Broken Road

by Char Marie Adles

  Somehow the letter in her shaking hands made it clear that Wylde was gone and would never come back.

  Slowly Devil opened the letter, beginning to read.

  The crushing pain in her chest became so bad that the tears wouldn’t stop flowing, so she dropped her head in her hands and wept.

  The house fell silent even from her crying, but she didn’t notice. Not even when heavy booted feet came inside and stopped behind the chair.

  Kneeling before the big chair and the young woman in it Grange felt a pity for her. He had been in much the same place after the war when he had come back only to find his beautiful young wife had died.

  He reached out with large lean hands and placed them on her knees.

  “I know it hurts,” he began roughly, tasting bitter pain still after all these years. “But you have to drag yourself out of the mud and go on.”

  “I don’t know how,” she whispered, bottom lip quivering.

  “By the same way anyone ever has. Have someone to reach out a hand.” Grange smiled a little. “Like the time you sang me a song, saving my life.”

  Devil looked up at him again and sniffled. “I didn’t save your life.”

  “But you did. I was half crazy when Royal’s guys found me. You brought me back, showing me a smile in all that darkness,” Grange said softly.

  She shook her head. “Anyone would have done the same thing. No one deserves such a life.”

  “From what I heard, you had the worst lot in life. Royal had gotten drunk one night, after you left us, when he finally got the whole story on your life. If I remember right that has been the only time anyone has seen the cruelest man alive, cry.”

  Devil gave him a watery smile. “If he heard you save that you would be six feet under by sun down, right after he made you skin yourself alive.”

  Grange laughed. “That he would. With the right stare he could freeze hell over, I’m sure. Now what had you crying?”

  Devil handed him the letter. “It was her final letter to me. She really is gone, but I can’t help but feeling that she left something behind for me to find.”

  He read over the letter once more and said, “She knew before it was all going to happen.”

  Devil looked away nodded, her brow creased with pain. “I know that she knew.”

  “And at the end of her letter it said she left everything to you. She wants you to visit her home with Lilla.”

  …

  Two weeks later after a long explanation and a promise to be careful Devil found herself and Lilla at the door of her sister’s apartment with Grange at her back.

  He gave her a nudge toward the door.

  Devil reluctantly took hold of the door’s handle and turned it. She closed her eyes tightly not wanting to open them and see the blood of where her sister had been killed. She took a step in and slowly opened her eyes.

  What she saw before her startled her. The apartment had been cleaned from head to toe of everything that would have been part of the murder. All the walls and floors had been wiped down and everything that had part in the dirty deed was gone as well, leaving the front living room almost bare.

  “You go in, I’ll take Lilla with me for now,” Grange said and took Lilla out of her arms.

  Somehow Devil managed to stay dry eyed though she felt as if the air where being sucked out of her lungs. She simply nodded and the door was closed behind her.

  Taking in a deep breath Devil tried to smile. She could feel it as if Wylde were here.

  “Hey there, big Sis. It’s been almost ten years,” Devil said rubbing her right arm with a cold left hand. “I came back like you told me too, so what is it you wanted?”

  …

  Three days passed as Devil tore apart the entire apartment looking for something more her sister could have left behind for her.

  Lilla giggled over finding a yellow stuffed star with a smiley face on it and waved at Devil as she popped the top of the star in her mouth.

  Devil smiled and scooped the baby up in her arms. “Where did you find that, you silly wittle baby?”

  “Mmmmhmmm,” Lilla cooed, “ma…mamama!” She squealed with little baby laughter when Devil tickled her side.

  Devil pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Look at you! Your first word!” Devil looked upward. “Thank you for such a beautiful baby girl. I wish you could be here.”

  She felt a brush of cold air against her neck and took it as a sign from Wylde. Suddenly Devil felt sick to her stomach, her gut felt hot and queasy.

  “Grange!” Devil hollered before she had to cover her mouth.

  “What!” Grange exclaimed as he shot out of the kitchen, mouth half full of the sandwich in his right hand.

  At the sight for the baloney sandwich Devil passed Lilla into his open arm and ran for the bathroom where she lost her breakfast and lunch. She came out wiping her mouth and glared at Grange.

  “Throw that nasty thing out,” she snapped.

  Grange stared at her with wide eyes and Lilla clapped, giggling.

  The smell of the sandwich hit her full in the nose and she pinched it as her stomach churned.

  “Please,” she begged.

  He turned it in the rubbish bin around the corner. When he came back he eyed her for a minute.

  “Sit down, little Devil, I think there is something we have to talk about.” The serious note in his voice sent Devil on the defensive.

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” Devil said stiffly as the same idea crossed her mind as it did Grange’s.

  “Sit,” he ordered again and Devil sat just because she couldn’t stand anymore. Her knees went weak and she sat on the sofa. “I’ll be back.” He pinned her with a glower and went to lay Lilla in the crib down the hall.

  When Grange came back in his face was a mask of steel seriousness. “You need to tell me what is going on. You’ve been getting really sick the past few weeks before we even came here.” Grange sat down next to her and took one of her hands. “Tell me.”

