“I’m sorry. I promise you, before God, it will never happen again.” Her wayward husband came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her snug into his arms. “I should have taken you with me. Then no man would have expected me to go in that filthy saloon. I will never put you through anything like that again. Please, Mandy. Please, can you forgive me for hurting you and failing myself?”
The words flowed from Sidney like poetry, soothing Mandy’s anguish. She gradually, prayerfully released her anger and fear. He continued with promises and vows of love, interspersed with quiet kisses on her neck. Finally she leaned back against him, letting her head fall back onto his shoulder.
“Do you forgive me, Mandy love? Please tell me you still love me. If your heart hardened toward me I wouldn’t want to live.” He turned her slowly around. His words fell like sweet breaths on her face, and she realized he’d washed and cleaned his breath before he came in. That was thoughtful of him.
She allowed his kisses, praying for God to release her from the anger she still harbored. At last she was able to return his affection fully. And when that moment came, Sidney pulled back, his eyes glittering with something that looked far too satisfied for Mandy’s taste. But he poured out on her vows both lavish and contrite. His kisses were generous and passionate. The combination lulled her into trust.
At last she could not deny him the words he begged for. “I forgive you, Sidney. I love you. You know I do.”
He swept her into his arms and carried her away to their bedroom to rebuild their bonds of love. If she, for one instant, considered denying him, she recognized it as an unworthy part of herself.
Twenty – five
Sophie nearly screamed with the tension of waiting. Clay was running as fast as he could. So was she. Sally was hard at work, too. They were all doing what had to be done before the two of them set out on a journey that could last days.
She and Sally took care of procuring spare horses and packing for a journey.
Sally squabbled with Sophie the entire time. “I can help, Ma. Let me come along.” Sally tied the string of horses together. A spare for Clay and Sophie, so they could ride fast, switching saddles to let their animals rest. Plus a packhorse loaded with food and supplies, everything Beth and Alex might need if they were in dire straits.
Watching Sally’s competent handling of the animals, Sophie knew that indeed her daughter could help. “You’re not full strength yet. Alex told you to take it easy or you could end up with a relapse. Your throat could even possibly swell again. Taking a long, hard ride to save your sister doesn’t qualify as easy.”
“But Ma—”
“And the young’uns need you. It’s going to be you and Laurie caring for them. We might be gone for days, even weeks.” Sophie didn’t have time but she couldn’t stop herself from dragging Sally into her arms.
“Let me go instead of you.” Sally’s arms wrapped tight. “I can stick by Pa better’n you. And you know it.”
“I do know it.” Sophie pulled back and ran her hand through Sally’s long white-blond hair, so like Sophie’s. All her daughters took after her with their slenderness and strength and grit. “I’d let you go if you weren’t still healing from those bee stings. You know you’re not at full strength. Now don’t get so set on going that you end up slowing us down and risking yourself and Beth with your stubbornness.”
Sally’s mouth formed a mutinous line, but she was an honest girl, and she couldn’t deny that she still tired easily and that wound on her throat was still tender.
Sophie knew her daughter. And this wasn’t something Sophie was doing on a whim. Sally had to stay. Sophie had to go.
Muttering dire-sounding but unintelligible words, Sally finished loading a packhorse just as Clay rushed out of the telegraph office. Clay mounted his horse, rapping orders and worries at Sally that ought to make the girl feel badly needed at the ranch. Sophie was glad her tomboy daughter was staying with the family. She was a young woman to count on in an emergency.
“I sent word to Adam so he and Tilly’ll likely come over and check on you. Maybe even stay for the duration. Until he gets there, you’ll have to care for the children and fill everybody in on what’s happened with Beth. I wired Luther about Mandy being in Montana, and there might be an answer, so send someone in every day to check at the telegraph office.”
Sally jerked her chin in agreement while shooting Sophie rebellious glances.
Clay grabbed the string of horses and turned for the trail. Sophie was after him instantly.
