Dance With A Gunfighter

by JoMarie Lodge

  "You’re one to do that, that’s for sure," Chad said with a laugh.

  "Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, Chad. I can take care of myself."

  "I know. That’s one of things I love about you."

  Then he said goodnight, and left her sitting by the fire with only her thoughts.

  o0o

  By late spring, when the days were turning warm, Thorn had doubled in size. At times, he’d follow Gabe around like a dog, understanding and obeying her commands, sleeping on the floor beside her bed at night. At other times, he’d roam far, sometimes staying away for a day or two, but then showing up and demanding to be petted. Always, he was cunning, sneaky and willful, and at the same time playful and affectionate. Despite herself, Gabe loved him, even when Manolo brought her an armful of dead hens, killed by Thorn not for hunger but for the sheer sport of it. Manolo dropped the birds at her feet, frowning and shaking his head.

  "Oh, Thorn!" she cried in dismay. She found him, showed him the birds, scolded him, and did all she could to show her anger, but he romped about devil-may-care.

  When it happened a second time, she scolded him forcefully. Thorn lowered his belly and scurried away, looking like the coyote he was. Gabe felt terrible, but then she saw Manolo scowling fiercely at the pup. He glanced at her, shook his head and stomped away.

  She was sewing a dress for Kaiya’s daughter one evening when she heard a sudden screeching and banging. The screeches turned to squawks and soon Manolo’s shouts of fury rang out. The hen house!

  Putting on her wrapper, and boots, she picked up her shotgun and ran outside. There was Thorn, leaping about inside the coop, a bird in his mouth, jerking his head from side to side until the bird lay lifeless. He’d broken through every barrier and obstacle they’d built to keep him away from the hens. Manolo chased him out of the coop.

  But it was too late. All her hens lay dead.

  She fired her shotgun into the air, making Manolo and Thorn both stop and stare at her. Her heart felt torn in two as she realized what she had to do. She picked up a rock and threw it at the coyote, watching it land just before his feet. He sprang back a few steps.

  "Get out of here!" she cried, throwing another rock. "Go! There’s no taming you. And you won’t listen."

  He scampered out of reach, looking more like a dog than a wild thing. "No taming you," she told him. "I can’t keep you penned up, living the way I want you to, anymore than I could I let someone do that to me."

  She threw another small rock, hitting him in the rump. He lowered his head, his pale eyes cold, and then he turned and ran away. She watched Thorn’s silhouette against the red morning sunrise, until he disappeared into the shadows in the distance.

  "We have to say good-bye," she whispered, her mind filled with another time, another place. Then she walked back to her house alone.

  Chapter 31

  The monsoon rains of late summer came hard that year, washing away the garden of corn, squash, melons, pumpkins and beans that Gabe and Kaiya had planted, and half the garden top soil as well. Thorn never came back. Gabe’s weekly letters from Chad told her he was doing well in law school. She had always said he had most of the brains in the family.

  Once a week, she went into Jackson City to pick up the mail and buy supplies. Whenever she saw a stranger in town, she would introduce herself, then quickly ask if he knew the whereabouts of Jess McLowry or Will Tanner.

  A couple of times one such passerby told her Jess McLowry were dead. The first time it happened, the news devastated her until she realized it was the old rumor that Apaches had killed Jess. Tanner, as well, seemed to have dropped off the earth. As the months passed, fewer and fewer people knew of or cared about the two men any longer. No one but her.

  A foolish hope grew in her that when her birthday came, Jess might contact her. On that morning, she put on a dress, and with it the necklace he had given her the year before. Throughout the day she kept her eye on the road, on the old flappy-tongued saguaro. But he didn’t come to see her; he didn’t send even a note. That was when she knew it was truly over between them.

  The one bright spot in her day was the time she spent with Kaiya’s children. The baby was growing fast, and the little girl was intelligent and curious, quickly learning English from Gabe. Gabe would tell her many stories. Some were from the Bible, and others from Greek mythology--stories Gabe remembered from her mother’s book. The book had been destroyed in the fire, and one day in town, Gabe found a copy in a catalogue and ordered it. It gave her something to look forward to.

