Lakota Renegade

by Baker, Madeline

“Thirty minutes,” the sheriff said curtly.

  Jassy reached for Creed as soon as the door closed behind them. “Are you all right?”

  “I am, now that you’re here.”

  “The sheriff said Judge Parker won’t be here for at least a week.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “I’m sorry, Creed. I know how hard this must be for you.”

  Creed nodded. His nerves were strung out and raw. “Where’s the baby?”

  “My friend, Kate Bradshaw, is watching her.”

  “I didn’t know you had any friends in town.”

  “Only a couple. Most of the people treated me fine, once they realized I wasn’t like my mother.” She swallowed hard. “Or Rose.”

  “I’m glad, Jassy.”

  Taking her by the hand, he sat down on the edge of the cot and drew her down beside him, his arm sliding around her waist, holding her close. Lord, she felt good. Smelled good.

  Jassy leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder. “They’ll like you, too, once they get to know you.”

  “I doubt that.” He’d lived here, off and on, for years, and he could count the people who acknowledged him on one hand.

  “Forget about them.” She gazed up at him, wishing she could wipe the tension from his face, the pain from his eyes. “I love you.”

  “Jassy.”

  She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him, her body straining to be closer to his. Creed groaned low in his throat as her tongue skimmed over his lower lip. Wrapping his arms around her, he drew her down on the cot, his blood racing as her body molded itself to his. Her mouth was warm and sweet, filled with promises and hope for the future, and he clung to her, desperate to believe that they might still have a life together in spite of the doubts that plagued him.

  “Creed…” Her voice was breathless, filling with longing.

  “I know.” he replied, his voice husky with desire. “I know.” He held her close, breathing in the fragrant scent of her hair and skin. His hands moved lightly over her breasts. They were heavy, swollen with milk. He ached with wanting her, with the knowledge that this might be the full extent of his time with her, that he might never have a chance to make a life for the three of them.

  “Jassy, if things go wrong, if they send me back to Canon City…”

  “No!” She drew away and pressed her hands over her ears. “I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it.”

  “Jassy, listen…”

  “No!” She shook her head. “You’re not sending me away again, Creed Maddigan, do you understand? I’m your wife. No matter what happens, we’ll see it through together.”

  “Dammit, Jassy, be reasonable. What are you gonna do if they send me back to prison? You can’t spend the next twenty years of your life waiting for me.”

  “I can, and I will.”

  “No.” He stood abruptly and began to pace the floor. “I don’t want you to spend your whole life alone, waiting. If they send me back, I want you to get a divorce, find yourself a…a good, decent man to…” His hands curled around the bars. “I want you to find someone who’ll be a father to my daughter.”

  Jassy looked at Creed. His hands were wrapped around the bars, the knuckles white. She knew just what those words had cost him. He was a proud man, and he loved her deeply, passionately. Jealousy. And yet he had only her happiness in mind. Never had she loved him more.

  “Promise me, Jassy?”

  “I can’t.”

  He turned to face her, his expression bleak. “Seems like we’ve been through this before,” he muttered ruefully.

  “But it’ll be better this time. I know it will.”

  He crossed the short space between them, then knelt in front of her. Taking her hands in his, he pressed them to his lips. “Jassy, if they send me back to prison, I want your promise you’ll get a divorce and get on with your life. Promise me.”

  “Please don’t ask me.”

  “I’m not asking you,” he said quietly. “I’m begging you. I don’t want to spend the next twenty years knowing I’ve ruined your life, that you’re living alone, raising our daughter alone. You’re a young woman, too young to spend your life alone.” He looked deep into her eyes. “Promise me?”

  Her heart was breaking. She knew it. She could feel it shattering, feel the pieces cutting her into her soul. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him he was being unfair. How could he expect her to even think of another man now? And yet, how could she lash out at him when she knew he was only thinking of her, wanting the best for her and their daughter? It couldn’t be easy for him. And if giving him her promise would ease his mind, she would give it.

  “All right, Creed, I promise.”

  He sighed, as if a great weight had been taken from his shoulders, and then he buried his face in her lap, his arms locked around her waist. He sat there for a long while.

  Jassy stroked his hair and back, knowing that she’d never be able to keep the promise she had made, knowing she would never love anyone else the way she loved Creed Maddigan. She belonged to him, heart and soul, for now and for always.

  Too soon, Harrington came to get her.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow,” Jassy promised as she lifted her face for Creed’s kiss. “I’ll bring the baby.”

