Once an Outlaw

by Raine Cantrell

  “She’s aged since I left,” Logan remarked.

  “She worries that all her chicks are not around her,” Conner replied. “Since you can’t stay, Logan, I suggest we get back to the problem at hand. I want to tell you that I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to try and join up with Wheeler again. Suppose they know who you are and meant to kill you?”

  “I’ve already been over that ground. I don’t think that’s it.”

  Logan hoped that Conner accepted his dismissive tone. If Conner knew that he had voiced the very thought that Logan harbored, Conner would use any means to stop him from going back. Despite the risk, Logan had to go back. He had a score to settle and he refused to fail to protect his family’s holdings.

  “This kid Billy Jack had a hankering for my horse. I was wounded and don’t remember much, but he was riding close enough at one time that he could have knocked me out.” Logan paused and stared at the wooden cross over the bed.

  The memory of searching out the wood for the cross with Santo returned with a sharp poignancy. It shelved itself in with the ache that had grown watching Dixie and Ty together. He missed Jessie. She was a woman his brothers would like, strong in a different way from Dixie, soft, too. And he worried how she was making out with the boys.

  “Logan?” Conner called, seeing the distracted look on his brother’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  “He’s been drifting off like that since I came in here,” Ty answered. Coming closer, he snapped his fingers in front of Logan’s face. With a jerk of his head, Logan glared at him. “Whatever’s got you moon-eyed—”

  “Nothing. It was nothing. Tell me more about this Riverton. Where’d he come from?”

  “No one’s really sure. He’s got hands from Texas working his cattle. A damn fine-looking herd, too. With the losses we’ve had,” Conner said with anger riding his voice, “I would’ve been hard-pressed to meet the need for beef at all the reservations.”

  “Well, I tried to get a closer look at his cattle, and was warned off. Real polite-like, you understand,” Ty added. “But there was no mistake that the order went out that Mr. Riverton don’t like strange folk poking around his cattle.”

  Ty stretched and yawned. “Damn,” he said, shaking his head. “Been a while since I’ve stayed up half the night.” He started for the bed, intending to throw himself across it, when he suddenly stopped.

  “I just remembered something funny that Dixie said to me. You remember that mossback old longhorn, the one whose left horn got broke?”

  “The one Blue Dalton tried to rope that plumb near took his thumb off?” Logan laughed, although there hadn’t been anything funny at the time. “Blue was always trying to sneak up and get a rope on him. Why?”

  “Well, I’d told Dixie the story and, if I remember correctly, she thought she saw that old longhorn.”

  “Ty, what the hell has this got to do with Riverton? That old mossback shows up now an’ again.” Conner shook his head. “Go to bed. You’re too tired to think.”

  “Ain’t so. And it has plenty to do with Riverton. That’s where Dixie thought she saw him.”

  Conner, in the act of rubbing his neck, jerked his head up. “When? Where?”

  “The day we rode up there for his party. Ma had insisted we take the carriage,” he explained for Logan’s benefit, “Like you, I’d lost everything I left here with, too. I’d finally picked out a sorrel for myself and we were still working out who was giving orders. I rode him out a ways to get rid of some of the pepper. When I got back, Dixie gives me this funny look and tells me about the mossback. I figured she was wrong. But what if she isn’t? What if our new neighbor is running our cattle with his?”

  “The only way to know for sure is find a Rocking K brand on his stock.”

  “Whose stock?” Dixie asked, coming inside the room with a basket that she set on the bed. Macaria followed her with another basket. As Dixie smoothed out the top sheet and blanket, she waited for an answer.

  “Well?” she prompted. “Who were you talking about?”

  “Our new neighbor and his sleek, fat cattle.”

  “Conner! This cannot be.” Macaria left the basket she had been emptying and went to stand in front of her oldest son. She stared up at him, sorrow rising for the son who had been forced to become a man before he’d had a chance to be a boy. Anger roiled within the blue-gray depths of his eyes.

