Chapter 25
- Recap
Exiting the house onto the front porch, Jarrod was about to carry Matilda down to the wagon stopped out front where Nick was waiting for them when in the distance, rapidly approaching, they all could hear the sound of hoof-beats. Coming down the road was someone on horseback, riding in fast and the three men stopped where they were as the rider came into the ranch yard.
Nick's eyes turned deadly upon immediately recognizing the man.
"Just what do you think you're doing!?" Cade roared as he pulled his horse to a hard stop in-front of the house, the poor gelding throwing his head in the air as the bit cut into his tender mouth. "This is private property, you have no right to be here-"- Present
Upon hearing Cade's voice, Matilda buried her face in Jarrod's neck. He was back. He'd returned. Shaking with fear, she began to cry softly.
"Ssssh, it's alright sweetheart." Jarrod whispered gently in her ear. "We're not going to let anything happen to you. You're safe." He assured her, kissing her cheek. "We won't let him hurt you again."
Nick angrily strode over to meet him as the man dismounted, Cade's feet barely touching the ground before he was laid out in the dirt as a result of a well placed punch to the jaw. "And nothin', NOTHIN'," Nick roared as he grabbed the man by his shirt, pulling him up from off the ground as he punched him again. "NOTHIN' GIVES YOU THE GODDAMN RIGHT TO TREAT THAT LIL GAL LIKE YOU DID!" His rage boiling over now that he had Cade in front of him, he drew his hand back once more and his fist connected with his nose with a sickening crunch. Drawing his fist back to punch him once more, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Heath standing beside him.
"That's enough Nick." Heath exclaimed coldly, his blue eyes boring holes through Cade as he glared at him. "Let him go."
Holding him up by the front of his shirt, Nick twisted the collar to choke him for a moment then pushed him roughly to the dirt and stepped back, Cade lying dazed for a moment before he slowly sat up, blood pouring from his nose. Breathing deeply, Nick opened and closed his fists as he attempted to rein in his temper. As angry as he was at what he'd done to both Audra and Matilda, he was near mad enough to kill that man with his bare hands.
"Get up." Heath addressed Cade nonchalantly, appearing indifferent to those around him but beneath, was just barely able to keep his own temper in check. While he wasn't prone to loose his temper as quick as Nick, being presented with the man who'd left Matilda for dead, it was taking everything he had within himself to not go at him like Nick had just done, even if he did want to thrash the life out of him. "Get up." He repeated, his tone an icy hiss. "Get up and face us like a man."
Slowly, eyeing both of them warily, Cade got to his feet. "Who… Who are you?"
"Your worst nightmare Alton." Nick growled, his tone simmering with barely restrained rage. "We're folks you shouldn't have messed with."
Glaring at them, he wiped his bleeding nose on the back of his hand. In a fair fight he could hold his own but he'd been caught off guard and as he looked at the two imposing men in front of him and the third up on the pouch who held Missie in his arms, it dawned on him who they were. Nick he recognized first, the one who'd just given him the thrashing he felt certain had broken his nose and if the lawyer was holding the girl then the blonde had to be Heath. They'd come for Missie but how had they known she was here?
"We're here for the girl." Heath informed him. "But a smart man like yourself is sure to have figured that out already."
"You-you have no right." He shot daggers in Missie's direction, the girl burying her face in the shoulder of the Barkley lawyer. Oh, she was going to pay for this, he'd make sure of that. Somehow, she'd gotten this family wrapped up in some little scheme to save her. Well, it would be all for nothing. If she thought he was going to let her get away so easily, she had another thing coming. "I don't know what that little b**** told you, but it's all lies. Lies I tell you."
"She didn't tell us anythin'." Nick's voice was low and menacing and even Heath felt a shiver run up his spine as his older brother stepped closer to Cade, poking him in the chest with his finger. "You had her so frightened out of her mind she wouldn't say anythin', even to save herself."
"You're not taking her anywhere." Cade wasn't about to back down. "You've got no right over her. I'm her legal custodian-"
Heath cut him off. "And I'm her brother."
