The rejection still stung. Even Angela had said that her being so good made others to not like her. Yet, those hoodlums were the talk of the town and admired by many. What was with people that they would like those who dabbled in sin and dislike her? It wasn’t right. Not right at all.
Still, she was alone without a prospect for a man to marry. Her blood chilled. That is except Preacher Carl from Chico. She stared at the trail the Burkett boys had made. Maybe if she joined up with them, the people of the town would like her.
Ha, what a crazy world.
Chapter 5
Hayden scowled at his brothers. “What do you mean you went into town and got some things at the store? I thought you didn’t have any money.”
Greg pulled out a bag of tobacco. “That’s right. It’s not like we go shopping. We’re really just going to take back what they owe us. Besides, we dropped off some packages at the Jordan ranch.”
Hayden knocked the bag out of his hand. “You’re wrong, and someday you’re going to pay.”
Cole picked up the bag and handed it back to Greg. “No, they’re just paying us back for what they stole from us. If you’d been here, you’d have seen how it was. You weren’t back from the war yet. They took everything. Wouldn’t even let us buy Ma the medicine she needed.”
Hayden wished he’d been with his family. Maybe things would have been different. Or maybe, he would understand their ways. “Well, all this is going to bring you is trouble.”
Pa walked in. “That spring you found has a nice little pond now. That should tide the cattle over until we take them out.”
Hayden turned to him. “Most of them are mavericks. You can brand them yourselves and start a herd. Turn the one with a brand back out on the prairie and be done with it. You know how rustlers end up.”
“We aren’t rustlers. God knows that. We’re not thieves either. Most of the town knows how we were done wrong. It’s retribution.”
“You mean revenge.”
His pa turned to him. “No, I don’t want revenge. Just what is owed us.”
Hayden waved his arm at their surroundings. “You live in a cave hiding out like rats.”
Greg shoved him. “You’re here. Don’t see you leaving.”
Hayden pleaded with his family. “Look, why don’t we start a ranch of our own. We could round up more mavericks and drive them north. Together we can make it work.”
His pa whittled a piece of wood. “No, we still got scores to settle. The only family that treated us decent was the preacher. They had us for dinner a couple times. I respect them.”
Hayden clenched his fist. “It’s not going to end well.”
Pa looked square at him. “If you want to go, go. I won’t stop you. I just ask you not to tell where we are.”
“You know I wouldn’t do that.”
Greg rapped him on the shoulder. “Then you’re really just like us. A good law-abiding citizen would tell where the local gangs’ hideout was.”
There was truth in his brother’s words. More than Hayden wanted to admit. “You’re my family. I want us to be a family again.”
Pa looked at him. “You know, you’re of age to take a wife. Got any girls you’re interested in?”
“No. Haven’t even thought of it. I want to offer a woman something other than a few dollars and a horse. If I had a little spread, say in Montana, I’d find me a wife.”
Pa shook his head. “They don’t just pop up like rabbits. Takes time to court a girl proper. There’s a lot of desperate widows since the war. Have to watch out for them. We take care of our share.”
“And what do you have to offer a woman? A hideout in a cave?”
Cole laughed. “A wife is far from my mind.”
“You’re too young. But Greg and even Pa could find one.”
Pa stared into nothing. “It would be nice to have a woman’s touch. I miss your ma. Such a fine woman. But you’re right, this is no place for a woman.”
Greg threw a rock at the wall. “I do miss a woman’s cooking.”
Cole frowned. “Yeah. Not like we can go to Carol’s diner anymore. Don’t have the money, and the sheriff would pick us up and put us in jail.”
Hayden stared at his family. “Have you broken the law bad enough to earn a jail sentence?”
Pa shrugged. “Well, there was the time we took Mr. Farley’s pig. He saw us and shot his shotgun at us, although I think he aimed high on purpose.”
Greg walked to the entrance. “There was the time we took clothes off the sheriff’s clothesline. Think we really made him mad.”
Cole nodded. “Then we just went in the general store and helped ourselves to supplies. Only what we could carry, but people saw us.”
Hayden wiped his forehead. “So no really bad things. Well, I’m going to turn that branded steer out on the prairie. And I want you to burn that hide, Cole. The one that had the Duston brand.”
Pa grabbed his arm. “What are you thinking of doing?
“Getting you three out of trouble. Real trouble.”
Hayden saddled his horse, watched to make sure Cole burned the incriminating hide, and then roped the branded steer and dragged it toward the cave to set him free. It made him mad when he saw his brothers and pa just sitting around watching. Why they couldn’t see that they were headed to jail or a rope, he didn’t understand.
But he couldn’t just sit still and see them ruin their lives and name.
***
It had been several days since her talk with Donna, and Penelope had mulled over and over what the woman had said. It would seem that those who lived normal lives and indulged in things she would consider wrong and in need of a talking to, were well-liked and even respected. While she, a woman who toed the line between good and evil, was looked down on and even ridiculed.
Things didn’t make sense to her. Not at all. Her siblings, who frequently flouted the rules in her face, were all well-liked, and Angela was marrying the one man that Penelope had deemed a good catch. Perhaps she should go after one of the Burketts. She laughed. That would never happen.
