The Listening Sky

by Dorothy Garlock

  “There’s work for you here. I’d like for you to be here in the house with Jane during the day. In a week or two we’ll move the surgery out, but as long as it’s here folks will come and I don’t want her in there alone with anyone.” His dark face was dead serious. “As soon as we ferret out the bas…person, there’ll be other work. Meanwhile, I’ll be more at ease knowing that three of you are here.” His glance included Maude and Polly.

  “All right, Kilkenny. As long as ya put it that way, I’ll be here in the morning. ‘Night, ever’body.”

  “Hold on, little gal.” Tennihill unfolded his long length from the table. “I’ll walk ya back to the roomin’ house. Ain’t no tellin’ what kind a varmints is pokin’ round out there.”

  “Thank ya. I’d a brought my gun, but didn’t think I’d be here after dark.”

  “Them was larrapin’ vittles, Miz Henderson.” Tennihill bowed with Old-World charm. “Thanky kindly.”

  “You’re welcome, Mr. Tennihill.” Maude’s face had turned a rosy pink. It was clear to all that she was not used to compliments.

  “I’ll add my thanks on top of his and be leavin’. Herb’s givin’ me dirty looks. He’s waitin’ for me to get out so he can spark his girl.” Bill rolled to his feet.

  “I’m doin’ no such thin’ Bill.”

  “If you’re not goin’ to spark her, boy, I will. I’ve done a mite of it in my day, and this’n is pretty as a speckled pup.”

  “I know she’s pretty, and I’m goin’ to spark her as soon as you go, but ya don’t… have to go… now.” Herb stumbled around for the right words.

  Bill clapped him on the shoulder and went along as Jane and T.C. followed Tennihill and Sunday to the door.

  “Careful of the paint,” Jane called as they crossed the porch. “It should be dry by morning.”

  Chapter 23

  BOB Fresno sat before a fire at the mouth of a cave carved into the side of a mountain. The night was cold. Snow covered the peaks of the mountains around him. The geese had gone south for the winter and the squirrels were storing food. Time was running short for what he had to do before hard winter set in.

  The fire was small because Bob wanted no glow to attract attention to his hideout. He had been brought to the cave a year or so earlier when he and an outlaw friend had wanted to make themselves scarce for a while. The outlaw who had shown it to him had proved to be no friend and no longer needed a place to hide out. As far as Bob knew, he was the only one that knew about it. Callahan knew now, but later…

  Timbertown was ten or twelve miles to the north. The nearest cabin was eight or ten miles due east. He had stopped there in the summer and visited awhile with the two old trappers who lived there. They had not been very friendly. It hadn’t mattered at the time. But the layout of the place, the supplies, had all been recorded in Fresno’s mind. He would take Jane there to spend the winter. The cabin was good and tight and would be full of provisions. Best of all, the two old men would be easy to get rid of.

  The night was still, with almost no wind. There was the smell of cedar smoke in the air and of crushed juniper. The coffeepot, blackened from many fires, stood in the coals on a flat rock. Bob leaned back on his saddle, clasped his hands behind his head and looked at the sky spangled with a million stars.

  When he left Timbertown, he hadn’t wanted Milo with him, but now he was glad he was along. Milo was useful to send to town for information. Fresno would use him again when he went in to get Jane. Just thinking her name made his pulse race. He’d not been so coldly rejected by a woman since he wore knee pants back in Kansas City. He fully intended to have her. Some women needed to be broken like a wild filly. After she’d been taught to take the bit, she’d eat out of his hand.

  Fresno indulged himself in his favorite pastime: thinking of how he was going to snatch Jane out of Kilkenny’s hands. The fact that he had married her, and been sleeping with her, irritated Bob, but it didn’t make him want her any less. In fact, he wanted her more. Hell! All the women he’d had so far, but for one, had belonged to someone else first. It was part of the fun to make them give up something for him, be it money or a man.

