by Natalie Dean
As they neared closer, the sounds of an encampment became louder. There were horses neighing and nickering to one another as they were tethered. She smelled coffee and bacon and heard the sounds of utensils on metal plates as men ate their meals. She saw Benjamin and Jack exchange glances, and she wondered what they had silently communicated to each other.
Peering through the tall grass, Mary-Lee saw figures moving about the camp as they got their breakfast. With so much activity and noise, the posse was undetected. But then Mary-Lee gasped as she saw her uncle and Lance Townsend off by themselves, talking.
Carson, who was at her side, looked her way. “Augustus Jameson,” she said in a very low voice, “and Lance Townsend. The two men standing by themselves, next to the horses.”
Carson nodded and began to crawl forward until he was by Jack and Benjamin and could relay the information that Mary-Lee had given him. Benjamin glanced back for confirmation. Mary-Lee nodded.
She could see that there were at least twenty men in the encampment, maybe more. Too many for the posse. Jack raised his hand slightly, signaling the men of the posse—and Mary-Lee—to move backwards slowly, to return to the cover of the trees and their horses. It felt arduous, and Mary-Lee knew that she, in her long skirts, was encumbered in a way that the men were not. But she didn’t complain. She’d made a fuss to be included, and she wasn’t going to fuss now because her dress was covered in grass stains.
As they returned to the trees, intent on mounting their horses and leaving before the gang figured out that they’d been spotted, they saw a figure standing there, holding the reins to the horses. She saw Benjamin, Jack, and Carson reach for their weapons. The man was making no effort to hide himself, but he had their horses’ reins in one hand, and a gun in the other. The sunlight hid his features, but he couldn’t be up to any good, Mary-Lee realized. Was he a guard for the gang who had discovered them and now had them in his snare because they could not get to their horses?
The marshals moved forward; the men of the posse and Mary-Lee hung back.
The man standing in the woods raised his gun but didn’t relinquish his hold on the reins.
Then the sunlight shifted and Mary-Lee was able to see his face.
It couldn’t be. She was imagining it. So much time had gone by—eight years—and she hadn’t heard a word—it couldn’t be.
Nonetheless, her feet, of their own volition, began to move forward, outpacing the men in the posse, then the marshals. Benjamin made a move to prevent her from advancing, but Mary-Lee ran the last few steps into her father’s arms.
Chapter 14
July 5, 1852, Knox Mills, Texas, the Graves’ home
“Pet, I never meant to cause you grief,” Aurelius Jameson pleaded, as his daughter glared at him. Their reunion had been heartfelt, albeit constrained by the necessity to keep from being overheard by the Townsend gang. Once out of earshot, astride their horses again, Jack and Carson had agreed that they would return to town, allowing Mary-Lee and her father to spend long-delayed time together. Benjamin intended to do his duty and go with the marshals, but Jack shook his head. Family, he had said, was important, and Benjamin needed to be there with the father and daughter.
Maybe Jack had a sense of how Mary-Lee would react once she was in her own home, her husband and father safe, and, for the time being, matters taken care of. Benjamin poured more coffee into their cups.
Mary-Lee didn’t notice. “You let me think you were dead for eight years!” she yelled. “You could have sent word to me.”
“Mary-Lee,” her father reminded her. “You were a child of twelve when I left you. How could I possibly tell you that I was alive but in hiding from my own brother?”
“You think I didn’t know that he was as venomous as a viper? Do you really think I had any mistaken illusions about his character? He’s venal, I’ve always known that. I don’t know how the two of you are brothers. You ran off and left me to be raised by him.”
“Pet, that’s not how it was.”
Aurelius Jameson looked tired, with dark circles under the blue eyes that were so much like his daughter’s. His hair, which had once been blond like hers, was now drifting into that paler shade which would effortlessly change into white. His face showed lines of weariness; Benjamin suspected that sleep was hard to come by for a man on the run.
