Brides of the West-Part One

by Hestand, Rita

  "Yes…I think so. I didn't expect him to show up. He was the leader of the gang, Gil. But…he was talking to himself, saying he was going to run out on all of them. Even his wife. How could he do such a thing?" Callie cried. "She's dying, Gil. She probably won't make it through the night."

  Gil ran a hand over her back and supported her. Sam moved closer. "Old man Boggs, no one would have thought it was him! He could have gotten clean away with it."

  "Sam I told you to get back to the house…" Callie scolded.

  "No…I need Sam to take the money into town for me. No one would suspect he had anything on him. It's already dark, Sam don't need to be riding the trail at night in this area. He needs to stay in town until you can get him, but not tonight. Lou can put him up for the night. You need to get home and I'm gonna wait here for Joe and the others." Gil said taking the gun out of Old man Boggs hand.

  Gil moved the old man over into a dark corner where he couldn't be spotted easily, and picked up the moneybags. He carried them outside, put them in his saddlebags, and put the bags on the horse Callie had ridden up on. "Now Sam, take this money to the Sheriff. If he's not in his office, go to his house. You know where he lives, don't you?"

  "Sure." Sam looked a little white around the mouth.

  Callie kissed Sam and watched him mount up.

  "Be careful," she smiled.

  "I will, you too." Sam took off toward town.

  Gil turned to Callie. "You took a real chance coming out here." He scolded.

  Callie shrugged. "Mrs. Boggs asked me to. Said she'd rest in peace then. I had to do it. For her sake."

  "How is she?"

  "She won't make it through the night. It was important for her to know the money would be returned."

  "I'm sorry about that." Gil pulled her back into his arms. "But I don't want you over there anymore, Callie. It's too dangerous. Joe's bound to know you've heard things. That's puts you in danger every time you are there."

  Upset and realizing how afraid she'd been, she nearly collapsed into his arms. He cradled her there. "You need to get home with this wagon."

  She nodded against him, but she trembled so, he picked her up and put her on the wagon seat.

  Just as she was about to leave, someone was coming.

  Gil didn't wait to see who it was. His first concern was getting Callie to safety. He knew if Joe found out it was her, he'd kill her.

  He jumped on the wagon seat and whipped the horses about and they rode like thunder.

  Chapter Nine

  "What we doin' out here in the middle of the night? I mean we left Billy and Jed back at the house." Harley Riggs asked as they got down off their horses. "We gonna get the money tonight?"

  Joe looked around, it was quiet, only the crickets were chirping. There were no lights on in the mine. The lantern wasn't where he'd left it, and that made him suspicious. He wondered if his father had beaten him to it. He wouldn't put it past him, especially since his Ma died today. His pa wouldn't wait around; he'd be long gone once he got hold of that money.

  "Billy's wounded, Jed can keep an eye out for trouble there. Don't worry about them, they are big boys. Besides, there's something I want to find out. So…find the lantern." Joe instructed Harley.

  Joe pulled his gun and motioned for Harley to follow.

  They went inside the mine.

  "What you got the gun for, there ain't nobody here?" Harley fussed behind him.

  "Harley you got to use your head. Anyone could walk in here at any time. You gotta be prepared for trouble no matter where you are. This isn't our land, you know. Now, light that lantern." Joe hollered. "We don't know for a fact that nobody comes here off and on. Dugan still owns this mine. For all we know he might come here regular like. Anybody could have walked up to this mine. Or Pa could have been here already. He sure lit out in a hurry when Ma died. Did you notice that?"

  "Yeah, I guess he did. I thought he might be going for the preacher or something. But your Ma's passin' might have made him upset…" Harley shrugged. "I actually figured he was going to town for a drink or something. But you would have thought he'd invited us along."

  "He ain't gonna cry no tears over Ma…I can tell you that much." Joe laughed. "Ma loved him, truly once. But I think through the years she just plain got tired of his onry hide."

  "But she's his wife."

