Chapter 5

Vin was aware of how closely Lucy stayed at his side as they entered the saloon. He wished there were a better place for her to stay, but this was the safest option, the one they could most easily defend.

Thankfully the saloon was mostly empty. Vin led her quickly to the staircase and ushered her upstairs.

The door to the room in between Chris' and Ezra's was open and Vin looked in to see Inez putting clean sheets on the narrow bed. She turned at the light rap Vin gave on the door. Her smile was gentle for his sister and he appreciated that Lucy would have Inez and Mary in town.

"This is Inez," Vin said. "She runs the saloon for Ezra."

Inez gave Lucy a warm greeting and Lucy nodded quickly in acknowledgement, ducking her head and mumbling something in response. Inez glanced at Vin, sympathy in her dark eyes. He assumed Chris had filled her in on what Lucy was doing in town.

Inez set a pitcher of fresh water on the chest of drawers and started to leave. She paused at near Vin and Lucy.

"If you need anything, I'm usually right downstairs," Inez said.

Lucy nodded, sparing Inez only a quick glance.

This time, Inez's look of sympathy was for Vin.

"Thanks, Inez," he said.

She nodded, giving Lucy another look before heading back downstairs.

Vin watched Lucy step into the room, barely giving it a look. She kept twisting her fingers together. Whenever they had been taken into a new home or, as they got older, Vin had found a new place for them to stay, Lucy had been eager to explore, wanting to get to know the people around her, her gentle nature naturally reaching out and drawing people to her.

"I'll get your bag from Mary's later," he said.

Lucy nodded, her eyes still fixed on her fingers.

"I'll get you some breakfast."

She nodded again.

Vin stood in the doorway in silence, not sure what he could say to comfort his sister, draw her out of her shell.

"I can't stay here," she finally said softly. Her fingers started twisting together faster.

"We talked about this, Luce, you don't have to go back to him." Vin couldn't bring himself to say Eli Joe's name.

"If he finds out I'm here, that I'm with you…" her voice trailed off, shaking, as she repeated what she had tried to say at the church.

"I won't let anything happen to you," he said again, not sure how many times he would have to promise Lucy that he would protect her before she would believe him.

Lucy didn't argue again, but Vin could tell she wasn't convinced. She had never been one to argue, but she would usually give him a smile that said she trusted his judgment, even if she lost the battle of wills with him. She just stood in the middle of her new room, a frail and lost girl who was hardly a shadow of the sister he had known.

"I'll be back with some food," Vin said quietly, closing the door behind him.

He headed down the stairs, turning all his emotions inward, not giving them room to take control. He approached the counter just as Inez set a tray there.

"There is food for you, too. I thought you may like to eat with your sister."

Vin nodded his thanks.

He picked up the tray as Buck and Chris came through the swinging doors. They approached the bar, leaning against it. Inez brought them cups of coffee in deference to the early hour.

"Chris filled me in," Buck commented before Vin left with the tray. "Real sorry about your sister," he said. "Everything you've told us about this Eli Joe…well, we'll be ready for him," Buck assured him.

Vin thanked him with a nod, taking the tray and heading up the stairs. He knocked quietly on the door before nudging it open. Lucy was at the window, peering out from behind a curtain. She spun around at Vin's entry.

"Just me," he said quietly. Lucy's posture didn't relax by much and she hurried to take the tray from Vin, setting it on a small table near the window.

Vin pulled the single chair in the room over to the table, but Lucy didn't sit, skirting around him to perch on the edge of the bed. Vin handed her a plate of toast with butter and honey, making sure she could reach one of the steaming cups of coffee.

Lucy took it with a quiet thanks and kept her head down as she ate. Vin tried for conversation and he could tell Lucy was struggling mightily to answer his questions, pretend she was ok.

He wanted more than anything for her to really be ok.

#

Buck paced another lap around the table in the saloon.

"Would you sit down?" Chris finally said.

