Winter's Refuge
Chapter One Hundred Fourteen
HEYES
I haven't slept well since I got home. I've never slept well but I slept better on the trip here. I think that's because I had Angie in my arms. Just being near her gives me a peace I haven't known since ma tucked me in at night and kissed my forehead. I love her so much and am amazed that she loves this broken, ex-outlaw, ex-convict right back. Even sleeping on the hard ground, having her close to me eased my nightmares. I never slept deep on the trip; I was always listening, always on guard, but I got rest.
Now, I finally had to realize that not everything could get done without the Kid. I can't do the blacksmith work and even with all my recovery I get tired. And when I'm tired, the urge to go inside myself, just to rest, returns. But I know once there, it will be hard to escape. My life is here at Phoenix.
Helping Juan and Ken, together we managed to determine the one mare here is showing the signs of pregnancy. She's going home tomorrow. The invoice is prepared and ready. I remember last year when it took both me and Lom to get invoices done. And we have everything prepared for the three mares coming next. I made sure that no foreman will reject leaving their mares with us again. That's a major part of our income. While that kept me busy, I also went over the accounting books for Phoenix. There was no cash on hand and no record of how it was spent. I asked and got answers like medicine, cleaning supplies, hay, and food, but the Kid gave me an honest answer.
I was sitting in a chair by his bed while he was devouring some chicken soup Auntie had seasoned from Knight's recipe. He'd been eating well for the last day and had some color to his face. Dr. Arden had explained to me that the blow to the side of his head was not serious, even though he lost a lot of blood. It was an injury from the mercantile fire that was reopened when his head was shaved really close during his day and night in the Wyoming Prison. It's opened before and the skin there is thin and fragile. He mainly blacked out from the dizziness and weakness of the flu and pneumonia. He needs to take it very easy and let it heal. But I know he won't. Even now when he should be resting, he's refused his 'sleepy' pain medicine.
"Heyes, promise I'll take it when we're done talkin'," he told me. He was in pain, but I doubt anyone but me and Chrissy and maybe the doctor could tell.
"Well, our current lady visitor will go home pregnant by Fall's Legend. She's showing all the signs. And we're ready for the three coming. I put the money from Knight into the safe."
The Kid smiled. "Have to change the combination again."
"Yeah, well, I took some of it out again to pay for the hay delivery. Where'd all our cash on hand go? Juan told me about your trip to the forge to get the money to pay back the foreman."
He looked away from me before answering. " I wrote you about sending the money to Luke." Then he looked me in the eyes. "Heyes, Michael went to school sick and spread it around. A couple of our neighbors' whole families got it, too…and a few couldn't pay their mortgages."
"And you lent them the money to cover the mortgages?" I asked. It sounded like something the Kid would do. He tries to take care of everyone.
Now he gave me his sheepish look. "No, I didn't lend it to them. I gave it to them."
"Oh, Kid," I sighed. But what's done is done so I said, "Okay, just let me know who and how much so I can account for it in our books."
"You ain't mad at me?" he asked, and I recognized young Jed's need for my approval in his voice.
"Nah, you did a good thing helping our neighbors," I reassured him. I could tell his pain was getting worse from the dull blue of his eyes. But I wanted to talk to him about Angie.
"It's been four days, Kid, and Angie, Winny and Sam still haven't arrived. I went over and over the instructions I had given them. There were no tricky turns or dangerous crossings. They should be here by now, even if they were a day late."
I had as much of his attention as he could spare through his pain. He sat up straighter and reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, they were clearer and focused.
"Heyes, I'm well enough to help out with the horses a bit. I'd like to practice some shootin' again, too. Go after them. Bring them here. Bring them home."
The sincere look in his eyes always could persuade me. Without me telling him, he knew that my worry for them added to my own about taking charge of Phoenix. Now he gave me a warm smile saying, "Go, Heyes. You've got this place on track for the important things at least. You could use the break and I'm anxious to meet this lady that my cousin loves."
I agreed to go and gave him a dose of pain medicine myself. There's one thing I gotta do before I leave and that's make sure everything is good with Ken before Winny comes.
"Ken?" I approached him after lunch when he was getting ready to let our mares out into their pasture. "Wanted to talk to you. I'm leaving in a few minutes to go find my wife and her party. I'm worried. Just wanted to know what kind of reception Winny is going to get here."
"Mary and me been talking and, even though you should have asked me first, this might be better. I can't say no to trying this new path until I've met this man and hear what he has to offer. We were thinking if I take to it, maybe we could build a shop on Curry Road across from the blacksmith shop?"
I sighed with relief that he was agreeing to it now. "Sounds like a good location to me. People already going there for all their blacksmith needs."
And so it was settled.
