A Jensen Family Christmas

by William W. Johnstone

  That didn’t sound good, thought Smoke. He looked back and forth between Adelaide DuBois and Doc Monday and asked, “Just what is it that brings you folks to the Sugarloaf? Other than Preacher, that is, since I figure you must have come out with him in that buggy.”

  “That’s right, Smoke,” the old mountain man said, “and I reckon it ain’t gonna surprise you one bit when you hear that both of these fine folks have trouble trailin’ ’em!”

  CHAPTER 31

  Big Rock

  The intervals of sunshine during the day had been welcome, even though they hadn’t brought much actual warmth with them. However, as the afternoon wore on, the overcast began to thicken again and gray clouds completely covered the sky by late in the day. The wind from the mountains picked up, as well. Night would come early, and it would be a cold one. At least no fresh snow was falling . . . yet.

  “Should we push on to the Sugarloaf or stop in Big Rock for the night?” Ace asked Chance as they rode past the railroad station and along the main street into the settlement’s business district.

  “It wouldn’t take that much longer to make it to the ranch,” said Chance, “but Smoke and Sally aren’t expecting us at any particular time. Sally’s letter just said for us to try to make it by Christmas, if we could.”

  “So you’re saying there’s no hurry.”

  “I’m saying I’m pretty cold already, and it’ll just get colder on the way out there. Whereas—”

  “Whereas?” Ace interrupted. “You’ve been giving this some thought, haven’t you?”

  “Whereas,” continued Chance, as if his brother hadn’t broken in on what he was saying, “I’ll bet it’s nice and warm in Longmont’s, and Louis does have the best whiskey and some of the best food to be found in Big Rock.”

  “And card games and pretty girls working for him.”

  “You brought those things up, not me,” Chance said, but he had to follow it with a laugh. “You do know me well, brother.”

  “I ought to. I’ve been around you long enough.” Ace turned his horse toward the boardwalk. “All right, we’ll stop at Longmont’s for a spell and then get a room at the hotel. I don’t want to leave the horses out in this weather, though. Let’s go ahead and put them up at the livery stable.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Chance agreed.

  They followed the street, close to the boardwalk on the north side now because the buildings helped block the wind a little as they aimed for the barnlike structure up ahead. Because of the early dusk, lights already glowed in the windows of Goldstein’s Mercantile when they drew even with it.

  “Hold on a minute,” Chance said as he reined in abruptly in front of the store.

  Ace brought his mount to a stop, as well, and saw that his brother was peering intently through Goldstein’s big front window. Ace asked, “Something you want in there?”

  “You could say that,” Chance replied.

  Ace moved his horse over next to Chance’s and joined him in looking through the glass. He saw immediately what had fascinated Chance—or rather, who had fascinated him.

  A young woman stood talking to Goldstein, who was behind one of the side counters. She wore a long dark skirt and a lightweight dark jacket. Her black hair was piled on top of her head in an elaborate arrangement. The colorful shawl she had worn outside as protection from the cold was draped around her shoulders while she was inside.

  From out here, they could see only her profile, but that was enough. It took only one glance for Ace to know that she was beautiful. If he was aware of that, then Chance certainly was, since he had even more of an eye for a pretty girl than Ace did. Ace wasn’t surprised that his brother had spotted her through the store window, even on a cold, blustery late afternoon like this.

  “I don’t remember her from when we were in Big Rock before,” Chance said without taking his eyes off the young woman.

  “We haven’t been here all that often,” Ace pointed out, “and we didn’t meet everybody who lives here.”

  “No, but I’d remember her if we had met her.” Chance sighed. “I think I’ll remember her for the rest of my life.”

  Ace didn’t remind him that he said much the same thing about every good-looking woman he met and then promptly forgot about when the restless urges overcame them and it was time to drift on to whatever adventure was in store for them next. Chance was sincere in his infatuations; they just didn’t last for very long.