  Joe turned around and frowned at him. "Ma was a do-gooder, Harley, a bible toting do-gooder. She didn't believe in robbin' and killin'. Pa, he didn't mind so much. And he's robbed before, when he was younger, and killed a couple of fellas in one bank down in Tascosa. Ma, she thought she'd reformed him. Like she tried to do me. Poor old gal…I loved her in my fashion. I'm sorry she is gone because I know she was the one good thing in my life, but maybe it's best. She sure wouldn't like what we have been doing lately. Just be something else for her to fuss about. No, it's better this way. We can clear out of here now. We got no ties left here."

  "She was a good woman…" Harley nodded. "She sort of took me into your family. Never had no one do that for me. I won't be forgettin' that."

  Joe nodded. "Yeah, she was a good woman. And she tried to teach me right, but I guess I got too much of my Pa's larceny in me to do any good. It's not that I mind working so much, but it just don't pay. A man gets the life sucked out of him by workin' for $30 a month. That ain't chicken feed."

  They moved on into the mine. Joe looked about and nodded. "We're here because I know my old man, Harley. He just might run off with all of it. He heard me say we were coming to split it up. I been watching him close since we robbed that place. I could see it in his eyes. He was enjoying it. And he'll be wanting all that money. Thinking he earned it."

  "You mean he'd steal from us?" Harley asked.

  "Sure he would. I guess you really don't know my Pa that well. He sure wasn't much of a Pa. But I saw the look on his face the day we held the bank up. He was drooling over this money, I can tell you that. We're just going to beat him to the draw and get the hell out of here." Joe laughed. "He told Ma it was for rent money. That old rascal wasn't going to pay the rent…."

  "Well I'll say!" Harley shook his head. "I thought he meant it."

  "That was just his way of pulling the wool over Ma's eyes. He had no intentions of paying it. But it sounded noble and he figured he wouldn't have such a hassle with Ma if he told her that. Pa is cagey, I'll give him that."

  But when they got to the well and saw that the money was gone, Joe threw the bucket away. "Dammit! He's already been here."

  "You mean…it's gone?" Harley shouted.

  "Yeah, I mean it's gone. I told you he would do this. I know Pa. And he's not getting away with this. Must have been his dust I saw when we came riding up." Joe shook his head. "Looks like I’m gonna have to kill Pa."

  "Your own Pa?" Harley hollered.

  Joe turned on Harley so fast Harley didn't know what to do, but stand there, dumbstruck. Joe pointed his gun at Harley, screwing his face into an instant frown. "He stole from us, didn't he?"

  "Yeah…I reckon so. Nobody else knew about it."

  "That's right, so it had to be him. Come on, let's get outside and see if there are any tracks." Joe said.

  Joe looked around on the ground. "He brought a wagon. Wonder why he did that. He ain't gonna make good time with a wagon. But it's too dark to trail him now. We'll head out first thing in the morning. Come on, let's go home." Joe said.

  "We're going back to your place?"

  "Sure, I need some sleep if I'm going to track him tomorrow. I'll find him, and when I do, he'll be sorry." Joe exclaimed.

  "What about your Ma. If we go back, folks will expect you to bury her, won't they?" Harley asked. "That means we'd have to stick around. And we can't find him and stay there."

  "You're right about that. Maybe we should go to town, have us a drink, and then camp out close to the mine. We can get a good start from there tomorrow."

  "Sounds like a good plan to me." Harley smiled. "I could use a dri
nk. Say, what about the other boys that were with us?"

  "We'll meet them later. Now just remember, don't be saying anything about Ma dying. Okay, let's ride."

  ~*~

  The wind whistled across the prairie like a distant train, leaving a lonely, eerie sound. A clap of thunder far off warned them that a storm was coming. "You know where we are going?" She asked.

  "I know," he pointed northwest, and picked up some speed in the wagon.

  Directly a lone house, with a solitary tree guarding it came up out of nowhere. There was a little log house there, the beginnings of a barn and corral and it looked as though the house was being built onto.

  "Who lives here?" Callie asked.

  "I do. It used to be my folks place, but I tore the old house down, as it was rotting something fierce. I built this one instead. I work on it when I have the time."

