by Nancy Howard
“I ain't never gonna trust you, Travis. You're nothin' but a damn fool, thinkin' you can kill, Logan Kincaid.”
“You know Burl, I'm sick and tired of your fuckin' shit. If you don't like what I'm plannin here, then get on your fuckin' horse, and leave.”
“You know, I would, but there's one thing that keepin' me here now, Travis.”
“Yeah, and just what the hell is that,” Belcher comments, caustically.
“Well, for one thing I ain't gonna let you rape and abuse that girl there, ever again. I've stood by for days on end, like a damn fool. All three of us have and watched you hurt her, over, and over, and you ain't gonna do it, again. And, you can Bye-God trust me on that, Travis. You've nearly killed her the way it is.'
“So.”
“So, you ain't never gonna hurt her again, Travis. I'm tellin' ya!
The two men are nose to nose as their discussion grows more heated.
Just as it was about to get out of hand—Duel who's been looking out to the front says, “hey, shut the hell up both a ya's. We got comp'ny.”
Belcher looks out the doorway, and sees four riders with a pack animal making their way toward the junction. He can see that one is definitely a woman.
“I told that bitch to come, alone,” he says, in anger. Clenching his teeth.
“So much for you just killin' her by herself, when she brought help. What a you gonna do now, Travis?” Burl chides.
Belcher looks at Burl and snarls, “shut up, Burl! Just, shut, the fuck up!”
Logan has arrived, just as he thought she would. But she's brought help with her, which he hadn't anticipated, making him furious. Just then he turns around and goes over to Falon and where she's lying lifeless on the floor. He nudges her with his boot, “hey you. Wake the hell up.”
Falon isn't even half conscious, and just lays there too weak to move at all. She's out cold.
Then Travis reaches down and picks her up like a rag doll, and shakes her violently. And yells at her, “did you fucking hear me? I said. Wake up!”
Burl is standing right next to him, “Travis, you damn fool, you've hurt her so much, she's barely alive. Let alone conscious enough to hear you.”
“Get away from me, Burl. I'm fuckin', warnin' you. And you stop callin’ me a damn fool, or so help me.”
“Or so help you what, Travis? You'll kill me? Sure,” Burl says, He's finally grown tired of Travis and his abuse of Falon, and vendetta against, Logan.
Kirk is in the room now, as Duel says, “they're getting close. You better get over here, Travis.”
Belcher drags Falon over and into the doorway, where they can plainly be seen by Gavin’s posse. He draws his gun and puts it to her head. As the other two men take up positions at the two windows at the front of the old building. Kirk heads to a side window.
Logan, Gavin, and the posse are now close enough to see Belcher, and his hostage with his gun pointed at her head. They stop their progression near the tower, as they line up next to each other.
“How do you want to handle this, boss,” Will asks? “There's not much cover out here.”
“Yeah, I know. Ollie, see if you can make it over to the outhouse, before they start shooting.”
Oliver breaks from the group and slowly makes his way toward the outhouse. Will says he'll take cover in a near-by stand of old dead cottonwood trees, situated on the south side of the building.
“Travis Belcher! This is Marshal Gavin Sloan. Let that girl go, and you and your men drop your weapons and come out of there with your hands up.” He yells to them, knowing that there's not a chance that they'll follow his order.
“Yeah? Well, you go to hell, Marshal,” Belcher yells back.
Logan yells out, “Belcher, let that girl go, she ain't done nothin' to you”
“Yeah, well, you have, and sides, I told you to come alone, Logan. So she's gonna die and so are you.”
“You hurt her Travis, and so help me God, I will kill you,” she responds. Logan is too far away to see if the girl Belcher is holding looks like her. Or if she's just some poor soul who has had the misfortune of running into Belcher, and he mistakenly thinks she looks like her.
Gavin's men are in position. Kirk is at the side window and he opens fire on Will. Just then, gunfire erupts everywhere. Causing Logan and Gavin to dismount quickly and take cover behind the tower posts. Both of them drawing their guns and returning fire from Duel and Burl. Oliver is firing at them from the cover of the outhouse.