  Inside the store, the young woman turned away from the counter where Goldstein stood and started toward the door. Chance quickly began to dismount.

  “Wait a minute,” said Ace. “I thought we were going to put the horses up at Patterson’s place.”

  “They’ll be all right for a little while. I want to say hello.”

  It would take less time and trouble not to argue with him, Ace knew. He tugged down his hat, turned up the collar of his sheepskin coat, and said, “All right, but don’t linger. The lady’s not really dressed for the cold. She won’t want to stand around outside, and I don’t, either.”

  “I’ll just say hello,” Chance said again.

  He tied his horse at the hitchrack, which was empty since Goldstein didn’t appear to have any other customers at the moment. More than likely, the merchant would start getting ready to close up as soon as the attractive young woman was out the door.

  Chance reached the door and opened it just as the woman approached it on the other side. He held the door with one hand while he swept the hat off his head with the other.

  “Come right ahead, miss,” he greeted her, not actually bowing but coming close. “Or should I say . . . señorita?”

  Ace had nudged his horse over next to Chance’s but was still in the saddle. As his brother asked that question, he took a better look at the young woman in the light that spilled out from the store, and saw that she did indeed appear to come from south of the border.

  She smiled at Chance and said in slightly accented but excellent English, “You may address me as señora, señor.”

  Ace managed not to chuckle when he saw the eager hopes drop from Chance’s face. Chance said, “You’re married?”

  “Sí. But I still very much appreciate you holding the door for me, señor . . . ?”

  Chance realized she was asking for his name and said quickly, “They call me Chance.” As an afterthought, he jerked his head toward his still-mounted twin and said, “That’s my brother, Ace.”

  “Doña Mariana Aguilar,” the young woman replied, introducing herself. She moved aside a little, and a thickset older woman dressed in black followed her out of the store. This woman had several large, awkward-looking packages in her arms.

  “Are those yours?” asked Chance as he nodded toward the packages, which were wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine.

  “They are. This is my servant Estellita.”

  Ace noticed that Señora Aguilar had made no effort to carry any of the paper-wrapped packages herself. The air of aristocracy about her made it clear that she was accustomed to having others do such things for her.

  Ace wondered what in the Sam Hill a lady like her was doing in Big Rock.

  Chance said, “There’s no need for your servant to struggle like that. My brother and I can carry those packages for you. Come on, Ace. Lend a hand here.”

  With Chance volunteering their services like that, there really wasn’t any way Ace could refuse gracefully. And his natural inclination was to lend folks a hand whenever he could, so he didn’t actually mind. He dismounted and tied his horse next to Chance’s, then stepped up onto the boardwalk.

  Chance took two of the packages. Ace lifted the other two out of Estellita’s arms. He said, “I reckon you’re staying at the hotel, Señora Aguilar?”

  “That’s right,” she said. “How did you know that?”

  “Well, I didn’t figure you and your husband were permanent residents, otherwise you’d be better prepared for the cold here in Colorado at this time of year.
That jacket you’re wearing is mighty pretty, but it won’t do a very good job of keeping out the chill.”

  Mariana smiled, draped the shawl over her head, and tightened it around her shoulders.

  “You are right about that, Señor Ace,” she said as she turned toward the Big Rock Hotel. “We left Mexico rather quickly. The winters there can be quite cool, but not like this. Still, you are incorrect about one thing. My husband and I intend to be permanent residents of this valley. At the moment we are waiting only for some legal questions to be settled regarding the ranch he owns.”

  “Is that so?” Chance said. “I’m mighty glad to hear that you’re going to be staying around here. Big Rock can always use such a charming citizen as yourself.”

  “Which ranch?” asked Ace. “We’re not really from around here, but we know some of the folks who live in the valley.”

  Before Mariana could answer that question, several men emerged from the hotel, which was just a few doors ahead of them, and started along the boardwalk toward them.

  “There you are, Señora Aguilar,” the man in the lead said. “It’s getting late enough that Don Sebastian was getting a mite worried about you.”

