Daring

by Sylvia McDaniel

  The woman’s eyes widened, and she put her hand to her mouth. “Oops! Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

  “Just watch where you’re pointing the gun. You know how dangerous a misfire can be. Now aim, take a deep breath, and hold it while you fire.”

  The gun boomed and Caroline knocked a can off the fence. She turned her wide big brown eyes toward Ruby. “I did it. I hit the can.”

  Ruby smiled, wishing the happiness would reach her heart, but nothing seemed to affect her right now. Absolutely nothing. She felt dead inside like whatever spark of life was there before had been completely snuffed.

  “Good, do it again.”

  How long had it taken her to hit the cans on the fence when she’d first started firing her guns? She couldn’t remember; it was so long ago. And she’d been a young girl, an innocent at the time.

  “How will I know I’ve got the hang of firing a gun?” Hannah asked.

  “When you can do this,” Ruby said, whipping her pistol out of the holster and knocking down all five cans on the fence.

  Ruby didn’t do it to impress Hannah or Caroline. She knocked down the cans to give the women a goal. Once the young women could knock off all the cans on the fence in a row, they’d graduate from Ruby’s training.

  “How long did it take you?” Caroline asked.

  “A while. Practice is all it is.”

  People expected to just pick up a pistol, aim it, and hit the target, but it wasn’t that simple, and it took time and practice to become accurate. In this line of business, shooting was what kept a person alive.

  Annabelle waddled down to the fence. “Who are you shooting at?”

  “Just tin cans,” Hannah said.

  Ruby chuckled. “Annabelle, Meg, and I use to draw faces on the cans, and then we’d shoot the cans down.”

  Right now, Ruby knew exactly whose face she’d draw on a can. His dark hair and emerald eyes would stand out on the rusted tin. A cool breeze blew, sending a chill through Ruby. Winter would soon be upon them, and there would be no hunting until spring.

  “I know a pig farmer whose face I’d paint on my can,” Caroline said, carefully taking aim.

  A cool breeze blew, sending a chill through Ruby. Winter would soon be upon them, and there would be no hunting until spring.

  “Oh, I bet you got better much quicker that way. I can think of two faces I’ll be painting on my cans,” Hannah said.

  “I don’t know about getting quicker, but we took out a lot of frustration,” Annabelle said. “And at that time we had lots to be angry about, didn’t we.”

  The days of the three of them firing their guns to ease their frustrations seemed so long ago, but it had only been a couple of years. So much had changed in that time. The memory of the three of them losing their jobs and taking out their irritations by putting bullets in poor defenseless cans was now a sweet recollection. The times had been hard, but it made them strong women.

  “We did.” Ruby hugged her sister. “I probably should do some target practice now to ease my displeasure.”

  Caroline patted her on the arm. “I’m sorry about Deke.”

  “Don’t be. He obviously didn’t want me badly enough to stay. I’ll get over him.”

  Ruby had loved Deke since she was fifteen, but if he could ride away, then maybe it was time to let the feelings go.

  Hannah picked up her pistol, aimed, and fired a shot, hitting the wooden fence. She smiled. “If he doesn’t want you, then he’s a crazy man. Be strong, Ruby. You deserve a man who loves you for who you are.”

  “We all do, Hannah, even you,” Ruby said and fired her gun at a can sitting on the fence, knocking it to the ground. That one was for Deke.

  *

  Annabelle knew her time was close, but yet, she’d watched Ruby moping around for the last two days since she’d discovered Deke had ridden off without saying goodbye.

  She’d had enough. She didn’t need to worry about anything, but the birth of this baby, so today when Meg came out to check on her, they were going to have a family meeting. Enough pining for what Ruby didn’t have, Annabelle needed action.

  Besides, her back had been killing her for nearly two days. She couldn’t see her feet, and her breasts were big and heavy, and her waist didn’t exist any longer.

  Meg arrived right on schedule. She walked in and gave Annabelle a hug. “How are you?”