Belcher backs out of the front door to keep from catching an errant bullet, not wanting to be killed. It's Logan he wants, and his only use for Falon is for bait to lure Logan into a position so he can kill her.
“Travis, you gonna help us out, or not.” Burl turns, and growls at Belcher, angrily.
Belcher says nothing, as he retreats into a corner of the room.
“Just do as I say and keep shootin'.”
“I'm getting low on ammo,” Duel yells out.
“I am too,” Kirks says, coming into the room. As all three of them look at Belcher, he says nothing.
The shooting stops.
Then Burl says, “well, Travis, I ain't gonna do what you say. So, you, go to hell!”
Burl yells out to Gavin, “Marshal, I want to surrender. Don’t shoot.”
“Burl, what the hell you doin',” his brother asks?
“I'm surrendering. What the hells it look like, I'm doin'? And if the two of you have an ounce of sense left, you'll do the same. I ain't gonna get killed cause of his vendetta against her sister.”
The three men put their guns down, and get up and begin walking out with their hand up. But Belcher would have none of this, as they walked out their backs were turned to him. He had them at a disadvantage. So he aims his gun at them and shoots all three of them in the back. All three men dropped to the ground in various positions near the front door. Will and Oliver run up to the outside and check them—they're all dead. Logan and Gavin have left the tower and run up to the front door, ready to move on Belcher.
Logan looks in, she can see Belcher holding the girl in the back of the room. He's near the back door.
Oliver goes around to the back to go in the rear of the building. Will takes a position at the window, and tells them he has a clear shot at Belcher.
“Let, the girl go, Belcher. It's over,” Logan says to him.
“Yeah, not yet, Logan. Me and you, we got an old score to settle.” Belcher though outnumbered and out of options to make his plan work, is still hanging on to his vendetta. Still, wanting to kill, Logan and Falon.
“Okay, but let her go. Like I said, she ain't got nothing to do with me and you.”
“Yeah, well, she does, Logan, cause she looks just like you. Or she did, till I roughed her up some.”
Gavin says, “He's not going to give in, so let's do this.”
“Let me do it,” Logan says. “It me he wants anyway, and I'll do what I should have done years ago.”
“Well, you ain't doin' it by yourself. I'm goin' in with you,” her husband says.
She doesn't argue, she nods to him, “okay.”
“Ready,” he says. “On three. One—Two—Three. With that Logan and Gavin burst through the door, guns pointed directly at Belcher, they're closely followed by Will. Belcher is surprised by their sudden move, and prepares to pull the trigger on his gun to kill Falon. When he hears a pop.
Logan's gun is pointed directly at Belcher, as she enters and she fires it at him immediately. Her aim is still as deadly as ever, as she hits Belcher right between his eyes. Killing him instantly, before he can pull his trigger. He drops to the floor, dead, and the girl falls with him.
Logan drops her gun on the floor, and without thinking, quickly rushes over to aid the young woman who Belcher said is her twin sister. She pushes Belchers dead body out of the way, and takes the woman in her arms. The girls face is badly battered and bruised. She reaches up for Logan. She's filthy and weak from all the of abuse, assaults and
neglect by, Belcher. But Logan doesn't care, she hugs the girl tightly in her arms.
The girl whimpers, weakly.
“Logan whispers softly to her, “shush, shush. It's over, you're safe now.”
Then she loses consciousness again.
Logan looks down at the girl.
“Well is she,” Gavin asks? Getting down next to his wife.
“It's kinda hard to tell, she's so banged up. But yeah, she is, Gavin. She's my twin sister. The question is how?”
“SHE'S TOO WEAK TO TRAVEL, Gavin. I've done what I can to make her as comfortable as possible, considering where we are. She was hurt real bad, by that sonofabitch,” Logan says. Her anger standing out as she thinks about what Belcher did to Falon.
