The sky was now covered with a heavy, white cloud. Like a giant, down-stuffed quilt. It would have been pretty, Bree thought, if she didn’t know what it meant.
Then the snow began. The wind was coming hard from the north, and the flakes didn’t twitter and dance their way down in the magical way some snowfalls have. These flakes went whipping past. Then more followed, and within seconds the snow was coming heavy and hard. Bree realized visibility was dwindling and she couldn’t see much past the covered bridge.
Aunt Ginny and Sam were at the house. They hadn’t gone back to town, not after Josh told them about the coming storm. Ginny stepped out on the porch with two cups of steaming tea and handed one to Bree.
Ginny said, “It seems like we’re always standing and waiting for these men.”
Bree nodded. “Comes with the territory, I guess.”
She took a sip of tea. Earl Grey.
She said, “Aunt Ginny, what happens when one of them doesn’t come back?”
“We’ll deal with it then, child. But it’s not going to be today.”
There was movement at the bridge. At first Bree thought she saw two riders, but then her heart fell when she saw it was a wagon. Then she felt guilty for being disappointed, because she knew it was Dusty coming in from the Harding farm with Jack and Nina.
Aunt Ginny gave Jack a long hug, and said, “So, Jackson, how does it feel to be traipsing about the country on legal business? Cavorting with judges?”
“At the moment,” he said, “mighty cold.”
Then it was Bree’s turn. She wrapped her arms around her brother and said, “It never feels completely like home when you’re gone.”
He said, “I’ve been gone a lot, over the years. But Nina and I plan to be here a lot, from now on.”
There was a trunk full of presents that Jack and Dusty hauled in. Then Temperance and Haley were giving Jack and Nina hugs, and Dusty was warming his hands by the hearth. Sam offered Jack and Dusty a glass of whiskey each.
This left Bree and Aunt Ginny on the porch.
Ginny said, “Aren’t you going to go in? Warm up a little?”
Bree shook her head. “I think I’ll wait just a little longer.”
An inch of snow was already on the ground, and the wooden bridge now seemed to be lost in what looked like heavy fog.
Then Bree saw two riders. She jumped in the air and almost ran down the stairs to greet them. But as they grew closer, she saw it was another buckboard. The man driving it was really tall, even more so than Charles, and someone was beside him on the seat. Bree realized it was Carter and Emily Harding.
Again, she felt guilty for being disappointed.
Josh hadn’t hired a new wrangler yet, so Dusty said he would take care of their horses.
Harding said to her, “Your Pa here yet?”
She shook her head. “Don’t know if he’s coming, what with the storm.”
Harding opened the door, and saw Bree was still standing by the railing, looking off toward the valley.
He said, “You coming in?”
“No. Not yet. I’m still waiting for Josh and Charles.”
“They’ll be along. Them’s two of the toughest I’ve ever seen.”
5
Thunder loved to run in the snow. One time a few years ago, Johnny had given Thunder his head after a storm had dropped two feet of powdery snow on the valley floor. Thunder stumbled and they fell and slid sideways. Johnny’s leg was trapped under Thunder and he was still hanging onto the saddle. Thunder scampered back to his feet with Johnny still hanging on and then took off running again. Johnny’s leg was a little bruised up from the fall, but he was laughing too hard to care.
But at the moment, Thunder seemed to know that they had to get Jessica and Cora to safety. They had left the canyon with the wind blowing strong and cold, and as they rode down into the valley, the first flakes started falling. And then the snow turned into sleet, whipping about them in the wind.
Jessica could ride and she was sitting strong in the saddle, and Cora was bundled up and riding on the saddle in front of her. Johnny was leading a pack horse that was carrying everything Jessica had packed.
The snow was up over Thunder’s hooves when they reached the wooden bridge. Visibility was now so bad because of the snowfall, Johnny could see only a faded hulking shape ahead, and he knew it was the ranch house. Within an hour, he didn’t think the house would be visible from a distance even half as far away as the bridge.
