Home of the Brave (35 page)

“I’d shoot if I had anything
to shoot with and then I’d eat all your supper.”

Thomas turned to see his
brother William, barefoot and wearing a ragged union suit, limping
toward him from a yaupon grove. “What the hell?” Thomas stood
up.

“I just caught a glimpse of
you as you were leaving Washington-on-the-Brazos. It took me too
long to gather my horse and gear and you moved too fast so I
couldn’t catch up.” William crouched by the fire and warmed his
hands. “When I got here some Comanches shot my horse and robbed
me.”

“How come they didn’t kill
you?”

“I kept saying Sam Houston
over and over again. It confused them enough that they decided it
might be a bad idea to kill me, so they just left me to die. Lucky
for me you came back the same way you went.”

“There’s a five thousand
dollar bounty on you, dead or alive.”

“I think it’s ten thousand
now. Do you intend to collect it?”

“I might. Did you really
kill all those people they say you did?”

“Yes and a lot more that
they don’t know about.”

“Why?”

William shrugged. “There was
no single reason, Thomas. Some vexed me, some threatened me and a
few were just in my way.”

“Turn the bacon and stir the
beans while I get you some clothes.” He got up and began to
unbuckle his saddle bags.

“Does the family talk about
me?”

“Not much.”

“I figured. The folks still
alive?”

“Yeah. Dad’s retired and
doing nothing.” He brought back the clothes and handed them to
William. “I don’t have any other boots, but we can buy you some
moccasins in a village I know that’s not far from here.”

“All I need is your pistol
and your pack horse.”

“I’ll give you my rifle and
the horse, not my pistol.”

William was looking at the
gun on Thomas’s hip. “That’s a Walker-Colt, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see it.”

Thomas chuckled. “What gave
you the idea that I’d gone soft in the head, William?”

“What? You can’t think I’d
steal it from you.”

“We both know you would. Get
those clothes on and let’s eat.”

Grumbling about being
misunderstood, William put on the offered clothing then sat down
next to Thomas with his plate of beans and bacon. “You were
supposed to identify my body in Virginia.”

“I knew it wasn’t you. I
wasn’t gonna lie.”

“You baffle me, Thomas. You
traveled halfway across the continent to break me out of prison but
you wouldn’t tell a lie to get the law off my trail.”

Thomas shrugged. “I don’t
spend as much time in self-analysis as you and Robert. I just sort
of do what feels right.”

“Where is
Robert?”

“Still in the
army.”

“Ha. I didn’t think he’d
make it.”

“He has to try harder than
the rest of us, but he always does what he intends to and he always
does it better than we do.”

“Jack?”

“Still in the army too.
Still cold as ice. Still judgmental as God almighty. He’s a
lieutenant colonel now.”

William smiled. “He’s the
only real soldier. The soldier that grandfather was.”

“You haven’t asked about
Anna.”

“Piss on Anna and everybody
else. The truth be known, you’re the only one I care about and I
don’t care that much about you.” He reached for Thomas’s pistol but
Thomas stabbed him in the hand with his fork. “God damn it.”
William sucked on his wounded hand. “What did you do that
for?”

Thomas wiped his fork off on
his shirt and went back to eating his beans. “Next time I’ll put it
down your throat.”

William’s eyes had gone
dead. “You may not live to regret that threat, Brother.”

“Don’t make the mistake of
thinking that I’ve forgotten what you are, William.” Thomas pointed
toward the setting sun. “See those Comanches? They’re from Buffalo
Hump’s band. I just had a pleasant sit-down with him. If you take
me on and accidentally live up to your alias as Billy Lucky,
they’ll gut you and roast you over their fires.”

26 February 1845

Washington, District of
Columbia

Six days before
President-elect James K. Polk’s inauguration, under direction from
President John Tyler, Congress passed a joint resolution declaring
that Texas would be admitted as a state in the Union providing its
legislature approved annexation by the first of January,
1846.

Soon after, American chargé
d’affaires, Andrew Jackson Donelson, the nephew of Andrew Jackson,
presented the resolution to the Texas legislature. The resolution
was endorsed in July and approved by the citizens of Texas in
October. With the endorsement, the Two Alone Ranch lost protection
under the Texas Constitution and became part of Comanche
Territory.

September 29,
1845

Van Buskirk Point, New
Jersey

Marina walked out onto the
porch. “It’s freezing out here, John.”

“I’m tired of being cooped
up.” Yank was sitting in his rocking chair with a blanket across
his legs. “This is no kind of life for us. I feel as if we’re just
sitting around waiting to die.”

“Let’s go to Mexico,” Marina
replied. “President Polk is sending John Slidell to negotiate
buying the disputed land in Texas. They want me to go along as an
interpreter.”

He looked surprised. “Why
haven’t you mentioned it before now?”

“I got the letter yesterday
and wanted to sleep on it.”

“And what have you decided
after a night’s sleep?”

“I’d like to go, if you’ll
come with me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t
have any rapport with President Polk. He’s pure
politician.”

“You wouldn’t have to deal
with him. I will.”

“Why do I have to go at
all?”

She looked at him for
several seconds. “You’d let me go without you?”

“Let
isn’t a word that I’d ever use when discussing what you might
do, Marina. You’ve never sought or needed my permission for
anything.”

“You know what I
meant.”

“If you want to go,
go.”

“I’d like you to come with
me.”

“I’d rather not, but if you
need me, I will.”

“I don’t
need
you; I’d just like
you to be with me.”

“How about a compromise? You
go to Mexico City with Slidell and I’ll meet you in El Paso or San
Antonio on your way back and we’ll go together to spend some time
with the children.”

“Okay. I’ll write to John
Slidell and you write to Thomas.”

