“Oh, son,” Stone said.
“Don’t take it personal,” Alonzo said. “I’m not as devoted to the law as you are, is all.”
“Oh, son,” Stone said again.
“You must have known others who gave up their badge to take a wife,” Alonzo said. For him it would be ridiculously easy since he wasn’t even a lawman.
“I’ve known a few.”
“There you go.” Alonzo smiled to lessen the sting and clapped the old lawman on the arm.
“I can see I’ve wasted my breath,” Stone said.
“Don’t be like this, Jacob,” Alonzo said. “I’m not you and never will be.” Going around him, Alonzo went over and hunkered across from Jenna.
“Is everything all right?” she asked. “You two looked so serious over there.”
“I’ve never felt better,” Alonzo said.
Stone joined them. To his credit, the old man plastered a smile on his face. “We were talkin’ law stuff, missy. Don’t fret yourself. Everything is fine.”
They were camped in a clearing in a tract of woodland, ringed by tall trees and deep shadows. Just then, from out of those shadows, came a harsh command.
“You’re surrounded! Throw up your hands or we’ll shoot you to ribbons!”
21
BACK THEN
The first month or so that Jenna Grissom rode with them, Willy hardly paid her any mind. She was always in her father’s company and never had anything to do with the rest of them, except for Burt Alacord. She and Alacord talked a lot but there was never anything to it. Alacord was friendly to everybody. That, and Weasel Ginty let it drop that Cal Grissom had asked Burt to keep an eye on her, to serve as her bodyguard, as it were.
It led Willy to wonder who she needed guarding from. The answer hit him like a sock to the jaw. Cal had tasked Burt with guarding her from the rest of them, from his very own bunch.
Willy simmered at the insult. He didn’t give a good damn about the girl or want anything to do with her.
At first.
As time passed, and Willy saw more of her, that changed. He was struck by how pretty she was, how her white teeth flashed when she smiled, how her laugh made him feel as if he wanted to laugh along. He grew to like how she moved, and particularly how she filled out the dresses she donned on occasion. Usually she wore men’s clothes but not always.
Willy had been with enough sporting ladies to imagine how fine her body must be, and he’d daydream of him and her, doing the things he’d done with the pay-for-it tarts.
Willy took to drinking in the sight of her when he was sure no one was looking. He’d sit to one side or ride well back, and secretly admire her beauty. He yearned to talk to her, to get to know her better, but Grissom had made it clear none of them were to approach her without his say-so, and besides, Burt Alacord watched over her like a two-gun hawk.
Then fate intervened.
Cal Grissom had a certain stage in mind to rob, and they had made camp in a rocky gulch to rest for the robbery the next day. Their horses had been tethered and Ira Fletcher, as usual, was doing the cooking. The old outlaw was the best cook of any of them and probably could have made a living as one if he didn’t like robbing and killing more.
Willy had just set down his bedroll and was stretching when he saw Jenna Grissom looking for a spot to spread her blankets. As she started past some rocks, there was a ripple of movement and a flash of reptilian scales. Without thinking, Willy’s Colt was in his hand. A rattler reared, its tail rattling noisily, and bared its fangs to strike.
Jenna Grissom froze in horror, and Willy fanned three swift shots. His slugs smashed the snake to earth, where it writhed in its death throes.
Cal Grissom and Burt Alacord rushed over, and Cal gripped his daughter by the shoulders. “Are you all right?” he cried.
“I’m fine,” Jenna said calmly, “thanks to that young gentleman, there.”
Willy’s stomach fluttered. No one had ever called him a gentleman before. “Wasn’t nothin’,’ he said, his throat constricted.
“On the contrary,” Jenna said, “you very likely saved my life.”
Burt Alacord had squatted by the rattlesnake. “That was some shootin’, Willy Boy,” he complimented him.
“I couldn’t let it bite her, now, could I? She’s Cal’s little girl.” Forcing himself to take his eyes off Jenna, Willy began to reload.
