Bootie sighed, fluttered her hands, then joined Mem. "Well, I guess I'm staying too."
"I won't leave her behind," Sarah and Hilda said in the same breath. "She is a friend. One we've treated badly. That ends right here and now," Sarah added. Cora nodded firmly and stepped forward behind them.
Thea came forward too. "I'm with the rest of you. Perrin's been a friend to all of us. It's long past time that we showed her we're sorry for what we did to her. We were wrong. We began the journey together and we should end it together."
"None of you are staying!" Cody roared. "Get this camp packed up and ready to roll!" He was losing precious minutes dealing with nonsense, minutes he could have used to begin searching for Quinton and Perrin. His gut was in knots.
"When we go out to search for her, we'll have to move with stealth," Sarah advised, beckoning the women around her. "Walk as if you're stepping on a wet floor, lightly and quietly. We'll position one of our best shots in front, one in the middle, and one at the end."
"How many pounds of ammunition do you think we can each carry?" Augusta asked, flexing her fingers. "I need to test if I can shoot with my gloves. The cold is a problem."
"We might need bandages, so wear extra, clean petticoats."
"It's cold enough to see our breath. We don't want to signal our position," Mem pointed out. "Webb told me his people suck on ice in this kind of situation. We should too. It will cool our breath and we won't give ourselves away with puffs of vapor."
"I've been sketching the woods," Thea volunteered. "You know there's a cave not far from here If I were Quinton, that's where I'd hide."
They all stared at her, including Cody. "Can you draw a map showing us where this cave is located?"
"Give me five minutes," she said, then hurried off to fetch her sketchbook and pencils.
Bootie pursed her lips. "There aren't enough horses. We'll have to walk. So wear thick socks and your sturdiest boots."
Hilda blushed. "I am having this small health problem. We will need to stop frequently so I can run into the bushes and"
"This has gone far enough!" Cody strode into their midst "I swear I'll give Quinton the arms wagon before I'll let all of you get killed trying to implement some damned fool plan!"
Mem drew to her considerable height. "If you won't assist us, Captain Snow, at least be quiet and stay out of our way!" She sent Webb a loving look, then joined the circle of women that stepped around Cody and reformed.
Cody spun. "Do you support this?" he demanded.
Webb leaned against a tree trunk, his arms folded across his chest. He grinned and tilted his head toward Mem. "Looks like I don't have a choice." The grin faded. "You know I don't agree with leaving you behind to face Quinton's gang alone. And Mem's right. If Quinton gets away from you, he'll follow the train."
Cody ground his teeth together. He knew he wasn't thinking as clearly as he usually did. All he could think about was Perrin. What were they doing to her? What was she thinking?
Webb observed the women, then looked back at Cody. "You better listen in, Captain, or you're going to confront Quinton wearing the wrong battle color." A faint grin returned.
"Son of a bitch!" They were discussing what to wear. And he realized their choice had sound logic behind it. They had decided to hide in the snowflakes by wearing white. He waded into their center to take charge, although he had to concede they weren't doing badly on their own.
"If you damn fools are determined to do this, then here's how we're going to do it." He glared at the men watching and grinning. He gestured to them. "Get over here. Or do you plan to let these women face Quinton alone?"
Thea returned then, breathlessly waving the map she had drawn. Cody studied it for a full three minutes, with Webb looking over his shoulder.
Instantly they both knew this was where they would find Quinton and his gang. It was exactly the site Cody would have chosen in Jake Quinton's place. "How far?" he asked Webb.
"About thirty minutes from camp."
Lifting his gaze, Cody looked into Thea's eyes. "Thank you." His gaze narrowed. "And don't you ever wander thirty minutes away from the wagons again. Damn it!"
Smiling, she joined the others, then so did Cody. He talked for thirty minutes, rehearsed them for an hour. By the time he sent them to their wagons to don warm white apparel, it was almost two o'clock.
He and Webb checked their powder and balls. "We'll leave Smokey to guard the wagons and Ona." For a moment his thoughts wandered. No, he couldn't think about Ona now. "Hilda and Thea will be the slowest; both are in poor health. We'll let them set the pace."
