by Mari Collier
He had tried to challenge O'Neal in Wichita the summer after the beating Red had inflicted, but MacDonald had interfered: MacDonald and Lorenz. The remembrance still brought bitterness to his mind. He had sent a newspaper hawking kid to deliver the challenge to Red and where he, Daniel, would be waiting for him. When he saw Red approaching, he stepped out. MacDonald and Lorenz stepped out from the sidewalk a few paces in front of him. MacDonald faced O'Neal and Lorenz had swung around to face him. He still saw the dust rising in the street. He could not forget the sight of that pulled up, crooked mouth of Lorenz's and the grey eyes looking at him so intently. MacDonald's rumbling words still rang in his ears.
“Mr. O'Neal, ye brutalized a young member of my House. My challenge tis before Daniel's as ye had been warned. Tis to a fight with fists that I challenge ye for that tis the weapons ye used against a laddie. Ye may fight me or apologize to Daniel.”
He had tried to barge by Lorenz, but Lorenz was there in front of him, his voice flat and low.
“Don't try it, Daniel.”
“Why?”
“For Mama's sake.”
Lorenz's eyes never left his, and Daniel's hand started for his gun and then he froze. He could not move. He could see, he could hear, he could breathe, but he could not move or speak, and MacDonald's wide shoulders were blocking his view of Red. He could only wonder at how Red's face looked or the thoughts racing through his mind. Lorenz was in his mind again, controlling his movements, just as Lorenz always did whether in a physical fight or (Daniel was certain) to force Antoinette into marrying Lorenz. Daniel knew that to fight MacDonald would be folly; a conclusion that Red must have reached for he had heard the words.
“My apologies, Daniel. I was in the wrong. You had not been plotting against me or my sister. It was Lorenz. Perhaps it is him I should challenge.”
Lorenz stepped back and started to turn towards Red, his hands moving down toward his gun butts.
“Mayhap ye had better thank yere God that I twill nay allow that. Ye twould die.
“Daniel, do ye accept Mr. O'Neal's apology?”
MacDonald had stepped aside, and Daniel remembered looking at Red. The man's face was flushed red and the copper eyes were half shrouded by the lids. He was swallowing and his lips were white. It wasn't the satisfaction he had sought, but this was something Red would live with the rest of his life.
“I will for now.” He had swung on his heel and walked stiffly to his horse, mounted, and rode away vowing never to have contact with his white family again.
The letters started arriving three years later. News of his white uncle's death and then his white mother's death within months of each other; news of his inheritance from his uncle and mother; news of the corporation and bank that MacDonald, Lorenz, Margareatha, LouElla, and O'Neal had set up; news of his stock in the corporation; and news of his bank account where they kept putting money from dividends and interest. He had assumed that no answer and his vagabond life would stop the letters or they would lose track of him, but his assumption proved wrong. Now he stood at the hotel door and knocked.
“Who is it?”
“Daniel Hunter.”
The door swung open and Lorenz's grey eyes stared at him, the right side of his mouth higher than usual.
“Daniel, thank God. Y'all don't know what a welcome sight y'all are.” He put out his hand as though to shake.
Daniel stepped backward. “I am not particularly glad to see you.”
Lorenz straightened and his shoulders bunched.
“Then why are y'all here? I need help, not a fight.”
“Rita needs the help. May I step inside? It's better that we're not overheard.”
Lorenz stepped back and Daniel walked into the small room. He wondered where Lorenz had slept as Margareatha was still snoring on the bed. It was then that the stench hit him.
“What the hell is that smell?”
“Mostly her. She hasn't had a bath since before they brought everyone down from Buckley's and her spread. I have no idea when she last changed her clothes or washed her hair. I didn't dare step outside for fear she'd wake up so I had to use the damn chamber pot.”