LOM
Susan's ghost is close today. I see her face in every lady that passes by. I smell her perfume in my office. Twice today when the sheriff's door opened, I expected to see her bounce in smiling…until I remembered I'll never see her again. So, this afternoon, I went to the saloon, bought a bottle of whiskey, sat at my back table, and drank until I passed out and I had no thoughts and no memories.
"Sheriff Trevors." I felt a light touch on my shoulder and realized my head was leaning on my arms on the saloon table. I didn't want to leave my memoryless darkness.
"SHERIFF, got a telegram for you," the voice was young but insistent.
I sat up, found a penny tip in my pocket, and gave it to him. "Leave it on the table," I told him, but my words sounded slurred even to me and he ran off quickly.
"Sheriff!" A kind older voice woke me. "Closing time. Want me to have someone help you home?" It was the bartender. He told me he had lost his wife and had been nothing but sympathetic to me.
"Thanks, but I got it." I stood and it seemed to me I was walking straight.
"I'll have Benny see you home and don't forget this." He gave me the unopened telegram as Benny appeared next to me.
"Ain't going home yet. Got work to do. Just see me to my office."
I don't remember getting to the sheriff's office. Don't remember laying down on the cot in the back room, but that's where the sun streaming in the window woke me. I hadn't gone 'home' on purpose. It wasn't home without Susan. I made coffee and sat at my desk and saw the telegram from the Arizona Correctional Prison. Panicked, I looked at the calendar. Good, I hadn't missed my visit with Preacher. It's next week. This is probably a reminder. But it wasn't.
"I regret to tell you that your next visit with Josiah Jeffrey has been canceled. Convict Jeffrey was involved in a prison-wide brawl and all convict visitation privileges have been revoked. If his behavior improves, you may visit him next month."
Relieved, I finished my coffee and stood to make my mandatory visit to see my son, our son, Wayne. He has developed her big brown eyes. I hold and cuddle him every day. I know Phyllis will give me a harsh look for not coming home last night, but I don't care. She can't understand what I've lost - Susan and our shared future.
JED 'KID' CURRY
I meant it when I told Heyes I'd take it easy. I've been in bed for four days and my legs are wobbly. Chrissy was nursin' Ruth Ann and Joy was playin' on the floor with wooden blocks I had made her. I smiled at them all and hang my legs over the side of our bed.
"Jed?" asked Chrissy.
"I'm getting' better, Chrissy darlin'. Aiden said yesterday I can get up."
"Good."
"Where's Michael?"
"School with Martha. Michael much better."
"Good," I answered. Chrissy smiled when I used her word. She's recoverin' now that I am.
I thought of takin' the stairs on my bottom like Michael did, but Juan saw me from the kitchen and hurried up to help me. "Glad to see you up, Jed," he said, takin' my arm to support me without bein' asked. Grateful for his help, I leaned on him for balance. I was better, but bein' in bed so long weakened my legs.
Auntie welcomed me at the bottom of the stairs with a hug and a tear in her eye. "Breakfast is ready, Jed. Let me get you a plate."
I ate slowly, savorin' the ranch activity I could see and hear around me. I missed this. Finished, I went to the stables to see if I could help. And despite the welcome fresh air, I had to sit on a bale of hay to rest when I got there.
"Good to see you out here, Jed. That beauty's going home today," Ken told me while bringin' me some water, concern on his face. "Think her foreman was anxious to meet Kid Curry when he dropped her off."
"Well, I can sure shake someone's hand." And I was relieved that there was somethin' I could do for the ranch.
HEYES
Fall's Bells greeted me with an affectionate nose touch to my ear. She didn't mind that I pushed her hard as soon as we got to the main road. I had worries upon worries. Was the Kid actually recovered enough to help at Phoenix? He needed to help Chrissy, too. And those worries were overcome by those of my other family, Angie, Sam, and Winny. Now I thought of them as two separate families. Hopefully we will all be one family soon. I imagined all sorts of terrible terrors they might have encountered. The overloaded wagon may have turned over in a ditch and crushed them all. Winny was older and had confided in me that his heart wasn't as strong as it used to be. That's why he was retiring. Maybe he had a heart attack…or maybe Sam had tried his old tricks and ended up in a jail in some town where they stayed overnight? The directions I gave them took them through Bridgeport. If there was a problem there, I would have heard from Mike Loveland.
With only two stops for water, we arrived in Bridgeport just after dusk. I rode straight to the newspaper office. Mike greeted me warmly and I could hear little Mikey singing to himself in the back playroom. While I looked I saw him playing with a white puppy.
"Heyes, always good to see you, but I haven't seen your family come through here. Looking forward to meeting them." Mike pulled me inside the newspaper office as he shook my hand.
"I'd been hoping they got at least this far." My worry and frustration must have shown on my face. Mike knew me well enough to understand my struggles.