He hadn't been expecting that response. "My sister never had a son-"
"She never had a daughter either. Your niece-" He emphasized with a sneer. "was taken from her real family and given to your sister. You have no claim over her."
"And if you want to fight for custody against a blood relative, who we can prove is related to her, we can let the courts decide." Jarrod spoke up threateningly, still holding Matilda protectively close to him. The poor dear was shaking in his arms, her face buried in his neck. He couldn't blame her for being terrified of Cade, they'd only seen the aftermath of what he'd done to her; he couldn't fathom what she must have gone through. "I'm sure they would love to hear how you mistreated this young woman while she was in your care. Beatings, whippings, leaving her chained up without food, water or medical attention for three days… Oh, how could I have forgotten? Why yes, I do believe you also shot her. Under the circumstances, I'm sure any court in their right mind would grant you custody of her, Mister Alton." He finished with a smirk.
Opening his mouth, Cade was about to say something when he thought better of it and shut it again.
"If you know what's good for you-" Nick continued with that low growl of his that was as equally unsettling as one of a mother bear protecting its cubs, "you'd just better step aside."
"I'm not letting you take her."
"And we're not leavin' without her, so now you and me... I'm afraid we have ourselves a problem."
Seeing that he was losing the argument, he attempted a different angle of approach. Missie knew what he was capable of. If she went with them, he would come after her and them; their lives wouldn't be worth living. Yes, Missie would choose to stay with him if she really wanted to keep them safe. He wasn't about to let her leave without a fight. "You good folks wouldn't take her from the only home that she's known all these years, would you? She should get a say. Let her decide." As he took a step towards the house where Jarrod stood holding the girl on the porch, Nick cut him off. Looking up into his steel cold eyes, he rethought his next move and stood firmly planted in that spot. "Missie, I-I'm sorry." In the twinkling of an eye he turned on the charm that had fooled many a naive woman, to their own detriment. "I let my temper get the best of me. It won't happen again, I promise. Please, these people won't take care of you as good as I have these years. Please, give me another chance-"
Hearing his plea, Matilda called up strength she didn't know she had left in her to cut him off. "Like hell I would!" She spat, glaring daggers of her own at him. Safe in Jarrod's arms, she found within herself a little spark of that fight Cade had done his best to vanquish. If he thought for a moment he could manipulate her into choosing to stay with him, he was more insane then she'd first thought. She wasn't scared of him anymore, not when she had Jarrod and his brothers to stand with her and she refused to be controlled by fear any longer. She wasn't alone in this fight anymore. "You don't get another chance, because I'm not staying. I'm going with them and you can't stop us."
"Oh, oh you are going to regret that." He morphed back into his true nature without another second. "You aren't going anywhere, young lady-" He threatened. "You aren't leaving. You go with them, I will come for you and I will kill them to take you back. You wouldn't want more blood on your hands now, would you?"
"The only blood that I'll have on my hands is yours." Matilda replied, drawing strength from Jarrod. "Because if you come for them, I will kill you myself."
Heath had been watching as Cade edged his hand closer and closer to the pistol strapped to his hip during their confrontation. "Don't you even think 'bout tryin' anythin stupid, Alton." He hissed in that ice cold tone of his, catching Cade's attention. "I'll fill you with so many holes before you can pull that iron that they'll be hard pressed to find enough of you to bury."
"The girl's made her choice." Nick added, his eyes boring holes through the cad standing in front of him. "She's comin' with us."
"You're not going to get away with this-"
"Mister, we're takin' the girl. It wouldn't be healthy for you to try and stop us." Nick got right up in his personal space to further intimidate him. "If you get my meanin'."
