Before We Leave (Chronicles of the Maca Book 3)

by Mari Collier

  “No, thank you. Isn't someone staying with you? Didn't the doctor give you something?”

  Melissa's gray eyes regarded him as though he were a stranger. “Y'all forget I'm a Texan and a MacDonald. Hysterics are for other women. I'll arrange the funeral tomorrow. Once it's over I am going east. Perhaps Aunt Margareatha will go with me. Grandpa and Grandmère LouElla already spend a better portion of the year there.

  “I need for y'all to arrange for the pallbearers, Uncle Daniel. I'm sure if I did it, they would all have the same look of horror on their faces as yours.” She smiled.

  “Now would you care for something to eat?”

  Daniel turned and walked away.

  Chapter 31: The Fugitive

  Wind lashed the October rain against the windows and roof while the prairie wind screamed for attention. Each bolt of lightning was followed by window rattling thunder. Toni lowered her book and looked over her glasses at Lorenz reading. Really, it was quite annoying the man didn't need glasses. She halfway sighed. At least his hair was graying faster than hers. That surprised her. They'd been married for thirty years and both were forty-nine. Lorenz hadn't really aged that much except for weather roughened skin, but the graying hair kept people from suspecting there was anything different in his heritage. Antoinette's figure was now quite matronly, but that was expected from a woman in her position. She was about to suggest they retire when he looked up and around as though searching for someone.

  “What is it, dear?”

  “Kendall, he's out there. He needs us. I heard him in my mind. He can't be far.” Lorenz stood and laid the book down. “Y'all had best stir up that fire in the stove and heat something to eat. We'll need blankets when we get back.”

  He grabbed his slicker from the kitchen porch and came back through the kitchen; a wide room spread with brown and white checked linoleum. They'd sent the help to bed and were in the kitchen as the coffee was handy and the black and silver iron cook stove kept the room warm.

  Antoinette looked up at him. “Are y'all sure? Kendall? What else could y'all discern?”

  “Nothing, except he's exhausted and worried about somebody needing warm, dry clothes, and a blanket for some reason.”

  Antoinette wrinkled her nose. “Well, maybe he's lost his.”

  Lorenz continued walking towards the front door where his hat hung on a burnished brass tree stand. “No, it was someone needing it.” He slammed the hat on his head. “I'll be back as quick as I can. Whatever y'all have to eat, make sure there's plenty of broth.” He pulled the door shut against the storm.

  “Dear, God, how is he going to see anything in this weather?” Toni spoke half aloud. Should she wake Conchita for help in preparing the bedroom? If Kendall wasn't out there, how could she possibly explain to a lady's maid that she had been roused for nothing? Tears filled her eyes. Her Kendall was coming home after all these years. Her baby boy. Only he wasn't a baby. He would be twenty-eight now. Her mood swung from ecstasy to bitterness. Her baby was coming home after all these years of not knowing where he was or what happened to him. But what if Lorenz was wrong and he wasn't out there? Her disappointment would be doubled.

  It took Lorenz but minutes to saddle his horse and one more. He tied a tarp to the back of his saddles and rode out into the wind, rain, and muck. It was slow going. His hold on Kendall's mind was tenuous at best as Kendall wasn't capable of mindspeak. It was only when Kendall's mind wandered in desperation for the need of home and shelter that he could be sure of his bearings. The wind sliced through any exposed area and drove the rain into the horses' coats, into his neck, under his tied-down hat, and it was dark, dark, dark. A lantern in this wind would be futile.

  It seemed like hours to Lorenz when he finally spotted looming shapes a few feet away. Kendall was on the ground leading two horses. One horse had an empty saddle and the other held a bulky rider swaying in the saddle. Both horses could barely move. As he pulled up alongside, Kendall fumbled at his slicker as though to pull his gun.

  “Son, it's me, your father.”

  Kendall's head was bare and his hair flattened against his skull. In the darkness his skin was grey.

  “Pawpaw?”

  Lorenz swung down to stand beside his son.

