

# A Cowboy's Love

## Ruth Ann Hixson

Published on Smashwords by Ruth Ann Hixson

Copyright 2014

Cover image by Dreamstime

text by Betsy Riley

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This book is fiction and so is the location. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental. All the names and locations are from the author's imagination. Any real locations are used in a fictional sense.

This book or part of this book may not be copied without the author's written consent.

### Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the writers who have helped me learn the ropes of publishing.

### Chapter 1

"I am so cold." Clair Jenkins pulled the blue knit muffler up over her face and snugged the red knit cap down to her eyebrows. The wind grew stronger and the snow came down faster. She had to get home before dark so she wouldn't miss the turnoff.

"It was a fool's errand," she muttered. Leaving her three children home alone, she walked to town only to find there was no mail for her. She sent her father-in-law a letter informing him of his son's death from appendicitis and requesting that he send her money. Then she waited four weeks giving the letter time to reach him and for him to send the money. But there was no letter. She even visited the telegraph office in case he wired it. There was nothing.

If someone hadn't taken an ax to the wagon wheel, she could have driven and brought the children with her. In desperation because they were running out of food, she left the two younger children in the care of thirteen-year-old Cara and walked. "Stay inside and lock the door," she told Cara. She worried that Floyd Beecher would come around when she wasn't there.

He had begun coming around after Tom died, pretending to be concerned about them. But then he tried to make demands on her, telling her he would harm the children if she didn't do as he wanted. The last time he came she ran him off at gunpoint. Tom taught her to shoot the carbine and his pistol as soon as they arrived in Colorado.

They came west after Tom's father cut him out of his will. Tom staked a claim for a hundred and sixty acres of good land where he built them a one room cabin to shelter them until he could build a house. She didn't care so much for the isolation of the farm but she was glad to be free of her malicious mother-in-law.

As she topped a rise she began running down the hill. By the time she reached the bottom, she was winded and stopped to catch her breath, turning her back to the wind. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees. Thinking of her children, she murmured, "God preserve us."

When she straightened up, she saw a rider coming over the hill. Fear shot through her as she thought it could be Beecher. She felt the canvas bag that hung from her shoulder for the reassuring hardness of the pistol she carried. She had no escape. A four strand fence of barbed wire ran along the left side of the road. On the right the brush was so thick she thought a rabbit would have trouble going through it.

Reason made her realize that the rider couldn't be Beecher. The horse was big and black. Beecher rode a bay. The man astride the horse was too big to be Beecher. She turned her back and began walking. When the rider drew abreast of her, he asked, "You want to ride, ma'am?"

She didn't answer but kept walking, so he asked again. She turned to look up at him just as a gust of wind blew his hat from his head. She ran after it to retrieve it. When she brought it back he had dismounted.

He grinned down at her. "Thank you, ma'am. I reckon I better put that on a mite tighter." He took off his leather gloves and tucked one in each pocket of the new blue denim coat he wore. He unknotted the red scarf around his neck and tied it over his Stetson. Pulling it down over his ears, he knotted it under his chin making it look like a woman's bonnet. "I'm Charley Hampton from the Rockin' M."

Clair studied his face. He wasn't young, neither was he old. Crow's feet crinkled at the corners of his gray eyes and his face was browned from years of working in all kinds of weather. Something about him made her want to trust him.

"Now, do you want a ride?" he asked.

"As far as the fork in the road. We are going in different directions from there."

"You're Tom Jenkin's wife."

"Widow," she corrected. "Did you know Tom?"

"Enough to say howdy if we met on the street. We weren't close friends or nothin'." He held down his hands for her to step up to the stirrup which was too long for her to mount easily.

Clair had never been on a horse before. In fact, she was scared of horses since she was a child when she saw a horse trample a man to death. She forced her fear down because it was urgent that she get home. After she was up, he swung up behind her, putting his arms around her to hold the reins. It made her uncomfortable to be that close to a stranger but she said nothing.

After Clair said nothing, Charley asked, "Why are you walkin' when you could of took the wagon?"

"Someone took an ax to one of the wheels"

"Now who'd do somethin' like that?"

"Probably Beecher."

"Floyd Beecher? He's one mean son of a ... gun. Why'd he do that?"

"To keep me home." Clair figured she might as well explain so he would stop asking questions. She told about Beecher ending with, "I fear he will come around when the children are home alone."

"How old are your kids?"

"Cara is thirteen, Simon is almost ten and Belle is just over a year old." She hoped that satisfied his curiosity so he would stop asking questions. He allowed the conservation to lapse into silence.

When they reached the fork in the road he turned right. "I can walk from here so you can go on home," she reminded him.

"I'll take you home. This storm looks like it's gonna turn into a full-blown blizzard. You can get home quicker ridin'. You'll hafta tell me where to turn off 'cause I ain't never been out to your place."

Though only her brown eyes showed between her hat and scarf, Clair used her gloved hand to shield them from the blowing snow because they were traveling directly into the wind. They rode in silence for a while until she suddenly said, "Stop! We are going downhill. The turnoff is on the uphill side."

Charley reined in and dismounted. When he reached up to help her down, her bag swung forward hitting his shoulder. "You packin' hardware?"

"If you mean do I have a gun, yes. And I know how to use it. Tom taught me to shoot his pistol and the carbine."

"Good." He turned his back and stepped a short distance away

From the way he stood, Clair knew exactly what he was doing. She had been married for nearly fourteen years and she knew about men.

When he came back to her he asked, "What about you? I won't look."

"I am fine. I have had nothing but a drink of water since I left home this morning."

"That ain't good. The way I see it, we got four choices: We can keep goin' the way we are an' we might come out at the Double Diamond; we can go back an' try to find our way to the Rockin' M; or we can turn west an' hope we come out at your place."

"You said we have four choices."

He grinned down at her. "We can stay here an' freeze to death."

"Any but the last. I leave it up to you."

"We turn west. If we miss your place, there's a line cabin a couple or three miles beyond." He held down his hands for her. "Up you go."

She made a less than graceful mount that left her skirt higher than she wanted it. He tugged it down to her boot tops and went around to the other side to do the same. After he was up behind her he turned the horse to the west. At least then they weren't going directly into the wind. Clair could turn her head to the left and she didn't need to shield her eyes though she was feeling the cold more than when she was walking.

After riding in silence for a while, Charley suddenly asked, "Do your kids have enough food an' firewood in case we don't get home tonight?"

Clair thought about it a moment before answering. "There is some food. Cara knows how to make biscuits and there will be milk and eggs. Yes, they have enough. Why?"

"We may have to find shelter an' wait out the storm if we miss your place. I'll try my darnedest to get you home, but that may not be enough."

Again the conversation lapsed until Charley rode into a grove of young pines and dismounted. "Time to give Midnight a rest. He's gettin' pretty old an' he ain't used to carryin' double." He reached up to help her down. "Stay on this side of the horse so he can block the wind. Move around some. Swing your arms an' stomp you feet. Wiggle your toes an' fingers." He followed his own advice.

"I'm so cold," Clair declared. "I should have dressed warmer."

"I got my old coat. I just bought this one today." He untied an old brown canvas coat from behind the saddle and held it for her. "It's too big but it'll help block the wind. I wish I didn't shave this mornin'. That wind bites. I ain't got a warm scarf like you do."

Clair reached into her bag and withdrew a red bandana handkerchief. She took off her gloves and stuffed them in her coat pocket. "Bend your knees so I can reach you. How tall are you?"

"Six four with my boots on."

She placed the bandana over his face and tucked it through the kerchief that held his hat in place. "Turn around." She tied it behind his head.

"Now I look like a bandit." His gray eyes held mirth as he held his gloved hands with his index fingers pointing like a gun, his thumbs sticking up. "You money or your life."

"I have no money and my life isn't worth very much."

"I'll bet there's three kids at home that think different about that."

Tears came to Clair's brown eyes and she looked away. Charley stepped forward to take her in his arms. She pushed away and turned her back to him.

"I didn't mean no harm," he explained. "Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on now an' then. Mine ain't busy right now."

Clair had to smile at his reasoning but her muffler covered her mouth. "It's all right ." She turned back toward him. "I appreciate your help."

"I guess we better be movin' on." Charley held down his hands to help her mount.

Clair had been up since before daylight and the walking took its toll. She leaned back against his chest and dozed until he shook her roughly.

"Wake up! I ain't gonna let you die on me. Move your arms. Wiggle your toes an' fingers." His tone changed suddenly. "I smell smoke."

"It's the cigarette smoke in your coat."

"This coat's new. I ain't had a smoke since I bought it."

"It's in your old coat," she suggested.

Charley yanked down the bandana that covered his face. "I smell wood smoke."

Clair pulled down her scarf. "So do I."

"Pull that scarf back up. We're headin' into the wind."

A short time later he dismounted. "Midnight's gone lame. You just stay where you are." He moved ahead to lead the horse. "I found a fence."

"Tom built a fence around the wheat field to keep out the stray livestock from the neighbors."

That brought a chuckle from Charley. "I don't know why he was so riled. He got the cow bred for nothin' to Millgrove's prize bull."

"That bull broke down the barnyard fence to get to her. And when Tom went to chase him off, he charged him."

"Yeah. Millgrove made the boys fix the fence an' then he made us build a drift fence so it wouldn't happen again. I hate stringin' bobwire. Here's the corner of the fence."

"The cabin is down at the bottom of this slope and to the right."

"I see a light in the window. Here you are. Right to the front door." He helped her down. "I'll be in as soon as I put Midnight in the barn an' give him some hay."

Clair's hands were so cold she couldn't turn the doorknob so she kicked the door. That shot pain through her frozen toes. "Open the door!" she called.

The door opened and Cara stood there. "Mama! Thank God!" She pulled her mother inside and closed the door.

"Help me out of this coat." Clair stripped off her gloves, hat and scarf and dropped them on the red checkered oilcloth that covered the table.

"Where did you get this coat, Mama?"

"From the cowboy who brought me home. Where is Simon?"

"Out milking Susie. He said Daddy showed him how."

"Help me out of this frozen skirt and petticoat and get me dry ones before they come in. My fingers are too numb to undo the buttons."

Baby Belle came to cling to her legs and cried to be picked up. "Just a minute, baby, until I get my clothes on." When she was dressed, she went to sit on the rocking chair in front of the fireplace. "Set her on my lap. Then get my slippers and warm them by the fire while you pull my boots off."

"Did Grandfather send any money?" Cara asked.

"No. All I have that I didn't have when I left this morning is a hungry cowboy and not much to feed him."

"But what will we do, Mama?"

"We shall thank God we have a roof over our heads to shield us from the storm and we shall eat biscuits and milk gravy for supper."

"Is he going to stay all night?" Cara asked.

"Certainly. I can hardly put him out in the middle of a blizzard when he brought me home safely."

### Chapter 2

"Okay, you can let go my coat. We're in."

Simon let go of Charley's coat and turned to close the door. Charley set the half bucket of milk on the table and pulled off his gloves which he stuffed in his pockets. He untied the red bandana and laid it beside the milk pail. He drew in a deep breath. "Smell's like heaven in here."

Clair stood up and set Belle on her feet. "A one-room, dirt-floored cabin is a long way from heaven."

Charley grinned at her. "Compared to what's outside, it's heaven." He took off his hat and looked for a place to hang it. The hooks by the door were all full except one down low where Simon hung his coat and hat. Charley hung his hat on a corner of the baby's crib. He took off his coat and hung it on the back of a chair. He unbuckled his gunbelt and took it off. Between a window and the door was a built-in gun rack. On the top pegs was a double-barreled shotgun. The next two pegs held a .30.30 Winchester carbine. Below that an empty belt and holster hung. The opposite peg was empty so Charley hung up his gunbelt with its big .44. Charley's gun was special to him. It was given to him by a close friend who was dying. Charley kept things that were special to him.

Baby Belle toddled over to him and seized hold of the fringes on his leather chaps. "Da-da."

He looked down at her. "I ain't your daddy."

Clair turned from the fireplace where she was preparing to make milk gravy. "You are the first man she has seen or heard since her father died. I would guess she remembers she had a daddy but doesn't remember what he looked like."

The tyke held up her hands to be picked up. "Da-da."

Charley bent down and lifted her up and carried her to the rocking chair where he sat down and set her on his lap. "Simon, do you think you can pull off my boots so my feet can get some of this heat? My toes are plumb froze."

Simon, who had the same dark brown hair and brown eyes of his mother, took hold of Charley's big boot and pulled. He pulled too hard and the boot came off suddenly and Simon found himself sitting on the ground. He was a little more careful with the second one. He brought a footstool so Charley could prop his feet up.

"I'm gonna take you along home with me," Charley remarked. "I ain't used to this kind of treatment."

"Cara, will you please bring me a pitcher of milk and then set the table." In her biggest skillet, Clair stirred the butter and flour mixture until it began to brown. "Thank you," she said to her eldest child when Cara brought the milk to her. "And thank you for churning the butter today and making biscuits. You are a big help to me."

Cara's blue eyes showed pleasure at her mother's praise. "I try to do what I can."

Clair poured the gravy in a large bowl and set it on the table beside the basket of biscuits Cara baked. "It's all ready." She went to take Belle from Charley and set her in her high chair which was just around the corner of the table from where she would be seated.

Belle leaned her head against Charley and told her mother, "No."

He stood up and carried the little girl to her waiting chair. "I am ready to eat."

Clair took the opportunity to say, "Mr. Hampton..."

"Call me Charley."

"I would like to thank you for bringing me home. If you hadn't, I probably would have been lost in the storm and perished."

"You're welcome. I reckon the Lord had a reason for me ridin' along just when you needed help. Midnight did the bringin'. We just rode along."

When they were seated around the table, Clair addressed him again. "Mr. Hampton..."

"Charley."

"I am trying to teach my children proper manners," she returned. "Will you please ask the blessing?"

Charley folded his hands and bowed his head. "Lord, we thank you for this food an' for bringin' us safe through the storm. Thank you for the shelter. Guide us in the comin' days to do what's right in your eyes. Amen."

Clair, Cara and Simon responded, "Amen."

Clair took a biscuit and passed the basket. She began to crumble it into the pie tin that served as a plate for Belle. "Simon, can you tell me what it means when you say amen after a prayer?"

The boy took a biscuit, split it and spread it with butter. "It means you agree with what the person that prayed said."

"Very good." Mama spooned gravy over Belle's half biscuit. She glanced over at Charley. "You can see I got out the good china since we have company."

"Suits me. I guess I ate more meals from a tin plate than from a china one." He took two biscuits. "That's about all they use for cowhands." He spooned a generous helping of the milk gravy over his biscuits. "Where do the kids sleep?"

"Cara sleeps with me. Belle sleeps in her crib. Simon sleeps on the ground. It is too cold for them up in the loft under that tin roof."

"Then I reckon I'll be sleepin' on the ground, too."

"I'm sorry. Tom bought the lumber for a floor but he died before he could put it down."

"I slept on the ground before. When I was a kid I slept on the floor because we didn't have no beds."

While Clair and Cara did the dishes, Charley sat in the rocking chair holding Belle. He hummed softly and in minutes the baby was asleep.

"She didn't take a nap today," Cara reported. "She was fussy all day because she wanted Mama."

"I might as well stayed at home for all the good it did," Clair returned. "Had I known I would have washed diapers instead. Now I must do that tomorrow."

Cara became quietly thoughtful as if she was troubled by something. "Mama, Beecher was here today. He said if I didn't open the door he would shoot out the windows. I got the rifle and had Simon open the door for me. I was so scared I was shaking. I told him if he didn't leave I would shoot him. He left then. Mama, I'm really scared of him. It's just the way he looks at me."

"I should have stayed home." Clair affirmed.

"Beecher's a no account son of a gun," Charley interposed. "If we could just get the goods on him to put him in jail. Me an' Pete Davis spent a lot of time last summer tryin' to find his hidey hole. That was after his owlhoots rustled about twenty head of cattle from the Rockin' M. We found the cows but we didn't find him. We figgered he stole 'em for meat an' not to sell. We brought the cows back. A few days later they rustled some from the Double Diamond. The problem is, whenever anything like that happens, Beecher makes sure he's somewhere to give him a good alibi so he's not connected with it. Maybe we can track him now that there's snow on the ground."

Clair was sure she wouldn't sleep even though she was exhausted. Her mind was churning with the problems she faced with three children depending on her and no money.  
When Charley began snoring, she was doubly certain she wouldn't sleep. Tom had never snored. He just ground his teeth.

She lay listening to the wind howl around the cabin like it was trying to find an opening to break in and freeze the inhabitants. Cara mumbled in her sleep and Clair turned her back to her daughter. Sometime after she got warm she drifted off. She was awakened by Charley talking to Belle. The gray light of dawn lit the window panes. Though she would have liked to stay in a nice warm bed she sat up.

She gathered up her skirt, apron and blouse to take them behind the curtained-off corner where the chamber bucket sat. She came out tying her apron strings. "I didn't even hear her wake up," she excused to Charley.

He grinned up at her from where he sat on the rocking chair with the baby on his lap. "I changed her diaper and gave her a cup of milk."

"Where does a cowboy learn to change diapers?"

"I come from a big family." He stood up and set Belle on the chair. "Where can I find a shovel? There's a great big drift right in front of the door."

"In the wagon shed along the barn wall. If you can find the barn for the snow."

"I'll find it. The snow ain't quite that deep. It stopped snowin' but it's still blowin." He pulled on his chaps and buckled them. Then he took down his old brown coat, clapped his hat on his head and went out as he pulled on his gloves.

"Where's Charley?" Simon asked when he woke up.

"Out shoveling snow," his mother answered as she beat up the batter for pancakes.

"Can I go out an' help him? There's two shovels."

"Yes, you may but dress warm. And take the milk bucket with you."

When Charley and Simon came in with a bucket of milk, a stack of pancakes sat on a plate on the table beside the butter dish. "I'm sorry I have no syrup," Clair apologized.

After breakfast Charley and Simon went out to shovel more snow to find the watering trough and the spring. Before carrying water for the animals, Charley carried a bucket of water to the cabin for Clair.

"After breakfast, will you please carry the water I'll need to wash the clothes. Belle is down to her last diaper."

"Sure." He went back out to chop the ice from the watering trough and fill it while Simon let out the cow, Midnight and the other two horses. When the cow and horses were safely back in the barn, Charley saddled Midnight and led him to the cabin door.

"Are you leaving?" Simon asked as they went in the cabin.

"Yep. I know you'd like me to hang around but I got a job. If I don't show up, the boys'll be out huntin' for me. I'll be back later to chop wood an' things like that." Charley began walking around the cabin looking on the shelves along the wall and in the cupboards.

"You have no right prying into my business," Clair protested.

"You ain't got much food here," he responded.

"I'm thinking about killing off the chickens. We have nothing to feed them." She choked back tears.

"Did Tom have a pair of wire cutters?" Charley asked.

"His tool chest is over there on the other side of Belle's crib."

He got the wire cutters and put them in his coat pocket. "I ain't gonna ride all the way around by the road. I'll fix the fence back come spring. We ain't pasturin' no cows out this way anyhow."

"Don't forget your other coat," Clair reminded him.

"I'll be back later." He went out and mounted his horse.

### Chapter 3

"Where the hell you been?" Pete Davis, foreman at the Rocking M, asked as he strode up to Charley. "I was about to send the boys out lookin' for you."

Charley swung out of the saddle. "I spent the night at the Widow Jenkens."

"How'd you end up there?" Pete was shorter than Charley by a good six inches with blue eyes and brown hair topped by a battered Stetson. His brown mustache needed trimming.

"You're sure full of questions," Charley responded. "I found her walkin' home from town so I took her home. We got lost in the blizzard for a spell but we finally found her cabin."

"Why didn't she drive the wagon?" Pete asked.

"One of Beecher's hellhounds took an ax to a wagon wheel. I looked at it. I ain't sure it can be fixed. May have to get a new one."

"Why are we walkin' this way?"

