Thomas groaned.
“She needs a husband and Quincy needs a father, Thomas. Charlie Lagrange is the best candidate. Just let it go. You can’t control everything.”
December 24, 1830
Two Alone Ranch, Coahuila, Mexican Province of Tejas
Anna tip-toed across her dimly lit bedroom and carefully opened the door to let Charlie Lagrange in and then gently closed and latched the door.
Charlie walked to the bed, sat down and began taking off his boots.
“Put the money on the dresser first,” she whispered.
He squinted at her in the flickering candle light. “What money?”
“If you’re going to treat me like one of your whores, pay me like one.”
He gave her a baffled shrug. “I was just gonna take off my boots so I didn’t make any noise.”
“Oh.” She thought a moment and then knelt on the floor. “Let me help you.”
“That’s not how you do it.”
“Do what?”
“Help a person take off their boots.”
“How then?”
“Stand up. Turn around. Straddle my leg and pull off my boot.”
She giggled softly and did as he suggested. “Oh my. This might be fun.”
“Shh. Jane and Tom are still putting up the Christmas tree.”
“Then you better take your own boots off. I’m liable to make some noise if I do it.” She stepped away from him and pulled her nightgown off over her head.
He looked at her for several seconds before speaking. “Damn, you’re beautiful.”
She walked toward him, bent down, kissed him hotly on the mouth and pushed him down on the bed. “Ever made love with your boots on, Cowboy?” She began unbuckling his belt.
He cupped her breast then kissed the nipple. “Being quiet may be more difficult than usual.”
“I don’t care. Merry Christmas, Charlie.”
January 4, 1831
Two Alone Ranch, Coahuila, Mexican Province of Tejas
“The post rider came,” Jane said, as she walked into the barn, waving a letter.
Thomas was struggling to fit a wheel on a buckboard. “Who’s it from?”
“Your brother. Robert.”
“It’s about time. Read it to me.”
She sat down on a hay bale, opened the envelope then scanned the contents. “You better read it yourself.”
“Why?”
“Just read it.” She held the letter toward him.
“Tell me, damn it. Can’t you see that I have my hands full?”
“Robert says that William has gone mad.”
“What?”
“William has been confined in a lunatic asylum in Virginia.”
Thomas dropped the wheel, snatched the letter from her hands and began to read. “This can’t be. Dad and Mother have done nothing.”
“Nothing? Thomas. You have to read between the lines.”
“Meaning what?”
“Robert says in the very first line that William was sent to the asylum by a court of law.”
“Yes, I saw that.”
“Instead of prison, your parents have managed to have William confined in a hospital.”
Thomas read the letter again. “Yes, you’re right. I see that’s likely. Robert uses the word felony at the end but he doesn’t mention William’s crime.”
“In all probability he’s ashamed to mention it. We’ve received several letters from your father and mother in which William has been conspicuous in his failure to be mentioned. In fact, did you not remark on that yourself?”
“I think I remarked on the fact that neither William nor Robert had answered my last two letters,” Thomas said. “I don’t recall noticing that Dad and Mother were omitting William from their letters.”
“Well I do recall noticing and I’ve been suspecting something terrible might have happened.”
“Well.” Thomas dropped the letter into the buckboard. “I suppose I must go home.”
“You can’t possibly get home in this weather, Thomas.”
“My brother needs me now, Jane, not next spring.”
“If Robert and your parents can do nothing, what makes you believe you can?”
“Because Robert and my parents will pursue legal courses of action and I’ll choose an illegal course.”
Jane put her hands on her hips. “You can’t be thinking of breaking him out.”
“Why can’t I? It shouldn’t be hard to get in and out of an asylum. Not like a real jail, in any event.”
“Then what?”
He shrugged. “Once we get back here we’ll establish a new identity for him and we’ll all be safe.”
Jane reached into the buckboard, retrieved the letter and scanned it quickly. “This says the hospital is in Williamsburg.”
“Yes. William was stationed at Jamestown after he got booted from West Point.”
“Charlie Lagrange graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. He may be able to tell you if breaking William out is possible.”
“Possible or not, I’m going.”
“Just talk to him,” she snapped. “He and Josiah rode in about an hour ago and they should be in their cabin.”
“Okay.” He threw his hands in the air and stalked out of the barn to cross the compound toward the Rangers’ cabin.
Captain Whipple opened the door when Thomas knocked. “I was just gonna come lookin’ for you.” He stepped back and held the door open.
Thomas walked in and nodded to Captain Lagrange who was sitting on the floor, cleaning a rifle. “How’s the foot, Josiah?”
“Still ugly but it works good as new.”
“I take it you had some trouble on your excursion?”
“Yup. A different kind of trouble,” Whipple said, closing the door. “Kiowa.”
“Cherokee,” Lagrange contradicted.
“Whatever they is they got muskets,” Whipple said dismissively. He pointed to a pile of battered muskets in the corner. “English. Probably got ‘em from the Creeks.”
