Winter's Refuge
Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Five
HEYES
The Kid dropped off Colin on his way back to Three Birds and told me to take care of him. He was caked in mud. The Kid described how the man had fallen into the mud and muck. While Auntie had Vince put the old tub in the back yard with a screen around it so Colin could wash off the layers of mud, the Kid pulled me aside and told me what happened at the Lark Farm. As we walked down to the stream, he said he had flashes of our homes burning in Kansas and needed to talk. But not now. He stripped to his long johns and jumped into the cold water, now brown with debris and leaves and stirred up mud. It was the kind of thing he would have done at Devil's Hole-impulsive. He came up dirty from the water, but the mud was gone. Chrissy must have been watching because she came down with two big towels.
"Jed, you're still dirty," she laughed. "Go use the tub in the water closet to finish and change."
Wet as he was, he picked her up and held her tight. She didn't know what he had seen at the Lark's, but she sensed he needed to hold her. "I got to get back to Three Birds to help," he told her.
Walking close together to the house, I heard her answer, "Jed go back to Three Birds and help…CLEAN!"
JED 'KID' CURRY
Three Birds was crowded when I returned, and everyone looked busy.
Just after I rode in, Father Patrick arrived. "Jed, I heard about the tornado...all these people. It looks like it hit hard here?"
I just nodded. "Have you been to your church?" I asked.
"Just got into town. Not sure where to start to help. I'm just so angry!" he exclaimed, hittin' his hand against his thigh.
"We're all angry about the tornado, Paddy, but I think you'd call it an Act of God." I put my arm over his shoulder as we headed to the church.
"No, no Jed. I'm not angry at the tornado. I'm angry at the men of Mallard Springs. When we got word of what happened, I asked for volunteers to come back with me and help. NOT ONE MAN SAID YES!" He was angry and hurt.
"You think it was because we delayed a decision on mergin' the town councils?" I asked.
He shook his head but didn't give me an answer. We stopped in front of the church. The hall next door was busy with people goin' in and out with food and beddin'. "Chris Birde gave us the key," I told him.
"Good. Good. I should have left it unlocked." The wooden steps of the church and the front door looked fine. "Jed, come in with me to see if there's any damage, please?" he asked.
I agreed and helped him up the steps. He still relies heavily on a cane since his injuries at the prison. Aiden said he always will. At times to me he feels like a broken man. He knows me and Heyes are always ready to help him recover. As we opened the front door, the first thing I noticed was that none of windows were broken but the few paintings on the wall had fallen. I walked along the right side and gathered them up and rehung them on the nails as we walked. None were torn or even had a broken frame.
"There." Paddy pointed at the pulpit. It had fallen over and was leanin' on the altar, but neither was cracked or damaged. While he closed his eyes and prayed, I righted the pulpit then rubbed my hand along the edge of the altar, findin' not even a dent.
Abruptly, he turned around. "Jed, where can I do the most good?" he demanded.
"A lot of death and destruction caused by that tornado. I'd say start in the makeshift hospital, then maybe come back here to the church hall. A lot of people just need to talk to you."
"Including you?" he asked.
"Includin' me," I admitted. "But not now. You said no one from Mallard Springs was willin' to help us?"
"Not a one." I heard sadness and frustration mixed with anger in his voice. "No one even asked if they could send some food with me."
Father Patrick has been strugglin' to keep his faith in his fellow man after the attack at the prison. This didn't help. As we stopped outside the hospital, I thought it still looked like managed chaos inside. Facin' Father, I put a hand on each shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Sounds like you need to talk to somebody, too."
"Like you said, not now but soon." Father sighed as Juan and Chris Birde pulled up with more injured. "I've got work to do here."
HEYES
Three days after the tornado and our family is gettin' used to the new sleeping arrangements. Rocky sleeps at the Josephs, unshackled, in a room with no windows, but the door isn't locked. We turned my little office in the barn into a bedroom for Vince. He's more comfortable there. The Flores boys are young, active, and rambunctious and loud. Vince ain't used to kids. Colin Apperson is still here and has taken over the Flores guest room.
