A Love Behind The Broken Mask (Western Historical Romance)

by Lydia Olson

  “She won’t mind.” The sheriff said rested his hand dangerously close to his pistol. “I told her I’d lock up when we were done.”

  “Okay, then let’s see your winning hand?” the stranger said.

  “I... I was sure I had one, too!” the sheriff said, hurling a bottle across the room so that it shattered.

  “Oh, you didn’t have one?” the stranger said, exaggerating a look of shock. “Does that mean the pot is mine, then?”

  “Oh my!” the drunkard said, as he gasped, threw his hands over his mouth, and glanced over the sheriff’s shoulder at his cards. “It would seem so!”

  “Oh good, good!” the stranger said as he reached toward the pot. “Well, then... I guess I’ll have to take my winnings, and–”

  In an instant, the stranger was interrupted by the draw of a pistol, though to his good fortune, the first pistol to claim a potential target was his own.

  The sheriff’s pistol clattered onto the ground, and he muttered about his inability to handle his holster in a drunken state. As he bent down to collect the gun, he heard a familiar click, and looked up to see the stranger’s pistol pointed at his face.

  “What happened?!” the second drunkard exclaimed, woken from his sleep by the commotion.

  “Looks like this stranger thinks he can take my win from me,” the sheriff accused, backing away slightly.

  “Thief!” the drunkard exclaimed.

  “No, Earl – he won it fair and square!” the first drunkard said, punching the second.

  “What are you hitting me for?!” Earl said, returning the punch.

  “Boys!” the sheriff yelled, gesturing toward the armed stranger.

  Both drunkards flinched and raised both hands above their heads, as if this was the first time they noticed the pistol in his hands.

  The stranger pointed the pistol back and forth among the men, collected his winnings, and backed slowly toward the door of the saloon. As he neared the door, the sheriff bent down toward his own pistol on the ground again, which the stranger acknowledged by shooting a hole in the floor, mere inches in front of the sheriff.

  “You think you’re gonna shoot the sheriff?!” the sheriff scoffed, backing away from the gun.

  “The way I hear it, gunfire and poker go hand-in-hand in this town...” the stranger said.

  “But the sheriff?” he repeated. “You’d hang for that!”

  “Well, if that’s the way it is, I guess the sheriff better not provoke me,” he said, finally reaching the door.

  As the stranger disappeared into the night, the sheriff slammed his hands on the table and shouted a string of profanity. The first drunkard leaped to his feet, grabbed the pistol off the ground, and stumbled toward the door with the pistol raised toward it.

  “Looks like he’s gone,” he said, gazing cautiously out the door.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Vincent,” the sheriff said, as he came to stand beside him and pat him on the shoulder. “I’ll get those deeds back, one way or another... Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like my pistol back.”

  “R-right,” Vincent said, shyly holding it, handle first, toward the sheriff.

  Under the cover of darkness, the mysterious stranger ran down the only roads he yet remembered of this town.

  He couldn’t return to his room in the hotel under these circumstances, and he didn’t have enough time to prepare his horse for an escape. Instead, he decided to wait out the storm and made a dash down the road toward a place he had once called home, many years ago.

  While the mysterious stranger ran down the road, Eloise sat in the parlor with her father for several more hours.

  It had been a long night, but she knew she had no other choice than to wait for him to leave the parlor, just to be sure he was okay. At least, to be sure he was more okay than before. She was glad to lose a little sleep on his behalf. After all, it had been foolish to mention her brother during their argument.

  She knew better than anyone how hard it was for her father to think of Edison without falling ill. He hadn’t been the same since his son’s death.

  “Daddy,” she said. “We’ve been here nearly all night, just like many other nights since... then... don’t you think we should retire for what we have left of the night? We have to be up again so soon.”

  “A few more minutes,” he said, gazing into the fire.

  “Daddy,” she pressed. “I’m sorry – but in a few more minutes, we’ll have to be outside. We can’t keep doing this. And I don’t know what to do or what not to do – or if there is anything I can do to change everything that’s happened. But, at least, will you please talk to me?”

  “Talk to you, sweetheart?” he said. “I should think that we are talking?”

  “Yes, Daddy, but we never talk about him anymore,” she said, pointing at the picture on the mantle. “It’s like nothing ever happened... and you never really told me, did you?”

  “He was out-gunned by bandits – I'm sure I told you that,” Dillion told her. “And what more is there to say? I lost my son, and you lost your brother. And by way of law, there is so little I can leave behind for you when I go. So very little I can do to protect you.”

