Arizona Gold

by Maggie James

  “I’ve never cared what people think.”

  Opal looked her straight in the eye. “Maybe it’s time you did…like it’s also time you got that chip off your shoulder.”

  Kitty stiffened. “What do you mean?”

  “Wade told me how it was for you growing up—the way folks shunned you and your ma for her siding with the Yankees during the war.”

  “She didn’t exactly side with them. She did business with them in order to survive. She believed selling them horses was justified, but other folks didn’t agree, and they wouldn’t forget, and that’s why we had trouble.”

  “Well, whatever the reason, Wade said it was tough on you, because you were all the time getting in fights. And lonely for you, too, on account of the kids not being allowed to have anything to do with you.”

  Kitty gave a bitter laugh. “It wasn’t a matter of them being allowed. The fact is—they hated me, too. And, yes, it was tough, as well as lonely, but it’s all behind me now. I’m going to make a new life for myself.”

  “Not as long as you got that chip.” Opal pointed to Kitty’s shoulder as though a block of wood was actually perched there.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I mean that you have to forget the past and start living like normal folk…like a woman. Besides, it’s time you had a husband to take care of you.”

  Kitty was quick to object. “Getting married just to have a man look after me is the last thing I’ll ever do. I can take care of myself, thank you, and probably better than most men. I can ride and shoot, and—” Again, the look on Opal’s face threw her into silence.

  “Maybe you can,” Opal allowed. “But you have to accept the fact that you are a woman, Kitty—and a very pretty one, at that. Look at you. With your hair all washed and shiny and hanging down your back, and your face scrubbed clean, you’re very attractive. Why, the men are going to be beating my door down once we get you really fixed up.”

  Kitty sighed. “How many times must I tell you I’m not interested?”

  “Well, then, what do you plan to do with yourself now that you’re here? I’ve got a little money—not much on account of my brother managing to beg off of me what he doesn’t steal behind my back—but you’re welcome to it. And you’ve got a home as long as you need one. Heaven knows, the least I can do for Wade is look after you as best I can, but you’ve got to think about the future.”

  Kitty began to make circles with her coffee mug, as well, watching the wet swirls as she murmured, “Well, I’d like to look for the gold, but I guess I’d better think about finding a job.”

  “Doing what? You want to be a gambling dealer like me? That takes experience, honey. Years of it. And I’d hate to see you work the saloons, plying men to buy drinks, and you sure as hell aren’t gonna be no soiled dove. Wade would turn over in his grave if I let you go bad.”

  “I would never do that. But there has to be something I can do. I’m good with horses. I thought maybe I could hire on at a livery stable, since I hear there aren’t many ranches around here.”

  Opal sneered. “Who’d want to hire a woman for that? No, honey, we’ve got to find something else you can do. But tell me, what was your thinking in coming out here, anyway, once you knew Wade was dead?”

  “I had no place else to go, and I guess I had it in the back of my mind that between the two of us we could find the gold.”

  “Believe me, I’d like nothing better, because from the way Wade talked, it was quite a strike. They weren’t bringing any of it out, though, except for a few nuggets now and then when they needed supplies. They were hoarding it, because they didn’t want to file a claim.”

  “How come? It seems to me they’d want to protect it by staking it.”

  “But if they did, other prospectors would hear and try to dig around it. They were also afraid of claim jumpers, robbers. They were”—she shuddered at the painful memory—“afraid of what eventually happened.”

  Kitty hated to have to remind her but wanted to know the whole story. “You said you’d tell me how it happened.”

  Opal closed her eyes momentarily, as though she had actually witnessed the horror, then looked at Kitty with sadness mirrored from her soul. “Marshal Earp came and told me another prospector had found Wade’s body, along with his partner’s, near the river a few miles outside of town. The prospector brought them both in on the back of his pack mule. Dan was alive when he found him but died after saying something about how he was taking his secret to the grave with him. So that means neither one of ’em told where their mine was—which is why they were tortured to death. The marshal said they’d have been killed, anyway, even if they did tell. It’s just a damn shame they suffered like they did.”

