Twelve Days by Margaret P.
(Many thanks to my betas, Terri Derr and Cristy Wyndham-Shaw)
Friday, October 11th-How it began (2019: Words-3,388)
"Now you stand here, Johnny, next to Scott, and then the groomsmen." Pastor Appleby arranged Bob, Jamie and Freddy like chess pieces until he was satisfied.
Scott glanced down the line, but looked away quickly. The minister was in great earnest and this rehearsal was for his and Katie's benefit. They mustn't laugh, and yet he could feel Johnny's shoulder shaking against his.
"Right, bridesmaids." The good pastor's eyes were fortunately fixed on the rear of the open-sided tent where Teresa, Emily and Katie's sisters stood talking to Katie and her father. "When the organist begins to play the wedding march you four make your way, one at a time, up the aisle. Matron of honour first and then in the order agreed. Yes, that's right. Slowly with modesty and grace." He swept his arms wide and demonstrated.
One of the graceful, modest bridesmaids gave a snort—Scott wasn't totally sure who, but Victoria was blinking rapidly with her lips tight shut when she ended the small procession and lined up opposite Freddy.
Julia gave her a sharp nudge with her elbow, and then gave Pastor Appleby a beaming smile. He blushed. The little flirt—she'd been entertaining herself all morning doing this kind of thing, flattering and batting her eyelids at the poor man.
It was the unholy result of a light-hearted discussion she had had with Scott the night before. According to Julia, part of a Boston high society lady's training involved how to charm men, young and old.
"Indeed, but you, my dear sister, need to learn where and with whom it is safe to practise such arts." Bob had handed her a fresh glass of wine and given her a stern look.
"It's not my fault some gentlemen aren't gentlemen." As far as Scott knew she hadn't heard about the fight in Morro Coyo. She simply thought Bob was being a tiresome big brother. "But I have learnt that lesson, thank you very much, so don't go on about it. I'll be more careful in the future."
"I'm pleased to hear it."
Julia gave a small huff and turned back to Scott. "Anyway, as I was saying—before I was so rudely interrupted—even Victoria has learned a few tricks."
"She's a novice. You're much more adept." Bob raised his glass in a toast, and she gave a smug curtsey. "But Katie is queen."
"I'm as good as she is now. You've been away at sea too long to notice."
"That could be true, but I'll reserve judgement until I witness your improvement." Bob chuckled; he was clearly very fond of Julia, even if she had caused him to bruise his knuckles.
"Well, Katie didn't use any arts on me. It was swords drawn when we met again in San Francisco."
"So I heard, but how do you know that wasn't part of her strategy? Never underestimate the ability of any of my sisters to manipulate a situation. I believe your bride is demonstrating the value of her talents as we speak." Bob gave a nod to where Katie was talking with Grandfather by the fireplace. She certainly was doing an excellent job of keeping him sweet and off the subject of jewellery.
"It's a fact, future brother-in-law: few men in this world can resist the charms of a Miss Eliot, and if I get the chance I'll prove to you both that I'm just as skilled as Katie."
The subject had then moved to other things, but Julia must have seen Pastor Appleby as an opportunity to show off her prowess. She winked at Scott across the grass, and he couldn't help but smile. She lacked Katie's subtlety and understanding in a number of ways, but Julia was fun-loving and good-natured, and like most men, he had a soft spot for her.
But in Bob's words, Katie was queen, and as she began her slow walk down the grassy aisle with her father, Scott forgot about everything and everyone else around him. It was only a practice, and she was wearing a day dress, not a bridal gown, but her hair, simply tied, was cascading down her back, her skin looked soft and inviting, her eyes sparkled and… As their eyes met she took his breath away. He was the luckiest man alive. Katie was beautiful.
"And now, Dr Eliot, you take a seat next to your lovely wife and…" Pastor Appleby stopped mid-sentence as the fire bell clanged from the yard beyond the hacienda.
"It's the barn." Someone yelled, and everybody ran.
By the time they reached the other side of the house, smoke was billowing through the open double doors of the barn, men and women were relaying buckets of water, and Murdoch was hollering. A couple of hands pulled bandanas up over their mouths and noses and ran inside with shovels and sacks to beat out the flames.
