Stuck Together

by Mary Connealy

  “Care of herself,” Glynna and Ruthy said together.

  “We know,” Glynna said.

  “From stories you’ve told about all the chores you did,” Ruthy said, “it sounds to me like your aunt mostly made you take care of her.”

  Glynna shrugged and said sheepishly, “Iphigenia really does seem like a nasty old—”

  “I think,” Tina said, cutting Glynna off before she could finish in some unfortunate way, “it’s time to have done with this nonsense. ‘A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man but once.’”

  “Is that your auntie, too?” Ruthy asked.

  “I think it might’ve been Shakespeare.”

  “Do you often get your aunt mixed up with Shakespeare?” Glynna went and stood in the kitchen doorway.

  “Almost never. Although she might’ve been quoting Shakespeare, so I may have given her credit for a lot of things she didn’t deserve. Did Shakespeare ever say a woman should know how to take care of herself?”

  “I don’t know, but he did say, ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’” Ruthy went to the front door. Glynna and Ruthy were guarding against Lana, but they were also blocking an escape attempt by Mrs. Yates.

  “Would anyone like tea cake with their afternoon coffee?” Mrs. Yates asked.

  Paul was pacing, an unfortunate tendency he was learning from having Dare for a stepfather. “I’m going to get Jonas.”

  “No, Paul,” Glynna said. “I saw them walking to the east of town. You’d have to go hunting them, and Lana might be out there.”

  “We’ll signal him to come back to town with some gunfire. Then I’ll tell Sledge to shut down the forge and help us search the town.” Paul checked the load on his pistol. “Once we’re sure Lana’s on the run, we’ll pick up her tracks, form a posse, and get set to head out after her. Pa and his friends oughta be back by then.”

  He looked at his mother and sister. “Stay here. I’ll bring you a gun as soon as I can.” He dodged around Ruthy and went out the front door. He might want to take charge, but Tina noticed he didn’t try to get past his mother.

  “Paul!” Glynna called. But her boy was gone, maybe for good. Maybe there was only a man left.

  “Let him go, Glynna,” Tina said. Since they couldn’t stop him anyway. “Lana has never focused her anger on him.” Much. Tina did seem to recall one scuffle.

  “Once he rousts Sledge, maybe they can go together to find Jonas,” Ruthy said. “Then we’ll probably have Missy in here, too.” She added dryly, “I imagine she’s eager for our company.”

  Three shots split the air. Paul was right, that’d bring Jonas running.

  “Missy is coming back?” Mrs. Yates smiled. “I do hope she brings my blue silk shawl with her. This is unseasonably cold weather for Georgia.”

  Red Wolf’s eyes flickered open and blazed with pain.

  Vince was back with the battered black leather doctor’s bag before Dare got Red Wolf’s buckskin shirt slit open.

  Luke translated Dare’s question into Red Wolf’s guttural Kiowa language.

  “It’s not terribly bad.” Dare heaved a sigh of relief as he removed a bundle of rags from his doctor’s bag. “The bullet sliced the skin along his ribs, and he’s losing a lot of blood, but I don’t think it even broke a rib.” He glanced up at Luke. “He’ll be okay. He needs stitches, and there’s the danger of infection, and he’ll be weak from blood loss for a while, but in time he’ll mend.”

  Exhaling until Vince thought he might deflate, Luke passed the news on to Red Wolf.

  “Hunt for my sutures and the silk threads and the carbolic acid.” Dare shoved the bag into Vince’s stomach as he pressed a rag against the freely bleeding wound. “Hand them to me when I ask.”

  Dare snapped orders as he treated the fast-flowing wound and stitched it up. He soaked a bandage in his beloved carbolic acid and pressed it to the sewn-up bullet furrow.

  “You’ll need to change this bandage daily, and I’ll send a bottle of . . .”

  While Dare explained wound care to Red Wolf, Vince finally looked around to see where the drunken varmint was who’d done this. “Wilcox is gone!”

  “I saw him stagger off a while ago,” Luke said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get him later.”

  It was a promise given with such quiet menace that Vince felt a chill run up his spine.