“Then how was it? I was taken to Abilene, taken away from Nanny and Mrs. Abbot as if they meant nothing to me. I don’t even know what happened to them. For all I know, they’re destitute! Uncle Augustus certainly didn’t bother to take the time to look after them.”
Benjamin rose. “I’ll see about fixing something to eat,” he said.
“I can take care of meals,” his wife snapped, as if he had trespassed on her domain.
“I know you can, hon,” he said patiently. “But you’ve got more important things to do, and I reckon I can manage some beans and some bacon to tide us over.”
As he tended to the food cooking, the sizzling of the bacon made an appropriate accompaniment to the tone of his wife’s ire.
“You left me under his authority!”
“I knew he’d send you to school,” her father said. “Augustus was no doting uncle, who would want an independent, feisty niece underfoot. After you left school, you’d become a teacher. You wouldn’t be under his rule. It was the best I could do. And I took care of Nanny and Mrs. Abbot. A Texas Ranger pal of mine took care of that. He said I’d left them a bequest in my will, so they were provided for. You don’t need to fret over them. I’m surprised they didn’t try to contact you. They had your uncle’s address.”
Blue eyes met blue eyes. “They probably did,” Mary-Lee realized bitterly. “But he would have gotten the letters. That polecat! He probably opened them to find out if I’d said anything to them about the deeds to the gold mines.”
Aurelius Jameson nodded soberly. “Likely,” he agreed. “My brother likes money. Robbing banks doesn’t give him all he wants or needs, now that he’s been building this Townsend network.”
“You know about the Townsends?” Benjamin asked in surprise, turning away from the fireplace at the comment.
“Mind the bacon,” Mary-Lee said automatically. “It’ll burn. Here, let me do that.”
Obediently, Benjamin ceded his seat to his wife. He and his father-in-law exchanged rueful grins. Two grown men, lawmen who were known for their marksmanship and their forthright manner in dealing with desperadoes, each cowed by a half-pint woman of twenty with a tongue that was sharp as a knife and a will that was forged by the smiths of primitive times.
“What do you know about the Townsends?” Benjamin asked. “We’ve got a nest of them here, and we figure they’re aiming to use Knox Mills as a base to expand their power. They’ve got men in Washington City and in Austin; they’re a force to be reckoned with. If they have their way, they’d own the law in Texas.”
Aurelius nodded. “It happens. I’ve done a lot of traveling these past years—" He was interrupted by an audible sniff from his daughter, her back to him as she tended to the bacon and beans over the fireplace. He smiled an empathetic smile at Benjamin and continued. “And I’ve seen towns that are like fiefdoms of powerful, larcenous men, who are trying to turn Texas into a lawless realm where they decide who gets punished for what. It might be the honest farmer who doesn’t want to sell his land to one of their cronies. It might be a widow who has no one to protect her. It might be—"
“It might be a twelve-year-old girl with deeds to gold mines!” Mary-Lee declared as she took the skillet from the fire. Laying plates before them, she speared the crisp, juicy bacon with a fork and then spooned out beans. “I’ll go out to the garden and get some tomatoes to slice,” she said.
Waiting until the door closed, Benjamin said, “It seems she doesn’t always handle the softer feelings well.”
“I suppose that’s my fault,” Aurelius said. “I left her on her own. I thought she was strong enough. She was strong enough. She’s always
been like that. But she was a child, who needed a loving parent who was present, not a fugitive father on the run from his own brother. I shouldn’t have left the gold mine deeds with her. But I knew that she’d keep them hidden, and I knew that my brother would hesitate to harm her because he’d figure that she had them.”
Benjamin nodded. “That makes sense. You know he was planning to marry her off to Lance Townsend?”
Stricken, Aurelius shook his head. “I stayed away from Abilene. It was too dangerous, and my brother has too many cohorts. I didn’t know that. Is that why she’s married to you?"
“She put out an advertisement as a mail-order bride. I answered it. She came to Knox Mills. I guess Lance Townsend sees her as a runaway bride.” Benjamin filled Aurelius in on the events that had taken place the day that the men had trespassed on his land and shot up his home. “No one was hurt; their intention was to scare us. Mary-Lee doesn’t scare easily.”