"Cause I gotta talk to the boss." Charley wrapped the reins through one of the iron rings on the hitching post and strode up the steps to the ranch house porch where he knocked on the door.

Hal Millgrove answered immediately. "I was just on my way out to have Pete send the boys looking for you."

"Can I come in?" Charley asked. "I gotta talk to you. Mrs. Jenkins is almost out of food and she has three kids to feed. She said she's gonna start killin' off the chickens." With Pete tagging along, Charley followed Millgrove to the room that was a combination office/library. "Can I get some food an' stuff from the storeroom for her? I'll pay you for it as soon as I can get into town."

"Charley, one of these days you're going to help out the wrong person. Take what you need."

"Can I get some oats for the cow an' horses an' chickens. She ain't got none. I'll pay."

"You certainly will not," said Meg Millgrove from the doorway. Meg was a down-to-earth ranch wife dressed in jeans and a blue plaid flannel shirt. She was nearly as tall as her husband. "If I'd known she was in such dire straits as to food I would have taken her some myself."

"You heard the lady," Millgrove said. "Take what you want. Pete can help you."

"Stop by the house before you go," Meg said. "Rosa just took bread from the oven. I have some treats for the kids."

***

"Simon, it's time you pay attention to that arithmetic," Clair warned her son.

"How can I keep my mind on it with all this noise?" Mama had just spanked Belle for playing in the mud produced by the wet clothes dripping on the dirt floor and the little girl was screaming at the top of her lungs and fighting Cara to get down. Cara held her on her lap as she sat on the rocking chair.

"I don't know why I need to learn long division anyway," Simon complained.

"You may need it when you grow up," his mother reasoned. "Cara bring her over here so I can change her clothes. I must use a towel for a diaper. I may as well wash them while I have the water in the tub."

When the baby was dressed, Clair set her on her feet. "Just watch so she stays away from those dripping clothes." Clair tossed the muddied dress, petticoat and diaper in the tub and began to scrub them. "I still must kill a chicken for supper."

"Open the door," came a call from outside.

"It's Charley!" Simon sprang up from his seat at the table and ran to the door.

Charley came in with a bag over his shoulder. "Where'd you want these spuds?"

"Simon, open the bin for him," Clair ordered as she tossed the last piece of laundry into the basket.

Charley dumped the hundred pounds of potatoes in the bin and turned around as he folded the burlap bag. "Simon, get your coat. You can help me carry in the rest." He went back out the door with Simon on his heels. He returned in a few minutes with a pasteboard box full of canned food and a ring of smoked sausage on top. "You can fry this for dinner with whatever it is you got cookin' over the fire."

"Beans and rice," she said as she picked up the clothes basket.

"Da-Da!" Belle cried and ran toward the door but Charley and Simon had already gone out. She stood at the door crying.

Clair moved the chair she used to reach the lines strung across the cabin. "Cara, please help me get these hung up before they come back in."

Cara grabbed Belle away from in front of the door just as it opened and Charley came in with a bag of flour. Simon followed with a smaller bag of cornmeal. "Come along, Simon, so we can hang the rest of that meat in the smokehouse," Charley said after he dumped the flour and meal in the bin that sat under a west window behind the rocking chair.

They didn't come back in right away so Clair managed to get the clothes hung up. She began putting the canned goods on the shelves between the flour bin and the potato bin. Free from the watchful eyes of her mother and sister, Belle went back to stand under the dripping clothes. Clair grabbed her and set her in the rocking chair. "Stay there so I can get this food put away."

When Charley and Simon came back inside, Cara was again sitting in the rocker holding the screaming baby. "What's the matter with her?" Charley asked.

"She likes to play in the mud made by the water from the clothes," Clair explained.

Charley frowned as if deep in thought. "You said Tom had the lumber for a floor. Where is it?"

"I can show you," Simon volunteered. He wasn't ready to go back to his book.

"I'll fetch in a couple boards an' lay 'em down to keep her out of the mud. But I can't do nothin' about the water drippin'."

"Mr. Hampton..." Clair began.

He grinned at her. "Charley."

Tears wet her eye lashes. "Thank you." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Glad to oblige," he returned. "It come from the boss. He let me get it from the storeroom. I offered to pay but Mrs. Millgrove said no. She said if she knew you was in need she'd fetched it over herself. She's a real nice lady." He went out the door with Simon to bring in the boards to lay down for a temporary floor.

Clair was dipping water from the washtub to carry it outside when Charley and Simon returned with two wide boards. After he laid the boards down, Charley carried out the tub with what was left of the water. He brought the tub back inside where he looked around. "Where you want this?"

"I usually prop it up against the cabin outside the door." Clair answered.

"Not a good idea. Water drippin' off the roof''ll freeze on it an' you'll have more trouble freein' it than I did diggin' it outa the snow this mornin'. Best put it inside."

Clair drew in a deep breath. She didn't like him telling her what to do. Looking around the cabin, she saw no space where the wooden tub would fit. "I don't care what you do with it." Her nerves were frazzled from dealing with Belle's waywardness.

The little girl managed to wriggle free from her older sister and made a beeline for Charley. She caught hold of the fringes on his chaps and looked up with a wide grin on her face. "DaDa."

"I ain't your daddy," Charley said but he leaned down to pick her up. "I gotta go fetch in that other board. You go to your sister and be a good girl." He set her on her feet and went back outside.

Clair felt the large kettle used to heat wash water to see if it was cool enough to handle so she could put it back in the corner beyond the woodbox. "Cara, please help me with this. Be careful not to get the black from it on your dress."

"Woman, can't you wait for help?" Charley asked as he brought in another wide board to lay down on the floor. "If you can just wait a minute, I'll get that."

"I'm used to not having help since Tom died." She reminded him that she was recently widowed.

Charley ignored her statement as he took the kettle and set it back in its corner. "Be a good place for the tub," he said as he brought the tub and set it on top of the kettle. Without being told, he placed the washboard in the tub. He grinned down at her. "I used to help Ma. An' I gotta do my own washin' now. Jerky only does it if a feller's hurt an' can't do it himself. We usually do our washin' Sunday afternoon."

Clair made no comment about his assertion as she turned her attention to frying the sausage and making biscuits. "There is no lard or butter for the biscuits."

"I'll fetch some over. Since I don't do the cookin', I didn't think of it." Charley sat down in the rocking chair and lifted Belle onto his lap. The little girl who had been troublesome all morning was now as good as gold.

After dinner Charley and Simon went outside to chop wood. Charley chopped and Simon carried it into the cabin. As Simon straightened up with his third armful, he saw a horse and rider coming down the slope. "Here comes Beecher."

"Go inside an' stay there," Charley advised as he watched the rider approach. He walked slowly to meet him, still carrying the ax.

Beecher drew rein and sat glaring at Charley. "What are you doing here, Hampton?" he demanded.

"Choppin' wood," Charley answered.

"You aren't wanted around here," Beecher asserted as if he was the one in charge. Floyd Beecher was an educated man and a snappy dresser from his black Stetson to his shiny black boots. He wore a dark green great coat over his black trousers. His dark eyes were filled with hate as he pushed his coat aside and drew his ivory-handled forty-five and leveled it at Charley. "Get on your horse and ride."

Charley stepped slowly closer and slightly to the left making Beecher shift his aim. His pistol was holstered under his coat and he knew he couldn't get it out in time to shoot before Beecher gunned him down. He hoped he could get close enough to spook Beecher's horse and knock the gun from his hand with the ax.

Suddenly the cabin door opened and Clair stepped out with the Winchester to her shoulder. "Get off this property, Beecher. If you ever come back, I'll shoot you."

"Looks like you have the advantage," Beecher said. He slowly lowered the gun and returned it to the holster.

"Now ride!" Clair ordered.

She kept the gun to her shoulder until Beecher was about fifty feet away, then she pulled the trigger.

Charley reached over her shoulder and yanked the gun from her hands. "You don't shoot a man in the back."

"It was no accident that I missed him," she shot back. "I want him to know that I can shoot that gun." Her lips trembled and tears trickled down her face. "Is that shoulder of yours still not busy?"

He leaned the rifle and ax against the piled up snow beside the path and held out his arms. She walked into them and he enfolded her in a gentle embrace. Her crying was short lived and she stepped back. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned to kiss her.

For a moment she yielded to his kiss but then she stepped back and dealt a stinging blow to his cold cheek. "You're as bad as Beecher!"

Charley stood looking after her as she slammed in the door. Then he picked up the rifle and followed.

### Chapter 4

She probably has a lot on her mind, Charley guessed as he placed the rifle on the pegs. He picked up a chair and turned it back to Clair where she sat on the rocker with Belle on her lap. He straddled the chair leaning on the back.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you...?" Clair began.

"She taught me. Maybe it's because I spend so much time settin' on a horse. Or maybe I just need to put a fence between you an' me right now. Clair, I want you to hear me out." It was the first time he used her first name. "I want to tell you about me. I come from a big family. I'm the youngest of ten. Pa had six kids with his first wife. Then he married Ma and there're four more.

"When Pa died, he left the farm to my oldest half-brother. He put Ma and the four of us kids out with no place to go. Ma found a one-room shack just outside of town. We didn't have nothin' but what she had before she married Pa. But she promised us that she'd see that we were fed. She said she'd do anything that was moral, ethical or legal to see that we was took care of even if she had to clean privies. She never had to do that but she did just about anything else.

"She took in washin's; she sewed; took care of other people's kids; cleaned; helped with layin' by an' anything else that would earn a dime. My one brother was fifteen. He got a job cleanin' stables. My other brother swept up at the general store. Me an' my sister went to school.

"When the war came, Jimmy joined up. Ma didn't want him to but he was seventeen an' generally did what he wanted. He never come home. Ma learned later he was killed in battle. By then Johnny was growed up and he married a girl and they moved to Missouri. My sister quit school to help Ma earn what she could. When she turned seventeen she got married. I was fifteen. When I wasn't helpin' Ma I was doin' whatever odd jobs I could around town.

"Then Ma got married again. To a doctor. I was kinda put out about it at first. But Doc talked to me about Ma workin' so hard all her life. He said she earned a chance to take it easy for a spell. Besides that, they loved each other. When I was sixteen, my baby sister was born. That's how I learned to change diapers. A year later I went to work for a horse rancher in Kansas. I been all around these western states an' territories.

"Yesterday I got a letter from Doc sayin' Ma died. I knowed she had cancer. I meant to go see her again before she died. I just never got around to it an' now it's too late. It won't make no difference if I go back to Nebraska an' stand there lookin' down at her grave. But I can make a difference here. I know how hard it is to make a go of it for a woman alone with kids to raise. An' you ain't near town where you can take in washin' and sewin'

"Marry me, Clair. I ain't a mean man. I'll treat you an' the kids good. An' I'll protect you from the likes of Beecher."

"I...I must think about it. It's only been a month since Tom died."

Charley stood up and put the chair back at the table. "I ain't gonna rush you none. An' even if you say no, I'll still help with things like gettin' firewood and cleanin' stables. The heavy work. But it'd be better if I was here in case Beecher or some of his owlhoots come around. Well, Simon, we still got wood to get in before the afternoon's shot."

After they went out, Cara said to her mother, "Mama, Daddy's never coming back. We need someone to take care of us. I know you tried but you can't do it alone."

"Cara, I know you mean well but there is more to marriage than just helping each other out. There's sleeping together and..." Clair figured she'd better quit that line of reasoning. Her thirteen-year-old daughter wouldn't understand it. She fumbled around in her mind for another way. "We don't even know if he's trustworthy."

"Mama! Yesterday you trusted him with your life. He brought you home safe." Tears trickled down Cara's cheeks. "Mama, I'm scared of Beecher. If Charley was here..."

Clair's heart ached for her daughter. She knew everything Charley had told her was true. She could see it in his gray eyes. "He said he'd help even if I don't marry him."

"But what if Beecher comes back when he's not here?"

Clair stood up and set Belle on the rocking chair. "See if you can rock her to sleep." Without putting on her coat, Clair went out the door. If she was going to do it, she had to do it quick.

She stopped to watch as Charley swung the ax. The chunk of wood split apart. There was no doubt that he was strong. She walked over where they worked. "Simon, take that wood in and stay inside a while."

"Why,,,?"

"Just do it." After the door closed behind Simon, she looked at Charley and said, "Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"I'll marry you."

A grin spread across his face making him look almost handsome. Two steps brought him up to her and he encircled her with his arms. This time she allowed him to kiss her, a long tender kiss. She could hear a scraping sound and knew immediately what it was. One of the children was scraping the frost from the window.

"Let me see, too," Simon tried to push his older sister away. "What are they doing?"

"He's kissing her," Cara answered. "I guess that means she's going to marry him."

"Oh, goody!" Simon crowed. "I wonder if he'll let me call him Pa."

Clair stepped back, "How soon do you want to do this?"

"As soon as I can get sled runners built under that wagon box. Is it okay with you if I move in now? Just in case Beecher comes back. I won't sleep with you until after we're married. Speakin' of which, are we gonna sleep together?"

"Yes. I could hardly take advantage of your help and protection without giving you the other benefits of marriage."

"I'm gonna go get my gear an' other two mares. I'll be back as quick as I can." He headed for the barn to saddle Midnight.

Clair turned back to the cabin hoping she wasn't making a mistake. She faced three expectant children.

"What did you tell him?" Cara asked with bated breath.

"I said yes," Clair informed them. "Charley will be your step-father. I expect you treat him with the respect he deserves."

***

Pete came trotting up when Charley swung out of the saddle. "It took you long enough to deliver that food."

Charley turned to walk toward the ranch house leading Midnight. "I come to tell the boss I quit."

"Quit what?"

"Workin' on the Rockin' M. I'm gettin' married to Clair Jenkins."

"The hell you say. I ain't gonna let you do it. That woman's takin' advantage of you."

"Mind your own business, Pete."

"It is my business. You're my best friend."

Charley stopped walking and rounded on him. "It ain't her that's takin' advantage."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. I ain't gettin' no younger. This may be my last chance to have a wife an' family."

"Yeah, but what do you get out of it?"

Charley grinned and started walking again. "A beautiful wife that knows how to cook, a ready-made family an' an unproved claim of one hundred and sixty acres I can turn into a horse ranch. I always wanted my own spread and I can't pass this up."

****

After supper, Belle was fussy because she hadn't taken a nap that afternoon. Charley sat in the rocking chair with the baby on his lap while Clair and Cara did the dishes. Simon was reluctantly working on the arithmetic problems he had abandoned earlier in the day.

Charley reached in his shirt pocket and brought out a harmonica and began to play a slow melancholy tune.

"That sounds like a funeral dirge," Clair remarked.

"I guess it is, sorta." He began to sing softly the words of "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie."

Belle was delighted with the music but she wanted Charley to play the harmonica instead of singing. She took hold of the harmonica and tried to blow into it.

"You ain't got enough wind," Charley told her. "You're just gettin' it full of spit." He tapped the instrument against his denim covered thigh to knock out the moisture. Then he began to play a livelier tune.

Simon was paying more attention to what was going on around him than to his school work. "Do you play the guitar, too?" Simon alluded to the instrument in Belle's crib. That's where Clair had put it to keep Belle from playing with it.

Charley grinned. "No. I've just been totin' it all over the west 'cause it makes me look smart. Don't you think you should be tendin' to your studies?" Belle leaned back in his arms and was soon asleep.

"I've been trying to get her to take a nap all day. Here you hold her for a half hour and she's out."

"I have that effect on people," Charley said. "Especially the ladies."

In the morning after the chores were done, Charley told Clair. "I'm goin' huntin'. That little bit of meat in the smokehouse ain't gonna last long."

"Can I go, too?" Simon begged.

"Nope. You can stay here an' do your school work. I'm goin' on horseback an' I don't need you gettin' in the way." He reached up and took down Clair's Winchester. "I hope you don't mind me usin' this. I ain't got many shells for my old Henry." That old Henry was another special thing that Charley kept because it was given to him by an old horse rancher in Kansas. That rancher had given Charley his first mare--Mabel. Midnight was her first foal.

Charley came back just as Clair was trying to decide what to make for dinner. He kicked the door and yelled, "Open up!"

Simon was the first one to the door. Charley came in carrying the bloody heart and liver from a deer. "I'm gonna need some help butcherin' that deer."

Simon immediately volunteered. "I can help."

"You ain't big enough. I'm gonna need your Ma's help."

When he hung the last piece of meat in the smokehouse, Charley asked, "How's the firewood holdin' up?"

"There is enough until tomorrow," Clair answered.

"I want to start on them sled runners tomorrow. Send Simon out. I'll split as much wood as I can till time to do the chores."

In the morning he instructed Clair, "Put on a pair of Tom's britches. That snow's too deep to be trippin' around in a skirt. Simon, you come outside with me so your Ma can change." The boy followed his future step-father to the wagon shed where Charley took down the two-man saw. "Your Pa bought one of them new ones that cuts both ways," he observed.

"Charley, after you and Mama get married, can I call you Pa?"

Charley grinned down at him. "It's okay with me. Ask your Ma."

Clair followed Charley's footprints through knee-deep snow to a huge cottonwood tree about a hundred yards up the slope from the cabin. It had a low limb that had just the right curve for sled runners. Because of her shorter stature, he sawed it on a slant where she was pulling downward and he was pulling up.

"Let your weight do some of the work," he advised. When it was sawn almost through he instructed her to move back. "In case it rolls when it comes loose." He finished sawing it free from the tree. Then they sawed off the length he wanted.

"I'm gonna go get the horses," he said. "I'm ain't workin' no harder'n I have to."

Through the remainder of the day and most of Friday, he worked at shaping and fitting the runners. When Clair went to the spring for a bucket of water, he had the horses hitched to the wagon-turned-sled and he and Simon went for a ride to try it out.

He came to the cabin a short time later as she was peeling potatoes for supper to tell her, "It's done. Tomorrow we can get married."

### Chapter 5

Saturday morning, they all hurried around to get dressed in their best as soon as the breakfast dishes were done. Clair hung a sheet on one of her clotheslines to give her and Cara some privacy as they changed clothes. Clair wore a blue serge suit with high heeled button up shoes. Cara was dressed in a plum colored shift.

Clair was surprised to see Charley dressed in a white shirt topped by a black vest. He wore black pants tucked into shiny black high heeled boots. "Can you help me tie this danged thing?" he asked her of his string tie.

Clair considered it too cold for Simon to wear his good knee length pants. "Wear your overalls," his mother told him. Clair dressed Belle in a pretty pink dress with smocking and long sleeves. She had made wet proof pants of left over oil cloth. After she packed a bag with dry diapers and a change of clothes for the little girl, they were ready to leave.

Charley banked the fire in hopes that it wouldn't burn out before they returned. With an armful of blankets, he headed out to hitch the horses. Cara and Simon sat in the box of the sled swathed in a blanket. Simon didn't like it that he had to snuggle up with his sister to keep warm but Charley ordered that he do so.

Belle protested to being confined to her mother's lap by a blanket wrapped around them. Charley laid a blanket across his knees and started the horses moving. The closer they got to town the more tense Clair became. How could she be sure she was doing the right thing? She just had an uneasy feeling that it was going to be a bad day.

Charley first stopped at the wheelwright to throw off the broken wagon wheel. "Can you fix this, Matt?"

"Looks like someone took an ax to it," Matt returned. "How soon do ya need it?"

"By the time the snow melts."

Charley climbed back aboard the sled and drove to the bank. "I'll only be a couple of minutes but I gotta get some money." When he came back he drove to the justice of the peace. They found the justice sitting in his office drinking coffee with the town marshal. "Howdy, Homer, Solly. We want to get married."

Solomon Murdock the marshal said, "I knew there was a good reason for me to stop by this morning. I'll be the best man."

"Wait'll I go get the old lady to be the other witness," Homer Page said.

"What about a ring?" Charley asked. He'd forgotten that.

Clair slipped off her gloves and slid the gold band from her finger. "If you have no objections to using Tom's."