  “There was no need for him to worry, Señor Hinton,” Mariana replied coolly. “It merely took me a bit longer than I expected to decide on everything I wanted at the store.”

  The two groups had stopped now and faced each other across twenty feet of boardwalk. As Ace looked at the men, it suddenly bothered him that his arms were full of packages. If he needed to reach for a gun in a hurry, that was going to slow him down.

  Of course, he had no reason to think he was going to need to slap leather, but the man called Hinton and his four companions put Ace’s nerves on edge. All of them had that indefinable air of gun-wolves about them. Ace had seen enough just like them to recognize the breed.

  And the name Hinton was familiar, although Ace couldn’t place it right away. He knew he had heard something about somebody named Hinton, though, and it hadn’t been anything good.

  Ace glanced over at his brother and saw that Chance was tense, too. Chance’s instincts were also warning him to be careful, thought Ace.

  Hinton seemed to be feeling the same edgy reaction to this encounter. He nodded toward Ace and Chance and asked, “Who are these two hombres?”

  “These young gentlemen very kindly volunteered to assist Estellita in carrying my purchases,” Mariana said. “This is Señor Ace and Señor Chance.”

  One of the other gunmen let out a sneering laugh and said, “What kind of names are those?”

  “We like them,” Chance said. “You boys need to step aside now so Señora Aguilar can go on in the hotel and get out of this cold weather.”

  The sneering gunman stiffened and demanded, “Who are you callin’ boys, kid?”

  “Forget it, Cort,” snapped Hinton. “The don’s anxious to see his wife, so get out of the way like . . . Chance, was it? Like Chance said.”

  All four men glared as they moved aside on the boardwalk. Ace still didn’t like the fact that he and Chance had their hands full, but they couldn’t do anything other than carry the packages on to the hotel. He watched the men warily as he and Chance moved past, following Mariana.

  When they had gone by, Hinton and the others were behind them, and Ace didn’t like that, either.

  Nothing happened, though. The servant, Estellita, went ahead and opened the hotel’s double doors. Mariana swept through them as if she owned the place. Ace and Chance followed.

  A stolid-looking, thickset Mexican man was sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby. He got up hurriedly and moved to meet them. Without being told to do so, he took the packages from Chance, while Estellita reclaimed the ones Ace was carrying.

  “My servants will take the packages on up to our suite,” Mariana said to the brothers. “Muchas gracias for your help. I wish everyone in Big Rock was as friendly and helpful as the two of you.”

  “Give them a chance,” Ace said. “There are plenty of good folks around here.”

  Chance and Ace had replaced the hats on their heads when they took the packages to carry. Now Chance took his off, did that almost bow again, and said, “Just so you’ll feel more at home here, Doña Mariana . . .”

  Before she could stop him, he took hold of her hand, bent lower, and pressed his lips to the back of it. A delighted smile appeared on her face, but she said, “Señor Chance, you must not! You are too bold.”

  “Beauty inspires boldness,” he told her. “It always has, all the way back to Helen of Troy.”

  “Seems to me some fellas fought a war over her,” muttered Ace.

  Chance either didn’t hear him or pretended not to. Instead, he said to Mariana, “I hope we’ll see you again. There’s usually a Christmas Eve church service for the whole town. Maybe we’ll all be there.”

  “If fate wishes it so,” she said. He was still holding her hand. She slipped her fingers from his, gave him another smile, and turned toward the staircase at the side of the lobby. The male servant had already disappeared up the stairs, but the woman, Estellita, still stood there, expressionless, as she waited for her mistress.

  Ace and Chance watched Mariana climb the stairs to the second floor. She cast a couple of coquettish glances over her shoulder at them as she ascended.

  Once she had crossed the landing and was out of sight, Ace said quietly to his brother, “That’s a married woman, you know. I shouldn’t have to remind you of that.”

  “I behaved myself.”

  “You kissed her hand!”

