Sanderson's Hill

by Nancy Howard

  “So what do you make of all of this Bill?”

  “Well he is buying land legitimately, but he seems to be buying land closest to your property John.”

  “Do you think he's trying to hem me in. Trying to force me into a corner, so I wouldn't have any other choice but to sell my ranch to him.”

  “Well that might be true, but I don't want us to jump to conclusions about Henry's intentions. In all my dealings with him, he seems like an honest man.”

  Then Jane spoke up and asked, “Isn't his daughter supposed to marry Jay this summer?”

  “Yes that is the way it is now, they're engaged,” Catherine said.

  “So Logan you've been very quiet. What do you think about all of this,” John asked?

  “I'm not sure what to think, being that I just got here today, and am hearing all of this for the first time.'

  John looked at Logan for a few seconds, then asked Chatfield if he'd like a Cuban cigar, ordered straight from Havana. Chatfield took him up on the offer. Then the two men got up from the table and left the dinning room, excusing themselves from the ladies. They exited the front door, and went out on the front porch.

  Logan watched as the they left the house, and lit up the cigars, outside. Wanting to talk about business away from the women, and the dinner table. Logan knows that she is supposed to stay inside, with Catherine and Jane. But she is more interested in what is being said outside, by the two men. Logan's attention to this is suddenly interrupted by Jane.

  “So Logan you're a woman, and a bounty hunter. What on earth made you become a bounty hunter?”

  Logan is still preoccupied with what the men were talking about outside, pausing before she answered, “Yeah.., I mean yes mam, it's true I'm a bounty hunter,...and it's a long story as to how I became one,” Logan replied, smiling as she talked. “Believe me when I say it's a long story.”

  Logan didn't want to bore these ladies with her life story, she didn't think it was all that important right now. Logan being a loner, she has not had the upbringing to learn to trust. Living with and being raised by her dad was horrendous for her, and she feels like it is best to leave those things unsaid for now. She is not ready to discuss her life with total strangers at this point, no matter how nice they are, and no matter how taken they are with her.

  Catherine realizes Logan's preoccupation with what the men are talking about, and says to her, “Logan why don't you go on out, and listen to what John and Bill are saying?”

  “Are you sure it's okay, I mean...”

  Catherine winked at Logan, and said, “I think it would help you, if you heard what they're talking about. Go”

  “Yes mam,” Logan said. Smiling at Catherine, for being so perceptive of what she really wanted to do.

  Without hesitation, Logan got up from where she's setting at the table, walked over and opened the front door, and went out onto the porch. She looked at the two men, and asked, “is it okay for me to listen in?”

  John looked at her and it was like deja vu all over for him. It was like he suddenly realized that this is where Jennifer would have wanted to be. With him, in on the action. And he quickly affirms to Logan, that she was more than welcome to listen to what they were saying.

  “Logan we have been discussing what to do if Henry is responsible for the rustling of my cows. Bill here doesn't seem to think that's possible, given that Henry seems to be a good and honest man.”

  “Do you think he is” Stealing your cows,” Logan asks?. She looks first at John and then at Chatfield. She walks over and leans on the porch railing, with her arms at her side, her hands on the rail.

  “We aren't sure,” John says. “But we have to consider that a possibility. Don't you think?”

  “Yeah I guess you do. Anythings possible I guess. My question is, why would he want to do that? Rustle your cattle. What is there to be gained, by him doing something like that?”

  “You raise a couple of good questions young lady,” Chatfield comments.

  “Well for one thing, he would know it's costing me a lot of money,” John says.

  “Does he know about the rustling? I mean, have you talked to him about what's going on out there,” Logan asks?

  “No I haven't. There's very little communication between us, like I said at dinner. Have you talked to him about it Bill?”

  Chatfield shakes his head no, “like I told you at the bank this afternoon I haven't ask him.” Then Bill tells them, that he only sees Henry Baker when he comes into the bank, to do business.

  “Well if he knew or knows about the rustling, then you're right to think that he knows it's costing you a lot of money. If this is true, it sounds like, he wants to run you out of the territory. I suspect, he wants this ranch for his own. That's the only reason I can think of, if he's behind the rustling,” Logan says.

  “Doing it to run me out of business quicker, because he wants Sanderson's Hill for his own,” John says.

  “Right.”

  Logan looks at Chatfield and comments, “you said, you think he's an honest business man. You sure?”

  “Yes Logan I believe he's honest. He says he's got big investors in Britain, and on the continent. I believe him.”

  She nods her head with a look of skepticism.

  Chatfield notices and says, “I don't want us jumping to conclusions here about any of this. We have no proof, that anything, the two of your are saying, is true.”

  “He's right you know.” John says, looking at her.

  Logan shakes her head again, this time in agreement.

  After that John suggested that they go back inside, and he says to Logan, “I would offer you a cigar Logan, but....” He doesn't finish the sentence, and smiles at her, making the conversation lighter.

  “Don't smoke,” she says. Cocking her head to her right, and answering him with a smile on her face. Then she giggles.

  John and Chatfield look at each other grinning, both admiring Logan's sense of humor. John opens the door, and motions for Logan to go in first, and she enters ahead of him.

