by Paty Jager
The crowd looked from her to the mayor.
Craven didn’t sputter or blink an eye. “This woman knows the robbers intimately, hid the gold, and was headed to the other side of the state by train.”
“How do you know all this?” Mrs. Danforth asked, glaring at the man.
“I trailed them to a cabin where they were splitting up the money.” Craven nodded his head as if affirming his words.
“I was setting the cabin on fire, I wasn’t splitting up money.” Darcy surveyed the crowd. Their faces looked doubtful as they tried to determine who told the truth. He had to talk himself into a hole, she’d done nothing wrong.
“I received word she and a couple of the robbers were seen in Baker City. I went there, and they tried to throw me off the train.”
“We did no such thing.”
“Then you were with the robbers?” The merchant, she’d thought of as her friend, asked.
“No, I was with my brother and Gil Halsey.”
“He’s one of the robbers,” Craven quickly interjected. “Didn’t you all see how he carried his gun?”
“I seen him talking to the young one who was asking a lot of questions about the man in jail,” said Ted Haskell.
Darcy groaned. This wasn’t working at all like it should. “I swear to you, I’m not friends with the robbers, and I didn’t steal your money.”
“Then why’d you disappear the night the bank was robbed?”
“Yeah, why didn’t you get our post office back?” shouted another.
The crowd started toward her. Darcy ducked behind Mrs. Danforth’s back as the woman turned to the crowd.
“When has any one of you believed anything Tobias Craven had to say?” The group continued forward.
“What’s a woman of your reputation doing siding with an outlaw?” yelled someone.
“Yeah. Were you in on stealing us all blind, too?” yelled another. “Your fancied up women were at the party the night we was robbed.”
Darcy said quietly, “Mrs. Danforth, save yourself. I’ve got nothing to live for. Gil was killed on the train, and Craven pulled me away from a gunfight. One my brother was in. I don’t know if he’s alive, wounded, or dead.” Until she voiced what had banged around inside her head and heart since her abduction, she’d tried not to believe she was all alone. But the truth—there was no one to live for.
“Nonsense. Halsey wouldn’t let anything stand between you and him. I saw the way he looked at you.” Mrs. Danforth took a step closer to Craven. “If anything happens to this woman, you will never be able to set foot in this town again. I promise.”
Craven sneered. “As long as she gets what’s coming to her, I don’t need this town.” He waved one arm and gripped Darcy’s arm so hard she squeaked. “Once this leader of the gang is hung the rest will stay away from here.”
“Let’s do it!” Came a shout from the back of the mob.
The tang of lead filled Darcy’s mouth as fear gathered in her belly. They’d really hang her.
“I’m innocent. I’m not a robber. I tried to help this town.” She struggled against the hold Craven had on her arm and dug in her feet.
“Let her go. She’s an innocent woman.” Mrs. Danforth grabbed her other arm.
Darcy was pulled like a sheet in a game of tug-o-war. Her shoulders ached and popped as the man and woman glared at one another.
“If you’re so bent on making her pay, you should be able to convince a judge what she’s done wrong,” Mrs. Danforth said as sweat beaded her forehead.
Darcy’s stomach churned from dread and pain. “Hang me if it will keep you from tearing me apart!” she shouted, causing the two to stop.
“I don’t need a judge to tell me she needs hung.” Craven pulled her away from Mrs. Danforth and started down the street. Darcy looked back at the woman. She stood in the street looking as befuddled as Darcy felt.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked as Craven stood her under a tree at the edge of town.
“You have been nothing but a thorn under my saddle since you got here. And you know too much.” Craven turned her back to the people who followed them out of town.
“Get me a rope and a horse,” he ordered, keeping a tight grip on her arm.
Darcy stared up the canyon. She’d made friends with the miners in that canyon. How could she have thought this was a good place to live? Blazes, the town folk were ready to string her up on the word of the worst crook in Galena.
The slow approach of a horse sounded like claps of thunder. When the sound stopped, strong arms lifted her up and she straddled a horse.