  “I’m pregnant. And the new has worn off. I’m ready for this baby to arrive, so I don’t feel like I’m hauling around a sack of feed all the time. I’m tired and mean enough that my husband has been fond of working out in the garden every day. And my back is aching bad enough that I’m thinking this may be the only child we have.”

  Meg laughed. “Lord help Zach when I reach the stage you’re at. You’re a lot more patient than me.”

  “And Lord help me from killing Ruby.”

  The girl’s heart was breaking. Annabelle could see it on her face, but she refused to talk about the problems between her and Deke.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “She’s sulking around here like her best friend died. Deke left two days ago in the middle of the night without saying goodbye.”

  “That man has broken her heart more than once.”

  “Yes, and this time I think more happened than she’s letting on, if you get my drift. I mean they were alone without a chaperone, and they’ve always been attracted to one another.”

  Ruby had loved Deke since she was fifteen, so Annabelle didn’t doubt for a moment they had been intimate.

  “Oh, dear. How is she taking it?”

  “Not good. Twice, I caught her crying. Ruby doesn’t cry.” Annabelle had known it was serious when she’d witnessed Ruby wiping away tears and struggling to keep from sobbing. This time Deke’s leaving had broken her heart. And there was nothing Annabelle could do but hope Ruby got over him or they found a way to be together.

  Meg shook her head. “You remember how it was, Annabelle. You cried pretty much every day. You two were so stubborn.”

  “And you and Zach were at odds as well,” Annabelle said, staring at her sister.

  The months since they’d both married had been good for them. And their husbands loved them and treated them like queens. Yet, both couples almost ended before they’d begun. Now, it appeared Ruby and Deke were facing the same dilemma.

  “How can we help them?” Meg asked.

  “Until Ruby tells us the problem, we can’t,” Annabelle said.

  “Where is the girl?”

  Just then Ruby came in from collecting the eggs. Her face was drawn and tired, and she looked sad. She hung her bonnet up on a nail. “I swear that one hen is not going to live to see another day. If she pecks me one more time, she’s going in the pot.” She glanced up and noticed both of her sisters staring at her. “What?”

  “Sit down. We need to talk.”

  The young woman made her way to the table, her face changing from frustration to a blank expressionless stare. She knew what was coming.

  They all sat around the table, where they had made their family’s decisions together for many years.

  “Annabelle told me about Deke. I’m sorry, Ruby.”

  The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing to be sorry for. The man said he loved me, and that night he got on his horse and rode away. That’s a fine way for a man to show you he cares about you. He’s not worth my time or my trouble.”

  The bravado in her words was to hide the pain Annabelle could see on her face. This time, Deke may have killed the love between them. This time, Ruby may have given up on the two of them.

  Meg shook her head. “Do you love him?”

  “Now, that’s not a fair question to ask.”

  “Why not?” Annabelle asked, knowing how her sister felt about Deke, but wanting her to confess her feelings.

  “Because the two of you know I’ve cared for that man for years. Maybe not grown-up love, but still you know it’s always been Deke.”

  Anna
belle shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “What do you mean? You and I fought over him,” Ruby said.

  “We were both young and stupid. We were both too young to go there, but you were only fifteen at the time.”

  At the time, Ruby had been a brash, flirtatious woman who was used to enticing men to do her biding. She hadn’t been ready for a man like Deke.

  “If you love him, then why aren’t you fighting for him?” Meg asked. “Why haven’t you ridden after him?”

  Ruby’s eyes widened. “Have you taken a good look at Annabelle lately? She looks like she’s going to explode at any moment and a baby’s going to walk out of her belly partially grown. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was going to have twins.”

  “Shh! I don’t want twins. Don’t jinx me.”

  The thought of taking care of one baby was overwhelming, but two…how did people cope with two of them? And sure, she had her sisters’ help, but they had their own lives, and learning to take care of one baby was all Annabelle wanted.

  “I’m not going to go off and leave her while she can’t see her feet. I’m just not,” Ruby said.