“How many?” Thomas asked.
“There was ten when they come after us,” Whipple replied. “Four when they changed their minds.”
Thomas counted the muskets. “Ten?”
“They don’t know the range of their muskets and they have to dismount to reload,” Lagrange said. “We just rode up and took the empty weapons from the four survivors.”
“We could of kilt ‘em all but big hearted Charlie here got religion or somethin’.” Whipple waved his hand annoyedly at Lagrange.
“I’m tired of unnecessary killing.” Lagrange replied.
“Tell me that when them four come back with a few hundred others,” Whipple growled. “All of ‘em armed.”
“I have a question about Williamsburg, Charlie,” Thomas said to curtail the coming argument. “Didn’t you go to college there?”
Lagrange nodded. “I grew up not far from there too.”
“How many public insane asylums are there in Williamsburg?” Thomas asked.
Lagrange gave him a puzzled look. “Just one, as far as I know.”
“The one I’m interested in would be where a court might send someone who was judged to be criminally insane.”
“That’s very rare in Virginia,” Lagrange replied. “Our courts prefer hanging the criminally insane to paying for their maintenance.”
“In the rare instance,” Thomas persisted, “where would such a person be sent?”
“The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds,” Lagrange said. “It’s on Francis Street, near the College of William and Mary, I walked by it almost every day.”
“Describe it to me please.”
Lagrange glanced questioningly at Whipple then looked back at Thomas. “It’s a two-story brick building with a white cupola on the roof and a combination weathervane and lightning rod on top of that.”
“How hard would it be to break somebody out of there?”
/> “There are cells below ground with little windows,” Lagrange said. “I’ve never seen one from the inside. What’s this about, Tom?”
“My brother William’s in there.”
“What did he do?” Whipple asked.
“I don’t know,” Thomas replied. “Something very bad, I think. But I’m going to get him out no matter what he’s done.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lagrange said. “I’ve been kinda homesick lately.”
“Then go home on your own, Charlie,” Thomas advised. “Going with me could get you hanged or land you in prison.”
Lagrange put the rifle aside and got to his feet. “That hospital’s a bad place, Tom. Everybody knows it and nobody does anything about it. I wouldn’t feel a bit guilty about breaking all the inmates out of there.”
“And turn lunatics and idiots free?” Whipple asked. “No offense, Tom. I’m sure yer brother ain’t neither one. I’m just sayin’…”
“William’s no idiot but he could be a lunatic,” Thomas said. “But no matter what he is, he’s still my brother.”
“If you knew what goes on in that place you wouldn’t be so quick to run your mouth,” Lagrange said loudly to Whipple. “They torture the inmates worse than the dang Spanish Inquisition. They use ducking chairs, whips, knives, poisons and I don’t even know what else.”
“Now why would they do such of a thing?” Whipple asked dubiously.
“There’s a belief that irrational behavior is a choice that insane people make and that torture can convince the person to mend their ways,” Lagrange answered.
“No,” Whipple said with a chuckle, waving his hand at Lagrange. “That ain’t true.”
“I’m telling you,” Lagrange said. “I heard it from the keeper himself.”
“What kinda man would do such as all that and then tell about it?” Whipple asked.
“Before he was assigned to the hospital, he was the keeper of the Williamsburg Public Jail,” Lagrange said. “According to him the criminals there got even worse treatment.” He looked at Thomas. “When did you want to go?”
“As quick as we can get ready.”
Lagrange nodded. “We’ll have to go through Bexar so I can get them to send a replacement up here to help Josiah.”
Whipple shook his head. “I don’t need no help, Charlie. Just go the quickest way.”
July 31, 1831
Two Alone Ranch, Coahuila, Mexican Province of Tejas
Quincy, who had been digging in the sandy soil in front of the main cabin, pointed up to the bluff. “Horse.”
Paul Van Winkler stepped into the front door and took down the rifle from the pegs.
Anna shaded her eyes. “White man on an eastern horse and riding on a saddle.”
“It’s Thomas,” Jane said. She ran to the long corral, caught a big gray stallion by the mane, swung onto him and put her heels back. The horse sprang forward and effortlessly jumped the fence.
“Do you think she’s glad to see him?” Anna asked.
“I suppose,” Paul Van Winkler replied.
“Have you ever been excited by anything, Paul?”
“Not that I can recall.” He hesitated. “There’s only one horse and rider.”
Anna nodded. “Yes. I see that.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“Charlie left without saying goodbye. Although I was hoping, I didn’t really expect him to return.”
“I’m sorry, Anna.”
“I’ll get over it.”
Thomas saw his wife racing toward him and reined in his horse then dismounted to wait.
Jane jumped off the running horse and ran headlong into Thomas’s arms, nearly bowling him over.
Laughing Thomas hugged her tightly and lifted her feet off the ground.