“This is ridiculous. As marshal did I ever do anything that made you think I was an outlaw?” She didn’t speak to anyone in particular since her back was to the mob. Making this easier for them. Blazes! I’m not about to curl up. She twisted in the saddle, making the gawkers look at her.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. Craven is just silencing me, so he can steal more from you than he already has.” She took a breath to start in on everything she knew about the man. He grabbed her by the hair, pulling her down to his level.
“You will not win this time,” he said and crammed something into her mouth before he tied a bonnet backwards over her face.
The fabric was worn enough she had light, but couldn’t see anything. She shook her head to dislodge the bonnet as her body was shoved back onto the saddle. The horse sidestepped and danced a little. Her heart raced. Should she jam her heels into the horse and hope she could stay on and not get knocked off by a tree limb? Thoughts banged and ricocheted in her head as loud as a hammer on metal.
What have I done to deserve to die this way? Tears trickled down her face. The only good thing to come of this would be to reunite with her family and Gil in the hereafter. She hadn’t set foot in a church other than to ask for food since her parent’s death. Maybe she wasn’t going the same place as them. A shiver shook her body. She didn’t want to die if she wasn’t going to heaven.
Something moved in front of her face. She sniffed. The dry smell of hemp rope assaulted her nose. Something scratched her neck and tightened, poking like tiny pin pricks. She wiggled, but the movement only tightened the noose and dug the rope in deeper.
Panic squeezed her throat tighter than the rope.
I can’t die.
Not until I set foot in church again. I want to see Gil.
“Hah!”
Chapter 24
Craven shouted and swat a horse on the rump as Gil and his brothers rode into town. The body attached to a rope in the tree wore kid slippers, Levis, and the top of a dress.
The bastard had strung up Darcy.
Gil yanked his rifle out of the scabbard. He took aim shot and cocked the lever, shooting until the rope halfway between Darcy and the tree limb ripped apart. Her body landed like a broken doll.
“Aaaiii!” Sorrow, and guilt collided inside as rage spurred him into action. Craven would die for stringing up Darcy. Touching his spurs to his horse, Gil raced after the plump man diving into the woods.
He caught the sorry excuse of a man cowering behind a pine.
“Get out here and take what you deserve.” Gil leapt from his horse and yanked the fleshy coward from behind the tree.
“You murdered an innocent woman.” Gil punched the man in the face. “The woman I love.” He punched Craven again. His knuckles meeting the fleshy face did little to diminish the loss squeezing his heart.
All the way to Galena, he’d envisioned reuniting with Darcy. And this lowlife had taken that chance away from him.
Forever.
Gil pulled his fist back to land another blow. A hand grabbed his arm as he started to let fly.
“No. This isn’t the way.” Ethan held his hand and searched his face.
“He needs to pay for killing Darcy.” Gil wrestled his arm from his brother and landed another blow.
“No. Not this way. Darcy needs you.” Ethan stepped in front of the bloody, unconscious man only standing due
to Gil’s firm hold on his jacket.
“Nobody can help her now.” Gil’s eyes burned with unshed tears. He should have made an honest woman of her. He’d planned to marry her as soon as Craven was behind bars. Now—Grief blurred his vision as he drew a fist back.
“Yes. You can. She isn’t dead. Go to her. I’ll take care of this rattlesnake.” Ethan uncoiled Gil’s fingers from Craven’s jacket and shoved him back toward town. “Go on. Get on your horse and hightail it back to your woman.”
Gil shook his head. Did Ethan say Darcy wasn’t dead? The earnest look on his brother’s face set his feet in action. He wouldn’t put it passed his brother to tell him anything to keep him from killing the bastard Craven. But if there was a slight chance Darcy wasn’t dead—he had to see for himself.
He mounted his horse and laid the spurs to the animal. He pulled up behind the cluster of people under the tree, covering them with a cloud of dust. The crowd opened up as he dismounted and hurried toward Jeremy, cradling his sister in his lap.
The look on the boy’s face told him, she was alive. But by how much?