  “Conner, you will not speak disrespectfully of Charles. Not in my home.”

  Mother and son ignored the sharp gasps from the others. But both were aware what had caused them. Macaria had never, not once, reminded her sons that this was her land, her home first.

  “Charles?” Conner tried to control his temper, but having his mother defend the best suspect they had was intolerable. “Since when, madre, did the man become Charles to you?”

  “Since he courted me at the same time your father did.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “The hell you say!” Conner exploded.

  For moments there was a shocked, hushed silence in the room as Macaria, satisfied that she had made her point, calmly returned to the bedside and removed bread and cheese from the basket.

  “Conner!” Logan warned.

  “Stay out of this,” Conner snapped.

  “Like hell I will. You apologize. Now.” The look of disbelief that Conner shot him sent Logan lunging for his brother. Ty grabbed hold of his arm, yanking it hard to stop him. Logan cried out in agony when pain raced up to his shoulder. “For Almighty’s sake! Watch what the devil you’re doing to me.”

  “Conner?” Ty prompted as he released Logan’s arm.

  “Do it,” Logan added, cradling his arm against his body. He shook his head when he saw his mother start toward him. “Nothing,” he whispered. “I swear it’s nothing.”

  “More secrets kept from me?” Macaria asked, but without expectations of an answer. She knew she would be told by her sons, and Dixie, only what they wanted her to know.

  “Madre,” Conner said softly. “I do apologize for losing my temper with you. But you can’t just drop that fact into the conversation and not expect me to react. I can’t believe you kept this secret.”

  “You cannot? How strange. Is there one of you in this room that does not have a secret? A secret that will not be shared until you deem the time perfect?” Her dark, piercing eyes searched each face in turn.

  Ty, unable to meet her gaze, stared down at his bare feet. He believed no one knew of his continuing search for information about the man who had ordered Dixie’s father’s death.

  Logan, too, could not bear her gaze, and turned toward the window. Macaria caught the set of his mouth and knew he was in pain. So, he had been wounded and thought to keep it from her? But there was more within the dark blue eyes of this son. Memories that troubled him. What would he hide from them? Always Logan had a woman. But there was an older secret this middle son kept. He’d never once challenged Conner’s place, but he longed to take the reins of leader into his hands. This, too, no one knew.

  Macaria smiled a little when she saw that Dixie found polishing the apples with the end of her shawl a refuge from her gaze. Her secret was one of joy for them all. She remembered well those first months and the need to hold tight a little while longer to the woman soon to be a wife before the biggest change in her life would be shared with the family. Her poor son did not know, and she had no intention of telling him.

  For Conner, he hid his dream. Never once in the years that he had worn the boots of his father had this oldest son retreated from doing what he must. But she judged the time coming soon for Conner to walk the path he longed for, and one more secret had to be kept.

  “I believe,” Macaria said softly, “that this matter of secrets is done.”

  “No, madre.”

  “Conner?” she queried.

  “I want to know why you didn’t tell me. Forget that I’m your son. I’m the ramrod of this outfit. That position gives me the right to know.”
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  Her short laugh caught them by surprise. “You did not ask me if I knew him,” she stated calmly. “I recall you took an instant dislike to Charles when he came to invite us to his fiesta. As you did, Dixie.”

  “He’s very attractive, but there’s something about him that makes me uncomfortable,” Dixie offered in her defense.

  “Don’t forget me,” Ty muttered. “I didn’t exactly want him for a dance partner.”

  “I am very well aware of your feelings, too. It is because of this open dislike you have rudely displayed that I have not returned his kind invitation and asked him to dine with us. Now that the matter has been discussed and you are all aware of my feelings, I shall hasten to remedy—”

  “Madre.” Calm and soft, but commanding, Logan’s voice brought his mother’s instant attention, and silence from the others. “We are talking about the possibility that this man may be the one behind the rustlings and the mine robberies. You can’t expect us, your sons,” he reminded her, “to ignore the facts we have put together. And I know that you are also aware to the penny of how much we have lost. Would you reconsider and allow us time to confirm or put the lie to his involvement?”