  They go inside to join their two wives, who are in the parlor. Logan starts to go up stairs, to her room.

  “Where you goin',” John asks her?

  “Up to my room, I just thought,....that you didn't want me to go in there.”

  “I do. We do.” he said. Then guides her ahead of him, after she came back down, and they go into the parlor, where the ladies were setting on the sofa chatting.

  Logan walks over and sets in a chair near the sofa at the far end of the room. John and Chatfield set in the two big leather chairs at each end of the hearth of the fireplace.

  The evening was spent with the men and women talking, and Logan doing a lot of listening. She's never had the opportunity to be in a setting like this, with normal people. Just talking about normal stuff. She is alone most of the time with the exception of when she with Gavin. Her time is spent, roaming from place to place, alone or with him, looking for that next bounty to bring in. Now, here tonight she is setting in a room with people that she's only known for a few hours. Listening to them talk about the town, it's people and of course the church, and the renovation that it needs. She learns, as she listens, that the town of Rio Doso and its inhabitants are very important to the Sandersons and the Chatfields.

  After a while, Catherine looks at Logan, and asks her, “are we old folks boring you dear?”

  “No mam, not really. It's nice to set and listen to people talk about normal stuff for a change. I ain't never had much chance to do that. Sorry I don't have much to add to the conversation.”

  “Don't you apologize for that,” John says. “Beside you just got here, and you're hearing all of this for the first time.”

  Then Chatfield asks Logan, “Did you get much a chance at all, to spend much time going to school, when you were growing up Logan? That is if you don't mind me asking you?”

  “No, I don't mind. And to answer your question, yeah I did. Somehow I managed to go to school and
get myself through the twelfth grade, after that I ran away from home.” She didn't elaborate further, telling them why she left home, not wanting to reveal more about her life growing up, than necessary.

  “So then, what your saying Logan, is that you have a high school education,” Chatfield says.”

  “Yep I do. I have a diploma that says I graduated. It's in my stuff upstairs.”

  “Impressive,” Bill responds. “Are you aware Logan, of how few people in this part of the country have a high school education?”

  She shakes her head that she does.

  “Why did you run away,” Jane Chatfield asks her?

  Logan says, “Like I said a while ago mam, when you ask me why I became a bounty hunter. Well that's a long story too.”

  The lady shakes her head, and looks at Logan not questioning her further about her upbringing. Jane can see that she has no intention of opening up to them about her childhood, not tonight anyway.

  Logan listened for a while longer, she's very tired, and says, “Folks it's getting late. And Mr. Sanderson, if you want me to ride out with you tomorrow, I better get some rest. So if you don't don't mind, I'm off to bed.” Then she stands up to leave the room and then adds, “I want you all to know it's been a pleasure this evening. I want you to know that. It's been nice visiting and listening. And it was equally nice to meet the both of you,” she said, addressing the Chatfields. Goodnight all,” she says, then leaves the room.

  They all say goodnight back to her, in unison.

  As Logan leaves the room and starts to go up the stairs, she stops about halfway up. She's curious, wondering if the Sandersons and the Chafields continue their conversation about her. So she does a bit of eavesdropping. She overhears Chatfield say about her, “she is one amazing young woman John. One of a kind, and a very beautiful one I might add. And she has a high school education, that's very impressive.”

  John says, “I nor Catherine could not agree more on anything you just said about her.”

  “Yes she's been here just a few hours, and already we're thrilled to have her here,” Catherine says.

  “In spite of her reputation,” Chatfield questions?

  “Yes in spite of that. That, for some reason doesn't really matter to either of us,” John says, taking a puff off his cigar. “And have you noticed how she just brightens up everything.”

  “That she does,” Bill concurs.

  “Then she's filling a void already isn't she,” Jane questions?

  Catherine shakes her head and says quietly, “yes she is.”

  Logan was standing on the stairs and smiles hearing what is being said about her. She had wondered earlier, before she came down to dinner how she would be received by those present. Now she knows. She has never heard anyone call her amazing before, for anything, except for how fast she is with a gun.

  She also heard Jane Chatfield ask Catherine about Logan filling a void in their lives already. Catherine said yes to the question. Logan wonders what that void could be? What void do the Sanderson's need to have filled in their lives? They seem to have everything, she thinks. She figures that in time she will find out the answer to that question. Right now she has a rendezvous with the big soft bed, in the guest room.

  Logan doesn't dwell on the conversation, she heard, and goes on upstairs to her room, feeling good about herself. She opens the door and enters, and on the bed is nightgown with a note laying on top of it. Logan picks up the note, and it reads.

  Logan,

  I thought you'd like to sleep in something more comfortable tonight. It's yours to keep.

  Enjoy, Catherine

  Logan smiles to herself. Never has anyone thought about something like this for her. But then again Catherine is not like any woman that Logan has ever met, or has known before.

  Logan decides that it's about time she enjoyed something like the nightgown, so she takes off her new dress and hangs it in the closet. She puts the nightgown on, letting it shimmer down her body. It feels so good. Soft and loose. She loves it. Then she did something she's wanted to do all evening, return to the big soft bed. And while it is not hers, Logan thinks she will take it, and enjoy it while she can.