  Bob Fresno was a man with a plan. He would use Callahan to create a commotion to draw off Kilkenny and that kid who was so deadly with a gun. He had heard of Herb Banks but hadn’t realized he was so young. Most of the gunmen he knew were older, hard-riding, hard-bitten men. This kid was still wet behind the ears. Still, he’d made a name for himself. Five men had tried him; five men were six feet under. He’d crippled a few, too. One had ambushed him, shot him in the leg, and gotten killed for the trouble. After that, it was said around campfires all through the mountains: face Herb Banks head-on and he’ll shoot you right between the eyes.

  Kilkenny, he knew, was tough as nails, meaner than a wild longhorn when he was riled. He’d been over the mountain, down the river and around the bend. Folks said he’d been across the ocean to one of them foreign places and had been to some fancy school. Bob knew for a fact Kilkenny had been responsible for cleaning up the town of Bannock a few years back. Lumberjack, ex-lawman, drover, freighter, and now town-builder.

  T.C. Kilkenny was a difficult man to put into a niche. But never mind about that. If he were lucky, Kilkenny or Banks would kill Callahan, and he wouldn’t have to. If be were very lucky, Callahan would get one of them before they got him. Then he’d only have to wait for the other one along a shadowy trail.

  It was past midnight when Callahan rode in. He would have left his horse standing and helped himself to coffee if not for harsh advice from Bob.

  “Take care a yore horse, ya damned fool. He’s yore only way outta here if ya ain’t figurin’ to walk.”

  “A minute or two wouldn’t a mattered,” Milo grumbled. “Guess ya ain’t so hot to know what I found out.”

  Later, after the horse had been unsaddled and rubbed down, Milo squatted on his heels beside the fire and picked up his tin cup.

  “Well… spit it out,” Bob growled.

  “Stage is comin’ in day after tomorrow. Town’s plannin’ a celebration.”

  “All day?”

  “No. After the stage gets there.”

  “What time is that?”

  “Sundown.”

  Milo was getting tired of being treated like a hired hand and now delighted in making Bob pull every tidbit of information out of him.

  “Where’s the celebration gonna be?”

  “In the street, I guess.”

  “Where?”

  “In the street.”

  “Gawddammit! Where, in the street?”

  “In front of the hotel. They’re havin’ a dance.”

  “Why’n hell didn’t ya say so?”

  “Ya didn’t ask!” Milo shouted, jumped up and dashed the last of his coffee into the fire.

  “Sit down and cool off.”

  “Ya ain’t had a good word to say since we left Timbertown.”

  “I’ve got a lot on my mind. This dance may be what we’ve been waiting for. If we work it right, we can sneak in there, grab the women and head for a snug cabin I know of. We’ll spend the winter eatin’ good cookin’ and humpin’ our women. How does that sound?”

  Milo grinned, showing his broken tooth.

  “Mighty good. I ain’t had none fer so long my balls is full as a tick and my pecker’s so tight it skins back when I grin.”

  “Ain’t that Bessie puttin’ out?”

  “She lets me feel her up, is all.”

  “Shit!” Bob snorted.

  “Well, hell! Ya can’t do much on the porch of a roomin’ house, and that’s as far as she’ll go.”

  “That Banks kid scare ya away from that other young’un ya had yore eye on?

  “Didn’t scare me. I jist give it more thought. Why get in a briar patch to get a berry when ya can pick one up along the road? Bessie’s jist as young, jist as pretty, and she’s got bigger tits and a bigger ass.”

  “I like my women skinny. The closer to the bo
ne the better the meat.”

  Milo shrugged.

  “Tell me again everythin’ ya heard about this dance. They got a fiddler? Is there goin’ to be a steer roast like at the buryin’?”

  Milo loved to talk when he had an interested listener. He refilled his cup, and he and Bob talked far into the night.

  “Sonofabitch!”

  T.C. had stepped off the porch and turned back to look at the sign Jane had painted the day before. In the early morning light, he saw black smears of paint going from one end of the sign to the other—smears put there by dipping a rag in the paint bucket that sat on the porch. The rag lay on the ground beside the steps.