  One afternoon, after a quick thunderstorm passed over the land, leaving it green and fresh, Gabe rode out to check the cattle. As she went, she took the time to enjoy the beautiful country that belonged to her. She might have nothing else, but this land was hers. As Jess had once said, it was worth fighting for.

  When she returned to the stables, the quiet of the area made her suddenly uneasy. The house and barn and everything around them looked the same as when she left that morning.

  Of course it was quiet, she told herself. Manolo had left early that morning to hunt a mountain lion that had been killing livestock and Kaiya had taken the children to gather blackberries on the hillside above the arroyo.

  Still, something felt wrong.

  Gabe led Maggie to her stall and began to unsaddle her.

  "Well, there, little lady. It’s about time we met." A slow, South Carolina drawl, so much like Jess’s, made her heart catch for a moment. She spun around.

  Will Tanner leaned against the door just inside the barn, sucking on a piece of hay. He was tall and broad-shouldered. A black hat worn low on his brow shaded his eyes. In the shadows, something about the shape of his face struck her as oddly familiar. Long, blond hair fell to his shoulders, and a thick mustache curved down around the side of his mouth and fell nearly to his chin. His black shirt was unbuttoned down to his stomach and gaped open, and a black bandanna was tied loose on his neck. His trousers were black, and his spurs long and fierce.

  He dropped the straw and swaggered toward her. Ice blue eyes, flat and ugly as death, bored into her as he approached.

  Gabe backed toward Maggie, her eyes searching for a weapon--any weapon. Her rifle was in the scabbard, but she’d never be able to pull it free before Tanner shot her. "What do you want, Tanner?"

  "Ah, so you do recognize me. I thought that brother of mine had driven all other thoughts from your pretty head. He used to have that effect on the ladies. Guess he’s slipping."

  Her heart began to pound. "Brother?"

  "My baby brother, Jess." He stared at her, then slowly began to laugh. "You mean, he didn’t tell you? Hah! And to think, he used to be so proud of me."

  It was a lie, she thought. It had to be a lie.

  "He’s no kin of yours!" she shouted.

  "No?" Tanner lifted an eyebrow. She’d seen that same gesture from Jess. The color of the eyes. The shape of their bodies. Memories swirled around her--the strange reaction she’d had from Jess when she told him Tanner had killed her family...his reluctance to go after the man...and the dream she’d once had where Tanner turned into Jess. As she thought of hounding Jess to go after his own brother, she felt sick. "But your names," she said, all but pleading with him to say he’d lied. "You can’t be--"

  "It’s easy to change a name. Especially when Will McLowry was wanted by the whole Union government. They wanted me for murdering the bastard carpetbaggers who raped and killed my wife, and blew off my baby’s head with a rifle. They taught me how to live like an animal in that Union prison. They also taught me to kill like one."

  She blanched at his words and remembered the one time Jess had talked about traveling with a group of Confederates--some were family, he’d said. And then the gang went bad, and he’d left them. "But why my family?" she asked. "We’d done nothing to you."

  He shrugged. "Why not? There you were, in your snug little house, with your snug little family, all so very, very good, so very, very happy." He l
aughed. "For all the good it did you."

  As she turned pale, he chuckled.

  "I’m not alone, you know," she said, willing herself to stand up straight and defiant. "There are plenty of others on the ranch. It’s not like the last time you were here...with only a man, his two sons, and a daughter too young and too frightened to do anything but hide."

  "Too bad we missed you, girl. I would have enjoyed having you before my brother did." He stroked his jaw. "Much as I can remember, there was only an old man, a couple fellas and a scrawny young boy hiding in the house."

  "You saw a boy?"

  "Window curtain was back, so we saw him. Would have shot him if he’d grabbed a gun, but I guess he was too scared. After we killed the others, we decided to smoke him out, then have some fun before we killed him, too. But then the whole damn place caught fire. He must have burned up. So, we took off before the neighbors came snooping around."