  Kitty saw how Opal’s hands shook as she lifted the mug to her lips to take a sip of coffee before continuing in a quivering voice. “I had to look at Wade…had to make sure it was him. He’d been burned, and one of his fingers was cut off.”

  Kitty covered her face with her hands to shut out the image, as she moaned, “Why didn’t they tell? All the gold in the world isn’t worth dying for.”

  “I agree with you, but obviously Wade and Dan McCloud were too stubborn. Wade wanted the gold for me and him to make a new life together out in California but said if anything happened to him that he wanted me and you to have his share. McCloud promised he’d see that we did, and, in exchange, Wade promised him he’d see that his son got his. That’s why they made a map and tore it in two.”

  “But why did you send it to me? Didn’t you want to try and find it yourself?”

  “There’s no way I could without the whole map. So I decided to just give it to you along with the money he left with me. I wish I could have given you the ring, too. He told me turquoise reminded him of your eyes, and now that I’ve seen you I know why. But it wasn’t on him. The murderer took it.”

  Kitty raged, “There’s got to be a special place in hell for somebody that would steal a ring off a dead man’s finger.”

  Opal sneered. “Honey, the bastard not only took the ring—he took the finger. It was on the one he cut off.”

  Kitty gritted her teeth. “What did the ring look like?”

  “The stone was flat and smooth and polished, and the band was wide, thick silver with a curving snake cut to twine all around it. He said he got an old Mexican to make it for him.

  “But back to the map,” Opal mused. “I think the only reason McCloud ever told Wade he had a son was because he wanted him to have his share of the gold. Otherwise, I don’t think he would have said anything. According to Wade, he was a real loner…and unhappy, too. He was sure it had to do with the Indian woman.”

  “I think so, too. Pale Sky—that’s Whitebear’s mother—told me about the white man she loved and how he wanted his world, and she wanted hers. He took their son away from her, as I understand it, but he obviously found his way back to the Apaches—and her—when he was older.”

  “Well, I just wish I hadn’t told him I sent the map to you, because when he came back trying to find it, he read your telegram I had hidden so my brother wouldn’t see it. That’s how he knew which stage to attack.”

  Kitty was puzzled. “But why did you hide it? Why would your brother care if I came out here?”

  Opal was ashamed to have to admit, “Nate is a drunk, and I’m afraid I’ve always let him mooch off me. Sure, I get mad and run him off, but then I go soft and take him in when he’s down and out.

  “He didn’t like me seeing Wade,” she continued. “I guess he was afraid if we got married Wade would give him the boot for good. When I found out you were coming, I knew he wouldn’t like it, because he’d figure I’d be giving you a hand instead of him. I didn’t want to hear his mouth, so I didn’t want him to know.”

  The last thing Kitty wanted was to cause family trouble. “He’s probably heard by now. But don’t worry, I’m going to get a job and get out of here quick as I can.”

  “He rod
e off a few weeks ago.”

  “Well, when he comes back, you won’t have room for him if I’m around, which is another reason I need to get a place of my own.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I been thinking it’s best we both get out of here, anyway.”

  Kitty blinked. “You mean leave Tombstone?”

  “No. I mean out of here”—she pounded the table for emphasis—“because I don’t think it’s safe. I been thinking while we been talking how you said that half-breed wasn’t around when his mother let you go. Now he’s bound to hear the real Kitty Parrish is in town after escaping from the Apaches, and when he realizes how you fooled him, and how his mother let you go, he’s going to be mad as a wet hornet and come roaring back to find you.”

  “Then I need to get a gun,” Kitty said, not about to be defenseless should Whitebear come after her. “I know how to shoot, so if you’ll loan me the money to buy one, I’ll pay you back as soon as I find work.”