  “Such sweet reasoning, Logan. But you are wrong, my son. All of you are wrong. Charles Riverton has no need to steal from us. He was already a very wealthy man when he first courted me.” Macaria’s tone grew impassioned as she stated her reasons. “I loved your father, and begged my own to choose him for my husband. Charles was a gentleman when he understood that my heart and mind were filled with love for Justin.

  “If your brothers had behaved as I raised them, and not spoiled children, when he invited us to see the grand hacienda he is building, they would know that he has purchased large tracts of land to the west of our holdings in hope of convincing the owners of the Southern Pacific Railroad to route their track closer to Sweetwater. And think, my children, what that would mean to all of the ranches. We would be able to ship our cattle while they are fat, not herd them for miles with terrible losses of weight.”

  She allowed them a few minutes, then added, “Now, tell why such a man of wealth, a man who carries the same vision as your father once had for the growth of this land, would have a need to steal from us?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

  “Conner! Have you not heard a word that I have said?”

  “I heard you, madre. I just don’t believe it.”

  Logan, more exhausted than he dared to admit in front of his mother, grabbed hold of Conner’s announcement and used it for himself. “I’m for letting you all sort this out. I’m starved and when I’m done eating, I need to leave. Conner can investigate from this end, and I’ll make Monte Wheeler talk or die trying.”

  “Do not say such words!” Crossing herself, Macaria cast Logan an angry look. “You will bring ill luck upon yourself. I never wanted you to ride with these men. I ask you not to go back.”

  “Madre, I love you. But this is best left to us. I don’t think you’re looking at this with the eyes of Macaria Kincaid.”

  “And who, then, am I if not your mother?”

  “Forgive me for making you angry again. But you are perhaps a young woman thinking of long-ago nights and the handsome caballero who paid you court?”

  “You insult me, and you insult the memory of your father to believe I would ever forget my place and put at risk what your father lost his life to build. Eat, then, I will see to clean clothing and boots, so that you, too, do not forget your place.”

  Her exit brought a shared disbelieving look among the brothers. Dixie shook her head and began slicing cheese and dried spicy sausage.

  Logan thanked her when she handed him the first plate, but before he ate, he asked Conner how he’d made out with the sheriff.

  “About what we had expected. Verl Jenison tells me to bring him proof.”

  “Then we should have gone with the first plan,” Logan reminded him. “We could’ve set a trap and captured Monte and his gang.”

  “I vetoed the idea then and still do. I want the man behind them. The more I mull over what we discussed tonight, the more Charles Riverton bears watching. The information Ma gave us about him encouraging the owners of the railroad to set track near Sweetwater is worth looking into. Bribes take a lot of cash. So does that place he’s building. I haven’t seen anything mentioned in the newspapers, but they’re bound to keep it quiet.

  “I recall that old miner…Crazy Judah, I think he’s called. Well, he tried to get me to put up money when he took a notion to buy into the Central Pacific after they were almost busted. Those mountains in California cost them too much to blast and lay track. But he did mention that he and his partners were looking at the Southern Pacific, too. Claimed it had an imposing name and a charter just waiting for someone to pick up to build into southern California, but they had no track laid.”

  “Well, I can’t see Ma being fooled by the man.”

  “Ty!” Dixie, who had been quiet till now, rounded on him. “How can you say that? Your mother, in case you’ve forgotten, is still a lovely woman. She’s been widowed almost sixteen years. My goodness, that’s how old she was when she married your father. How can you all be so selfish to deny her whatever pleasure she has in his company?”

  “Now, honey—”

  “Don’t honey me! It’s true and you know…you all know it,” she stated with a sweeping look that touched Conner and Logan. “Maybe he is behind this. But you’ll have no more information from her about him. What’s more, I believe that if you stubborn males dig in your heels about her seeing him, she’ll do it out of spite.”