Gil dropped to his knees and gathered the small body into his arms. “Darcy, I’m here. Wake up. We’ve got a wedding to plan.” He placed a kiss on her bluish lips.
They were cold.
His heart stopped. Maybe she was dead and it was only his and Jeremy’s desire that made them think she was alive. He touched the red welt around her neck and shivered. A faint pulse vibrated under his fingers. If they’d been any later… he couldn’t think about that.
“Come on, Sweetheart. I need your help. I can’t have a wedding without you.” He brushed the back of his knuckles across her white cheek and willed her to open her eyes.
“Get outta my way!” Lila pushed her way through the gathered crowd. “What that girl gone and done now?” she asked, staring at the limp body Gil held in his arms.
“She didn’t do anything. That bastard Craven hung her.” Gil glared back the direction Ethan came pushing Craven along in front of him.
“Well don’t just sit there, pick her up and cart her up to Mrs. Danforth’s. We got things ready to take care of her.” She grabbed Gil’s arm. “Come on, I know that bony gal ain’t too heavy for ya.”
Gil gathered Darcy in his arms and followed the broad backside of Lila down Main Street and up to the bath house. Jeremy dogged his heels all the way. He didn’t blame the boy. If Jeremy were carrying her, he’d be right behind him.
At the house, Lila directed Gil to take Darcy upstairs. Two women stood by a room and waved him in. They sat Jeremy on a chair outside the door.
“Put her on the bed,” one of the women said and pushed passed him to take off Darcy’s kid slippers.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” he asked, taking her limp hand.
“You’ll have to ask Mrs. Dee. She’s the only one with medicine knowledge.” The woman didn’t make him leave as she slipped the Levi’s from Darcy’s limp body.
He didn’t care what anyone thought about him staying close while they undressed her. He wasn’t leaving her side. Something hit the back of his knees, and he plopped down on a chair.
“You best sit. It could be a while.” Lila’s skirts swished as she moved to the opposite side of the bed and placed a wet rag over the ugly red welt on Darcy’s neck. “I’s seen men heavier than this thing dangle from a rope a lot longer, ‘n’ it didn’t kill them.”
Lila straightened. A tear glistened in her eye. She turned just as it slid down her cheek.
Gil swallowed the lump in his throat. Darcy had to live. It would take the two of them putting their heads together to figure out what he would do next. He couldn’t go back to the ranch, not with Pete Chandler going to go to trial for robbing and kidnapping.
Her fingers moved slightly in his hand. His heart thrummed with anticipation. Was she waking up? He squeezed her hand and leaned close.
“Darcy, it’s me Gil. Wake up, Sweetheart.”
Her translucent eyelids fluttered. “Come on. I’m waiting to ask you something.” Her lips parted as her long lashes rose, revealing dilated, gray eyes.
His eyes burned with unshed tears as he looked down on the woman he loved. “I thought I’d lost you.”
She reached up, touching his lips with shaky fingers. “Me, too,” she croaked as a tear slid down the side of her head.
“Don’t talk. It’s bound to hurt.” Gil kissed her hand. He’d always believed her fragile, but resilient. “I’ve been thinking, and as soon as you’re well, we’re getting married.”
“Why?” she asked in a grating whisper.
“Why what?” He leaned down to hear her better and feel the warmth of her body. It reassured him.
“Why are you marrying me?” She winced as she forced the words out.
“Why wouldn’t I?” What was going on in her head? Did the near hanging rattle her? She’d been all set to marry him before he threw her off the train. Was that it? Did she hold a grudge?
“I don’t—” She swallowed painfully.
She loved him. He’d witnessed it in her eyes and her touch. He’d bring her around to marriage. If not today—soon.
“We don’t have to talk now, you need to rest.”
Mrs. Danforth entered the room. “How’s she doing?”
“It’s hard for her to talk.” Gil held Darcy’s small hand. “Her color’s none to good either.”
“The talking will have to wait. Her throat needs to heal. As for her color, I’m sure you can find a way to put some spark back into her.” Mrs. Danforth smiled. “But for now, you need to leave. We want to get her into a nightdress and make her comfortable.”