Cade swallowed, adding up his options as he looked at the two of them then up at Missie and the lawyer on the porch. He couldn't let them take her. He needed her. He needed her to get his greedy hands on her money that rightfully belonged to him. If they took her, he'd never see a penny of it. All the years he had spent looking after her would be for nothing. No, he wasn't letting her go. Desperate times called for desperate measures and even though he was outnumbered at two to one, he wasn't below fighting dirty when he had to. "Alright, alright-" He held his hands up in mock surrender as he took a step back to get some space between them then before Nick could react, laid a fist hard in his stomach.
As Nick doubled over, Heath was right there to pick up the fight. Ducking the punch that Cade threw, Heath threw back one of his own, catching him solidly in the chin. One, two, three punches he laid into him before Cade recovered, Cade able to block the next with his arm before he slugged him back good with one of his own. Heath was pushed back a couple of steps, blocking Cade's next punch before being able to land another himself.
Jarrod and Matilda watched on as Heath fought with Cade, Nick slowly rising again once he'd caught his breath. He'd been winded and good. Matilda cringed each time Cade was able to land a punch on her older brother. She knew well what those fists could do, she'd been his punching bag more then once. "C-Can't you make them stop?" She beggedJarrod. "He's-he's gonna... gonna hurt them."
"It's alright Matilda, Nick and Heath can look after themselves."
"Cade... He doesn't fight clean."
True to what Matilda had just told Jarrod, Cade had realized he'd made the mistake of underestimating his opponent again. While he'd been able to catch Nick by surprise, the blond was just as good a fighter as the burly rancher. There was no way he'd be able to get the better of him if he didn't take some alternate measures. It was time for him to play dirty. The next punch he blocked from Heath he kicked his legs out from beneath him and was able to gain the upper hand. Punch after punch he rained down onto him as hard as he could and as he went to lay another to his face, the freight train that was Nick Barkley bowled over him.
Recovered, Nick took up the fight while Heath slowly got back to his feet.
Matilda witnessed it all. "Told you... he doesn't fight clean."
"I can see that." Jarrod replied, deciding that it was time for him to give his brothers an extra hand in licking Cade. Looking around for a suitable place to sit Matilda down he spotted the nearby rocking chair and carried her over to it. "I'll just set you down here for a moment honey." He told her gently as he set her down carefully. "I'll be right back."
"Jarrod, I don't want you to get hurt-"
Her plea fell on deaf ears as the lawyer took the stairs two at a time and joined in on the fight. Again Cade had played dirty and gotten Nick down, Heath right there alongside him to take him on. Blocking, dodging and trying to land punches of his own, Heath was caught off guard by a nasty blow to the jaw and as he dropped to the ground, Jarrod stepped in to pick up the fight.
Not expecting the lawyer to be another formidable fighter, Cade was beginning to grow even more desperate as it began to dawn on him that he wasn't as invincible as he thought. He took pride in the fact that in one bar fight he'd been able to take out ten men before the rest had gotten the idea and fled like yellow-bellied coyotes, never-mind the fact that he'd fought dirty to do so. He'd overestimated his abilities, he'd thought he was invincible his entire life but here, he was learning hard lessons he should have been taught as a child. He was loosing ground and both he and his opponent knew it. He needed to do something drastic and do it quickly.
Matilda had been watching the fight closely, her heart in her throat as Jarrod and Cade danced around. While Jarrod was a good fighter, Cade still managed to land a few solid punches and she winced every time one connected with him. She wasn't worth them fighting over. She didn't want them to get hurt because of her and yet there was nothing she could do to stop it. Cade had thrown the first punch, of course they'd fight back. Well... The first punch that was after Nick's earlier unpleasant greeting for their unwanted visitor.
Being with Cade traveling, she'd been a witness to a few fights, one of which he'd been involved in.
Cade traveled with a knife sheathed to the inside of his left boot, easily accessible when needed.
The man he'd gotten into a fight with at Senora was lucky that all he walked away with was a new scar on his cheek.
She had the feeling if it came into play, Jarrod wouldn't be nearly as lucky to walk away with only a scar.
If that knife was pulled...