They set a blistering pace and didn’t speak as they rode hard through the afternoon and evening.
It was long after the sun had set that they finally had to admit they couldn’t go on in the dark. They made a cold camp and ate jerky and biscuits. As they collapsed on their bedrolls, Clay pulled Sophie close to him. She wanted to pour out her fear for Beth but she kept her lips tightly closed. Talk solved nothing and she’d learned Clay wasn’t inclined toward unnecessary words.
But some were necessary. “Where are we headed?” Asking that earlier would have been a waste of time. Clay obviously had a direction in mind. Sophie was content to trust him and follow. But now there was time.
“There’s a break in the arroyo wall. I’ve seen it once or twice. Beth will likely climb out there.”
If she hasn’t drowned in the floodwaters. If the fast-moving water doesn’t sweep her on downstream. If whoever was after them hadn’t found a perch and shot them dead as they floated past. Sophie didn’t utter her black thoughts. They qualified as unnecessary words.
“It’s on the western side of that canyon. The man trailing her went down the eastern side. He doesn’t know the lay of the land. We’ll beat him to Beth and Alex and be there to protect them if that coyote does turn up.”
Sophie had ten more questions and she asked none of them. They had a long day tomorrow and they needed sleep to get through it. Sophie was a woman used to doing what needed doing. Right now, what she needed to do was sleep. She closed her eyes, but her unspoken fears proved stronger than all her years of self-control. She tucked up tight against Clay and held him. She noticed he held on right back.
That was enough communication from her husband to let her fall asleep.
The land was still mighty rugged, but Beth found a trail straightaway that led in the direction her stubborn husband wanted to go. Since the only other choice was to head back to Mosqueros and maybe face down that dry-gulching bounty hunter, Beth chose to head on west.
They set a blistering pace for two people on foot, and walked far into the night. Their clothing dried on their backs and the squishing of their boots finally was silent.
Beth knew they’d intersect with people somewhere along this way. And she had enough money tucked in her shoe to buy a horse and some dry bullets. She might get some food, too, although if she could get the bullets, she could take care of the food on her own.
They finally had to give up for the night, and Beth searched for a likely place to sleep. They’d had nothing to eat all day, though they’d swallowed their share of water. She was too tired to think of food now, and it was too dark for her to even search for greens or berries.
She found a felled ponderosa pine that had fallen down a steep slope and brought an avalanche of rock with it, creating a decent cave. The tree looked as if it had been lying there for years, its needles shed until they made a fair bed. Beth decided to hope the tree would stay wedged over their heads for one more night.
With nothing to use as a cover, they snuggled together in the dark. Beth rested her head on Alex’s strong shoulder, but her mind was in such a turmoil that sleep wouldn’t come, despite her exhaustion. “Alex, is there nothing I can do to convince you to come back to Mosqueros with me? We can talk to someone. Get advice. Maybe there’s a way you can—can serve out your time. Maybe we could talk with a lawyer, or maybe the sheriff would know the right way to turn yourself in.”
Alex’s lips stoppe
d her talk. He didn’t reply to her suggestions, which was a reply in itself. His kiss, first just one of comfort, became more. It was as if he was desperate to be close to her. But though they’d been together as man and wife fully, he didn’t urge her to that closeness. Instead, he kissed her for long moments then finally pulled back.
“I love you, Beth. I want you to be safe. While we tried to find a trick to get me out of the punishment I deserve, you might be killed. If one man is after me, there may be ten.”
“But I caused this, Alex.” Beth reached up a hand to rest on Alex’s mouth. She could barely see him in the shadow of their little cave. “He’d have never endangered you if I’d let you go on with the life you were living. You told no one your name. You stayed to yourself. He’d have searched in vain for years. It’s my fault that you’re being hunted.”
“No, it’s not.” She felt more than saw him shake his head. “It’s my own fault. This all happened because of my actions.”
“You said you weren’t a doctor, and this man was probably looking for a doctor.”
