Deborah Camp (14 page)

“Yeah, big ones,” Stu said, nodding. “And along the walls, chest high.” Stu held up two fingers and Eric sailed a couple of cards across the leather-topped
table. “Had me a shot of whiskey there that was so fine it made me want to cry. I ordered another, but the barkeep watered it down. Didn’t taste the same.”

Tom chuckled. “That’s an old trick. You give a man a shot of the good stuff and then go back to the cheaper brew. He’ll drink one or two more, hoping for another taste like the first one.”

Eric tapped his fingers on the table. “You holding, Theo? Theo. Theodore!”

“What?” Theo shook his head, realizing his mind had been elsewhere. Talk of that saloon in Dodge City had triggered a dim memory. Something about the place had appealed to him. But what?

“How many cards?”

“Oh.” He glanced at the ones in his hand, hardly seeing them as his mind kept searching for that elusive
something. “
One.”

Eric groaned. “He’s got another winner, it appears.”

“He’s bluffing.” Stu stared intently at Theo. “Yeah, he’s got nothing.” He showed his hand. “But I got a three aces and a pair.”

“Beats me.” Eric dropped his cards on the table. “Just about anything would. What do you have, Theo?”

Theo showed his losing hand.

“You asked for one card with that hand?” Eric asked. “Are you taking pity on us?”

“Hey, letting someone win is as bad as cheating,” Stu complained. “I’m not playing anymore if you’re going to pull that rabbit outta your hat.”

Theo threw the whiskey to the back of his throat. The Gold Star, he mused. The Gold Star … wait! His mind became charged with elation. Now he had it!
That’s
where he’d seen her! He started to share the revelation with Eric, but thought better
of it. Maybe Regina didn’t want anyone to know about her turn as the Gold Star’s entertainment. What had she called herself? Something about a rose—

“Wild Irish Rose!” he blurted out as the name popped from his mind to his tongue.

“Huh?” Stu asked.

“What did you say?” Eric asked.

“Nothing.” Theo poured himself more whiskey. “Who deals?”

“You.” Eric shoved the deck at him. “Deal me something I can wager on, cousin.”

Theo shuffled the cards while he sorted through his memories of the Gold Star and its singer with the midnight whispers voice. That voice! It had clung to him. He glanced at Eric, privately amused by his discovery. Eric had been with him at the Gold Star and they’d both been taken with the singer billed as the Wild Irish Rose. Eric had said her voice went straight to the heart of a man, but Theo had disagreed. Lower, he’d said. Her voice grabbed him lower.

“Two,” Stu said.

Theo doled out the top two cards.

“Three.” Eric exchanged new ones for the old.

“I’ll stand and raise a dollar.” Theo flipped the coin on top of the others.

“See that.” Stu added to the pot.

“I’m in.” Eric dropped in a coin.

Cards were shown. Theo took his winnings.

“Damn it all,” Stu groused. “Deal another pity hand, Theo, so I can catch up.”

Eric laughed. “Your deal, Sheriff. You’ll have only yourself to blame.”

“Dag burn it, I never give myself a decent hand.” Stu grinned. “Unless I cheat, of course.”

Theo picked up his five cards and rearranged
them. He was asking for two others when a shrill voice from outside interrupted the game.

“Sheriff Stu, you in there?”

Stu was up and across the room before either Theo or Eric could react. He looked over the top of the swinging doors.

“Who’s that yelling for me?”

“Bitsy Frederick. Come quick, Sheriff! He’s gonna kill somebody!”

“Who? Where?” Stu batted open the doors and strode outside. Bitsy Frederick grabbed his arm and tugged. “Hey, hey! What’s going on, lady?”

Theo and Eric joined Stu on the boardwalk.

“Tell us what’s wrong, Mrs. Frederick,” Theo said.

“Lu’s husband is trying to take her and the child.” Bitsy yanked on Stu’s arm again. “You gotta hurry! He’s crazy. Plumb crazy. And Regina’s bleedin’ all over the place.”

“Regina’s what?” Theo and Stu chorused, but Theo was the first off the boardwalk, already at a run.

“Theo, wait!” Eric called. “Take your horse!”

Theo stopped, turning back. Bitsy ran straight at him, then past him, her white cotton house dress flying out behind her.

“No, this way,” she called to them. “Follow me. I know a shortcut through the woods.”

All three men ran behind her through the dark night.

Sprawled on the grass, Regina looked at Jack standing over her and wished she could keep from crying. But she was scared. She knew he was capable of anything.