“I ain’t leaving.” Gil held onto Darcy’s hand. He wasn’t leaving her until she gave him the answer he wanted.
Mrs. Danforth turned to him looking like a mother cow with a newborn calf. “We aren’t going to harm her, and we won’t let anyone else in here other than you or her brother. Now, go take care of the men you brought to town all trussed up. And make sure Craven gets what he deserves.”
Gil found himself dislodged from Darcy’s hand and pushed out the door.
“How’s she doing?” Jeremy asked, popping up from the chair by the door.
“She’ll be fine. Just needs rest and no talking for a while.” Gil put an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders. “Come on, Mrs. Danforth will take good care of her, let’s go make sure those outlaws and Craven are locked up.”
*****
“Thank you.” Darcy winced. It hurt like a son-of-a-gun to push words out. If she wasn’t feeling so darn puny, she’d go find Craven and…well, she’d do something that hurt as much as trying to talk.
“You’re lucky Gil and his brothers came riding in when they did.” Mrs. Danforth settled her against a pile of pillows. Between Mrs. Danforth and Sylvie they managed to get her out of the dirty, torn, and borrowed clothes and all washed up.
“I thought he was dead.” She swallowed not only the pain of talking but the pain of the despair she’d felt believing he was gone. “With the outlaws and Craven being alive, I thought the worst for Gil.” She bowed her head in shame and sipped the water Rose brought her. “I was ready to hang if it would have put me with my parents and Gil.”
“We all want to be with our love ones when the end comes. But your end isn’t even near.” Mrs. Danforth smiled. “Your life is just beginning. I heard that man of yours ask you to marry him.”
Darcy’s heart fluttered. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but, he’d yet to utter the words that she longed to hear. Words that would make anywhere they lived home.
“I think he’s only asking,” she rested her throat and continued, “’cuz he compromised me.” The Halsey brothers hadn’t come out and said anything against her, but she knew they planned on Gil marrying her because of his actions. She loved Gil, but refused to marry him if he didn’t love her.
“That man is smitten with you.” Mrs. Danforth looked at her as if dangling from a tree
had addled her head.
“But is smitten and love the same thing?” Darcy wanted to believe he did love her, but until he came out and said it, she wouldn’t marry him. She didn’t want to be like the old women she’d met in her travels who found the man they loved looking elsewhere for things they should have been seeking at home.
“In my book they are.” Mrs. Danforth stood. “I’ll get you a cup of broth. You should be able to swallow that.”
It didn’t matter how many people she disappointed. Gil, Jeremy, the Halsey men, even Mrs. Danforth. She would refuse Gil until he said the words she needed to hear.
*****
Gil smiled with satisfaction as he watched the outlaws and Craven bickering in the cell.
“If they keep this up, they’ll have told us everything we need to get them thrown in a prison or hung,” he said, turning to Ethan and Jeremy who were also taking in the spectacle.
“Someone should be writing all this down,” Ethan said, looking around the room.
Jeremy found a paper and pencil in the desk drawer and handed it to Gil.
“Why me?” he asked, not sure if he wanted the job of sitting and writing down the prisoner’s conversations when his mind was back at the brothel with Darcy.
“You’re the logical choice for marshal now that everyone knows Darcy is a woman.” Ethan patted him on the back.
“Me?” Gil looked at his brother and the boy, grinning beside him.
“Yeah, you.”
“But I’ve got a job… Well, I probably won’t have a job when Chandler learns his son is in jail for robbing and kidnapping due to me.”
“There’s no way you can go back there and work.” Ethan slapped a hand on Gil’s shoulder. “Besides, you’ll have a family to provide for and from the way Darcy talks about this town, I think she wouldn’t mind staying on.”
“Yep, she likes Galena a lot,” Jeremy chimed in, his eyes dancing with excitement.
“I think the town folk have to ask me. I can’t just take over.”
“Actually, brother,” Hank walked into the room. “The town likes the idea of you taking over.”