“I’m in your debt,” Cal Grissom said. Visibly shaken, it was plain the incident had scared him half to death.
To Willy’s astonishment, Jenna came over and placed her hand on his arm. He half-thought his shirt would catch on fire.
“So am I,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
Willy shrugged. “I’d have done it for anybody.” She removed her hand but he swore he could still feel the pressure of her fingers.
Later on, when their supper was ready, Cal Grissom called Willy over to sit with him and Jenna and Burt Alacord. They usually ate apart from the rest.
“I’m honored,” Willy joked as he eased down.
“It’s my daughter’s doing,” Cal said.
Jenna nodded. “It’s the least we can do, given what you did. Besides, I don’t get to talk to anyone other than Burt.”
“Am I that bad at it?” Alacord joked.
Jenna laughed and poked his arm. “No, you’re absolutely precious. But it’d be nice to talk with someone else once in a while.”
“Did she just call me ‘precious’?” Burt said, looking stricken.
They all laughed, even Willy. But now that he was close to her, his mind had gone completely blank, like a slate wiped clean, and he couldn’t think of anything to say. Panic set in, and he squirmed uncomfortably.
“Be at ease, Mr. Jenkins,” Jenna said. “That is your name, correct?”
Willy’s tongue felt as thick as his wrist. He nodded.
“The truth is, I’ve wanted to learn more about you and the others, but my father isn’t keen on the idea.” Jenna gave Cal a reproachful look.
“They’re outlaws, girl,” Cal said.
“So are you. So is Burt. But you let me talk to him.”
“Burt is different. Him, I can—” Cal stopped and glanced at Willy and then at the rest, who were hungrily spooning stew into their mouths.
Willy might not be the smartest hombre who ever drew breath, but he wasn’t dumb, either. “You don’t trust us around her.”
“She’s my little girl,” Cal Grissom said.
“I’m not so little,” Jenna said, “and it seems to me that if you can depend on them when you’re robbing stages and whatnot, you can depend on them not to molest me.”
“Don’t talk like that, daughter. About molesting, I mean.”
“Good God, Cal,” Willy said. He’d done a lot of bad things in his life. He’d stolen. He’d killed. But never that. Not that he hadn’t thought about it once or twice when he saw a particularly fetching female. “What do you take us for?”
Cal opened his mouth, looked at Jenna, and closed it again.
“I’m glad this is out of the bag,” Jenna said. “Maybe now you won’t be so upset when I want to talk to one of them.”
Willy saw his chance and took it. “You can start with me, ma’am. I’d never harm a hair on your head, no matter what your pa thinks.”
“Have a care,” Burt Alacord said. “A father has to look after his own. And it’s not as if we’re Bible-toters.”
“Tell me about yourself, Mr. Jenkins,” Jenna said. “How did it come about that you live on the wrong side of the law? And ride with my father?”
Once he started, Willy babbled himself nearly hoarse, yet strangely enough, he couldn’t recollect much of what he said afterward. All he could remember was her face, shimmering like a vision, and all he heard was her voice, music to his ears. He forgot he
r father and Alacord were there. There was just him and her and no one or anything else.
That night, Willy lay with his head cradled on his forearm, gazing at the host of twinkling stars without seeing them. Jenna filled his mind’s eye; her lively, lovely eyes, her cheeks, her lips. A yearning came over him, a craving such as he’d never known. A craving a lot like he might have for food when he was hungry or for a stiff drink when he was thirsty. But this was for her. A yearning so strong, so potent, it made him ache inside.
He hardly slept a wink all night.
At daybreak Willy was the first up, and when Jenna eventually stirred and sat up, he made bold to greet her with a warm smile and a cheerful “Good mornin’ to you, Miss Grissom.”
Cal didn’t object, which encouraged Willy to ride next to her for a while on their way to rob the stage. He mentioned how much he’d liked talking to her the night before and hoped they could do it again, real soon. She delighted him silly by inviting him to eat supper that evening with her pa and her.