"Get that hay wagon out of there," Murdoch bellowed, as Jelly and another hand struggled with the horses to pull it out of harm's way. The hayloft doors were wide open. Men must have been pitching hay into the loft when the fire broke out.
"Are all the animals out?" Scott panted as he and Johnny reached Murdoch.
"Yes, they're out," Murdoch snapped. "We caught it early, but there will be hell to pay when I find out who started it."
"What do you mean?"
Murdoch shoved a charred cigar box into Johnny's stomach. "Walt found this inside."
Johnny turned the cigar box over in his hands; there were a few cigars left, but it definitely wasn't full. He passed the box to Scott and went to take a closer look.
Scott had a horrible sinking feeling.
"May I see that?" Robert Eliot came up behind them. He took the box and stared at the burnt remains of the label. They were the same expensive cigars they'd been smoking in the hacienda. The same cigars that went missing a few days after the Eliots arrived.
"Now, Robert, don't go jumping to conclusions." Even as he said it, Scott knew he was too late.
"Freddy!" Robert erupted.
The boy came forward warily like an animal sensing danger. The rest of the Eliots hung back; they knew when not to interfere.
"Well?" Robert thrust the box at his youngest son.
Freddy eyed the burnt remains of the box.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
Freddy's head jerked up. "I'm not responsible for that." He waved his hand towards the barn as the bucket carriers started to disperse. The fire was out.
"These are the cigars you took. Don't deny it."
"I'm not, but—."
"They just walked inside, I suppose."
"No, I hid them under some sacking behind a shelf full of tins and lanterns, but I'd never smoke in there. I'm not stupid."
"Oh, please. Who else…"
"Let's talk about this inside in private." Beth put herself between her husband and son. She reached out to Freddy, but he brushed her off.
"Don't you dare treat your mother like that!" Robert snatched at his son's arm, but Freddy dodged him and backed away.
"I'm sorry. Mamma. I didn't mean—"
"You tell the truth and take the consequences right now, young man, or so help me…"
"I am telling the truth. Not that you'll ever believe me." Freddy glared at his father and then swung around. "Think what you like." He marched off, pushing roughly through a group of on-lookers.
"Come back here!"
"Robert, let him go." Scott blocked the older man's path. "He needs time to cool off."
"You need time to cool off," Beth slipped her arm through her husband's. "This isn't doing anyone any good."
"He could have burned the barn down, Beth."
"We don't know for sure he was responsible."
"Beth, he's been smoking for months. I've had more than one run in with him about it. I didn't want to say anything before, but he stole those cigars from Murdoch's cabinet."
"Oh, Robert, stealing? You should have told me." Beth looked mortified. "Murdoch, Scott, I'm so sorry."
"It's all right, Beth."
"It's not all right, Murdoch. Just because I forced him to pay for them from his allowance, doesn't make it right at all. I've been too soft on him. The boy needs to grow up."
"Maybe, but I don't reckon he set the barn alight." Johnny approached from the direction of the barn, holding a blackened object.
"What's that?" Scott took the thing from his brother's hands. It was a broken oil lantern. One side was bashed in and the glass was gone.
"Found it in the middle of the burn with a mess of broken glass shining in the sunlight. If you ask me this and the open hayloft door are what caused the fire."
"Ahem." Jelly cleared his throat. He'd been hovering in the background, cap in hand, listening into what was going on.
"Do you know something about this?" Scott held the lantern out for Jelly to see.
"Might do."
"Spit it out, man." Murdoch was in no mood to be patient. "What do you know?"
"Well, it ain't my fault, boss. I was going to clean up, but you came a hollering for me to hurry up, and I just forgot to go back is all."
"What are you talking about?" If Freddy wasn't to blame, Scott wanted the truth as soon as possible.
"When I fetched them ladders yesterday that dang mule got all ornery and wouldn't budge. I gave her a hurry-along and she kicked out. Knocked a lantern off the shelf and smashed it. I was aiming to go back and clean it up, but—"
"But I told you to do whatever it was later." Murdoch sighed.
Scott looked over at Robert. "So it wasn't a cigar butt."
