby.
Gideon sat on the porch smoking a pipe as they arrived. Joann jumped down from the wagon like a man, running to him and hugging him as he stood.
“Daddy, I’ve missed you so much. I love the looks of the cabin and I know that it is a dream come true for you and Abs. You must be so happy. I can’t believe I’m going to be a sister again after all this time,” Joann said excitedly.
“I’ve missed you too. Don’t dare say anything about thinking Abby is too old. She’s a mite sensitive about the subject,” Gideon said.
“Oh, I won’t. I’m going in to see her. We can catch up later,” she said and kissed him on the chee
k before dashing inside the cabin.
Gideon turned towards Zack. “Well, how did it go? Looks as if you lived through it.”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t as bad as I feared and I made my point. So I guess it went okay. Sarah always calls her spirited, but I think she’s just a brat,” Zack said.
Gideon grinned at him. “But you want her to be your brat nonetheless.”
Chapter 20
The entire Johann household overslept. Gideon, Abby, and Winnie had spent the evening chatting away with Joann and catching up with all that had been happening in their lives. Winnie had been the first to retire when her bedtime came around and Abby soon followed. Gideon and Joann continued talking until close to midnight. He was still getting to know his daughter and found it both amusing and charming to listen to her talk endlessly about any subject that caught her fancy.
Gideon quickly roused the family, asking Joann to fix breakfast while he rushed Winnie into getting ready for school. Breakfast proved a grumpy affair with little conversation. Nobody appreciated being hurried into action. Once everyone finished their meal, Gideon kissed Abby and Joann goodbye before heading to the barn. He saddled Buck to take Winnie to school to get her there on time. They arrived at the school just as the teacher came out and started ringing the bell. Gideon waved goodbye to Winnie, taking a deep breath and relaxing for the first time that morning. He began the trek into town to resume his job as sheriff.
Finnie sat in the jail looking glum as Gideon walked into the office. The Irishman had already returned his badge to the drawer.
“You need to get me on as a full–time deputy. It’s a heap more respectful line of work than being Mary’s maid,” Finnie said.
Gideon hung his hat on the wall. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Oh no, nothing like that. It’s just hard to be a self–respecting man when I get by on odd jobs. I barely make enough to make ends meet and I live here for free,” Finnie said.
“I keep nagging the mayor for a deputy. Maybe it’ll happen one of these days,” Gideon said.
“If it doesn’t, I need to find me something else,” Finnie said.
“How’s the drinking going?” Gideon asked.
“I kept my word and never touched a drop of whiskey this week. In fact, I only had two beers. The lady on that glorious whiskey bottle keeps singing my name, but I try to ignore her,” Finnie answered.
“Keep it up, I’m sure that I can get you a job as a ranch hand after I know that you’ve kicked the bottle,” Gideon said.
“I best be going. Mary is a mean taskmaster,” Finnie said as he arose from his seat and put on his hat. He gave Gideon a wink as he walked out the door.
Finnie spent the entire morning working at the Last Chance. A shipment of whiskey came in and after finishing his cleaning, Mary had him unload the crates into the back room and inventory the bottles. Once finished, he had promised Blackie that he would help shoe a string of horses that one of the ranchers had brought to town. He started walking to the blacksmith shop and saw four men riding into town. They were a rough and scraggily looking bunch – the kind that bystanders would avoid looking at directly, but would watch from the corner of their eye. Tying their horses in front of the Lucky Horse, they disappeared into the saloon. Spinning around, Finnie headed straight to the jail, finding Gideon cleaning his rifle.
“I think we have a problem. Four men just rode into town and walked into the Lucky Horse. They certainly weren’t a congregation of preachers,” Finnie said.
Gideon cocked the rifle, satisfied that the oil had done the trick and the gun operated smoothly. He squeezed the trigger and gently returned the hammer. “Maybe they’re just passing through here. There’s no law against coming to town and hitting the saloon.”
“Gideon, I wasn’t born yesterday. These men are either outlaws or hired guns or probably both. They didn’t just show up to have a drink. I expect that since the last attempt to kill you failed, somebody has hired a whole slew to do it this time. What are we going to do?” Finnie said.
“You aren’t going to do anything and I’ll just have to keep an eye on them and see what happens,” Gideon said.
“Gideon Johann, you’ll go this alone over my dead body. Now hand me my badge back. I won’t take no for an answer. You need me,” Finnie said.
Gideon eyed Finnie for a moment before smiling. He reached into the drawer and tossed the badge onto the desk. “One of these days we are going to have to figure out if an Irishman or a German is more hardheaded.”
“That makes for an interesting conversation. I believe the difference between you American born types comes down to an individual’s nature and such, but us Irish that first suckled the teat back in the homeland, well there is no one more hardheaded than us. You Germans might come in a close second though,” Finnie said.