  She blows out the lamp and crawls in, pulling the covers up over her and turning onto her right side. With the window open, and the door slightly ajar, she lays there and can only hear coyotes howling at the moon in the distance, and a calf bawling and looking for its mama. Logan is totally relaxed tonight as her final thought is, how nice this all is. How great it is to not have to leave right away, and go hunt somebody down. She's tired, it's been a long day, she hopes her sleep is peaceful, Then she drifts off and is fast asleep in no time.

  AFTER SEEING THE CHATFIELDS off, John and Catherine go upstairs to turn in for the night. It is late and has been a long day for the both of them too. After ascending the stairs they decide to walk across the hall to the guest room, to look in on their new guest. They could see that its dark in the room, indicating to them Logan is in bed. Its been a while since they've had a guest in that room, let alone a young woman in their home. It seems to excite them both to have Logan here. They truly can't help themselves from doing this, and no one could blame them, they have to look in on her.

  Catherine pushes the door slightly open, just enough so they could see inside. They see Logan, fast asleep, but they don't close the door immediately. They take a few seconds to stand and look at her, watching her sleeping so peacefully, so beautifully. Both admiring this lovely young woman who has suddenly come into their home, and lives. Who they haven't known but just a few hours, both forgetting that she's a bounty hunter, something that as John said earlier that evening, doesn't matter to either of them.

  What they see is a beautiful young girl, like the one they lost four years ago. Catherine quickly wipes a tear away, that is sneaking down her cheek. John just stands and stares. They both are thinking about their dead daughter Jennifer, as they view Logan sleeping. Both caught up in the fact they have a young woman sleeping in their home, something that for whatever reason they've longed for. Logan just happens to be that young woman.

  After a few seconds Catherine pulls the door shut, and puts her fingers to her lips, for them to be as quiet as they can, so as not to wake her. Then they go back across the hall to their room, and they're quiet at first. Catherine breaks the silence, by asking John about his conversation with Bill Chatfield, on the porch that evening after dinner. He told her what was said, and then she asked him if Logan had added anything.

  “Well she's thinking along the same lines as me, about Henry being in cahoots with the rustlers, though neither of us is sure about that, nor can we prove our theory.”

  Catherine didn't say anything right away, because she knew that it was Logan that they really want to talk about.

  “You know John its so nice having her in there sleeping tonight. Its like....,” her voice tailed off. She's setting on the edge of the bed, with an empty stare on her face.

  “I know,... I know, it is for me too. I'm not sure we should be attaching ourselves to her so soon though. She's a bounty hunter you know, with a mind of her own, and I've hired her to catch rustlers.”

  “I know all of that John, but she's already filling a void in both of our lives. Jane saw it and do did Bill. Even though she just got here, it's like, our long lost daughter has finally come home to us, finally. We instantly connected to her and she to us, today in town. It happened the minute we saw her this morning.”

  “And she handled herself so beautifully tonight John, just as Jennifer would have. She has so much confidence in herself. So much grace and poise, more than she knows. It's sad, that no one has ever told her those things about herself.. It's almost like she's our prodigal daughter, John.”

  “I hear you, she certainly brightens up everything, even though she's just been here a few hours, She brightens up this house as well. She did the minute that she walked through the front door this afternoon. I have felt that same connection with her,
even after my remark about bounty hunters in town today. But that aside my dear, I've noticed a sudden change in you, since we brought her home with us today.”

  She watches him walk around to his side of the bed. He gets in. Catherine is thinking about what he just said. “You're right about that. It's been tough without our Jenn.”

  “I know,” he says quietly. Hugging her, both lost in thought about their deceased daughter.

  Then Catherine's thoughts return to Logan, and she asks, “I wonder what she wants John? If she works out, I wonder if we could get her to stay for a while. I know what you're gonna say that she just got her, and she's a bounty hunter, but...,” Her voice trails off.

  “You got me as to what she may want. I hope she works out too. Maybe I can find out what some of her thoughts and plans are tomorrow, when we ride out to the mesa together.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Bailey Hogg and his gang stopped earlier, and have decided to camp about twenty-five miles west of Rio Doso in the open high plains. Hogg, Demp, the Deckers, and the half-breed have decided to stay several miles outside of the Rio Doso. They've known for sometime that they are being tracked by someone, they've seen him at a distance. They don't know who he is, but they want to stop him and stop him, soon.

  “How long ya want'a stay in these parts Bailey,” Charlie Demp asks?”

  “Long as we need to. I want a stop that bastard, whoever he is that's been follerin' us fer months.”

  “He's just one man Bailey, we could kill him in an instant,” Doak Decker says.

  “Yeah I know that, but I want a set a trap for im, and nen kill im. I thinks we need to hang around here in these parts fer a while longer, maybe we'll run into him. You know, maybe lay low for a while, it may make us rich, ya never know. We need to think on it a spell anyway. So while we're figurin' on that, let's just get dead fuckin' drunk on our asses. We got those eight or nine bottles, a that whiskey we stole in Lass Cruces the other day, let's drink those. What ya say?”