Daniel's gaze shifted from the bed back to Lorenz. Daniel was three inches taller, no broader in the shoulders, his hair straighter, and his upper lip sported a mustache, but the resemblance between the two made the world wonder if they were twins. It was hard to believe the woman he knew as his white sister would ever appear in public looking like the creature in those dirty, ragged clothes.
“Is she mad then?”
Lorenz ran his hand through the uncombed waves and curls. “I don't know.” He sighed. “I'm hoping it's just bad booze, not enough sleep, and not enough food. She's skinny as a rail. She's sleeping now because I had the doctor give her a shot last night after Collins arranged for us to be here. All she wanted was more brandy and her cards.”
“She let him give her a shot?” Daniel found the concept preposterous.
“No, I had to go into her mind and physically hold her.” Lorenz turned towards the window. “I don't want to do that again. It was brutal.”
Daniel almost snorted. “I don't believe you. You've never minded going into a mind and controlling others.”
Lorenz turned back to him. “Daniel, that's not true. What happened when we were boys happened before I knew I could do it and before I learned how to control it.”
“I'd say you learned the control part well.”
“Daniel, I'm not going to argue. I need breakfast for both of us and clothes for her. I don't dare step outside or she might wake up and leave. I also need a wagon and team to get out us of here. If y'all don't want to help, just say so and go wake Collins.” His voice began to take on an edge.
“You don't have time for breakfast or clothes. The sheriff and the powers that be are planning to commit her to an insane asylum as soon as the paperwork is done. I figure that will take less than two hours.”
“I can't let that happen. She'll kill someone if they try it or succeed in getting her there.” He pulled up his shirt and revealed a money belt and began to peel out some bills. “Can y'all rent that wagon and horses for us? Maybe pick up some men's clothes in your size for her. They sure won't have women's clothes in her size. She can change when we're out of town.”
“Why not just a horse for her? Saddleback is faster.”
“I don't have a horse here. I used the scouting craft from the Golden One and walked into town. My muscles are still screaming. What's more, I don't think Rity is going to go willingly. I may have to hold her again.”
Daniel looked at his brother in amazement. His mind had rejected the idea of flying machines and people from other planets as ridiculous. He had refused to go with MacDonald to its hiding place. Yet, how else could Lorenz have arrived here? That MacDonald and his white father were from somewhere else was probable, but not from different planets.
“How far did you walk?”
“Four, maybe five miles. I had to keep off the main road until it became dark. I didn't want to explain a cattleman walking.”
Daniel smiled inwardly with satisfaction at the thought of Lorenz hiking into town in his boots. He almost started to refuse, but remembered it wasn't Lorenz that faced going to the madhouse.
“All right, I'll get the wagon. If it looks like there's time, I'll pick up the clothes. I suggest we meet out back. If you take her through the front, there might be trouble. Give me at least thirty to forty-five minutes before you come down.”
Lorenz paced the room, smoking one rolled cigarette after the other until the place smelled worse than before. The open window did nothing but let in very little air and flies.
“And every other flying insect,” he muttered to himself as he swatted at the wasp that flew in looking for water. He tried fanning the flies away from Margareatha, but that proved futile. He checked his pocket watch again. Thirty-five minutes since Daniel had left. It was time to wake Rita make it down the stairs and out the b
ack. He prayed she'd be reasonable.
“Come on, Rity. It's time to wake up.”
He gently shook her shoulder, and she rolled away.
“Leave me alone.” Her voice was sleep-laced and thick.
I hope the hell Daniel gets some water Lorenz thought. “Come on, Rity. I'll help y'all. We have stairs to go down.”
He put his arm under her shoulders, helped her to sit up, and used his other arm to swing her legs over the side of the bed. “We have to go see Daniel. Then we'll go home.”
“Home? Is Mama there?”
“No, Rity, it's my home were going to.”
“Lemme be.” She started to push at him. “I want to sleep. I hurt inside. You don't understand. Go away.” Her last words were a wail.