  Creed nodded.

  “I love you.”

  “I know.” He ran his hand over her cheek. “Are you all right? Do you have everything you need?”

  “We’re fine. Stop worrying.” She smiled at him.

  Harrington cleared his throat. “You about ready, Missus Maddigan?”

  “Yes.” She kissed Creed one more time, then walked to the cell door.

  “Against the wall, Maddigan,” Harrington said brusquely.

  Resentment rose in Creed as he went to stand against the back wall. Standing there, watching the lawman unlock the cell door, he was overcome with a need to lash out, to bury his fist in the lawman’s face. He hated being locked up, hated taking orders, hated the fact that his life was no longer his own. He couldn’t live like this. If Parker decided to send him back to prison, he’d make a run for it and hope they killed him.

  Harrington met Creed’s eyes as he opened the door. The two men stared at each other as Jassy left the cell, then Harrington stepped forward and closed and locked the door.

  “I know how you feel,” the sheriff remarked after Jassy left the cellblock. “I just hope you don’t try anything stupid.”

  Creed shook his head. “I won’t,” he said tersely. He glanced down the corridor. “I’ve got too much to lose.”

  Harrington’s features softened a little. “See that you remember that.”

  It took ten days for Parker to reach Harrison. Creed’s nerves were drawn tighter than a Lakota war drum by then. Jassy came to see him twice a day, bringing the baby with her in the morning, coming alone in the evening. As she had before, she brought him cookies. She also brought him the newspaper to read, a change of clothes, his razor. She made him talk to her when he was feeling sullen and discouraged. She told him that she had renewed her acquaintance not only with Kate Bradshaw, but with Elizabeth Wills, and that both women adored the baby. Mrs. Wellington had offered to give Jassy her old job back, if she wanted it.

  It was a cold and cloudy Friday morning when Harrington stepped into Creed’s cell. Jace Rutledge stood outside, a shotgun cradled in his arm, while Harrington handcuffed Creed.

  “The judge is waiting for you in his office,” Harrington said.

  Creed frowned. “In his office? Why?”

  Harrington shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”

  “I thought I was getting a new trial.”

  Harrington grunted. “I just do what I’m told. Let’s go.”

  Creed shivered as he stepped out of the jail. A cold wind was blowing down out of the mountains; there was the smell of rain in the air.

  Taking a deep breath, he walked down the street toward the judge’s office.

  Ja
ssy was waiting inside, the baby in her arms.

  “Mr. Maddigan,” Judge Parker said. He indicated the chair in front of his desk. “Sit down.”

  Creed did as he was told. Judge Parker was a tall, spare man in his late fifties. His brown hair was peppered with gray, his brown eyes were shrewd.

  “I’ve read the statement signed by Rose McCloud,” Parker said. “And I’ve listened to your wife’s testimony. I’d like you to tell me exactly what happened that night.”

  “I’d been playing poker in the Lazy Ace. It was about midnight when I left. I was on my way to my room at the hotel when Canfield called me out. He fired first.” Creed shrugged. “He missed. I didn’t.”

  “I see.” The judge stared at the papers spread on his desk.

  “You escaped from Canon City some months ago.”

  Creed nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Creed stared at the judge. “You ever been in prison, Your Honor?”

  “No.”

  “Well, if you had, you wouldn’t have to ask why I escaped when I got the chance. I did it then, and I’d do it again.”

  “I see. That’s an honest answer, if not a wise one.”

  Creed took a deep breath. “If it’s all the same to you, Judge, I’d just as soon be hanged as sent back to prison.”

  “No!” Jassy surged to her feet, her hand at her heart. “No.”

  “Please, be seated, Mrs. Maddigan.”

  Jassy sat down, her face pale as she clutched the baby to her breast.

  Parker leaned forward, his gaze steady on Creed’s face. “And if I don’t hang you, and don’t send you back to prison, just what do you intend to do with your life?”

  “I’ve got some money I earned working in Frisco,” Creed said, his hands clenched. “I own a few acres outside of town. I’d like to build a house there, settle down, make a home for my wife and my daughter. Maybe raise a few head of cattle.”

  “Do you think you could do that? Settle down, I mean.”

  “Yessir.”

  Parker glanced at Jassy and the baby, then looked back at Creed. “I’m going to suspend your sentence, Mr. Maddigan. I’m going to give you one year to prove yourself. At the end of that time, I’ll re-evaluate your case. Any questions?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Very well. Until that time, I’m putting you in the custody of your wife and child.”

