Beneath The Texas Sky (26 page)

Mariah lay in the wet grass beside the waterfall and cried until all her energy drained. Soaking wet, she finally gathered the strength to stand, then trudged toward the house. The clouds unleashed a torrent in downward waves, slowing her progress and making each step an effort. She knew Elliot would be long gone, but she didn’t care. There would be other days to worry about selling the ranch. All she wanted now was to slip into a hot bath and forget everything that had happened this morning. She didn’t want to think about Dusty or the feelings he’d set alive within her.

As Mariah neared the back of the ranch house, she saw Cain bolt from the doorway and run toward her. Worry covered his face as he yanked his parka off and held it out to her.

As he reached her, Mariah collapsed in the old man’s arms. She was too cold and wet to move another step. He lifted her as he had all her life and comforted her with his strong arms. As always, he asked no questions. His kindness and devotion were unconditional. He carried her toward the house while protecting her with his body from the rain.

Mariah lifted her head as he swung her into the kitchen. There, to her surprise, stood her mother talking with Ruth. Bethanie turned at the sound Cain made,
and Mariah saw concern fill her mother’s beautiful face. Cain lowered Mariah to the floor, and Mariah ran into Bethanie’s arms. Gone now was the self-confident woman she thought she had become. With a sob, she realized what Dusty must feel everyday with no family around him. He had no one to turn to during life’s storms. No arms to comfort him.

Bethanie held Mariah tightly. Her voice was soft as she spoke to the others. “Ruth, put some coffee on and water for a bath. Cain, put a tub in my room and light the fireplace. We’ve got to get her out of these clothes before she catches her death of cold.”

Mariah followed her mother’s orders, and within half an hour was soaking in a hot tub with a half a pot of coffee to warm her insides. No one asked any questions about where she’d been, and Mariah was thankful for their silence. She watched her mother rock in a creaking Bentwood rocker by the fire. Bethanie seemed a hundred miles away, as if reliving the past. Mariah saw her mother as a quiet woman who always seemed to know what was right to do. She was greatly loved by everyone who knew her, and considered one of the most beautiful women in Colorado.

“Why did you come?” Mariah asked quietly.

“Cain wired me. Josh couldn’t get away for a few days, so I took the train alone. It was time I came back for a visit, and I wanted to face the memories without Josh.”

Mariah relaxed against the side of the tub. It was unlike Cain ever to interfere. Did he think she needed help with Dusty or with selling the ranch? She watched her mother rocking and wondered if another reason brought her here after all these years.

“Mother, what are you thinking?” Mariah asked, knowing her mother would never share her thoughts without being asked. The long pause that followed left
Mariah to wonder if, even now, her mother would open up with her feelings.

Bethanie smiled and leaned forward in the rocker. “I was thinking, your father asked me to marry him in this room. We were married that night.”

“Did you love him very much?” Mariah asked. She wanted to add, “As much as you love Uncle Josh,” but couldn’t bring herself to be quite so direct.

“Not at first,” Bethanie answered honestly. “But I think he loved enough for the both of us. As the time passed, I grew to love him. He kept proving his love to me until I couldn’t help but care for him.”

Mariah asked quietly, “Proving he loved you…physically?” She knew she was on untrod ground and doubted her mother would answer such a question even as the words passed her lips.

“No,” Bethanie surprised her daughter with her honesty. “You can show someone you love them with physical actions, but you prove it by what you do outside the bedroom. He was willing to protect me with his name and his life. What more could any woman ask of love?”

Mariah wasn’t sure she understood what her mother was saying. She climbed out of the bath and wriggled into her nightgown. Though it was mid-afternoon, she felt ready for bed. The low, brooding clouds made it seem like twilight.

Mariah watched as Bethanie stood and moved to the old oval mirror. Her mother brushed the carved frame in a greeting.

“Mother,” Mariah whispered. “Should a woman give up everything for the man she loves?”

Mariah watched pain touch her mother’s reflection before she turned and faced her daughter with a carefully masked face. “I don’t know, Mariah, but if you give up beliefs, dreams, or…principles you’re not the same person that other person loves.”