“J-Jack,” she said, gulping his name on a half sob. “Go away before someone gets hurt.”

Jack swiped at his cheek where her nails had
scraped away flesh. He smeared blood. “You’re the one that’s gonna get hurt if you don’t stay right there, Ginny. I’m not leavin’ here without my wife and child.”

“She doesn’t want to go with you, and I won’t let you take her.” Regina gathered in a deep breath and pushed to her feet. When Jack raised the broken bottle neck, she whimpered, crouched, and slithered past him, quick as a mouse. She heard the hiss of the bottle arcing overhead.

Regina dashed across the yard, up the steps, and inside. She knew he was right behind her. As she swung the door shut, she caught a glimpse of Jack’s wicked expression inches from her. He put a shoulder against the door, preventing her from closing it. Regina strained, trying to shut it enough to get the crossbar into place, but she realized this was a battle she would lose. With each second, Jack’s strength depleted hers and the crack in the door widened. When she was on the verge of abandoning the fight to run upstairs and corral Lu and Annie, the back door suddenly shut and Regina shot home the crossbar. Her relief was short-lived.

“The front door,” she said, gasping, crying, running to the other end of the house, her slippered feet booming like shots against the wood floor. Her hip glanced off the corner of a table in the foyer, spun her, unbalanced her. She just managed to stay on her feet as she lunged for the door.

“Regina? What is it?” Lu called from the parlor.

Regina grunted and flung out her hands, ready to let down the bar and thwart her half brother. She grabbed the bar, moved it, but then Jack’s body hit the door, shoving it and Regina backward. She heard Lu scream in the parlor.

“Mama? Mama!” Annie cried, somewhere upstairs.

Regina fell back against the umbrella stand. Her hand curled around a hooked handle and she tugged the parasol free. She brought it sharply against Jack’s wrist and he dropped the bottle. It broke into fragments of brown and amber. Bringing the parasol up again, she swung it toward his head, but hit his shoulder. With a growl, he backhanded her. The edge of his hand caught her chin and sent her staggering, stumbling. Sharp pain blindfolded her for an instant.

“Jack, no!” Lu entered the foyer, eyes wide with fear.

“Mama?” Annie stood on the second-floor landing. When she saw Jack, she retreated. “Papa,” she whispered, and there was no pleasure in her voice.

“Annie, come to Papa,” Jack yelled.

Regina inflated her lungs and the spots in front of her eyes faded. “Get out of here, Jack. This is my house. Get out!” She grabbed his arm and hung on, using her weight to impede his progress to the staircase.

Lu clutched his other arm. “Jack, leave us. Please.” Lu sobbed and Jack tried to shake her off.

“Go get our child. We’re going home.”

“No.”

“Don’t you sass me, woman!” Jack rammed an elbow into Regina’s stomach and doubled her over, then he gripped Lu’s upper arms and shook her. “I’ll knock you into Sunday if you defy me! Now go get Annie.”

Through a veil of red pain, Regina saw Joy Edwards step into the foyer, her long, mulish face grim with determination. She cast a needle-thin shadow that bisected Jack. Jack bared his teeth.

“Who the hell are—”

That was all he got out before Joy brought the hefty stick of firewood she was carrying down on
the crown of his head. He crumpled like a rag doll.

The women stared at the unconscious man at their feet. The clock ticked eight times with no one moving or speaking.

“Mama?” Annie’s high, frightened voice released them from the frozen time.

“Annie, honey.” Lu ran up the stairs and gathered her daughter close.

“Is Papa dead now?” Annie asked, her voice muffled against Lu’s bosom.

“No, honey,” Lu said soothingly, then, “Is he?”

Regina crouched beside her half brother and rested two fingers against the side of his neck.

“He’s not dead,” Joy said. “I didn’t hit him hard enough to kill him. He won’t be out long, though, unless he’s drunker than I think. Anyways, Bitsy should be back with the sheriff in a minute.”

“Sheriff?”

“Bitsy went for him,” Joy explained. “I figured I ought to come over here and help if I could.” She tipped her head sideways. “You okay? You got blood on your blouse.”

Regina looked at the splatters of crimson on the front of her white shirtwaist. “It’s Jack’s. I scratched him.” Then her gaze met Joy’s and she walked into the woman’s embrace. “Oh, thank you, Joy Edwards. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, hon.” Joy patted Regina’s back. “I been through this myself. I wasn’t going to stand by and let that man drag his wife and child off like they’re cattle he’s branded.”

