Little Sam's Angel (21 page)

"Course we knowed he wasn't. Angel's don't bleed, and he was sure bleeding. One of them Injuns got him in the leg. Soon as he told us his name, he keeled right over. He was sick two whole days from it."

"They're lying to you," Gabe mumbled, causing Sammy to whirl around to look at him. Even with the fever still raging in him, he told her plainly, "There wasn't any lieutenant. Just them and three drunk Indians."

"Sounds better our way," Curly said, unabashed at the tall tale he had just spun.

"Makes me sound like a king-sized jackass. I didn't have no sword, just a stick, and I was out looking for a lost cow."

"Ma'am," Tracks said quickly, "I think you best leave now."

"But he's…"

"No, ma'am, he ain't. He's fixing to go off again."

"If I'd had any brains, I'd been the one to cut and run. You…" Gabe went on.

Tracks took the liberty of hurrying Sammy to her feet, by actually taking her by the arms and hustling her out of the room. The door shut before she could hear what Gabe was going to say, but she knew soon enough that he was mad about what they'd said. Sally pulled her away from the door before she could find out exactly why or hear the scalding adjectives Gabe was using.

The next time Tracks opened the door, it was to tell her Gabe was sleeping quiet. It had been just after a particularly loud session, and Tracks seemed to have a bruise rising up on his chin.

"Kicked me," Tracks explained when he saw her looking at it as she passed him to go into the bedroom.

Curly was folding blankets, laying them neatly over the foot of the bed. "Tracks knows better than to let him get a foot loose. His own fault," he said cheerfully.

Sammy half-heard him, looking Gabe over. His face was pale but not fiery red, and it was dry, although his hair was still damp. His breathing sounded like that of a normal sleeping man, too.

"You could probably wake him, but he's so wore out, he probably wouldn't make much sense talking."

"As soon as he can talk, I'm going to find out how much of that story you told was true," she teased, though gratitude shone in her eyes.

"Ah, ma'am," Curly said with a chuckle, "Angel will only make light of it, not telling as many things as we put in and less of what really happened. Them Injuns was drunk, but they'd'a killed us just the same iffen he hadn't happened along and took a hand in it."

"You just wait till you hear some of the whoppers he tells on us," Tracks said from the doorway, and it wasn't until Curly joined him that she realized they were leaving.

"Wouldn't you like some coffee or something to eat before you go?"

"Got things to do, ma'am," Curly said, while they both shook their heads.

"Maybe you could tell me what this Morey looks like and maybe send something so's he don't think I'm pulling a fast one when I come up on him," Tracks said, obviously not doubting his ability for one minute in finding him.

"I could…" She halted abruptly when Tracks held up his hand for silence.

She couldn't hear a thing, but he said, "Rider coming," and drew his gun while he said it.

Curly was swift to follow. They were standing one to each side of the front door when Morey staggered in, a sleeping Danny in his arms.

Morey went by the two men, without seeing them, to give the boy to Sammy. "Don't wake him up for God's sake," he whispered, handing him over carefully. "He's bellowed and screamed the whole way back. Just went to sleep five miles out. You're sure looking pretty."

Sammy looked up from carefully folding away the coat and blankets Morey had Danny wrapped in. "Thank you, Morey," she said, smiling sweetly.

Sally was beside her, looking to see that Danny was fine. "You missed the wedding," she told Morey and offered to take Danny, but Sammy refused to give him up.

"Wedding?" Morey exclaimed.

"Shhh…" Sally warned instantly.

"That why you so prettied up? You go and get married without me here to see it?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper.

"She wouldn't wait, wanted to care for Gabe herself," Sally said. "Suppose you want something to eat."

He turned to face her as she moved towards the kitchen, and the retort he had ready for Sally froze in his throat. He saw Curly and Tracks for the first time, still standing at each side of the door, and grabbed for his gun.

"Whoa, now," Curly exclaimed, both hands out in front of him.

"You oughtn't do that to a man," Morey said tersely, dropping his gun back in the holster as he realized the men weren't there to do harm. "Who are you?"

