When a Texan Gambles (25 page)

Luther looked at Sam and whispered, “Spittin’ and stealin’ might be worth oatmeal, but I’ll have to think about givin’ up swearing.”

“Do the best you can,” Sam offered. “Maybe they’ll give you two meals a day for trying.”

The boy seemed to see the logic. He followed the nun.

Sam stayed with Ellie as two old nuns came in and gently helped her to stand. Their soft voices and kindness drew her through another door with promises of a warm bath and rest.

Pulling off his hat, Sam dug his fingers through his hair. They were safe for the time being, but Reed would be looking for them soon. The only good thing would be that hunting for Ellie might keep Reed from coming after Sam. All Sam needed was a little time to get ahead and become the hunter instead of the hunted.

He crammed his hat on and headed for the door, planning to drop by and let Sarah know Ellie and the boy were safe, then start looking for Reed. There was no time to waste.

Sam was almost at the door when a soft voice called his name.

Turning, he faced the tall nun. For a moment they just looked at each other, and he knew she did the same thing as he. They remembered.

“I’ve worried about you,” she whispered.

“I’m fine,” he answered as he took her hand in his and held on tight. “Thanks for the shirts.”

She didn’t look as if she believed he was fine. “I had a dream, Sam. In my dream you were walking with an angel with hair so blond it was almost white.”

Sam grinned. “Ruthie, you always did have an instinct about things, even when you were a kid, but this time you’re seeing me still alive, and the angel at my side is my wife.”

Suddenly a little girl shone through all the clothes of a proper nun. “Oh, Sam! You married! You really married.”

He laughed. No matter how bad things had been when they were little, Ruthie always made him feel good inside. He always tried to protect her, and she always tried to understand him.

“I could be an aunt.” She tried to keep her joy to a whisper, but Sam saw the sparkle of his mother’s eyes in Ruthie’s.

Sam almost said “doubtful,” but he wasn’t about to go into details of his marriage with his kid sister. “Can Sisters of the Church be aunts?”

“Of course we can.” She slapped his shoulder. “I’d love to meet her. I can’t believe you found someone who actually likes you. She must be a truly wonderful person if she saw through that tough shell of yours.”

Sam couldn’t resist. “She even thinks I’m handsome.” He knew he was pushing it. Sarah hadn’t exactly said he was handsome, more like that he wasn’t repulsive, but he saw no harm in the small lie.

“No!” Ruth’s mouth dropped open. “I’ll pray for her sight to return, for she must be blind as a bat. Tell me more.”

“Well, she looks like an angel and worries about me whenever I’m out of her sight. She thinks I need her around.” He smiled, deciding he was starting to wonder how he had made it through life without Sarah.

“More,” Ruth insisted. “Tell me more.”

He took a breath and debated how much to tell his sister. “I met her in prison where she was a confessed murderer.”

Sister Ruth laughed. “Stop it, Sam. Though I’ve often wondered where you would meet a nice woman traveling around chasing outlaws. Tell me more and stick to the truth.”

“She’s young. Years younger than me. Maybe five or six. She looks frail, but she’s not. And bossy. I’m afraid I’ve married a very bossy woman.”

Sister Ruth smiled. “I love her already. Will you bring her to see me?”

“When I can,” he promised. They both knew how careful they had to be about even knowing each other. Ruth’s life would be in danger if anyone knew she was related to him. There were men in the state who wanted to do him harm, and if they thought they could get to him through her, they would.

“I know.” She squeezed his hand one last time and then let go. “I’ll be patient. One Sunday I’ll look out over mass, and there you’ll be with an angel sitting next to you. And, of course, she’ll already be rounded with child.”

“One Sunday,” he answered in promise.

TWENTY

SARAH DRESSED IN ONE OF HER NEW FROCKS WITH lace at the collar and cuffs. Standing in front of the mirror, she could do nothing but stare. Before her stood a woman she had never seen before. Her hair. Her eyes. But that couldn’t be her looking back from the glass. She’d seen herself in the mirror at Granny’s almost two years ago. Since then there had been no time for more than a glance of how she appeared in window reflections and in water.

She moved closer to the glass. Somehow, when she hadn’t been looking, a woman had replaced the girl. Sarah straightened. “It’s time for me to stop allowing others to run my life,” she said to her reflection. “I’m a grown woman.” She pushed her hair back on each side with small ivory combs the shop ladies had said matched perfectly with her dress.

When she returned to the drawing room, sunlight sparkled through the windows as though all was well with the day. True to her word, Norma kept the rifle close and watched the door. But Sarah noticed she still managed to eat two platefuls of breakfast and drink half the pot of coffee while maintaining her guard. They had spent the morning talking while Norma grew more restless by the hour.

“I can’t just wait,” Norma whined for the tenth time. “Not when my babies are out there somewhere, maybe hurt, maybe dead. I got to go see. I should have gone with him to find my Ellie.”

Sarah tried to calm her, but in truth she agreed. When Sam had left them here hours ago, it had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she wished she’d gone with him as well. Maybe she didn’t know how to use a gun and she might be near worthless in a fight, but she still needed to know he was all right. Thinking back over their short married life, she realized he always got hurt, and she needed to get him out before he fell. Who would help him walk away if she wasn’t there?

“You shouldn’t go out,” Sarah tried to explain to the barmaid whose dress was torn and bloody. “But no one knows me. I could go for a walk and see if I hear anything. If there has been trouble near your street, people will be talking about it.”

Norma pulled her cape around her. “You’re not going without me. I know the way and I know who to ask.”

Without another word, the women nodded at each other, silently agreeing to their pact. Ten minutes later they turned a comer a few blocks from the hotel and entered another world. Odors floated around Sarah, bombarding her senses. Too many cook fires. Too many bodies.