  “Daddy,” Eloise sighed. “I’ve told you – I can take care of myself.”

  “Yes, but I sure would have liked to have a son... rather, to still have a son,” he added.

  “What do you need a son for, Daddy?” Eloise said, playfully, with both hands on her hips. “You can barely handle me!”

  “Yes, but you are my daughter,” he said. “My daughter! I should think that’s why you’ve got such a fierce spirit about you. At least, I hope you got something good from your foolish, old man. But that doesn’t change the law, or what has happened because of it.”

  “I want to help! Just tell me what I can do,” Eloise pleaded. “Please, let me help you.”

  “There’s nothing you can do, Eloise!” he said. “Forty years since I claimed this land, and they refuse to recognize it – all because I don’t hold a falsely-dated piece of paper! Forty years building what we have now, and it’s all to go to waste. There was no one here when I claimed this land. How can they say that it is not mine to own, when I’ve taken it from nobody and claimed it forty years since? And if I – who has lived here these forty years – cannot convince a businessman that this land belongs to me, how are you – who knows no other land – to do it?”

  “But Daddy, you haven’t even given me the chance,” she insisted, rubbing her eyes.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” He finally moved from his seat for the first time in hours. “I admit, there is another selfish reason for why I do not want to involve you. As you know, your mother and your only brother lost their lives because of where we stand in our claim to this land. But what you don’t know – what I have shielded you from – is that your brother was not taken quickly or peacefully, as I may have led you to believe.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think so,” she admitted. “Daddy, I love you, but you’re a terrible liar.”

  “Is that so?” he said, faking insult. “Well, I guess I can’t hide anything from those eyes, can I?”

  “Nope, nuthin’!” Eloise told him proudly.

  “If that’s the case, then I suppose we better get to bed,” he said, winking. “We’ve lost enough sleep as it is. There’s no need to waste any more time on what we both already know, is there?”

  “No! Daddy,” she whined, jumping in front of the door to block his exit route.

  “Oh, my dear.” He chuckled. “How quickly you worry!”

  “Well, you haven’t given me a reason not to!” she argued. “First, you try to get me married off, and now you’re refusing to tell me what happened to my own brother! Come on, I deserve to know!”

  “Yes, quite right,” he agreed, softly. “Sweetheart... I’ll tell you what happened that day – not because I want to, but because I think, under the circumstances, it may be time you knew.”

  “I think it’s well beyond that,” Eloi
se countered, folding her arms.

  “Perhaps,” Dillion said, clearing his throat. “The day your brother died, he was out ‘patrolling the border,’ as he liked to say. He had taken that little beast with him, and had a slingshot in his hand. When I heard the commotion and the dog barking, I turned from my place in the field to see what was the matter. A group of bandits had taken hold of him and were roughing him up. They shouted that they would kill him – pointing several pistols and rifles at his head – if I didn’t take my family and leave the land.

  “Edison looked quite distressed, and his blood was everywhere. I – thinking myself clever – claimed I was going inside to get the deed to my land, intending to bring back my rifle and frighten them away. As it happened, these bandits already knew I had no deed for this land – the second I turned my back to return to the house, I heard the sound of four, maybe five gunshots, all at once. The dog managed to get a bite into one of the bandits, and I think they feared they may be recognized and held accountable, so they fled quicker than I could return with the rifle.

  “My dear, the message to me, as I held the lifeless, almost unrecognizable body of my only son in my arms, was vividly clear... Unless I could find some way to lay claim to this land – without attempting legal negotiations – I would lose all those dear to me, one by one. And that is why you must marry the McKinnon boy. He has a claim to his land, and it would be easy for him to extend his claim to this supposed unclaimed land immediately adjacent to his... It is not because I want you to be miserable that I ask you to consider the marriage – it is because it is the only sure way I know of to keep you safe!”

  Eloise nodded, silently dreading the thought of marrying Ryan while at the same time fearing that to go against her father’s wishes would mean losing the home she loved more than anything. This land and her work here meant everything to her. She only wished there was a way to lay claim to it without marrying a man she saw as nothing more than a brother.

  Eloise hugged her father goodnight and slowly left the parlor. As she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, she felt the weight of her future more heavily than ever before. When she was a child, she had dreamed of raising the cattle, building her own home on the land after her brother inherited the farm, and marrying a man she loved. Now, she was at risk of losing all of that.

  The soft, comforting sensation of her cat brushing against her ankles pulled Eloise back into the moment.

  “Aw, Piper, you always seem to know when something’s wrong,” she said, picking the cat up and stroking its beautiful black and gold coat. “If only you could give me some advice...”