They rode up and Bree came running down from the porch to greet them. Ginny was with her.
Ginny said to Jessica and Cora, “Let’s get you two inside and thawed out.”
Johnny said, “This storm is going to be a bad one. Is everyone here?”
Bree shook her head. “Josh and Charles are still out there.”
Dusty stepped around from the side of the house. He said, “I’ll take care of the horses.”
Johnny nodded, then he said to Bree, “Who’s here?”
She said, “Sam’s here. And the Hardings. And Jack and Nina. Uncle Joe’s here, and Uncle Matt and Peddie. Mister Chen and Hunter just got here a little while ago. Tom’s staying in town. He figured the marshal should be there.”
“Go get the men. Tell them we’re going to build a big bonfire.”
Bree had long ago learned not to question her father. She did what he told her. She went and got the men.
“A bonfire?” Jack said. He was standing in the living room by the hearth.
Harding nodded, shouldering into his coat. “In this kind of snow, you could get lost just a quarter mile from the house. Your pa’s thinking it’ll help the boys out there find their way home.”
Bree followed them outdoors.
Dusty called out to Pa over the wind, “We can’t use the firewood. We have enough for maybe a week in the wood shed. If we use that, we won’t be able to heat the house.”
Johnny said, “Is the bunkhouse empty?”
Bree nodded. “Old Ches and Kennedy are out at the line cabin.”
“Then, once the storm is done and the snow is cleared, we’re going to have to build a new one.”
They cleared the bunkhouse out. Charles had little in the world, which Bree found ironic because his family had enough money to buy the entire territory. Bree was able to stuff everything Charles owned into a pair of saddle bags, and Aunt Ginny and Temperance pulled sheets and blankets and pillows away from the bunks and hauled them to the main house.
Dusty said, “Will they be able to see this? With the snow comin’ down so thick?”
Johnny said, “It’s getting dark soon. The fire will look like a dull orange glow through the snow. It won’t be visible from much more than a mile out, but I hope it’s enough.”
When the building was empty, what little daylight there was had faded to darkness.
“All right,” Johnny said. “Let’s hope this works.”
He took a match to one mattress. The fire caught fast. It wasn’t long before flames were dancing along the roof.
Bree was standing with Pa, Dusty and Jack a few yards back from the bunkhouse. Against the freezing winds of the storm, the heat of the fire felt good. But she was so filled with fear for Charles and Josh that she wasn’t able to enjoy it.
If anyone had thought Pa’s plan was a little excessive, Bree would have challenged them, because there were now three inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down faster than ever, and her brother and her man were both out there somewhere.
Bree would have stood out in the blizzard until she froze, but Pa ordered her inside. She removed her coat and stood in front of the fire with a cup of tea.
Temperance was pacing back and forth from the hearth to the front windows. She would look out a window, then come back toward the hearth.
Nina was on the sofa. She said, “This place is keeping out the wind real nice.”
Bree nodded. “Pa built it tight.”
But her mind was only partially on what she wa
s saying.
The men were outside, making sure the fire didn’t spread past the bunkhouse. Bree wondered what would happen if Charles and Josh weren’t home by the time the fire was done. There was nothing left to burn.
But then she heard Pa’s voice calling out from the porch. “Riders coming!”
Bree ran for the door. She didn’t even bother to grab her coat.
6
Charles fell out of the saddle, and Jack and Carter caught him. Josh tried to swing out of the saddle, but he ended up sliding off and Dusty tried to catch him. Both wound up in the snow.
“They’re half-frozen,” Johnny said. He had to call out over the roar of the wind. “Get ‘em inside!”
Ginny opened the door and said, “Get ‘em on the sofa. In front of the fire.”
Charles and Josh were conscious and tried to make their legs work, but ultimately had to be dragged into the house.
Their coats were covered with ice and snow. Dusty and Haley tried to work the buttons of Josh’s coat, but the buttons were under a layer of ice, so Dusty gave the coat a pull and tore the buttons loose. Jack and Carter were doing the same with Charles.