  Leaning over, Annabelle patted Ruby on the arm. “Thank you. But your heart is not here. Why can’t you and Deke be together? Why did he leave?”

  Annabelle knew there was something Ruby wasn’t telling her sisters. Something that kept the lovers apart and was the reason Deke had rode away. Ruby loved him, so what problem was separating them?

  Ruby glanced down at the table. “It’s you, Annabelle.”

  “Me? What did I do?”

  “You’re pregnant,” Ruby said.

  Annabelle listened while Ruby told them about Deke marrying Laura and how she’d died during childbirth. How at the sight of Annabelle, Deke had recoiled and withdrawn.

  “I know it’s seeing the rounded belly of a woman with child,” Ruby said.

  “That’s not what made Deke leave the woman he loves behind,” Meg said. “Or he doesn’t love my sister enough to make her his wife.”

  The thought of losing this baby after carrying it for almost nine months was devastating. In some ways, Annabelle could understand Deke’s plight, but she couldn’t change his situation, and frankly, she didn’t want to. This baby meant everything to her and Beau.

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but the world is not going to stop having babies, just because Deke Culver gets upset at the sight of a woman with child.”

  “I know. And I think he’ll get over it, it’s just going to take some time. But in the meantime, he’s refusing to get married again because he doesn’t want to get another woman pregnant. He fears watching another woman die.”

  The three women sat back and frowned. Annabelle knew women died in childbirth, but she was more afraid of the baby dying than her own death. That thought kept her awake at night.

  “Men can be impossible,” Meg said.

  “How do you help someone get over this?”

  Time was the great healer. Annabelle missed her papa so much, but life had gone on. Deke would eventually heal, but right now, it was painful.

  “You go after him, you tie him up, and you tell him how done you are with him. That he’s left you twice now, and there will not be a third opportunity,” Annabelle said. “Then if he comes after you, you know it’s going to be okay.”

  “But if he doesn’t,” Meg said, looking directly at Ruby, “you ride away. You’re done.”

  When you love someone with all your heart and soul, riding away was not as easy as it sounded. Annabelle knew. She’d walked away from Beau. Thank God, he’d found her.

  “That’s not going to cure him. He said he would never marry again or get a woman pregnant or have children. And he wanted me to quit bounty hunting. Maybe we aren’t supposed to be together,” Ruby said, swiping a tear from her eye.

  “Love means sacrificing your happiness for the good of the person you love. Do you love Deke or are you just infatuated with the idea of love?” Annabelle asked.

  If Ruby loved Deke, she would give up bounty hunting for him, and Annabelle would be so relieved her sister was no longer in danger.

  “How do you know?” Ruby asked. “How did you know with Beau? With Zach?”

  “I knew with Beau when we reached Fort Worth,” Annabelle said.

  “And I knew Zach had to prove to me he was a good man who was worthy of my love,” Meg said.

  Would Ruby give up bounty hunting for Deke if that’s what he required? “Is Deke worthy of your affection?”

  “I think the question should be, am I worthy of Deke’s devotion. I’m wondering if I’m worthy of that man’s love. I know this is a huge thing for him, and I don’t want to let him down. He’s a good man. Am I capable of being the kind of wife he deserves?”

  Annabelle resisted the urge to smile. Yes, Ruby was in love with Deke. She was already thinking like a woman in love. “There’s no way of finding out until you find him.”

  “But Annabelle…I can’t go off and leave you.”

  “Hannah is here, and I’ll be out every day until you get back,” Meg said.

  Ruby stared at her hands. Then she looked up at Annabelle. “Are you okay with me leaving?”

  Annabelle loved her sister for thinking of her welfare, but Ruby needed to work things out with Deke. “I want you to be happy. This baby is going to come when it’s good and ready and not before.”

  Ruby smiled for the first time in days, and Annabelle knew they’d made the right decision.

