Rosa's Land: Western Justice - book 1 (32 page)

“We don’t stay here much, so we don’t keep it up,” Henry said.

He came close to her, and when he stood directly in front of her looking into her eyes, Rosa felt a trace of fear. She knew this man was ruthless, that he thought nothing of killing any more than the other members of his band. Now she forced herself to stand straight and meet his gaze. “It looks like a pigsty.”

Beecher laughed suddenly. “I like a woman with spirit, but you can clean it up. Make yourself handy while we’re waiting on Riordan to follow us here. Come on. I’ll show you where you’ll stay.”

He walked across the room, and she followed him. There was a hallway, with rooms on each side, she supposed.

Beecher walked to the end, opened a door, and said, “Right in there, sweetheart.”

Rosa moved inside the doorway and was disgusted. “This place is filthy!” She stared at the bedstead with broken springs and a mattress losing its padding. There was a washstand with a chipped pitcher and bowl, and a bucket over in the corner.

“Well, it’s not the Waldorf, but you’ll like it here. I’m going to have to leave you awhile now. I’ll have to lock you in. Not that I think you could get away. If you try to run away, Rosa, it’ll just make it hard on you. You saw what the land is out there. From up here on this hill, we can see ten miles, so just make yourself comfortable.” He waved toward a chair that was broken but had been fitted with sticks and boards to make it sit up. “I’ll be back, and you can cook a good supper for us.” He looked at her and said, “I guess you’re pretty scared.”

Rosa looked at him. “I know you’d do anything, Henry, so of course I’m scared.”

“I’m not such a bad fellow,” Beecher said, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “As long as I get my own way, I’ll look out for you.” He waited for her to reply, and when she said nothing, he turned and walked out.

She heard the door close, and then she heard a bar being dropped to prevent her from opening the door. Quickly she walked over to the window, which was barred. The bars were so close together that there was no hope of wiggling through them. A child might do it but not a grown woman. She looked out over the landscape and noticed that with the exception of one clump of three walnut trees grouped together over to her left, the trees had all been cut down. She lifted her eyes and noted that the house was up on the highest point around. The land fell away for miles, it seemed, and she realized that Beecher had chosen this place because, with a lookout, no one could ever take the man off guard.

She turned and for a long time paced the floor, which was rather dangerous because it had broken boards that she could step through. The thought came to her that maybe she could remove the boards at night and crawl down under the house, but she found they were nailed securely, and she had no tools to remove them.

Finally Rosa sat down in the patched-up chair. Her mind was in a state of confusion. She tried to calm herself, but everything she could think of had a grim ending.
Riordan will come
, she thought. Then immediately she whispered, “Don’t do it, Riordan! They’ll kill you!” Realizing the futility of speaking, she simply sat in the chair. After a time, she heard the men laughing and banging in the next room and dreaded when she would have to go out and be subjected to their crude talk and manners.

She surprised herself when she suddenly began thinking of the sermon that she had heard. She had a good memory, but this was different. It seemed she could hear every sentence that the minister had spoken. It was a relief to think of something other than Henry Beecher and his murderous band. She thought about the scripture that the preacher had read, the woman with the issue of blood, and how she had sought Jesus out, and how she touched Him and was healed instantly. She thought of this for some time, and then her mind moved to the other illustration, the woman caught in adultery. Rosa had a vivid imagination at times, and she could almost see the scene. The woman being dragged before Jesus, before the whole town, she supposed. She thought about how the men had insisted that she be killed. Rosa went over the whole scene, thinking about how the men had left and Jesus stood up and asked the woman where her accusers were.
She must have been weeping. She says, “They’re gone. “Jesus then says, “I do not condemn thee,” and the woman reacts with tears to that
, she thought.

The noise from the other room grew louder, and she knew soon she would be called out to cook for the men. She was used to being around rough men, but always she had had control of them. These men had control of her now, she realized. She was totally at the mercy of Henry Beecher, and it was not beyond him to throw her to his men for their entertainment.

She forced herself to think again.
I’m like that woman taken in adultery. I haven’t done that, but I’ve been a sinner all my life. If I could just hear Jesus say, “Neither do I condemn thee,” I think I’d be the happiest woman in the world
, she thought. She remembered the invitation that the preacher had extended. He had said at one point,
“A person can find God anywhere. In the middle of the desert with no one there, in a crowded room, on the streets. It doesn’t matter. It’s when you believe that He’s the Son of God and you’re ready to yield your life to Him. That’s when He’ll say, ‘Neither do l condemn thee,’ and you’ll become a part of the family of God.”

Suddenly the door rattled and opened, and Henry said, “Come on, sweetheart. You can do some cooking for us. We butchered some beef. Reckon you can cook steaks, can’t you?”

Knowing that she had no choice, Rosa got up and walked into the room. The men were leering at her. She walked over to the stove at once and began cooking their meal, ignoring them as best she could.

Riordan knew his father was a man accustomed to being able to solve any problem, but as Caleb Riordan watched Henry Beecher and his men disappear into the distance raising huge dust clouds, he must have felt totally helpless. Riordan understood the feeling all to well.

“We’ve got to do something!” his father cried out desperately. “We’ve got to go back to Fort Smith and get a posse!”

“That won’t do, Father,” Riordan said. “You heard what Beecher said, and he’s just cruel enough to do it, too. He’d kill Rosa in a minute if he saw a band of marshals coming.”