"I'd be honored," Charley replied. "Tom was a good man."

The kids found seats and Belle was put in Cara's charge. The little girl threw a fit at being held. "DaDa! DaDa!" she screamed.

When the short ceremony was over, Charley kissed his bride and went to take Belle from her sister. "She pooped," Cara said and wrinkled her nose at the smell.

"Come with me," Mrs. Page said and led Clair from the room. "That comes with the baby."

The reaction of what she'd done was hitting Clair. She had just wed a man she didn't love and there was no turning back. That night he would be sleeping in her bed and somehow she would have to get through it for her children's sake. Tom, I hope you realize why I did this.

Charley drove the sled to the hotel where they went to the dining room. "Howdy, Kate," he greeted the owner's wife who ran the restaurant part of the hotel. "A table for five and a high chair for one of 'em. Me an' Clair just got married."

"Well, congratulations. I hope you don't plan on eating bean soup for your wedding dinner."

He grinned at her. "What do you got?"

"How about turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, and apple pie for dessert?

"Sounds good to me. How about you, Clair?"

"Whatever you want. The baby must have hers cut fine. And could you bring applesauce for her instead of pie."

"I know how to fix a baby's meal," Kate told her. "Got five of my own. Course they're all growed up now. And I'd guess you need a towel for a bib."

"Yes. Thank you."

Charley carried the high chair from along the wall and set it at a table with four chairs around it. The high chair was placed so that Belle would be between him and Clair. "Simon, hold your sister's chair for her."

"Why?"

"Cause that's what a gentleman does." Charley demonstrated by seating Clair.

By the time he sat down, Kate was bringing their plates. "Where do you want the baby's?"

"Here by me. She likes to play in her food if you let her have her own plate."

Belle wasn't satisfied with that arrangement and let them know it. "Me! Me!" she yelled. Then she changed it to "DaDa!"

Clair passed the plate to Charley who gave the little girl a bit a mashed potatoes to keep her quiet until the rest had their plates. Then he said a brief blessing and they began to eat.

"Clair, that older couple over there along the wall keeps lookin' this way. If looks could kill, we'd be dead."

"They probably don't like Belle's tantrums." Clair looked around and her face went pale. "That's Tom's parents."

"Simon, stand up," Charley came to his feet. "Here comes your grandmother."

Darlene Jenkins bore down on their table with a look of vengeance. She was a petite woman in a stylish dark green dress with a cameo broach pinned to the lace around her neck. Her blue eyes held hate.

Clair turned red as she stood up and greeted her former mother-in-law with a stammered, "I'm sorry but you didn't need to come. You could have just sent the money."

"You'll not see a penny from me, you shameless hussy. I came to take the children back to Pennsylvania to raise them as they should be raised. Tom is hardly cold in his grave and you have gone and married up with this...this cowboy. You aren't fit to raise my son's children."

Charley leaned forward over the table. "You will take these children over my dead body."

Mrs. Jenkins stepped back and drew herself up. "Well! Perhaps that could be arranged."

"If you want the kids, take us to court. Otherwise, just go let us eat in peace," Charley shot back.

Clair looked from Charley to Mrs. Jenkins and back just as Belle banged her spoon on the table and said, "DaDa,"

"Just wait a minute, sweetheart," Charley responded. "Daddy's busy right now."

"You are not her father!" Darlene Jenkins shook her husband's hand from her arm as he tried to pull her away.

"She don't know that," Charley shot back.

"Darlene, you are causing a scene," her husband said as he took her arm.

"I don't care. Everyone in this town should know what kind of woman she is." She turned on Clair. "Harlot! Whore!"

"I never..."

The marshal interrupted. "Ma'am, just go set down an' let these people eat their dinner."

"Who do you think you are?"

He pointed to the badge on his coat. "I'm the marshal in this here town. If you don't settle down and let these folks alone, I'm gonna arrest you for disturbin' the peace an' put you in jail."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I dare an' I will. Now go be quiet."

"I'll see you in court, Mr...."

"Hampton," Charley told her. "Charles Hampton."

With head in the air, she swept from the room.

Mr. Jenkins turned to Clair. "I'm sorry. I would have sent you the money but once she got her hands on the letter she wouldn't have rest until we came west. I shall try to do what I can to delay any proceedings." He turned to Charley. "Can you afford a lawyer?"

"Yep. I got a real good lawyer. She'll learn she ain't in Pennsylvania no more."

Clair had to force her food down but Charley insisted she eat it because he was paying good money for it. Afterward she felt nauseated.

"Now we go to the store for supplies an' then home. This ain't the best trip to town I ever had. Tom's folks kinda spoilt what was supposed to be a happy day."

Once inside the store Charley told the children, "You can each pick one thing whilst your Ma an' me get the supplies."

Simon went straight for the cowboy hats and was disappointed when they were all too big for him. He selected a pair of boots similar to the ones Charley wore but with flat heels. "It'd be better if you picked a pair that you can wear everyday around the farm." Charley picked up a pair of plain brown ones. "Try these on."

Simon looked up with a grin. "They fit. Can I wear them home?"

"Go tell Mr. Holmes to put 'em on my bill. An' don't forgit your shoes."

Cara selected a pair of black leather gloves lined with rabbit fur. She went to the counter for the storekeeper to see what she had. Then she put them on.

Belle was throwing a fit because her mother wouldn't put her down to run through the store. "Let me have her," Charley said. "You have enough to do." While Clair went around gathering up the things she needed, Charley tended to Belle. The little girl spied a rag doll that she wanted. Charley got it and took her to the counter so Mr. Holmes could add it to his purchases.

When they headed for home, Clair was silent for quite a while. She was plainly mulling over her former mother-in-law's threat. At last she asked, "Do you really have a lawyer?"

"Yep. I gotta write him a letter to come a runnin'. He told me if I ever needed him just to let him know. I wonder how long it takes for a letter to get to Texas."

Clair lapsed back into silence. Belle quit fighting over being wrapped in the blanket and went to sleep. In the back Cara and Simon were arguing over who had the most of the blanket beneath which they huddled.

"Won't be long now," Charley said as he turned the horses onto the trail that led to home. Clair was grateful when he drew rein by the cabin door.

Cara and Simon climbed out of the back. As soon as Clair moved, Belle woke up and Clair felt the wetness seeping out around the edges of the oilcloth diaper cover. Charley took Belle and gave her to Cara. He reached up to help Clair down. "Go unlock the door. Simon, you can help carry in these supplies an' then we gotta do the chores."

Clair unlocked the door and turned the knob. As the door swung open, she screamed and stepped back, shaken by what she saw. Charley rushed to her side and looked past her. Over the table hung a dead coyote dripping blood onto the red and white checked oilcloth.

### Chapter 6

"That son of a bitch!" Charley brushed past Clair and grabbed a butcher knife from the rack on the end of the storage shelves. He cut the rope that held the dead coyote which fell onto the table.

Cara brought Belle to their mother. "She's wet." She really wanted to see what made her mother scream.

"So am I," Clair said as she took the baby.

Charley heaved the dead coyote out the door and snapped, "Get that baby inside and shut the door." He went to the fireplace and dug around in the dead ashes to find a few hot coals into which he shoved a couple sticks of kindling. "Cara, you an' Simon start carrying in the lighter stuff while I drag that coyote out away from the buildin's"

Clair laid Belle on the bed to change her diaper and dress her in dry clothes. "Don't set anything on the table where that blood is," she called to Simon and Cara. "I'll clean it up as soon as I change clothes." That morning she left the sheet hanging from the clothes lines. She sat down on the bed to unbutton her high-heeled shoes and take them off. Then she undressed and put on a pair of Tom's jeans and a blue plaid flannel shirt. She slipped her stocking feet into her cold slippers.

She carried Belle to the rocking chair and ordered, "Stay there." She rolled up her sleeves and filled the tin wash basin with water to scrub up the blood from the table. She was cleaning the oil cloth that hung over the side of the table when Charley came in with a shovel and scooped up the bloody soil beside the table.

The kindling he put in the coals caught and Clair added more kindling and small wood to get a fire going that would be hot enough to heat the cabin and cook a meal. Belle slid off the rocking and headed for the door. "DaDa."

Charley almost walked over her when he came in with a box of canned goods. "Get this baby out of the way!"

Clair carried her back to the rocking chair. "If you don't stay there, I'll spank you."

"No!" Belle yelled at her. "DaDa!"

"Daddy's busy right now. Stay out of his way so you don't get stepped on." Clair knew Charley was angry over what they had come home to.

Cara brought in the blankets they had used to keep warm and dumped them on the bed. "Charley went to unhitch the horses."

"He should change to his old clothes first." Clair was preoccupied thinking what she could make for supper. The winter sun had set already and darkness was settling over the land.

Charley came in to change his clothes. "Cara, you just stay turned around."

Belle slid off the rocking chair and ran to him. "DaDa."

He set her on the bed. "Now you just set down and be good till I get dressed. Then me an' Simon gotta go do the chores."

He pulled on a dark green wool shirt and Levis. He didn't bother with his chaps or gunbelt since he was going out only long enough to care for the livestock. He hung his gunbelt on the bed post and carried Belle back to the rocking chair. "Now you just set there an' be good for Mama while we go do the chores."

"Cara, please make some biscuits while I peel some potatoes." Clair got a pan to take potatoes from the bin. "There's some of that venison I roasted for supper last night. I can just make hash and milk gravy to go with it. Maybe open a couple of jars of peaches. That should be enough."

Charley was quiet and thoughtful through supper. While Cara and Clair did the dishes, he sat in the rocking chair holding Belle but he didn't play his harmonica or guitar even though Belle let him know she wanted him to. "Just go to sleep, baby."

When she fell asleep, he carried her to her crib and went back to the rocking chair. "Simon, pull off my boots. I think I'll turn in." He went back to the bed and lay down.

Cara wasn't happy about the new sleeping arrangements. She didn't want to trade a warm bed for a dirt floor.

"He is my husband," Clair said quietly so Charley couldn't hear. "You wanted it this way, now put up with it. He sleeps in the bed; you sleep on the ground."

It brought to the fore thoughts that she, too, would be sleeping in that bed and she would have to give Charley all the benefits of marriage. She braced herself mentally. She would get through it somehow. The first time would be the worst.

When the children were bedded down, she sat at the table reading her Bible by the light of the coal oil lamp. She thanked God and Charley for the coal oil. It reminded her of the reason she had married him: to provide for her family.

When she was sure the children were asleep, she went back to the curtained off area. Charley lay on his back next to the wall. He turned toward her as she began to disrobe. She could not see him clearly because little light from the fire penetrated the sheet hung up for privacy, but she heard him draw in a deep breath when she took off her chemise and was naked to the waist. She put on her night gown but left it unbuttoned. Then she slid out of her jeans and drawers together. She sat down on the bed to remove her stockings. Then she slipped beneath the blanket and quilt.

Charley reached out to touch her cheek as she turned toward him. "You're gonna have to teach me, Clair. I ain't never been in bed with a woman before."

"How old are you?" They kept their voices low so they wouldn't wake the children.

"Thirty-four."

"I don't believe you."

"I got a birth certificate..."

"I mean I don't believe that you've never been in bed with a woman before. The way you kissed me..."

"I didn't say I never kissed a woman before. I just didn't go to bed with any of 'em. I wanted to but I didn't." He went on to explain, "When I left home at seventeen, my step-pa told me about goin' to bed with whores. About the kind of diseases one can get. An' I've been in a lot of bunkhouses around the west. I know about some of the men that got them diseases. I didn't want that so I waited till I found the kind of woman I could trust."

"Very well." Clair thought about where to start. Kissing, she guessed. Charley liked that. She began to unbutton his union suit. Then she put his hand on her breast. His kisses became more passionate. She ran a hand over his hairy chest until she found his male nipple. She teased him by running her thumb over it. He did the same to her and lit a spark deep inside her.

She slid her hand down to touch him intimately. He drew in a deep breath. "Oh, Clair. I wanta do it now."

Once he was over her and penetrated her, he whispered, "You don't gotta show me no more."

When it was over she pulled a clean diaper from beneath her pillow to put between her legs to soak up the semen. She knew about men and was prepared.

"Clair, that was plumb wonderful. Now that I know what it's like, I gotta make up for lost time."

She felt the tears coming on and couldn't stop them. "Tom..." The floodgates opened.

Charley held her in his arms and gently rubbed her back. "I got a feelin' this was a long time in comin'. You ain't done with your grievin' yet. I understand."

Knowing that he understood mattered, but it didn't stop the tears. She scooted to the chest at the foot of the bed where the pile of folded diapers was and got one for in lieu of a handkerchief. When she finally got herself under control, she turned her back to Charley and slid back against him. He put his arm around her and was soon snoring.

Sleep was a long time in coming to Clair. She couldn't get it out of her mind that her former mother-in-law planned to take away her children. But she had a champion. She knew Charley meant it when he told Darlene Jenkins that she would take the children over his dead body. The events of the day left her emotionally drained and at last exhaustion claimed her.

After breakfast in the morning, they held a devotional service. Clair read the Bible and Charley prayed. Then they sang hymns as Charley played his guitar. Belle didn't like it because she couldn't sit on his lap while he played so she cried against his knee. He finally gave his guitar to Clair to put away and lifted up the little girl. "I can't hold you every minute," he explained. "You're gonna have to get used to that."

After dinner, Charley said, "I'm goin' for a walk. I need to do some thinkin'." He reached up and took down the Winchester. "I hope you don't mind if I take this along. I heard wolves last night."

"You don't need to ask," Clair said with a smile.

"I belongs to you," Charley reasoned. "So I ask."

Clair tried to rock Belle to sleep but the baby wouldn't cooperate. "DaDa." she said.

"Daddy's outside," Clair explained. But Belle refused to go to sleep so Clair put her down to play with the rag doll Daddy bought her the day before.

"Beby," Belle said as she held up the doll.

About an hour later, Charley opened the door. "Clair, put on your coat an' come out here." When she stepped out the door, Charley continued, "I didn't wanta say nothin' in front of the kids but there was someone watchin' the cabin this mornin', Up there where we cut that limb off that cottonwood. It wasn't Beecher. This hombre left a track 'most as big as mine. Could be one of Beecher's men though. I just wanted to tell you." Before they went back inside he stole a kiss.

That evening he sat at the table to write letters by the lamplight that also served for Clair and Cara to see to do the dishes.

Dear Manuel, You told me to give a holler if I ever need a lawyer. I need one now. I married this widow with three kids. Her 1st husbans folks cum west to take them away back east. I told them to take me to court. If they do that Ill need your help. When you get to town, stop at the hotel an ask Kat how to find me. Pleas cum. Charley Hampton.

He laid the first letter aside for the ink to dry as he started on the second one: Dear Doc, I am truly sorry for not bein there when Ma died. I ment to. I just put it off to long. Forgive me. I married a widow with three kids. Youd love her Doc. She reel pretty. An she can cook to. I know she don't love me. Its only been a month since her 1st husban died. Cara is 13. She helps her ma a lot. Simon is almost 10. He is a good kid. Bell is the babe. She is just over 1 yr. old. I love her like my own. She calls me Dada. I don't see any way I can get away from here any time soon.  
Give my love to my sisters. Rite to me. Charley.

When the letters were folded and in envelopes, Charley put them in his coat pocket. "I'll have to go to town tomorrow to mail 'em."

"Can I go along?" Simon asked.

Charley thought about it. "We'll see in the mornin'. I'm ready to go to bed."

In the morning Simon pleaded with his stepfather to go along. "Ask your Ma. If she says it's okay, it is."

"What about your studies?" Clair asked.

"I'll study real hard to make up for it. Please let me go," Simon begged.

"It'll be one less kid you gotta put up with while your tryin' to do the wash," Charley reasoned.

"All right but you must make good on that promise to study hard to make up for it." Clair figured she'd have enough to do to put up with Belle who had grown unruly when her DaDa wasn't around.

Simon climbed up on the barnyard fence to get up behind Charley on Midnight. As they rode along he plied his stepfather with questions. "Will you buy me a cowboy hat?"

"I just bought you boots. Maybe I'll get you a hat in the spring. How'd you like to have a horse of your own?"

"That would grand," Simon crowed.

"When the mares foal I'll let you pick one. Mr. Millgrove gets first pick. After that you get the next choice. How do you like that?" Charley suddenly jerked as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the air. "I'm shot." He turned Midnight around and Simon could see blood soaking through his coat.

### Chapter 7

"Can't stay in the saddle." Charley was leaned forward holding on to the saddle horn. "Slide off, Simon."

Simon did as he was told and Charley kicked out of the stirrups and allowed himself to fall in a snow drift. Simon ran around the horse and leaned over him. Charley's eyes were closed and Simon thought he was dead. "Pa!"

Charley opened his eyes and reached up to take Simon's mittened hand. "Move them stirrups high as you can get them." Talking took almost too much effort but he had to stay awake until he told Simon what to do. "Get on that horse an' ride to..." Charley was losing consciousness. "Rockin' M. Get...help."

"I don't want to leave you here alone," Simon cried.

"Go," Charley whispered and his eyes closed.

Simon was so scared his hands shook as he adjusted the stirrups. He knotted the reins together, slipped them over Midnight's head and hooked them over the saddle horn. He got a good grip on the saddle horn and the cantle and hoisted himself up until he got a foot in the stirrup. Once in the saddle he bumped Midnight with his foot and started him moving.

When he got more comfortable in the saddle, Simon kicked the horse in the ribs to make him run. As if he perceived the urgency of the situation, Midnight ran as fast as he could through the deep snow. He seemed to know where he was going so Simon just hung on to the saddle horn and prayed.

When he got to the ranch, he saw a small group of men over by a corral talking. He rode up and yelled, "Pa's been shot!"

Pete Davis grabbed the reins and asked, "Where?"

Simon pointed to the directions from which he'd come. "He told me to come here for help."

"Get off and let me have your horse." Pete reached up to take the reins.

"No!" Simon cried. "I got to get back to Pa."

Pete didn't quibble about it. He knew time was of the essence but when he tried to step up to the stirrup, it was too high. "Hank, gimme a hand up. Then go hitch up the sleigh. Wally, go tell the boss." He turned Midnight around and kicked him in the flanks.

"Where is he?" he asked the boy.

"I'll show you. He tried to stay in the saddle but couldn't." Simon still could see his stepfather sprawled in the snow, bleeding.

Pete was off the horse as soon as he reined him in. "Charley!" Pete knelt in the snow and took off his gloves to feel for a pulse. "He's still alive."

Charley opened his eyes. "Pete. I knowed you'd come."

Pete unknotted the kerchief around Charley's neck. "The boys are comin' with the sleigh to take you to the doc." He filled the neckerchief with snow and placed it between Charley's coat and his shirt. "The cold might slow down the bleedin'."

Charley was awake and seemed lucid but Pete worried that he had already lost too much blood.

"Take Simon home." Charley paused as if he forgot what he was going to say. "Stay with Clair an' the kids till I get home. How bad is it?"

"It's high. I think your collarbone's busted so don't try to move your left arm. You ain't blowin' no blood bubbles so it musta missed your lung. Here come the boys now. Looks like the boss himself drivin' the sleigh. Hank an' Wally are with him."

They bundled Charley in a couple of blankets and lifted him into the sleigh. "Hank, you stay here," Millgrove ordered. "Wally, you come with me."

Pete readjusted the stirrups on Midnight's saddle and climbed aboard. "Hank, lift Simon up behind. I'm takin' him home. See if you can find where he was shot an' look around for where the bushwacker was hidin'. Maybe you can trail him."

"If I find him, can I shoot him?"

"I don't give a damn. Save somethin' for Charley. If you can capture him, take him in to Solly so's he can lock him up." They separated at the fork in the road.

****

"Why must you always misbehave when I am washing clothes?" Clair demanded of her youngest. The little girl was crying because Mama spanked her for standing under the dripping water from the clothes on the lines strung across the cabin. Clair had just changed her to dry clothes. "That is your last clean diaper so you must tell me if you need to pee."