The Kid told me some of what happened at the Lark Farm. It shook Colin's emotions hard, and they are close to the surface. He enjoys the innocent hugs of all the little kids. And at night in his dreams, he's reliving his guilt at watching the Kid whipped in prison. Juan said he wakes up crying and yelling for it to stop. Colin and the Kid talked about it yesterday as the three of us rode into Three Birds. Colin apologized over and over and couldn't stop crying. He'd never seen anything so brutality violent but thought he had no power to stop it. The Kid repeated he understood and accepted his apology, but I could tell he didn't really. He's held onto his bitterness about it. He's even talked to Father Patrick about it, but he told me it's not something he'll ever forgive…and he keeps Colin outside of his closest friends because of it.
Three Birds is recovering quickly, thanks to the leadership of the Kid and Jeff. And today they have teams going out to work on two of the farms that need repairs. Supplies have been ordered by the Town Council, but rebuilding homes and barns that were completely destroyed will happen on weekends and the whole town will help. There's an excitement and an optimism you can feel in Three Birds. And that's due to the Kid and Jeff.
Colin has been asking, well, begging to go out on one of the repair crews. He somehow feels guilty, like the tornado was his fault. Guilt is hard to explain sometimes. So last night, when me and the Kid made up the schedule, we assigned him to the crew headed by Mr. Crenshaw. They'll start early and visit four homesteads.
Me and the Kid are joining a work crew here in town. We're expanding Arnie's one room apartment in the back of the telegraph office. We're making it a regular little house with three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a main room. Arnie insisted that Eleanor's ma lives with them now.
This afternoon we attended the wedding of Arnie Weber and Eleanor Pokora. It was in the hospital at her ma's bedside. Not what they were planning. Juan drove Hortencia in from Phoenix, and they were the witnesses. Father Patrick said some real nice words at the ceremony, and we all went back to work. Their honeymoon and reception will have to wait.
ASJ*ASJ
In the meeting of the Town Council today, we voted unanimously NOT to merge with Mallard Springs. And I was pleasantly surprised that Mr. Robinson raised not one objection to any of the money proposed for supplies to rebuild the town, even the glass for the store windows, which was our largest expense. The agenda was short and specific; all items, except the Mallard Springs merger, were related to the tornado repairs. Me and the Kid had discussed each agenda item last night. Today we had enlisted as many volunteers as we could for the work needed. And the meeting was quick.
We decided that work on our Phoenix house would wait until we could discuss our plans with Mr. Russell, the contractor who had added our second story and me and Angie's bedroom. We're meeting him in two weeks. Until then, we're comfortable. Me and Angie have moved into one of the upstairs bedrooms. Nettie, Joy, and Ruth Ann begged, and we allowed our daughter to move into the room they share with Martha. We temporarily separated a section of the room off so Michael would have some privacy. The Kid sure was looking ahead when he ordered Russell to make these bedrooms large.
Ken helped Vince and Juan build a new wider front porch on Auntie's house and replace parts of the roof. The side of the porch has a ramp with a handrail. It's stained wood with white on top, very pretty. Still, she asked to stay in our guest room until her fears of another tornado passed. She's always welcome.
JED 'KID' CURRY
Me and Chrissy haven't forgotten that Ruth Ann needs to attend the School for the Deaf in Denver…at least until she learns the meanin' of 'no'. Chrissy and Dr. Aiden will go with her. The doctor said it shouldn't be for more than a month and Aiden is gonna work at the school to learn more how to treat deaf patients. But first there was plannin' for Catherine's birthday party. Then the party and my gunfight with Ernest Fuller, the Barber, whose real name was Ernesto Furmotti. Heyes told me Frank gave him a check for quite a large sum of money as the reward that was offered for him. We offered to split with Frank, but he said as a sheriff he can't collect bounties. After hearin' the word 'bounty', me and Heyes didn't want the money, but Frank insisted so we added it to our account in the Bank of Three Birds owned by Palmer Robinson. We have other money in there, but we also have money at Phoenix, both in the safe in our basement and hidden in my forge.