The sound of horses suddenly broke the quiet mood of the house. Mariah slipped on her dressing gown and followed her mother to the porch. They watched as watery gray figures moved near.

Bethanie and Mariah stood under the protection of the long roof as rain dripped on a dozen men on horseback. The horses were winded and huffing smoky puffs into the gray-wet air. An overweight man with a badge pinned on his rain slicker approached the porch in wide, splashing strides.

“Mrs. Weston, you may not remember me, but I’m Sheriff Harris.” He tipped his hat slightly, spilling water down the front of his coat.

“I remember you, Sheriff.” Bethanie’s voice was guarded, telling Mariah her mother didn’t trust this man. Bethanie Weston always carried her chin in a graceful tilt that seemed to demand respect. “What may I do to help you, Mr. Harris?” It was obvious to all that she. pointedly neglected to use the man’s title.

Harris reached the porch. “We’re looking for Dustin Barfield.”

“I haven’t seen him today,” Bethanie answered. Mariah noticed her mother volunteered no information or offered to let anyone else answer the question. “What do you need to speak to him about?”

The sheriff puffed up like a water-soaked toad, apparently proud of his mission. “I plan on arresting him for the murder of Elliot Mayson.”

Mariah gasped and felt Bethanie’s hand touch her arm. She glanced at the frozen profile of her mother as the sheriff continued. “We found Elliot’s body two hours ago halfway to town. He was still warm, with Dusty’s slicker over him. Guess the murdering fool didn’t remember having his initials on the inside of the parka.”

Mariah fought to draw air into her lungs. “What time
was Elliot murdered?” She held to her mother, facing herself for the blow of the sheriff’s words.

The sheriff shrugged. “Sometime after ten. We found the body about eleven.”

Mariah let out a long breath. She knew Dusty was with her during that time. Before she could tell the sheriff, she saw Dusty coming from the barn. His clothes were plastered against his lean form, and his head was down against the rain.

The sheriff stepped off the porch and motioned for several men to dismount. His husky voice rumbled across the yard. “Dustin Barfield, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” The sheriff’s words were echoed by the rolling thunder of the low-hanging clouds.

Dusty looked up, and his frown told Mariah he was in no mood to be bothered. The rain was blocking his view of more than a few feet. He started to walk around the sheriff as if the lawman was no more than a hitching post.

“Where were you this morning?” Sheriff Harris yelled.

Dusty’s vision darted to Mariah and for a moment she saw hate touch his golden eyes. Could he really think she would turn him in for kidnapping? Or worse?

“None of your business,” he answered the sheriff in a hiss, his eyes never leaving Mariah.

Several men moved to form a ring around Dusty. The sheriff smiled as he jerked Dusty’s arm. “I’m making it my business, mister. Elliot Mayson was murdered today, and I think you had something to do with it.”

“What!” Dusty yelled, then laughed with relief that only Mariah could understand. He glanced back over toward her as if to apologize.

The sheriff seemed tired of their chatter in the rain. “You’re under arrest for the murder. I know there’s been bad blood between you and the Maysons ever since Ben
Weston was killed, but shooting his son is no way to solve anything. Where were you this morning?”

“I a—I was alone. I overslept,” Dusty answered, then turned to walk away.

Before Dusty moved two feet, men closed around him. As he resisted their grip, the sheriff moved in. The fat man spread his lips thin over his teeth and barked again. “There ain’t a rancher in Texas who sleeps past sunup. So don’t lie to me. Now once more, where were you this morning?”

Dusty slung his wet hair out of his eyes and pulled at the men who held him. “I was alone.” Though the words were low, they were said like an obscenity tossed in the sheriff’s face.

The sheriff reacted to the words as they were meant. He slung his fist up and clipped Dusty across the chin. Dusty’s head jerked back from the blow of Harris’s knuckles. As his chin lowered, the sheriff’s other fist pounded into his stomach with so much force that the men who were holding Dusty almost lost their balance.