  Devil shook her head, refusing to say the words. “What is important at the moment is that we find what Wylde left behind. It just might lead to us getting that Dutch guy.”

  Grange turned Devil to face him and lifted her chin to look him in the eyes. “You aren’t doing anything in the condition you’re in.”

  Devil pulled away and stood. “Don’t tell me what to do!”

  Grange stood towering over her and a flashback of her father crossed her eyes and she flinched away. But as she flinched away her foot caught the carpet and she stumbled.

  “Watch out!” Grange reached out and grabbed her around the waist in time to stop her fall but quickly let go when he felt the slight swell of Devil’s flat abdomen.

  Devil’s face flamed.

  “You have to tell him,” Grange said quietly, “he deserves to know.”

  Devil wrapped her arms around her middle. “I know. But I don’t know how. We were just having fun together; we never thought this would happen.” Devil looked up at him with wide eyes. “I’m scared. What do I have to do?”

  Grange hugged her lightly and sighed. “The only thing you can do. Tell the truth.” He smiled down at her. “You always were like my little sister, the one who I never met. Of he doesn’t want you then we’ll just have to kick his ass, now won’t we?”

  Devil laughed and wiped away a stray tear. “I guess we will.”

  Grange pushed her in the direction of the bedroom. “Now go sleep. We have to leave tomorrow and you will need your rest to face the Boss on the morrow.”

  Devil smiled at him one last time said her thanks and ducked into the room. Laying on the bed she spread her hands over her stomach, feeling the little swell.

  “Looks like you and me have some talking to do,” Devil said seriously yet she felt a gentle smile curve her lips. “It can’t be that bad. He is a good man, Winthrop is.”

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  “It’s windy this morning, Boss,” Red said as he walked into he ranch
house behind Winthrop.

  Winthrop shook out his hair and turned around to the younger man. It had been bothering him that Devil had left to do something she hadn’t told him about and she’d been gone for four days now.

  Red stared at him for a moment and before he could get the words out, Red said, “Boss, it’s written all over your face. I wouldn’t worry about her, she’ll be back soon enough. Grange went with her remember?”

  Winthrop nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, wishing the dull ache in his chest would stop.

  Bang ,bang, bang!

  He was back on his feet and rushing outside just after the shots were fired and he saw the man Devil had caught was free and had a gun to the head of one of his man. The man in the, German’s hands, having gone through this before in the war just let himself stay there and rolled his eyes.

  “I vill shoot him in the head if you do no’ let me go!” the German man yelled at the wall to wall lines of Royal’s men blocking him off from the house.

  With a sigh Winthrop pulled his old pistol out of his boot and took aim at the man’s gun shoulder. He had long promised himself he would never shoot a gun at a living man again. He smiled then, he had also promised himself no woman would step on his ranch while he was alive.

  He pulled the trigger and the bullet slammed into the man and he dropped to the ground howling in pain, clutching at his wounded shoulder.

  Kip just walked away rubbing his neck. “Thanks Boss,” Kip said in passing. He just walked back to the barn with some of the men leaving Winthrop to stare after him.

  Shaking his head he went to the man laying on the ground and after a good kick in the side for being a stupid the spy gasped out, “No matter vhat you do to me, you cannot save her. Dutch vill have her. Mark my words cowboy.”

  Winthrop picked up the man and glared at him, the little German’s feet hung off the ground by a few inches. “No one will have her besides me.”

  The German chuckled through bloody lips. “Ve shall see them von’t we?”

  “Get what you can from him and then get rid of him. I don’t want to see him again,” Royal said smoothly with a wave of his hand as he stood next to Winthrop.

  Two of Royal’s men took him away. The man saw the cold eyes of the Reaper stare after him and he started begged for his life.

  “I need to talk to you my boy,” Royal said putting a hand on his shoulder. “We best do this inside alone. I fear it is time you let go.”

  …

  Devil, Lilla and Grange were back at the ranch a few hours after they left, but when Grange drove up the gravel path to the ranch house he knew something was wrong.

  He parked the car in front of the house telling Devil to stay where she was until he got back. Grange went into the house as quiet as a cat and came across Winthrop in his chair before a fire.

  “Boss?” he called out.

  Slowly Winthrop got up and came over to his friend.

  “You look like hell,” Grange commented.

  “Thanks, now I feel better. Where’s Devil?” He looked beyond Grange to the front door.

  “Waiting in the truck, why?” Something still wasn’t right. Something was wrong with Winthrop. “Hey man, what’s going on with you? Are ya sick?”

  Smiling without humor Winthrop shook his head. “Nothing is wrong yet, but it will be. Just go tell Devil to come in and go to the bunk house. I need to talk to her alone.”

  Suddenly an idea popped in Grange’s head and he winced. “Do you know about it? About her?”

  Winthrop glared at him. “Of course I know. Now go tell her to come in and leave.”

  Not ready to be decked by the Boss Grange went out and helped Devil from the truck. He squeezed her hand for a moment and sighed.

  “He knows about you Devil.”

  “Knows what?” she asked confused.

  “He knows about you and the new baby. He said he needs to talk to you alone,” Grange said lowering his tone.