If something happened to Perrin before he had the chance to tell her that he loved her, he would never forgive himself. What the hell difference did it make that she had been Joseph Boyd's mistress? And she was nothing like Ellen. Perrin was his now, and that's all that mattered. Not the past, just the future.
That he hadn't permitted himself to accept this truth proved that a man could be a fool in a hundred ways. And he'd run through just about all of them with Perrin. He had a lot of explaining to do. He prayed that she would forgive him and that she still wanted him.
"I just hope our brides don't shoot each other," he muttered, slamming balls into his pockets.
"The chances for avoiding an accident will improve if you assign Bootie to ammunition instead of giving her a gun," Webb commented. "I'm amazed my sister-in-law hasn't shot her toes off before today." He checked his gear. "We're ready."
Now, when he wanted the snow to conceal them, it began to thin. In an hour the sky would clear. Cody swore. And he threw up his hands when he spotted the women coming toward him in their wedding dresses and frilly white shawls.
"God help us."
They filed straight past him and entered the forest, not waiting to be led. Their attitude, he swiftly realized, was a lot less frilly than their attire. They were grimly prepared to confront the same outlaw who miles ago had killed Bill Macy and Jeb Holden. They were committed to protect the arms wagon and their future and to rescue one of their own.
Cody watched them and gradually his shoulders relaxed. God alone knew how this would turn out. But he'd led less motivated troops than this one, and three of the brides were as good with a carbine as any man who had served under his command.
"If we're going to lead this troop," he said between his teeth, looking at Webb, "we'd better move or they're going to leave our butts behind."
* * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Cold and miserable, Perrin huddled in her shawl near the mouth of the cave, away from the fire and the men who sat around it. Pale white woodsmoke curled along the roof of the cave and drifted past her, making her headache worse.
Dried blood matted her hair to her temple. Her ankle ached where the rope around it had chafed through her stockings and rubbed her skin raw. Cold penetrated her shawl and gloves and occasionally she shivered uncontrollably. But she didn't ask to move closer to the fire. She sat as far from the five men as the rope around her ankle permitted.
One was drunk and the others were moving in that direction. Already they celebrated the fortune they would gain from selling the carbines and ammunition. Without wanting to hear, Perrin listened to their plans, staring out of the cave at the snow gently accumulating on leaves and tree limbs.
Cody would never voluntarily surrender the arms wagon. He might want to, but his obligations as wagonmaster would not allow it. And the women would never agree. Their futures depended on the sale of the arms and ammunition. They would not squander their bridegrooms' investment or leave themselves without homes for the winter. She didn't blame them, didn't hold it against them. They had no real choice.
Perrin watched the falling snow and considered her situation.
Her heart insisted that Cody would not abandon her. He'd send the others on to the Willamette Valley, and he would stay behind to search for her. But he'd never find this secluded cave. If he did chance to eventually stumble on it, he would be too late. Quinton
would make good on his threat. When Quinton didn't get the arms wagon, he would kill her, after his men took their pleasure. Every time one of them shifted, she started, thinking the rapes were about to begin. But so far the men only talked about it. She suspected they waited for the snow to stop so they could drag her outside the small cave.
Understanding that she was likely to die prompted Perrin to reflect over her life. Frowning, she recalled a lonely childhood and an isolated adulthood. Continuing, she reviewed her brief unhappy marriage to Garin Waverly, the period following his death, and the months with Joseph Boyd.
She couldn't genuinely regret either man. Each in his own way had filled a desperate need, and each in his own way had cared for her. They had stolen her self-esteem and her good name, but she had been a different woman then; she had let them do it.
A plume of vapor sighed from her lips. A woman's life was one long search for a good man. The mistakes were devastating.
Her one regret was that she had finally found her good man, but fate and Cody's own pigheadedness had decided she would never have him for her own.
She could have loved him so much. She could have erased Ellen's memory, could have shown him the security and trust and joy that a woman in love could bring to a man. She could have made him as happy as he would have made her.
