Texas Rifles (20 page)

Authors: Elmer Kelton

BOOK: Texas Rifles

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The captain whispered, “Come here, little girl.”

Unsure of herself, the girl went to him. The captain reached out hesitantly and touched her hand and said in a tight voice, “What's your name?”

So quietly the others could hardly hear, the girl said, “Joanna.”

“How old are you, Joanna?”

With some deep thought, the girl held up three fingers.

“Three,” the captain said. “You know, I had a little girl like you once. Last time I saw her,
she
was just about three. You look like herâa whole lot like her.”

Innocently the girl asked, “Where is she now?”

“She's gone â¦ far away.” The captain paused a long
moment, then said, “How'd you like to climb up here in my lap, Joanna?”

Hanna Lawton stepped forward to stop it, worry in her eyes. “Aaron, your wound!”

The captain waved her away. “It'll be all right,” he said. Cloud lifted the girl into the captain's lap. The captain put his good hand on Joanna's shoulder and pulled her against his chest. He said to her, “I've been looking for another little girl to come and live with me, a little girl like the one I had. Would you like to be my little girl?”

Joanna murmured wearily, “It'd be all right, I guess.”

The captain began to rock the chair gently while he held Joanna. Presently the girl looked up and said, “You're crying! What're you crying for? Did somebody hurt you?”

The captain shook his head and drew the girl closer. “No, child, nobody hurt me.” He kept on rocking, and Cloud turned away.

On the porch outside, Easter said, “I thought I'd hate him as long as I lived, but I don't. I can't hate him anymore. I can only feel sorry for him.”

Hanna Lawton said, “He's a good man, Easter. He's hard to understand sometimes, but he's a good man.” She held silent a moment, then smiled uncertainly. “Easter â¦ Cloud â¦ he's asked me to marry him.”

Surprised, Cloud blurted, “Well, I'll be damned!”

Hanna said, “It's a cruel thing, but I'm almost glad he was wounded. It forced him to lie still a long time and think. And it gave me a chance to be with him.”

Cloud told her, “He's a smart man, Hanna. He wouldn't have overlooked you forever.”

“Maybe he would and maybe he wouldn't. It doesn't matter now. He's asked me, and I told him yes.”

Cloud said, “Looks like you'll have to be a mother to
the little Moseley girl. I hope you won't mind that.”

Hanna shook her head. “She'll help. Didn't you see his eyes while ago? For a few minutes there he was happyâhappy like he hasn't been in years. His daughter was one loss I never could've made up to him. But maybe this little girl can.” Hanna turned then to Easter. “Your clothes are still hanging where you left them. You'll have a home here just as long as you want it.”

Cloud took Easter's hand. “Easter's goin' to have a home of her own, Hanna.”

Fondly watching the couple, Hanna said, “I'm glad.”

When they were alone, Cloud led Easter down to the creek. They stood together beneath the trees, listening to the soft rustle of the leaves, the quiet murmur of the water. Easter looked northwestward toward the land she had left, the home to which she could never return.

Cloud said gently, “You've given up a lot, Easter, and there's some of it I know can never be made up to you. But maybe in time I could help you forget. Maybe I could make you happy.”

She leaned to him, her head against his shoulder. Her arms went around him, and she said in a soft voice:

“You will, Cloud. You will.”

Other Books by Elmer Kelton

Barbed Wire
Shadow of a Star
Buffalo Wagons
Bitter Trail
Hot Iron
Texas Rifles
Donovan
The Pumpkin Rollers
Cloudy in the West
The Smiling Country
The Buckskin Line
The Good Old Boys
The Time It Never Rained
The Day the Cowboys Quit
Captain's Rangers
Massacre at Goliad
Badger Boy
Dark Thicket
Stand Proud
Eyes of the Hawk
Hanging Judge
Joe Pepper
Way of the Coyote
Long Way to Texas
After the Bugles
Bowie's Mine
Ranger's Trail
Texas Vendetta
Jericho's Road
Lone Star Rising: The Texas Rangers Trilogy

Praise for Elmer Kelton

“Elmer Kelton does not write Westerns. He writes fine novels set in the Westâlike
The Pumpkin Rollers.
Here a reader meets flesh-and-blood people of an earlier time, in a story that will grab and hold you from the first to the last page.”

âDee Brown, author of
the
New York Times
bestseller
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

“A marvelous romantic Western that will hold a reader's attention to the very end. Kelton is a wonderful storyteller who has won six Spur Awards. This book must surely climb to the top of his award-winning list.”

â
Oklahoman
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
on
The Pumpkin Rollers

“A big, brawling saga with enough action, character, suspense, history, rage, passion, and wisdom to please anybody who likes their bestsellers bold and relentless. This is his finest.”

âEd Gorman, author of
Dark Trail
on
The Pumpkin Rollers

“Elmer Kelton, winner of six Spur Awards, has done it again with his latest novel â¦a vivid and accurate depiction of how the West came of age during the exciting times of our nation's expanse.”

â
American Cowboy
on
The Pumpkin Rollers

“A wonderfully humorous book with just enough evil in a few of the characters to keep realism alive and well. All this, and the most delightful narrator since Huck Finn.”

â
Amarillo News-Globe
on
Cloudy in the West

“The fast-moving
Cloudy in the West
succeeds as a young adult novel, traditional Western, and an all-around good read.”

â
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Kelton is a genuine craftsman with an ear for dialogue and, more importantly, an understanding of the human heart.”

â
Booklist

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

TEXAS RIFLES

Cover art by Benjamin Wu

eISBN 9781466817623

First eBook Edition : April 2012

A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

ForgeÂ® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 0-812-55121-4
EAN 978-0-812-55121-1

First Forge edition: January 1998