Nick and Heath weren't going to be much use to Jarrod, both of them pretty well spent. Neither of them knew about the knife and they wouldn't until it was too late. As Matilda watched Cade growing more desperate, his punches more erratic and not as calculated, she knew she had to do something. Anything. It wasn't like she could walk in her current condition but she couldn't just sit by and do nothing.
A well-sized rock sat on the floorboards just beyond her reach.
Looking back over at the fight, she knew it was only a matter of moments before Cade pulled that knife. Time was running out, even if the rest of them weren't aware of it. Her body screaming at her, she stretched her arm out and moved her body as far out of the chair as she could. She was close, so close. Just a little more... A little more... Finally, the tips of her fingers just brushed the rock and taking a deep breath, she lunged for it.
She picked the rock up just in time.
Knowing he was about to get licked, Cade undertook a desperate, last ditch attempt to win.
"KNIFE!" Matilda shouted as she threw the rock as hard as she could at her target.
There was no time for Jarrod to react upon hearing her warning for the knife had already appeared in Cade's hand. I don't want you to get hurt. He doesn't fight clean. Her words repeated in his mind as the knife was thrust up towards his chest, time feeling as if it were standing still.
A body dropped to the ground as surely as a steer being slaughtered.
Jarrod staggered, holding his stomach as both Nick and Heath ran to their brother's side, blood beginning to seep through his fingers. "Jarrod, Jarrod-"
"I-I'm fine Nick." Jarrod reassured him, staring in disbelief at the body sprawled out in the dirt in front of them. Still clutched in his hand was the knife, the blade red with his blood. Somehow, by some miracle, Cade had been stopped dead in the middle of his murderous attempt. "It's not deep."
"Let me see-"
"Matilda." He exclaimed, cutting Heath off as she became his next thought. Before either of his brothers could stop him he hurried back to her. "Hey, hey, I'm okay. I'm okay sweetheart."
"J-Jarrod-" She cried as he crouched down in front of her, holding her arms out to him. "I-I thought..."
"I know. I know." Despite her wounds, he hugged her back and held her tightly. "I know."
Nick and Heath looked at each other as they both caught their breath then back at the body lying on the ground. Beside Cade's head was a rock and they both knew that neither of them had thrown it. Looking up at the house and Jarrod with Matilda, it became apparent where it had come from.
Matilda.
"Jarrod's gone and got himself a lil guardian angel." Nick remarked, shaking his head. "Dunno how she did that but my word... Am I grateful."
Heath's eyes were shining with admiration and pride for his little sister. "I taught her how to hit what she aimed at, no matter what she used. You should have seen her with a slingshot... She could hit a target just as well as I when she was four." Looking back at the man lying face down in the dirt, he drew his pistol and pulled back the trigger, approaching him carefully in case he tried to do something stupid. The man didn't move as he crouched down next to him and after taking the knife from his hand and his pistol, both of which he handed back to Nick, he returned his pistol to its holster and felt the man's neck for a pulse. After a moment, he found it. Cade wasn't dead. "He's still alive." He reported, turning to his brother.
"More's the pity." Nick snorted as he kicked the man's leg. "Wake up Alton." A moment later, a groan emitted from him as he slowly began to regain consciousness. "Go check on Jarrod and Matilda, it'll give me great pleasure to take care of this one."
"Nick-"
"Go."
With his brother's glare directed at him, Heath backed down and left him to it. Jarrod was still holding Matilda as he joined them on the pouch, the lower half of his shirt soaked in blood. "Jarrod." He placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Jarrod, let me take a look."
"Let... Heath look... please." Matilda begged weakly. "I'm alright..."
With a nod and a gentle kiss on her cheek Jarrod let her go and moved back to let his brother look at the wound. "It's not that bad-"
"You'll let me be the judge of that." Heath declared as he crouched down in front of him and pulled his shirt up. His older brother had been lucky; the wound wasn't as nearly as serious as it could have been. As it was, a somewhat deep gash was bleeding freely and producing a clean handkerchief from his pocket he folded it up and pressed it to the wound. "Hold that there. I'll go grab the saddlebags."