“No,” Aurelius agreed with a fond grin. “She never did. What about you?”
Benjamin smiled, a long, leisurely grin that spread across his mouth like it was taking a stroll. “I’m a U.S. Deputy Marshal,” he answered. “I don’t scare easily either.”
Aurelius laughed. “That’s not what I meant, although I have heard of you, and Black Hands Walker, too. I hear you’re honest and fearless.”
“I don’t know about fearless,” Benjamin admitted. “Now that I have a wife, I fear for her. It’s easier being alone; there are no consequences if something happens. That day when those cowards came and started shooting . . . they were figuring on Mary-Lee being alone. That frightens me. It’s only by luck that I was here. Mary-Lee knows how to shoot, and she’s pretty good, but I don’t want her to need a rifle to protect herself when she’s alone. I don’t want Knox Mills to be the kind of town where no one is safe unless they shoot someone. Maybe that sounds fanciful, given that this is the frontier, but it’s why I’m a lawman.”
“It’s not fanciful. Premature, maybe, since we’re still building Texas from the ground up, and we have a lot of wild characters who don’t particularly want to see the law of the land have force over what they do. There are plenty of honest, hard-working, God-fearing folks, who want what we want. But it’s like smoking out a nest of hornets. You can’t pacify ‘em. You have to destroy them.” Aurelius Jameson’s blue eyes were hard. “And the only way to do that . . . is with the law.”
“I reckon we can count on you to help, now that you’re not in hiding anymore?”
“I’m still officially in hiding. Actually, I suppose I’m officially dead, at least that’s how I want things to stay for the time being. I’ll appear when the time is right, but the element of surprise might come in handy.”
“You can stay here,” Benjamin told him. “Once Mary-Lee cools down, she’ll want to catch up, and I’ll feel better knowing that she’s not alone out here.”
“What if this place is under watch?” Aurelius pointed out.
“If it is, then they already know you’re here. But I doubt it. I’m not saying that old Abel Townsend doesn’t have plenty of tricks up his sleeve, but yesterday was Independence Day, and the Townsends celebrate with lots of free whiskey. Today, they’ll be sleeping it off. We’ll need to work out a plan with Jack. You said you know him?”
“Know of him,” Aurelius corrected. “Some of my Ranger amigos keep me abreast of what’s going on. They know not to give me away or let anyone know that I’m alive, but they pass things on to me. I heard that he’s a bit of a dandy, with those gloves and his fancy ways. But I also hear that that when he aims, he doesn’t miss. Didn’t you used to be his boss?”
Benjamin nodded. “When my four years were up, he was appointed U.S. Marshal, and I’m his deputy.”
“You’re not rankled at that? Seems like you proved yourself with that banker caravan business.” Aurelius grinned at Benjamin’s expression of surprise. “I hear things,” he said simply.
“I see that you do. I think Jack is going to want to learn more about those things that you hear,” Benjamin said. “No, I’m not rankled at being demoted to deputy. Like I said, my four years was up, and I’m just glad it was Jack that was appointed to the job. He’s a fair man and a good lawman. We both agree on what our mission here is, and we aim to follow through on it. We could use your help though; I can’t speak for Jack, but my gut tells me that he’ll welcome whatever insights you can give us. The Townsends are powerful. Your brother is as full of intrigue as a Byzantine court. Not everyone is up for a fight against that kind of enemy. He’s been masterminding bank robberies for a long time. It’s not a secret, but no one does anything. That tells me that either they’re afraid of him, or he knows something about them that they don’t want to be known.”
“Maybe,” Aurelius said, sagging in his chair. “But it might not be that complicated. People don’t want to have to fight for their rights. They want to do right, and they want the law to do their fighting for them. So if my brother, who has plenty of money in the banks in Abilene, finds out some private information about a bank in Kansas City or Dodge from one of the bank trustees, who’s going to figure out where that information came from?”