"Oh, Morey, this is Curly and Tracks, friends of Gabe's. They've come to help him and already have so much," Sammy said.

Sally snorted. "Morey, why were you gone so long? Did that woman give you trouble?"

"She wasn't anywhere around," he said. "That couple didn't have anything to do with her, but when they said they was going to leave, they meant they were on their way, anxious, they said, to get Danny clear away from a man like Gabe! Dang near hit him."

"Should'a," Curly commented dryly. "Angel says we should do some talking with you."

"A minute, please, Curly. Why did it take so long, Morey? Did they refuse to give him up?" Sammy asked.

"Ask me, they was glad to get rid of him," Morey grumbled. "I had to chase the dang train down. I overshot them and had to backtrack. Found them in a hotel they was just about to get kicked out of 'cause Danny was making so much racket. Sammy, he ain't done nothing but cry and scream since they took him."

"Poor thing," she cooed.

"Told them that was how it'd be. He don't cotton to being away from Gabe," Sally told them.

"He won't ever be again," Sammy promised.

* * *

To Gabe it seemed like he was forever waking up, not clear on what happened before he went to sleep. Once he got his eyes open, he smiled at Sammy. She sat in a chair beside him holding a sleeping Danny in her arms.

She leaned close and whispered so as not to wake Danny. "How do you feel?"

Gabe thought about it then nodded. "Thirsty though."

Under the cover, he twisted his thumb under his hand, running it down his ring finger, at the same time watching her left hand, checking quickly. He'd sure feel foolish, if what he thought he remembered wasn't so, and he wanted to be sure before he said anything.

He felt his ring, the same time he saw hers glitter in the light and grinned. She turned around to give him his drink, and he was already asleep, the grin still on face.

He slept for four hours in the next stretch, waking for water and staying awake long enough for a report from Curly that nothing noteworthy had happened. Gabe, Morey, Sammy, and Curly held a secret conference while a subdued Danny sat beside Gabe and shared some soup. His friends, without any of Sammy's crew knowing, were to follow the example set by Sammy and methodically destroy every building and fence on the three traitor's homesteads. In addition, none of Sammy's hands were to leave there, for any reason without being followed. The decision bothered Sammy and Morey, but after the betrayals they'd already suffered, they didn't argue.

With another nine hours sleep through the night, he woke, telling them he was ready to get up.

"I don't mean to ride or nothing. I just want to get up," he told them when Sally and Sammy both told him he couldn't.

"Well, you ain't," Sally said firmly.

"Gabe, you really shouldn't so soon," Sammy said, unsure of where she stood with her new husband while she wrestled with Danny to keep him from crawling out of her lap to get on the bed with Gabe.

"Sammy, I'm getting up. I want to talk with Hedges and the boys."

"You can talk to them in here," Sally said.

"He's a man who knows his own mind, Sally. Leave him be," Sammy said. She swung Danny to her hip as she went to get Gabe's clothes.

"Gabe hold!" Danny demanded.

"That's your Papa, and he ain't got no more sense than you," Sally retorted.

"Papa, hold," Danny corrected, still demanding sharply.

"You hold on till I get dressed," Gabe told him, feeling that queer twist in his gut and what felt like his heart was swelling. Calling him Papa was a first for Danny, but Danny puckered up to bawl.

"If you start crying again, I'll have to have Sally take you in the other room," Sammy told him.

Danny made a very disrespectful noise to which Gabe took immediate exception and raised up on his elbows. "Hey, don't you do that again. She's your Mama now, and you don't talk back to her."

"Oh, Gabe, I hadn't thought of that," Sammy said, pressing her hand to her stomach over the strange feeling it gave her, but she smiled from ear to ear.

Gabe grinned back at her, but hadn't made any move to uncover. Sammy was standing five feet away from him, holding his clothes. Each waited for the other to make some indication of what they expected next in an awkward kind of standoff.

"Sammy, come help me cook," Sally told her, making them both jump and blush as she took Danny from Sammy and walked out of the room.

"Do you need help dressing?" Sammy asked shyly, looking at the clothes she held rather that at him.

"No," he managed to say even though he felt like his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth.

