CHAPTER 8

The bunkhouse stood silent as Noah's words slowly sunk in.

"Your sister?" Jimmy was the first to speak. Noah and Dani smiled at him.

"How is that possible? You're not…" Kid trailed off afraid to continue his statement.

"A negro?" Dani completed his thought. "Well, you're half right."

The eyes around her prodded for more answers. "Let me get some food in my stomach and I'll tell you a little more about it." She sat down across from Lou and shot her a little grin. Lou just shifted her eyes down to her hands resting on the table. Dani grabbed her spoon and began eating the stew in front of her. Taking in her first bite she glanced up at Buck who seemed to be surveying her features for any clue that he may have missed. As she looked up at the rest of the room, it appeared they were doing the same.

She chuckled to herself as Noah joined her at the table. She took one more bite and gave him a little smile. She placed down her spoon and pushed her plate away looking up again at the awaiting eyes around her.

"I was born Danielle Montgomery. I'm the daughter of a slave and her master. I was raised by my mother until I was two. It was pretty obvious that my light skin wasn't going to get darker and so I was brought into the house. Soon after my mother was sold at auction and I grew up with a father who would ignore me and a mother who hated me. The mistress never let me forget my place and reminded me on a daily basis where I came from either with her words or her fist. When I was about 4 or so my mother came for me. She snuck me out in the middle of the night and took me to a small house aways out of town," she looked up at an intent Noah, "That's where I met Benjamin Dixon and Sally. Turns out it was Ben who bought my momma that day at the auction. They married not too long after. Six months later my mom gave birth to Noah."

Dani took a second to pause and reflect. "She died that night. Ben and Sally let me stay with them and I helped raise Noah. Ben treated me more like a daughter than my own father ever did, so I took his name. Noah and I became real close. When I was 14, Ben decided it would be safer if we parted ways. Every town we went to brought more suspicion, a white girl traveling with a Negro family brought a lot prying eyes. It was getting too dangerous for us to stay together."

"Must have been hard to leave them," Teaspoon stated understandingly. Dani just nodded up at him.

"How did you become a gunfighter?" Jimmy cut in.

"You cut to the quick, don't ya Hickok?" Dani stated after taking another bite of the stew getting cold in front of her. "I went to stay with an abolitionist friend, Ian Marks, outside of Kansas City. He was a sweet old man, but paranoid as all hell. He had a whole shed full of guns and he was prepared to take down anything that came his way. For the first few months there we barely spoke a word to each other. I did the cooking and housework and he kept me clothed and fed. One night I found him drunk on the porch crying. He told me about how his family was killed by a gang of outlaws one night when he was on a cattle run to Tennessee. He came home to find his wife and daughter'd beaten and shot in their own beds."

Ike pounded on his chest to get the attention of the room, (Why?) he signed.

"Seems the McCaffrey gang needed a hide out until they could rob a stage coming through from Texas with a shipment of Army rifles. Seeing as his home was a pretty fair distance out, they were an easy target. He blamed himself for not being there and being able to protect them."

She took a second to pause, "That night he vowed to teach me how to handle myself just in case anything was to happen. He wasn't gonna allow me to be an easy target. The next day he began to teach me how to shoot, fight and any other trick I might need to survive. He even bought me this pistol you all like so much," she smiled at the memory of the day he gave it to her, but as another memory swept though, her expression changed.

"Six months later the McCaffrey gang came rolling through again and I guess they figured that same house was as good as any. One night they came calling, but this time they got a fight. We each had a rifle and a couple of pistols, but they had more fire power than us so we took the back way out into the woods. They surrounded us and Ian was killed. They left me for dead as well, but not after they took what they wanted." She paused to let the emotion sweep over her and quickly brushed it off." I returned back to the house to find they had burned it down, but as sure as day, in a pile a wood, there was that nickel plated pistol he gave me with not even a scratch on it."

"Wait a minute," Cody interjected, "I know this story. You took out the McCaffrey gang?" Dani looked down at her cold supper. "I read that story. I think it was called 'Lady Gunfighter'."

"You read that in one of your trash novels, Cody?" Jimmy shot him an angry look.

"Yes," Cody's annoyance was not hidden well. "Never gave your name, but talked about how you tracked them all the way to Blue Creek and took them each out one by one, four men in all."

Dani let out a deep breath. Buck just stared at her too shocked to speak. Cody was obviously sticking his foot in his mouth, but Buck was at a loss for words at all this new information.

Noah put his hand on Dani's shoulder as she looked up to Cody. "Stuff legends are made of, right Cody?" she said with frustration, "Yes, I killed those men and soon I became the lady gunfighter every man had to have a shot at. Been livin' by the gun ever since."

"And Jane Marks?" Teaspoon inquired.

"Figured it was safer changin' my name. If someone's using it, I know what to expect."

"And you and Noah kept in touch through all of this?" it was Rachel's turn to question.

Noah answered for her, "We wrote letters and would meet up every once and a while. After my pa was lynched, me and Sally even stayed with Ian for a few months, but we knew we had to move on." Noah looked up at Buck who was letting it all sink in, "She was coming to Sweetwater to visit me."

Dani began yawning. "I'm sorry to cut this short everyone, but I really need to go lie down. It's been a long day."

"No, don't apologize," Rachel added standing from Kid's bunk, "It's been a long day for all of us. I think it's about time we turned in."

Dani stood from the table. "Dani." She turned to face Lou. "I'm sorry," Lou said softly feeling quite guilty. Dani just nodded to her and turned to the young confused man beside her, "Buck, will you come with me?" He stood and they walked out the door.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Noah sooner," she began as they walked down the path to Rachel's. "I just needed to know for sure I could trust you or any of you." He kept his gaze on the ground in front of him. "I hope you understand, this isn't something I generally like sharing with people, but you made me want to share it with you. You're Noah's family now and that says a lot about the type of people you all are." They stopped at the front door.

"Look at me please," she placed her hand under his chin to bring his eyes to her, "I needed to tell you, Buck." She continued to stare into his glowing brown eyes until he finally nodded his acknowledgement. She removed her hand from his chin and entered into the house. He continued to stand staring out into the distance.