  At first he didn’t notice the paper stuck between the sign and the porch post. When he did, he jerked it out and read the short message:

  HA HA HA

  Anger washed over him in a hot torrent. His eyes glistened with the light of battle. He took a long, slow breath to steady himself and turned to view the street where scarcely a person was about this time of the morning. Who was this demented creature so warped with hate that he would torment Jane for something she had had nothing to do with? It occurred to him that both Jeb Hobart and Walter Jenson at the store had suffered great losses. And most folks in town had a relative or friend…

  Herb came across the street from the bunkhouse where he had been sleeping. The sight of the smeared sign brought him up short.

  “Hellfire! Who did that?’

  “That’s what I’d like to know. Take it down, Herb. We may have to post a guard at night until we find out who’s doing this.”

  “I’ve been nosyin’ around like ya said, T.C. I ain’t heard a peep from nobody ‘bout Miss Jane. Folks like her. Murphy, kiddin’ like, acted like he was half put out when ya married her. Some of the fellers is braggin’ ‘bout how she helped their kids, but some of ‘em think she’s snooty ‘cause she don’t come out and mix with ‘em.”

  “She’s almost a prisoner here in the house.” T.C. growled and stepped up onto the porch.

  “Ya could take her to yore ranch.”

  “Then we’d never know who’s behind this… unless they followed us. I’m not letting some sneaking coward who attacks women run us out of town.”

  “I ain’t likin’ towns much anyway. Always somebody wantin’ to outdo ya.”

  “Somebody trying to crowd you into a gunfight, Herb?”

  “There’s a couple that’d like to try me. Bill told ‘em I don’t shoot to wing ‘em anymore, that if they want a fight, it’ll be right atween the eyes. They backed down a little. One of ‘em’s a back-shooter, or my name ain’t Herb Banks. He won’t face me. I’m thinkin’ he ain’t worth dog shit.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Milo Callahan.”

  “I thought he’d left town.”

  “He was in the saloon last night nosin’ ‘round. Says he ain’t lookin’ for work, braggin’ he’s got money stashed away.”

  “He was here last night?”

  “In the saloon. His biggest brag is that he ain’t goin’ to be shacked up all winter without a woman to warm him.”

  “Has he got one in mind?”

  “He’s been makin’ eyes at that silly Bessie Miller, and she’s been lappin’ it up.”

  “If she’s stupid enough to go with him, there’s not much we can do about it. Birds of a feather flock together,” he quoted.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that maybe he’s her kind.”

  T.C. was a man accustomed to listening to his instincts. Several weeks ago he had sized up Fresno and Callahan as trouble; he should have refused them work at the time. Then they would have had no reason to hang around. He was getting tired of the itch he felt at times when there was nothing to show for it but an empty back trail. It was no comfort to remember he’d had this same feeling just before he was jumped by the Claiboumes up near Bannock for turning their bank-robbing brother over to the federal marshal.

  He watched Herb pull the nails from the sign and lay it face down on the porch.

  “Been needin’ to talk to you, Herb, since Doc passed on. After you’ve had your breakfast, come to the office.”

  T.C. went back into the house. He had to tell Jane about the sign. He worried how she would take it.

  She took it better than he thought she would. She insisted on seeing the damage.

  “I’ll paint another one. I saved the letters I cut out of paper. It’ll take only half the time. This one will be much better. I wasn’t too proud of that one anyway.”

  “Honey, you’re a pistol.”

  They had gone back into the house. He put his arms around her and cuddled her to him. He loved this woman so much it scared him. Love had come on him so fast and so hard that it took some getting used to.

  “Were you afraid I’d go all to pieces?”

  “Not all to pieces, but I don’t want you worrying.”

  “The more they do, the sooner they’ll make a mistake, and we’ll find out who it is. Then the test will be how folks feel about me. I’m not afraid as long as I’ve got you.”

  “You’ve got enough backbone here for a dozen women.” He stroked her back, then kissed her gently. “You didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

  “What we did was far better than sleep.” Her cheeks turned rosy, and she hid her face against his chest.

  “Do you like that part of being my wife?”

  “What a thing to ask.” She pounded his chest gently with her closed first. “I didn’t think people talked about… that.”