Willy was careful not to betray how he felt about her. He acted friendly, nothing more. He sat a respectful arm’s length away, and didn’t stare at her, as much as he wanted to.
Later, after Jenna announced she was turning in, and got up and went over to her bedroll, Willy thanked Cal for letting him eat with them, and went to rise.
“Hold on,” Cal said, almost harshly.
Racking his brain for what he could have done wrong, Willy sat back down. “Somethin’ the matter?”
“You surprise me, boy,” Cal said. “You treat her with respect. I like that.”
“How else would I treat her?” Willy said. “Were you expectin’ me to try and abuse her right before your eyes?”
“I don’t rightly know what I expected,” Cal Grissom said, and gazed with immense affection at Jenna. “You have to understand. She’s my daughter. My own flesh and blood. The person in this world who means the most to me. I thought she was gone from my life forever, yet there she is. I—” He stopped, choked with emotion.
“You don’t have to tell him any of it,” Burt Alacord said.
“Yes,” Cal said, and coughed. “Yes, I do. He’s been nice to her. Damn nice. I was wrong about him. And I should probably give the others the benefit of the doubt, too.”
“I’m glad we cleared this up,” Willy said, and again went to stand.
“I’m not done.” Cal reached for the coffeepot and refilled his cup. Sitting back, he sipped, then said quietly, “Her mother left me when she was little. She left me because I drink. You’ve seen how I am. I suck whiskey down from morning until night. I’ve tried to stop. God, I’ve tried to stop. And I can’t. I don’t have it in me.”
“Some people are more fond of whiskey than others,” Willy said.
“It’s more than fondness. I can’t live without it. But anyway, there I was, left to fend for her by my lonesome, and it worried me sick that I wasn’t a good enough father. So I left her with my sister and her husband and rode off, never expecting to see her again.”
“You did the right thing,” Burt said.
“Did I?” Cal said dubiously. “Looking back, I have to wonder. But I did send money regularly, to help with her upkeep and schooling. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to write to her, to say I was sorry for what I’d done and I’d never stopped caring.”
“You’re gettin’ awful personal,” Willy said. It made him uncomfortable. No man should ever spill personal things to another.
“Sorry. Like I said, I want you to understand.” Cal paused. “Her showing up out of the blue has been the wonderment of my life. She came to find me. She came to find me. Do you know what that means? She missed me all these years. Missed me as much as I’ve missed her. She tracked me down and came all this way just to be with me. It’s a godsend.”
Willy was startled to see Cal Grissom’s eyes watering. He didn’t say anything, but it was downright unmanly.
His voice thick with emotion, Cal said, “When she first got here, I made it clear the rest of you were to stay away from her—”
“As if we’d hurt her,” Willy interrupted.
“I see that now,” Cal said. “And I’m apologizing. You were a perfect gentleman. From here on out, if you want to talk to her, you can.”
Willy was about to ask if this was where he should bow down and kiss Cal’s boots. Instead, he controlled his temper and remarked, “Thank you for the honor.”
“You’re about the same age. She’ll find it easier to talk to you than, say, Fletcher or the Prussian.”
Willy snickered. “That old goat and the foreigner? What do they have in common with her?”
“Exactly my point. So what do you say?”
“Will I be friendly to your girl?” Willy said. “Sure, so long as you don’t make a fuss about it.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Willy thought it prudent to say, “You can be at ease, Cal. I’m not out to court her, and won’t overstep myself.”
That was a whooper of a lie, if ever there was one. Willy was smitten, and as the days and weeks passed and he was able to talk with her whenever he pleased and ride with her for hours on end, he became more than smitten. He fell in love.
Willy tried to keep it to himself, tried to bottle it up so none of the others would guess the truth, not even Jenna. Then one night his feelings got the better of him.
They were seated a little off from the others. By then, they’d been together so often, no one thought anything of it.