  “We’ll get you a gun, all right, but we’re also getting out of here, like I said. I only took this place so’s me and Wade could have privacy when he came to town. I also didn’t like living around the soiled doves, but Mr. Wyatt Earp, who owns the Oriental, doesn’t allow them there. He’s got such a swanky place going he only lets important workers—like me—and special guests lodge up there. And right after Wade was killed, he offered me a room.

  “So we’ll do it today,” she rushed on, enthused. “And then that damn Indian won’t dare bother us, because there are always men with guns around. We’ll be safe. And sooner or later he’ll give up.”

  “But are we going to do the same thing—give up?” Kitty asked, disappointed. “I mean, just think. If Whitebear has his father’s part of the map, and I could get him to agree to work with me, then we could find the gold and share it, and—”

  Opal leaped to her feet, stunned she could suggest such a thing. “Are you out of your mind, child? Has living with those savages, if only for a little while, robbed you of your senses to make you think you could trust one of them, even if he is half-white? No. We forget about the gold and make sure he doesn’t get anywhere near us, because once he got Wade’s piece of the map, he’d slit your throat and mine, too. Remember, honey. He’s nothing but a savage. So get that notion out of your head right now. And I want us to keep this between us, too. We won’t tell anybody what we figured out about why an Indian broke in on me. We don’t want whoever murdered Wade and McCloud to think you’ve got any kind of a map at all.

  “And where is it, anyway?” she asked suddenly, sharply. “What did you do with it?”

  Kitty had stuck it in her boot when she left the camp. She went and got it and laid it on the table. It was crumpled, but none the worse for wear.

  “Thank goodness, you didn’t lose it,” Opal said. “When we go into town, I’ll put it in the bank.”

  “The bank? I thought that was just for money.”

  “Not anymore. One of the banks here has something new—little boxes that you can put important papers in, like wills and deeds. Things like that. Then they put it in the big safe for you. You might need it later on, and the dirty savage won’t be able to get his hands on it there.”

  Dirty savage.

  Kitty rolled the words around in her head. Whitebear did not exactly fit that description. She had no doubt he was a mighty warrior, but he was also well educated. He was also handsome in a rugged sort of way. As for him being dirty, that was not a fair description, either. She knew because she had bathed him…and now felt a rush of heat to think about it.

  She could not help smiling to think how furious he would be when he found out that it had not only been a woman who bathed him, but the one he had been looking for, as well. She was glad she would not be around then.

  Still, she wondered what it would have been like to have known him under different circumstances, for she could not deny feeling attraction…and desire.

  “Kitty, are you sick?” Opal touched fingertips to her brow. “Your face is red, and you feel hot.”

  Kitty gave herself a vicious shake to dispel the image that filled her with heat. “No. I’m fine. Just anxious to get out of here before Whitebear realizes how I tricked him.”

  “Well, hurry and eat so we can do just that,” Opal urged with a grin. “Your new life as a woman begins today.”

  Kitty did not share her enthusiasm about the woman part. Not that she wished she were a boy, but life would be simpler if she were. She knew nothing about styling her hair or dressing feminine, but she could shoe a horse and help a mare with a difficult foal. And while she was ignorant when it came to cooking and sewing, she could shoot the head off a nail from thirty feet away, break a wild pony to saddle and bridle and teach him gaits, to boot.

  So here she was, in a strange town in a strange land. It was like being born all over again, and she was struck to realize she was suddenly more frightened of having to learn how to be female than she had been in the hands of the Apaches.

  Opal disappeared into the other room and returned a few moments later with a gown draped across her arms. “I knew I’d find a use for this sooner or later,” she said proudly as she held it up. “One of the dance hall girls left this behind when she ran off with some man. I found it before any of the other girls. It’s too small for me, but I kept it because it’s so pretty.”

  “Indeed it is.” Kitty marveled at the creation of red and white gingham. It had short, pouffed sleeves and a high neck with a saucy lace trim meant to barely brush against the face. The bodice was form fitting with a sash at the waistline. She liked best of all the skirt with its tiers of ruffles and more lace.