  “All that may be true, Dixie,” Conner said with an infuriating calm. “But my mother—our mother—is a rich woman. Allowing Riverton to get anywhere near her—”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you, Conner!” Dixie closed her eyes and fought to calm herself. She took a deep breath, then released it. She opened her eyes to find Ty’s worried eyes upon her. She forced a smile. “All right. I am yelling. I’m sorry for that. But I think you insult your mother when you question where her loyalty lies. She would never do anything to hurt you or the Rocking K.”

  Sensing another buildup of tension, Dixie turned to Logan. “You said that two boys had found you. What happened to them?”

  While Logan told them about Marty and Kenny, Macaria remained outside in the hallway. She had gone to her sewing room where she had stored all of Logan’s clothing in a large chest lined with fragrant cedar. Holding the clean clothing and the boots she had taken out for her son, Macaria half listened to his tale about the boys. But memories rose and she leaned against the wall, thinking back.

  When she had lost the last child, a stillborn daughter, the midwife sent by her parents had said there would be no more children. She had cried for the daughter she would never have. Her love, her Justin, had reminded her then that as each of their sons married, they would bring her daughters.

  She had accepted Dixie from the first, and loved her for herself, not just for bringing her lost maverick son back to her. But coming to her defense, reminding her sons that she was a woman as well as their mother, had endeared Dixie to her even more.

  Coming back to hear the low rumble of Logan’s and Conner’s voices, Macaria glanced upward and wondered about the women they would bring to the Kincaid family.

  She understood the fears her sons raised, but they did not understand the loneliness that filled her days and her nights now that they were grown men.

  She would do nothing to endanger their future. But they could not dictate to her. Her family could be traced back to the soldiers who had ventured first from Spain with Diego Velázquez to claim the island of Cuba, then traveled with Hernán Cortés when he was sent to conquer Mexico.

  The same passionate spirit that flowed in their blood was hers. And it still ruled her. She had come here, a bride of sixteen, and helped Justin carve out a home from a wild, raw land that had earned her love.
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  Yet she could not ignore that, for the first time, her three sons stood in agreement against her.

  Rousing herself, Macaria walked into the room and gave the clothing and boots to Logan, She hushed Dixie when she asked if they should put off the wedding.

  “There is no need. Would you give rise to talk that we wait for him to return? That would put Logan’s life in danger.”

  “Madre—”

  Macaria placed her fingertips against Logan’s lips. She stood on tiptoe to kiss his beard-stubbled cheek. “Go with God, my son,” she whispered, then left them.

  Dixie, too, came to him to say goodbye. “I’ll curl up on Ty’s bed, so stay here as long as you can.” Then she, too, kissed his cheek and left the room.

  Ty closed his eyes, and Conner motioned to Logan to let him be. “He’s been run ragged about the wedding and Dixie’s strange moods these last weeks. I’ll get you a new rifle to replace the one you lost.”

  Logan shucked his travel-stained clothes and made use of the pitcher of water on the dresser. It wasn’t as good as a real bath—one of the things he kept promising himself he’d have when this matter was done—but he felt better once he was dressed in his own clean clothing. He tucked the nut brown chambray shirt into a well-worn pair of denims and, ever mindful of his shoulder, slipped on a brown leather vest. His mother had chosen comfortable clothing, with enough wear on them so as not to arouse suspicion. The boots brought a sigh of bliss from him as he stomped the low heel against the floor.

  Conner returned with a Springfield .45-70 side hammer trapdoor model just like the one that had been stolen from Logan. The Springfields had been made by the firm’s master armorer, Erskine Allin, and were treasured possessions.

  “This is yours, Conner. I can’t take it.”

  “Not mine. It’s Pa’s. You’ll need it. Only I’m warning you fair, lose this one and I’ll take it out of your hide.” He shoved a box of ammunition into Logan’s vest pocket. From his own shirt pocket Conner removed five double eagles. “I figure you lost your money, too. Just promise me that you won’t take any unnecessary risks. I don’t want to lose you, Logan.”