  Eloise carried her cat to the window seat, watching the stars disappear one at a time to the brighter sunlight. She sighed and plopped down on the cushion, Piper lying calmly across her lap.

  This time, as she stared out the window at the stars, she didn’t think of Ryan with fond memories. Instead, she thought of the hopes and dreams she used to envision as a child. She thought of the idea of love – how foreign, how hopeful it had felt back then, but how sad it felt to her now.

  The stars in the first light of morning were just like her dreams, she thought. Not vast and glorious as they were in the night sky, but weak and small, disappearing to something more powerful than their own will.

  “Oh, Piper,” she said, stroking the cat again. “How wonderful it must be to live freely, and to choose to love whomever you love. You’re a lucky girl, to live as you do...”

  Eloise felt the usual fire of her spirit slipping into a darkness she wasn’t familiar with. Is this how it feels to be helpless and broken-hearted, she wondered. As she imagined her hopes and dreams slipping away from her into the shadows of the morning, she thought she saw the silhouette of a person disappearing down the road.

  “Did you see that, Piper?” she said. “That’s my future, slipping away...”

  Chapter Four

  “Eloise?!” Henry yelled, his face appearing in front of her so that it blocked out the blinding sunlight.

  Squinting, Eloise rubbed her eyes. The scent of cow pies was closer to her than usual, and she felt rocks and grass stabbing into her back. She also noticed the sound of trickling water was right beside her ears, but she couldn’t figure out why.

  “What are you-what happened...?” she said, rubbing her eyes again.

  “Yeah, I’d like to ask you the same question,” he said. “All I know is, you were digging logs out the crick, talking just the same as you always do about what you’d do to bandits if you ever caught ‘em in the act. Next thing I knew, your voice cut out and I heard a thud. I had my back to ya, stacking a bundle, so I didn’t see nuthin’ – but I know you were talking all the way up until you fell. I turned around scared to see some bandits snuck up on ya, but instead, you’re lying passed out on the ground!”

  “Strange, I don’t remember that happening...” she said. “I remember the part about the logs – but I don’t remember how I got on the ground.”

  “Ellie,” he said, putting the back of his hand on her forehead. “You look mighty pale... are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

  “Uh,” she said, looking over her shoulder.

  “You know you can tell me,” he urged. “What happened?”

  “I know I can trust you,” she replied, whispering. “It’s just that Daddy had one of his fits again last night. You know, the way he does, and he wouldn’t leave the parlor until almost first light.”

  “And you stayed with him the whole night?” Henry said. “But if you were in the parlor until first light, that means you didn’t get any rest. Ellie, you’ve gotta stop doing that! If he needs to stay in, fine – he doesn’t do much of the heavy labor anymore, anyway – but you can’t let yourself get sick with him!”

  “Maybe,” she said. “But he’s my dad. It hurts me to see him like that.”

  “True, it must be hard,” Henry agreed, resting his hands on either side of his belt. “But that’s not all that happened last night, is it?”

  “All right, now you’re just digging for gold where there is none,” she scolded. “I should’ve gone to bed earlier, sure, but I’m fine now!”

  “Uh huh,” Henry said sarcastically. “Come on, Ellie. He’s had bad nights before and you’ve never been this bad off after any of them! Not to mention Mr. McKinnon showing up, you dashing out of the mess hall, and all the shouting from the family home?”

  “You heard that?!” she said, blushing. “I didn’t think we were that loud!”

  “Nah, more like I was listening for it,” he confessed, sitting down beside her. “I knew something wasn’t right the moment he came into the mess hall looking for your old man. I know that boy’s been a troublemaker for him before, so I took a bit of a walk outside the family home to watch for signs of trouble. Then when the yelling started, I saw Mr. McKinnon run out of there looking mighty rattled.”

  “Ah, why you gotta notice everything all the time?” she huffed. “But if I tell you, you have to swear not to tell anyone, okay?”

  “Besides my brother, who’s there to tell?” Henry chuckled. “And I don’t tell him nuthin’, anyway!”

  “Right, well,” she said, clearing her throat. “Ryan asked my Daddy if he could marry me last night – without asking me first. I was furious! But then... Daddy told me about the day Edison died, and he told me that marrying Ryan might be the only way to keep a claim to our land... and what’s worse is marrying Ryan is the only way all of you will keep your jobs if we lose Daddy’s land...”

  “Wow,” Henry said, brushing the scruff on his face with his fingertips. “Now, that’s a lot of weight for just one person. I can see why you fainted after a night like that. Did you take the offer?”