  Gabe’s skin turned cold and she began to shake.

  As if in a nightmare, she saw again Henry’s expression when he heard a noise outside, near the barn. She watched as he got up from the dinner table and picked up his rifle to go out to inspect. She was screaming for him not to go, for Pa and Chad not to follow him, but none of them heard her. Her voice made no sound.

  Chad had said the intruders were saddle tramps. He wasn’t worried. Pa not only let drifters sleep in the barn, he'd often give them some baked bread and jerky besides.

  She saw herself at the window, madder than hell because supper was getting cold. Five men charged out of the barn, hooting and yelling. They were drunk, wild and crazy. A mean-looking, tall one with long, yellow hair raised his six-shooter and fired.

  The nightmare slowed. The back of her father’s shirt shredded open, forming a black, gaping hole. Droplets of blood sprayed the air. He fell hard to the ground, bouncing from the impact, then lay still, sprawled in the way of a rag doll, not a man. Blood darkened the front of his shirt.

  She tried to help, to grab her rifle. But her legs were rooted to the floor. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t move.

  Chad and Henry fired back. Henry was hit, over and over, twisting and turning with each blow. The front door crashed open, and Chad stood before her. He tossed back the knotted rag rug and lifted the trap door to the root cellar. She begged him to hide himself, but he grabbed her and shoved her inside. She landed hard, the wind knocked out of her as he slammed the trap door shut and left her alone in the darkness.

  She heard the door to the house bang open, then shots fired on and on and on, and then a loud roar, and finally, blackness.

  All this time she’d believed Tanner hadn’t seen her, that she could have grabbed a gun and stopped him, that she could have saved her father and Henry. The thought had eaten away at her, day and night. But he had seen her.

  He’d been waiting, and if she’d tried to kill him, she, too, would be dead now.

  Tanner rubbed his chin, closely watching her reaction. "That was you at the window, wasn’t it? When you was poking around Tombstone and Dry Springs I’d heard that your hair was pretty short for a girl’s. It would a been even shorter back when we raided this place."

  She couldn’t speak, could scarcely think.

  "God damn!" He spit on the ground. "If we had found you that day, you would have been like manna from heaven." His frown turned into a leer that turned her stomach.

  "You aren’t human," she whispered.

  He laughed. "Why don’t we go up to your bedroom and I’ll show you how human I am? I’ve never had a woman my baby brother knew--in the Biblical sense, that is. I’ll be interested in how you compare us."

  "Go to hell!"

  He chuckled. "Wouldn’t it be rich if he showed up while we were in your bed? He never did like to share." He licked his lower lip. "He’s an hour or two behind me. Been dogging me all over three territories, and I’m damned sick of it. I decided to play it out right here. To finally let him catch up with me, and end his sorry life."

  His words told her, again, what a monster he was. She forced her thoughts to what she had to do to save herself and Jess. Slowly, she lifted her hand from the stall door and stepped away from Maggie.

  If she left the stable, Kaiya or Manolo might return and see Tanner and realize she needed help. But what if he killed them, or, God forbid, their children? She had to stop Tanner herself--somehow. She had to, or die trying. She couldn’t let him harm anyone else.

  Tanner waved his gun toward the entrance, and she hurried past him, careful not to get close enough for him to touch her. She had to find a way to stall him, to stop the confrontation he wanted, and she feared. She stepped out of the door into the bright sunlight.

  The air was hazy with heat. As Gabe looked over her shoulder for Manolo or Kaiya, she nearly lost her step. Darting out from around the back of the barn, his gun drawn, was Jess. He put his finger to his lips, telling her not to make a sound. She quickly faced forward again and edged sideways toward the water barrels.

  Tanner stepped from the barn onto the sun-bleached ground.

  "Stop right there, Will. Put your hands up."

  Tanner froze, his gun still pointing toward Gabe as he slowly turned his head. Jess was to the side and a little behind him. As soon as she saw Tanner’s attention turn away from her, Gabe hurled herself behind a big barrel.

  Tanner’s eyes darted for a second in her direction. He swore, then squared his shoulders as he kept his back to Jess.