  “I’ll hurry. I don’t know where I’m going to find him, but I’ll head in the direction of Dyersville, where he said he was going back to, and hopefully, he’ll be along the trail. You’re certain, Annabelle?”

  “I’m certain,” she said with a smile. “Just hurry or you’ll miss the birth of your first nephew or niece.”

  “I won’t be gone a moment longer than necessary.”

  “I know,” Annabelle said and prayed Ruby would return before the baby was born.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Deke Culver sat around his campfire drinking. Already he’d emptied one bottle and had a second bottle just in case this one didn’t dull the pain. Whatever it took to vanquish the image of Ruby from his mind and his heart and his soul. That girl had imprinted herself onto his very essence, and he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

  Every time he closed his eyes, she appeared. Every time he laid down his head to sleep, she invaded his dreams. And every time he thought of what he wanted to do next in his life, Ruby’s image emerged.

  It was almost like his soul was crying out how he’d lost his guiding force. Like he had lost his way in the wilderness and now he wandered aimlessly. So lost, he did what he had only done a few times in his life. He got drunk.

  Tonight, he’d saturated his body with liquor. Hard liquor he hoped would wipe the slate clean of images of Ruby in that risqué dress dealing poker. Of Ruby dancing in the rain. Of Ruby, her head thrown back in passion, as she came apart in his arms.

  God, he loved her. He knew he did. But because he loved her, he couldn’t be with her. She couldn’t die in his arms like Laura. He couldn’t face another tragedy of that realm. He would shoot himself rather than watch someone else he loved die.

  That was why he couldn’t be with Ruby. If childbirth didn’t kill her, she’d kill herself by taking a risk. A needless chance. And he wasn’t going to watch her get shot by an outlaw she was chasing. Or take a chance and jump off another cliff into the river. If the fall didn’t kill her, hitting a rock could.

  There were so many things he loved about her that she frightened him. Losing Laura had almost killed him, and he hadn’t loved her like he did Ruby. If Ruby was to die, how could he handle the pain?

  Finally, he’d drank himself into a stupor, and he sunk onto his bedroll, numb from the alcohol and passed out.

  *

  Ruby found Deke’s tracks, and it didn’t take long to catch him. She’d spotted him right after d
ark and sat in stunned silence watching him drink himself until he obviously could no longer function.

  She’d never seen Deke drunk. In fact, she’d only tasted alcohol on him once, the night he’d caught her dancing in the rain.

  The sight of him inebriated out of his mind, taking a risk on the trail to anyone who happened by when he was besotted, just made her even angrier. The man thought she took chances; he needed to look inward.

  Well, she was going to fix him right up. If he thought she took risks, she was going to show him what a fool he was for jeopardizing his life drunk.

  An hour before dawn, she snuck into his camp. The puppy looked up at her with sleepy eyes, her tail thumping in recognition, and gave a quick bark of hello.

  Rapidly, Ruby wrapped the rope around Deke’s feet and tied it securely. After throwing the rope over a tree branch, she tied the end to her saddle horn and then talked her mustang into moving forward. The horse lifted Deke’s body up off the ground.

  When he was swinging upside down wildly from the tree, he opened his eyes. “What the hell?”

  Ruby bit her lip to keep from smiling. The fool was certainly not expecting this early morning wake up call. “Good morning, Deke.”

  “What the hell?”

  “I’m showing you how you take reckless chances that could get you killed. You drank so much last night I was able to ride into your camp this morning, tie you up, and hoist you into a tree. You didn’t even move when your dog barked hello.”

  The pit in her stomach that had been coiled into a knot suddenly released and calmness settled over her. Whatever doubts had remained about the two of them now vanished. He deserved this little retribution for forgetting how good they were together, for forgetting the attraction that existed between them since she was a young girl, for forgetting about the love that flowed between them like a river, connecting them. But he wouldn’t forget after today.

  “Let me down. My head is throbbing, and this doesn’t help. I’m going to puke if you don’t get me down.”

  “That’s what happens when you drink too much.”