“You’re saying that you think Augustus Jameson gets his inside information from other bankers?”
“I’m not saying anything for sure. All I’m saying is that he’s highly regarded in Abilene and parts nearby. Now, you tell me how a man who profits from bank robberies manages to stay out of jail?”
Benjamin’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying that this is a bigger problem than we figured. It’s not just bank robberies. It’s a cabal.”
“I’m not saying anything for sure,” Aurelius repeated. “All I’m saying is that we’re dealing with a nest of hornets. If you want to get rid of them, we have to destroy them. If we don’t, Texas will become a rogue nation where every ne’er-do-well with a gun and a scheme can profit off the innocent. If that happens, the United States itself is vulnerable, because there’s nothing to prevent villains from spreading their poison far from home. If we want a nation that’s law-abiding and strong, we have to nip this now.”
Chapter 15
Mary-Lee was relieved to be busy preparing a meal. It kept her hands busy and allowed her mind to explore the unexpected restoration of her father. Benjamin had told her that he was heading into town to consult with Jack and Carson. Her father was going to stay in the barn, out of sight, in case they were being watched. The marshals would return later that night, as dusk was falling, to eat supper and set up a plan.
Mary-Lee enjoyed cooking and she was enough of a housewife, although still new to the role, to want to impress guests with her skills. That was why fresh bread was baking, its delicious, heartwarming aroma filling the house. She had a generous hunk of ham baking, smothered in the seasonings that she used so that it would be succulent and juicy. A peach pie, redolent of sweetness and cinnamon, was cooling on the table. She had washed peppers and onions and planned to fry them in bacon grease just before supper so that they would add a refreshing touch to the meal. Benjamin was going to bring lemons from the general store so that she could make fresh lemonade, although she might be the only one drinking it. Benjamin had said that as long as there was hot coffee to drink, he didn’t think anyone would care for anything else.
Even though the house was clean, she swept the floors and washed the windows so that everything testified to her assiduous skills as a wife. She wasn’t going to have menfolk in her kitchen leaving with the thought that she was ill-equipped to keep a house. She brought in flowers from outside and put them in a bottle so that their bright colors and fragrance added to the cozy atmosphere of her home.
Her home. This was where she would raise the children that, God willing, she and Benjamin would have. She would cook and clean and do her duty, and she would be a good wife. That was all that a woman could be expected to do.
But what if the woman had fallen in love with the husband she had married as a mail-order br
ide? Then the risk was different. Falling in love was a woman’s poker hand. How did she play it? Mary-Lee feared for Benjamin’s safety. He was a lawman, and lawmen got shot at. Sometimes, they died of their wounds. How could she be expected to handle the way she felt now, being in love and knowing that her heart was at the mercy of another? She had lived all her life, since her father’s disappearance, locked inside a carefully constructed fortress of resolution and spunk. No one was ever going to tell her what to do. Lance Townsend and her uncle had tried, and she’d lit out of Abilene with the promise of marriage to a stranger in Texas. But she hadn’t intended to fall in love with the stranger. She simply intended to seek vengeance for her father.
Now her father was returned to her, alive and well if weary from the burdens of his travels, and she was in love with Benjamin Graves, the deputy marshal who intended to bring the Townsend gang down and deliver retribution to Augustus Jameson, her uncle. Surely that was what she wanted. That was the reason she had married in the first place.
Her first overwhelming reaction to seeing her father had been a fierce joy so powerful that she had revealed her emotions as she ran to embrace him. Since then, however, she had been alternately silent and accusing. He had not had time to deliver his account of what he had been doing during the past eight years while she had thought he was dead. The conversation over the meal she had prepared for a late lunch had focused on the Townsends, Augustus Jameson, and their perfidy. She had contributed little, preferring to refill coffee cups and dish out seconds of the food while her menfolk talked.
But now, with the food cooked and the house cleaned, she was unaccountably at loose ends. The knowledge that her father was in the barn, making up his bed in the hayloft and settling in for a covert lodging so close to her, was something she could not ignore.