Bree and Temperance stood back. Bree had her hand over her mouth and tears were flowing. Temperance was doing the same.
Aunt Ginny said to them, “They’ll be all right. I’ve been through this before. Remember when your Pa was caught in a blizzard that time, coming in from the range?”
Bree nodded. She remembered. She said to Temperance, “It was before you came to live with us.”
Johnny pulled a glove from one of Josh’s hands. “His fingers have frostbite. Probably Charles does, too. Likely in their toes, as well.”
Ginny said to Sam, “Go get some buckets of snow. We’ll have to warm their hands and feet gradually so they won’t lose their fingers or toes.”
Temperance said, “Snow?”
Ginny said, “You warm them up gradually. If you don’t, tissue will die and gangrene will set in. First snow, then cold water, then room-temperature water. Then warm water. One step at a time.”
Jack said to Sam, “There are buckets in the tool shed. Come on. I’ll go with you.”
A couple of hours later, Charles sat with a cup of hot coffee in one hand and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Josh was beside him.
Charles said, “I still feel a little chilled. Isn’t that strange?”
Josh shook his head. “It’s normal, as frozen as we were.”
Charles held out a hand and made a fist, and then opened his hand again. “My fingers hurt.”
Josh said, “It’s to be expected. We both had frostbite all the way to our knuckles.”
Johnny was in a rocker. “My fingers still don’t feel right, from that time I had frostbite. And that was maybe five years ago.”
Bree sat on the arm of the sofa, and she reached down and pulled Charles in for a hug.
She said, “I was so afraid I’d lost you.”
“I’ll admit, I was a little worried for a minute or two, myself.”
Temperance was on the sofa beside Josh. He opened the blanket and let her inside with him, and he wrapped an arm around her.
He was in a flannel shirt and jeans. He was wearing socks, but his boots were gone.
He said, “I’ll miss that pair of boots.”
Johnny said, “We had to cut ‘em off. No other choice, or you would have lost your toes.”
Josh grinned. “I’ll choose my toes over a pair of boots, any day.”
Josh had caught up with Charles at the line cabin. Old Ches and Kennedy had a stack of split wood and enough supplies for two weeks.
“We’ll be all right here,” Ches said. “We’ll sit and feed the fire and talk about women and drink whiskey. We’ll be fine.”
Josh and Charles had then lit out, trying to race the storm back to the valley. The storm had won.
Josh had said to Pa, “That fire you started saved our lives. Visibility was so bad, if not for that fire, we might have ridden right on past the house and never even seen it. You wouldn’t have found us till spring.”
Pa said, “Such a thing has happened before, in these mountains.”
Charles looked at Bree and said, “You crying?”
Bree wiped the tears away and shook her head no, but more tears followed.
Charles said, “There’s no need to cry. Josh and I are all right.”
Bree nodded. “I know.”
Temperance and Bree looked over at each other. Temperance’s face was wet, too. They both laughed.
7
Christmas morning, the place was alive with laughter and smiles. Santa Claus had left a pile of presents, and Cora and Jonathan stared with wonder at the sight of them.
Presents were opened. Dusty had a small wooden antelope Hunter had carved from a chunk of pinewood.
“Hunter,” Dusty said. “I didn’t know you could do work like this.”
Hunter grinned. “I’m a man of mystery.”
Carter gave Charles a revolver. It looked a little like a Smith and Wesson, but not quite.
Carter said, “A new shootin’ iron for you. It’s a Merwin-Hulbert. Forty-four-forty. It’ll take the same cartridges your Winchester does. Let’s hope you never have to use it.”
Chen had a glass of eggnog with a touch of rum in it. “Everyone here. This is nice. They don’t have Christmas in China, but I think maybe that should change.”
When the presents were opened, Charles stood looking at the tree, with a glass of warm eggnog in one hand. Bree had both arms wrapped around him and her head was resting against his chest. He was too tall for her to reach his shoulder.
