“I’m happy, Daddy,” she muttered.
“You can’t be happy, living this way, Rose. “Think of your beautiful home. All your friends and the many advantages you have in Baltimore. Are you willing to give them all up for this?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t, Rose,” Leo blurted. “You have to come back where people love you. Where I can show you how much I love you.”
“See, Rose. Even Leo wants you to come home. He cares about you, dear. He loves you.” Her father tried to look around Clint to see his daughter.
“No!” Rose began to cry.
“I’m sorry, dear, but I don’t understand why you’re so upset. You know how much your family loves you. You also know we’ve always considered Leo part of our family.”
“No!” Rose screamed.
Clint turned and put his arm around her. “Come up here beside me, sweetheart. Neither Leo nor your father is going to get close to you. Look at all the guns pointed at them.”
Rose eased beside Clint. “Hold me,” she whispered.
Clint put his left arm around her shoulder while he continued to hold his gun with his right hand. “Rose, I know none of your family would listen to you when you tried to tell them before you escaped Baltimore. Now might be a good time to tell your father why Leo wants you to come home, and why you’ll never go back to Baltimore”
“You’re an idiot, Larson. I love her.” Leo started toward the couple. “I want her back. I promise nobody will ever hurt her when...”
“Stop where you are, Carver. You don’t know how bad I want to put a bullet through your head.” Clint’s eyes bored into those of Carver.
Leo stopped and stared at Rose in disbelief. “Why do you have a baby in your arms? Whose is it?”
“It’s our baby,” Clint said without giving her a chance to answer.
“Rose, is this really your child?” her father asked.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“May I come look at it?”
Rose looked up at Clint and he said, “It’s up to you, Rose.”
“You can look at her if you don’t get too close.” Rose stood between Fiona and Clint.
Wade moved in front of his daughter and looked down at the bundle in her arms. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A girl. Clint and I named her Hope because we have a lot of hope for the future.”
Wade looked at his daughter and said gently, “Your mother would love to see your baby, Rose. Wouldn’t you like to come to Baltimore and show her to your mother and your sisters?”
“No. I can never go back to Baltimore.” Rose lifted the baby close to her breast. “I won’t go back.”
“Why not, Rose? So many people love you there.” He waved his arm. “I love you. Your family loves you and Leo...”
“Don’t mention his name!” Rose leaned into Clint’s arm. “I hate him.”
“Oh, Rose. Why do you want to pretend you don’t care for me? I know you love me. You always have. We’ve been friends since you were a little girl. We are now...”
“No! I hate you!” Rose screamed. Clint had to hold her tighter to keep her from bolting away.
“I don’t believe you.” Leo started toward them again.
“I warned you, Carver.” Clint cocked his gun. “Don’t come any nearer Rose. I promised her she’d never be touched by you again. I meant it. I’ll kill you to keep my word.”
“But I only want to love her.”
“No,” Rose said, this time in a wavering, scared voice.
“What’s going on, Rose? Why have you suddenly turned against Leo? He’s been our friend...”
“No, he hasn’t, Daddy.”
Wade looked at her and frowned. “Why, Rose?”
“Tell him, honey. Tell your daddy why you hate Leo. Tell him how you begged your parents not to make you visit the man again. Tell him...”
“I can’t, Clint.” She looked up at him. “You tell him for me.”
“Are you sure you want me to tell him?”
“Yes. Then maybe he’ll leave us alone.”
“Wade, I came to Baltimore and rescued Rose when she sent me word that she couldn’t take Leo Carver any longer. He’s been molesting her for a long time. It escalated last spring. The weekend you made her stay with him while you were in New York. Hugging and kissing and touching wasn’t enough for him any more. He lost control of himself and raped her. Not once, but several times that weekend.”
“No!” Leo screamed. “That’s not true. I loved you. You know I did, Rose. You wanted me to love you and I did.”
A terrified little girl’s voice cut into the conversation. “That’s the bad man who stole me, Daddy! Don’t let him get me.”
Nina Fritz dropped the gun she was holding and grabbed her little girl. “It’s all right, Susie. Let’s go back to the wagon. The bad man won’t get you.”
