Stained Snow

by Brown, Fallon

  It would happen now. He didn’t care. He’d wanted that showdown when he went for Anna. He’d been cheated out of it. Now, he hoped his brother did find him. He could kill him and be done with this for good. He wouldn’t make it easy for him. Make him suffer first while he tried to track him down.

  He glanced back again, but the ranch was out of sight. He had to leave all that behind him. It would be better that way.

  He didn’t want to bring it to Maggie. He would stay away until it was over. He’d needed to see her one more time. Judging by the way she looked at him, it might be the last time. At least until he convinced her she had been wrong about everything she had assumed. That shouldn’t be too difficult. She’d proved to be malleable so far. Much more than Anna ever had been.

  He wondered if his brother had found his wife and son yet. He almost wished he could see his face when he did. He’d gone there planning to kill his brother. This would be over, and William wouldn’t have suffered the way Thomas had for almost a decade.

  Only fair it happen this way.

  He urged his horse into a trot and turned toward one of the nearby towns. He would treat himself to a drink before he sought out a job to get him through the next weeks. He had people waiting to contact him if William came this way. A lot more than what his brother would have in hunting him.

  Chapter 8

  Lander, Wyoming Territory

  May 12, 1887

  William rode into town, weary from the trip that had taken longer than he’d first figured, even though there hadn’t been more delays since leaving the fort. Right now the one thing on his mind was getting home and having a good meal and some sleep in his own bed. The town lay between him and the ranch. He needed to check in with the sheriff and let him know the job was done before he headed there.

  He stopped his horse in front of the sheriff’s office and slid down from the saddle. He’d broken camp as soon as the sun rose this morning, not even taking time to make himself some coffee or breakfast. Now, he could use a bit of both.

  He walked up the steps and pushed the door open. Carl’s head came up at the squeak of the door’s hinges. The sheriff smiled. Tight lines dug into his face, and William could tell he forced it. “Will. I expected you yesterday.”

  William tried to set aside his own questions about what had put that look on the sheriff’s face. “I expected to be back yesterday. Ran into some trouble on the way there. Next time you ask me to escort a prisoner, remind me to say no.”

  Carl laughed and it made William bristle. He hadn’t meant it as much of a joke. “Did he give you that much trouble, Will?” Carl asked when his laughter trailed off.

  William stepped up to the desk and lifted the coffee pot, trying to figure out what was going on with the sheriff. Liquid still sloshed in there, so he grabbed a cup and poured himself some coffee. He sank into a chair across the desk then recounted the prisoner’s escape attempts.

  “We got caught in that damn storm. It took me an extra day to get him there. The commander wanted me to stay for the trial, but I declined. Bad enough he convinced me to stay overnight instead of turning right around. I got him there. He’ll pay his judgment. I have no desire to see him do it.”

  Carl shook his head. “Most would. I know,” he added, holding up his hand before William could speak, “you’re not most.” He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Good. At least that’s done now. He’s off our hands.” He looked back up at William. “You didn’t run into anyone else on the trail?”

  William shook his head. “No, not really. A couple travelers passed by, but that’s usual. What’s the problem, Sheriff?”

  Carl dropped his gaze to his desk, shuffling some papers. “There’s been some trouble, Will. Some bad trouble. I tried sending you a telegram at the fort, but they said you’d already left.”

  William let out a frustrated breath. Why would he need to send a telegram over something that happened in town? Thomas. No, that couldn’t be it. The sheriff would have told him if his brother had been spotted.

  “I’m sure you want help with it, Sheriff. I really want to see my family. It’s been almost a week. Can it wait until I’ve had some time with them?”

  The distress returned to the sheriff’s face, and William’s unease transformed to dread. What had happened? What could it have to do with his family? A buzzing in his head nearly blocked out what the sheriff said next. “At your ranch,” was all he caught as he shook the buzzing from his head and tuned back in to the sheriff.

  “What was that? What happened at the ranch?”

  “It was in the telegram, but you didn’t get that.” The sheriff looked away and took a deep breath before turning back. “Your house and barn burned to the ground.”

  He wasn’t sure he could drag in a full breath. “What about Anna? David? Did they make it out?”

  “They weren’t in the house.” William had slumped back in the chair, when Carl added, “Anna was laying in the yard when Patrick and the other men got there. It looked like someone tried to abduct her, and she fought to get away.”

  The breath caught in his throat again. “Did she-”

  Carl shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Will. She was strangled, already dead when Patrick got there.”

  His heart stopped beating, he was sure of it. That could be the only reason he felt so dead inside. “And David?”

  Carl ran a hand over his face. “He was shot in the back and left for dead. Patrick brought him in to Doc. I don’t…” He let out a breath. “He’s hanging on. The doc thinks he has a chance, but it’s pretty slim. You’ll have to talk to him. You should go to your boy, Will.”

  “Where’s my wife?”

  “I told you, Will. She’s dead.”

  He shook his head. “Where is she? I need to see her.”

  The sheriff sighed. “She’s laid out at the undertaker’s. Patrick didn’t want to do the burial before you were back.”