"Shit!" The curse sounded strange coming from Dr Eliot's mouth, especially with Beth standing right next to him. "Where's he gone?"
They looked around, but no one could see him. They spread out and searched, but he'd disappeared. Then Scott noticed a horse was missing from the corral.
"Johnny, where's the mahogany bay?"
"It was over there this morning."
They checked with some of the hands, but everyone who had seen it earlier said the same; it had been in the back corral.
"That's all we need." Scott gripped the corral rail and stared off into the distance. He was supposed to be getting married tomorrow and that fool kid had ridden off on a half-broken cow pony. He would wring his sorry neck, if the horse didn't break it first.
"Don't worry. He won't have gone far." Johnny mounted, preparing to join the vaqueros herding cattle on the black mesa. "I'll send him back on Barranca if I see him."
"Do that." Scott headed inside to break the news to Katie and her family. It wasn't going to make them any happier.
"Robert." Beth's normally calm and cheery voice had an anxious pitch.
Her husband put his arm around her shoulder. "It will be all right. I'll find him and make peace. Murdoch, can I borrow a horse?"
"Of course, but it's hard to know where to start looking. No one saw which way he went."
Scott stared at the map on the wall of the great room. Where would Freddy have gone? "We might be better to wait. He'll probably come back under his own steam soon. I'm sure he'll be okay."
"Yes," Katie said, taking his cue. "Don't worry, Mamma; Freddy is an excellent rider, and I saw Johnny schooling that mare only yesterday. It did everything he asked of it."
It was a good thing Johnny wasn't in the room. Scott and Murdoch tried to look as confident as Katie sounded, but they knew too well the mahogany bay needed more work before it could be considered generally ridable.
"I bet he's gone to join Frank and his crew. Now the fence is finished they're clearing a stream about a mile away." Scott grabbed his hat and pecked Katie on the cheek. "Get on with the wedding preparations. I'll go and check."
"I'll come too." Bob pressed his mother's hand and exchanged a look with his father.
Then Scott led the way to saddle up.
"You're not sure about that horse, are you?" Bob tightened the girth on a brown gelding.
"Johnny says it's not ready, and I trust his judgment. Do you think Freddy could keep control of a green horse?"
"Maybe. It's a while since we rode much together. Let's hope we find him before the silly ass finds out."
The two friends galloped east along the valley and then slowed to follow Bull Creek until they reached the willow. They found the men hauling broken branches onto the bank.
"Have you seen Freddy Eliot?"
"Nope. Is he missing?" Frank pulled off his bandana and mopped sweat from his neck as the water gurgled and swirled around his legs. "Thought he was practising for the wedding."
"He was until…Well, never mind. He rode off in a temper."
"Want me to set some men looking for him?"
"Maybe later. With luck he'll calm down and come home on his own."
Scott and Bob rode back to the hacienda.
Walt left what he was doing and came over to take care of their horses. Scott dismounted and hand him the reins.
"Did you find him?"
"No. I take it he hasn't come back here?"
Walt shook his head.
Scott wasn't surprised. "Bob, you go in and report. I'll be along soon. I think I'll have a word with Gabriela."
He found her peeling vegetables outside the cottage where she lived, but she didn't look pleased to see him.
"I was wondering if you knew where Freddy might have gone."
"I would not say if I did, Señor Scott. First you break your promise and now his papa accuses him falsely."
Scott frowned at her rudeness, but he made allowances for young love. "We're worried about him, Gabriela."
"He is a man, not a boy, señor. Excuse me." She got up from the bench seat and went inside.
Scott almost went after her. She wasn't a silly girl. He would have thought she'd realise the danger Freddy could be in. He might know his way around the streets of Boston, but that was a far cry from a cattle ranch. As far as Scott knew Freddy hadn't even taken a weapon. Hell, he couldn't shoot straight if he had.
Then what Gabriela said sank in.
The cave. Why hadn't Scott thought of it before?
I'd lay money that's where he's gone.
Scott headed back to the hacienda, determined to ride out again almost immediately, but by the time he reached the portico he was less sure. Thunder Canyon was a long way. Would Freddy really have ridden so far?
