A Gideon Johann Boxed Set Book 1 - 4 (A Gideon Johann Western 0)

by Duane Boehm

  “You really like her, don’t you?” Joann asked.

  “Yes, I do. I think the world of her. She is what I imagine a real sister would be like – the one person that will tell it to you like it really is no matter if you want to hear it or not and with no sugarcoating,” he said.

  “I guess we all need one of them,” she said.

  “We better get a going if we want to talk to them today,” Gideon said.

  It was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon by the time that they tracked down Ethan and Zack checking out the herd on the new land that Ethan had purchased. Signs of mountain lions had been more numerous than usual and Ethan was growing concerned that they would start bothering the cattle.

  “What brings you two all the way out here?” Ethan asked.

  “I was wondering if you know of a good church and preacher that could marry this couple that I know on Saturday?” Gideon said.

  Ethan grinned and held out his hand to shake with Gideon. “I believe that I do. I believe that God would probably consider it an act of mercy if I married you off,” he said.

  “I was also hoping that Zack and Benjamin would stand up there with us and Winnie and Joann,” Gideon said.

  “I would be honored, sir,” Zack said.

  “I know that Benjamin would be thrilled to stand with you,” Ethan added.

  “We’re only inviting Sarah, Doc, Mary, and Abby’s family. I bet that in your wildest dreams that you never envisioned marrying us,” Gideon said.

  “In my wildest dreams I never imagined ever seeing you again,” Ethan reminded him.

  “You can blame that on your son’s exploratory nature,” Gideon said.

  “Zack, can you take a ride with me for a few minutes?” Joann asked.

  Zack looked at Ethan and got a nod from him. “Sure, let’s go,” he said.

  After the young couple was out of earshot, Ethan said, “She’s getting ready to break his heart, isn’t she?”

  “She’s going back to Wyoming, but I have a hunch that this is a long ways from being over with,” Gideon said.

  “I hope he doesn’t chase her back there. I’m going to be able to make a pretty good ranch hand out of him. He’s a quick learner and can figure things out for himself,” Ethan said.

  “Let’s hope not. He fits in well here,” Gideon said.

  Zack and Joann rode across the pasture to a small creek where they climbed off their horses. The fall sunlight was shining through the trees much lower to the south now and would soon be sinking into the western horizon, forcing them to turn from the light to see one another.

  Joann took Zack’s hand and looked him in the face. “Zack, I will be staying with Marcus the week after the wedding and then I’m going to spend a week with Daddy and Abs before I go home to Momma and Poppa. I need to be back home with them,” she said.

  “So you are calling Gideon by Daddy now?” Zack said to avoid any other comment.

  “Yes, I decided that’s what I wanted to call him. I’m going to miss you when I’m gone,” she said.

  Zack smiled sadly at her. “I’ll miss you too. Does this mean that we are finished,” he said.

  “Here’s what I was thinking – we could start writing letters to each other and just see what happens. If one of us gets tired of writing or meets somebody else, then we will know that it wasn’t meant to be and if we keep missing each other and writing, well then, we will have to figure out something,” Joann said.

  “I guess that will work. I’m not exactly a man of letters though. You’ll probably end up thinking that I’m simple,” Zack said.

  “I know better than that and I’ll never think that you’re simple. Just do the best that you can,” she said.

  “Are you sure that you have to go?” he asked.

  “I have to get home to Momma and Poppa. It would be as if I switched sides if I up and stayed here. If I ever decide that I want to live here, I can ease them into the idea that way,” Joann said.

  “I could maybe move back to Wyoming someday too, but I really need to learn ranching from Ethan right now. I don’t know how to do much of anything,” Zack said.

  “I think you know how to kiss pretty good,” she said with a grin before kissing him.

  “We better get back. I don’t imagine Ethan cares to pay me for courting,” he said after the kiss.

  As Zack and Joann rode up to the two men, Gideon said to Joann, “Are you ready to head out? I need to stop to see Sarah. She’ll probably be more excited about the wedding than Abby and me.”

  “Let’s ride,” Joann said.

  Benjamin was setting on the steps whittling as Gideon and Joann rode up to the Oakes cabin. The boy’s face lit up at seeing Gideon looking down at him. “Mr. Gideon, what are you doing here?” he asked before holding up his whittling project for Gideon to see. “Look how much better I am getting at making sailboats.”

  “I must have taught you well. You’re better at it than me now,” Gideon said as he climbed off his horse.

  “Zack told me that Winnie named the dog Red and that he is doing good,” Benjamin said.

  “Yes, he is. I’m glad your pa made me take him home. You could even say that he is a lifesaver. Maybe we can take him coon hunting one of these nights,” Gideon said.

  “I’d like that. I’ve never been,” Benjamin said.

  “Is your mom inside?” Gideon asked.

  “She’s in there making supper,” Benjamin said.

  “I’m going to go talk to her for a minute. Why don’t you show Joann the art of whittling,” Gideon said.

  Even as a baby, Benjamin had been fascinated with Joann and was always content to allow her to hold him in church when she had visited for the summers. Benjamin’s beaming smile turned to Joann. “I’ll be happy to show her,” he said.

