Emmie gave a light whistle and Red took off again, this time at a canter. The air seeped straight through the woolen scarf she'd pulled around her neck and her eyes watered, but her thighs gripped around Red, her muscles contracting and blood finally begins to move through her body.
Mornings were always early on the ranch but this morning they’d come out for a reason. Thieves.
Nothing had been taken from the Ward ranch, yet. But there were rumors. The McGillicuddy Ranch to the East of them had lost a dozen head of cattle in the middle of the night. Vanished into thin air. And the McGillicuddy’s didn’t have any to spare. They were hard up and the whole town knew it.
It had been Emmie’s idea to do a few security rounds in the middle of the night and Silas had basically agreed. He’d not thought it a large enough problem to enlist the help of ranch hands or to make a 2 A.M. round as Emmie had first suggested but he’d thought one early morning round couldn’t hurt.
A soft sound of movement made Emmie stop. She pulled on Red’s reins and looked into the partially lit morning. The sound came again, clearer now that she’d stopped moving. Emmie turned Red on a ninety-degree angle and stared ahead. When the sound came once more she took off. Red instinctively understood his owner, his legs and neck reached forward as he lunged toward their unknown destination.
The thundering of Red’s hooves wouldn’t go unnoticed by thieves if that’s what the noise was, so Emmie pushed the horse to move with all his power. The sun was coming up now and the horizon became clearer as Emmie accelerated.
A small group of longhorn cows were running along the horizon. Emmie squinted out to where they moved. In a few yards, she understood why she didn't see any thieves.
"Coyotes," Emmie said under her breath as she pulled up short. With one flick of her hand, she unstrapped her gun and swung it over her shoulder. She pulled the rifle into focus and held tight to the group. There were three or four coyotes, and they were snapping at the cattle, moving faster than she'd ever seen before.
"Come on," She whispered to her rifle. Red held still as if he knew just what she'd wanted. As soon as one pulled into focus they were quickly out again. Emmie refocused and waited for one on the outside of the group. With a quick motion, she cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.
The rifle blasted into the early morning air. She hit him, she could have sworn she’d hit him, but he was already gone. The cattle began to scatter and stumble in different directions. Her shot had scared the coyotes off. Emmie squinted hard, holding her rifle with one hand and guiding Red forward with the other.
Nothing. The cattle were no longer together and Emmie could see no sign of the coyotes. She trotted around the spot where they’d clustered. A spray of blood dotted a dry patch of cold ground.
"I thought so," Emmie spoke to Red, whose ears perked up at the sound of his master's voice. She sighed and looked uneasily to the horizon. After a hard moment of staring at nothing, Emmie made a call to the cattle. She rounded up the group, and slowly moved them back toward the main house. They would have to keep the groups closer to home overnight unless until someone could watch them graze during the day.
Halfway back to the main house, Emmie saw Silas galloping toward her. She saw worry and relief on his face at the same time and Emmie realized that he'd heard the shot.
“No men, just coyotes,” Emmie called out in his direction before he could ask.
“Coyotes?” Silas’ brow wrinkled.
Emmie raised her shoulders in a shrug but her face burned red with embarrassment.
“They dead?”
Emmie coughed a little and looked away, “No.”
“No?” Silas stopped his horse and Emmie could feel her father’s eyes staring at her. She was a sure shot. Better than any of the men on the ranch. Better then Silas himself.
“I hit one but then it disappeared. They were large and…fast…not like the usual coyotes from around here.”
Silas nodded but didn’t respond. Emmie took a large breath then began moving Red around the cattle again.
"Well, help me bring them in," Her words came out sharper than she'd meant them to and she could feel a bad mood settling over her day. The sort of mood that would be very hard for her to shake.
Once the cattle were close enough to keep an eye on them, Emmie took off toward a small empty paddock on the far side of the main house. She unbridled Red and grabbed her rifle.
“Where are you going?” Silas called after her.