"I agree," Ezra said, looking up from his game of solitaire. "You are making me dizzier than a carousel ride."

Buck huffed out a sigh and pulled out a chair to straddle it, leaning over to look at Ezra's cards.

"Solitaire is named due to the solitary nature of the game, Mr. Wilmington," Ezra said, annoyance edging into his voice.

Buck didn't take the hint and started drumming his fingers on the table. Chris looked over at Vin. The whiskey in front of him hadn't changed levels in the hour Vin had been sitting there.

Josiah lowered the book he had been reading and spoke. "Buck?"

"Yeah?"

"I think it's time for someone to ride another patrol to the east, make sure everything is quiet."

Buck jumped up so quickly he almost knocked over his chair. "I'll do it." He strode out of the saloon as fast as his legs could carry him. Josiah went back to his book.

Chris held back a sigh. The day had dragged with the lawmen keeping close to the saloon by unspoken agreement. Lucy had said that morning that Eli Joe shouldn't be following too closely behind her, but no one seemed willing to risk that, especially knowing men on horseback could travel more quickly than the stage.

The evening dragged by. Buck opted to patrol the quiet streets when he returned, to the relief of the others. Vin disappeared upstairs a few times, returning shortly after with a drawn look on his face, saying Lucy was fine when asked.

Finally, Vin tossed back the drink that had been untouched and announced he was calling it a night. He looked to Ezra who met his eyes.

"I'll be here all night," he said to Vin. He gathered his cards and shuffled them again, dealing out a new game.

Vin looked at Chris then and Chris nodded. "I'll be in my room," he said, knowing Vin was looking for the reassurance that his sister would be protected.

Vin looked toward the stairs, but didn't venture up there again. Without another word, he headed out the swinging doors. Josiah stuck his paperback book in his back pocket and followed after the quiet younger man. Chris saw Josiah lay a hand on Vin's shoulder outside and speak softly to Vin.

Chris pushed his own glass away and went up the stairs. His room was between the stairs and Lucy's room and he bypassed his door to listen at the door to her room. Everything was quiet. He knew Vin had brought meals to her and encouraged her to come out of her room for meals, but hadn't succeeded. Satisfied that she was securely in her room, Chris went into his own room, closing his door quietly.

He splashed some water on his face, rubbing it off on a coarse towel. He kicked off his botos, stripped off his shirt, hanging his gunbelt on the bedpost in reach. Just like every evening, he climbed into the bed and clamped down on the impulse to reach over for Sarah. Five years and he still fought the ghost of her memory every night when he got into an empty bed. He tossed over onto his side and closed his eyes, closed his heart against the memories that threatened.

#

Lucy changed into her nightgown, relieved she had made it through her first full day in Four Corners. Vin had brought her bag to her earlier. She had refused when he said Mary would like to come see her. He had joined her at mealtimes, tried to encourage her to come outside for a walk.

Tomorrow. She told herself she would venture outside tomorrow. She looked out the window and saw the wagon Vin had gone into earlier. His friend, the tall one with the thick mustache, Buck? Was striding down the street, looking like he was on some sort of lookout. The sight should have brought her comfort, instead it added to the knot of worry in her stomach. Buck would be one more person in the line of fire when Eli Joe came looking for Vin and Lucy. She wished Vin would just leave town, moving on.

She finally got into bed, hoping for relief from the constant feeling of unease. A break from the constant fear and memories.

The angry tirade of words washed over Lucy. She was used to the vile names, the foul words, the fury. She cowered at the fists, though. She couldn't get used to the pain.

She started to go down, dropping to the floor as her head started to swim, her vision blurring, a rushing sound filling her ears, the solid blow to her head taking effect.

The sharp pain of someone grabbing her hair, using it to pull her, keep her upright jolted her out of the oblivion that threatened.

Lucy clamped her lips together before she could beg for mercy. Vin hadn't raised her up to be a coward. She may not be much of anything else, but no matter what, she wasn't going to be a coward and beg. She couldn't hold back the whimper that escaped, though.