  “What good is it to get him?” Red Wolf asked. “Do you think your law will arrest a man for shooting an Indian? Better chance he would be given honors for the deed.”

  Since Vince was the law, that stung a little. At the same time he knew it was true. Vince could arrest Wilcox and force the stumbling fool to face a judge, but the chance of his going to jail was somewhere between little and none. “He’s almost for sure who shot at you, Luke. We can charge him for that, too.”

  “A drunkard with a gun.” Luke’s dark eyes flashed with rage. “It ain’t a fit combination anywhere.”

  “So he’s the one drinking in this canyon?” Dare finished bandaging Red Wolf and eased back on his heels. “But Duffy denies selling it to him. And whoever sold it to him likely sold it to Red Wolf’s brave, too. We need to figure out if it’s Duffy, or if maybe your man Wilcox got it somehow and he’s the one who sold it to the Kiowa. That’s against the law. And join that with shooting at Luke and shooting you, Red Wolf, and he’ll be spendin’ some time in a jail cell.”

  Luke nodded, staring at the canyon mouth. “It’s gonna be my pleasure to put some hard questions to Wilcox.”

  “Best go about arresting him mighty careful.” Dare gathered up his bottle of medicine and a few other doctoring supplies. “He’s been drinkin’ and he’ll find himself another gun, and you know he didn’t even mean to pull that trigger. He jumped and it went off, so you can’t hope to reason with the yellowbelly coyote when you catch up with him.” Reaching down, he offered Red Wolf a hand.

  Red Wolf slapped Dare’s hand aside and stood. Then his knees gave out. Luke grabbed Red Wolf around the waist, supporting his friend’s wounded left side. A groan escaped Red Wolf’s tight lips.

  Dare put the supplies he held back into the bag, then caught Red Wolf from the other side. Luke let Dare bear Red Wolf’s weight to ease the strain on the bullet wound.

  “I reckon when I catch up with Wilcox, I’ll handle him without much trouble.” Luke was a tough man for a fact. Vince forgot that sometimes when Luke was busy being a husband, all chipper about a coming child.

  “Let’s get Red Wolf into the house.” Dare gently helped the Kiowa chief along. “You need to rest for a few hours.”

  “While you’re regaining your strength, I’m going on a manhunt,” Luke said. He lifted his hat, smoothed his hair back, and clamped the hat back down to hold it out of his eyes. He needed to see everything that moved for the next several hours.

  The approach of thundering hooves stopped them all cold. Vince had his gun out before he’d made a conscious decision to draw.

  Luke’s foreman, Dodger, led that old mountain man Tug Andrews into the canyon.

  As soon as he saw them, Tug shouted, “Lana Bullard broke jail. All the womenfolk are holed up in town. Lana’s going on another killing rampage.”

  Chapter 18

  Jonas stormed into the diner. He had one six-shooter holstered on his hip, another in his left hand, and a Winchester Yellow Boy rifle in his right. Tina hadn’t realized just how scared she was until her brother walked in and made her feel safe.

  He looked disheveled, but the anger in his eyes drove out her annoyance at his courtship. She remembered Jonas had ridden the outlaw trail for years before he’d found God in the middle of a Civil War battlefield.

  Melissa was right behind him, her shining brown curls loose around her shoulders. It had been neatly twisted into a bun when she’d left.

  Paul brought up the rear with his gun drawn.

  Tina realized she’d started thinking of her as Missy until she’d caught the woman kissing her brother. It had been Mel
issa ever since.

  Tina was going to have to get over that.

  “Paul said Sledge Murphy will be here any minute.” Jonas took charge and began rapping out orders like a general. “I’m going to roust Porter and make him help us. He’s been in visiting Lana more than anyone. If she has anywhere she’d run, Porter has a better chance of knowing about it than anyone. I’ll go get him.” Jonas turned to Paul. “I want your help.”

  Tina saw Paul stand up straighter and nod.

  “Ruthy, I’m putting you in charge. I know you can fire a gun.” Jonas handed her the pistol he had in his hand. “This is Paul’s. I got it out of Dare’s house.”

  “Did you search the house for any sign that Lana might be hiding there?” Tina thought of the houses scattered around town. Lana could be lying in wait in one of them.