Clair was dressed in Tom's brown pants and a brown plaid shirt. Charley had told her ranch women often wore pants around home because it was easier for them to get around. She adopted the idea because she liked the freedom of movement it afforded her.

The door knob rattled and someone knocked on the door. Then Simon called out, "Mama, open the door."

Clair ran to the door. She knew something had happened for Simon to be outside. There hadn't been enough time for them to go to town and back. She ran to the door and shot back the bolt. Simon walked in followed by Pete.

"Who are you?" Clair asked.

"Pete Davis."

"Pa's been shot," Simon said.

Clair felt the blood drain away from her face. Pete grabbed her and set her down on a chair at the table.

"Mrs. Jenkins...Mrs. Hampton," he corrected. "Charley ain't dead. The boss an' Wally took him to the doc. He told me to fetch Simon home an' stay here with you till he gets home."

Clair drew a deep breath as she recovered her senses. "How bad?"

"He's got a busted collarbone an' he's lost a lot of blood. If they get him there in time, he'll be all right in a couple or three weeks."

Clair drew a deep breath and stood up. "I must get this washing finished. Simon, change from those bloody pants so I can wash them." She needed to think of the mundane to keep going. That was what she did after Tom died.

"Can I get a little of your wash water to get the blood off my chaps?" Pete asked. "An' I gotta wash the blood off Charley's saddle an' Midnight. Me an' Charley go back a ways." Pete thought if he kept talking it would make it easier for her. "If not for him I might be dead." She seemed to be all right so he went out to wash the saddle and horse.

"You promised to study real hard when you got home," Mama reminded Simon.

"How can I study with everything that's on my mind?" the boy asked.

Pete came back inside in time to hear Simon's question. "Simon's a real hero. He come to the ranch for help. If not for him, Charley could be dead by now."

Clair looked at her son. She didn't want him to get a swelled head because of Pete's praise. "I will let you off the hook for today but tomorrow you must study. You know what Charley told you."

"I gotta go unsaddle Midnight an' put him up." Pete went back outside. When he came back in, he wasn't alone. "Mrs. Hampton, this here's Hank Simms. He works on the Rockin' M, too."

"I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Simms." Clair wrung out Simon's jeans and tossed them in the clothes basket.

"If you're done with that water, me an' Hank can empty it for you," Pete offered.

"I would appreciate that." Clair carried the basket of wet clothes to the lines. There stood Belle under the dripping clothes. Clair gave her a swat across her diapered behind. "Get over there on that rocking chair and don't you get off of it until I tell you."

Belle began screaming at the top of her lungs. Cara got her and carried her to the rocker where she sat down to hold the squirming baby.

"Simon, you can help me by handing me the clothes." Clair stepped up to the chair she used and reached down for an article of clothing and the clothespins.

"You don't hafta do that, Miz Hampton," Hank drawled. "I can reach them lines without a chair." And he could. He was every bit as tall as Charley but leaner. "All it'll cost you is dinner."

Clair stepped down and put the chair back at the table. "I think can manage that. I have venison stew cooking."

"I know. It smells good."

"Charley said she's a good cook," Pete said. "What's wrong with the baby?"

"I smacked her little behind because she won't stay out from under those dripping clothes." Clair got out what she needed to make biscuits.

"Give her to me," Pete said to Cara. He took Belle and sat down with her on his lap.

Belle quit crying and looked up at the man who held her. "DaDa?"

It was a question. Pete told her, "Your daddy's hurt. He won't be back for a while."

Hank set the empty clothes basket in the empty wooden tub. "I hope the boss stops back to tell us how Charley is." He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down to roll a smoke.

Clair wished they would find someplace else to do their talking. They were in her way. As if he read her mind, Hank said, "If I'm in your way, tell me. I'll move."

"You're in my way," Clair said.

Hank moved his chair to the side of the rocking chair. "You got any coffee?"

"I'll make some for dinner. Charley drank what was left from breakfast."

"Charley likes his coffee," Pete said.

"Show me a cowhand that don't," Hank added.

After dinner Hank complimented Clair on her cooking. "It's even better'n Jerky's."

"Who's Jerky?" Simon asked.

"The cook over at the Rockin' M," Pete said. "He got his nickname from the jerky he makes."

"What's jerky?" the boy asked.

"Dried beef or venison. Jerky uses venison most. He has his own recipe for seasonin' an' he won't tell no one what it is. He makes regular an' hot."

"I like the hot," Hank said.

"That's 'cause you spent too much time in Texas," Pete rejoined.

"That could be 'cause I was born there." Hank downed the rest of his coffee and stood up. "I think I'll go take a walk around the place for a look see if anyone's sneakin' around. Do you care if I use that carbine, Miz Hampton?"

"I don't mind." Clair poured hot water in the dishpan to get started on the dirty dishes.

Pete sat in the rocking chair and Belle climbed up on his lap. As he rocked her, he spoke to Clair. "She reminds me of my little girl. Sally'd be about twelve by now. I ain't seen her for more'n two years. Her Ma took it in her head that she didn't want to be married to a cowboy no more an' run off with another man. Charley helped me get through that. I owe him a lot that can't be figgered in money."

When Hank returned he hung the Winchester back on the rack and tuned to ask Clair, "Did Charley say anything last night about goin' to town today?'

"Why yes. He said he had to take those letters in to mail them. Simon asked to go along but Charley put him off until this morning."

"There was someone outside that window." He pointed to the window behind the flour bin. "That's how he knew that Charley'd be goin' to town today. It's a good thing he took Simon along or he'd prob'bly bled to death before anybody found him."

"Mrs. Hampton," Pete said. "I ain't one to be tellin' others what to do but if it was me, I'd be a-wearin' that gun belt. You might just need it before this is all said an' done."

"Perhaps I shall after you leave. I don't like having guns within the children's reach."

"I ain't goin' nowhere," Pete asserted. "Charley told me to stay here until he gets home an' that's what I'm gonna do."

"I reckon I should mosey along home." Hank opened the door and stepped outside. He came right back in. "Here comes the boss with Charley."

When they entered the cabin, Clair demanded, "Charles amptonHaHampton, what are you doing here?"

"I live here. Leastways I did when I left here this mornin'."

"That's not what I meant," returned Clair. "Why aren't you in town where the doctor can take care of you?"

"Help me out of my coat."

Clair unbuttoned the blood soaked coat and let it fall away from his left shoulder as she pulled the sleeve from his right arm. His shirt was soaked with blood both in front and behind. She tossed the bloody coat on the dirt floor.

"I gotta set down." Charley put his hand on her shoulder for support as they walked to the rocking chair by the fire. Belle came running to tug on his chaps. "DaDa!"

Charley sat down hard as if his legs would no longer hold him. Belle immediately tried to climb up on his lap. "Set her up here."

Clair set the little girl on his lap and Charley held her there with his right hand. "I had to come," he told Clair. "I had to know you an' the kids are all right. An' I had to tell you I love you. Kiss me."

Clair was astounded that he spoke so candidly in front of the men but she leaned and kissed him.

Hal Millgrove set a brown bottle on the table. "Here's that laudanum the doc gave you for pain. I have to be going. I assume Pete is staying here."

"Just a minute, Hal," Charley said. "I want you to take Clair an' the kids over to your place until we're sure that bastard ain't comin' back to finish the job."

"I'm not going anywhere," Clair declared. "Take the children though I don't know what you'll do about diapers. All of Belle's are on the lines and she's wearing a towel."

"Meg has lots of baby clothes. She still wears diapers on Danny at night," Hal assured her.

"Belle'll bawl for you," Charley asserted.

"More than likely she'll cry for you. Cara can handle her." Clair began to gather together what the children would need and put it in a flour sack.

Simon protested when she put his schoolbooks in the sack. She fixed him with an even stare. "You promised you would study. Promises are meant to be kept." She handed the sack to Hal.

"That ain't all," Charley said. "I want you to take the horses an' cow, too. Just in case someone takes it in his head to burn the barn. I got a bad feelin' about all this. I think Beecher's behind it."

"Now how do you expect me to drive seven horses an' a cow by myself?" Hank asked.

"Six," Charley corrected. "Saddle Midnight for Simon. He knows how to ride. He can help you. Once you get Mabel movin' behind the sleigh, the other mares'll follow. I don't know about the team or the cow. If you can't handle that, Hal's payin' for more'n he's gettin'."

Simon was excited to be trusted to do "cowboy work." He followed a grumbling Hank to the barn. Clair stuffed Belle into her coat and wrapped her in a blanket. She screamed her protest at being taken from Charley's lap. "Behave yourself," Clair ordered as she carried the baby out to the sleigh. "Make them behave," she told Hal. She kissed each of the girls and stepped back as the sleigh headed west.

Clair went back into the house feeling strange about not having her children with her. Charley sat on rocking chair smoking a cigarette. Pete had moved a chair beside Charley to serve as a table for the cup of coffee. She heard her husband tell his best friend, "I fell in love with a pair of brown eyes."

Clair walked over to stand in front of Charley. "Stand up."

"What for?"

"So I can get these bloody clothes off you."

When Charley was on his feet, she unbuckled his gunbelt. "Don't take that too far just in case I need it in a hurry."

She laid it on the table. Then she unbuckled the belt that held his chaps. "Let Pete do that," Charley said. "He knows how."

Clair stepped back as Pete removed Charley's chaps. Next she unbuttoned his bloody shirt, She had to unbutton his jeans so she could pull out the shirt.

Charley sat down suddenly. "Why don't you just leave me alone an' quit fussin' over me?" he asked acidulously.

Clair's lips trembled and tears came to her eyes. "I'm just trying to get these bloody clothes off you so I can wash the blood away."

"Just go leave me alone!"

Clair turned and walked out the door without bothering to put on a coat.

"Now that ain't no way to talk to your bride," Pete said softly.

"Go mind your own business!" Charley snapped.

"Okay." Pete took down the first coat he touched and went out the door.

### Chapter 8

"Charley ain't really like that." Pete draped Charley's old brown coat around Clair's shoulders.

"I know. I just want to clean him up and get those bloody clothes off him. I can understand that it hurts for him to move."

The door opened and Charley stood there white faced. "Get in here, Clair."

"Pete, will you please fill the washtub with cold water so I can soak his coat before the bloodstains get set?" She followed Charley inside. He put his right hand on her shoulder and leaned on her as if his legs wouldn't hold him. She put her arm around him for additional support and led him to the rocking chair where he sat down hard.

He emitted a gasp of pain from the jolt of his landing. His face was so white Clair thought he would pass out. He sat still without speaking until some of the color returned to his face. Clair realized what an ordeal it was for him to walk to the door and back.

At last he spoke softly. "Do what you must. Just be gentle. Kiss me."

Clair leaned and kissed him. "I shall try not to hurt you more than necessary." She leaned down to pull off his boots which she set aside out of the way. "Do you have another pair of underwear other than what you are wearing and what is hanging on the line?"

"Yeah. But they ain't in too good a shape."

She dug through his duffle bag of clothes coming up with a pair of long johns that were patched on one knee, had a hole in the left elbow and had a button missing. "They'll have to do until the wet ones dry. Can you stand up if I help you?"

"Uh-huh. Are you gonna strip me naked?"

"Not all at once. Right now I want to get those bloody pants off of you."

She helped him to his feet and pushed his britches down to his knees. "You can sit back down now." She tugged the jeans off and tossed them aside. "Your underwear are bloody all the way down." Her voice held concern. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"Do tell. That's why I get dizzy when I stand up. I don't know what I'd done if Simon didn't come with me. I'd prob'bly be dead."

She helped him get his right arm out of his sleeve. She pushed the bloody garment down out of her way while she washed the blood from his back. "I can't do anything about the bandage for now. That must stay on." She began to wash away the blood on the part of his chest that was bare.

"Kiss me," Charley said.

"This is going to take a long time if I must kiss you every two minutes." She leaned forward and kissed him. He put his hand behind her head and prolonged the kiss.

She pulled back. "Stand up so I can wash the blood off your behind."

"This'd be fun if it didn't hurt so danged bad. What's that for?"

She laid a folded towel on the chair. "That's so your bare behind doesn't sit on that cold chair."

"I already got that chair warmed up." He sat down hard with a grunt of pain.

"I must get clean water." She walked to the door and opened it as Pete arrived with two more buckets of water which he set on the work table. After throwing the water out, she poured hot water from the teakettle into the basin and added enough cold water to make it comfortable. "At least your socks don't have blood on them."

"They was inside my boots."

She washed him and dressed him in the worn underwear. "I can't button them all the way down because a button is missing."

"He's tame. If he gets out he won't hurt nothin'." Charley's grin faded as she helped him to his feet and pulled his underwear up.

"Sit down." She helped him get the right sleeve on and pulled the other side around and buttoned the union suit across his arm that he had in a sling. "Now that's done. Do you want a dose of laudanum?"

"Uh-huh. After all that I need it."

She prepared the medicine and gave him the cup. He drank it down.

"Pete, will you please help him walk over to the bed? I'll turn it down."

"I'm gettin' tangled up in your darned washin'," Charley complained as he pushed aside the wet diapers.

"I don't know what else to do. It's too cold to hang them outside. They'd just freeze instead of drying."

Pete helped him lie down and she covered him up. "Kiss me," he said.

She bent down to kiss him. "How about another for good measure." She kissed him a second time. "That should hold you a while."

Pete went out to have a look around. While he was gone, Clair settled into the rocker to think about the happenings since she'd met Charley. One question dogged her mind. She decided to ask Pete point blank when he returned.

"I ain't seen no fresh signs of anybody snoopin' around," Pete informed her when he came back. He stood by the fireplace rolling a cigarette.

"I would like to talk to you," Clair said quietly. She cast a glance toward the bed where Charley was already snoring.

Pete wet the cigarette paper and sealed the smoke. "What about?"

"Charley."

Pete took a match from the holder on the mantel and scratched it on the stone fireplace. He waited until he had his cigarette lit before asking, "What about Charley?" He pulled a chair from the table and turned it back to Clair before straddling it.

"All I want is for you to tell me the truth. I just want to know." She hesitated before saying, "Charley isn't quite normal, is he?"

Pete bristled at her query. "That all depends on what you call normal."

Clair thought a few minutes before continuing. The last thing she wanted was to make Pete angry with her. She understood about the loyalty between friends. "He isn't ...quite right in the head."

Pete glared at her. "Charley ain't stupid!"

"Keep your voice down or you'll wake him."

"I don't care if I do," he declared. "I don't believe in talkin' behind a person's back."

"I am just trying to understand better," she said softly. "I don't want to hurt Charley. He's my husband. I said 'till death do us part'."

Pete stroked his mustache as he mulled over the subject. He took a last draw on his smoke and flicked it into the fire. "Charley just thinks a little different than some folks. He's been to school. He can read an' write as long as the words ain't too big. He can do simple arithmetic. If it gets too complicated, he uses tally marks an' he has a way of figurin' things out in his head that I don't understand but he usually comes up with the right answer which is what matters."

He paused to think before he continued. "Two things Charley knows real good are horses an' people. He knows horses better'n anybody I know. It's always been his dream to have a horse ranch. Marryin' you gave him that chance. But you heard what he told you. He loves you. If he said it, he means it. Charley won't lie to you. Heck, I don't think he even knows how to lie."

"He told me he would take care of the children and me. So far he has done that." Her voice took on a plaintive note. "I can't lose him so soon after losing Tom. I don't love him, but I care about him. He seemed so strong and now..."

Pete grinned. "Charley ain't gonna die. He's strong as a bull. An' once he sets out to do something, he does it come hell or high water. He ain't a quitter. He'll stick by you an' the kids through thick an' thin. If I was in trouble an' all the chips were down, Charley's the one I'd want watchin' my back. He's as true blue as a man can be."

"If you two are done talkin' about me," came Charley's voice from the other end of the room, "will one of you help me up so I can piss?"

Pete grinned and winked at Clair as he stood up and put the chair back at the table. "I'm comin', old man. Don't get your piss in a bubble."

"Get a move on or I'll piss myself an' I'm wearin' my last pair of underwear."

When Pete helped Charley to the rocking chair, Clair stammered out a shame-faced apology. "I'm sorry. I just...wanted...to know you better."

"I ain't mad. But you shoulda asked me. I ain't got nothin' to hide. I heard what you said about carin' about me. That made me feel good. Kiss me."

Clair kissed him. "I guess I'd better start supper. Pete, will you feed the chickens and check for eggs?"

"I shoulda asked him to roll me a smoke before he went out. I suppose you don't know how." Charley gave her a questioning look.

"I don't know how," she confirmed. "But I can get you a smoke." She moved a chair from the table to where the shelves for food were along the wall. Standing on the chair to reach the highest shelf, she brought down a pipe and a humidor of tobacco. "Tom smoked a pipe." She filled the pipe and lit a match. Holding the match to the pipe bowl, she drew on it until it caught. Then she passed it to Charley.

Charley grinned. "Thanks."

"That is the first thing of Tom's I have given away." She turned back to the fireplace so he wouldn't see the tears that wet her eyes.

***

Clair crawled over Charley's feet and went to use the chamber bucket behind the sheet curtain in the corner. She was puzzled by the orange glow that lit the room. The fire on the hearth should have died down. She noticed the orange glow came from outside. The windows were frosted up so she opened the door.

"Shut the damn door!" growled Pete. "D'ya think it's summer?"

"The barn's on fire!" Clair cried.

Pete jumped up and rushed to her side. "What the hell?"

"Pete, unless you got your britches on, go back to bed. That's my wife you're with."

Pete looked down at his underwear. "My buttons are all closed. I'm covered."

"Go back to bed," Charley ordered. "There ain't nothin' you can do about it nohow. Clair, get me another dose of that stuff for pain. An' then help me up so I can piss."

Clair brought the chamber bucket and helped him sit up. As she was getting the laudanum, Pete said, "Stay turned around. I gotta use that bucket, too." He grinned at Charley, "That's somethin' two women can't do. Both piss in the pot at the same time." He took the bucket back to the corner.

"Who do you think set fire to the barn?" Clair asked as Charley drank the drug mixture.

"Beecher, for sure. I think he's the one shot me, too."

Pete came to help Charley lie down again. "Are you sure there ain't somebody along your back trail that'd want you dead?"

Charley lay gazing at the ceiling. "I don't know. I ain't never killed nobody. Helped haul on a couple ropes down in New Mexico to hang some murderous rustlers. I shot a few men down in Texas when I was a deputy sheriff. One hombre threatened to kill me when he gets out of jail but I never took him too serious. I wouldna shot him if he didn't shoot me first. I winged him an' the doc that set his arm didn't do a very good job. It healed a little crooked. But that wasn't my fault.

"He got five years in jail. He hadda be pretty dumb to steal the deputy sheriff's horses. If he'd just let me have my horses back, I'da let him go. But he hadda shoot me."

"How long ago was that?" Pete asked.

Charley thought about it a minute. " 'Bout six years ago. He might've found me but the chances are slim. He wasn't the smartest owlhoot around. Clair, come back to bed. I wanta go back to sleep."

But Clair didn't go back to sleep right away. While Charley snored beside her, she thought about the new information Charley gave. So he had been a deputy sheriff. She wondered what else he had failed to tell her when he told her about his life.

### Chapter 9

"We got company comin'," Pete said as he came in the door and hung the rifle on the gun rack. He'd been out looking things over to see what clues he could find as to who started the fire. "Looks like Houser's sleigh. Man and a woman all done up in furs."

"Tom's parents," Clair guessed. She brought a blanket from the bed and draped it over Charley's lap and legs.

"What's that for?" he asked. "I ain't cold."

"Your underwear is gapped open. If Darlene Jenkins sees that she'll be so incensed she'll faint."

When a knock sounded at the door Pete opened it. Darlene Jenkins looked at him. "Who are you?"

Pete grinned. "Name's Pete Davis, foreman at the Rockin' R. Who're you?"

She drew herself up like she was insulted. "That's none of your business."