Wade ignored the Fritz girl. He whirled around. “Is this true, Leo? Did you rape my daughter?”
“No, Wade. Rose wanted me to love her. I want to marry her. We can be so happy if she’ll come home and le me take care of her and love her...”
Wade jerked the gun from his waistband. “I’ll kill you, Leo Carver. Nobody hurts my family and gets away with it.”
Rose shoved Hope into Fiona’s arms and took hold of her father’s elbow. “Don’t do it, Daddy. I left because I knew if you found out, you’d kill Leo and have to go to jail. Mama and my sisters would never forgive me.”
He jerked his arm away from Rose. “I can’t let him get away with hurting you, Rose. I can’t. I trusted him and he betrayed us all.”
“I didn’t betray you, Wade. I truly love Rose. I’ll always love her and I’ll prove it to you.”
“Leo, you’re a bastard. How could you rape my daughter?”
“I didn’t. I only showed her how much I love her.”
“I’m going to kill you.” He cocked the gun.
“Daddy, please.” Rose jerked his arm around and started to move in front of him as the gun went off.
Rose crumpled to the ground with blood covering her dress.
Chapter 22
“Rose!” Fiona and Clint screamed almost in unison.
Clint dropped his gun and fell to his knees. He encircled Rose in his arms and held her to his chest. “Don’t you die on me, Rose. Don’t you die.”
Fiona handed Hope to Mattie Watson and knelt on Rose’s other side. “Please, Rose. We’re sending for help.”
Wade started toward his daughter, but Zeke pulled him back. “You’ve done enough. You have no business here.”
“But she’s my daughter. I must help her.”
Zeke held on to Wade’s arm and ignored his begging. “Bruce, make tracks and get Granny Weatherbee.”
“I’ll be right back.” Bruce took off in a run.
The crowd was trying to push forward to see what was going on with Rose, but Zeke was able to get them moved back.
Nobody was paying any attention to Leo Carver. He managed to get next to Fiona and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, no. My beautiful Rose. My beautiful...”
Fiona jumped up and whirled on him. “Get away from here.” She shoved him backward.
“Listen, Missy...”
“Rufus, get him away from here.”
“I will, Fiona.” Rufus Watson clamped a big hand on Leo’s beefy shoulder and shoved him backward.
Herman Fritz caught him from behind and shoved him to the ground.
“Leave me alone, you cretin!” Leo cried.
Herman’s eyes were blazing. “No, you bastard. I will not leave you alone. For touching my little girl, you’ll die before this night is over. I’ll see to that.”
Leo glared at the man, his eyes filled with fright. He swallowed and didn’t say anything else.
Fiona dropped back to the ground beside Rose.
“Is Leo...”
“He’s gone, Rose.” Fiona took her hand. “Rufus and Herman got rid of him.”
Rose gave he
r a weak smile and closed her eyes.
“Rose, stay with me, honey,” Clint said. “Hang in there for us.” He took the cloth Fiona tore from her petticoat and handed it to him. He held it to the wound in her stomach as tightly as he could, but the blood continued to flow.
“Clint, promise me...”
“Don’t try to talk, Rose.”
“I have to. Promise me you’ll not let Daddy take Hope back to Baltimore. I want her to stay with you and Fiona.”
“Nobody will get Hope, honey. You’ll be able to dance at her wedding someday.”
“Fiona, come close.”
Fiona leaned over Rose. “Save your strength. We’ll talk later.”
“No. Hope is yours, Fiona. I trust you to raise her...like you do Joey... You promised...”
“I know, but, Rose...”
In a halting voice, Rose said, “Please let me talk. You two are the best friends I’ve ever had. I trust you to do the right thing.”
“We will, Rose. You know we will.” There were tears in Clint’s eyes. “We want you to save your strength so you can get better, honey. You must get better. Hope and I need you.”
“Please listen to Clint, Rose. We love you so much.” Fiona was openly crying.