Lorenz pulled her up, swallowing at the smell of her. “Rity, Daniel is downstairs waiting for us. Y'all don't want to disappoint him, do y'all? Mama wouldn't like it if he left without us saying goodbye.”
“Mama's dead,” she reminded him. “Just like my Brent and my babies. Now go away and let me be. Your children are still living, aren't they?”
Her eyes widened. “I'm sorry, Lorenz, I didn't mean it like it sounded. I don't want your children to die.”
“Of course, you don't Rity. Come on now, let's get out of here.”
Margareatha straightened and looked around the room. “How did I get here? This isn't where I sleep.” She tried to push away again.
“Now I remember. You tricked me. You were in my mind last night.” Her voice grew louder.
“Don't be angry, Rity. Y'all were sick and needed sleep. I'd like to buy y'all some breakfast, but the town doesn't like y'all anymore. They want to put y'all away in an insane asylum. We have to get out of here.”
“The bastards! Let's fight them. My babies and Brent are buried here. I'd rather be buried here than leave.”
“Rity, we can't do that. We'd kill someone before we would let them take us. Daniel's here too. Y'all don't want three of Mama's living children to die. Mama would haunt y'all.”
“Daniel's here? Why would Daniel be here?”
“He found out y'all needed help. He felt obliged to come. He's our brother.”
Margareatha frowned. “He's never acknowledged that before.”
“Well, maybe he figured we were all doing just fine without him. At least he came when y'all needed help.”
“I do not need help.” She started to protest again and realized that nature's wake up call could not wait. “Now go away I need to use the chamber pot.”
“Y'all will have to go outside. I've filled it up.”
She threw him a disgusted glance, stood, and flounced out the door. Margareatha started toward the front stairs with Lorenz following.
“Let's go down the back way, Rity. It's quicker.”
Lorenz heaved a sigh of relief as they walked out the back and he saw Daniel driving the buckboard toward them, his horse tied onto the back. It didn't matter whether Daniel came with them or not. It meant he and Margareatha did not have to walk back to the Scout. Margareatha dashed for the outhouse.
Daniel pulled up while she was still inside. “I bought some men's clothes. The pants may be too short, but they're clean. They're in the bundle in the back.”
“How much do I owe y'all?”
“Put it in that so-called bank account that you say has my name on it.”
“It is yours. It's in your name.”
“You set it up. You can do with it what you wish.”
“I didn't set it up. We had the lawyer do that when Uncle Kasper passed away. We just kept adding to it when Mama died. When we set up the corporation, we used your share of the ranch and general store as the value for the stock. It's been a good investment. Y'all have to come back or send a notarized letter before we can disperse anything.”
“That would be the same as acknowledging that the money is mine.”
“It is yours. So is the stock we're holding in your name. The stock can only go to family members.” Lorenz eyed the outhouse. “How much time do we have?”
“Not much. I saw the sheriff heading for the courthouse. Can't you hurry her up?”
Lorenz approached the reeking public building. It had been given a fresh coat of whitewash for spring, but nothing helped the odors. He could see a man in a brown serge suit and derby hurrying towards them. “Come on Rity, we've got to go.”
“I'll come out when you go away.”
“Y'all come out now, or I'll drag y'all out.”
“I'll scream.”
“That's exactly what the town expects of a stark, raving mad woman. Come on, there's someone coming.”
A reluctant Margareatha emerged. She knew Lorenz too well to know that he wasn't joking.
“I'm hungry.”
“So am I, but we'll get something later.” He helped her up onto the front seat as she fought her skirts.
“Daniel, are y'all leaving us now?”
“Just how would you return this rig and the horses if I didn't accompany you?”
“I wouldn't.”
“Right, and then they would be looking for me as a horse thief. You may have the reins. I'll ride my horse. You know where you're going. I suggest the back way. It might be slower, but fewer will see us. It's too bad she didn't have time to change.”
Lorenz snapped the reins and headed the team away from the street that led back to the higher priced saloons and turned east for a couple of streets before turning to the south. When they were out of the alleyway he heard shouting back at the hotel.