Then she rushed to him, forgetting any awkwardness, and his arms opened to take her. This was the man she'd married. "I love you, Gabe."

"I don't know why I'm so lucky," he said, hugging her close with all his might. Those months of swinging an ax had made his shoulder and arm muscles strong, making any weakness of his illness seem minimal as he crushed her to him. Sammy reveled in his strength, hugging him back.

"We're going to have to have some time alone, Sammy," he told her thickly.

Sammy didn't misunderstand his meaning or pretend she did. "We will," she promised, kissing him only to draw away reluctantly. She held to his wrists as his hands lingered on her slim waist, then she kissed him quickly again before dancing out of the room.

"Hmph," Sally said, noting Sammy's high color when she danced into the kitchen.

"Hush," Sammy told her.

Danny, surprisingly quiet for having just been taken away from Gabe looked quizzically at Sammy. "Mama?" he asked.

"Oh yes, darling," Sammy said, hugging him almost as fiercely as Gabe had just hugged her.

Danny squirmed free, trying the word again on Sally.

"Not me, you spoiled brat," Sally said gruffly.

"Sally!"

"Well, he is. You mark my words." She pointed at Sammy with the spoon in her hand. "You're going to have your hands full teaching that one not to be so demanding."

"Mama," Danny said, turning such a dignified pose to Sally that Sammy giggled. Then he put his arms around Sammy's neck, hugged her, and repeated, "Mama."

Chapter Eleven

Gabe had been some concerned over Pierce's whereabouts. Curly and the others had found no sign of anyone moving within the boundaries of the Rocking M, not at the old house site or anywhere near the new one.

Pierce had told Gabe he'd be back in a week for the signed deed, and he'd told Sammy she had a week to get out. He seemed so sure he'd meet no resistance from either, he'd gone off to wait out the time until the day he was to appear at the land office to have his claim certified. When Jamie came into the ranch Thursday night, Gabe wasn't too surprised to find out where Pierce had been.

"He's been in Tree Town, staying in the hotel with that Brenda woman," Jamie said. "They're in Crossings now."

"Guess that answers that question," Curly said.

Jamie snorted in disgust. "You should have seen her, strutting around, daring all them good women to say anything to her. That Pierce fella says he's already got three of them claims and swears he'll have the others before he's through, including yours, Angel. He said some things about the kind of man you are, too. I dang near shot him."

"Why didn't you?" Curly teased.

"Cause I want to see the look on his face when Angel does it himself. He said you had too big a yellow streak to fight back."

"Whew," Curly whistled.

"Ain't done much, yet," someone in Sammy's group whispered to another.

Six heads on the other side came up to pinpoint the man, marking him for later lesson teaching. Gabe ignored it. "Has Pierce said what his plans are?" he asked Jamie.

"Sure. He's gonna certify his papers, him and them others he's got with him, and then buy up theirs, first thing in the morning. Then he's gonna take his hired gunnies and the sheriff out to the main ranch. He says if Little Sam or the hands put up a fight, he'll kill them with the law on his side."

Gabe made a derisive sound, half-snort and half-laugh. "All right, saddle up," he ordered. His group moved without question. Sammy's bunch stood where they were, which was what Gabe wanted.

"What are you going to do?" Bob asked.

"You're gonna stay here, making sure nothing happens while we're gone. In the morning you're going to go to town to get your claims certified, but don't you leave here till ten."

"And what are you gonna be doing?" he asked again.

"Mister, when I want you to know, I'll tell you," Gabe told him quietly.

"Shut-up, Bob," Morey said, then asked Gabe, "What time do you want me in town?"

"Nine sharp. I want to make sure you're first in line."

Morey nodded, adding a solemn, "Good luck."

Bob held his tongue until Gabe and the others rode out before he asked Morey, "Do you know what he's gonna do?"

"Yeah and when the time's right, you will. Set out guards, two hour shifts, two at a time." he said and walked off.

"What are we watching for?" Bob called after him.

"Polecats," was the answer that drifted back to them.

Morey barely opened the door before he was attacked with questions from Hedges and Sally. He answered them all, wondering why Sammy was so quiet.