Something moved beside a fir tree not far from the cave's entrance. Perrin's frown deepened and she peered through thinning snow. She saw nothing. She must have imagined
Blinking hard, concentrating, she slowly scanned the forest. No puffs of vapor signaled the presence of a person or animal.
But the longer and harder she looked, the more she began to hallucinate snow-covered bushes draped in white ruffles. There was another one. And she spotted a strange short sheet of snow hemmed midway with dangling, yarnlike icicles.
One of the outlaws rose behind her, crouching so his head wouldn't scrape the roof of the cave. He threw a whiskey bottle past Perrin's head and she heard it shatter against the rocks a foot below the cave mouth. "Got to water the tiger," he said, reaching for his fly.
The others laughed as he paused beside Perrin, dug his fingers into her hair, and jerked her head back. He planted a wet whiskey kiss hard on her lips. "That's just a sample of what you're going to get," he said, bringing fresh laughter from the others before he stumbled out of the cave, straightened, then staggered into the trees and snowflakes.
Perrin spit and wiped a hand across her lips. Ordinarily she wouldn't have watched a man relieve himself, but she strained to see his dark coat moving among the firs.
Something white slipped across her line of sight. White wrapped hat, white scarf pulled over a nose. A white and brown poncho. And a flash of intense blue eyes that her heart recognized before her mind did. She sucked in a sharp breath and her pulse leaped. Cody! He was here!
Stiffening, she narrowed her gaze and focused intently. The ruffled bushes appeared to advance. Something stirred—an arm?and she glimpsed a flash of auburn that vanished in an eyeblink. Mem!
Oh, God. They were all here. They had come to rescue her.
She heard a peculiar gurgling sound, and could no longer see the outlaw. Frantically, she wondered what Cody's plan was and how she might help.
She cleared her throat, mind racing. "Excuse me"
"Hear that, boys?" Quinton's yellow eyes plundered her breast. "She's getting eager."
"I think something may have happened to the man who went outside. I thought I heard a call for help."
"Ole Everett can't pee without help?" They laughed. Several long minutes elapsed, then Quinton frowned at the mouth of the cave. "Frank, go see what in the hell is taking Everett so damned long. Maybe the stupid fool is too drunk to find his way back."
Do it , Perrin silently urged. She already knew she couldn't untie the rope around her ankle, but she tested it a little by drawing her knees up. Quinton glared and gave the rope a sharp yank that cut into her skin. "You ain't going nowhere."
"I'm just moving soFrank?can get past."
Frank moved forward, crouching until he stepped past Perrin and could straighten just outside the cave.
All hell broke loose.
A shot exploded from one of the ruffled bushes. Bits of rock flew from the top of the cave just above Frank's shoulder. He froze in surprise long enough for another shot to hit him in the thigh and spin him around. Perrin jerked back her feet as he struggled for balance, then he dived forward, pulling his pistol as he fell.
Gunfire erupted around her as the men at the fire rushed to the mouth of the cave, pistols blazing. Perrin seized the moment to grab the rope and, finding it slack, she rolled out of the cave mouth and fell behind some prickly laurel. Flattening out, she covered her head with her arms and prayed she wouldn't be struck by the blizzard of bullets.
The gun battle lasted several endless minutes, then suddenly the forest fell silent. When Perrin dared to open her eyes, she saw two forms, Cody and Webb, crawling toward the bodies strewn about the cave mouth. Holding her breath, she watched as they split off in two directions.
"All right, everyone." Five minutes later, Cody stood at the front of the cave. His voice carried easily in the clear frosty air. The snow had almost stopped. "You can come out now. We've got three dead outlaws and two wounded."
Cautiously, Perrin sat up. The wounded outlaws sat in the cave looking down the barrels of Webb's pistols. The ruffled bushes ran forward, faces exposed now.
"We did it!" Cora shouted, waving a smoking carbine.
Cody roared at them. "Who the hell fired that first shot? We agreed I would fire first when the time was right!"
"It was me," Sarah shouted. "Thea was about to sneeze and Hilda had to answer nature's call. We had to begin. It would have been a good shot, but I fluffed it. Where's Perrin? Perrin?"