Still, she considered them a better catch than the stiff Preacher Carl.
“Penelope, I need you to go into town this morning and buy potatoes and carrots. I need to lengthen the stew. Father has invited Mrs. Whitson and that bounty hunter for dinner.”
How her father could invite Rand Ketcham over for dinner was beyond her. The man had hunted others for money. Even got his wife killed. It was by accident, but it was his fault just the same. He never set foot in church, even though father practically begged him to.
“Yes, Mother.” Penelope grabbed her reticule and shawl. The early morning weather was blustery and hinted that winter was just around the next wind change.
She loved the weather. The cloudy sky choked with dark blue clouds. Leaves that whipped around her feet scurrying across the road. The fat, bushy-tailed squirrels that frantically hunted acorns for the coming winter.
She was grateful they had a nice warm cabin to live in. Texas was known for its hot summer, but from fall to spring, they could have all four seasons the same day.
She hurried to the store and considered how good mother’s potato soup and stew would taste on this cold night. She picked out a dozen potatoes and paid. Outside, she saw two of the Burketts ride behind the stores.
Curious, and righteously indignant that they might come back into town so soon after their raid on the general store, Penelope walked down the alley and followed them.
They were either not very bright or didn’t expect anyone to watch them because they didn’t notice her. That or they were like everyone else in the town and treated her as if she were invisible. In back of the harness shop, she leaned against the wall to see what they were doing and set the bag of potatoes down.
The older one, Greg she thought was his name, got down and jimmied open the back door to the bank.
Penelope ran down an alley and back up another to get closer to the two.
Th
e bank door was open, and Greg nodded to his brother. “Give ’em to me.”
Cole handed a squirming sack to his brother. “Make sure you untie it.”
“I’m no fool.” Greg grinned. He untied the rope around the top of the bag and then threw the bag inside the bank. “That ought to give them something to think about.”
He mounted, and they rode away.
Penelope kept in the shadows of the building and watched them ride up the hill and hide behind some trees. She eased along the wall to the back door to the bank and looked at the sign the brothers had tacked to the door. It read, Keep your stinkin’ money.
What were they up to? She glanced to their hiding place. They were faced toward the front of the bank. She wanted to run after them and tell them how wrong they were when it hit her. The people of Duston liked the Burketts.
Grabbing the pencil from her pocket, she added to their sign. “We have Penelope Wyler. Pay Ransom to get her back.”
She grinned. Her first shenanigan. She walked down the alley onto Main Street. The bank was open, but no one had seen the sign in the back. Penelope started for the livery but stopped when she realized she couldn’t rent a horse, or the town would know she hadn’t been kidnapped.
She had to take one. Walking casually, she went toward the sheriff’s office. His horse was tied neatly to the hitching post. She patted the sorrel and undid his reins from the post. She kept walking and led him down the alley. With a grin, she mounted the horse and rode him toward where the Burketts had been.
She didn’t see them and kept the horse at a steady pace. She wouldn’t let on that she was following them. At the top of the hill, she saw them under a tree still watching the town. She kept the horse on a steady course past their hiding place and pretended not to see them.
They paid her no mind whatsoever. Whatever they had let loose in the bank was of more interest. When she was sure that they weren’t watching her, she reined the horse to some trees and hid behind a big oak where she could see the two Burketts.
Suddenly, they started laughing at the same time shouts from the town reached her ears. Sleepy Duston came alive. Shots rang out, and people spilled out of the bank as if it were on fire. Then the sheriff ran out of his office, gun drawn.
Penelope put a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. It was clear by the shouts and hands over noses that a skunk was in the bank.
The two Burketts galloped past her hiding place.
She waited a moment and kept to the woods as she followed the two. They weren’t even looking back, so sure they were that they’d get away. No one had ever found their hideout.
Penelope grinned. “Well, you two are no match for me. I am an expert tracker.” She’d been known to surprise her brothers and sisters with her uncanny ability to follow them and not be seen. She’d used her skill as a means to catch them in their dastardly deeds. Now she’d used it to catch her a place with the well-liked and admired outlaw gang.
She already felt normal. Perhaps Mother’s idea of things working out would come true.
Chapter 6
Hayden saddled his horse. Where and what he was going to do, he was still unsure. He was not part of their gang and not willing to enter into their lifestyle of robbing and rustling even if they used it to help others.
He was about to ride away when Pa stopped him. “Son, I want you to stay. Help us get straight. Your brothers anyway.”
Hayden looked at him. “How am I to do that? I wanted to, but Cole and Greg lit out for town with some scheme on their minds. I won’t go on one of your raiding jobs? No sir. I’m no outlaw.”
“We’re not much of a gang. Only took what we and others needed to survive.”
“You got this place. You could have grown a garden. Raised cattle. Instead, you’ve sat around and moaned about how you were robbed by Duston, the bank, and anyone you decided was responsible. Instead of working hard to get yourself out of trouble, you sunk yourself and my brothers into the outlaw life.”
“Not really. Most know we take a few things and give to those in need. Most of the town likes us.”