  “Sure. I was careful, and I know what I’m doing. And Dare has good locks on his house now. Lana couldn’t get in with a skeleton key like she did before.” There was a sudden softening in Jonas’s tone as he turned to Melissa. “I’ve got a lot to live for, so I’m going to be very careful.”

  He slid one arm around Melissa’s waist and gave her a quick kiss. Then he got back to business. He rested his rifle on its butt, tilted against the table, then drew his Colt and checked the load. He holstered it and then made sure the Yellow Boy was loaded.

  Looking up, Jonas said, “You women stay inside. Paul, let’s go.” He charged out just as suddenly as he’d come in. Paul slammed the kitchen door as he followed Jonas on the search for Lana.

  A silence hung over the room for a moment. Then Melissa, her hands clenched together in front of her rather nervously, said, “He seems awfully comfortable with firearms for a man of the cloth.”

  Tina squashed the urge to tell Melissa a few hair-raising stories. “Make sure the back door is locked, Glynna.”

  Ruthy was already set by the front door, clearly up to the challenge of this fight. Tina considered herself a strong woman, but perhaps not in the Western sense of the word. Letting Ruthy guard the door was just good sense. Ruthy was getting round with a baby, though. Tina found a chair so her friend could sit while she stood guard—sat guard? Tina wasn’t sure what to call it.

  Ruthy took the chair without complaint. “Thank you. I seem to wear out mighty fast these days.” She’d taken a long morning nap, but Tina thought she looked like she could use another.

  The tension in the room was thick.

  “Janny, why don’t you show Mrs. Yates your studies?” Glynna suggested, giving Janny a wink and nodding her head toward the stairs. Getting Mrs. Yates upstairs and out of the way seemed like a good idea.

  Janny took Mrs. Yates by the hand. “Tell me about one of your tea parties, ma’am.”

  After they left, Tina said, “I’m going to put something on for supper.” She saw Missy following after her toward the kitchen and braced herself to have a talk with the girl. But Missy got busy mixing up biscuits, and the only talk concerned where to find flour and bowls and such. Tina cut up the venison that wasn’t fit for steaks, seared the meat in a big Dutch oven, then covered it with water.

  “Don’t you think you should fry that longer?” Glynna asked from where she stood guard by the back door.

  “Don’t be giving me cooking advice, Glynna.” Tina smiled at her to take the sting out of the words.

  Glynna shrugged. “I just hate raw food. It can make you sick, you know.”

  “I’ll be careful, I promise.” Tina set the meat to simmering to get tender for stew. She threw in onions and potatoes and left it toward the back of the stove, where it would gently steam the afternoon away without boiling dry.

  “How are the biscuits?” Tina asked Missy.

  “They’re coming along fine. I’m a dab-hand at most baking. My ma and I had to do for ourselves. I didn’t grow up in the Yateses’ household, you know.”

  “Thank you for helping.” Tina tried to be gracious. She wasn’t sure how well she covered her resentment, but she knew it wasn’t fair, so she suppressed it to the best of her ability and hoped Melissa wasn’t the sensitive type.

  The biscuits were mixed up in no time, and then without asking, Melissa set to making a batch of bread. Tina was impressed and wondered if she could lure the unsuspecting woman into helping at the diner full-time. An extra pair of hands would give Tina more time to picket the saloon.

  Maybe Mrs. Yates could sign on as a waitress too, make herself useful. There wasn’t much she could mess up about serving meals, short of pouring boiling hot coffee on the men’s laps.

  Finally, as the afternoon stretched toward evening, Jonas and Paul came back. Ruthy jumped out of her chair by the front door or she might’ve gotten smacked.

  “Porter’s gone and his horse, too. I’m sure those are his tracks along with Lana’s leading out of the back of the jailhouse. He probably helped with the escape. They’ve been planning it, I reckon, waiting for a chance when everyone was distracted.”

  “How can you tell it was planned?” Tina asked.

  “We found where another horse was tied outside of town. Looked like it had been there a long time. I only followed them a short while, but they were heading straight west at a gallop. We can’t be sure they won’t circle back, but I think for now we can hope they’re making a run for it.”