  “Sarah,” Gideon called out as he peeked his head inside the cabin.

  “Gideon, come on in. What brings you out here?” Sarah asked.

  “I wanted to let you know that you are going to have to find a new excuse to be mean to me. You are cordially invited to a wedding this Saturday,” he said.

  Sarah let out a squeal before covering her mouth and running to Gideon and giving him a kiss on the cheek and a hug. “I’m going to make something out of you yet. I was afraid that you might never set a date after you figured out that you weren’t going anywhere,” she said.

  “I had to stay on your good side somehow,” he said.

  “Sometimes when I think back to that day that we loaded you into the wagon more dead than alive and not knowing that it was you, you know that I almost can’t believe the way things turned out,” Sarah said.

  “If you find it unbelievable, think how it feels to me. I had accepted death and was not all that upset about it,” Gideon said.

  “Now you have me to make you miserable instead of life. There’s still plenty of time for you two to make another baby and this time you can experience the joys of raising it,” Sarah teased.

  “You two are the same age as us. You make another baby if you want one around,” Gideon shot back.

  “I think that I have to be content with the miracle that I delivered one healthy child, she said a little sadly.

  “With all the things that have happened around here lately, I think anything might be possible,” Gideon said.

  Chapter 29

  Sarah loaned Abby her mother’s blue sapphire ring to wear for the wedding and Joann insisted that Abs wear the brooch that Gideon had given her. Winnie, upon seeing that the others were giving her mother jewelry to wear, had made sure that her momma wore the Indian bead necklace that she had given to Winnie. The irony was not lost on Abby that the necklace had been given to her by Gideon when they were teenagers. He had traded for it with the Indians that used to come to town and she had passed it down to her daughter in one of her moments of banishing all things Gideon from her life, never telling anyone of its origin.

  Abby’s parents and her brother Tom and his wife were seated
on one side of the church. They sat perfectly straight and stiff–backed, doing their best to pretend not to notice that they were in a church with Mary in attendance. Mary, Doc, and Sarah sat on the opposite side, hunched over and whispering to each other before the ceremony started. An occasional laugh would escape from them. Gideon stood watching in the front of the church, smiling at the comical difference in behavior on the two sides of the aisle.

  Gideon had bought a new coat for the wedding and Ethan and Benjamin were in their usual Sunday attire. Zack had borrowed Ethan’s other coat and though it fit him height and length wise, the accommodations for Ethan’s additional brawn made the young man look lost in it. Abby had purchased an off–white dress for the occasion and had been able to get a seamstress to sew matching blue dresses for Joann and Winnie on short notice.

  Abby walked down the aisle followed by her two daughters. After they had taken their places, Ethan addressed the small audience. “Welcome, everybody. I am about to tell a story that everybody here knows, but I want us all to reflect on the grace of God in today’s culmination of a most remarkable year for many of us. My son Benjamin saved a man’s life by finding him dying in the woods and that man turned out to be my best friend Gideon, gone these past eighteen years. In the ensuing months, Gideon found himself and saved my son. He also got to experience the joys of being a father. And now today, we are here to celebrate the wedding of Gideon and Abby in the knowledge that true love never dies. No matter all the circumstances that led to today, I cannot help but to find God’s hand in all of this. It is a blessed day,” he said.

  Ethan stuck to his traditional wedding ceremony from there. Sarah, Mary, and even Doc let out hoots and hollers when he said, “You may kiss the bride.” And everybody, including Abby’s family, clapped when Ethan introduced the new couple.

  Mary, caught up in all the excitement, turned to Doc and said, “If you weren’t so darn old, I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”

  “If I weren’t so darn old, I’d marry you too, but I’m afraid at this point that the excitement would kill me in about a heartbeat,” Doc said, bursting out in laughter and slapping his leg.

  The wedding party walked out of the church and stood outside to greet the few guests. Abby’s family came out first, wishing the couple well before making a hasty departure. Mary and Sarah followed them. Gideon watched with an amused look on his face as Abby and the two women chitchatted. He always felt as if the three of them were going to start telling secrets on him right before his eyes, but they each seemed to relish their own confidences with him enough to keep it to themselves.

  Doc ambled out and took Abby by the hand. “Take good care of him, Abby. I’ve patched him up about as much as I can,” he said.

  “I’ll try my best, Doc. I’m sure he will at least be good for some more gossip for you to spread,” Abby said.

  “That gossip has got me more free beers than you can imagine,” Doc said with a chuckle. “You two have a wonderful life together. You’ve waited long enough for it.”

  Ethan came out and gave Abby a hug that lifted her off the ground, surprising her so much that she let out a squeal. The normally reserved preacher spun her around once before setting her back down. “I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. It surely is a special day,” he said.

  Gideon shook Ethan’s hand. “It’s amazing what a good preacher can accomplish,” he said.

  “I think that there are several people that get credit for helping to make today possible and we’ll give God credit for making all of it possible,” Ethan said before joining Sarah.