The night was gorgeous, with a full moon and the stars sparkling like gems. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder and staring at the sky when Willy turned and her beauty washed over him like a spring flood. He forgot himself, and placed his hand on hers.
Jenna glanced down, saying, “What’s this?”
Willy knew he should put a lock on his mouth but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Keeping his voice down so no one would overhear, he said, “I’m lettin’ my feelin’s show. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Jenna. You’re pretty and smart and you always make me smile. I care for you like I’ve never cared for anybody.”
“Willy . . .”
“Hear me out,” Willy said. Now that the dam had broken, he had to say his piece.
“We should go off by ourselves, just the two of us, and start a life together. I may not amount to much now, but I will. For you, I’ll amount to all I can. We’ll have a place of our own, and kids someday if you want them, and live a good, happy life.”
Jenna pulled her hand free and sat back. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“I reckon so,” Willy said, and cleared his throat. “Jenna Grissom, will you marry me?”
“No.”
Willy was so taken aback, he was speechless.
“I like you as a friend, nothing more,” Jenna said. “And I’d like to go on being friends if you can do that without making more of it than there is. Please. For my sake.”
Willy was crushed. He mumbled that he would try, but it was hopeless. He wanted her, wanted her more than anything. Again and again he brought it up, to where she told him one day that if he didn’t stop, she’d never speak to him again.
The next day, when she went for a stroll in some woods, Willy snuck away and caught up to her. She was annoyed, and told him to go back. In a rash moment, he pressed her against a tree and tried to kiss her.
Jenna slapped him and stalked off. The next morning she was gone.
Cal Grissom was beside himself. He stormed up to Willy and demanded to know if she had said anything to him about intending to leave.
Willy said that no, she hadn’t. He wasn’t about to confess the truth. It would get him shot.
Cal roared at the others to saddle up, and set Fletcher, their best tracker, on her trail. For three days they stuck to her s
ign. Then, as night was falling, they spied a glimmer of light and closed in.
Willy was as surprised as the rest to find Jenna in the company of two strange men. When Cal gave the word to surround them, he drew his Colt and crept nearer. He was both eager and anxious about what would happen next. He was eager to see Jenna, and anxious she might tell her father about his proposal, and that kiss.
The next moment, Cal Grissom let out a shout.
“You’re surrounded! Throw up your hands or we’ll shoot you to ribbons!”
22
THE PRESENT
Alonzo Pratt reacted without thinking. Springing to his feet, he placed his hand on his Colt. It was a stupid thing to do; he was no gunhand. Fortunately, before he could do something even worse—draw the Colt—Deputy Stone grabbed hold of his wrist with both hands.
“Don’t even try,” the old lawman warned. “We’re in the firelight and they’re not.” Realizing he could have been shot where he stood, Alonzo let go of the Colt, and when Stone released his wrist, thrust his arms at the stars.
Deputy Stone slowly raised his.
As for Jenna Grissom, she didn’t do a thing other than sit there with her coffee cup in her hands, and frown.
The brush rustled and crackled and out of the woods strode seven armed men.
“Oh, hell,” Stone said.
Alonzo recognized Burt Alacord and Weasel Ginty, and his gut balled into a knot. This was the Grissom gang, the most murderous pack of cutthroats in the territory. They’d come after Jenna, just as she’d said they would.
A big man in a suit, a Smith & Wesson on his hip, marched over to her. He was the only one who hadn’t unlimbered his six-shooter. “Daughter,” he said gruffly. “What did you think you were doing?”
“Father,” Jenna said, and smiled sweetly. “Care for some coffee? We have plenty.”
“How could you run off like that?” the man who must be Cal Grissom said. “You worried me sick.”
Alonzo would have liked to hear more, but the youngest of the outlaws swaggered up to him and pointed a pearl-handled Colt at his face. “What do we have here? As I live and breathe, a tin star.”
Guns on the Prairie Page 16