The storm had been three days ago and was followed by another. The snow had drifted up over the side of the house to completely cover the windows. Jack and Dusty had shoveled out a path to the outhouse, and then had gone out on snow shoes and come back with a deer.
Venison stew was simmering away on the stove, filling the house with a smell that made Bree’s mouth water.
She said to Charles, “I’m just so glad you’re home safe. Both of you.”
Charles grinned. “That was three days ago. Aren’t you ever going to put it behind you?”
She shook her head. “Never. I could have lost you so easily.”
Aunt Ginny was walking past. She said, “You men put yourselves in danger and then when it’s done, it’s like it never happened. But for us women who are left behind here, always waiting and never knowing if you’re coming back alive, we never really put it behind us.”
That evening, with a fire roaring in the hearth, Aunt Ginny sat in her rocker by the fire, a glass of Chablis on an end table next to her. Johnny had taken his chair out to the cabin, so he sat on the sofa with Jessica beside him, and Cora was asleep in her lap. Bree sat on the floor in front of him.
Charles was leaning one elbow against the hearth, and in one hand was a glass of bourbon. Jack had gotten a bottle for Christmas and was sharing it. Jack sat at the foot of the hearth, and Nina was with him. Josh was sitting beside Bree with his back against the sofa and a glass in one hand, and Temperance was beside him. Uncle Joe was standing off behind the sofa with a glass of scotch. Everyone else was scattered about. Some were on pallets that had been pulled together with blankets and quilts on the parlor floor.
It was a sleepy time and a good time. Family and friends gathered all about.
Jessica leaned into Johnny and he put one arm around her and pulled her in closer.
Harlan Carter said from somewhere behind the sofa, “You sure built this place good, McCabe. The heat from that fire fills the whole room right good.”
Johnny nodded. “The first winter we spent here, we had only the small cabin.”
Ginny said, “Oh, I remember that winter all too well.”
“What’s now the kitchen,” Johnny said, “was the cabin. It was what we built first. The boys were young, and Bree was just a little tyke.”
Josh said, “She still is.”
Joe said, “Them were the days. We had just ridden all the way up here from California and got the cabin built in time for the first snow.”
Ginny said, “That seems so long ago, now.”
She said as the thought occurred to her, “I remember when I first saw you, John, back in San Francisco. You didn’t have your long, Shoshone hair back then.”
Johnny nodded. “I wore it short like you, Jack, back then.”
Jack was grinning. “Hard to imagine.”
Joe said, “I remember that long ride we had ‘cross country, just a few years before that. Just you, me and Matt. Remember that?”
Johnny nodded. “So long ago. And yet, it seems like just yesterday in some ways.”
Bree looked over her shoulder and back at her father. “That was when Grandpa was killed, right? And you and Uncle Joe and Uncle Matt came west looking for the killer.”
Johnny nodded. “That’s how it was.”
Josh looked back at him. “That was when you first come west? Then when did you ride with the Texas Rangers?”
“That actually wasn’t when I first came west. I had ridden with the Rangers a while before that.”
Ginny said, “John, you’ve told your story in bits and pieces over the years, but have you ever told the children the whole thing? From start to finish?”
Johnny gave a look that said, oh boy, and said, “That’s one long story.”
“And a great way for us to spend a cold, winter’s eve together.”
Bree looked back at Johnny again. “Come on, Pa. Tell us.”
Johnny looked over at Joe and said, “Where’s Matt? He was a part of this, too.”
Joe nodded his head toward the center of the room. “He’s sawin’ ‘em off over there.”
Johnny grinned. He didn’t really want to talk about himself, or those days before Lura. And yet he found his thoughts drifting back to that time. Back when he was about the age of Josh and Dusty. He realized he wasn’t very tired. Maybe he was in the mood for a long story, after all.
Johnny McCabe (The McCabes Book 6) Page 2