“Stop crying, you two. I knew something like this was going to happen. I also believe I’m leaving my baby in the best of hands. I love and trust you both and I know you’ll always do the right thing. You’ll be a happy family.” Rose closed her eyes and gasped for breath.
“Rose!” Clint pulled her close to him. “Rose!”
“Oh, Rose, please don’t die,” Fiona cried.
Granny Weatherbee walked up and put her hand on Clint’s shoulder to lean over and touch Rose’s neck. She shook her head at Zeke and turned to Clint. “I’m sorry, son. She’s gone.”
* * * *
Zeke turned to the crowd. “Let’s back up, folks,and head for your wagons. These people need some privacy.”
“My daughter. What’s...” Wade stammered.
Zeke looked at the man and could feel no sympathy for him. In a rash voice he said, “Your daughter is dead, Fillmore. You killed her.”
Wade Fillmore’s face whitened and he backed away from Zeke.
“No, she can’t be. She’s only hurt. She can’t be dead.”
“Dead!” Leo screamed. “How could you kill my Rose? I wanted to take her home and marry her. I wanted to love...”
Before Leo could go on, Wade raised the gun and fired. Leo crumpled to the ground, screaming.
“Give me that gun, Fillmore,” Zeke said. “You’ve shot enough people.”
Wade backed away. “No. I killed my daughter. I can’t go back and face my family. How could I ever tell my wife and daughters I killed our baby girl?”
“I hate to say this, but I watched the whole thing. It was an accident. You were aiming for Carver and Rose got in your way.”
“It doesn’t matter. I killed her.” He was crying.
“Let me have the gun, Fillmore. Rose wouldn’t want anyone else to die.”
Wade put the gun to his head. “I have to go with my baby girl.”
“Don’t...”
The gun went off and Wade fell. Half of his head was gone.
Several people screamed. Some were standing around crying and discussing Rose’s death. Others stood around, stunned, saying nothing. Zeke continued to encourage the group to return to their own wagons.
Leo Carver’s whining voice cut into the tragic events. “Damn it, somebody help me. I’ve been shot and need help.”
Herman Fritz walked over to Leo. “You took my daughter.”
“No. It was somebody else.”
“It was you.” Herman pushed at Leo’s shoulder with his boot and held his gun between Leo’s frightened eyes. “You must pay for what you did to my daughter.”
“Don’t do it, Fritz. He’s not worth it,” Zeke said. “You don’t want it on your hands. He’ll pay for what he did. He’ll get a trial when we get to the fort.”
“Are you sure, Zeke?” Herman didn’t take his gun away.
“I’m positive. Men who bother little children don’t set well with the Army. They’ll hang him for sure.”
“Oh, Lord,” Leo moaned. “I haven’t hurt...”
“Shut up.” Herman pushed the gun harder into the forehead.
“Herman...” Zeke started.
“I think it would be better for him not to live to make the fort.”
“He might not, but it’s not for us to decide.” Zeke nodded to the old woman coming toward him. “Will you take a look at this man, Granny?”
“Sure, Mr. Zeke.” She bent over Leo. “He the one who took little girl?”
“Yep.”
She raised up. “Bring him to my wagon. I have some herbs that’ll cure him or kill him one.”
“No. I want a doctor,” Leo gasped.
“Shut up, Carver.” Zeke looked at Herman. “Want to take him to the Wetherbee’s wagon?”
“If I don’t have to be gentle.”
“I don’t care how you handle him. All I want you to do is get him away from the Larson Wagon. I’ll get someone to help you.”
Zeke looked back at the couple hovered over Rose Larson’s body. He felt sadness for them. Hell, he felt sadness for himself. He liked Rose. Everyone on the train did, but he knew he had to get Clint and Fiona to accept what had happened.
He started toward them and noticed someone had thrown a quilt over Wade Fillmore’s body. He took a deep breath and continued toward Clint and Fiona.
* * * *
After the bodies had been wrapped and readied for burial the next morning, and Zeke felt Fiona and Clint needed to be alone with their grief, he wandered to Granny Wetherbee’s wagon.
“How’s Carver?” he asked when Granny came to the back of her wagon.
“Not, good, Mr. Zeke. I’m not sure if I can save him.”