  “Pawpaw, how did you know? My wife, our child, you've got to get them to the ranch. They're exhausted. We can't go on, but I've got to go back.”

  “Why?”

  “I shot a man back there. He might die. I've never killed a man, Pawpaw. I just shot to slow him down or stop him.” Kendall was practically sobbing.

  “Why did y'all shoot him?”

  “He was trying to take our little girl back.”

  “Is she your daughter?”

  “Yes.” Kendall shouted over the wind and thunder.

  “He can rot. Right now we get everyone home.”

  There was a viciousness in Lorenz's tone that woke Kendall. His father hadn't changed over the years. If a man tried to murder or harm someone in his family, that person could back away or die. It was a coldness of purpose that Kendall knew he did not, would not possess, but he was too tired to articulate it.

  “Y'all can ride the other horse and I'll carry your wife and baby on mine.”

  “She won't let you. She's frightened, and she's blind. I'll have to carry her.”

  Lorenz leaned closer. “Are y'all able to lift her unto your horse?”

  “I don't know.” The words caught in his throat.

  “Then convince her to let me carry her or lift her onto your horse.” He turned away and mounted.

  Kendall dragged himself up into the saddle, the horse shying at his heavy movements. Once mounted, he edged closer to his wife and reached out for her and their daughter. Then he realized he needed to undo the rope he'd used to lash them to the saddle. His fingers fumbled at wet rope knots that wouldn't budge. Somehow Alice was alert, but she needed to hang onto Sarah and she was unable to help him.

  “It's my father,” Kendall was yelling at her. “We'll all be safe in a little while.” And his anger rose at his futile attempts at the rope. This horse was wearied and gaunt. It wouldn't make it carrying Alice and the baby.

  Lorenz appeared on the other side and he slashed through the rope with his knife.

  “Tell her, I'm going to lift her off and onto my horse. That lightning isn't letting up. We have to get home.”

  “Did you hear him, Alice? He'll lift and carry you both. I'm not sure I can lift you both right now.”

  Lorenz reached over while Kendal lifted Alice's leg from the other stirrup. The horse she rode was too exhausted to move in the muck without urging and stood with hung head and legs splayed.

  Kendall saw the empty saddle and the bulk on his father's horse. He gathered the reins of the horse, rode to the one he'd been riding, and took its reins. He kicked at the flanks of his horse to move after his father. Both ranch horses were eager to return to the barn and they moved steadily homeward, both men praying the horses would keep their footing.

  All the animals were wet with rain and sweat when they reined up at the front steps of the house. As if on signal the front door opened and yellow lamp light spewed out onto the porch, giving them enough light to see. Kendall dismounted, tied the horses to the rail, and then supported his wife and baby as Lorenz lowered them to the ground.

  Lorenz dismounted and took Alice's other arm to help them up the steps and into the house. Once they were inside, Antoinette swung the door against the wind and closed it. She did not mention their soggy condition. She set the lamp down and was about to throw her arms around Kendall when she saw the waif-like head of a blond child emerge from under the wet blanket.

  “Oh, my goodness! Kendall is that child yours and y'all didn't write?”

  “Antoinette, forget the recriminations. They need dry clothes, blankets, and hot food. I'll be back as soon as I've tended to the horses.”

  Kendall started to follow his father and Lorenz stopped him.

  “No, y'all are
needed here to help your mother.”

  “I can't stay, Pawpaw. I've got to check on that man.”

  “Kendall, your responsibility is to your woman and child, and your mother needs help. Take them into the kitchen where's it warm and then carry that rocker in there.”

  He turned to Antoinette who was staring at all of them. “Toni, did y'all heat up some food while I was gone?”

  She nodded. “I've set extra blankets on our bed just in case.”

  He smiled at her and left the house. The horses were too important and needed to be stabled and wiped down. Tomorrow, he'd have one of the men check on them and walk them around the corrals. He could hear Toni snapping orders as he stepped through the door.

  “Kendall, I do wonder about y'all. Now take those two into the kitchen and bring that rocker in there. I'll pull out the chair. Here, let me take the little darling. What is her name? After we're in the kitchen, y'all go after those blankets I mentioned.”