"You'll stay here tonight. Don't argue; take your horse to the livery. I'm going to send some telegrams and make some inquiries of the small newspapers in that direction."
He sounded logical but I need to find them as soon as I can. "No, I'll go on tonight." I would need to carry a lantern to dispel the darkness nearest to Fall's Bells. Fear shook my body at the thought of the dark unfamiliar road.
"No, best you stay here and wait for the answers to my telegrams. No moon tonight and you might miss them if they are camping somewhere off the road." His tone was firm. He didn't mention my problems with the dark, even though he was aware of them. But his arguments were compelling, and I was exhausted.
"Alright. Thank you."
We all slept in the rooms in the back of the newspaper. My dreams were troubled, searching. In them, someone needed me, and I couldn't get to them. It morphed first from Angie to the Kid. Then Michael and Sam were in trouble, even though my rational mind told me they had never met. But through all the worries and dreams, I slept deeply and was surprised how much better I felt in the morning. I thought I'd be the first one up but wasn't, Mike is an early riser and had let me sleep late. When I woke up, little Mikey was cuddled up next to me with the new puppy his pa got him. The bed was warm and comfortable, and I lingered for a few minutes gathering my thoughts and making a plan for the day.
I finally sat up when little Mikey tried to open my eyes with his fingers. "Wake Unc now."
He clapped when I opened my eyes and sat up. "Good morning to you, too," I told him, marveling that this child of two outlaws was growing up happy and normal. And at the kind heart of Mike Loveland loving and raising this child as his own.
"Unc Kid?" he asked, pulling on my sleeve.
Laughing, I picked him up and headed for the kitchen. Seems like everybody loves the Kid. "At home."
Mike was working the press but stopped when he saw us. "Breakfast is on the table and there's some answers to my telegrams there, too. One is addressed to you."
Mikey crawled up on a stool and grabbed some toast. I watched him for a second, seeing an appetite rivaling the Kid when he was little, and I smiled.
Nodding to Mike, I took the telegrams and went to the back and sat in his overstuffed chair. Before he adopted Mikey, he slept most nights here. I needed to be alone to read these telegrams. I'd convinced myself that they contained bad news. I sent aside the one addressed to me thinking it brought bad news.
I opened the one from the closest town to here that they should have passed through. It's about fifty miles from here. Addressed to Mike, it said that no strangers - a woman, a boy with an older man - had been through there in the last weeks. He would keep an eye out and let Mike know if they did.
I let out a deep sigh and reached for one from a town a little further away. It said about the same thing and my heart worried more. The third one was a town I had never heard of. It definitely was not on the map I was using when I planned their route…and I thought it was a current map. But Mike's fellow newspaper owner said yes, he saw the people he'd described in their town. The woman was sick with a fever and the doctor had seen her, but they had left the next morning.
"Mike, you got any maps?" I yelled out to the other room.
"Maps," Mikey repeated and laughed. "Maps." He was delighted with the sound of the new word.
And his pa laughed, too, as he went to his stuffed wall shelves and dug until he found a stack of maps. "Have lots of maps; this is a newspaper office. What are you looking for?"
"Telegram is from Phillip Bridger. Seems to be from someplace called Broken Bridge. I don't remember that on their route."
"It isn't on the route you told me, but I sent telegrams in a wider area to all the newspaper men I knew."
"Then they're off course." I thought I mumbled but Mike heard me.
"About forty miles too far north."
Panic made me tremble. I took deep breaths to try to control it. I barely noticed Mike leading me back to the chair. "I shouldn't have left them. I shouldn't have left them," I kept repeating. "Angie's sick."
Handing me a glass of water, Mike asked, "Have you read all the telegrams?"
I know I gave him a blank look then reached for the last telegram, the one addressed to me. "Who would telegram me here?"
"Jed? Open it and let's see."
I started to read and the panic took over. I fought to ignore the darkness that was threatening to come for me. It was long for a telegram, but the message was clear. I forced myself to finish even though the words terrified me.
"Heyes
Holding your wife and boy in Big Oak. I have unfinished business with you and Kid Curry. Been searching for you since I got out. As of today, they are unharmed. If you want them to stay that way, meet me here by the 7th. I promise I'm ready for you and only one of us will leave alive.
Cougar."
Mike picked up the telegram from the floor where I dropped it. "Who's Cougar?"
"Zack Clark.. He's known as Cougar. Violent mean man, I kicked him out of the Devil's Hole Gang for raping a pretty bank clerk…or trying to. Wheat stopped it. The Kid made sure he left the Hole at the point of his gun. He was arrested five days later. At his trial, he loudly threatened to 'get' the Kid and me. The local newspapers made that their headline for a couple of days. Cougar got twelve to twenty in prison. Seems he hasn't forgotten his vindictive vengeance."
"Well, Heyes, let's go rescue your family," Mike said firmly.