“I’m all right, or will be when
he’s
out of here.”

“What does Doc think?” Thad asked.

“I didn’t stay to find out.” Evan went around the table to Julie, put his arms around her and pulled her back against him.

“I was going to put supper on,” Julie whispered, “but no one seems very hungry.”

“It’s been a shock to all of us.”

Joe came to the door and beckoned to Evan. He spoke as soon as Evan reached the porch.

“Doc says it won’t be long. He spilled his guts about Joy. He said if he could see her, he’d tell them about the other girls he’d raped. The bastard. I could cut his throat.”

“What did Appleby say to that?” Evan asked anxiously.

“No deal. Poole wanted him to know about the other girls. Seemed to be proud of it.”

Jethro came out of the barn and they walked out into the yard to meet him.

“He’s gone. Something broke loose inside and blood gushed out all over.”

When the doctor and Corbin came out of the barn, Jethro went to meet them.

“Chief, no one knows about Joy except Joe and Evan and of course Julie.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Jones. What I heard in there will go no further.”

“That goes for me, too.” Dr. Forbes nodded.

“He told me quite a bit while we were up in the woods,” Evan said to the chief. “I think he knew he was dying and wanted to inflict as much hurt as possible. He thinks he’s got as many as eighteen children from young girls he’s raped. The man had to be sick in the head.”

“I couldn’t believe it at first when Joe told me who he was. Is Jill all right?”

Evan answered, “It’ll take her some time to get over it, but she’s a strong girl.”

“What I’d like to do is get the parties involved together and talk a bit.”

“I’ll go speak to Julie and see if she can get Jason and Joy to bed.” Jethro turned toward the house, then back. “The Taylor boys are still here. You’ll want to talk to Thad. He’s the one who pulled him off Jill.”

“We’ve got to decide whether or not to let all this dirty laundry out of the bag.” Corbin looked searchingly at Dr. Forbes and at Evan. “And if we do, what will it do to a nice woman like Mrs. Poole?”

* * *

“I heard a yell. I didn’t know what it was until I heard it again.”

Thad was nervous speaking to the police chief and under the watchful eye of Dr. Forbes, who leaned against the doorframe with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Then I heard her yell again. I hurried on down the path and heard a man’s laugh. I turned into the woods and saw them. I just jumped off the horse and pulled him off her.”

“Did you know who he was?”

“Not then. I didn’t know it was Jill. He had wrapped a black thing around her head. I didn’t have time to think about who he was or who she was. I was trying to keep him from cutting me with his knife.”

“You managed pretty good. He must’ve outweighed you by fifty pounds or more.”

“We rolled till we were almost under Ranger, and when he went to stab me with the knife, I bucked up and the blade went into Ranger’s leg. It scared him and a hoof came down alongside of Mr. Poole’s head. I rolled away. When I got to my feet to see what was going on, Ranger was still stomping on him. “

I really didn’t care. I hoped Ranger would kill him. When I saw that he wasn’t going to get up, I got the horse away from him and went to Jill.”

“Thank God you were there.” Jethro’s eyes were haunted, his face haggard. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did.”

“It ain’t no more’n what any man would’ve done, Mr. Jones.”

“I’m going to have to make a report,” Corbin said slowly and looked at each one. “There are times when the truth hurts more than a lie. If it gets out that for years Ron Poole has been raping girls in this area, a lot of people will be looking at kids and wondering about girls who have gone away and returned with babies and tales about their husbands being killed. And folks will be wondering about Jill and watching to see if she’s pregnant.

“The reason I came here was because the girl I was going to marry was raped and murdered by a man from Fertile. Tonight Evan told me that Ron bragged that he was the one who killed her. I despise the man. As far as I’m concerned, we could put a wire around his neck and drag him down Main Street. I’m thinking of the girls, the children and Mrs. Poole. It would be a living hell for that poor woman if it became known what Ron has done. She’d have to sell out and leave town.

“If you all agree, I’ll say that Ron Poole somehow fell from his horse and the frightened animal stomped on him, then ran off. Thad heard him call when he went through the woods on his way to town and went for help.

“It was Doc’s idea to do it this way,” Corbin continued, glancing at the doctor, who nodded in agreement. “As soon as we decide if this is what we want to do, he’ll go notify Mrs. Poole and send out the undertaker.”

“It will go against the grain to see the son-of-a-bitch buried with a big funeral,” Jethro said.

“We don’t have to go to his big funeral, Papa.” Julie covered her father’s hand where it lay on the table. “I’m glad no other girl will suffer what happened to Jill. I don’t care how big a funeral he has. He was an evil, mean man, and I can’t be sorry that he’s dead.”

“If we all agree, that’s the report I’ll give to the council.”

“It’s for the best,” Jethro said. Then: “What do you think, Thad? You’re the man who brought him down.”

“I’d hate to have folks talkin’ about Jill and …wonderin’… .” Thad then spoke to Corbin. “I’d like for me and Roy to tell our pa. We’ve always been square with him, and him with us. I don’t want to tell him a lie.”

Corbin nodded and stood. “I understand your thinking. Tell him what we’ve agreed to. Doc, I’ll stay while you fetch the undertaker.”

“I’ve got to go find my horse.” Thad reached for his hat.

“Take one of ours out of the lot,” Jethro said.

“Thanks, but I’ll ride double with Roy.”