“She needs a doctor right now, and we're way the hell out here in the middle of nowhere,” she says. Shaking her head with worry.
Gavin faces Logan and puts his hands on her shoulders, and says in a reassuring tone, “try not to worry we're gonna get her some help. Okay?”
Logan shakes her head yes, still with a worried look on her face.
Just then Will comes into the old railroad building, and asks Gavin what he wants to do with the four dead men.
“You know, Will, we're not that far from Santa Rosa, take them to the sheriff there. While your there, see if there's a wagon or buckboard you can get a hold of, and bring it back out here to us. I'll give you some money to cover that. Oh, and check to see if there's a doctor in town.”
“You want me to go with him, Marshal,” Oliver asks?
“Yes, but only to Santa Rosa, then I want you to head back to Folsom, to help Jason and Curly.”
Logan has been listening to the conversation, and says to Will, “Don’t leave just yet, I'm going to write a note. I want you to take it to the telegraph office in Santa Rosa, and send it to my mother. She’s probably worried.”
She goes out to her horse and pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil, and comes back in and sets down at an old table and begins to write:
Mom,
Wanted to let you know we are fine, and will be home in a few days. We will be bringing home someone with us, who is injured badly. My sister. Hope you and the kids are fine, give them big hugs and kisses for me and Gavin. See you soon!
Love, Logan
After she's done writing she hands it to Will, and he and Oliver leave with the four dead men thrown over their horses.
It is late that evening as the sun begins to set behind the mountains. Logan and Gavin are inside, and he has scrounged up enough wood for a fire in the old fire place of the railroad building. They only have the light of the fire to see by. Logan has placed several blankets on the floor, some that she took off of the horses of Belcher, the Haggars and Kirk. She has tried to make Falon as comfortable as possible.
Logan earlier got a pan of water, and a cloth and washed Falon's face. Doing her best to clean the wounds of the girl, who she now knows is her sister. A twin sister that she never knew existed, then she got the note from Belcher telling her about Falon. She doubted it until she killed Belcher and held the girl in her arms.
As Logan looks at her sleeping peacefully in front of the fire, she's still trying to get used to the idea of having blood family. She has questions about all of this—lots of questions. Just as she is sure Falon will have after she gets well.
“How's she doing?” Gavin asks setting down next to his wife, and putting his arm around her and pulling her up to him and giving her as soft hug.
“She's okay, for now, I think,” she says quietly. “This is probably the first peaceful sleep the poor girl has had in a longtime, Gavin. She's so weak, thin, and exhausted. She's going to need a longtime to heal and get well. Not to mention the emotional wounds of being raped and beaten repeatedly by that bastard, Belcher. Those wounds will take a longtime to heal, Gavin. A longtime.”
“Yeah, I know, I know, how long it took you to get over what your dad did, to you. I can't begin to imagine what Belcher put her through.”
“That disgusting sonofabitch! She exclaims, the shrill of anger in her voice.
“He assaulted her sexually, over, and over, again. He beat her, and starved her, Gavin. It's a wonder that she's still alive,” she says. Her voice quivering with disgust. “I wish....I wish, I could kill, him ten more times. I hate him more now than I did before I knew about her. I should have killed the sonofabitch, years ago, like I wanted to that day. And if I would have known that this is what was going to happen, believe me I would have.”
“Yeah, I know, it's very, very, sad, what he did to her. And I know it must hurt you dearly to see her in this condition. But you killed Belcher, he's dead and she's safe and here with you now,” He pauses. “You shouldn't be to hard on yourself for what happened here. You had no way of knowing, that any of this was going to happen.” Gavin says.
She looks at him and shakes her head that she understands that. She just wishes that there was some way she could have known that Falon existed before now.
“Someone a longtime ago, made sure you two go separated, for some reason,” he says.
“I know, I've been wondering about that. It must have been our mother that separated us. And if it was her, what was her reason for doing so,” Logan questions?
Logan is quiet for a minute, she can't stop thinking about Falon, then she says, “she's gonna need all the help she can give her, Gavin. And it'll have to come from us.”