  "This is your place?"

  "It is…I built everything here, me and my brothers. We each got a log house of our own. That's why I'm so busy all the time. When I'm not being a deputy, I work out here." Gil said. "We just divided the home place up and we're all gonna work the place like one big farm, but we'll all have our own home and family. We'll split the profits up equally."

  Callie looked around the place; there were signs of a well being dug, and a windmill. A small clothesline stretched to one side of the house. She'd never seen anything so grand in her life.

  He opened the door for her so she could go in.

  Another clap of thunder, closer this time reminded them of the bad weather stirring.

  Gil lit the lantern.

  There was a generous kitchen and off to one side was a door, she figured that had to be the bedroom.

  She whirled around and then looked at him.

  "What's all the wood piled out on the other side of the house for?" She couldn't contain her curiosity.

  "Gonna build a big porch. Always liked a big porch, makes it more homey, don't you think?" He asked looking down at her.

  "You planning on marrying, are you?" She asked looking around the place.

  "Well, that's what most folks do." Gil replied. "Marry, have a family."

  "I guess…"

  "I'll put me a swing on the porch and some rocking chairs, nice place to eat breakfast or play checkers, you know."

  "You've really given this a lot of thought." Callie turned around to look at him.

  "A man should give his home a lot of thought. He should think of the woman he wants to marry, and what she might want, you know the little things."

  "Why did we come here?" She felt suddenly out of place.

  "We'll stay the night and get some horses, then move along tomorrow."

  "You have horses here?"

  "Sure I do. I live here, I tell you."

  The place was homey and nice and Callie looked about. For only a moment, she imagined living here, in a nice house like this, with Sam out tending the stock and her husband working. But that was only a dream. She had no nice house, and no husband. To Callie it was something unobtainable.

  "It's a right nice place." She said.

  "Yeah, I like it…"

  "Move along where?" Callie asked when she rethought his statement about leaving.

  "I'm not sure, but we can't stay here. If they track us here. We can't stay. I don't want the place shot up before I'm even finished building. I wish I could get word to the Lou."

  "But what about Sam? I need to take care of him."

  "Lou will take care of Sam, I'm certain of that. We're the ones in trouble. Joe's going to want that money back."

  "You think they found his Pa yet?" Callie looked worried.

  "Maybe, maybe not, in the dark it's hard to tell. I scooted him into a dark corner, so they might not have found him yet. I should have taken the time to bury him, but things just happen too fast sometimes. Eventually they will find him. Then he'll know it isn't him that took the money. He'll be after us. Only he doesn't know who we are yet. I aim to keep it that way." Gil said.

  "But even if he caught us, he wouldn't find the money." Callie leaned against a wall. "That will only make him madder."

  "Our tracks lead out here, Callie. He'll figure we got the money. And I reckon there's going to have to be a showdown of some kind to settle this. I might as well tell you. Unless maybe you can talk some sense into Joe."

  "Me…what makes you think he'd listen to me?"

  "Well, he is sweet on you, isn't he?"

  "Joe? Joe's sweet on any girl that's around him. I knew that about him a long time ago. I know you don't believe me, but I only went over there because of his mother."

  Gil stared down at her. "I'm glad you figured him out for yourself."

  "I'm not as stupid as I look."

  "I never thought of you as stupid…" He looked down at her with a flirty smile. "In fact, the way you brought Sam up, speaks highly of you."

  "Thanks…" She murmured.

  He grinned.

  "So what are we going to do?" She asked.

  "Keep moving until we find a place that is away from here and not about to bring suspicion on us. I need to get hold of Lou, but not until we get somewhere safe." Gil told her.

  "The problem with Joe is, he's liable to start shooting before he realizes we don't have the money."

  "I know, that's why we have to find a place that we can hold up in."

  He shined the lamp on the bedroom door.

  Callie was dumbstruck. Did he think she was going to sleep with him?

  He saw the question in her face before she opened her mouth.

  "Come on. You can have the bed, I'll take the floor." He smiled.

  "Why don't you sleep in here?" She said.