Footsteps landed on the porch and Regina pulled away from Joy. Theodore came in first, then Bitsy, Stu, and Eric. They all stared down at Jack, then at the women, then back at Jack.

“Did he pass out?” Stu asked.

Joy waved the stick of wood. “I walloped him with this.”

Theo took the firewood from her and smiled. A few strands of Jack’s black hair clung to one end of it. “Good for you.”

“Well, I had to do something.” Joy shrugged. “He was bound and determined to grab his wife and child and make off with them.” Joy glanced up at the landing. “Y’all all right up there, Lu? Annie?”

“We’re fine.” Lu came downstairs with Annie, the child’s limbs wrapped tightly around her. “How’s Jack?”

Theo looked from Lu to Jack, comprehension dawning slowly.

“Let’s see.” Stu squatted beside Jack and rolled him onto his back. “He’s gonna have a bump as big as a walnut on his head here, but the skin isn’t broken. The blood is coming from his cheek.”

“I did that. I scratched him.” Regina ran her hands down the front of her, smearing blood there. She caught and held Theo’s gaze. “I’m not hurt, though.”

Eric touched a finger to her chin. “I beg to disagree.”

“Ouch.” Regina felt the bump Eric had pointed out. “I forgot about that. He knocked me out of the way.” She rubbed her hip where she’d plowed into the table. “It just hurts a little.”

“Better see to it when you can,” Eric said.

“Yes … yes, I will.” Regina tried to decipher the message in Theo’s eyes, but couldn’t. Anger? Why would he be mad at … The answer came to her, swift as lightning, making her head throb anew.
He knows that Lu is my sister-in-law and that Annie is my niece!

In that moment of truth, she wished it had come from her. It was stupid to have kept the secret.
When would she learn? When would she be able to break with old habits?

“I’m going to take him in, Mrs. Beck.” Stu looked to Theo. “Will you go fetch the jail wagon tied out in front of my office?”

“Of course.” Theo left and Bitsy went with him.

“How long will my husband have to stay in jail?”

“That depends on you, ma’am. You gonna accuse him of any ungentlemanly behavior?”

“I … I don’t know if I want to do anything to him.” Lu glanced nervously at Regina. “He holds grudges.”

Regina stamped on her anger and turned her back. It took all her will not to tell her sister-in-law what to do. She thought of pressing charges against her half brother for breaking into her home, but decided this fight wasn’t hers. It belonged to Lu.

“I’d do something to him, all right,” Joy said.

“You already have.” Stu grinned, and Joy laughed. “And he’ll be recalling what you did for a few days, I reckon.”

“Well, I hope he does,” Joy said. “Coming in here bellowing like a cut bull, knocking everybody for a loop. He needed a solid rap in the head to shake his good sense loose.”

“You still married, ma’am?” the sheriff asked.

Joy chuckled. “Why? You think I killed my husband? Well, I didn’t. I left him behind like I do all my mistakes.”

“I just want Jack to leave Eureka Springs,” Lu said, smoothing one hand over Annie’s hair. “I want him to leave me and Annie alone.”

“I can escort him to the edge of town and strongly suggest that he not visit here again unless he’s looking for more trouble.” Stu straightened and flexed his knees. “Want me to do that? I’ll
keep him overnight, of course, and then show him the door, so to speak.”

“That would be good of you, Sheriff Stu,” Lu said. “He might listen to you.”

“I doubt it,” Regina said, but no one paid her any attention. She faced them again. “Why did you and your cousin come?” she asked Eric, who was trying to coax a smile from Annie.

“We happened to be playing a game of poker with Stu at the Full Bucket. Bitsy said you were hurt, so we all hurried to your rescue.”

The sound of the horse and wagon coming along the road galvanized the men. Eric and Stu hoisted a limp Jack to his feet and carried him outside to the enclosed wagon. While they settled him inside, Regina stood with the other women on the edge of the porch to watch. The rapid-fire events began to descend on her, one by one, until she had to grip the railing for support. Her legs felt like jelly and her head ached. Her gaze wandered to the front of the wagon. Theo sat looking at her, brows knitted, mouth downturned. Bitsy hopped from the wagon and joined them on the porch.

“You gonna take him before a judge, Lu?” Bitsy asked.

“No. The sheriff is going to make him leave town.”

“But he can’t keep him out,” Regina said.

“Do you want me to charge him, Regina?”

Regina shrugged. “It’s up to you, Lu.”

“You think he’ll be back?”