Pressing his bloodied hand to the cloth, he held pressure on the wound as Heath hurried down to the wagon. Nearby, Nick had gotten Cade to his feet but Jarrod's concern was only for Matilda.
"You... You could... He could have..."
"I know. I know sweetheart." He placed his other hand on her knee, the girl too overcome with emotion to finish her sentence. "But I'm okay. I'm alright."
Biting her lip and swallowing, Matilda forced herself to get it together again. "I-I told you... He-he fights dirty." Looking over as Nick marched Cade around the side of the house and out of sight, a shiver ran up her spine. While she felt nothing but hatred towards the man, she didn't want Nick to kill him. She'd witnessed Nick's temper, thankfully never directed at her and it was well known he was liable to act first and think last. If he did something to Cade... "D-don't let Nick kill him." She begged. "He-he's not worth... getting hung for."
Jarrod rubbed her knee. "Nick might be angry but he won't kill him."
His reassurance did little to ease her worry as she kept her eyes fixed in the direction she'd seen them disappear in.
Heath returned, the saddlebags from the wagon in his hand that held the supplies his brothers had used to care for Matilda. Crouching down in front of Jarrod he set them within reach and began work on tending to his wound.
Her earlier strength rapidly fading, Matilda turned her attention back to Jarrod and Heath. "How's it look?" She weakly questioned.
"It's not too bad." Heath reported, carefully removing the bloodied handkerchief in order to take a better look. "It's not too deep but it may need stitches, I'm not sure." Thankfully it appeared that the bleeding seemed to have stopped. "Guess it's a good thing our older brother here is a lil fluffy around the middle."
Matilda couldn't help but giggle at Heath's description of Jarrod.
The lawyer just shook his head in amusement at his brother's lighthearted teasing. "Just get on with it Heath, we've lost time already."
Nodding in agreement he continued with the task at hand, carefully cleaning the wound before dressing it and bandaging it tightly. "That'll do till we get back home and you can let Doc Merar take a look once we do."
"After he's seen to Matilda." Jarrod countered, tucking his shirt back in and covering it with his vest as Heath packed away the rest of the supplies. "Alright, up you come sweetheart." He exclaimed as he rose to his feet. "Let's get you down to the wagon."
"I'll carry her-"
"It's alright, I've got her." He cut him off as he picked her up, winching slightly as he did so. Matilda rested her head against his shoulder and carefully carrying her down the stairs, he headed over to the wagon with his precious cargo.
"H-he won't… He's not gonna come after me again? Is he?" She questioned, her voice reduced to a soft whisper.
"No honey, we'll make sure of that. I'll be making sure he gets prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There's only one place he'll be going and that's to jail."
"Good." She murmured. "He can't hurt anyone else then."
As Jarrod carried her over, Heath finished packing up and hurried down in front of him, climbing up into the wagon in order to take her from him. "Easy now." He exclaimed as she was handed up to him and gently taking her in his arms, he carried her in and laid her down on the waiting bed on her side. She whimpered in pain, a pitiful sound that tugged at his heartstrings and he sat down next to her. "I'm sorry, lil sis." He turned back to his brother. "Jarrod, if you don't mind... I'd like to stay with her."
Jarrod nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll take turns driving with Nick."
His brother left and as he looked back down at his little sister, Matilda's eyes were already closed. The poor dear was spent. Oh Matilda... He settled down beside her to accompany her on the ride. "Just hold on, hold on Tildy." He whispered to her as he took hold of her hand. "We'll be home soon."
In response, though she didn't open her eyes, Matilda gently squeezed his hand back.
"You…" Cade started as it dawned on him just exactly what Nick Barkley had in store for him. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am." He replied as a dark, predatory grin spread across his face. "Dead serious."
With no other option left given that he had a pistol trained on him, and a man behind it who he knew wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger if he gave him enough reason, Cade slowly began to undress himself until he stood before him with nothing on but the birthday suit that God had gifted him. "Now what?" He questioned as he shivered, certain that he wouldn't like the answer.