“I doubt that’s true. Maybe at first, folks felt sorry for you, but now, they’re probably ready to go to the sheriff.”
“At least wait until Greg and Cole get back.”
“What are they doing? Robbing the bank?”
Pa shook his head. “They wanted to leave the town a message.”
Hayden tied the horse to a tree and walked to the cave. “They better hurry. I’ve grown tired of trying to talk sense into you. But I won’t be brought down to the likes of outlaw life. I have enough for a small start on a ranch. Come with me. I planned on staying around here, but I’ll leave if that’s what it takes. We can go far away where the law won’t reach you.”
Pa spit at the ground. “We want to stay in Texas. Right here. Just sorry that you can’t hold out with us a little longer. I do have a plan that I’ve been thinking about.”
Hayden stared at his father and couldn’t stop the uneasy feeling that crept up his spine. When his Pa came up with a plan, it could only mean one thing. More trouble.
“They should be back anytime. This is our last bit of trouble. It’s our way to make the town pay a little for the sorrow they caused us.”
Hayden shook his head. “Others suffered after the war, too. No reason for you to go on wallowing in self-pity for so long. Most have moved on and made a better life for themselves.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. What about the Fielders? They left to go back to Ohio with their tails between their legs to live at the mercy of Yankee relatives. The Jarrod’s died of cholera on the prairie. Homeless. So, don’t tell me everyone worked things out.”
“Ma wouldn’t approve of whatever it is you’ve schemed up.”
“She’s gone. We have to go on living, and this is just a small way to make the town pay for taking our land. Our home. Our livelihood.”
Hayden turned from him and sat on the boulder by the fire. “I give up. There’s no talking any sense to you. I hope they’re not robbing the bank.”
His father grinned. “No, we wouldn’t do that. Have faith, son. It’s going to work out.”
Hayden couldn’t do anything other than groan. He hated to even wonder what Greg and Cole were up to now. Hayden was hungry but didn’t even want to dig into the stolen bread and bacon. Others had worked hard for the staples that his family had taken. He wasn’t even sure if they could stop living the outlaw way.
What he’d seen was Greg being lazy. He would barely see to the cattle in the field. Cole was worse and their pa the worst. None of them had the gumption to go and round up stray cattle, and Texas was full of cattle just waiting for someone with a little gumption to round them up. Hayden knew because he’d rounded up plenty while working for Duston.
“Hope you haven’t stolen any horses.”
“Nope, we still just got the ones we had when they drove us from the land. You don’t know how unfair it was. The carpetbaggers moved in like a horde of locusts. Raised taxes and then went about the land taking ranches and farms from those who had carved them out of the wilderness. Offered no pay, just demanded we pay the exorbitant taxes or go.”
“Sorry, I was gone. I know you hold it against me that I fought for the Union. I owed them an extra year of service. Then I was out in Colorado territory to keep peace with the Indians. I came home as quick as I could.”
Pa shrugged. “I wasn’t happy about you fighting for the blue, but you were grown and had the right to choose. Greg took it hard. Ma, well, she grieved you two gone off to war with the idea you could fight each other. Me and Cole took care of things as best we could, but the fever still got your ma. Times were hard. There was no money. What little we had, we spent on food. Still, we near starved, and your ma died.”
“Let’s leave this area and go north. There’s lots of good land.”
“No. I want my ranch back.”
“You know that’s not going to happen. Dus
ton owns it now. He doesn’t give his land back.”
Throwing a rock at the fire, Pa nodded. “Yeah, guess I really know that.”
“You could carve out a ranch right here. Nobody owns this land.”
“Because it floods in the spring. Dries up in the summer.”
“We could make it work. If we dug up that spring and made it a bigger pool the cattle would have water in the summer. Then when we made some money, we could buy more land and move the cattle from one pasture to another. That’s what Duston does to even out the grass for the animals.”
“We’ll see.”
“Pa, if you break the law, you’re likely to go to jail, or a have a rope around your neck.”
“I hear your brothers coming back.”
Hayden stood waiting to see what trouble they’d brought down on their heads.
***
Penelope wasn’t far behind the two when they turned and rode up a hill and disappeared. She dismounted. Fearing the horse would give her away, she tied him to a tree and followed their tracks up the hill. She stopped behind a boulder and saw the opening to a cave. If she hadn’t followed those two, she’d have never seen it. This must be their hideout.
Now what? How does one give up a too-good life and join a group of friendly outlaws? Laughing, she wondered if the town was worried and already searching for her. Then she had a sobering thought. What if the town didn’t care and instead were looking earnestly for the sheriff’s horse?
Penelope shrugged. “Oh, what does it matter. I either go in there and learn how to be normal so I can win a man that I might love, or I marry Carl from Chico.” The thought hurried her steps, and in minutes, she stood in the entrance staring at four men.
The stand off lasted a minute when the older Burkett shouted. “Get her.”
The nearest son grabbed her arms.
Penelope didn’t resist and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Not like she was trying to resist. Finally, she spoke up. “I come in peace. I want to join your gang.”
The one that held her arms got a puzzled look on his face. “Pa, did you hear?”
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