  Kendall was practically dragging Alice along. “It's Sarah, Mama, but right now I don't think Alice can let loose of her.”

  He stepped into the warmth of the kitchen where heat radiated from huge, ornate wood stove and guided Alice to one of the strait-backed chairs at the table. “Alice, this is my mother. She won't hurt you or little Sarah. She has some food and blankets ready. Please let her help you while I go after the rocker.”

  Puzzlement was spreading across Toni's face. Was there something wrong with her daughter-in-law? The woman was looking at Kendall, but she looked nowhere else. She realized that their faces were all too thin. Not good, and then Alice's eyes closed and she seemed to hold the child closer.

  “For heaven's sake, Kendall, what is the matter?”

  “We've had a terrible trip, Mama. I'll hold her in the chair, if you'll bring the blankets. Sarah's teeth are chattering.”

  Antoinette went after the blankets, piled them in the rocker, and then lifted the rocker and carried all into the kitchen, banging a couple of her fine dining chairs as she walked pass them. The child was the priority. Why hadn't she wakened Conchita? She'd have to use one of the dish towels for make-shift britches. Her children's clothes were given away long ago, and why, why hadn't Kendall written to her? She set the rocker down with a thump.

  “Y'all pull those nasty wet things off of them. I'll put one of these blankets in the rocker and then y'all set them in there. I'll give y'all a hand.”

  “It's all right, Mama. I'll do it. Alice is blind and she hasn't had a chance to see your face.”

  Antoinette stood in stunned silence, for once totally speechless. This was not what she expected, and how in the world did a blind person see? I do hope they don't start talking in some strange language. German is bad enough, she thought to herself.

  “They're both dead beat, Mama. If you could heat some milk for little Sarah, please. We ran out of canned milk two days ago.” He was pulling at the wet wraps and clothes, and then he guided his wife and little girl to the rocker and wrapped the blanket around them. Next he laid the other blanket over Alice and the child, extending it up and over their shoulders. He could hear his mother putting a pot on the stove and going to the back porch. It seemed that hadn't changed. This time of year, the milk would be in a covered jar in a cabinet in the back porch.

  The back kitchen door closed and Antoinette returned with the covered pitcher.

  “Alice, Mama's going to heat Sarah some milk. I've got to help Pawpaw with the horses. We're safe here.”

  He stood and looked at his mother. “That's all right, isn't it Mama? She can't fall out of the rocker and Pawpaw's got four wet horses out there.”

  Antoinette poured the milk in the pot and for an answer walked across the kitchen. “Not without my hug, Kendall.”

  She hugged and kissed him as though he would disappear again. “Now go help your father. Everything will be fine here.”

  Kendall hurried to the front and out the door. It took him a moment to orientate himself as he stepped onto the porch. He knew where the barn should be, but it had been almost ten years since he rode off. A jagged bolt lit up the landscape and he saw the barn. He struggled through the heavy mud as rapidly as possible before another bolt split the sky. It was then it struck his sleep deprived mind that he and has father had tracked mud through the huge entry way and dining room without his mother screaming in protest. And how, how had Pawpaw known to come after him?

  The wind had died down, but the rain was steady. He entered the stable portion of the huge barn and found his father working on the second horse. The lantern cast a yellow light over the scene; enough light to drive away most of the shadows. He grabbed an old saddle blanket and began rubbing on the third horse. Kendall wasn't sure the oldest of the spent horses was going to make it and he had no idea how he would pay for another unless he could hole up here for awhile. His father nodded at him as he entered and the two worked in silence, the horses jerking their heads to pull in a mouthful of hay, then munching the hay and occasionally stomping their feet before taking another mouthful.

  Kendall began reviving as they threw a blanket over the last of the dried horses.

  “I'm glad your back, son.” Lorenz threw his arms around the startled Kendall and pulled him close.

  When had his father last hugged him? He couldn't remember.