"Sit." Nick growled.
Slowly, Cade sank to the ground in the very spot he'd left the girl chained up. So, everything had come to this. If the situation wasn't so humiliating, he could have laughed at the irony of it all. Along with the girl and the money that she meant to him, he was loosing dignity also. Oh he would make Nick pay for this when he came after him...
"First, the neck one." Nick instructed, motioning with his pistol at the nearby iron shackle that he'd taken off Matilda the afternoon before. Seeing Cade hesitating for a moment, he decided he needed some additional encouragement and slowly pulled back the trigger. "Now."
Resigned to his fate, Cade picked up the shackle and after placing it around his neck, locked it in place.
"Now your wrists."
First one, then the other.
Nick watched on as he placed the irons around his wrists, deep satisfaction accompanying the sound of the lock fastening the chains in place. With him secured he returned his pistol to his holster, crouching down on the ground in front of him. Checking first that the shackles were locked properly in place so that he couldn't get free he then looked back up at him. "How does it feel to be treated like an animal?"
As Cade met Nick's eyes that were colder than permafrost, it was beginning to dawn on him just how detrimental to his health messing with people like the Barkleys could prove to be. "What are you planning on doing with me?"
"You know, as I recall, there was a young lady here not too long ago who was wonderin' the exact same thing."
"You can't just leave me here." He protested, that shiver running up his spine again. "That's-that's inhumane."
"I can and I am."
For the first time in his life, Cade truly knew what fear felt like. Fear was the very embodiment of Nick Barkley before him.
"Just like you left Matilda." Nick added softly, menacingly. "You left her here to die."
"I didn't leave her to die." He scoffed at that. "I was coming back."
"She didn't know that. Neither will you." He paused for a moment. "And if you ever do come after her-" Leaning in closely, he hissed threateningly in his ear. "I will kill you. With pleasure."
Jarrod was waiting in the driver's seat for Nick to return as the sun rose steadily higher in the sky to the east. They had lost time with Cade's arrival and really needed to be on their way. By his guess it was just after seven now, they would have to make up time on the road if they were going to have any chance of catching the three o'clock train out of Senora. Having ensured that the remainder of their belongings were loaded up and that Jingo and Charger were tied securely to the back, Jarrod was just waiting for Nick to reappear.
Transferring the reins of the team and Coco to one hand, he gingerly touched his stomach and winched. He was lucky that it wasn't worse, it was only by a miracle that Matilda's aim had been true. Cade would have killed him without so much as a second thought. The man was pure evil, he'd witnessed it firsthand himself. Now he understood why Matilda had been so afraid of him and rightly so. The man was sick in the head.
While he continued to wait for Nick, he forced his focus to be on the task at hand rather then the nagging ache of his stomach wound. It was hurting after being cleaned but he knew it had to be done. They had enough to worry about with Matilda, no one needed to be worried for him either. He would be fine.
Finally, Nick re-appeared and tucked beneath his arm was a bundle of clothing. Seeing that they appeared to be the ones Cade had been wearing not too long ago, he raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask?"
"It's so warm here I thought I'd help him keep cool in that shed." The clothes he tossed unceremoniously onto the porch before joining him at the wagon, his brother handing him down the reins to his horse. "Seein' as he might be there for a time."
"You left Alton where we found Matilda and took his clothes?"
"Yep. Thought it was rather fittin' he be left there. Also thought it best not to waste time takin' him in to Alder. I'll get a message off to the Sheriff once we reach Senora, it'll do him some good to sweat for a while." Nick replied as he placed Coco's reins over the gelding's withers and mounted up. "If that man wants to act like an animal, he can be treated as one."
Shaking his head, he couldn't help the smirk that came to his lips. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
At that, he chuckled then his voice lowered and he grew serious once more. "He's lucky to have gotten off as lightly as he did. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Heath took care of it."
Nodding, Nick laid the rein across Coco's neck and turned him towards the road. Without another word, they started in the direction of Senora.