  The couple turned to tell the girls goodbye before Zack left to take the sisters to Marcus’s place. “Be good for your father. We’ll see you both in a week,” Abby said.

  With all the goodbyes and congratulations out of the way, the newlyweds set out in the buggy for Abby’s house in town. Benjamin and Zack had made sure to tie cans behind the coach so that it made a racket all the way to the house. Gideon helped Abby down from the carriage before picking her up and heading for the door.

  “Well, aren’t you romantic,” Abby said.

  “Just trying to follow all the rules to do this up right,” Gideon said.

  “You certainly had time to prepare,” she teased.

  “That I did. Better late than never, I guess,” he said.

  “I think we both can agree on that,” Abby said as she opened the door for Gideon to carry her into the house.

  “Welcome home, Mrs. Johann,” Gideon said as he carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the bed.

  “I do like the sound of that,” she said as Gideon nuzzled up beside her.

  “This is really real, isn’t it? We made it happen,” he said.

  “Yes, we did. And you know what else we could make happen? We’re still young enough to make another baby,” Abby said, smothering his face in kisses.

  “We need to get lots of practicing in before we try that. We want to make sure that we do it right,” Gideon said and kissed her lips.

  “I think we did pretty good on our first one,” she replied.

  “That was beginner’s luck with Joann. Now that we are older, we will need to practice for the same results,” he teased between kisses.

  “With as much practicing as I have in mind, I think we will be experts a lot quicker than you are expecting,” Abby said.

  Last Hope

  A Gideon Johann Western Book 3

  By

  Duane Boehm

  In memory of Grandma Boehm for all those things in which it is hard to find the words.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Sheriff Gideon Johann of Last Stand, Colorado and his part–time deputy, Zack Barlow, were finishing a breakfast of salt pork and hardtack after their first night on the trail. They were traveling west towards Silverton after Gideon had received a telegram from that town’s sheriff requesting help with a gang of outlaws headed towards Last Stand. The thieves had robbed the mine’s pay wagon, killing two men in the process.

  The two lawmen had camped on the same spot where the previous year Gideon and his now wife, Abby, had spent their first night together after his absence of eighteen years. On that night, he learned that he had a daughter. He also confessed that his absence had been the result of running from the guilt of accidently killing a boy during the war. Healing had begun on that evening. He still got misty thinking about that night and was lost in thought when Zack interrupted his reverie.

  “I forgot how hard of a bed the ground makes. I guess I’m getting spoiled,” Zack said.

  “Wait until you’re thirty–eight years old and see how hard it feels. I’m as stiff as a board. This married life has about ruined me,” Gideon said with a smile.

  “Have you got your new place about finished?” Zack asked.

  “Yeah, it’s done. I guess you haven’t been over since I got the corral finished. When we get home, you need to ride over after Ethan is done with you for the day and have dinner with us. And speaking of Ethan, how did he take it that you had to head out with me?” Gideon asked as he threw his saddle blanket onto his buckskin horse. Ethan wa
s Gideon’s best friend and Zack’s primary employer.

  “You know how Ethan is, being a preacher and all. He’s much too polite to grouse about something that he agreed to, but I could tell it troubled him that we would get behind on branding the new calves,” Zack answered as he cinched up his chestnut gelding.

  “Let’s head out. And we need to keep our eyes peeled today. I expect we will cross paths with the gang if they are still headed this way,” Gideon said.

  “Do you think it could be Big Nose George?” Zack asked. Big Nose George Parrot had killed Zack’s father in a stagecoach robbery and the young man had sworn revenge if ever provided the opportunity.

  “I’ve never heard of him coming down into Colorado. I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” Gideon said.

  The two men rode for an hour with little conversation until Zack blurted, “Gideon, I need to talk to you about something.”

  Gideon looked at Zack and had a bad feeling about where the conversation was headed. He had no idea what the subject would be, but he was pretty sure he didn’t want to be a part of it. “What’s on your mind?” he asked wearily.

  “Did you know that Joann wrote me and told me that she wants us to just be friends?” Zack asked.

  Joann was Gideon and Abby’s daughter that he had learned of that night at the camp spot. Her visit the previous fall had sparked a brief romance between her and Zack before she returned to the Wyoming Territory.

  Gideon’s shoulders sagged and he slowly blew out a breath of air. “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Does Abby know?” Zack asked.

  “Now if I didn’t know, how am I supposed to know if Abby knows?” Gideon said, annoyed at the question.

  “I bet she’s got some rich rancher’s son courting her and I bet you’re glad that your daughter is going to end up with somebody like that instead of me,” Zack accused.

  Gideon closed his eyes and shook his head. This was not the first time the subject of Zack being worthy of his daughter had been broached. “Sometimes I just want to reach over and slap a turd out of you. You’re riding with me because I trust you to have my back when the bullets start flying. Do you really think that I’d wish unhappiness for you? I would think that you would know me better than that with all we’ve been through together. I think Joann is a mighty fine girl, but I don’t see where she has anything on you and I don’t know why in the hell you don’t think more highly of yourself. Joann would do fine by you. Unless she is engaged, the battle is not over yet. If you want her, don’t give up that damn easily.”