  “I was just being polite,” Chance insisted. “Well, gallant, if you want to be precise.”

  Ace rolled his eyes, shook his head, and said, “Come on. Let’s get the horses put up. I’m sure they’re ready for a warm stall and some oats.”

  Chance didn’t argue. Now that Doña Mariana Aguilar had gone up to her and her husband’s suite, there was no reason for the brothers to linger at the hotel. They went out, untied their horses from the hitch rail, and led them toward the livery stable.

  Fifteen minutes later, after arranging for Patterson to take care of their mounts and exchanging some friendly conversation with the stableman, Ace and Chance left the stable. Patterson had told them about Preacher arriving in Big Rock earlier in the day and renting a buggy for himself and his female companion.

  “Who do you think that woman was with Preacher?” Ace asked as they turned toward Louis Longmont’s restaurant and saloon. “You don’t think he’s going to get married and settle down, do you?”

  “At his age?” Chance sounded like that was the most ridiculous idea he’d ever heard. “I guess we’ll find out when we ride out to the Sugarloaf tomorrow . . . unless the lady was bound for somewhere else and Preacher was just making sure she got there all right before he goes to Smoke’s himself.”

  “I suppose that could be it, all right,” Ace said.

  Chance rubbed his hands together in anticipation and went on, “I’m not going to worry about it. I want a drink and then a nice thick steak, and then I’m going to see if Louis has a card game going tonight—”

  His brisk stride and his words both stopped short. Ace halted just as abruptly beside him. The overcast dusk was so thick, it was almost full night, but the shadows that had gathered didn’t completely conceal the three men who stepped out from an alley mouth ahead of them to block their path.

  “Uh-oh,” Chance said. “Looks like trouble.”

  Ace heard a stealthy footstep behind them and glanced back to see more men closing in on them from that direction. Trouble was right, he thought.

  The luck of the Jensen boys was holding—all bad.

  CHAPTER 32

  One of the three men blocking the boardwalk in front of Ace and Chance hooked his thumbs in his gunbelt, which was visible because his coat was pushed back on both sides. He drawled, “You young fellas are out kind of late. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

  The shadows prevented Ace from bei
ng able to make out the man’s face that clearly, but his voice was familiar. It belonged to the hombre called Hinton, whom they had encountered earlier.

  Chance said, “You’re mistaken, mister. Our evening’s just getting started.”

  “No, you’re wrong,” Hinton replied with a shake of his head. “It’s over.”

  With that, he stepped back, and the other four men rushed Ace and Chance, two in front, two from behind.

  The brothers didn’t have to talk about what they were going to do. Each seemed to know what the other’s actions would be. Ace whirled to meet the attack from behind, while Chance stepped forward to engage the two hardcases in front.

  One man coming at Ace had gotten a little ahead of the other. He swung a looping punch at Ace’s head, but the blow, although undoubtedly packing plenty of power behind it, wasn’t very fast. Ace ducked under it easily and hooked a hard right to the man’s ribs that jolted him to the side.

  That involuntary step took him into the path of his companion, who bumped heavily into him. Their feet tangled, and the man Ace had punched fell to the boardwalk.

  While the second man was off balance, Ace stepped in and whipped a left jab to his nose. The man’s head rocked back. Ace followed with a right to the jaw that spun the man around and bent him over the railing along the boardwalk’s edge.

  The first man may have been down, but he wasn’t out of the fight. He pushed himself to hands and knees, threw himself forward, and tackled Ace around the knees. Ace went over backward as the man jerked his legs out from under him.

  Ace landed hard but managed to keep his head from banging against the planks. If it had, he would have been stunned, and that probably would have been the end of the battle for him.

  Instead, he was ready when his opponent tried to scramble on top of him and pin him down. He lifted a knee hard into the man’s midsection that made him gasp and gag. Ace clubbed his hands together and smashed them against the side of the man’s head, driving him toward the edge of the boardwalk. He rolled under the railing and dropped into the snowy street.