  I want us to talk about anything and everything. Someday I’m going to ask you what you like best for me to do to you when we’re in bed and I’m—”

  “—Hush up, T.C.!”

  He laughed happily and hugged her fiercely.

  “I can’t stop… loving you when I’m with you in that bed.

  I’m afraid I’m wearing you out,” he whispered the words in her ear, then looked into her flushed, happy face. “Tonight I’ll sleep on a pallet on the floor.”

  “Then you’d better make it big enough for two, my love.”

  “I love you, Mrs. Kilkenny. I’m going to keep you safe. You believe that, don’t you?”

  “I believe it. And I’m so grateful.”

  He put his fingers on her lips to cut off her words.

  “That word doesn’t exist between you and me.” He put a little distance between them.

  “Sometimes I feel sorry for that person who has so much hate—”

  “I don’t feel one bit sorry for him. I want to twist his head off! Herb took down the sign. There’s no use letting the whole town see it.”

  “He’s in the kitchen ragging Polly and Maude. Maude really likes him; so does Stella.”

  “What about Polly?”

  “She thinks he’s the greatest, smartest, most wonderful man in the world. Of course, she’s wrong.”

  “You sure of that?” T.C.’s eyes caressed her face.

  “Positive.” In a quiet little corner of her heart Jane promised God that if he would let her spend the rest of her life with this man she would do the best that she could to make it a better world.

  “I told Herb to come in here after breakfast. We’ll tell him about Doc’s will.”

  “Doc thought a lot of him. He’ll know that now.”

  “He thought a lot of you too. Honey, are you sure you don’t hold it against me for pushing you to marry me? You would have had the means to leave here and go anywhere you wanted.”

  Jane laughed lightly and kissed his chin.

  “There is no place in the world I’d rather be than right here, and I think Doc knew that. Besides, I wouldn’t have taken the money even if I had left after the burying.”

  “A thousand dollars is a fortune. Most folks don’t see that much money in a lifetime.”

  “Doc knew that if things turned out between you and me as he hoped, I’d not take it. Knowing how conniving the rascal was, I think he was forcing you
to make your move. But in case things didn’t work out between us, he wanted to help me.”

  Jane’s eyes became misty.

  “I wanted you so much I played unfair.”

  “Shhh… Don’t talk about it. I’d stay here and face a thousand people, an army of people, who hated me as long as I have you.” She spoke quietly, sincerely, her eyes full of love for him.

  “We’ll face them together, sweetheart. Now we get to break the good news to Herb that he inherits Doc’s entire estate.”

  Herb took the news of his sudden new wealth in stunned silence.

  “When the stocks are sold and the money in the different banks tallied, you’ll be a rich man, Herb.” T.C. tried to explain the legal ramifications, then gave up and told him the things he would understand.

  “I didn’t know Doc was rich.”

  “He inherited some of his money from his family back in Carolina, then invested it. It doesn’t appear that he felt the need to spend much.”

  “Why me? I ain’t blood kin.”

  “He says here, ‘To Herb Banks, my son in every way except through blood ties, I leave the bulk of my estate.’ He told me the night he had me write this that he wished he had found you when you were a child. You gave Doc something to live for.”

  Tears flooded the eyes of the boy-man who had never had a family, never had a childhood. They rolled unashamedly down his cheeks.

  “I wish he had, too. I never had nobody till Doc.”

  “He felt that he’d never had anyone to really care for him till he met you.”

  “I won’t know what to do with… it.”

  “Don’t worry about that now, Herb. Doc made arrangements for me and for Garrick Rowe to help you. Colin and I want you to come to the ranch next spring and work with us. You may find out that you like the cattle business; and, if so, you’ll have the money to start your own ranch.”

  “I want to marry Polly before folks know the babe ain’t mine.”

  “In that case, we’ll fix up one of the cabins for you and Polly, or you can stay there through the winter. I expect we’ll all be leaving here in the spring. I’m hoping you’ll stay till then. I need you to help me patrol as you’ve been doing. We’ve not had much trouble yet, but with idle time coming, I expect some.”