“I think I’m sorry I mentioned it. I may need a beer to get that thought out of my head. You’d better get a rifle off the rack and grab those two shotguns. We’d better have them ready. We’ll take turns walking the town until we figure out what those men are doing here. Hopefully, it’s nothing,” Gideon said as he retrieved a second revolver and shoved it under his belt.
For the next three hours, Gideon and Finnie took turns every half–hour walking the main street of Last Stand. The day had turned hot and with no rain in the last week, little whirlwind dust clouds kicked up in the street. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and all was quiet outside of the Lucky Horse.
Finnie was walking back from the far side of town, down by the dry goods store. He saw the four men leave the Lucky Horse and cross the street. They entered the Last Chance. He had not taken another ten steps before patrons hurriedly started exiting the saloon. A chill ran up his spine and he shuddered as he realized that Mary was not among the crowd. He quickened his pace back to the jail, finding a cowboy named Larry Rogers in the office.
“What’s happening?” Finnie asked.
“Those men took over the Last Chance and ran everybody out but Mary. They told Larry to tell me that I have a half–hour to show up or Mary would pay for it,” Gideon said.
Finnie dropped into a chair. “Oh, damn. Oh, damn. What are we going to do?”
“Larry, thank you for coming. You can go now,” Gideon said.
Gideon waited until the cowboy had gone before speaking. “I don’t know how to play this. I wish we knew where they have Mary. If they have her tied to a chair or something like that, I don’t see any way to surprise them without getting her killed. I guess I’ll have to go through the front door and hope for the best.”
“Gideon, that would be suicide and you know it. You would never have a chance with four men spaced out and shooting at you. Mary would never stand for you doing that. She would rather die than let you sacrifice yourself. Maybe we can go in the back way and I can take the back steps. There’s bound to be one of them at the top of the front stairs. I can shoot him and then take his spot. You can come through the side door and we can shoot it out. Let’s hope they left Mary behind the bar and she can dive behind it,” Finnie said.
“Finnie, one of them might be in the back room. It’s too much to chance and we could all three end up dead. This is on me,” Gideon said.
“Gideon Johann, don’t even go there. We have gone through too many battles together to even think that I would let you go it alone. I think my idea is our best chance for everyone. If we find someone in the back, we’ll kill them and charge through the side together,” Finnie said.
Gideon rubbed his scar before blowing up his cheeks and exhaling slowly. “I never thought being sheriff of Last Stand would be so dangerous. I should have gone into ranching. Let’s do this,” he said and got up and retrieved the two shotguns. “No need in missing the target.”
They walked out of the jail and away from the Last Chance before taking a side street to the alley and going the block and a half to the back door of the saloon. Gideon took a position with the shotgun pointed at the door as Finnie attemp
ted to open it.
“They must have locked it,” Finnie whispered.
“Damn it,” Gideon cursed.
Reaching into his pocket, Finnie said, “I have a key.”
Gideon smiled and whispered, “Now why would you need a key to get into here?”
“Let’s just say that while I was deputy I did night inspections,” Finnie said with a grin as he unlocked the door.
“I’ll bet you did,” Gideon said as Finnie opened the door.
The room was empty and they entered quietly. The saloon was eerily silent in contrast to its normal hustle and bustle. Finnie pulled off his boots before opening the door to the backstairs. He paused, looking Gideon in the eyes and holding out his hand. They shook before he headed up the stairs. Taking each step as lightly as possible, he made it to the top with only a couple of creaks. Peeking his head around the corner, a man sat on the floor at the end of the hall with his rifle trained on the downstairs.
Not wanting to waste his shotgun shells, Finnie pulled out his revolver. He swung his arm and head out into the hall, taking aim at a spot under the man’s left armpit. Gently squeezing the trigger, the sound of the shot echoed down the hallway as the man jumped up as if he had just startled a bumblebee’s nest. Turning towards Finnie, the gunman dropped his rifle and swung his arms wildly in the air before falling backward and down the stairs. Finnie could hear outlaw tumbling as he ran to take his place at the top of the stairs.
Gideon waited until he heard Finnie running down the hall before he yanked the door open. One of the men stood at the end of the bar so close to him that Gideon did not have room to raise the shotgun to his shoulder or time to drop it and draw his revolver. He jammed the butt of the scattergun into his pelvis and squeezed one of the triggers as the gunman lunged at him. The shot caught the tall man in the chest at an upward angle, sending him flying through the air like a bird.
Rapidly scanning the room, Gideon saw no one. An overturned table was the only sign of anything out of place. “Finnie, where are they?” Gideon shouted.