Dusty silently took the blows. He twisted in pain only as he heard Mariah cry his name as if she were being torn apart with each blow.

The sheriff laughed as he landed his knuckles into Dusty’s face. “You’ve been a smartass pup ever since you took over this ranch. I figure it’s about time someone took you down a notch or two.”

Bethanie held Mariah back as they watched Dusty take blow after blow before he fell to his knees suspended between the two deputies. Each hit on Dusty’s body tore at Mariah’s heart. She wanted to stop the men, to run and protect Dusty from the blows with her own body, but her mother’s hands held her tight to the porch. Mariah turned to her mother in anger. But, to Mariah’s astonishment, Bethanie’s vision wasn’t on the fight, but on Cain. She watched as Bethanie nodded slowly toward the older
man, and Cain melted into the rain at the edge of the porch.

Mariah knew Cain could do nothing against a dozen men, but she could stand no more. She bolted down the steps and confronted the sheriff. “Stop!” she yelled. “He was with me. He couldn’t have killed Elliot Mayson. He was with me!” She knelt in the mud in front of Dusty. His face was down, but she could see blood mixing with rain, dripping onto his shirt.

The sheriff grabbed a handful of Dusty’s hair and pulled his head up. Mariah swallowed a scream as she looked into Dusty’s half-conscious eyes. “Were you with her?” Harris interrogated above Mariah’s cries. “There’d be a reason for a man to stay in bed all morning.”

Dusty’s mouth was bleeding, and his left eye was almost swollen shut. “No,” he answered between gritted teeth. “I didn’t kill Elliot, but I was alone this morning. I wasn’t with her.”

“Too bad, Barfield. You could’ve had an alibi at the cost of this lady’s reputation. You must dislike your partner pretty bad, not to let her lie to save that no good neck of yours.”

“I’m not lying!” Mariah cried above the rain, but no one listened. They tied Dusty atop a horse and headed out.

As the sheriff passed the porch, he tipped his hat to Bethanie. “I’m leaving Hank here to see your daughter doesn’t come to town tomorrow and mix up the trial.”

“That will not be necessary,” Bethanie answered.

“In fact, I better leave a couple of men to see that no one from this house is at the trial. I want to get this over fast and have the hanging by tomorrow night. Wouldn’t do to let it fester and have two of the biggest ranches in Texas fighting each other.”

Mariah ran beside Dusty’s horse. “Please tell them where you were,” she begged.

“No,” Dusty answered. “I was alone. Stay away from me.” His words were sharp, but his eyes seemed to be pleading.

Mariah walked back to her mother as the horses faded into the rain. “How could he hate me so much?” she cried.

“Or love you so much?” Bethanie whispered. “The sheriff is one of Mayson’s men. If he thought Dusty had an alibi, he might try to eliminate you. I know he’ll do whatever he thinks Mayson wants, and so does Dusty.”

“We must do something!” Mariah pleaded. She couldn’t just let these crazy men carry Dusty off without a fight. There had to be something she could do.

“We will, Mariah. Cain will follow them and keep an eye on Dusty. When the time is right, we’ll do something.”

To Mariah’s horror, Bethanie turned to the two men left to guard them, and said, “You men might as well come in out of the rain and have some hot tea.” As they walked inside, she turned to Ruth. “Make us up a pot of that herb tea from the leaves of the purple nightshade plant and add a little whiskey for sweetener. That should help the chill.”

Mariah pulled her mother back a few steps. “I’ve always had trouble remembering all your herbs, Mother.” Mariah’s voice carried only to Bethanie’s ears. “But the nightshade plant won’t help the chill.”

Bethanie touched a finger to her lips as Mariah whispered, “The nearest I remember it’s a sleeping agent.”

Bethanie nodded slowly with an angelic smile touching the corners of her mouth.

Mariah glanced toward Ruth. The old woman never batted an eye as she disappeared into the kitchen to follow Bethanie’s instructions. Mariah watched as her mother invited the men to rest by the warm fire.