"Pete fetch a chair so Mrs. Jenkins can set by the fire an' get warm," Charley said.

Pete brought the chair and Darlene perched on the edge as if she was ready to jump and run if someone said, "Boo."

Theodore Jenkins walked over and offered Charley his hand. "I see your barn burned. Did you lose any stock?"

Charley took his hand for a hardy shake. He wanted them to know he wasn't an invalid because he took a bullet. "Nope. Had the boys move 'em over to the Rockin' M. I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen."

"Where are the children?" Darlene demanded.

"In a safe place," Charley said blandly. "Just in case the hombre that shot me comes back to finish the job."

"That marshal had the audacity to question us," Darlene spat out.

Charley gave a slight shrug with his right shoulder. "He was there on Saturday when you said what you did. Maybe he took it as a threat on my life."

"I was hoping to see the children to talk to them," Darlene said. She pinched her lips in a tight line and tilted her chin a little higher.

"You was hopin' to find Clair here alone with the kids so you could just take 'em and walk out," Charley shot back. "When I told you you'd take those kids over my dead body I meant it so why don't you just go leave us alone."

With Charley and Pete there, Clair felt safe from her former mother-in-law. "You never wanted to see them when Tom was alive. The only reason you want to take them is to punish me for marrying your son."

Darlene stood up. "Look at you! Wearing men's pants with a gun belted around your waist."

"And Tom showed me how to use it." Clair wasn't giving an inch.

"You're just poor white trash. You tricked Tom into marrying you."

"Tom married me because he loved me. And I loved him. You are not going to take his children from me, ever!"

"I think it's time for you to leave," Charley said coldly, his gray eyes like bits of ice. "You had your say. It don't change nothin'. Just get out of my house."

"House!" she spat back. "A dirt floored hovel is more like it. I'm sure a court will determine that I can provide the children with a better life than they'll have here."

Charley came to his feet pointing to the door. "Get out!" The blanket that covered him slid to the floor exposing him.

Darlene gave him a haughty look. "Cover yourself. You're indecent."

"Get out!" Charley ordered still pointing at the door.

"Come along, dear," Ted Jenkins said with a half smile on his lips. He took her arm and guided her ahead of him.

Pete was there to open the door. Clair bent down to retrieve the blanket and got it wrapped around Charley's waist. She heard the door close but she had her face buried against Charley's back.

Charley could feel her shaking as she made sounds that sounded like sobs to him. "Clair, are you bawlin'?"

Clair knew she shouldn't look at Pete but she did. He was grinning broadly. She could contain her laughter no longer. She and Pete both laughed out loud. "Sit down," she told her husband.

"She sure got her eyes full," Pete managed between guffaws.

Charley lowered himself to the rocking chair. "She didn't faint an' she didn't look away neither." He gave Clair a cockeyed grin.

"I better make dinner," she said signaling an end to the levity.

Pete got a chair and sat down beside Charley, handing him a slip of paper.

"What's this?" Charley asked.

"Read it."

Charley's eyes widened. "Where'd you get this?"

"It was nailed to that cottonwood just up from the barn."

Clair noticed and walked over to where the two men sat. Taking the scrap of paper from Charley's fingers she read: Next time it's the house. She looked at her husband with fear in her eyes.

"Now you know why I wanted the kids safe. You should go, too. Let Pete an' me handle it."

"I'm not leaving. But won't the children still be in danger at the ranch?"

Pete answered her question. "Beecher's owlhoots won't come around there. Too many guns."

"But at night..."

"The dogs would bark," Charley assured her. "We should get a dog."

***

"This is just in the way." Clair removed her gunbelt and laid it on the chest at the foot of the bed. Charlie was snoring loudly. She figured she'd empty the chamber bucket while he slept. She was missing the children sorely. "I wonder how long this will go on," she mused as she walked around the house to the privy. She just stepped out the door of the privy when a gloved hand closed over her mouth and a gun barrel poked her in the ribs.

"Make a sound and you're dead," a raspy voice ordered. "Just do as I tell you and you won't get hurt. Now walk back to the cabin door."

Clair was too scared to disobey. It took a couple of minutes to realize that this was the man who had shot Charley and he had come to finish the job. She faked tripping but his hand on her arm held her from falling.

"Clair." Charley woke up and looked for his wife but she wasn't in the cabin. He couldn't wait until she came back to use the chamber bucket. He struggled to sit up and managed to stand. He was at the foot of the bed when he saw Clair through the south window with the man who held her captive. A man he recognized.

His .44 hung on the bed post. He spied Clair's gun on the chest and pulled it from the holster. Crouching down between the end of the chest and the wall he waited for them to come inside. He could hear them outside the door. Evidently Clair was giving her captor trouble.

"Open the damn door," the man ordered.

Charley heard the knob turn. He tensed before yelling, "Clair, get down!"

The man shoved her ahead of him and she fell on the floor, hard. The man swung his gun toward Charley and pulled the trigger. His shot parted Charley's hair. Charley's shot took the man in the center of his chest. The man's second shot broke the window above Charley's head. Charley's second shot took the assailant in the throat.

Clair had the breath knocked out of her but she struggled to her feet and turned around to get her gun but it wasn't there. She didn't need it. The man was dead. She looked at Charley and cried, "Oh, no!" She stood next to a stack of clean diapers and she grabbed one as she ran to Charley. She laid the folded diaper over his wound.

"Get the chamber pot," he said, white faced. She brought it and he retched over it bringing up his dinner.

"What the hell's goin' on here?" Pete demanded from the open door. Charley sat white faced on the chest.

"Bring him some water," Clair ordered.

Pete brought a tin cup of cold water. "What happened?"

"It was self defense," she asserted. "I'll need your help to sew up his wound and bandage it." She was white faced, too.

Charley found his voice. "Drag that bastard outside and close the door. Clair, help me to the rockin' chair."

After Charley was seated, Clair lifted the diaper to study the wound. It was shallow, barely tearing off a strip of his scalp, but it was long. Stitches were required to close the wound which bled profusely. Clair got a basin of warm water and washed her hands. "Pete, you wash, too. I need you to wipe the blood away while I sew him up."

"Who the hell is that hombre?" The question was directed at Charley.

"Two bit horse thief named Harlan Willet. Didn't shoot no straighter this time than he did the first time. Not the smartest man in the world. He won't steal no more horses."

"This the first man you ever killed?"

Charley nodded. "Hold still," Clair commanded as she snipped away the hair adjacent to the wound.

"I guess silk thread would work best. I hope I have enough." She got the bottle of laudanum. She mixed a strong dose with water before giving it to Charley. "Drink some of it. It might help dull the pain."

Charley took a couple of gulps and handed it back. She took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf and wet a small piece of folded cloth and began to wash the wound.

"Holy hell that hurts!" Charley exclaimed.

Pete grinned and gave him his left hand to hold onto while he wiped away the blood as Clair began stitching up the gash. She counted the stitches so she knew how many she'd have to take out. She was halfway finished when Charley stopped her.

"Give me the rest of that laudanum before you kill me with pain."

Clair got what he wanted and went back to her task with her lips pinched together in a grim line. She felt like she wanted to scream, too. Only two more inches to go, she told herself. When she finished she ran outside to vomit. When she saw Willet lying dead in the snow she got weak in the knees and leaned against the cabin wall with her back to the dead man. She looked up the slope and saw two horsemen approaching.

She ran back in and told Pete, "Someone's coming. Two men."

"Get over there with Charley. Get your gun. Get Charley's, too."

Charley had left her gun lying on the chest. She grabbed it and stuffed it in the gunbelt and went to the bed to get Charley's .44 as she heard male voices outside followed by a knock on the door.

Pete drew his pistol and called, "Come on in."

The door opened and a wiry little man stepped in. "Don't shoot, Pete!"

"You danged near got it, Wally."

The sheriff followed Wally inside and closed the door. "Who's the dead man?"

"Harlan Willett," Charley said. "He come to finish the job but didn't get it done. I guess he won't steal no more horses."

"That's his horse out there," Pete informed the lawman. "I just found him hid in a grove of young pines when I heard the shootin'. I mounted up and rode him in. The fun was all over by the time I got here."

Clair set about bandaging Charley's wound. "Now you look like an Arab," she joked. "You have a turban."

The sheriff said, "Pete, help me load this hombre on his horse so I can haul him back to town." The two men went outside.

Wally came over and shook Charley's hand and Charley introduced him to Clair. "Wally's short for Walls. That's his last name. He won't tell nobody what his first name is."

"You wouldn't neither if'n you had a name like that," Wally defended. "Why don't you tell nobody what the J stands for your middle name?"

"Same reason," Charley answered with a grin.

"I reckon I'll just go on home," Wally said.

Clair spoke up. "I want my children back."

"We'll fetch 'em over in the mornin'." Wally returned. "Right now I wanta go home."

"Go ahead," Pete said as he came in the door. "Ain't nobody forcin' you to stay."

****

"Pa, someone's comin' down the hill!" Simon panted as he ran into the cabin. "Two men. I couldn't tell who."

"Cara, take Belle over to the bed an' keep her there. Simon, you get behind me. Clair, fetch my gun."

Clair fastened her gunbelt around her waist before bringing Charley his. She scratched away some of the frost from the window over the worktable by the gun rack so she could see out. "It's Dr. Hart. I don't know the other man."

"It's okay," Charley responded. "Doc wouldn't bring someone out here unless he was a good egg. Answer the door and let them in."

Simon moved so he could see past his step-father's shoulder. He didn't want to miss anything important. Especially since their arrival would postpone his studies.

Clair opened the door at the knock. "Come in, doctor. I'd guess you've come to see Charley."

"That's right, Mrs. Hampton. And I brought along a very important person. This is Manuel Lopez, Charley's lawyer."

The man bowed to Clair and took her hand. "I am pleased to meet you, Mrs. Hampton. I have known your husband a long time."

Clair was surprised that he spoke very good English with no other accent than his Texas drawl. He was of medium height with a swarthy completion and a black mustache. He doffed his wide-brimmed hat to show a shock of equally black hair. His eyes were like black beads.

"Manuel, I knew you'd come!" Charley called from where he sat on the rocking chair. "I didn't expect you so soon."

Manuel walked over to shake his hand. "It is a good thing I came when I did. I stopped in Trinidad to find out if a court date has been scheduled. It's set for Monday morning at nine o'clock."

"That's only three days away. We'll have to go down on Sunday to be there that early in the mornin'."

"I want to speak to your wife and the children. What they tell me will be the basis for my defense."

Dr. Hart interrupted, "Mr. Lopez, I know your have important business here, but I'd like to get to Charley so I can take those stitches out of his head."

"I'll just talk to the other family members while you do that." Manuel turned his attention to the children. "Will you tell me your names?"

Simon was quick to be first. "I'm Simon. I'll be ten next week."

Cara smiled shyly. "I'm Cara. I'm thirteen. Belle's the baby. She's just a year old."

"Mrs. Hampton, as I understand it, your former mother-in-law, the children's grandmother is suing for custody of the children."

"That's correct."

"Ouch, Doc. You don't have to kill me." Charley spoke to Manuel. "I told her she'd get the kids over my dead body. I meant it."

"What was her reaction to that?"

"She said it might be arranged. After Harlan Willett shot me the first time, the Marshal questioned her about it." Charley chuckled. "She was really mad about that."

"Hold still, Charley. I'm almost done here. There. All finished." The doctor began packing up his kit. "Wash that with alcohol every day, Mrs. Hampton. You did a real fine job on stitching that up." He held out his hand to Manuel. "It's been nice meeting you. Can you find your own way back to town?"

Manuel took his hand. "I'll be fine. Thank you for helping me find Charley." After the doctor left Manuel asked Clair, "What sort of people are your former in-laws?"

After she thought about it a few minutes, she said, softly, "Can we talk outside. There are some things I don't want the children to hear. Charley will mind them. Whenever he's in the house, Belle has to be on his lap. You'd think she owns him." Clair took down her coat.

Manuel held it for her before donning his own dark gray greatcoat. Clair went ahead of him along the path shoveled to where the barn had been. She leaned on the top rail of the fence looking out over the deserted paddock.

"Darlene Jenkins is a vain, selfish, vindictive woman. She has never forgiven me for marrying her son. She doesn't want the children because she loves them. She wants to punish me by taking away what is most precious to me." Clair bit her lip in an effort to keep the tears from falling. "I loved Tom and he loved me. We didn't care about all the money his parents had. We had each other and our children.

"Tom was successful as a partner in his father's building business. He had studied architecture in college and was beginning to make a name for himself in southeastern Pennsylvania. He earned enough to buy a larger house.

"But his mother wouldn't leave us alone. She spread lies about me. She told around that Tom wasn't Cara's father; that I tricked Tom into marrying me. When we go back inside, I'll show you a picture of her. Cara is her very image. How can she explain that except that her son is Cara's father. She knows it. She just won't accept it. I think she was in love with Tom."

"With her own son?"

"Yes. I never knew this until just before Tom died. He was running a high fever but he was lucid. He made me promise never to let his mother have the children, especially Simon. I was shocked by what he told me. He said when he was fifteen he mother kissed him not in the way a mother kisses her son but as a lover. He went straight to his father and told him he wanted to go away to school. He told me he made sure he was never alone with his mother after that. He'd never told anyone about it until he knew he was dying.

"I'm am only telling you now just in case we are losing and we need something strong. I do not want to tell it in court but if I must to keep my children, then I must. I ask you to keep it confidential even from Charley. I don't want the children to learn what sort of woman their grandmother really is."

### Chapter 10

"All rise."

The judge walked in and sat down at his bench. "You may be seated." He perused the papers in front of him. "We are here today to hear the case of Jenkins versus Hampton in which Darlene and Theodore Jenkins are petitioning the court for the custody of their grandchildren, Cara, Simon and Clara Jenkins. The defendants are Clair and Charles Hampton, the children's mother and step-father."

He looked from one side to the other. "Gentlemen, are you ready with your opening arguments?" After receiving affirmative answers, he continued, "Mr. Wells."

Horatio Wells stood up and walked to stand in front of the judge. He was about six feet tall and weighed close to three hundred pounds. He was bald but had an abundance of side whiskers that joined his mustache. Dressed in a dark brown, three-piece suit, he was an imposing figure. "Your Honor," he boomed as he took hold of his lapels. "I plan to show that Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins should have custody of their grandchildren because their mother cannot care for them properly. Their mother recently married a cowboy to help provide for the children. The five of them live in a one-room cabin with a dirt floor.

"When the Jenkins called to see the children, they found that the children weren't even there. They were hidden away somewhere and the Hamptons refused to say where. They refused the grandparents the opportunity to visit with the children.

"Mr. Hampton indecently exposed himself to Mrs. Jenkins. The poor lady was so shocked she could hardly get out the door. Later that day, Hampton murdered a man in cold blood right there in that dirt-floored hovel."

Wells stopped for breath and to allow his revelations to soak into the judge's mind. He continued, "Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are financially situated to give the children everything they want and need. They can afford them the best possible education and school them as to how they should behave in polite society..."

"Da-da!" Belle called out. "Da-da!" Cara tried to shush her but she wouldn't obey. She stood up on the bench and held out her hands.

Charley got up and took her to sit down and hold her on his lap. "You must be quiet, sweet-heart," he whispered. "Be still and Daddy will rock you to sleep."

Clair sat with her hands clasped so tightly together her knuckles were white. Manuel laid his hand over hers and whispered, "He's digging himself a pretty deep hole."

Wells wound up his opening arguments with the assertion that the judge would have no choice but to award custody to the grandparents.

"Mr. Lopez," the judge said.

Manuel walked forward and bowed to the judge. Then he faced his opponents. "Interesting, but not completely true." He turned back to the judge. "I can prove almost every statement Mr. Wells made to be false. I can prove that Charles Hampton is not a penniless cowboy but a man of means. He is honest, fair and capable of raising these children..." Manuel swung his arm to indicate the three children. "in a proper and loving way. He cares for the children like they are his own. He would never harm them. I won't make a long-winded speech but say, let this hearing proceed." He walked back to the defendants table and sat down.

The judge said, "Mr. Wells, call your first witness."

"I call Mrs. Darlene Elizabeth Jenkins to the stand." Wells stood with his hands holding his lapels.

After being sworn to tell the truth, Darlene Jenkins walked up the two steps to the witness stand and sat down.

Wells began his questioning with, "Mrs. Jenkins, will you please tell the judge why you think you and your husband should have guardianship of these three children?"

"Mainly because we have the resources to give them a good life. Each would have a bedroom of their own. They would be given the best care and schooling that money can buy. I do not wish to see my grandchildren grow up in poverty."

"I see. Don't you believe that the Hamptons can provide sufficient care for the children?"

"No. They all live together in that one room with no privacy. I am sure they see things a child shouldn't."

"I take it that you don't believe that Clair Hampton can be a good mother to them. Am I correct?"

"Clair Hampton is a harlot who tries to make people believe she is a good Christian mother. I know better. There have even been rumors that my son was not Cara's father. Clair tricked Tom into marrying her. I do not want my grandchildren to grow up with that woman influencing their lives. She was a lowly scullery maid when she beguiled my son to sleep with her. He married her despite our objections. That's why my husband and I cut him out of our wills. We thought it would bring him back to the fold so to speak. Instead he moved out here to this God forsaken land."

Wells tugged thoughtfully at his mustache. "I have no further questions your honor but I may have later."

Darlene stood up to leave the stand. "Please sit down, Mrs. Jenkins. Mr. Lopez has the right to cross examine you."

Manuel bowed slightly as he stood before Darlene with something in his hand. He held it up for her to see. "Mrs. Jenkins, do you recognize the person in this picture?"

She smiled demurely. "Of course I do. That's me on my wedding day." Her smile was replaced with a scowl. "Where did you get that? I gave it to Tom when he went away to school."

Lopez didn't answer her question but passed the photograph to the judge. "This is how Mrs. Jenkins looked when she was younger. Cara, please come here."

He stood Cara in front of him and said to the judge, "You can plainly see that Cara doesn't look like her mother but she's the very image of her grandmother. The only way I can see that she would look like her grandmother is that Tom Jenkins is her father."

The judge handed the picture back to Manuel.

"I want that back," Darlene demanded.

Lopez turned to her and said blandly, "You gave the picture to Tom so it was his. Before he died, he made a will leaving all his possessions to his widow. Therefore this picture belongs to Mrs. Hampton to do with what she pleases." He stepped back to lay the picture on the table by Clair's clenched hands.

Manuel returned to his questioning. "Mrs. Jenkins, can you tell me the names of your grandchildren?"

"Don't be silly. Of course I can. Cara, Simon and Clara."

"Mrs. Jenkins, do you have any idea of Mr. Hampton's financial situation?"

"No, but I am certain it is not as good as ours."

"Mrs. Jenkins, when your son and his family lived in Pennsylvania, how often did you visit your grandchildren? Remember you have sworn to tell the truth."

"I didn't visit them." She squared her shoulders indignantly. "I was told to stay away."

"I have no more questions for this witness, Your Honor. I may have more questions at a later time."

"Your next witness, Mr. Wells," the judge said.

"I call Mr. Theodore Thomas Jenkins to the stand."

After he was sworn in, Jenkins stepped up to the stand and sat down. Wells began the questioning. "Mr. Jenkins would you say the testimony your wife gave to be true and correct?"

"I am sure my wife believes she was telling the truth. Much of her statements were true. I differ on two accounts. While there were rumors that Tom wasn't Cara's father, it was not so. I asked Tom and he told me the truth. The other thing I differ with my wife is her assessment of Clair. While it is true that she began work in the Wentworth household as a scullery maid, at the time she married my son, she was the cook's helper. As far as I can tell, she is a good mother.

"It is also true that she come from a family that is not of good reputation. She worked hard to advance herself and educate herself. She borrowed books from one of the Wentworth children. She is an intelligent woman."