She felt Alex kiss each of her fingertips. “I was a pathetic wretch of a man. You brought me back to life, and now I have to clean up the mess created by my cowardice.”
“It sounds to me as if you were pushed beyond what any man could bear, Alex.” Beth pulled away and tried to see his eyes in the night. “Surely the cavalry will have something short of execution for a man who served long and honorably until that one horrible day.”
Silence stretched between them. Alex’s hand stroked her hair. She could see the darkness of his tanned skin against her white hair.
“If they do, then I’ll serve my time, be it in the cavalry or in prison. But I don’t want you to wait for me, Beth. It could be years, and even if I serve my time, I’ll be a marked man. A disgrace.”
“Not a marked man, Alex. A fallen, broken man. Disgraced is the opposite of graced and God is gracious. He can wash it all away. I don’t care what kind of past you have or what kind of punishment you have to face. I know you to be a decent, honorable man. I will wait for you forever.”
“No!” Alex shook his head almost violently. “You can’t waste your life on me.”
“I can’t do anything else, Alex. I love you.” Beth kissed him and felt his kindness and his love and his regret. “Don’t ask me to abandon you because I can’t. I won’t.”
“I love you, too, Beth. It’s another act of cowardice and selfishness to let you stay with me. I’m so sorry I’m not strong enough to turn you away.” Alex pulled her close again. He whispered against her lips, “I have no right to be so blessed.”
“You’re going to town again?” Mandy felt a chill of pure fear.
“If you want to come along, you’re welcome to.” Sidney smiled that charming smile, and Mandy remembered his promises of just a few days ago. He’d never make such a mistake again as going into that saloon. “I should have bought a gold pan so I can work that spring.”
“I’ve already got a rising of bread started.”
Sidney had slept late and Mandy had let him. He’d worked hard with the pickax every day since his wretched visit to Helena.
“And I’ve got the willow lathes soaking to make the bedstead. I thought you’d help me with it.” Mandy knew how to stretch those lathes to make a foundation for the straw tick mattress she planned to build. But once they started soaking, she couldn’t take them out of the water unless she planned to use them. They’d harden. Worse yet, once they hardened they’d not soften and be pliable again. She spent hours yesterday hunting these tough, flexible branches. But if it meant not letting Sidney go to town alone again, maybe she should just abandon the work. There were more willows to be stripped.
“I forgot to buy what I need to pan for gold.” Sidney was so earnest in his quest. “I’d never heard of that before. They said it’s a lot easier than a pickax.”
Mandy didn’t know all that much about gold, there being a distinct lack of it in her part of Texas. But her pa had money from a gold strike her grandfather made in the Rockies, so it stood to reason that there was gold around here somewhere. All Mandy really knew about gold was one wild tale after another passed on from campfires. Most of it wasn’t for the delicate ears of women, but Mandy knew how to listen when it was thought she was rolled up in a blanket asleep by a campfire.
“You know there’ll be no more saloons for me, don’t you, honey? I’ve given you my word and I intend to keep it. Come along if you’re doubtful. I’d prefer to have you along with me.” Sidney pulled her into his arms and proved himself to be very persuasive.
The air was colder today. Mandy was positive she smelled snow. She’d faced snow often enough in Texas to know the signs. A heavy snow might prevent her from searching out new willows. If she didn’t get this bed made today, they’d spend the winter on the dirt floor. The Hardens had offered to stay longer and build more furniture and put down a wooden floor, but Mandy was capable of both.
Mandy knew she wasn’t treating her husband like she trusted him, and that was a wifely sin to her way of thinking. “I’d best stay home. You go on in and buy your gold pan. I trust you, Sidney.”
“Thank you.” Sidney kissed her and distracted her from even her mildest worry. Then he saddled up and rode away while she went to work on their bedstead.