  “Where the hell have y'all been? Not many a man could give me the slip like that. We searched all over the West for y'all.” Lorenz had him by the shoulders and was smiling straight into his eyes.

  Kendall tried to sort that one out. Wasn't his father ashamed of him? Was he proud because he, Kendall, had managed to elude those that came after him?

  “I worked in a Wild West show for awhile as Tex the Gun Slinging Man and did tricks with drawing and shooting. Not many could beat me.”

  “And everybody and their brother takes the nickname Tex whether they're from Texas or not. Why the lost accent if y'all were Tex?”

  “I met Alice up in Keokuk, Iowa when we were doing a show. She was from the Dakotas, but was attending school there. We fell in love and I moved back there with her. People would snicker at her for marrying a real moron that couldn't talk right, so I started to speak like them.”

  Lorenz extinguished the lantern, carefully hung it on the hook near the doorjamb, secured the door, and they headed for the house.

  Up on the porch, Lorenz led the way around to the back. “We've already tromped through the front once with mud on our boots,” he said by way of explanation. The lightning and thunder had rolled on towards the north.

  “Pawpaw, no matter what you say I've got to ride out in the morning and check on that man, but right now I'd like some of that food Mama had heating.”

  Chapter 32: Justice Texas Style

  Lorenz and Kendall rode out as daylight was breaking. Kendall was praying that Alice would sleep until he returned. Antoinette had directed them to his old room. Except for the bedding, it looked like he had just left; even his clothes were in the closet, chest, and armoire. He mulled over his last conversation with his mother. She had Lawrence bring in the mattress from Melissa's old room and placed it on the floor for Sarah's bed. Tomorrow the crib could be brought down from the attic.

  “Put it right beside Alice,” he'd instructed her.

  “She can't see. Won't there be a danger in that?”

  “No, mama, she'll reach down with her hand and know whether something is there. If Sarah cries, Alice can locate her by the sound, honest.”

  Antoinette had looked dubious, but complied. “I've put an old dressing gown of mine on the chair and some stockings. They'll just have to do until we have sewn something different tomorrow. I'll send one of the Mexican women up here to keep an eye on the baby in the morning…”

  “She's almost three, Mama.”

  “…so that if Sarah wakes up first, we'll take care of her.” Antoinette finished her sentence. This was her household and she ran it. He wasn't sure just how Alice would respond to his mother's i
deas of a properly run household.

  He and his father had met as he came down the stairs and both headed for the kitchen. They each filled a bowl with the cold stew and stood while eating. They put the bowls and spoons into the dishpan and walked through the back door. Lorenz grabbed his hat from the rack in the enclosed back porch, and handed Kendall an old one.

  The ground remained muddy. A light breeze blew in from the south, but the air had warmed considerably. Overhead the stars retreated behind the thinning grey clouds.

  “I'll have to borrow a horse from one in your remuda, Pawpaw.”

  “We'll take two from the stable. It's too muddy to bother the ones outside, plus I don't keep as many as we once did. Everything has changed.”

  “How?”

  “The whole ranch is fenced. Most of the hands spend their time riding the fence lines until roundup. At least that's the same. We cut and brand twice a year now. Then we cull the ones for market and bring them in closer to increase their feed before taking them to Schmidt's Corner to ship out.”

  Lorenz smiled at his son. “The railroad has made Schmidt's Corner a far more important town and we've eliminated the fights with the unreconstructed rebels in Arles when we had to take a herd in there.”

  Once they were in the saddle the going was slow until they reached higher, rockier ground. Kendall was frowning.

  “I think it's over by Buster's Roost. It was dark when we got there, and we were all exhausted. With the storm coming in, we needed shelter. I didn't realize until almost too late that the man trailing us was that close.”

  “If you're sure enough, we'll ride that way. The rain will have washed out most of the tracks, but I want to check first.”

  Upon reaching the trail descending from Buster's Roost, Lorenz dismounted and went down into a squat, his right hand almost on the ground, as he duck walked around part of the old trail. Finally he stood. “Yes, horses came down this way last night. I don't see new tracks going up or coming down.”