“I need to make sure this thing is working properly,” She indicated the rifle in her hand and watched as Silas repressed a smile. Emmie was not amused even if her father found it humorous.
“I don’t miss.”
"I thought that's exactly what happened," Silas laughed. Emmie had been talking more to herself than to her father but now she turned to him with wide eyes. He tried to straighten out his face but it was useless, he began laughing again almost immediately.
Emmie's jaw tightened and she walked into the paddock with more purpose and aggression than was strictly necessary. She picked up three discarded horseshoes and walked them back to Silas.
“Throw them,” Her voice was void of the good nature Silas was unable to repress.
He took a sigh and looked at his daughter with a nod, “Alright.” He pulled one horseshoe away and shifted.
“No,” Emmie shook her head at Silas.
“What?” He looked at his hand defensively.
“All three at the same time,” Emmie tipped her head forward.
Silas slowly grinned again then moved all three half-moons into his right hand. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the group high into the air.
In one swift motion, Emmie lifted her rifle. Three shots rang out followed by the sound of startled hooves scampering away from the noise. As each horseshoe fell to the ground Emmie looked at them happily.
“Guess it still works after all.” She smiled at her father, dropped her rifle to her side, turned, and walked with a light step back to the main house.
Chapter Two
The town of Cool Water Gap was so small it hadn’t been officially added to the map of Texas. With most of it´s residents being in the business of cattle and quarter horses, it wasn’t difficult to see why people made an event of going into town. The Town consisted of the buildings that formed three sides of a square.
A general store stood on one side, a twenty-seat church at the far corner and the thirty-seat saloon at the other. Emmie lifted a large bag of feed onto the end of their family wagon. Silas was still in the store probably being cajoled into buying things he didn’t need. There were three particular women of the town who had a special eye for Emmie’s father.
Two were widows and one a spinster. One of the widows also happened to own the general store. Emmie watched with pity every week as Martha’s eyes grew greedy for Silas’ attentions. He was not good at setting boundaries. Emmie knew that her father should be interested in finding a good woman who could make his life better, but she also knew that he wouldn’t.
Anna, Emeline’s mother, had died when she was only two-years-old in a horse accident and Silas had never even considered adding another woman to his life. He’d raised Emmie the best he’d known how and ignored the near stifling attentions he’d received ever since.
“You here by yourself?” Kate McGillicuddy leaned over the back of the wagon.
“Silas is trapped inside with Martha,” Emmie smiled at her friend. Kate and Emmie had grown up together. Kate only a year older and Emmie’s nearest neighbor they’d spent plenty of time playing at the McGillicuddy farm as children. Kate’s mom was wary of letting her little girl play with Emmie at the Ward ranch where Emmie was allowed to run around like a little boy.
“How’s your family doing?” Emmie jumped onto the back of the wagon before she noticed a particularly vocal townswoman giving her a look of disapproval. Emmie brushed her skirts out and smiled at the woman.
“Not great, dad hasn’t been able t
o sleep since before the recent cattle disappearance.” Kate’s face changed and Emmie thought for the first time that she looked much older than her years. “So, I decided to work at Birdie’s place,” Kate looked across the square and Emmie followed her friend’s gaze.
Birdie Samuels owned the saloon in town. The Little Bird Saloon drew its customers from miles away, the women who worked there earned themselves a permanent stigma while the men who frequented the saloon seemed to get a free pass from everyone in town.
“Your father is going to let you?”
Kate shifted uncomfortably, “He’s not happy about it but there’s no other choice really.”
“Are things really that bad? Maybe Silas could help or—”
"—it's ok Emmie." Kate's eyes met hers. "Really, I'm just so grateful that Birdie gave me a job." Kate lifted up taller and pressed her lips together not unlike Birdie Samuels who was a good fifty pounds heavier than tiny little Kate.
Kate turned into the square and Emmie followed her friend’s gaze.