Eli Joe pulled Lucy close to him. She couldn't fight the shaking that started to take over. He shoved his face in hers, the smell of the rotgut he brewed out behind the cabin on his breath.

He gripped her face tight enough that her molars started cutting into her cheeks and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

"Time for your wifely duties," he said. He released her hair only to give her a shove toward the bedroom where she crashed into the bed, her shin banging hard against the wooden frame.

She wouldn't fight back, that only spurred him on. She wouldn't. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't think, she—

Lucy sat up in bed with a sharp gasp of breath. She started scrambling backwards in a panic before she realized she was alone. The only sound in the dark room was her ragged breathing. Her nightgown clung to her back with cold sweat. Her heart pounded painfully in her throat, feeling like it would beat right out of her. The walls of the room felt like they were pressing in on her.

She stumbled out of bed, the remnants of the dream chasing her across the room, toward the door.

Lucy opened the door. The air that flowed from the open window at the end of the hall felt fresh after the stuffiness of her room. She wished she would dare to go outside, even to the outskirts of town, to regain her balance, but knew she would never do that. She sat down in her open doorway. The slight reprieve from her room was enough for now.

She sucked in deep breaths of the cooler air, ignoring the chill against her skin and the shivers that started.

#

Chris woke with a jolt, not sure what had pulled him from his sleep. He lay still, listening for anything out of place. He didn't hear anything. It may have been the shadowy nightmares that drove him from his sleep again. He didn't always remember them, just the unsettled feeling when he woke up.

He pushed up to sitting, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and dragging a hand over his face.

He crossed to the window, but didn't see anything out of place. Pulling on his pants over his drawers, he went to the door. He wouldn't leave his new overnight post, but at least he could get out of his room, the walls that were closing in tonight.

He opened the door to his room and stepped out into the hallway. A movement near the floor caught his eye almost immediately.

Lucy didn't seem to notice him right away, lost in thoughts that had her face pale in the dim light.

Chris stayed back, but cleared his throat.

Her head snapped up, panic crossing her face.

Chris was careful not to move. He waited for the panic to ease from her face. She stayed down on the floor, a worn nightgown covering her knees where she had her arms wrapped around them. It was then Chris realized she was shaking.

He went back into his room and took the extra blanket from his chair. She looked up warily when he returned and Chris crossed slowly to her, lowering the blanket around her shoulders before backing away to his own doorway again.

"Thanks," she said, darting a look to him.

Chris gave her a nod.

They stayed like that in silence for awhile, Chris listening to her breaths slowing to a more normal rate.

"Bad dream?" Chris asked quietly.

Lucy held her knees more tightly. But she gave a slight nod. She kept her eyes trained on the floor. "Did you…" she ventured in a voice almost too quiet to hear. "Did you have a bad dream?" she asked timidly.

Chris would have denied it to the grave had anyone else asked. He wasn't overly fond of laying himself bare, bringing up the ghosts of the past that haunted him. But he couldn't bring himself to shove away the question that seemed like a desperate plea for someone to understand, to not feel so alone.

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm sorry," Lucy said sincerely. She lifted her eyes briefly to Chris and he saw the compassion there before she quickly dropped them.

To his relief, she didn't ask for details. And to his surprise, the details of what troubled his sleep night after night faded as he stood in the hallway with Vin's sister sitting in her own troubled silence.

She stirred eventually and he looked over at her. The tight lines on her face had eased and her face had regained its color. She got to her feet. She pulled the blanket from her shoulders and held it out to him, arm outstretched to avoid getting too close.

Chris took it without a word and she darted back as soon as he had hold of the blanket.

She was about to go into her own room, but she paused in the doorway. "Good night," she whispered, before slipping inside and closing her door behind her.

"Night," Chris said, his rough voice the only sound in the empty hallway.

#