Sarah picked up her pace, trying to keep up with Norma’s long strides. Sam had been right, this was not the place for her. A drunk tumbled out of the doorway from one of the saloons. He bumped into Norma, who slammed into Sarah. Both women struggled to keep their footing as Norma yelled at the drunk. A beggar followed them for half a block, claiming one need for coin after the other. Children brushed Sarah’s skirts as they played a game of dodging wagons in the road. Work wagons filled with supplies and coal labored along the uneven streets, stirring up a cloud of dust almost as high as Sarah was tall.

They should have stayed in the hotel. At least there, trouble would have to come through the door. Here, in the alleyway, it might come from any direction. Sarah wished she had thought to bring her knife. At least then she’d have some protection. Or maybe she should carry one of Sam’s Colts. After all, he had two. Surely he wouldn’t feel a need to shoot more than six outlaws at one time.

“This is where I live,” Norma mumbled at Sarah’s side. “You stay here, miss. I’ll go see if anyone is upstairs.”

Sarah nodded, thankful she didn’t have to go inside the building. The street held all kinds of danger, but the dark hallway looked even more frightening. A baby’s cry blended with an argument and a mother yelling at her kids, making the very house moan with life.

Norma disappeared.

Sarah waited.

She could hear her own heart pounding. Except for the few times she’d been at the meetings on the wagon train, Sarah had never been around more than a few dozen people at one time. Now she felt as if she stood in the center of a hive. She could hear them talking, coughing, walking. Their smells surrounded her. They seemed to be moving closer. As she waited their very breath warmed the air about her.

Sarah stepped back, wanting to lean against the brick of the building so that at least one side would not be bombarded by running children and drunks staggering on the street.

“Watch it, lady!” A young man, barely more than a boy, hauling coal pushed against her.

Sarah twirled and jumped away from him. He reminded her of a human mole, for days of dust from his job layered his skin and clothes.

Another’s hands stopped her movements as she backed away from the boy.

She twisted and stared into the dirty face of an older man. He held a shovel in one hand and touched the sleeve of her dress with the other. If possible he was even filthier than the first. Most of the man’s teeth were missing, and the only spot on his body not black with dirt was a place above his upper lip where his nose had been running.

The smell of coal dust filled her lungs as she drew in air to scream. The man leaned on his shovel and smiled with an almost toothless grin.

“Pardon me.” He didn’t look the least bit sorry. “I didn’t mean to get dirt on your fine dress.” He brushed his hands over her arms, causing more damage than cleaning. “I’m sure glad you bumped into me, though. Ain’t she something, Charlie?”

The boy with the bucket spit slightly as he giggled.

Sarah backed up until her shoulders struck the building. Trash piled half her height blocked her left and the shadowy alley lay to her right. She tried to look past the men to where Norma had disappeared, but she couldn’t see beyond the bulk of dirty clothes before her.

They were harmless, she tried to convince herself. After all, it was the middle of the morning and they were standing on a public street.

“You out here by yourself?” the leader asked. “Don’t seem like you’re in the right neighborhood. You lost?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Don’t see many around here that look so untouched. You got the prettiest hair I ever seen.”

Sarah cringed as both men stared at her as though they’d found a treasure amid the trash.

The man raised his blackened fingers to stroke her head, but an inch from touching her, he froze.

Sarah looked up and saw that a fist held the toothless man’s arm in place. Then she heard a familiar voice, low and deadly, say, “If I were you, I’d think twice about touching her.”

Sarah looked past the little man to see the broad shoulders of Jacob Dalton. Even in the shadowy alley the sun caught on the star he wore pinned to his chest.

“Who do you think you ...” The toothless man turned.

“Morning, Mrs. Gatlin,” Jacob said, still holding the other man’s arm in midair.

“Good morning, Ranger Dalton.” Sarah tried not to laugh as the dirty hand tried to wither out of Jacob’s grip. “It’s nice to see you again.”

The Ranger seemed to remember the man dangling from his fist. He let go of the man’s wrist and tipped his hat to Sarah. “Mind if I walk with you, ma‘am?”

The two coal workers hurried to their wagon and moved on down the street without looking back.

“Actually, I’m waiting for someone,” Sarah answered. “But you could wait with me.”

Jacob glanced up and down the street. “Gatlin didn’t leave you out here by yourself. If he did, I’ll have to have a talk with him and knock some sense into that thick head of his.”

Sarah smiled. “No, he doesn’t even know I’m out.”

Jacob relaxed and Sarah couldn’t help but think that the Ranger must feel that dealing with a careless wife would be far easier than calling Sam Gatlin a fool.

“If you don’t mind my saying, Mrs. Gatlin, that’s a mighty pretty dress you’re wearing.”

Sarah blushed. “I don’t mind, but please call me Sarah.” She’d never been called anything but her first name.

“All right, but you have to call me Jacob.” The Ranger looked years younger than he had a minute ago when he’d threatened a man with simply the tone in his voice. “And, Sarah, you really shouldn’t be in this part of town without protection.”

The Ranger, who’d stayed alive by always being ready to fight, was unexpectedly blindsided by a huge bundle of clothes.

Before either of them could react, Norma stormed at him in full sail. “Get away from the lady, cowboy!”

Jacob lifted his arm to block the rain of fists flying his direction. He reached for his gun, but never cleared leather as the barmaid protected Sarah.

“She don’t want nothing to do with nobody.” Norma continued to hit Jacob. “Didn’t your mama teach you not to bother fine ladies?”

Sarah tried to introduce Jacob to Norma, but the young Ranger looked so laughable trying to dance out of range.

“Sarah! Help me out here,” the young Ranger begged.