  “Did you send a telegram to her father?” How could he sound so calm when he was raging inside?

  “After we heard you were already on your way back. They’ll be here in another day or two.”

  He stepped outside with the sheriff. He barely even remembered getting out of the chair or walking to the door. He shook his head a little, trying to bring everything into focus.

  “What did David say?” he made himself ask. “Has he been able to tell you anything?”

  “Just a man came to the house and hurt his Ma. She told him to run. He wanted to stay and protect her, but she told him to go so he did. That’s the last thing he remembered. He must not have wanted him to get away.”

  A scream built in his chest, but he fought it back. He was just a boy. What would it have mattered for him to get away? “He didn’t know who it was?” Everything blurred around him as he kept his gaze focused on the undertaker’s office. He did see people step out of his way and avert their eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Not any of it.

  The sheriff shook his head, but knowledge reflected in his eyes. “He said he’d never seen him before, but Anna called him Thomas.”

  So many thoughts whirled through his mind, but the rage boiling in his blood wouldn’t let any of them come out. “Will.” At the sheriff’s voice, he forced his gaze up. “David is hanging in there. You can’t take off and leave him. Anna wouldn’t want you to.”

  He tried to shove his rage into a corner. It kept leaking through. He nodded at the undertaker when they stepped inside. “She’s right back here,” the man said.

  William lost all of his strength when he saw her laid out in the open casket. He dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t care if the other men thought him weak. How could he be strong without her there?

  He brushed a hand over her face. Dark with bruises now, and they ringed her throat as well. He couldn’t bring himself to look any further, to know how else his own brother hurt the woman William loved. He had been thinking about seeing her again ever since he’d left th
e fort.

  Not this way. Never this way.

  The other men didn’t say a word as he sobbed over her. Finally, he got to his feet and turned to them. Even with their faces stony, he didn’t sense any judgment there. “She should be buried soon.” He could barely bear to think about it. “She deserves the dignity of that.”

  “It’ll be taken care of, William,” the undertaker said.

  William turned back to the sheriff. “I need to see my son.”

  Carl nodded and led the way back outside. “Doc can’t get the bullet out,” he said as they headed down the street. “It’s right next to his spine. Said he’ll either never move again or die if he digs for it.”

  “What’s going to happen if it stays in there?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to talk to Doc about that.”

  He knocked on the doctor’s door. When the door opened, the doctor pulled him inside. “You’ve heard then?”

  “Carl told me. How is he?”

  “He’s hanging on. He’s still really weak. I’ve been able to feed him a little, but it’s not looking good. He’s gained a little strength, but he can’t move much right now. With where the bullet is, even the smallest fall, if he walks, could dislodge it and paralyze him. It might have been better if the bullet killed him.”

  William hated the truth he read in the man’s words. “Why would he do this to him? He’s just a little boy.”

  The doc shook his head as he led him deeper into the building. “None of this makes much sense, Will.”

  “He should be home with Anna right now.”

  “I’m sorry about your loss there, Will. Anna was a wonderful woman.” William didn’t respond. He couldn’t even voice the thought. The doctor sighed and led him through the main room. “Come in and see your son.”

  William followed the doctor back to a closed door. When the older man opened it for him, he stepped through but didn’t move past the doorway. David lay on his stomach on top of the bed. A bandage covered what must be the wound, but the rest of his back was exposed. “I tried to take it out,” the doctor said. “It’s too close to his spine. It’s up to him now. I’ve done all I can.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  The older man nodded then stepped back so William could move forward. He stopped beside the bed, resting a hand on the back of his son’s head. “I’m so sorry, David. I should have been there. I never should have left you.”

  The boy’s eyelids fluttered open, and William bent down beside him. He heard the shallow breathing, and the way it whistled through his lips. “Pa? I’m so sorry, Pa.”

  The voice was weak, but he was so thankful to hear it. “You have nothing to be sorry for, David. Nothing at all. I should have been there to protect you and your Ma.”

  “I tried to stop him, Pa. I promise I did.”

  William wished he never laid that responsibility on the boy’s shoulders. How could he have ever imagined something like this would happen? “It’s not your fault,” he murmured. “It’s not your fault at all.”

  #

  William stood in front of the hole dug in the ground. His face felt like carved stone, but behind that, he was dying himself. David gained a little strength back. He still couldn’t walk on his own, but Doc found a wheeled chair and rolled him down to the cemetery for the burial.

  None of this should be happening. If William had never left to escort that prisoner, none of it would have. He might always carry that guilt with him. He placed even more of it at his brother’s feet.

  Thomas had always held a grudge against him, sometimes it seemed since the day he was born. He had always been making William pay for some crime he didn’t know he committed. Picking fights with him and making him look like the aggressor. Making him do all of the work Thomas was supposed to do. He had never seen this much as a punishment. He enjoyed the work.