“But he was only shot in the shoulder, Granny.”
“I know, but he’s a tenderfoot. They can’t seem to take as much pain as you tough cowboys can. I’m doing what I need to do.”
Zeke twirled his hat. “That’s all I can ask of you, Granny.”
She nodded and gave him a grin. There was a sparkle in her beady black eyes, but this was nothing unusual for Granny. She looked at everyone with a sparkle in her eyes. This told him nothing of what she might be doing for the patient. He knew some of these Indian healers had their own way of handing out justice. Still, he couldn’t help wondering if Granny Weatherbee was helping Leo Carver’s shoulder become more serious than it was. After all she’d saved Mac and he was already starting to ride his horse again. His wound had been much worse than Carver’s.
Zeke plopped his hat on his head. “Be sure to let me know if anything changes.”
“I will, Mr. Zeke.”
Zeke backed away and shook his head. No matter what she was doing, he knew he wouldn’t question the old woman. She was too valuable to the train. Besides, she wasn’t the only one who might not want Leo Carver to make it to the fort. Herman Fritz would have ended the scoundrel’s life earlier if Zeke hadn’t stopped him.
“Lord,” he muttered to himself. “It gets harder and harder to get these trains through to Oregon without some horrible incident. I wonder if it isn’t time I started thinking about retiring. Widow Clinton back in Cheyenne has made it clear she’d welcome me anytime I want to hang it up and start ranching. Maybe I should think seriously about taking her up on her offer.”
* * * *
It was close to two o’clock in the morning when Zeke made his last round of the wagons. He walked up to Herman Fritz who was standing guard. “Is all quiet, Herman?”
“Seems to be, Zeke.” He shook his head. “I’ve kept an eye on the Larson wagon and I think they got settled about an hour ago. Clint offered to stand guard with me, but I told him he was going to need some sleep to face tomorrow.”
“Did he listen to you?”
“He must h
ave. Fiona and the boy are sleeping in the wagon. They went to bed first. I saw Clint go off by himself for a little while. When he came back he smoked a cheroot and then climbed into his tent. As far as I know, they’re all asleep.”
“I hope so. Tomorrow will be rough on them.” Zeke turned to walk away.
“Hey, Zeke.”
“Yeah.”
“How’s Carver doing?”
“I’m going to check. Granny says he may not make it. He lost a lot of blood.”
Herman frowned. “Personally, I hope he makes it. I want to see the bastard hanging from a rope.”
“He deserves to hang, that’s for sure.”
“See you in the morning, Zeke.”
Zeke nodded and walked away.
* * * *
Granny Weatherbee opened the back flap on her wagon when she heard a noise outside. “I thought it might be you, Zeke.”
“How’s he doing, Granny?”
“Not so good. He keeps losing blood and he won’t be still like I tell him to. He keeps mumbling about foolish stuff.”
“What kind of foolish stuff?”
“He wants a doctor. He wants to check on Rose to be sure she’s really dead. He wants to tell the little Fritz girl he didn’t mean to scare her. He only wanted to make her feel good.” Granny shook her head. “That kind of junk.”
“The man is crazy. I wonder how many little girls... I mean...”
“I know what you mean, Zeke. He’s not fit to live, is he?”
“No, he’s not. And I think as soon as we get him to the fort his time will be short on this earth.”
“Maybe so.”
“I’ll let you get some sleep, Granny. I’m sure you can give your patient something to help him rest.”
“I’ve already given him something. I think it’s finally taking effect.”
“Good night, Granny.”
“Good night, Mr. Zeke.”
* * * *
Granny let the flap down and listened until she heard Zeke’s footsteps leave her wagon.
She turned back to her patient and saw the vacant eyes staring at her. She gave him a sly grin. “You’re an evil man.” Granny moved beside him. “The sad thing is you didn’t ever know you’re evil and you wouldn’t admit it if you’d knowed. This world will be a better place without you.”
Granny unwrapped another batch of herbs and pressed them against his shoulder. “To make sure,” she said and smiled.
Fiona's Journey Page 17