"Who are they?" Kate's voice went soft and at first, Emmie had no idea which "they" she was talking about. Then she noticed a group of men walk out from behind the new church building. Emmie squinted at them.
All four were young, rugged, they looked like they lived on the road, one had a limp and Emmie could see his leg was bandaged and his bandages seemed to be showing fresh blood.
“Probably wranglers, cowboys,” Emmie looked back to her friend who was still staring with interest.
“Early for that sort, don’t you think?” Kate shifted her weight and Emmie noticed her friend take on a more womanly posture. Emmie wasn’t sure how she felt about the shift in her friend.
“Maybe they’re just passing through? Headed somewhere to cattle drive in April?”
The men began walking across the square and each one turned to look Kate. The looks they gave made Emmie's arm hair stand on end and her heart beat fast. The last man, taller with a set jaw and gray eyes, caught Emmie off guard. His eyes were focused on her.
Emmie meant to look away but found herself unable. Her gaze was glued to the focused gray eyes and a heat pulsed through her body. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs.
“Well, well,” Kate turned around to face Emmie whose bizarre spell had finally been broken by the other woman. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Emmie’s voice didn’t even sound like her own coming out of her mouth.
“Hey,” A male’s voice came from the square and Kate whipped back around as Emmie looked for the cause of the sound.
The first guy in line, thicker than the others with dark red hair, was standing over one of the boys from town. He was a big boy but he’d always been a bit slower than the other children his age. The town was protective of the boy and seemed to take it as a group effort to take extra care of him. Emmie had never seen anyone be overly mean to him. Ever.
“What just happened?” Emmie jumped off the edge of the wagon her body taut with attention.
“I don’t know,” Kate’s voice hadn’t raised above a whisper. “Maybe nothing?”
As the boy stood up, looking as confused as everyone watching, the large stranger pushed him back to the ground. Other townspeople looked on but Emmie didn’t see anyone else. Before she even realized she was moving she was halfway across the square. Her skirts brushed back behind her, a trickle of sweat moving down her neck, the chill in the air doing little to cool the red heat in her cheeks.
“What’s going on?” Her voice was brittle and she felt her stomach clench.
The man with the gray eyes turned to look at her but the red-haired man didn’t even turn his head.
Emmie moved in front of the red-haired man and reached down for the boy’s arm.
“Come on,” It took every ounce of her energy for Emmie to smile. The boy's brow was furrowed and his eyes refused to meet Emmie's or anyone else's. He looked to the ground as Emmie's strong hands helped to lift him. When he was standing again Emmie shielded his body with her own, waiting for him to turn away from the group. The boy was shaking and Emmie's stomach turned sour at the thought of the man at her back.
The four men behind and even the boy in front of her were huge compared to her tiny frame. She was small but she was strong and every bit of her body wanted to turn and savagely attack the red-haired man. She moved the boy with her hands, unwilling to put him in the middle of another confrontation. Her face turned to the side and her eyes swept over the man’s face.
He was ugly, not like the grey-eyed man, this man had a cruel glint in his eye. His whole person seemed to glow red from his hair down. His face was puckered in disgust and Emmie felt every muscle in her body prepare to attack, but the arm she held in her hands demanded she walk on. Her utmost duty was to the boy whose arm shook under her hands.
“Let’s go,” She pulled her eyes away from the man who refused to look back at her. But as she moved across the square the hair on her arms prickled and she had the distinct feeling that someone else was watching her go.
Chapter Three
“Would you mind if I took a few things over to the McGillicuddy’s?” Emmie looked at Silas over dinner the next evening.
“A few things like what?” Silas looked over at his daughter.
“I don’t know,” Emmie pushed at a lump of stewed vegetables across her plate. “I thought I saw an extra apple custard pie in the larder.” Emmie looked away from her father. Silas might have been immune to Martha’s attentions but he was not immune to her apple custard pie, something she only made twice a year.