“When I see your pa, I’m going to tell him that he’s got a right to be proud.” Jethro held out his hand and Thad shook it.

“That goes for all of us.” Joe extended his hand. “Our little sis is mouthy, but she’s ours.”

“Thank you, Thad.” Julie kissed him on the cheek.

“Tarnation!” Roy said with disgust. “He’ll be gettin’ a swelled head sure as shootin’, with all this kissin’ and hand-shakin’.”

Jill got up from the table and went to the tall boy. “Thad, can I kiss you, too?”

He grinned. “Why, shore, Miss Jill. I ain’t gone plumb loony yet.”

Later, when the undertaker arrived, Julie and Evan stood on the back porch and watched the activity going on in the lit barn.

“What do you think, honey? Are you satisfied with its being handled this way?”

“I’m glad I don’t have to wonder anymore. I’m glad he’ll never see Joy again. Lordy, when I started out on this day, I never dreamed it would end like this.”

“If I hadn’t been sure he was going to die, I’d have been tempted to kill him for what he did to you.”

“It was a terrible experience, but I’ve got a sweet little girl out of it.”

“Correction!
We’ve
got a sweet little girl.”

Julie turned in his arms and looked up at him. “Evan Johnson, may I kiss you?”

“Why, shore, Miss Jones. I ain’t gone plumb loony yet.”

Epilogue

December 15, 1922

W
ELL, MRS. JOHNSON, WHAT DO YOU THINK
?”

“About what?” Julie stretched, then snuggled against him. She hadn’t been prepared for the warmth or the strength of his hard, muscular body, the long legs against hers or the enormous arms under and around her.

“About our getting married today. About being my wife. About what we just did.”

“Oh,
that.
” She pressed her nose against his neck. “I’ve not decided about
that.
Maybe if we did it again, I’d be able to decide.”

“Ah, sweetheart, you are a treasure.” He kissed her tenderly, nudging her lips, stroking them. “I thought you were afraid of me. I could feel your trembling and the frightened pounding of your heart.”

“I wasn’t afraid of you, my wonderful man,” she whispered. “I was excited.”

The loud clanging of a bell and shouts of male voices broke the silence.

“I thought they had gone,” Evan groaned.

“Evan!” The shout reached into the upstairs bedroom. “We’ve got an old girlfriend of yours down here.”

“Yeah, Evan, she wants to see you!”
Bang! Bang!

“I hope they don’t shoot someone,” Evan whispered.

“Give us a dollar, Evan, and we’ll take her away.”

“A dollar! I’m not taking that witch away for a dollar!”

“Throw out five silver dollars, Evan, and we’ll go home.”

The bells clanged, then more gunshots. Evan swore.

“I’m going to smash your brothers’ heads tomorrow for this and for putting that fresh cowpie outside the door for me to step in.”

“Joe said This and That Humphrey and Roy Taylor put it there.”

“And you believe him? Bull-foot! Jethro’s in on it, too.”

“You can pay him back when he and Eudora are shivareed.”

“If those lunkheads don’t leave soon, I’m going to start boiling oil to throw on them. I want to love my wife in peace and quiet,” Evan complained, his lips nuzzling her breast.

“They’ll get tired pretty soon and go away.” Julie consoled him with small, quick kisses. “Isn’t it wonderful that Papa and Eudora are getting married? She says they should wait at least a month. Her mother died only last week.”

“Yes, wonderful… .” His voice drifted. Evan had difficulty grasping the fact that this woman was his wife.
Wife.
She was his, to love and to protect forever or until death parted them.

“Evan, Papa knew that we would take Joy, but he was a little hurt that Jason wanted to come live with us.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey. Jason will have two homes. When the newness wears off, he may want to go back.”

“I thought of that. Jill has grown up since what happened to her in the woods. She’s tickled that Papa is going to marry Eudora. Don’t you think he seems years younger? He smiles all the time.”

“That’s nice,” Evan murmured, his lips nipping at the smooth line of her jaw. Beneath her nightdress, his hand found her buttocks and pressed her tightly to the part of him that strained to go inside her again.

“Evan, did I tell you that I just love the new stove? The oven will hold a big, big turkey if you can find us one. Christmas Day I’ll fix a dinner and we can have the whole family over here. That is, if it’s all right with you.”

“It’s all right with me, love. Humm … you taste good, smell good.” He pushed back her hair so that he could nibble at her earlobe and caress the soft flesh in the curve of her neck.

“Why do you suppose Mr. Wood sold the bank and moved away? Zelda wasn’t happy about where they were going.”

Evan grunted something about not caring where they went and continued to caress her.

“Did you know Shirley Poole’s brother came to help her with the store? It was nice of Chief Appleby not to want her humiliated because of what her husband had done.”

“Oh, yes, he’s a great guy….”

Julie wrapped her arms around Evan’s neck and rubbed her cheek against his. “I’m so glad I’ve got you, Evan. I love you to distraction.”

“It’s about time you paid some attention to me.” He placed a hard kiss on her lips.

“Did I thank you for the beautiful kitchen cabinet? It’s got a tin flour bin and a place to roll out dough. I can put all the everyday eating utensils in one of the drawers. The beautiful silverware you got from your grandmother will go in the buffet along with the lovely dishes. Do you think we should use them for the Christmas dinner? They’ll be pretty on the crocheted table cloth Mama—”