"Over here," she called, rising to her feet.
They converged on her in a rush, seven women wearing snowy white dresses and fancy shawls, waving carbines and hankies twisted around extra ammunition. Flushed with triumph and everyone talking at once, they made Perrin prove that she was not injured, then told her about the plan and how they had crept through the snowy woods, how they feared Thea would sneeze and give them away, how they just knew they had outshot the men and the victory belonged to them.
"Thank you," Perrin whispered, tears filling her eyes. "Thank you for not leaving me behind."
"Tell her," Cora said, giving Sarah a shove.
Sarah touched Perrin's hand and cleared her throat. "We talked and well, we're ashamed of ourselves and sorry for how we treated someone who's become a friend. We were wrong."
Mem pushed forward, her shawl dropping back to expose shining auburn hair. "We hope you'll forgive us."
Perrin embraced her tightly. "There's nothing to forgive," she said, strangling on tears. "You were never part of it."
"But I was, and I'm ashamed of myself," Bootie said, coming forward. "I'm sorry."
"You been a better friend to us than we been to you, but that's going to change. And there's something else," Cora said, looking at Sarah. "Tell her the rest of it."
"We, ah, like I said, we talked, and well, neither you nor Captain Snow are pledged to anyone else, so"
"Oh, for heaven's sake." Hilda rolled her eyes. "A person could grow old waiting for you to get to the point. If you and Mr. Snow want to court, no one here has any objection."
"It's no one's business but yours," Mem snapped, glaring at the others.
When Perrin raised her eyes, Cody was standing at the mouth of the cave, hands on hips, staring down at her with smoldering eyes. In all her life Perrin had never seen eyes that rogue-blue, or a smile that promised so much.
"Since we seem to have everyone's permission," he said dryly, a twinkle sparkling in his gaze, "I'd like to call on you after supper tonight, Mrs. Waverly. I have some crow to eat, some forgiveness to beg, and a future to discuss. Will you welcome me at your fire, or do I have to plead for the next ninety miles? I'll do
it, but we'll be wasting time that could be spent making plans and doing other things."
She gazed up at him with shining eyes. She didn't intend to make it easy for him, she wanted to hear three certain words, but her heart sang in the knowledge that the time of anxiety had ended. Everything was going to work out and she and Cody Snow would be together. The future spread before her like a bright package waiting to be opened.
"You may call on me, Mr. Snow," she said primly, aware that her hair was hanging, her gown was torn and soiled, a rope hung off her ankle, and she was probably the most bedraggled object of a man's courtship to pass through these parts.
A cheer went up, and laughter and a few whispers of congratulations, then Bootie's plaintive voice rose above the others. "Now can we go back? I swan, I'm plumb freezing to death!"
Cody called to them in a voice Perrin would never tire of hearing. "Pack up, ladies. As soon as the men finish here, we'll roll. We can get a few miles under the wheels before supper." He stared at Perrin. And his eyes told her everything he would say later.
Dazed with happiness, she floated back to camp.
Cody placed the last stone on Quintan's grave, then stood and wiped mud and snow off his hands. "Odd, isn't it?" he murmured to Webb. "This man has been a thorn in my side for years, and maybe I've been that to him then, in twenty minutes of gunfire, it ends." He fell silent. "I don't think it was even me who shot him. I think Sarah Jennings killed him."
"What do you want to do with those two?" Webb jerked his head toward the cave where Heck held his gun on the two wounded outlaws.
"Tie them up. We'll take them to Clampet Falls and let the authorities there deal with them."
On the walk back to camp, Webb studied the clearing sky. "It doesn't matter who killed Jake Quinton."
"I wanted it to be me," Cody said between his teeth. "Quinton took my woman."
When Webb grinned, Cody glared at him. Then they both laughed, the sound ringing through the forest.
"You were right," Cody said when he could speak. "Is that what you're waiting to hear? At least I hope to hell that you're right. You're going to be dealing with one sorry sad son of a bitch if she doesn't forgive me and agree to marry me."
Brides of Prairie Gold Page 36