Silas took an audible intake of breath then sighed it out, “Fine.”
Emmie smiled up at her father.
“I’ll go take it to them now,” Emmie stood abruptly as her chair scratched back over the floor. She’d been unable to think of anything but Kate since she’d seen her the other day. Well, that and the men in the town square. Since she’d left Kate, Emmie had been brainstorming ways for Kate’s family to get through the year without Kate’s having to work at The Little Bird saloon.
“But you haven’t finished dinner yet,” Silas looked at Emmie’s plate which she quickly removed from the table.
“I’m full,” She was out of the door before Silas could say anything else. She’d packed up the extra pie before dinner—knowing Silas would give in and wanting to get over to the McGillicuddy house as soon as possible.
The neighboring ranch wasn’t far and Emmie was hopping off of Red probably before Silas had even finished his supper. Emmie didn’t want to interrupt dinner but she was anxious to see Kate.
As she walked up the front steps Emmie felt like something was wrong. It wasn’t a sound so much as a lack of sound. There were no voices at all. The McGillicuddy’s were a large family, seven children and every one of them louder than the last.
Emmie hesitated for only the briefest of moments before raising her hand and knocking on the door. There was still no sign of life from inside so she knocked again louder.
Pierson, the youngest McGillicuddy opened the door and stared out at Emmie.
“Hi Pierson, it’s me…Emmie.” Emmie studied the child’s face for a long moment but he didn’t say anything. “I brought an apple custard pie,” Emmie held the pie up and Pierson’s face began to relax. “Where is Kate?” He reached two dirty hands for the package and Emmie decided to trust the boy with it even though it would be much safer with his mother.
“She’s upstairs,” His attention was already absorbed in the contents of the package. He turned away from Emmie without another word and walked the pie back toward the kitchen. Emmie shook her head and let herself inside, quietly closing the door behind her. She made her way up the creaky old stairs and knocked on Kate’s closed door.
There was a muffled sound from inside. Emmie waited another moment then opened the door. Kate shared a room with two sisters but only Kate’s bed was inhabited.
Emmie stopped when she saw Kate.
A large blue and black knot had grown over Kate's right eye, forcing the eye closed. Three intersecting cuts ran across her cheek and part of her upper lip was double its normal size. Emmie felt immediately that there must be more broken and bruised than just Kate's face. Her body was stiff and Kate lay unmoving.
“Kate?” Emmie walked until she stood over her friend. She was afraid to touch her, that anything comforting would hurt the broken body beneath the bed linens.
“Oh,” The sound of a woman’s voice came from behind her and Emmie turned to see Kate’s mother behind her. Her face was pinched and pale. “Emmie?”
"I'm sorry, I brought a pie over, Pierson told me Kate was up here." Emmie felt guilty like she was walking into a private scene that might somehow embarrass this fragile looking woman.
Mrs. McGillicuddy looked at her daughter lying still, her upper lip and forehead beading with sweat. She sat a bowl of clean water and strips of cloth down on one of the empty beds and held out her hands for Emmie to follow her out of the room.
“Kate’s not up to seeing anyone right now,” Mrs. McGillicuddy said as she closed the door to the bedroom.
“What happened?” Emmie dropped her voice and took the older woman’s hands in her own.
“But…I thought that was why you came.”
“No,” Emmie shook her head and pressed silent encouragement into the hands she now held.
“You know that she took a job with Birdie?”
Emmie nodded trying to affix some sort of meaning to the older woman’s words. Mrs. McGillicuddy’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Did, did Mr. McGillicuddy—”
“No,” Mrs. McGillicuddy’s eyes grew large. “He would never.”
“Someone at Birdie’s saloon?” Emmie couldn’t imagine anyone doing something so violent to Kate. Then suddenly her mind rolled back to the day before. “The red-haired man. The men in town yesterday?”
Tears leaked out of Mrs. McGillicuddy’s eyes and Emmie understood exactly what had happened.
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