Darlene sat glaring at her husband. He looked straight ahead not meeting her gaze. Wells looked from one to the other. He seemed to be uncomfortable with the difference of opinion of his clients. "Mr. Jenkins, you told me that your son worked for you. What is your business?"

"I'm a builder. Tom did work for me until I made him a full partner. My older son didn't seem interested in my business as he's a lawyer and doesn't fully understand the building trade. Tom studied architecture in college. Many buildings in southeastern Pennsylvania were of his design."

"Do you agree with your wife that you can afford to give your grandchildren a better life than they have now?"

"I am a wealthy man, Mr. Wells. My wife has money of her own. Financially we most certainly can give them more than Mr. and Mrs. Hampton."

"I have no further questions, Your Honor, but I may have later. I have no more witnesses."

The judge took out his watch. "Mr. Lopez, call your first witness."

"I call Mr. Peter Davis to the stand."

Pete was hardly in the chair before Manuel began the questioning. "Mr. Davis, how long have you known Charles Hampton?"

Pete frowned thoughtfully. " 'Bout five years."

"How do you know him?"

"I'm foreman on the Rockin' M ranch. Charley was a cowboy there."

"What sort of man is Mr. Hampton?"

"Honest. Trustworthy. Hard workin'. He'd help just about anybody out if he could. Shucks, I reckon most everyone around that neck o' the woods has borrowed money from Charley at one time or another."

"Are you saying Mr. Hampton is careless with his money."

Pete looked at Charley and grinned. "Just the opposite. He'll lend ya money but ya better pay him back or it's the last time ya'll borrow from him. I don't know how much money he's saved up over the years. It ain't none o' my business."

"You seem to have a very high opinion of Mr. Hampton."

"Yes, sir. He's my best pal. If not for him, I might be dead."

"How's that Mr. Davis?"

"My wife decided she didn't want to be married to a cowboy no more an' run off with another man. She took our son an' daughter with her. I took to drinkin' pretty heavy. One Monday mornin' I was too drunk to do my job and the boss fired me. Charley called the boss off to the side an' talked to him. Then he took me out to a line cabin to dry out. I could do anything but leave. He kept me there. I cussed him out an' a lot more but he never give up on me. One day I saddled my horse to leave an' he stopped me. I just had to have a drink. I kicked him in the face. He pulled me off that horse and mopped the ground with me. Then he tied me to a chair an' wouldn't let me loose until I promised to behave. He went out to chop wood and just left me there cussin' him.

"I knew he wasn't gonna let me loose unless I promised. So I did. After that we talked. We chopped wood. We talked some more. Before I realized it a month had passed. We rode back to the Rockin' M an' the boss give me my job back. But he didn't pay Charley or me for the time we was away. That's the kind o' man Charley Hampton is. He give up a month's pay to help me out. We've been close pals ever since."

"Mr. Davis, were you at the Hampton homestead the afternoon Mr. Hampton shot and killed Harlan Willett?"

"I was there but I wasn't in the house. I heard the shot but till I got there, Willett was already dead. Charley was pukin' his guts out 'cause he never killed nobody before. He was bleedin' real bad from Willett's bullet grazin' his head. He told me it was self defense an' I believe him. Charley ain't no liar.

"The sheriff showed up a little bit later. He come to talk to Charley about gittin' shot. Charley told him the dead man was the man that bushwacked him."

"Is Mr. Hampton a drinking man or a gambler?"

"No. Charley told me he has better ways to spend his money than for booze. He might drink a beer if someone else is buyin' but they're few an' far between. Three things Charley knows: horses, people an' how to take care o' his money."

"I have no other questions for this witness, Your Honor."

Wells stood up. "I have no questions for Mr. Davis."

The judge looked at his watch again. "We will recess for dinner and be back here at one o'clock."

### Chapter 11

"Soon as I get some chow, I'm headin' for the home ranch," Pete said as he walked to the hotel with Charley, Clair and the kids. "Manuel's got this all sewed up. You don't need me."

When the hearing reconvened, Manuel told the judge, "The next witness is me."

"Objection!" Horatio Wells shouted as he jumped to his feet.

"This is most irregular," the judge told Manuel. "Is it necessary?"

"Your Honor, the Jenkins seem bent on proving Mr. Hampton is not a suitable stepfather for the children. How I came to know Charley and what he did for me will illustrate the sort of person he is. I'll try to be as brief as possible."

"Very well. Objection overruled."

Manuel swore to tell the truth and sat down in the witness chair. "I met Charley in Texas when he was a deputy sheriff. I was fifteen. My father was a good-for-nothing thief and drunk. He made me steal for him. One night Charley caught me. Since he caught me before I stole anything, it was attempted theft. I spent three days in jail and Charley paid my fine with the stipulation ordered by the judge that I not return home to live with my father. Charley took me to a lawyer in town and that lawyer put me to work in his office. I found law fascinating. When I learned to read better and knew enough about the law, Mr. Bower sent me to law school. I didn't know until later that Charley had paid part of my tuition. I offered to pay him back. He said no that it was enough to know he saved one kid from being a criminal. I told him if he ever needed a lawyer to let me know. That is why I'm here today. Mr. Wells."

"I have no questions."

Manuel stepped down and said, "I call Mr. Charles Hampton to the witness stand."

When Charley stood up and tried to give Belle to her mother the little girl clung to him. "DaDa!"

Charley carried her to the witness stand and sat down with her on his lap. "Now be quiet," he cautioned.

Manuel began asking questions. "How long have you known Clair?"

" 'Bout a month. I found her walking home after she'd been to town. It was snowin' pretty hard so I offered to give her a ride. It turned into a full-blown blizzard. We got lost in the storm but we found our way. I stayed the night an' slept on the dirt floor with Simon. She didn't have much food so I rode to the Rockin' M an' got some grub for her from the storeroom. The boss let me have it. I was choppin' wood when Floyd Beecher comes ridin' up like he owned the place. He told me to leave." Charley continued to tell what happened that day and how he'd asked Clair to marry him, not just so he could take care of her and the children but to protect them from Beecher.

"There is a warrant out for Beecher," the judge informed him.

"If I'd o' knowed that I woulda fetched him in." Charley continued talking about their wedding day when Mrs. Jenkins had confronted them in the hotel dining room. He wanted to fill up the time because he knew that the inevitable question was coming and he wanted to hold it off as long as possible. He went on about Willett shooting him and then he stopped short. He'd reached to place where the Jenkins coming to call.

"Mr. Hampton, according to Mrs. Jenkins, you exposed yourself to her. Will you please tell us about that?"

Charley's face turned red and he looked away for a minute. "That was an accident. 'Cause I got shot and my clothes were all bloody, I had to wear an old pair o' underwear that was missin' a button. Clair covered me with a blanket." He told about what was said between him and the Jenkins. "When I stood up to tell her to git out, the blanket slid down to the floor. I was pointin' to the door with my right hand an' my left arm was in a sling. I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened that way. Clair grabbed the blanket right away and got it around me. That's all there is to it."

"I see the little one has gone to sleep," Manuel commented.

Charley grinned. "I seem to have that effect on the ladies."

"Mr. Hampton, do you think your wife is a good mother?"

"Yes. She's a hard worker and she'd do without to see that the kids are fed. But she don't have to do that now."

"I have no farther questions at this time. Mr. Wells."

Wells stood with his hands holding his lapels. "Mr. Hampton, how much money do you have?"

Charley thought a bit. "Enough."

"How much is 'enough'?"

Charley looked at the judge. "I don't think how much money I have makes a difference as to whether I can take care o' Clair an' the kids."

"I think it would be helpful for me to make a decision," the judge replied.

Charley took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to the judge. "This is from the bank. I figured someone would be askin' for it."

Wells demanded to see the paper. The judge handed it to him. He looked it over and said, "I have no further questions for this witness."

Charley carried Belle back to his chair and sat down. Clair sat with her hands clasped so tightly her knuckles were white. Manuel went back to the table to look at a paper. He gave Clair a nod of encouragement.

"My next witness is Mrs. Clair Hampton."

After Clair was seated in the witness chair, Manuel asked his first question, his voice gentle. "Mrs. Hampton, why did you marry Charles Hampton?"

Clair closed her eyes and thought about it. "I needed help to provide for my children. Charley is a good, kind, generous man. Belle thinks the sun sets and rises in him." Her voice became husky as her throat tightened. "She'll never remember her real father. Charley adores her. She calls him DaDa."

"Does Mr. Hampton use vulgar language around the children?"

"Only that time someone hung a dead coyote over the kitchen table. The day we were married. He was quite angry about that. But it was only that one time."

"How does he treat the children in general?"

"Look at Belle. When he's sits down, she immediately wants to sit on his lap. He's good to all of us. He's more than just a cowboy. He's a good man. I didn't make a mistake when I accepted his proposal. I'm not in love with him but I care about him. I don't know what more to say."

"Mrs. Hampton, Mrs. Jenkins has testified that she was told to stay away from your home when you lived with your first husband, her son, in Pennsylvania. Did you tell you former mother-in-law to stay away?"

"No."

"Are you saying she lied?"

"No. Tom told her to stay away."

"He told his own mother to stay away. Why was that?"

"Because of the way she treated me."

"Please tell the court what occurred to bring on this demand from your first husband?"

"You want me to tell the whole story?"

"Just what it was that made your husband turn on his own mother?"

"Objection!" yelled Wells.

"Overruled," the judge said. "I would like to know the answer to that question."

Clair wrung her hands and looked straight at Manuel. She couldn't look at Darlene Jenkins.

"It was right after Cara was born. When Mr. Jenkins and Tom were working nearby, they'd come to dinner. I had stew on the stove and was slicing bread when Cara woke up and wanted to be nursed. I left the bread and knife on the table and sat down in the rocking chair to nurse her. When I heard the door open I thought Tom and Mr. Jenkins were home early. But it was my mother-in-law. She told me I wasn't fit to have Tom's children and that she was going to make sure everyone knew that Cara wasn't his. When I protested and asked her to leave she just laughed and picked up the knife. She didn't hold it like one would to slice with it." Clair demonstrated what she meant. "She held it like one would to stab with it. I was scared and jumped up and ran into the bedroom and locked the door. It sounded like she was throwing things around the kitchen. I laid Cara in her crib and listened at the door until I heard Tom."

Clair drew a deep breath and pause to think. "He yelled 'What the hell are you doing? Get out of my house and never darken my door again.' She left then. Cara was sleeping so I went to the kitchen. Dishes were broken, my kettle of stew was dumped on the floor and things were strewn all around. Tom and Mr. Jenkins helped me clean up the mess. They ate apple butter sandwiches before going back to work.

"Mrs. Jenkins was true to her word. She started rumors about me. That I was a loose woman and that Cara wasn't Tom's. It got so bad we had to go to another church. After Simon was born we bought a larger house in a village outside of Lancaster. When Mr. Jenkins cut Tom out of his will, Tom decided to move west. I didn't want to but I figured I would never see his mother again. I didn't know Tom would die and that she would try to take the children away from me. Your honor, she doesn't want the children. She just wants to punish me for marrying her son."

"I have no further questions at this time," Manuel said.

"Mr. Wells."

"That's quite a story, Mrs. Hampton."

"Every word is the truth. I am under oath."

Wells smoothed his mustache with an index finger. After a moment's consideration, he said, "I have no questions for this witness at this time."

Manuel came forward and took Clair's hand as she stepped down. "I would like to call Mr. Theodore Jenkins back to the stand."

The judge cautioned Ted Jenkins that he was still under oath.

"Mr. Jenkins, were you there when your wife wreaked havoc in your son's home?"

"I was with Tom when he arrived home."

"Then you can tell me if what Mrs. Hampton just testified is true, can you not?"

Jenkins looked at his wife's angry glare. "Yes, I can. She's telling the truth."

"Then your wife lied when she testified earlier?"

"I am sure that my wife believes that every word she uttered is the truth. She looks at the world with blinders. I know that Tom loved his wife very much. Enough to pull up roots and move west."

"You disinherited him?"

"My wife nagged me until I couldn't take it anymore. I gave Tom my grandfather's gold watch..."

"That was supposed to go to Ross!" Mrs. Jenkins screamed.

"Order!" The judge rapped his gavel. "Another outburst like that and I'll have you removed from the courtroom."

"Go ahead with what you were going to say," Manuel urged.

"I gave him the watch and a thousand dollars. And I have sent him money since then. I would have sent money this time but my wife saw the letter and decided to come west for the children."

"Do you believe that your former daughter-in-law is a good mother?"

"Yes."

"I have no further questions." Manuel walked over and sat down.

"I have no questions," Wells said quietly.

"I call Miss Cara Jenkins to the witness stand."

When Cara was seated in the witness stand, the judge asked, "How old are you, young lady?"

"Thirteen."

"Do you understand what you are supposed to do?"

"Yes, Your Honor. When Mr. Lopez asks me questions, I tell the truth."

The judge nodded to Manuel. "Proceed."

"Cara, what do you think of your mother marrying Charles Hampton?"

"I think she did the right thing. Charley's a good man and he treats us well."

"Would you rather go live with your grandparents who are wealthy and can give your anything you wish for?"

"No. I want to stay with my mother and Charley. I refuse to go with her even if the court says I must. I'll run away and come back." Cara shot a defiant look at her grandmother. "She never wanted us before and she doesn't want us now. I wish I didn't look so much like her."

"I have no further questions."

"No questions," Wells echoed.

"I call Simon Jenkins to the witness stand."

Manuel asked, "Simon, do you approve of your mother's marriage to Charles Hampton."

Simon gave an enthusiastic, "Yes! He lets me call him 'Pa.' But I never call him Daddy like I did my real father. He's gonna give me a horse this spring."

"Don't you want to go live with your grandparents? They can afford to buy you a lot more than a horse."

Simon shook his head. "My grandmother doesn't care about me. She'd probably send me off to some school. I want to stay with Mama an' Charley."

"No further questions."

Wells had no questions. The judge leaned back and eyed Manuel. "Now I suppose you're going to put the little one on the stand, too?"

Manuel grinned. "She doesn't talk much yet or I would. I have a different solution for that. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins will you come forward and stand right about here." Manuel stepped off six longs strides. "Mr. and Mrs. Hampton will you stand here. Give me Belle." Manuel stood Belle on her feet between the couples. She took one look at the Jenkins and turned and ran for Charley who scooped her up for a kiss. "Point made, Your Honor."

"So it is, Mr. Lopez. I can render my decision easily. The children will stay with their mother. Mrs. Jenkins, if I took away all the children who live in dirt floored cabins, we wouldn't have room to house them. This is still a wild country. People first build temporary shelters until they can get a house built. I am sure Mr. Hampton can very well take care of his wife and her children. Court adjourned."

"I gotta talk to Mr. Jenkins." Charley headed across the courtroom passing Mrs. Jenkins on the way.

Mrs. Jenkins walked up to Clair and said with barely controlled anger. "I would like to have that picture back."

Clair picked it up from the table. "Very well." She tore the picture in shreds and gave the handful of pieces to her nemesis.

Darlene flung them in Clair's face and stomped out of the courthouse. Cara began picking up the pieces. "I'm going to paste them back together and use them for target practice."

Charley shook Mr. Jenkins hand. "These kids are still your grandkids. Why don't you write to them? If you do I'll see that they write back. I'm not goin' to stop them from knowin' their kinfolks."

"That's kind of you. I'll need the address."

Charley went back to Clair and the children with a big smile on his face. "Let's go home."

### Chapter 12

The first day of their journey began late because Clair and Charley took the time to have the claim for the farm transferred from Tom's name. It took a little longer than anticipated. The day was warm enough that the snow began melting raising concern that it would be gone before they got home and it would be difficult for the horses to pull the sleigh through the muddy ruts of the road.

They reached their hometown by suppertime. Belle was fussy so Clair asked Charley to have supper sent up to the room. Cara and Simon went to the dining room with Charley.

The following day, they went to the store to purchase a new pair of boots for Cara because hers were too small. "The children are growing right out of their clothes," Clair complained as she looked through fabric remnants for something suitable to turn into clothes. She wished she had her sewing machine from when she lived in Pennsylvania. She would just have to sew the new garments by hand. At least Cara was old enough to help her.

The weather turned considerably colder with lowering clouds that portended snow. Dusk was beginning to settle over the land when Charley turned the sleigh onto the trail that led to their cabin. "Looks like a lot of traffic through here today," Charley remarked when he saw sled runner tracks and numerous horse tracks.

As he drove past a copse of young spruce trees, he could see smoke billowing into the sky. "The house is on fire!" he yelled and whipped the horses into a run.

His yell woke Belle who was swathed in a blanket on her mother's lap. "Belle just peed on me," Clair said. She prayed that the smoke was from something other than their cabin but fear gripped her heart. When they topped the rise and started down the slope they could see cowboys with buckets and shovels using snow and water to fight the fire.

The fire scared the horses and they tried to run but Charley pulled back on the reins. His former boss came over and looked up at Charley. "We saw the smoke and got here as quick as we could. The Double Diamond boys were already here. The inside is gutted but we about got it out now. Take your wife and kids over to the ranch. You can stay there until we know what can be done. I'll be over in a while."

Clair didn't even try to hide her tears. The hurt was too deep. Everything was in ruins. All the happiness that she felt about winning the court case was dashed to pieces. As she tried to put her thoughts in order, the hurt turned to anger. She just wasn't going to take anymore.

Charley cast her a worried glance as he pulled up the horses at the front of the Millgrove ranch house. He stepped down from the seat. "Give me Belle."

Clair complied and then jumped down and went up the steps to the porch nearly colliding with Meg Millgrove who was on her way out to help. "Let me take Belle," Meg said to Charley. "Here comes Juan to take the horses to the stable. He can help you with the blankets and your bags." Meg's voice was low and worried.

When Charley entered the house with two bags, Clair stood in the middle of the living room. Meg was in the bathroom changing Belle and Cara had already gone to the kitchen where Rosa was preparing supper. Simon and Will Millgrove, who was twelve years old, were on their way out the door.

"Boys, fetch them blankets in before you go off to the barn," Charley ordered. Charley set the bags down and went over to Clair. "Are you all right?"

"Our home just burned and you ask me if I'm all right." Clair's voice was scathing. "You lied to me. You said you'd protect us. Is this what you call protecting us?"

"Clair, I couldn't do anything to stop this from happenin'. We weren't here."

Clair whirled to face him. "You really don't care, do you?"

"Clair, you know I love you."

Clair's composure was evaporating. "You didn't..." With all the power she possessed, she swung her hand to connect with Charley's cheek. "You...you.." She stumbled away to the open door of the children's play and school room.

"Charley, she didn't mean that," Meg said softly.

"I know. She just had to hit back somehow an' I was standin' closest."

"Take Belle and rock her to sleep. I see about your wife."

****

Clair stood with her hand over her mouth. Her stomach churned causing an acidic taste in her mouth. She turned at the sound of the door. Meg stepped into the room closing the door behind her.

"I need to put some wood on the fire." Meg opened the door on the little pot-bellied stove and put in two small chunks of wood before turning back to Clair.

Tears streamed down Clair's face. "I am so ashamed of what I just did." She rubbed at her tears with the heel of her hand. "It isn't Charley's fault."

Meg laid her hand on Clair's arm. "He understands. He said you needed to hit back and he just happened to be the closest."

Clair spread her skirt. "I must change. Belle peed on me."

"I know Charley brought in your bags. I'll get them." Meg left the room closing the door quietly. She crossed the living room to where Charley sat beside the stove rocking Belle. "Give her to me. Your wife wants her clothes. She needs your bags."

Charley stood up. "I think she's hungry. She already slept most of the way home."

Belle rubbed her hand in her hair. "E'."

"That's her word for eat," Charley said.

"I'll take her to the kitchen to give her something. I think Rosa has supper ready. Hal isn't home yet but I think we should feed the children now."

"Go ahead." Charley picked up the two bags that held their clothes and carried them to the door of the playroom. "Clair, open the door."

The door opened and Charley stepped inside. "I fetched our bags." He set them down at the head of the crib that sat along one of the interior walls.