Eileen came over. “But you can’t go after them alone. They’re all killers. You’re just one man.”

Riordan put his arm around his mother and said softly, “Well, it’s not what I’d like to do, but the question is—is it the right thing to do?”

Mateo Ramirez said, “Go get my daughter. You can do it.” He looked sickly and pale in the fading sunlight.

Chenoa came to stand beside her husband and said, “That’s asking too much of anyone, Mateo.”

“No, it’s not,” Riordan said.

The ranch hands all stood watching the drama. Ringo finally said to Riordan, “They can talk all they want to, but I can tell you right now I know you and you are going after that girl.”

“I think you’re right, Ringo. I don’t think you can get her, Riordan. No offense, now. You’re fast with a gun, but there’s too many of them, and you can bet they’ll be holed up in a safe place.”

“I need a little time to think,” Riordan said.

Chenoa took charge. She introduced herself and her family to the new guests. “Now, everyone come into the house, please. I know you are all tired and hungry. We’ll fix something to eat and then try to figure out what to do.”

Riordan turned and walked away from the house. He was aimless, for it mattered little where he went, as the situation wouldn’t change. Riordan had never faced such a dilemma as this. He tried to think of a way to get Rosa back, but Henry was too clever.
He knows he’s got me, and he knows I’ll come. I don’t think I can do it by myself, though
.

Finally he arrived back at the house. Twilight had come. There were sounds of talking in the house.

Riordan looked up and saw Hannah coming out to the porch. “What are you going to do?” she asked in a solemn tone.

“I know I’ve got to go after her, Hannah.”

“I knew you’d say that, but I want you to know God before you leave.”

“It may be too late for me.”

“No, you’ve got a good spirit in you. You told me how you made a profession of faith when you were a boy and that you’d gotten away from it. I think you’ve been in God’s family all this time. You just need to come back.”

“How do I do that?”

Hannah moved closer to him and put her hand on his arm. “You remember the story in the Bible of the Prodigal Son? How he went bad, went away from home, and ruined his life? And what did he do?”

Riordan smiled briefly. “He decided he’d had enough eating with the hogs and wanted to go home and just tell his father what he had done and that he was sorry.”

“You remember it well. And what happened when he got home? Did his father curse him and tell him to leave?”

Riordan dropped his head and thought. “No, the Bible says, if I remember correctly, the old man looked up and saw him when he was a long ways off, and he ran to meet him. He threw his arms around him, and the boy tried to tell him how badly he had messed up his life. The old man wouldn’t listen to it, though. He said, ‘Kill the fatted calf. Make merry for this, my son, was lost but now he’s found again.’ Something like that.”

“That’s very close to word for word,” Hannah said. “But you need to come back to your Father, too. Don’t you see?”

Riordan had been touched by the sermon much in the same way that Rosa had. He said quietly, “I need God. I know that.”

“We’ll pray, and you must dedicate yourself to Christ. Will you pray with me?”

For a moment Riordan seemed to be swayed between two choices, and then he whispered. “I’ve got to.”

The two bowed their heads, and Hannah prayed fervently a long prayer, an encouraging prayer. Finally her voice fell away.

Riordan was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Lord God, I’m not worth anything. I haven’t served You, but I want to.” He went on to confess about his life away from God. Finally he said, “Lord, I want to be in Your family, so just like that wayward boy that came to his father, I come to You.” He waited for a long time.

Hannah didn’t speak. The two of them were totally silent.

Then something happened. Riordan had been disturbed and confused, his thoughts like the waves of the sea without purpose. But now there seemed to be a calm that was creeping into his heart, and he realized that this was what he was looking for.

“God’s welcoming you home, isn’t he?”

Riordan’s throat was thick, and he could barely speak. He felt the tears in his eyes. “I may not have much life left, but whatever I do have, I give it to God.”

The next morning Riordan ate breakfast with the family. When they were almost through, he spoke to them as a group. “I’ve got to go get her. You all know that. There’s no other choice.”

Caleb said, “Son, you’re just finding yourself, and I’m just discovering what a good son you are. You can’t throw it all away.”

Riordan rose to his feet and looked at his father and his brothers. “I wouldn’t be a good son if I let Beecher have Rosa, would I now?”

No one said a word in answer.

Riordan finally said, “I prayed last night for the first time, really, in years, since I was a boy. I told God I would do whatever He commands, so now I’m going to do it. I’ll be leaving in a moment, as soon as I get saddled.”

Caleb said, “I can’t think. I’ve always been able to fix things, but I can’t fix this.”

“I think God is fixing it,” Eileen said. “Come. We’ll all pray while he is gone and trust God for the outcome.”

They all went out to the corral, and Riordan began strapping the saddle down on Big Red.

His mother came to him, and when she looked up at him, he saw that there was pride in her eyes. “I’m proud of you, son. You might not live through this, and that would be a terrible tragedy for all of us, but I know you’re doing it because you love that woman. Is that right?”

“Maybe I do. I’m not really sure yet. But I’d go even if I didn’t.”

Caleb had been silent for a while. Finally he said, “You know. I don’t know how this is going to turn out. I always wanted a son that was strong, and I didn’t think you were, Faye, but now I see that you are stronger than all of us.” His voice took on a bit of sadness and regret as he added in a whisper, “And I wish I’d been a better father to you.”