“I missed you so much.” She held his face between her hands and kissed him noisily five times, then pulled away to look at him. “Where’s Charlie?”
“He had some business in Virginia but he’ll be back in the spring.”
“William?”
“Dead.”
She looked stricken. “What happened?”
“Charlie and I broke him out and then William and I started back. When we got to St. Louis William disappeared. They found a body downriver a few days later. From the description it sounded like William.”
“You didn’t go in to identify the body?”
“After being in the river for a few days I would have had to identify him by his clothes. I knew from the newspaper article that they were the same as William was wearing.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He shook his head. “I can’t get anything past you, can I?”
“It wasn’t him, was it?”
“I really don’t know that, Jane. But he wasn’t despondent and he, like all of us, could swim like a fish. My father made sure of that.”
“So he vanished to change his identity?”
“My guess is that he thought I’d report him dead and the wanted posters would all go away.”
“That sounds a bit cold.”
Thomas nodded. “Cold would be the right word to describe William. He was always a bit cruel and quick-tempered as a boy. Now he’s heartless and has no remorse for the things he’s done.”
“Did you ever learn what he did?”
“I learned that he was convicted of murdering three men in cold blood. I never want to know all the things he’s done.”
“How did your father and mother manage to keep him from hanging?”
“My father didn’t. He told William that he should pay for his crime. My mother hired every high priced lawyer in Virginia, bribed every judge and God only knows what else.”
“We should get down to the house,” Jane said. “Anna’s there waiting and she must think Charlie ran out on her.”
Thomas picked up his reins then looked around. “Where’s your horse?”
“He went back to the barn.” She pointed.
“We’ll have to walk then. This old boy is about ridden out.”
“That’s fine.” She took his hand. “We’re about half way finished with the roundup.”
“How does it look?”
“About twice the size of last year.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You know what? We might really get rich down here.”
“It’s possible.”
“Indians?”
“We had some trouble with armed Cherokees for a while but Josiah drove them north and we haven’t seen any for a while. Buffalo Hump may be keeping them away.”
“It sure is good to be home.”
December 1, 1831
Two Alone Ranch, Coahuila, Mexican Province of Tejas
With one last shudder, Anna collapsed onto Charlie Lagrange’s chest and nuzzled his neck. “Umm. That was the best ever.”
“You always say that,” he panted, stroking her bare back with the fingers of both hands.
“Can we stay like this forever?”
“Probably not.”
“Why?”
“Somebody’s likely to find us in the morning and throw a bucket of cold water on us.”
She giggled and after a few gasps, rolled off him, onto her back. “Any chance that you’d marry me, Charlie?”
He propped himself on his elbow to look at her. “Are you proposing?”
“Of course.”
“Then my answer is yes.”
She sat up. “Don’t toy with me, Charlie.”
“I don’t know how to be any plainer than by saying yes.”
“You mean it?”
“Absolutely.”
She fell on top of him and kissed him passionately.
“Easy, girl.” He pushed her off and looked into her eyes. “I’m only flesh and blood. Give me a few minutes.”
“What changed your mind?” she asked, after a few seconds.
“My mind hasn’t changed. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you.”
“What chang
ed your mind about being married?”
He shrugged. “I don’t think my mind changed. If you’d asked me a year ago I would have said yes.”
She slapped him gently on the arm. “Liar.”
He shook his head. “I just never could muster the courage to ask you.”
She giggled. “Jane’s going to get a laugh when I tell her that.”
“Oh please don’t tell her, Anna,” he said seriously.
“Okay, Charlie. I won’t.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you going to formally announce our engagement then?”
“First I have to ask Tom for your hand.”
“Tom’s not my father.”
“I know. But that’s the way I want to do it. Then Tom can make the announcement.”
“Okay. On one condition.”
“What?”
“Make love to me again.”
December 12, 1831
San Diego, California
The gambler was dressed in an expensive suit of clothes with a silk cravat and two pistol belts across his chest with a flintlock revolver in each holster. “Well, look at that,” he said in Spanish as he turned up his hole cards. “It seems I have won again.”
“No one can be that lucky.” The other man was fat and wearing a serape and gaucho trousers.
The gambler sat back in his chair and waved his hand at the pile of money in the middle of the table. “If you think you should be entitled, help yourself.”
“I was only saying that you are too lucky,” the fat man replied.
“You might improve your game if you drank less mescal.” The gambler raked the cash into his top hat. “It is time for me to bid you gentlemen adieu.”
“You got most o’ my poke,” a dirty man growled in English. “I want a chance to win it back.”
Holding his hat against his chest the gambler stood up. “What you want and what you get are likely to be two entirely different things.”
The dirty man’s hand reached toward his pistol and a bullet ripped through the top-hat striking him in the chest.
“Damn. Ruined my hat.” The gambler put his pistol back in the holster, began removing the cash from the smoldering hat and stuffing it in his pockets.
Home of the Brave Page 16