There was no firm evidence, and it would make the Eliots anxious if Scott suggested it. Everyone was going about their business when he went inside. Maybe he'd give Freddy until suppertime to turn up. For all he really knew, the boy could be brooding somewhere on the hillside overlooking the hacienda trying to work out how to come home without another fight with his father.
With that hopeful thought, Scott made himself useful for the next hour forking the last of the hay into the loft, but by the time the work crews rode back into the yard, there was still no sign of Freddy and even Katie's brave face was failing.
"Grandmamma said hunger would bring him home." She gazed up the valley from the fence behind the old Spanish lock-up.
"Well, a woman with four sons should know what she's talking about."
"Then where is he?" Katie bit her bottom lip and twisted the cameo ring on her finger, her eyes searching the grassland and hills surrounding them.
Scott almost mentioned the cave, but again he thought better of it. What if the idea stirred up her old fears about ranch life? "He came back in one piece when he went exploring alone in San Francisco."
"True." She leaned back into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her head. "But he grew up in the city. A few days working here doesn't mean he understands this kind of country. What if he's lost? What if a snake startled the horse and he got thrown?"
"Then he's walking home."
"He could be hurt."
"Unlikely. He's young and bullet-proof." Scott laughed at his own joke and hoped she would join in. "Odds are he's sitting up there on the hill under a tree watching us chase our tails looking for him."
"We might have to postpone the wedding."
"It won't come to that." By God, if it did, the boy better be seriously injured or dead. Otherwise Scott would beat the living daylights out him.
As if mirroring his thoughts, Katie forced a laugh. "I swear I'll throttle Freddy when he does turn up."
That was better. Scott smiled and offered his arm. They strolled back across the yard towards the hacienda.
"We got a lot done this afternoon. Everything is ready for tomorrow."
"Good." Scott was pleased the household had kept busy, but he wished it had been with more joyous excitement. The atmosphere had been very un-wedding like when he'd come back inside after talking with Gabriela.
"Mamma is worried about Papa as well as Freddy." There was a slight tremor in Katie's voice as she leaned more heavily on Scott's arm. "Papa talked with Murdoch soon after you left for the creek, but he hasn't said anything to anyone since."
Scott had heard much the same story from Jamie. Katie's father had brushed off attempts by several family members to give comfort. Jamie had accepted defeat and gone to help set up tables and a makeshift bar in the food tent. The two grandfathers had withdrawn to the library, and the women had fussed with clothes, food and decorations. Flowers were transferred from the hacienda to wooden stands by the tent poles, candles were fitted into lanterns, chairs had been decorated with paper garlands and ribbons, and fine linen table cloths sat ready to be draped over two dozen trestle tables the next day.
Servants were setting the dining table when Scott and Katie entered the great room, and Murdoch and Robert were over by the fireplace in deep discussion.
Scott cleared his throat to let the two men know that they were there, and Katie's father turned. "Good, I'm glad you're here. I'm going to look for Freddy."
"Don't you think you should wait until after supper, Papa?"
"No, my love, he'd be back by now if food was all he cared about. Murdoch, I'd be grateful if you'd come with me."
Murdoch nodded. "It's time. Scott, you organize more search parties. Robert and I will ride towards Spanish Wells."
"Fire two shots in the air if you find him. Three if you need help. We'll do the same." Scott went to the gun cabinet and began giving out rifles.
Katie stepped forward. "I'll get changed."
"No," Robert and Scott said in unison.
"Stay here, sweetheart. Look after your mother."
"Others can do that, Papa. I'm as good a rider as any of you. I should be helping with the search."
"Katie, please. The last thing your father and I need right now is to be worried about you—and if you went, Emily and Teresa would insist on doing the same."
"We could search together."
"No." Scott put his hands on Katie's shoulders and looked down. "Johnny and Murdoch don't want that worry either. Please, trust us. We will find Freddy and bring him home."
Katie looked up into his eyes and, after a moment, nodded.
"Good girl." Robert grabbed his hat, and he and Murdoch rode out within minutes.
Scott rounded up the men. The grandfathers would remain behind with a skeleton guard. The rest were divided into twos and threes and sent out in different directions to search. Katie would explain things to the women as they assembled for supper.
There were two hours of good light left. They were bound to find Freddy in that time. Weren't they?