When the other two seemed to run out of questions, he told her, "Pierce is with that Brenda woman."

Her head jerking up in interest. "Where is she?" Sammy asked.

"In town, at the hotel." He waited for her to comment, but she didn't. Instead she looked away, her eyes with a green glitter in them, sharp and brittle. "You gonna go in with us in the morning?"

"No," she said, rising slowly. "I'm going in now."

"Gabe won't like that."

"He won't know."

"He'll know. He's watching the road."

"Why?" she asked with a start.

"Figures maybe more than three of your men were tempted with Pierce's money and just ain't gone off to collect yet. He wants to make sure Pierce don't have no warning of any kind."

* * *

Other than Morey, Gabe hadn't told any of Sammy's hands, anything they couldn't have guessed for themselves. They planned on having Morey in town to file a new claim on the Rocking M when Pierce was legally declared in default. Even though it wasn't completely accurate, that wasn't what Gabe wanted kept secret. Pierce was not going to get any warning that six men he knew nothing about would be waiting if he tried anything at the house while the rest of the men were in town.

Out on the road, Gabe and Curly waited.

Curly, bored with just sitting, got down from his horse, taking his rope with him. Gabe watched with amusement as Curly tied one end around a tree on the opposite side of the road. "Gonna feel foolish when you take that off in the morning if no one comes," he told him.

"Or if I catch the wrong bird," Curly agreed cheerfully. "Suppose there's many traveling this road at night?"

"Not coming from the ranch. Think I hear someone."

"Yep, more than one, though," Curly said, getting back on his horse, wrapping the rope around the saddle horn and backing the horse to draw the rope tight. He braced himself, waiting for the impact.

The neck high rope twanged, two men grunted and hit the ground.

Curly threw the rope down. He got off his horse, stepping down slowly, and ambled over to the men, gasping, twisting, and holding tight to their necks.

Gabe was there ahead of him. "Going for a little moonlight ride?" he asked with his pistol a scant few inches from one man's nose.

"You said we could leave," the man choked out, as much in fear as from being nearly strangled.

"Picked the wrong night to do it," Gabe said coldly, jerking the end of his gun to motion them to their feet.

"Either one hold a claim?" Curly asked.

"This one does," Gabe told him, indicating the man who hadn't spoken as yet.

"I wouldn't sell it to Pierce. I swear I wouldn't," the man cried, staggering to his feet.

"Sure you wouldn't. Sammy's going to be really disappointed in you, Brander."

"What are you gonna do with us?"

"Take you back to the ranch. You're lucky. You're no good to us dead."

"What's this one think to get out of it?" Curly asked.

"Ask him," Gabe said with a shrug.

"Go to hell," the other man snapped, walking away from Curly.

"Heart or lung, Angel?" Curly asked without hurrying the words as the man got further from him in the bad light.

"Just knock his knee out from under him if you can in this light," Gabe said, shoving Brander toward his horse.

"Two bits, says I do," Curly said, lining up his sight carefully.

"Joe, get back here," Brander shouted too late.

Joe screamed. The sound, as close as he was, came right on top of the pistol report.

"You son-of-a-bitch," he sobbed in pain.

Curly walked over to the downed man. Joe moaned, holding tight to his leg with both hands. "Ah hell, I missed," Curly declared. "Hit his thigh, Angel. Must be losing my touch."

"The light is bad."

Curly lifted the man's gun. "It is a mite bad," he said, seeming to be satisfied with a remarkable shot, not being more remarkable. "Course, a lung shot is some easier."

"I didn't want him dead, Curly, just stopped."

When Gabe took the two men back, the fact that they weren't on guard where they were supposed to be condemned them. No sympathy was wasted on either as they were tied and placed in the shed.

The rest of what Gabe's men were doing that night stayed a mystery to Sammy's hands, and after Brander and Joe's betrayal, no one asked why. They were surprised to find out the next morning that they were to leave for town with Morey, not the ten o'clock time Gabe has set for them the night before. Gabe was going with them, and his men were staying behind.

"What about Brander and Joe?" Bob asked Morey, not Gabe.