  “Aren’t we going to chase after them?” Glynna looked fierce for such a delicate woman.

  “No, at least not until we get more men. We’ll wait for everyone to get back from Luke’s.” Jonas gave Glynna a rather weak smile. “Would it be so bad to just let them get away?”

  Gasping, Glynna said, “She tried to kill Dare three times.”

  “I know,” Jonas said, sounding a little sheepish, “but she seems to have calmed down lately. And we haven’t had much luck figuring out what to do with her. I think we should just let her go. She’s already out of Vince’s jurisdiction. He doesn’t have a badge that lets him do much sheriffing that far outside of town. We can sure go after them, but we might be gone for days, maybe weeks.”

  Jonas gave Melissa a look of longing, clearly not interested in being away from her, not even for one day. “We could get the Texas Rangers after them, yet by the time we rustle up a Ranger, Porter and Lana will be out of Texas. After that it’s the U.S. marshals’ job, and I don’t know how to go about finding a marshal. Ride to Fort Worth, I ’spect, or maybe send a wire to someone—not sure who.”

  Tina felt a whisper of relief to think Lana and her madness might be someone else’s problem. “Maybe, since her lunacy was mostly aimed at Dare, she might not be too much trouble once she gets away from him.” Tina looked at Glynna. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know.” Glynna flung her arms wide. “I don’t want Dare on her trail for days, either. But what if she comes back? I’d have to be convinced she left the area.”

  “I could track her,” Ruthy said, looking fierce. “I can out-track anyone in these parts, and that includes my husband. I wouldn’t even hesitate except my belly’s slowing me down some.”

  “As it is,” Jonas said, “we have no choice but to wait. When Vince and the others get back, we can decide then what to do next. I could go after Porter and Lana myself, but I don’t like leaving you all here unguarded.”

  “Well, if they really are running for the hills, it gives them more time to get clean away.” Tina wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. “I’ve got to finish supper. We can all eat together here at the diner.”

  She headed back for the kitchen, wondering if being turned loose in the Texas wilderness with that low-down Mitch Porter might be the perfect punishment for Lana’s crimes.

  Just as Tina stepped up to the stove to thicken the broth around the meat, hooves pounded outside. She leaned to peek out the kitchen window, afraid Lana had come back. It was Vince—leading a line of horses into the clearing at the edge of town.

  Chapter 19

  Vince had been riding in a flat-out panic the whole way home. His
long-legged thoroughbred was game. They’d made the trip from Luke’s in record time. Dare and Luke were right on his tail, but he’d gotten a jump on them while they gave orders to care for Red Wolf.

  The sun had dipped below the horizon as he neared town. In the winter dusk he listened for bullets, imagining his mother being gunned down. His new sister dying in a hail of flying lead. Tina lying dead, all the fire and sass gone.

  As they’d neared Broken Wheel, Vince heard no gunfire. Was it over? Was everyone dead?

  He raced for the diner and pulled his well-trained gelding to a halt so hard it reared up. Vince’s feet hit the ground before his horse’s did.

  With his gun drawn he sprinted for the diner door, wondering if he needed to go in low. Wondering if the women were being held hostage. Would he meet armed resistance? The diner door swung open just as he was reaching for it. Ruthy smiled, sitting in a chair, holding the doorknob in one hand and a gun in the other.

  Vince skidded to a stop before he plowed over Luke’s pregnant wife. “What’s going on? I thought Lana was on a rampage. Tug said she was loose.” Vince heard his friends thundering up behind him and moved farther into the clearly unthreatened diner.

  “We’re fine.” Ruthy shrugged, then looked past Vince and her face lit up with a smile she only used with Luke.

  “Lana Bullard broke jail.” Jonas rose from where he sat playing checkers with Paul. Melissa, Tina, then a step later, Glynna came in from the kitchen. It was about the most peaceful scene Vince had ever encountered.

  “Porter helped her. The two of them hightailed it straight west. Paul and I tracked them for a while, but they’d probably been gone for hours. We think they made the break right after you rode out of town, and we didn’t miss them until after the noon rush was over. They had enough of a jump on me I never caught a glimpse of them. I broke off the chase because I didn’t want to leave the women alone.”