“Well, if that is what she needs, I know you're the one who will give it to her. And I thought about something else. If he raped her like we know he did. Did he get her pregnant?”
Logan shakes her head, “God, that, I don't know, Gavin. If she is, we'll just have to deal with it when the time comes. Right now, our first priority is to get her back to the ranch and have Doc Burroughs look at her.”
He looks at Logan for a few seconds, then kisses her and says, “I'm gonna turn in, you comin' over?”
“Not just yet, I want to set with her for a while, if it's okay?”
Gavin looks at Logan and shakes his head, understanding that this twin is very much a part of Logan even though they've never known each other before. He remembers after he got shot by Hogg, how Logan came into town every evening and sat with him. It's, Logan, being Logan. It is her way of protecting those she loves. As he lays down, he looks at her and thinks to himself, that no one would ever question Logan's resolve for those she loves.
THE NEXT MORNING WILL shows up at Connor Junction with a buckboard hitched to two horses. The doctor in Santa Rosa was out, and Will couldn't wait to find him. He knew how weak Falon is, and understood the need to get back quickly in order to get her back to Sanderson's Hill.
Gavin and Logan hear the buckboard approaching, and come outside the old railroad building, they've been waiting for Will to show up. He gets down out of the wagon, and the three of them go inside. Logan asks Will if he sent the telegram to her mother, and he said, yes he did. That was important to Logan, because she knew that Catherine would be worried until she had word from her, that they were all okay.
Gavin and Will help Falon into the wagon laying her down down gently. Logan has prepared a layer of the blankets making a palette in order for her sister to be as comfortable as possible, for the long trip back to the ranch. Logan gets in the back, then sets down next to Falon choosing to ride in the buckboard with her sister, rather than on horseback. Logan's protective instincts have taken over, she will protect Falon from anymore harm. She knows that once Falon is well enough they will have a lot to catch up on, a lot to discuss. Logan wants to see if they can find out how, and why, they got separated at birth. How this all happened? But first she knows that Falon will need lots of time to heal. Lots of time.
THE TRIP BACK TO SANDERSON's Hill took four long days, as Will and Gavin took turns driving the wagon. Logan was never far from Falon, as she begins to show the first signs of getting better. Yesterday and on the first day of the trip she slept all day, something she needed t
o do very badly.
Some of Logan's anger has retreated now, she knows that getting Falon well is first and foremost. She knows Gavin is right, she had no way of knowing this was all going to happen. She only wishes she and Falon could have met under different circumstances.
Today they are about five miles from the ranch house, having just passed through the entrance, and Falon opens her eyes. She's been in and out for awhile now, and has been listening to her sister and her husband talking. She is laying on her back, eyes open.
Logan sees her, smiles, and says, “welcome back.”
“Hey you. How long have I been asleep,” she asks? Her voice is still small, as she’s still very weak
“Oh, for three days. You woke up a couple of times yesterday and this morning, and said you were thirsty, and we gave you some water. Then you went back to sleep.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Sorry for what? You need all the rest you can get after the ordeal you've been put through.”
Falon looks at Logan and manages a smile, even though her lip hurts terribly so when she tries.
“Where are we?”
“Just a few miles from our ranch house, we're on our property now. Our ranch is called Sanderson's Hill.”
“I heard this man, Chris, tell Belcher about it, when we were at the Comanchero camp.”
“Comancheros,” Logan exclaims!
Falon shakes her head slightly, yes. Logan doesn't question her about it, because of her condition. She knows about Comancheros, and is thankful Falon didn't end up there. In an odd way she has Belcher to thank for that. He was so consumed in his hate for her, he kept Falon to get at her. And now instead of being a sex slave to the Comancheros—Falon is safe with her.
“He's your husband?'
“Yes he is.”
She shakes her head slightly as if to say, oh. Then she closes her eyes again, and begins to drifts off to sleep. Logan touches her cheek, and Falon manages another slight smile even though it hurts her lip.