Gabe answered anyway. "They stay here."

"Don't Brander have to get certified?" Bob asked.

"He's got time to do it. He stays here till Pierce isn't around to tempt him again."

"You gonna tell us now what you're up to?"

"No, but I will tell you this. If one of you make a move to spoil things, I'll kill you."

Bob looked like he didn't doubt for a minute that Gabe meant every word he said. "We'd know better what not to do, if we knew what you were doing,"

"You're going in, certify your claims then sign them over to Morey in Sammy's name, with her promise of payment within a year, right there. After that, it's up to you."

"I worked for Little Sam for a long time and her pa before that. I ain't so dumb I don't know it ain't gonna be over when she gets them deeds. I trust her for the money, and I ain't gonna walk out on her."

"Then come back here. We need good men. I just ain't got the time now to sort out who we can trust."

"Fair enough. Does that go for the rest of them?"

"Anyone that wants to come back is welcome."

Bob looked around, knowing Gabe's friends were near, but unable to see them. "When you line me up with you and them, I don't know why, but I don't toe the mark, do I?"

Bob seemed to be a good man, but Gabe understood what he meant. It was the same thing that struck him as odd that first day, seeing the two groups together. "Maybe you just ain't been over the right mountain yet," he said as he mounted his horse.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Maybe you will when this is over. Mount up." He looked at the house and waved to Sammy. She waved back, wearing a thoughtful look on her face. Would she know what he meant and understand? He asked Bob, "You ever been in a fight where you knew you might have to take another man's life?"

Bob shook his head while Gabe still looked at Sammy. Might be he should have told her more of his past before he let her go and marry him. Might be she wouldn't like some of those things, what he was going to do or what she'd hear about him because of it.

When he met Curly and Tracks, they were green kids running away from home, out to see the world and make their fortune. He, not having any more sense than they did, joined them, leaving his family's home as well. They'd seen a lot of country, and never seen a fortune, not of their own. They'd tried a little bit of every kind of work, more to stay alive, than in a search for glamour. They settled into cattle working, more by accident than design

The small group had stayed with the range work and stayed together, picking up a few close friends along the way. Only none of them were as close as Tracks, Curly, and Gabe, even if some of them had, at one time or another, in one place or another, been over that particular mountain of experience Gabe spoke of, the kind where life or death stared you in the face, the kind where you had to take a life to keep on living.

He told Bob, "If Pierce don't back off, you and your friends might well make that passage."

Gabe didn't figure they would like it, not any more than Curly, Tracks, or Gabe had.

* * *

Sammy watched until they were out of sight, then she went to the bedroom to change clothes. She hadn't worn a skirt and blouse since she and Gabe had married, liking the way Gabe's eyes traveled over the snug fit of that dress when he looked at her. She wasn't such an innocent she didn't know what the look in his eyes meant and that he was thinking of the time he'd make her his wife in the full sense.

With the impression she wanted to make on Brenda, a dress would have little effect. Brenda, a master at beguiling, wouldn't be impressed with any charm and graces Sammy might have. Sammy wore her usual split riding skirt and blouse. She also took out the little revolver her father had given her when she was too small a child to handle a heavy forty-four.

Tucking the small revolver in the pocket of her shapeless jacket and to avoid a clash with Sally, she slipped out her window. In the time it took her to saddle a horse, Tracks, who saw her coming out the window, hastened to tell Curly. Between them, they decided that Tracks would follow along behind her. They didn't figure they had the right to stop her, but they figured Gabe would want her watched over. He stayed behind her, just far enough not to be seen until she went into the hotel.

Brenda sat serenely in the lobby. She stiffened when Sammy walked in, her smug look faltering slightly, but relaxed when Sammy walked over to her.

"I want to talk to you in private," Sammy said.

"We have nothing to discuss, private or otherwise," she answered, smoothing the skirt of the expensive Paris day gown.

Instead of reminding Sammy of how inferior she was, it made Sammy mad. Her voice turned cold. "We do. It's up to you who hears it."

"I'm sure nothing you can say will—"

"Pierce is beaten. He'll never get the deeds for those claims."