  It only got worse when William got a bit older. He had seen Thomas sneaking out of the barn one night, and another person going in the other direction, toward the cabins of some of the married ranch hands. He figured it wasn’t any of his business what they had been doing and forgot about it. Thomas made his life hell after that night. A few weeks later, Thomas was gone. William could breathe again. At least until his brother returned a few years later, with even more hate in his eyes when he looked at William.

  Patrick had taken both of them on a trip to drive some horses up to Fort Steele for the Army, where William first met Anna. On the way back home, Thomas attacked him. He had a scar down his back, from where Thomas’ knife sliced into him, to remind him of his brother’s hate. Patrick saved him then and told Thomas he was no longer welcome on the ranch.

  Who would save him now? Because this grief strangled him. He had to be strong for David. His son was still here, and he had to reach down through the grief and find the gratitude for that. He closed his hand over the boy’s shoulder but barely heard any of the words the preacher said over the grave.

  He had been back in town for two days. It had taken him that long to get everything arranged. The burial planned, telegrams sent. Anna’s father made it into town the night before. William had barely been able to face him, to see the sorrow in his dark green eyes. The man had already had to bury one woman he loved, Anna’s mother.

  Everyone in town tried making things easier for him. How could they make this easier? He was burying the woman who meant everything to him today. Everything else in his life had burned to the ground.

  He still had his son. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

  The pastor closed his bible, finished speaking. A hand dropped to William’s shoulder. It wasn’t Patrick’s. When he turned his head, Anna’s father stood next to him. His second wife stood beside him now, praying fervently as if that was the only thing getting Anna’s soul to heaven.

  “Come on, son. It’s time to say good-bye.”

  William stepped forward and threw a handful of dirt on top of the coffin. He stood there for a moment. He felt adrift, like nothing would keep him in this world any longer. At least nothing worth staying for. Another hand came down on his back. This time it was Patrick. “Come on, Will. Let the others pass. You have to take care of your son.”

  William stepped aside with Patrick, but he didn’t take his eyes from the grave. He never would have thought this would be his last memory of his wife. That he would have to see her like this. He wasn’t sure if he could live with it. He couldn’t if Thomas never paid for his crimes.

  “He should get some more rest.” The doctor took the handles of the chair and nodded at the young boy.

  William nodded and knelt down in front of David. “I’ll be by to see you in a little while. We’ll go home soon.”

  “I’m sorry, Pa.”

  “No. You have nothing to be sorry for.” He was the one who was sorry, and the guilt of it burned through his veins. “Go on. Get some rest.”

  He stood again as the doctor wheeled his son away. He watched as the rest of the townspeople passed before the grave. Some threw dirt on the coffin, others flowers. Even when the rest cleared out, William stood next to the grave. He didn’t want to leave his wife. Even if he couldn’t be with her anymore, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her side. Thinking he was alone, he dropped to his knees in front of the grave. A few tears dripped down his cheeks, splashing the fresh dug earth.

  “I promise you, Anna, I will find him. I will make sure he pays for what he’s done to you and David. I won’t let the two of you down. Not this time.”

  Steps rustled in the grass behind him, and he stiffened. He hated he’d been caught in a weak moment. He lifted a hand to wipe the wetness from his cheeks. When he finally turned around, his stepfather waited for him, sorrow and pity in his eyes.

  “You can come home with your Ma and me, Will. David will come too when he’s able.”

  “I have to find him. I wasn’t able to protect them while Anna was still alive. I will make sure they get justice.”

  “David is still
alive. He needs you, Will. He needs you to be here and whole for him.”

  Still, this weight on his soul wouldn’t leave him. “I can’t let him get away with this.”

  Patrick shook his head. “You don’t want to start down this path of revenge. You don’t want to see what it will do to you. I don’t want to see it.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Pa. He needs to pay for this. He’s never paid for anything he’s done. I’m not going to let it happen again.”

  “Will,” he started to say, but William had already moved away.

  “I’m going to see my son.”

  Chapter 9

  Bailey Ranch, Wyoming Territory

  October 13, 1887

  William rode into the ranch yard, his gaze scanning as he rode. He didn’t let out a breath until David came into sight, standing next to the corral. Patrick rode up beside him. “You’re going to kill that horse you ride him any harder. David’s fine. He wasn’t alone here. Your ma’s here. I left my foreman here. He was protected.”

  He wasn’t sure he could ever be protected enough. The two days they’d spent driving horses to the fort and returning home had been hell for him, not being able to check on his son. “He’s not riding one of those horses.”

  “It’s been nearly half a year, Will. Doc said he could do normal things if he felt up to it. He wants to ride again.”

  William swung down from the saddle and jerked the cinch loose. The saddle nearly fell to the ground before he caught it by the horn. “He’s my son, Patrick, and he has a damn bullet in his back. Because of my brother. He’s not getting on one of those horses.”

  “You’re not doing him any favors. He wants to do something. You should let him.”

  He removed the bridle with more care then let the horse into the corral before turning to his stepfather. “Did you forget what else the doctor said? Even the smallest fall could dislodge the bullet and paralyze him if it doesn’t kill him. I’m not letting that happen.”