  “Ruby Lee called it her good-Christian-lady outfit,” Opal explained with an amused grin. “She’d wear it while she strolled down the street during the day when she wasn’t working and stick her nose up at the ones who stuck their noses up at her because she was a saloon girl.”

  Kitty could picture that and laughed. “Well, I don’t blame her. It’s beautiful.”

  “And all yours if you can wear it. You’re kind of scrawny, though,” Opal remarked thoughtfully, then added, “But don’t worry. We can take some nips and tucks. You’re going to be one hell of a beautiful woman, honey. Just leave it to me. Why, you’ll, be married in no time at all. Men out here are foaming at the mouth like mad dogs to get themselves a wife.”

  Kitty bit back the impulse to remind her once again that she was not looking for a husband but decided not to waste her breath.

  In good time, Opal, like any foaming-at-the-mouth men who dared come around, would find out for herself.

  Pale Sky felt frustration and shame. “How could she have fooled me so? Why didn’t I suspect something?”

  Ryder sat on a bearskin rug, shoulders hunched, hands folded across his knees, which were drawn nearly to his chest. It had been three days since he had returned from Tombstone to find out his mother had unknowingly led Kitty Parrish to freedom. He had stayed in his tent, not wanting to face any of his people. Neither did he want the company of Adeeta or any other amorous girl. He wanted to be alone to think about his stupidity and try to figure out what to do next.

  His mother, however, refused to give him the solitude he craved. She continued to berate herself for having been taken in by Kitty Parrish’s deception.

  Weary of listening to her, Ryder again tried to soothe her in hopes she would calm down. “It’s easy to see how she got away with it, Mother—her baggy clothes, the way she kept her hair hanging down over her face. I should have suspected something when she was so modest, always hiding in the bushes, making sure nobody could see her bathe. It all adds up now, but we didn’t think anything about it at the time, because we had no reason.”

  “I’m just so sorry,” Pale Sky wailed, crossing her arms over her bosom and swaying from side to side. She had brought him fresh tortillas and honey from a hive one of the young Indian boys had found somewhere. Pointing to the food, she said, “You must eat, my son. You cannot
continue to starve yourself and brood. Let me get you some of the tiswin Coyotay missed when he robbed my wickiup.”

  Raising his head to glower at her, Whitebear could not resist the barb “Tiswin is what led to you letting her go, Mother. I don’t think I can stomach the sight of it right now, though I’d drink myself into a stupor if I thought it would solve anything.”

  “So sorry. So sorry,” Pale Sky moaned again. “I should not have let her go, but at the time I was afraid of what would happen if I did not.”

  Though Ryder loved and respected her and would never intentionally hurt her, he could not let her off too easy for her wrongdoing. “You could have taken her and hidden her somewhere. You know your way. By morning, Coyotay was probably too sick to do anybody any harm. You didn’t have to let her go, and you know it.”

  “Yes, I admit that is so,” she said with a nod. “I did not approve of you taking a captive in the first place, and that was wrong. I went against you, our leader, and for that, I ask forgiveness.”

  Ryder stood to give her a reassuring hug. “And you have it. Like you said, you thought you were doing the right thing.”

  “As you did when you planned to take Kitty Parrish off the stagecoach and bring her here to try and scare her into handing over her piece of the map.”

  He raised a brow. “What else was I to do?”

  Pale Sky spread her hands as though it were quite simple. “Wait until she reached Tombstone, then find her and introduce yourself. Tell her the truth and then offer to put your father’s half of the map with hers and the two of you can work together to find the hidden gold mine.”

  For an instant, Ryder could only stare at her in wonder that she could suggest such a thing. But then he reminded himself that his mother had a pure, loving heart and wanted only peace. Yet he could not hold back a sardonic smile as he said, “You forget how important it is to our people that I am able to pass for white. We don’t know that Father didn’t get drunk and let it slip to Parrish that he had a half-Indian son. So had I approached Kitty Parrish as a white man, she would have been able to expose me if she chose to do so. I would not have been able to work as a scout again.