  “How could he know!” Devil exclaimed.

  “Well it wouldn’t be that hard to notice unless they were as dense as you, begging your pardon. But I think its best to go on inside and quick. Boss ain’t too happy.”

  Devil shifted a sleeping Lilla in her arms and nodded. She pulled him down for a quick kiss on the cheek before she went inside. She paused from a moment when she saw Winthrop but he was sitting back in his chair staring at the fire, so she went up to put Lilla to bed first.

  She came down dressed in her bed shorts and a tank top and waited by the wall till he looked at her. When he did her heart started to ache. There was a vast sadness in his eyes cornered with pain and fear.

  Devil came over to the chair and reached down to take his hands, but he pulled away, standing up.

  “Don’t touch me. It will only be harder for us both if you do,” he warned.

  Confused and a bit angry at his words Devil asked, “What do you mean ‘don’t touch me’?”

  Winthrop felt as if he were going to be sick but this was the only way. Before he chocked on his words he growled, “I want you gone.”

  “Gone?” Devil echoed. “Gone,” she repeated finding her voice. “You told Grange you knew about me and the baby, and now you want us gone?!”

  She was pissed and angry and hurt that the man she had come to trust was now saying to very words he promised he wouldn’t.

  “You’re nothing more then a complication I don’t need right now. You and the baby have to go, where I don’t care, but anywhere other then here.” Winthrop turned his back on her and looked into the fire for the answers he needed.

  Devil was numb with shock at what he had said and the moment it melted into her brain, her both lip started to tremble.

  I will not cry!

  “Complication?” she whispered.

  Winthrop heaved a sigh. “Yes, with all the trouble you brought with you, I don’t need the drama or the responsibility. Go back to where you came from little song bird.”

  Suddenly as if a damn broke, fury flooded in to her. Devil stocked over to him and yanked him down to face her by the shirt.

  “How dare you!” she screeched.

  Winthrop pulled himself free of her hands and glared at her. “What part of ‘I want you gone’, did you not understand. I don’t need you and I don’t need a kid to look after.”

  Suddenly it came to her that she was acting much like her father would have and that cooled her fire but not her hurt.

  “It was good while it last,” Winthrop said casually and leaned against the chair’s arm. Use the final blow. “But face it, kid, it would never have lasted long.”

  Kid, he had called her. Tears welled in her eyes and she knew she was gonna run away, but before she did she deserved at least one hit. So with tears streaming she let fly a right hook at the man and ran for the stairs.

  “You bastard! It’s no wonder why she left with your cousin, and you can’t get a woman. You will regret this day I promise you and I will never come back to you willingly even if you beg. You will die alone,” Devil said shakily, “Mark my words well, cowboy.” And with that she made her way upstairs to her room.

  Once her door was locked she made a call to Cee.

  “Devil?” Cee asked, her voice sleep coated. “What’s the matter?”

  “I need a car to come pick me up. Now.”

  “What happened,” Cee demanded now awake.

  “I’ll tell you when I get there. Please send a car, I can’t stand to stay here another minute.”

  “I’ll come get you myself, where are you?”

  Devil hear the rustling of Cee putting clothes on and grabbing her keys.

  “The ranch house.”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Wait for me.”

  “I will,” Devil whispered before she hung up and slid down the wall crying again, clutching the phone to her chest.

  The pain in her chest worsened and wouldn’t stop. Placing a hand on her stomach she whispered, “You are not a complication
to me.”

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  “What happened?” Cee asked the moment Devil slammed the car door shut.

  “He said we were a complication he didn’t need,” Devil said numbly, sliding down the slick white leather of Cee’s new sports car.

  The way she said it made Cee frown. She looked back to the sleeping Lilla in the car seat in the back. “You and Lilla? I thought he loved you guys.”

  “Not just me and Lilla,” Devil said quietly, placing a hand over her slightly swelling stomach. You couldn’t tell the bump was there unless you felt it.

  Cee followed Devil’s hand with a growing look of horror. “Devil please tells me it’s not true. You were smarter then that you are supposed to use condoms!”

  “It’s true. I didn’t plan on it or really even think when those things happened, but nothing can change what has happened. I’m going to finish this tour and then retire for a year or so. Lilla needs me and she and the baby are going to need a home.”

  Reaching over to take her friend’s hand Cee said, “You won’t ever be alone, I’m here whenever you need me. You know that.”

  Devil gave her a watery smile. “Thank you, but you and I both know that I have always done things alone. I think its best if I do this one that way too. I just want to be alone for a while to process, ya know?”

  Cee nodded, putting the car in second gear speeding down the mountain road.

  “I’ll call up the guys and have them get ready. The concert will be on the 12 in a week,” Celia looked over at Devil, “that okay with you?”

  “Yeah. The faster all of this is over the better.” After that statement the silence fell between them and Devil pressed her head against the cool glass of the car’s window. Silently she watched each tree pass and thought of what she was going to do now.

  …

  After a lonely week in bed and finally filled up with being lazy, Devil rose and was ready to get back in the saddle, so to speak. She knew that if she laid around mopping Winthrop would have won and there was no way she would let a man win against her again.