  Creed stared at the judge, unable to believe his ears. He was free. He stood there, jubilant, unable to absorb the full meaning of the judge’s words, while Harrington removed the handcuffs. And then Jassy was running toward him, tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged him close, careful not to crush the baby between them.

  Creed’s arms closed around his wife and daughter. “Thanks, Judge,” he said, blinking back the tears in his eyes. “I…thanks.”

  “Don’t make me regret my decision, Mr. Maddigan.”

  “I won’t. I swear it.”

  Judge Parker smiled. “I believe you, sir.” Coming out from behind his desk, he offered Creed his hand. “Good day to you.”

  Creed shook Parker’s hand. “Thanks, again.”

  Jassy smiled at Creed through her tears. “I told you everything would be all right,” she said tremulously.

  “Yes, ma’am, you did.” He gazed down at her, his heart filled to overflowing as she placed his daughter in his arms. “Hi, sweetheart,” he murmured.

  Jassy smiled at the sight, and then she frowned. “I didn’t know you owned land around here. Where is it?”

  “That valley you like so much,” Creed said. “It’s mine.”

  “You never told me that!”

  “I never thought we’d have a life together, Jassy, especially not here.”

  “We’re going to have a wonderful life,” she said. “Just wait and see.”

  Taking Jassy by the hand, Creed walked out of the judge’s office.

  The sky was still cloudy, but as they walked toward the hotel, the sun came out and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

  Epilogue

  Five years later

  Jassy stood on the porch, her heart pounding with excitement as she watched Creed work the kinks out of one of the horses.

  Rose jumped up and down, hands clapping, as the horse began to buck. Standing beside her, her three-year old brother, Clay, hollered encouragement.

  She smiled as she watched Creed cling to the horse’s back with the tenacity of a cocklebur. Her husband had blossomed in the last five years, she thought, although blossomed hardly seemed an appropriate word for a man. Still, he had lost that hard edge that had been so much a part of him. He smiled more, laughed often. In spite of all his doubts about being a father, she couldn’t have asked for a better father for her children, a better husband for herself.

  He had built her the house she had once dreamed of, with a big picture window overlooking the lake. They had started off with a small herd of cattle, a herd that had grown steadily each year.

  To Creed’s surprise, the town had gradually come to accept them both. People no longer remembered that Jassy’s mother had been a whore, or that Creed had once earned his living with his gun.

  Walking down the stairs, she made her way toward the corral. The battle was over, and Creed had won. Rose and Clay had ducked under the rails and now they were both chattering a mile a minute, asking what he was going to name the horse, pestering him to let them ride.

  “Let’s ask your mama what we should call him,” Creed suggested as Jassy approached the corral.

  “I want to call him Thunder,” Clay said.

  “And I want to call him Rainbow,” Rose said.

  “How about if we call him Storm?” Jassy suggested.

  “Storm? Why?” Rose asked with a frown.

  “Well, when it storms, there’s thunder, and then there’s a rainbow.”

  Clay and Rose looked at each other, and then nodded. “Storm,” they said in unison, and began to giggle.

  “Supper’s ready,” Jassy said. Pulling a hanky from her apron pocket, she wiped the perspiration from Creed’s forehead.

  “I love you, Mr. Maddigan.”

  “And I love you, Mrs. Maddigan.”

  Rose frowned at Clay. “I love you, Clay,” she said, imitating Jassy’s voice.

  Clay grimaced. “I love Storm,” he said, ducking when Rose made as if to hit him. “He’s prettier than you!”

  Creed grinned as he watched his daughter chase her brother toward the house. “See what you started with all that love stuff,” he teased.

  “Yes, indeed,” Jassy said. She looked out over the valley, at their house bathed in the golden glow of the sun, at her two children, now happily tussling in the grass like puppies, at the tall, handsome man at her side. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

  “Me, either,” Creed said. Drawing her into his arms, he kissed her, loving the way she leaned into him, the way she always smiled when she saw him. Truly, he had found the treasure at the end of the rainbow the day Jassy McCloud came into his life. And he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  The End

  About Madeline Baker

  Madeline Baker started writing simply for the fun of it. Now she is the award-winning author of more than thirty historical romance books and one of the most popular writers of Native American romance. She lives in California, where she was born and raised.

  Lakota Renegade Copyright © 1995, 2014, 2016 Madeline Baker

  Published by Butterfly Kisses Press

  Cover design by Cindy Lucas

 

 

 
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