“It seems they've discovered you're not there.”
Margareatha's face hardened and she folded her arms around her torso as though reassuring herself that she was physically there. “They once called me an angel for nursing the sick.”
“People have notoriously short memories when it suits them,” Lorenz muttered.
Silence reigned as they quickly went through the gradually thinning residences. A few dogs barked at their passing, but no one seemed particularly interested except a loiterer at the stables located at the edge of town.
Daniel suppressed his lips. He'd probably have some explaining to do when he returned, and where was Lorenz headed?
Lorenz had landed the Justine Scout just after daybreak. Toni had been right. There was no need for him to leave before dinner. He had used the Scout's scanners to ascertain no humans were in the vicinity and the landscape a jumbled mass of rock and earth from the played out mines. He used energy pulses to hollow out a depression deep enough for the craft. Once on the ground, it took hours to find weathered timber from the abandoned mines to use with downed limbs, and brush to cover the scout before the hike into town. He hadn't worried about what questions his sudden appearance would cause. Now he was thankful for the precautions.
His musings were interrupted by Margareatha preparing to step down. He slapped the reins to speed up their progress and yelled at her.
“What the hell are y'all trying to do? Kill yourself?”
“I want to go back. My babies are there.”
“Why, Rity? Y'all can't bring them back. Right now y'all need food and rest. We'll come back when y'all feel better.”
Margareatha glared at him. “And who decides I'm better? You?”
“No, when y'all show me y'all are strong enough to ensure your land is safe and y'all are acting like my sister again.”
She lapsed into silence, her mind a jumble of hurt and smells; the feelings of warm arms wrapped around her, small hands pulling at her skirt or touching her face, the smells of cooking from her oven, the smells of new days and warm evenings. All of it replaced with cold: cold, cold white covered earth and cold white faces. And she wanted to scream at him, at the world, and at God, and screaming would accomplish nothing for Brent and the boys were dead.
“I'm hungry. We should go back,” she announced.
“We've been hungry before.”
“We should have stood up to them. They wouldn't have been
able to touch us.”
“It was too risky. Someone might have died, and there is no way we could have controlled a mob, let alone explain to the next lawman or judge how we manage to evade the law. They would equate it with the supernatural.”
“You are so concerned with the outward trappings of living like a normal human being that you are almost Justine in your one-minded pursuit of fooling the world while you do as you please. Well, I tried it, and my babies are dead.” Her voice had risen to a wail.
“I know, Rity, I know.” Inwardly he winced as Margareatha had described him perfectly.
“And don't give me any of the platitudes about being with the Lord. It doesn't help or make the hurt go away. It doesn't change anything. My babies are dead and cold.”
“Rity, don't torture yourself. Go ahead and cry if it makes y'all feel better. Martha cried when Lazarus died even though she knew he would live again. So did Christ who brought him back to life.”
Margareatha's voice was vicious. “I always thought Jesus cried for the sins of man bringing death.”
“I've always ascribed it to something more human. To me, the good Lord cried because his friend suffered and died and would suffer the same fate again.”
Once again Margareatha crossed her arms and ignored the jolting of the buckboard until Lorenz turned off the road onto a faint trail leading up into the higher areas.
“Where are we going? Do you mean you left horses back in here? Why?”
“I didn't use horses, Rity.”
“Let me out. I'll walk back.”
“Rity, if y'all get out, I'll just have to knock y'all down and tie y'all up. Mama would be mad at both of us. Ye Gods, Rity, y'all are Mama's daughter. Think of what she went through when the Comanche raided our cabin. We never found Augustav, remember.”
“And she was skin and bones when Mac found her…”
“The Comanche withheld food when she tried to talk with Daniel, her own child.”
Daniel started to deny the accusation and thought the better of it. They would both turn on him if he were to say it was because she wouldn't act like a human being. Lorenz arguing with Margareatha was a preferable situation.