Mandy prayed steadily for her untrusting heart as she worked on weaving the lathe around a frame the Hardens had built for her. This would get them up off the floor. She had the bedstead done and just needed to wait for the lathe to dry so she could drag the mattress inside. She heard a horse trotting into the yard. It was long enough since Sidney left, if he pushed hard into Helena and back. She hurried outside, hoping to welcome her husband.
A strange man was dismounting from the most magnificent black stallion Mandy had ever seen. She ducked back inside, jerked her rifle off the pegs over her front door, and stood with the weapon cocked and pointed before the man had his stallion lashed to the hitching post.
“Move along, stranger.” Mandy held the gun dead-level and didn’t so much as blink. The man was less than ten feet away from her, but she felt her blood cool and her hands steady. She had the nerve to pull the trigger if he made any sudden moves. It worried her sometimes this chill that over came her when she needed to shoot. And she hated the thought of killing a man. But she knew she could do it.
“Howdy, ma’am.” The man smiled but stayed at a respectful distance. He had golden yellow hair that dangled down to his shoulders. He was tall and broad, his shoulders wrapped in a coat tanned nearly white, with long fringe and slightly darker brown chaps. He looked to be young, under thirty, but he had eyes that understood the business end of a Winchester and enough sense to refrain from startling her.
Mandy didn’t shift her focus, but only a blind woman could fail to notice the midnight black horse standing tied to her hitching post. The horse fairly vibrated with indignation at being restrained. It stood, its head high, its legs braced as if it was one wrong move from attack.
“Recognize the horse, Mrs. Gray?” The man’s eyes were so blue Mandy felt as if she could see right through them to the sky behind. For a young man, he had a fair supply of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, like many a man who’d spent long hours in the hot summer sun and bitter winter wind.
“No, I’ve never seen this horse before. I’d remember.” She dared a glance at the horse.
The man made no move toward her or toward his gun. He seemed satisfied to stand, his hand raised just a bit, a look in his eyes that said he understood and even respected the gun aimed straight at his belly. “You’ve never seen him, but I was hoping you’d say you’d met his son.”
The foal. Yes, the little black fireball could be a miniature of this fierce steed.
“You’re Linscott.” Mandy thought hard, searching for a first name. “Tom Linscott.”
“That’s right. The Tanners sent word that their mare had put a foal on the ground out of my black.” Linscot
t reached a hand very cautiously out and patted his stallion on his massive, well-muscled shoulder.
“Tanners?” All Mandy’s suspicions roared back to life and she raised the gun an inch, taking a bead.
Linscott recognized her doubts and smiled. “Oh yes, I mean Harden. They call it the Harden ranch now, I reckon. Hard to keep track, Belle and all her husbands.”
Four, Mandy remembered that well enough.
“We’ve gotten so we don’t pay no attention to the name of a new husband and just keep on calling it the Tanner ranch, although Silas is shaping up to be less worthless than the earlier men she married. They named their boy Tanner so that makes it even harder to forget the ranch’s real name … or I guess I should say its former name.”
Mandy didn’t lower the fire iron. “I don’t know you, Mr. Linscott. And the Hardens said they were running for home, expecting to be snowed into their high mountain valley for the winter, so they couldn’t have told you about the foal.”
“I didn’t talk to the Hardens.” Linscott’s eyes narrowed as if he was growing tired of explaining himself.
Well, too bad for him.
“The cowhands I talked to said you were a pretty little thing and fast with your rifle. Said you shot four wolves in the time it takes most people to draw and aim. Said you even beat Belle to the draw, and that’s sayin’ somethin’. I’d have to admit they got it right.”
Got what right? Her shooting or that she was pretty? Sidney always told her how pretty she was. She’d heard it from her pa, too, but Pa always said it was a nuisance being pretty in the West. Made more men for him to run off.
Linscott’s eyes were warm as he studied her, paying particular attention to the long gun she had braced against her shoulder. She thought that’s what he was looking at. She hoped it was.
Sophie's Daughters Trilogy Page 20