  "Because if someone comes, I need to be ready before they see me, to jump them." He answered. "Being in here will give me time to reach for my gun before they open the door."

  "Oh…"

  She went inside and the bed was covered with a beautiful handmade quilt. She couldn't stop the gasp.

  "It's beautiful."

  "Yeah, my mother made one for each of us boys." Gil said.

  "Oh…the work that went into that…" Callie gasped.

  He put the lamp down on the little table by the bed, and then he went to the closet and brought out a couple of blankets.

  "If you're tired you can turn in."

  "Are you going to sleep now?" She asked.

  "Nope, there's a storm brewing. Got to check on the horses, and make sure all the windows are secure. But you can any time. Don't fret Callie; I'm not going to bother you. But I'll do my best to keep you safe."

  She nodded. "I know that."

  "Do you?" he looked down into her face. "I'm not so sure about that."

  "Why didn't you let me take the wagon home?" She asked sitting on the edge of the bed. "Maybe it would have been better, if I'd just gone home."

  "Because eventually Joe would show up there, and unless you had some good answers, he might get rough with you. You don't understand, money changes people, Callie." Gil informed her. "You've been over there a lot, and I'm sure you've heard things about the robbery. You had to have. He knows that. So you are in danger, even if you hadn't taken the money. Even if he didn't suspect you of taking the money, you know too much."

  "Joe's never laid a hand on me…" Her voice drifted in mid-sentence.

  "That's nice to know…" Gil smiled again and she stared at him wordlessly now. "Get some sleep, I'll be back soon. I'll stretch out on the floor. You'll need the rest."

  "I could help you."

  "That's okay; I'd rather you stayed inside."

  She nodded.

  The storm came, the rain was so hard it sounded like nails hitting the roof, and the lightning crashed through the walls and windows of the place illuminating it.

  Callie rose up once, during the storm and glanced down on the floor at Gil. He was sound asleep. He looked relaxed and she smiled to herself. Despite everything she'd ever said about Gil, she had to admit, he was a man o
f his word.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning Callie heard horses and got up to see who was outside. She peeked out the window. It was Gil's brothers, Saul, and David. Gil was talking. She listened.

  "Need one of you to go into town and tell Lou that me and Callie are gonna find someplace to hide out for a while. She isn't safe hanging around here right now. And tell him to take care of Precious for me. He won't know where to rest or anything. I'll worry over him."

  "We'll tell him, or I could bring him home with me. Why don't you go up to that line shack in the hills and if something happens I can let you know. It's built pretty well with shutters and all." Saul suggested, as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair and adjusted his hat on his head.

  "Maybe that would be a good place. Hadn't thought of that. Thanks, yeah. We'll need some clothes and food, though. I have no idea how long it's going to take, but I won't be putting her in danger, that's for sure."

  David nodded with a sly grin, "You kinda sweet on that gal, Gil?"

  "Hadn't you heard the gossip yet? She's my girl." Gil smiled shyly.

  "So that's how it is, huh?" Saul smiled.

  "Maybe…But right now we got more serious matters to worry over. Sooner or later, they will find out it's Callie that knew about the money, then they are gonna be after her, so no matter who asks you about her, you don't know anything, alright?"

  "We don't know a thing." David nodded. "Look, I can fetch some of Ma's stuff for Callie, and bring you some food to take."

  Gil smiled. "Sounds like we got a plan. Oh, and while you are in town, ask Lou to keep Sam safe for Callie. She'll be worrying about him, I’m sure."

  "You mean old man Boggs himself was the leader?" Saul asked, shaking his head.

  "Looks that way. And what's worse, he was about to run out on Joe and the boys" Gil nodded. "But he's dead, I had to shoot him. He was trying to take off with the money. I sent Sam into town with it. So that's safe. Eventually they are gonna figure out that Callie knows, when they do…I got to keep her safe. Right now, they haven't figured it out yet, I'm sure, but as soon as they find the old man's body, they'll be looking for more answers. Warn everyone you think could be in danger. Might ought to check on the Dugan place, since he owns that mine. They might get the wrong idea and go there first."