He turned to Clair but before he could say a word she ran to him. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into me."

He encircled her in an embrace. "It's okay. I know how hard these past weeks was for you. I ain't mad."

She slipped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. He held her close until she cried herself out. She stepped back. "I need to change clothes because Belle peed on me. All I have is my good outfit. I suppose I shall need to make clothes for all of us now. I wish I had a sewing machine."

"Meg has one. I know 'cause I hauled it from town. I'm sure she'll let you use it."

Clair stepped out of her skirt and petticoat. After she donned the skirt to her blue serge suit, she sat down on the daybed. "I'm tired and hungry."

"Meg said Rosa has supper ready. She said we should feed the kids first. Let's go see. Rosa's a real good cook. That why Hal's gettin' fat."

They were halfway through supper when they heard Hal come into the kitchen. After he washed, he joined them at the table. "We managed to save the framework. Once we clean up we can assess the damage." He shoveled mash potatoes onto his plate and topped them with sausage gravy. He glanced at Charley. "I need to talk to you after supper when the kids aren't around."

Charley nodded as he tried to hit Belle's mouth with a spoonful of mashed potatoes while she was shaking her head no. "Behave yourself," he ordered. When she opened her mouth to say no, he popped the spoon in. "If you don't behave yourself an' eat you ain't gittin' no dessert."

"What's for dessert?" Will asked. He'd already cleaned his plate and was looking to see if his father took all that was left.

"Apple pie," his father answered. "Don't you have a nose?"

****

"Sit down," Hal motioned to two chairs in front of the fireplace. He put some wood on the fire and brought a chair for Clair. Then he seated himself in the other brown leather chair. "They didn't just burn your cabin. They robbed you first. They took all the canned goods, the guns and a lot of the kitchen stuff. Pete and I tried tracking them but they split up going every which way. We figured to leave it until daylight. I'm sorry, Clair. Charley. You know you can stay here as long as you need to. The boys are getting grumpy because they're tired of winter. They can help. It'll give them something to do so they don't get bored."

The door opened and Meg joined them. "The kids are playing games so I put Cara in charge." She wheeled Hal's desk chair over to join them by the fire. "Where do things stand?"

"I told Clair and Charley they can stay here as long as they want. Once we get things cleaned up over there, we'll know what needs to be done."

Clair spoke up. "We have very few clothes." She looked over at Meg. "Charley tells me you have a sewing machine. Do you mind if I use it?"

"Of course you can use it. I may even have some yard goods to help out until we can get in to town. I'm sure there are some clothes that Will outgrew that will fit Simon. Some the girls can't wear yet. I allow them to wear pants and shirts out here on the ranch. Saves their nice clothes for town. I'm still wearing dresses on Danny until he's out of his diapers. I should have clothes for Belle." She smiled and winked at Clair. "I don't have anything big enough for Charley though. And all my clothes will be too big for you. We'll work it out in the morning."

****

Clair came to the kitchen where Rosa and Meg were figuring out the day's work. "You should have awakened me. Have the men already left?"

"Sit down and have some coffee. We get up early around here. Charley and Hal left before sunup." Meg got up and poured coffee from the pot. "Sugar and cream?"

"Yes, thank you. I don't expect you to wait on me. I shall do my share of the work. I'm sorry I behaved so badly yesterday."

Meg smiled in her easy manner. "I can understand the pressure you were under. Charley said he understands."

Clair had just finished her coffee when they heard footsteps on the stairs. "Here come the boys," Meg said. "They better be getting around to help Juan with the barn chores."

Clair glanced at Meg wondering how it came to be that her son coupled with Meg's son were "the boys." She knew Simon became friends with Will Millgrove when the children had spent time at the Rocking M after Charley had been shot. While her children had settled right in at the Millgroves, Clair felt uneasy with being in a house where she wasn't in charge. She didn't know Meg well enough to judge whether it was a good situation or not. It didn't matter. She no longer had a home and needed to make the best of the way things were.

She needed to be doing something. "I do not know your routine so you must tell me what needs to be done." Rosa set a plate of ham and eggs in front of her with a hot biscuit beside it.

"Thank you," she said. "I have never lived in a house where there were servants except when I was one of those servants."

"I don't know what I'd do without Rosa. She takes care of the kitchen so I can be a seamtress, a teacher and all the other things that need to be done. Jose helps with the heavy work around the house and around the ranch. In the summer he helps with the gardening. We raise as much food as we can so we don't have to buy much. I would guess you would like to spend much of today sewing. After you eat, I'll show you where the sewing room is. I'll have Jose build a fire in the stove to give it a chance to warm up in there."

****

"Charley, look at this. I found it nailed to the shithouse door." Hank Simms brought the little rag doll that Charley had bought Belle. A smear of blood was between the dolls legs.

"That rotten son-of-a-bitch!" Charley cursed as he realized that it wasn't Clair that Beecher was after. It was Cara. "I'm gonna hunt that bastard down an' kill him." He took the doll from Hank. "Go saddle a horse for me. Not Midnight. He's gettin' too old for a tough ride."

Hal grabbed Charley's arm. "You can't go off like that. Your arm isn't completely healed."

Charley glared at his former boss. "Who's gonna stop me?" Charley pushed past Hal and headed for the corral where Hank was saddling a big grey horse.

"Pete! Go with him to keep him out of trouble," Hal ordered. He didn't need to tell Pete who was already saddling his horse.

"Ya thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Pete asked as they rode out, following the tracks that were still visible after last night's snow.

Charley shot him a grim glare. "It's Cara he's after. Shootin' is too good for the likes of him. He deserves to be drug to death. I ain't gonna quit till he's dead."

Before long tracks led off in different directions as the arsonists separated. Charley and Pete stayed on the trail left by the sled until they found it abandoned. Two sets of tracks led off side by side. "They're carryin' somethin' heavy," Charley guessed. "Prob'ly the big kettle. Must have it on a pole between two horses. They're travelin' slow."

As they started up a steep slope, it was more difficult to trace the tracks in the pine needles beneath the trees that captured the snow before it sifted down to the ground. Near where they lost the trail was a high rock outcroping from the slope. Charley dismounted and climbed to the top with Pete following.

As he stood gazing over the spruce covered slopes, Charley stretched his arm to point to the northwest. "That looks like smoke."

Pete followed Charley's pointing finger. "More than one. See over there." His voice became excited. "Think we found Beecher's roost?"

"Could be. A lot of miles between here an' there. It won't be long before the suns sets. It can get dark early under them pines. We'd best get movin'." They descended to where the horses were tied. "I ain't goin' home till I find the bastard and kill him."

Pete swung into the saddle. "I never thought you would. I'm with you all the way."

They had no tracks to follow now so they turned their horses northwest and rode in the direction of the smoke. It was nearly dark when Charley raised a hand to halt. "I smell smoke."

He dismounted and led Smokey, the big roan, into a copse of junipers. "We go the rest of the way on foot. We'd best separate so if one of us is spotted the other can go for help."

Pete nodded to acknowledge he'd heard. "We need to stay where we can see each other. I hope they got some food cookin'. I'm about half hungry."

"Jest half?"

"Yep. But if I don't eat soon I gonna start chewin' on my gloves."

They moved slowly, easing along behind the cover of trees and rocks. Charley knelt beside an old stump looking over the complex of cabins and out buildings in a wide, shallow bowl below where the mountain got steeper. It narrowed at the downhill end between two high rock formations. Charley could see a man perched among the rocks on each side of a narrow pass.

Charley felt the cold steel behind his ear an instant before a man said, "Reach for the sky."

Charley raised his right hand above his head and his left at shoulder height. "That's all the farther it'll go. My collarbone ain't all healed up yet."

"Stand up and stay turned around. Who are ya?" He moved the gun down to poke Charley in the ribs. "Cat got yer tongue?"

"Is Beecher here?"

"Yep. I'm a-gonna take ya to to him right now. Start walkin'."

****

Meg pulled open the door with a six-gun in her hand. "Hello, sheriff. What brings you up this way?"

"I got a message that someone burned down the Hampton's cabin. Figgered they'd be here."

"Mrs. Hampton is here. Charley, Hal and the boys are over at the Hampton's place to clean things up and see if anything's left. Come on in. I don't know how soon they'll be back but it should be soon. It's nearly dark. Would you like a good hot cup of coffee?"

Sheriff Eli Farrell grinned. "I'll always take a cup of coffee."

"I'll get it for you. Sit down over there by the stove and warm up."

Darkness covered the land by the time Hal returned. The children had already eaten and were playing card games. When she heard male voices, Belle came running. "DaDa!"

Hal picked her up. "I'm sorry, honey, but Daddy isn't with us."

"Where is he?" Clair asked.

"He went after Beecher. Pete went with him."

****

Because Charley couldn't reach around behind him, they tied his arms down around his elbows and bound him to a chair. Beecher laughed because he still wore his gun under his coat but couldn't reach it.

"I have big plans for your family, Hampton. That pretty little wife of yours is going to be passed around so the boys all get a chance at her. And you're going to sit and watch. Now that Cara. She's a real beauty. She's mine. I like them nice and young. And the boy. There's a fellow here that likes little boys. Do you know how much a blond baby girl will bring in Mexico? Quite a lot."

"You son-of-a-bitch! I'll see you dead," Charley growled. "Do you think Hal Millgrove is gonna let you ride in on his ranch and take 'em? Not without a fight."

Beecher roared with laughter. "I'll do as I damn well please. I know things you don't. I'd like to taunt you some more but I'm tired. I think I'll turn in."

The door opened and in walked Ross Pearson. Pearson was a drifter who was wintering over at the Rocking R. Hal let him stay on the promise that he would hunt for meat. And he had done that. Almost every time he went out, he came back with an antelope, a deer or an elk.

"Hiya, Charley," he greeted cheerfully. "It's looks like you're in a bit of a pickle."

"Pearson, what the hell are you doin' here?"

Pearson ignored Charley's question and turned to Beecher. "I fetched a deer. You can have venison steak for breakfast. Do you got anything to eat here? I'm hungry. The cook said I'm too late for supper 'cause they ate it all."

Beecher nodded to a cupboard. "There's some bread an' cheese but don't eat it all. I like to toast a cheese sandwich now and then. I'm going to bed. Blow out the lamp before you leave."

Charley glared at Pearson as much as his battered face would allow. "You showed your true colors."

Pearson took his time building a sandwich and sat down across the table from Charley. He didn't say anything but just looked. After he ate, he filled a glass with water and held it to Charley's lips leaning in close to whisper, "You're horse will be saddled and ready in the barn out back." Before he walked out the door, he carefully laid the knife with which he'd sliced the bread and cheese on the table near the edge toward Charley. Then he was gone.

Charley had to wait until he was sure Beecher was asleep before he attempted to move the chair close enough to the table to get the knife. He didn't understand why Pearson had done what he did, but he was grateful for it. It was all a matter of waiting now.

### Chapter 13

The sheriff and Hal were in the library when pounding sounded on the front door. Hal got up to answer it. "Come in, Pete. Where's Charley?"

"Beecher's got him. I come to get reinforcements but I got lost because I couldn't find our tracks. Under the pines there wasn't much snow. I had to go round about so Beecher's guards wouldn't see me. But now I know where Beecher and his hellhounds roost. At first light we need to git the boys together and ride up there and clean 'em out. Double Diamond crew'll prob'bly be willin' to go along."

"Go in there and set yourself down at the fire. I'll have Meg bring you supper."

Pete walked into the library to find the sheriff sitting by the fire. "Howdy, sheriff. What're you doin' up this way?"

"I was in town when I heard that Charley's house got burned down an' figgered I'd come out an' see for myself. I heard what you told Hal. We'll get a posse together in the morning."

****

Charley had to scoot the chair over the floor boards in rhythm with Beecher's snoring. He prayed Beecher wouldn't wake up until he was far away. In the back of his mind was a little voice telling him to shoot Beecher now and get it over with. But he knew that would be sounding his death knell. What he really needed to do was get the hell out of there and hightail it to the Rocking M. Then he would come back and clean out Beecher's snake's den.

At last he was sitting at the table. His arms were bound with his elbows to his sides. He needed to reach up to the table and get hold of the knife. But he could only reach to the table's edge. Setting his feet firmly on the floor, he pushed up as far as possible. Inching his fingers along the tabletop he touched the handle of the knife. He couldn't afford to push it away. Straining with all the power he had, he got a finger over the knife handle and pulled it toward him. He settled back on the chair as quietly as he could.

He paused to listen to Beecher. The snoring hadn't stopped. He grasped the knife handle tightly and began sawing through the rope that bound him to the chair. Damn knife's so dull...The rope gave and fell away. He quickly cut the ropes that bound his legs to the chair. He grabbed the coffee mug that Pearson had left there. It was half full of cold coffee. He drank it down and stood up on legs that were half numb.

Each step toward the door was filled with the fear that Beecher would wake up and shoot him in the back. He looked around for his hat and found it on the floor. One of the outlaws had taken his gloves.

Looking up at the gun rack near the door, he saw a carbine he was sure was Clair's. He took it down and held up a box of ammunition to see what caliber it was. The flickering firelight was dim but he could just make out .30-.30. He dropped the box in a coat pocket and opened the door just wide enough to fit through. He didn't want the cold air to wake Beecher. He was free. Now he needed to find the barn where Pearson said there would be a horse saddled. He figured the barn was the one without a chimney.

He found his horse just like Pearson said. A lantern hung near the door. Sliding the carbine into the saddle scabbard, he blew out the lantern and led the horse outside. The horse wasn't Smokey but he would do. He guessed that Pete took Smokey to hightail it back to the Rocking M.

He led the horse away from the buildings before mounting. Keeping in the shelter of the trees, he rode a while before there was much snow. The sky had cleared and the moon on the snow was almost as bright as day. The stars seemed close enough to reach up and touch them.

He kept to a southwesterly course hoping to come across Pearson's tracks. He gradually turned to a more southerly direction. He had a fairly good idea where the Rocking M was located.

After Charley had ridden about an hour, he dismounted to relieve himself and to eat some snow. His nose was clogged with dried blood and breathing through his mouth dried it out too much. He carefully picked at the dried blood until he could breath. His nose began bleeding again but it was just a trickle. Then he came across the tracks of one horse and guessed it was Pearson's horse.

****

Pete was still still awake when Pearson came in. He decided to wait till morning to find out where Pearson had been. Pete had spent most of the day in the saddle and was damned tired. After Pearson climbed in his bunk, Pete drifted off to sleep.

When Pete awoke, Pearson was already dressed, sitting on his bunk pulling on his boots.

"Pearson!" Pete's rang out. "Where the hell were you that you came in so late last night?"

Pearson stood up and pulled on his sheepskin coat. He turned around. "I was up at Beecher's camp. And I'm going back today with enough men to clean that nest of vipers out for good."

Pete stared at the badge on Pearson's coat. "Is that real?"

"It sure enough is. I'm a U.S. Marshal and I'm after a jail breaker who's up in Beecher's camp. That Chinese cook up there has wanted posters out for him for murder in San Francisco. Get your britches on, Pete. We're going up to the boss's house for a confab." Pearson raised his voice. "Roll out, boys, or you'll miss all the fun. We're going to clean Beecher's nest out once and for all. Shake a leg and get your hardware out." Pearson clapped his hat on his head and started for the door.

"You heard him, boys. We're going after Beecher. Beecher's got Charley an' we gotta get him back." Pete followed Pearson out the door.

"The sheriff's here," Pete informed Pearson.

Pearson looked over with a grin. "My marshal's badge trumps his sheriff's badge. Besides, Beecher's camp is out of his jurisdiction. But he can still go along as a deputy marshal." Pearson rapped sharply on the ranch house door.

Meg opened the door and stared at the badge on Pearson's coat. "Hal and the sheriff are in there." She pointed to the door on the left.

Pearson walked in without knocking. The sheriff took one look and asked, "What're you doing up here, Price?"

"Hunting a jail breaker. He's up in Beecher's nest. Mr. Milgrove, I'd appreciate it if you and your men would come along as deputy marshals. I have the right to deputize you all. Besides that, the bastards have Charley."

Meg stepped in the door. "Breakfast is ready in the dining room. Mr. Pearson, you and Pete are welcome to eat here."

After breakfast, they met in the library to go over the plans. Pearson spread a sheet of paper on Hal's desk and drew a rudimentary map and gave careful instructions of how to find Beecher's camp. "Sheriff, you're in charge of the men that go this way. Pete, you're coming with me."

"What if I don't want to come with you?"

"We're going in to get my man before he has a chance to clear out."

"What about Charley?"

"We should meet him along the way, if he was able to use that knife I left on the table for him and if Beecher didn't catch him trying to escape. I'd have brought him out with me but I didn't have enough guns to fight them all. Let's go saddle up."

****

Pete and Pearson were about five miles from the ranchstead arguing about Pearson's decision to leave Beecher's hideout without Charley. Pearson was getting testy about Pete's disagreement. "Why did you leave without him?"

Pete acknowledged that Pearson had been right to leave Charley because the numbers were against him. "What pisses me off is that you're more interested in getting that jailbird you're after than freeing Charley."

"You have your reasons; I got mine. If we work together we can achieve both." Pearson pointed ahead. "Rider coming."

As they drew closer, Pete exclaimed, "It's Charley!" He kicked his horse to a run.

When they met up, Charley demanded, "Is this all the help you could get?"

Pete grabbed Charley's frozen hand. "Man am I glad to see you!"

Pearson dug in his saddlebag and came up with a pair of gloves for Charley. "The others are coming by a different route. They were going to stop for the Double Diamond boys. I want you to help us get Jude Short. Then we'll help you get Beecher."

"So you're a Marshal. I don't give a damn about Short. I want Beecher."

"You help me; I'll help you. If we go after Beecher first, Short will rabbit. I want to be sure to have him in handcuffs before I go after Beecher's and his gang of owlhoots."

They traveled until they came to where Pearson's and Charley's tracks merged. "We turn north here." Pearson swung his arm to indicate where they should go. "We'll come down on them from the north. My guess is that they'll have most of the men down at the pass. They won't be expecting us to come this way."

"Why should they be expectin' us at all?" Pete asked.

"Because Charley is missing and they know he'll come back with help." Pearson followed his own back trail that was partly covered with drifting snow.

"They prob'bly hightailed it," Pete said, grumpy that Pearson was calling the shots.

"It all depends on how much this place means to them. They have one helluva hiding place with the bowl dipping down like it does. I wonder if it fills up with water when it rains hard."

They rode until Pearson signaled a halt. He spoke quietly. "We go on foot from here. Beecher usually has a couple guards up this way. We'll get them first." He pointed to the left. "Pete, try to get the jump on them so you don't need to shoot. I'll go this way." He pointed to the right. He pointed straight to the cluster of rough cabins. "Charley." Then he moved away.

They knew stealth was necessary and moved slowly. Pete came up behind a man standing looking down toward the cabins, smoking a cigarette. Pete pulled his gun and hit the guard on his temple. He pulled a pigging string from his coat pocket and tied the man's hands. Pete used the guard's own neckerchief to gag him. Then Pete moved on toward the back of a cabin with smoke coming from the chimney. It was bigger than the other cabins so Pete guessed it was the cook shack. He could see Charley crouched behind a fallen tree trunk. Pete eased over toward Charley and whispered, "There's one fellow out of action. I got him hogtied and gagged. I cracked his bean with my gun."

Charley didn't say anything but pointed to his left. Pearson already had the other guard on the ground with a quick knife slash across his throat. They came together right behind the cook shack.

Pearson quickly took charge. "Charley, you stay here and make sure no one comes up behind us." He pointed to the one end of the cabin. "Pete. Stay low so they can't see your from the windows. I'll meet you at the door."

A woman's scream came from inside the building. Charley moved so he was against the building. The cry came again. Charley frowned. "A woman in labor..." he murmured.

On the other side of the cabin Pete and Pearson crouched on either side of the door. From within came a man's voice. "I'm gittin' outa here. Just as soon as I can git a saddle on a horse."