"Money the Kid got for catching Fuller will more than cover the costs of rebuilding and remodeling Phoenix," Heyes told us one night as we ate dinner. We forget that Michael and Martha are old enough now to know what that means.
"Good!" answered Chrissy.
I saw the look that passed between my older twins and knew they had somethin' to ask. It's the same look Heyes gets when I catch his gaze and communicate.
Martha was the one that spoke up. "Pa, we were wondering, if… er, well, was there ever a reward out for you and Uncle Heyes?" she finally got out. Michael nodded his agreement.
Me and Chrissy and Heyes agreed that we'd never lie to our kids about our pasts. We haven't told them everything either. Now, I looked at Heyes who shrugged his shoulders. Chrissy's nod gave me her agreement with what I was about to say. Angie and Auntie already know about the rewards on us. Ken as a US Marshal must have known, too. This will be new to Mary, Vince, and Rocky and the twins.
"Yes, we was both wanted," I answered.
"Because you were the most successful leaders of the Devil's Hole Gang that robbed trains and banks!" Michael said proudly. "How much were the rewards on your heads?"
I knew this question was comin'. "Ten thousand each," I said.
"Dead or alive, right?" asked Vince.
Martha's green eyes, just slightly lighter than her ma's, grew wide at Vince's question as she waited for my answer.
"Yes, dead or alive."
Rocky was amazed. "Twenty thousand dollars! How many people did you kill that the reward was so high?"
Heyes answered for me. "We never shot anyone during a robbery. The bounties were so large because we were that good and the railroads especially wanted us caught."
I hoped that would end the questions, but it didn't. "Pa, who got the reward on you?" Martha asked.
"I don't know, darlin'. I was thrown from my horse and hit my head. Don't remember much until we was in Cheyenne for trial and those memories are foggy," I answered truthfully.
"US Marshal Theo White captured you and the two men who helped him, Jimmy and Roland got the reward, I only heard their first names," Heyes answered in a quiet voice.
Ken nodded before saying, "Theo White was a good man, a relentless tracker. He was part Apache."
"I knew they had an Apache," Heyes said.
"Was?" Auntie asked. I forget she had a life before us, and in that life she was the wife of a US Marshal and the ma of another who both lost their lives doin' their jobs catchin' outlaws.
Ken's voice was sad as he said, "Theo White's being Apache was in the papers when he captured you. It made headlines across the country. There were some citizens in New Mexico that didn't like that an Apache was a US Marshal, and he died of a bullet to the back of the head one morning when he left his hotel. They never found who did it. My brother and I were two of the men who tried to find his murderers."
"Rocky, would you pass the rolls?" I asked, anxious to change the subject. But there was one more question I wasn't prepared for.
Michael had left the table and now returned with a large paper…and my heart sank as I realized what it was. "Why was there a five-thousand-dollar reward for ma, dead or alive?" He held up the poster.
Shocked, I tried to gather the right words, Heyes found his. "It's not legal. A rich man had them printed and distributed because her brother, Mark, killed his brother. That's what the words there mean – an eye for an eye, a sibling for a sibling."
Heyes' words silenced the table. Chrissy reached across and took the paper from Michael. "Bad man dead. This over. Jed, burn evil paper, please."
I walked over and threw it into the fireplace. Everyone was silent as it burned.
"Who wants pie for dessert," Auntie broke the silence the next way possible…with food.
ASJ*ASJ
Just when we were thinkin' it was time to take Ruth Ann to the School for the Deaf, the tornado struck, and we were too busy to think about goin'. But after yesterday, Chrissy and Aiden are leavin' for Denver with Ruth Ann in two days.