“You should write to Thomas.
I write to him all the time. You haven’t in months.”

“I don’t particularly like
any of our children, John.”

“Then write to
Jane.”

Marina opened the door.
“I’ll write to Thomas. Come back inside before you catch your
death.”

“I’ll be in
soon.”

~

On December 29, 1845, Texas
became the twenty-eighth state in the United States of
America.

January 6, 1846

Two Alone Ranch, Republic of
Texas

The arrival of the post
rider was always a welcome event, so when Texas Ranger Captain
Josiah Whipple accepted the mail and directed the rider toward the
kitchen, he was met at the door of the main house by Thomas and
Jane Van Buskirk and Anna Van Buskirk Lagrange. “One’s for Tom and
the other’s for Anna.” Whipple said, handing one envelope to Thomas
and the other to Anna.

“Thank God,” Anna said. “I
was beginning to think that we’d never get any more
mail.”

“This is from Mother,”
Thomas said.

“Mine’s from Nancy
Vreeland,” Anna replied, storing the letter under her sweater.
“I’ll read it tonight. What does Mother say?”

“Okay. Let’s see.” Thomas
opened the envelope.

“When did she post it?” Anna
asked.

Thomas was skimming the
letter and gave the envelope to Anna.

Anna read the postmark.
“September thirtieth. So let’s see, October, November, December.”
She held up three fingers. “Three months ago.”

“She’s coming to Texas,”
Thomas said.

“She should have been here
by now.” Anna looked at the postmark again.

Thomas shook his head. “She
was going to Mexico City first.”

“Alone?” Anna
asked.

“Yes. It looks that way.”
Thomas finished reading and gave the letter to Anna.

“Is your father ill?” Jane
asked.

“No,” Thomas answered.
“Apparently Mother’s gone to Mexico City with John Slidell to act
as his interpreter. She intends to come up this way afterward. Dad
may join her but that’s not set.”

Jane wrinkled her brow. “Is
John Slidell the Senator from Louisiana?”

“Yes,” Thomas replied. “He’s
originally from New York. I think his family and my grandmother’s
family may be related.”

“How’s yer mother plannin’
to get from Mexico City to here?” Whipple asked. “The way things
are, that might not be as easy as she thinks.”

“I’m not sure,” Thomas said.
“She’s very cryptic in what she says. Apparently Slidell’s trip is
a government secret.”

“He’s going to buy the
disputed territory from Mexico,” Anna said confidently. She looked
up at Whipple. “My mother seems to think she’ll cross the Rio
Grande at Matamoras. Is there a fort or town on the Rio Grande
across from Matamoras, Josiah?”

“There’s been some talk of
needin’ a fort across from Matamoras, but I got no idea if one’s
been built there recent or not.”

“That’s in disputed
territory,” Anna replied. “Mother must be thinking that buying it
from Mexico is likely, but I think she’s wrong.”

“Why?” Thomas
asked.

“The Mexican government is
in such confusion that they can’t possibly negotiate a complex
treaty right now,” she answered. “In the last year the presidency’s
changed hands four times, the war ministry’s changed six times, and
the finance ministry’s changed sixteen times.”

Thomas looked worried. “I
hope Mother isn’t planning to try to make her own way here, without
Dad.”

“If anyone could, it would
be your mother,” Jane chuckled. “She crossed Texas several times
when it was an empty, dangerous wasteland. Once, when she was eight
months pregnant with your brother Jack.”

“When she was twenty,”
Thomas agreed, “but she’s a bit long in the tooth for that kind of
adventure now, especially given the political
situation.”

“Does she say when?” Whipple
asked.

Thomas shook his
head.

“Well,” Whipple said, “I’m
supposed to take that Mexican bandit, Jesus Vasquez, down to
Houston for trial. I wasn’t plannin’ to go fer a while but I might
as well get ‘er done.”

“What are you thinking?”
Thomas asked.

“I’m thinkin’ that I’ll
start out in the mornin’, nose around in Houston and see if there’s
a new fort near Matamoras. If there is, I’ll ride on over to make
sure yer mother don’t get left in the middle of
nowheres.”

“That’s a long trip into a
dangerous area,” Jane observed.

Whipple smiled. “It’s
getting’ too civilized up here for me anyways.”

Anna chewed her fingernail
nervously. “If the United States builds a fort on this side of the
Rio Grande across from Matamoros without buying the land first,
there could be real trouble.”

Thomas nodded. “Most people
expected that the annexation of Texas into the Union would be the
spark to set off the war.”

“There ain’t nothin’ we can
do about it, so why worry?” Whipple asked.

They all looked up as
Charlie Lagrange came in. “Are you ready, Anna?” he
asked.

“Yes. Let me get my coat. We
got some news. Josiah will explain.”

“Hurry up,” Charlie said. “I
left Quincy all alone at the house.”

“I’ll just be a minute.”
Anna hurried toward the stairs.

Charlie took off his hat and
looked at Thomas, Jane and Whipple. “What’s this news?”

“I’m a going south for a
bit,” Whipple replied. “Y’ want me to get ‘em to send a replacement
up here from Austin?”

“Why are you going to
Austin?” Charlie asked.

“My mother’s headed our way
from Mexico City,” Thomas explained. “Josiah’s going to escort
her.”

“If I can find her,” Whipple
added. “I’m also gonna take Jesus Vasquez, down to Houston for
trial.”

“How long will you be gone?”
Charlie asked.

“A few months, I reckon,”
Whipple said. “Maybe more.”

Charlie looked at his hat.
“I’ve been promising Anna that I’d retire from the Rangers for
nearly fifteen years now and every time I get ready to do it,
something else comes up. This time I swore to her I wouldn’t be put
off.”