The door opened and Pete stuck his leg out in front of the man exiting. He went down and tried to pull his gun as he lay on the ground. He had barely cleared the holster than Pearson kicked the gun from his hand and Pete grabbed him from behind. Pearson made short work of turning the man over and pulling his hands behind him to handcuff him. Pete picked up his gun and held it to the man's head. "Don't make me shoot you. I ain't in no mood to be pussyfootin' around."

The cry came from inside again. They hauled the man to his feet. Pearson asserted, "You're going back to jail, Short."

"You won't git away with this. Beecher'll see to that."

"Beecher is going to be very busy in a few minutes." Pearson pushed him back into the cabin. "Pete, see if you can find a rope or something to tie this bastard up so we can go help Hal and the boys." The sound of gunshots came from the pass.

Charley came into the cabin. "Sounds like they're startin' the party without us."

"We're going to help just as soon as I hogtie this son of a bitch."

"Oh, oh, ooh!" cried the girl on a bunk at one end of the cabin.

"Missy, have baby," the Chinese cook said. "I help."

"I don't suppose either of you knows much about birthing a baby," Pearson said as he pushed his hat back on his head.

"Cows and horses, yes" Charley answered. "Women, no. Pete used to be married. His wife had two kids."

"Pete, you stay here and guard Short and the cook. The cook's wanted for murder in San Francisco."

"Was self defense," the cook said.

"Tell it to a jury. I just do the arresting. Come on, Charley. Let's see if we can find Beecher. It sounds as if things are going hot and heavy."

"I'm goin' back for the rifle," Charley said. He ran back toward the grove where the horses were tied. Pearson was right beside him.

"We can ride back as far as the cook shack," Pearson panted.

"May's well fetch Pete's horse, too," Charley ventured.

They mounted and headed back down the hillside. Pearson had his carbine out before he was out of his saddle. Charley was right behind him. They kept to the cover of trees and rocks as best they could until they were in rifle range. They knelt down behind a jumble of large rocks that had been moved to make room for the cabins.

"We got us a pretty good view from here," Pearson said as he pumped a shell into the firing chamber. Steadying his gun on a boulder, he sighted the gun and squeezed the trigger. A man on top of the rock formation threw his arms in the air and fell over the edge.

The outlaw's cover was for a frontal assault from the other side. They never suspected that someone would come in from behind.

"That was a lucky shot," Pearson said. "We need to get just a mite closer. See those rocks down there. Cover me when I take off." He tossed his hat on the ground and moved to the end of the rockpile they were hidden behind.

As soon as Pearson began running crouched over, Charley started shooting. Because of his shoulder he couldn't get a good shot but he emptied the magazine in the direction of the outlaws cover. When he stopped to reload, he peeked over the rocks that afforded him shelter to see that Pearson lay flat on the ground behind an outcropping of granite. He waved to let Charley know he was safe. Charley studied the cover where Pearson moved to. It wasn't enough for two men. Especially one as big as Charley.

Charley began looking in the other direction. Pearson had already shot another outlaw. To get behind the men on the far side of the pass, Charley would have to go back and then cross an open space where the trail led down from the pass. Pearson wasn't looking his way so there was no way to let him know what he was about to do.

A gunman on the other side of the pass had a new fangled rifle with a scope on it and he was keeping Pearson down. Charley took advantage to run for the cover of a clump of spruce trees. It seemed that they were all shooting at Pearson and Charley made it without mishap. He knelt down behind a giant spruce and studied the lay of the land. There were as many rocks on the other side of the trail. But junipers growing close together would afford him some protection if he made it across the open space of the trail.

He knew it was only a matter of time before the gunmen thought they gotten Pearson and started looking for Charley. The gunfire on the far side of the pass eased up. Charley hoped no one got killed. He didn't have time to worry about them. They'd have to worry about their own hell. He had other things to do. He took a deep breath and shoved off from behind his tree, running as fast as he could.

A bullet hit the snow covered ground at his feet but then he was behind the junipers and in their midst was a nice big boulder high enough that Charley could stand up and still be under cover. He leaned against it to catch his breath. The shooting on the other side picked up again and the gunmen turned their attention in that direction. Charley inched along until he could peer out from behind the boulder. In a V between two boulders he could see the hombre with the fancy scoped rifle. He raised the .30.30 and braced it against the rock to steady his aim. Holding the gun up like that made his shoulder hurt but he put that out of his mind. Then he squeezed the trigger and he could no longer see the man. He didn't know if his shot was true or not.

All at once a stick with a neckerchief tied on it waved from the rock fort. "We give up!" one of the men shouted.

Someone on the other side of the pass yelled, "Put down your guns and come down with your hands up."

Charley reloaded his rifle and stepped out from behind his rock ready in case it was a trick. He looked across and saw Pearson on his feet moving toward the steep path that led down from the fortifications that were built. "Come down with your hands up," Pearson shouted. Two men came down that path, helping a third with a bloody shirt."

"Hold it right there," Pearson commanded. "Put down your guns."

"Guns are up there. We gotta git Harve to a doctor or he'll bleed to death."

"I'll see if I can find someone who knows a little about taking care of wounds," Pearson said. "Lay him down there and put your hands in the air and keep them there. Charley come over here!"

After they had the outlaws herded together and tied up, they took stock of the situation. "Three dead, two wounded," Hal reported for the cowboys he led. He looked sadly at Charley. "Wally got it."

"Oh, hell." Charley was looking around among all the men there. "Where's Beecher?"

One of the crooks looked up at him. "He lit out just about the time the shootin' started. Said he'd meet us in Mexico. He took all the loot."

Charley stalked over and caught up the reins. "I'm takin' Smokey," he told his former boss.

"Where's Pete?" Hal asked.

"Up in the cook shack deliverin' a baby." Charley swung into the saddle and kicked Smokey in the flanks. Charley had a pretty good idea where Beecher was headed and he had to get there ahead of him.

### Chapter 14

Claire had spent the morning sewing a new dress for Cara. After dinner Belle was fussy so Claire tried to rock her to sleep. "DaDa," the little girl whined.

"Daddy isn't here right now," Clair said soothingly. "You must be quiet so you don't wake Danny."

Meg put Danny down for a nap right after dinner. The two little girls, Faye and Lucy, played quietly in the playroom where Danny slept. Cara was in the kitchen with Rosa trying to learn all she could about cooking. Clair could hear their quiet conversation.

Simon and Will were upstairs in Will's bedroom. The two boys had become close. They'd spent part of the morning shooting target with Will's .22 caliber rifle and had come in bragging that both of them could hit the bull's eye. Jose, who was with the boys, verified that they were telling the truth.

Meg and Rosa had spent the morning doing laundry. Since Clair wasn't using the sewing machine, Meg decided to do some of her own sewing. She had to do something. Knowing that Hal and the Rocking M boys had gone on a dangerous mission that involved shooting, she couldn't just sit around. Some casualties were sure to happen. That acknowledgment squeezed at her heart.

Meg came to the living room and leaned to look at Belle. "I think she finally went to sleep."

Claire stood up careful not to jar the little girl as she laid her on the leather sofa and got a chair from the dining room to set it back to the couch to keep Belle from rolling off in her sleep. She could hear Meg in the kitchen talking to Rosa and Cara. Just as she turned from the couch, a loud rap sounded at the door. Not wanting it to wake Belle, Claire hurried to answer.

She was afraid to open the door until she knew who was on the other side. "Who is it?"

"Leon Prescott from the Double Diamond. I got a letter fer Mrs. Millgrove from her husband. He took a bullet in the arm and has to go to town to the doc. He don't want her to worry."

Meg stood in the door to the kitchen as Claire opened the door. Floyd Beecher stood there with his gun drawn. Claire tried to shove the door shut but he pushed in. He leveled the gun at her. "You'd do well to heed what I say."

Meg started forward but stopped. Barging in could get Clair killed. The guns were in the office and Beecher stood between her and them. Meg stepped back into the kitchen.

At the sound of a male voice, Belle slid off the couch and came running. "DaDa!"

"It isn't Daddy," Clair said. "Stay back." She stepped between the little girl and Beecher. She tried to get Belle to go to the kitchen. "Cara's there."

"It's Cara I want."

Clair whirled to face him. "You perverted bastard. Get out."

"I fully intend to leave just as soon as Cara comes with me." He raised his voice. "Cara, if you don't come in here, I'm going to shoot your mother and your sister."

Cara walked slowly into the living room, her blue eyes wide with fear. "D...don't shoot," she stammered.

"Cara, run!" Clair cried. "Go!" She dove for Belle, taking the little girl down with her. She managed to get her hand behind Belle's head to cushion the fall, but it was still quite a jolt. Belle began screaming at the top of her lung's.

The loud report of Beecher's gun jarred Clair's senses as a bullet drove into the wooden floor just inches from her head.

"I'm tired of fooling around, Cara. I'm serious. If you don't come with me right now I'll kill your mother and sister right here in front of you."

"Don't, Cara, don't!" Claire pleaded.

"Beecher!"

Clair recognized Simon's voice. She heard a pop and another shot from Beecher's gun. Then a second pop. Then she heard two sets of footsteps thumping down the stairs. Meg came running from the kitchen with Jose's shotgun.

Clair pushed up to her knees and saw Beecher lying at her feet, his eyes open. Simon stood on the bottom with Will's .22 in his hands. "Is he dead?" Simon choked.

Meg stepped past Clair and the screaming baby. "Dead as a doornail."

Clair got to her feet. "Cara, please take Belle to the kitchen and get her quieted down."

Simon looked down at the dead man. He shoved the .22 at Will and ran out the door. Clair could hear him vomiting. Jose came running from the kitchen.

"He's dead, Jose." Meg stepped past the dead man to go out and see about Simon. She looked back at Jose. "Can you drag him outside or will you need help?"

"I can do it," Jose responded. "But first I'm going to take his coat." He was referring to the dark green woolen greatcoat Beecher. "That's an expensive coat."

Meg took Simon by the arm and led him inside and into the office/library. "I'll take care of him," she told Clair softly. "Try to see about the little ones."

****

Meg set Simon down in front of the fire and moved away to put more wood on the blaze. She squatted down in front of him and took his hands. "I know this is difficult for you. You are still a child but you have done a man's job."

"I never wanted to kill anyone," Simon sobbed. "But he was gonna kill Mama and Belle and take Cara away." He sniffled and wiped his tears on his sleeve. "I couldn't let him do that. I broke one of the Ten Commandments."

"Simon, listen to me. You didn't do anything wrong. That Commandment is better translated, 'Thou shalt not murder.' You didn't murder him. You shot him in defense of your mother and sisters. The man was a villain. He was evil. You stopped him. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Simon nodded and wiped his hand down across his face. "I won't go to hell for it then?"

Meg spoke softly. "You won't go to hell." She looked up when Clair slipped into the room.

Simon followed Meg's gaze. "Oh, Mama! I killed him! I couldn't let him take Cara away."

Clair knelt down and opened her arms to him. He ran to her and wept on her shoulder. She smoothed his rumpled hair with her hand. "It's all right, son. You were brave to come to the defense of the girls and me. I wish you didn't have to. But we can't change what is. He was a bad man."

"Why did you let him in?" Meg asked.

"He said he was from the Double Diamond and had a message for you from Hal. He said Hal was wounded. It was just a ruse to get his foot in the door. I tried to shut the door but he pushed his way in. I'm sorry, Meg. I thought Hal was injured."

Meg laid a hand on Clair's shoulder. "You believed him. I would have done the same without thinking twice.

****

Charley rode Smokey hard. Hank complained that it was too cold to get a horse all lathered up. Charley didn't so much as look at him. Charley leaned forward in the saddle and rode like the devil was pursuing him. When his hat blew off, Hank stopped and picked it up. Charley kept going until they were in sight of the ranch house. He cursed when he Beecher's horse standing at the hitching post.

"Bastard!"

He yanked back on the reins and vaulted out of the saddle, leaving the reins dangling. Two long strides took him to the porch steps where he stopped short and stared at the dead man lying beside the steps with his face in vomit. "Hank."

Hank pulled the body face up. "Beecher. I wonder who done fer him."

"Take these horses to the barn," Charley ordered. "Tell Juan to help you rub 'em down good and walk 'em some." He bounded up to the porch and rushed inside.

Cara sat on the rocking chair beside the stove in the living room with Belle on her lap. As soon as she heard Charley's footsteps, Belle scooted off Cara's lap and came running. "DaDa!"

Charley swept her up in his arms and hugged her. He looked past Belle's head at Cara. "Where's Mama? Who shot Beecher?"

"Mama's in there." She pointed to the closed door of the office. "With Simon and Meg. Simon shot Beecher and then he got sick."

"You gotta go back to Cara, Belle. Daddy has to go see about Simon and Mama."

Belle clung to him and when he pulled her loose, she lay down on the floor and threw a tantrum.

"Let her throw her fit. She'll quit when it don't do any good." A few quick steps took Charley to the office door and he entered without knocking. "Simon!" He knelt down and opened his arms to his stepson.

Simon ran to him and hugged him around the neck. "I didn't mean to kill him but I couldn't let him shoot Mama and Belle and take Cara."

Charley held him close. "You're a little too young to be doin' a man's job but you did good. I'm proud of you for protectin' your ma and sisters. I'm sorry you had to do that. It will take a while to get used to it. I'm here for you anytime you need to talk about it."

"Thanks, Pa. I will."

Charley ruffled Simon's hair and stood up. "I ain't had nothin' to eat since breakfast yesterday an' I'm about starved."

"I'll get you something." Meg left the office door open when she went to the kitchen.

Clair stood by waiting for Charley to finish with Simon. She reached up and touched his battered face. Tears gather on her eye lashes. "I'll get some water and take care of you."

Charley grabbed her and pulled her tight against him. "I been worried somethin' awful 'bout you an' the kids. I shoulda been here."

"Go sit down by the fire. I'll be right back."

Belle pushed her way between them. "DaDa. Up." She reached her arms up to him. He picked her up and carried her to one of the chairs by the fireplace.

****

Clair had trouble getting Belle to sleep. Belle cried for Charley. "Daddy's sleeping," Clair explained. "You should be, too. Will you go to sleep if I put you in the same room with Daddy?"

Belle pointed to the room where Charley slept on the daybed, snoring loudly. "DaDa."

Clair carried the little girl to the room and put her in the crib. "Hush. You'll wake Daddy. Just go to sleep." Clair patted her back until she closed her eyes, then she tiptoed from the room.

Though all the work with doing the dishes and straightening up the kitchen was done, Rosa lingered. Jose had taken their two children to the cottage they had behind the ranch house to put them to bed.

Meg, Rosa and Clair sat around the kitchen with coffee, talking in hushed voices. Meg was concerned about Hal and all the boys on from the Rocking M. She had been out to the bunkhouse to talk to Hank and learned that Wally had been killed but Beecher's hideout had been cleaned out.

Charley came from the children's room rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Why didn't you wake me for supper?"

"We guessed you needed the sleep," Meg replied. "The children are all in bed. Hopefully they are all asleep."

"How's Simon doin'?"

"He's having a tough time with it," Clair answered. "He knows he did what he had to, but it's hard for him to justify that he killed another human being. He's had to grow up too quickly."

"Yeah." Charley helped himself to a cup of coffee and joined the women around the table.

"Senor Charley, do you want something to eat? I saved it all because Senor Hal has not come home yet."

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Past nine," Clair said.

They heard the scraping of boots on the back porch and the kitchen door opened. Hal came in with Pete following. "Rosa, I hope you've got plenty of grub," Hal said. "I think I could eat a horse."

Rosa smiled. "Will you settle for antelope?"

The men washed up and headed to the dining room. Hal sat at the head of the table with Pete on one side and Charley on the other. The women brought roast antelope, biscuits, gravy and baked beans with pumpkin pie for dessert.

"You can go home now, Rosa. Clair and I will wash up after they eat." Meg cut pumpkin pie for herself and Clair who sat down beside Charley. Meg went around to take a seat beside Pete. "I know you men are going to talk about what happened today. Clair and I want to know, too."

"For starters, we are a man short. Wally got shot dead," reported Hal.

"I know that. I talked to Hank."

Pete's face took on a grim look. "Beecher had a girl up there that he kidnapped last year. She was in labor when we got there and I delivered the baby. That girl's only fifteen. She just had a birthday and now she's a mother. They're taking her and the baby back to town until they can find her parents."

"Pearson...Price got his man," Hal added. "He turned the rest over to the sheriff. They hauled the dead ones back to town. Beecher got away."

"He may have gotten away from his hideout but he's just as dead as if he'd stayed," Meg said. She described what had happened when Beecher pushed his way into the ranch house and tried to take Cara away. "I hurt inside for Simon. He's just a boy but he did a man's job." She turned to Charley. "He may have nightmares about it. You might want to keep your ears open in case he calls out in the night."

Charley swallowed a big bite of biscuit and gravy. "I know that. I so proud of that boy because he knowed what to do. But I hurt for him too. Ain't too long since I killed my first man and it hit me hard. Simon's only ten."

Clair and Meg began clearing away the plates. "You fellows want pie?"

### Chapter 15

"Tell me about it," Clair coaxed.

Charley looked over at her with a big grin. "If I tell you it won't be a surprise."

They rode on the seat of a new green wagon with yellow wheels. Cara and Belle rode in the back with what few possessions they brought from the Rocking M. Charley had taken most of their belongings over the day before. Simon and Pete had stayed at the new house overnight.

As soon as the building came in sight, Clair said, "You made it bigger."

"Yes, ma'am. but there's more."

When Charley pulled up the horses at the front of the house, Clair said, "You built a porch."

"I like to set outside in the evenin' when it's warm enough. There's more."

He helped Clair down and then lifted Belle out of the wagon box. Cara jumped down on her own. She had become more independent since she spent time at the Rocking M. She now wore Levi's and boots like a boy. Clair allowed Cara to because Clair herself wore pants now.

She stepped up on the porch and Charley opened the door. "A wooden floor."

"There's more," Charley responded as he set Belle on her feet. Clair turned slowly around takin in the view a the room but suddenly stopped. "A cookstove!"

"Yep. Don't touch it 'cause it's hot. There's more."

He led her to a door at the south end of the room. To the left were two built-in bunks. "Simon already claimed the top one."

To the right was a crib for Belle who was running around the table with Cara chasing her. Charley opened the door and Clair stepped in. "Our own bedroom. That's nice."

"There's more." He led her to the south window where a treadle sewing machine sat.

"Oh, thank you; thank you." She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"There's more."

"I'm not sure I can take anymore."

He took her elbow and guided her back to the main room to another door.

"A back door so I don't have to walk around the house to hang up clothes."

"There's more," Charley said with a broad grin and opened the door to reveal a pantry and washroom. Attached to the tubs that were mounted on a metal stand was a set of wringers that turned with a crank.

Clair looked back at him with tears in her eyes as she struggled to find the right words. She stepped past Charley and closed the door, leaning back against it. "Charley Hampton, I love you. I mean that." Her voice was low and full of emotion. "Not like I loved Tom. I can never love like that again, but I do love you. You are a good man." He stepped in close and put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in for a kiss.

She smiled and said softly, "There's more. In the fall, late September or early October, you are going to be a daddy for real."

He hugged her close as he choked back tears. "You know I love you, too, Clair. You an' the kids." Held her close and kissed her again. "I reckon I better get out an' help build that barn so's the livestock don't get killed off by wolves or bears."

He left her to get adjusted to her new home and went out to where Pete was leanin' on the barnyard fence smoking a cigarette. At the sound of Charley's footsteps, Pete looked around. "What are you grinnin' about?"

"Clair just told me she loves me, an' come fall I'm gonna be a daddy for real."

About the author:

Ruth Ann Hixson is a retired journalist who writes novels, short stories and poetry. Other books already published on Smashwords are No Plans for Love, Lost Memories and Fires of Revenge. Coming soon is Poetry A to Z.