  "You got the drop on me, baby brother. I’m easing my gun back into my holster, see? Now, if you shoot me, it’ll be murder, pure and simple. You’ve been a hired gun--and that makes me proud, Jess--but I also know you aren’t one to go around murdering kin. Let’s just forget about all this, with you dogging me everywhere I go. I don’t want to hurt you, Jess, and I know you don’t want to hurt me."

  "It’s too late for that, Will."

  "Now that’s a mite unfriendly attitude, Jess."

  Gabe watched the exchange with confusion, not understanding why Jess allowed Tanner to holster his gun. Why not just tell him to drop it on the ground?

  "You want a chance, Will?" Jess asked.

  "That’s what I’m asking you for. Kin to kin."

  An inkling of what Jess planned struck Gabe with horror. "Don’t listen to him, Jess," she cried. "We need to tie him up and take him to the sheriff."

  Tanner smiled, his shoulders relaxed. "Right. Come on over here and tie me up."

  "Gabe, don’t you realize? He’s paid off the sheriff. Why do you think nothing happened to Tanner or any of his men after what they did to your family?"

  "The sheriff can’t be that bad!" Gabe cried.

  "Listen to the woman, Jess." Tanner grinned, cocky and seemingly unconcerned. "Sheriff’s a good man. He even told me not to kill this little gal. But then, she’s got those Indians living out here with her. I decided to kill her and scalp her--then the town could get rid of the Indians, too."

  "Damn you, Tanner," Gabe cried.

  Tanner straightened, his arms still raised high. Ignoring Gabe, he addressed McLowry. "I’m getting real tired of standing here, baby brother. Seems to me, you got two choices. You can shoot me in the back or you can take me to the sheriff in Jackson. Which is it?"

  "There’s a third choice, Will. You can turn around and face me. A showdown. Right here. Right now."

  "You with a gun pointed at me? I don’t go in for suicide."

  "I’m putting my gun in my holster, too, Will. You can turn around, real slow."

  Tanner faced him. McLowry stood with his arms wide at his sides.

  Gabe wanted to cry out, wanted to run between them to stop this thing, but she knew any distraction she made might hurt Jess. She couldn’t stop them, just as she couldn’t stop what had happened to her family. Covering her mouth with her hands to prevent herself from making a sound, she silently eased back toward the stable, toward Maggie, and the rifle in the scabbard.

  "Don’t wait for your men to help
you, Will. A couple of U.S. marshals from Tucson picked them up already--lawmen you haven’t paid off. It’s your move."

  "No way. You always were the quicker draw. I’m not pulling my gun on you."

  "You bragged from Durango to Santa Fe that you were the fastest gunman in the west, Will." McLowry cocked his head. "You saying you were lying?"

  "Why are you doing this for her, brother? Why don’t you join up with the gang again? We’d do well, go far."

  "You and your gang hurt what’s mine and those I care about. It’s my fight now."

  "Well, I can see why you care about that gal there," Tanner said, his drawl heavy and tinged with laughter. "I still remember what it was like having her that day on the ranch. We killed her old man and brothers, then found her. She tell you about it, Jess? No? Guess she was ashamed--seeing her kin killed, and then loving what me and the rest of the boys did to her. Got real fired up over me. Better than any whore I’ve had before or since. But then, you know that, too, don’t you, baby brother?"

  "Shut your foul mouth!"

  "Didn’t she tell you about it? Don’t tell me she pretended she was a virgin for you? She sure was when I took her. Can’t be twice, from what I hear. Still, she went down on me real good for someone’s supposed to be so innocent. You don’t hear her saying it’s a lie, do you?"

  Gabe bit down hard on her lip, not allowing herself to cry out in protest. Tanner wanted her to do just that. Any sound from her might distract Jess.

  "It’s true, Jess," he continued. "I had her every way I could--so did the others. Tell him how much you liked it...Gabriella."

  When Jess heard the sound of her full name, his eyes darted toward her. In that instant, Tanner drew his gun and fired.