Colorado Heart (9781101612026) (21 page)

Two of the riders came around the barn and the other two set out across the valley to where the sheep huddled. Max, recovered from his fall, charged after them. Soon Libby joined into the cacophony of noise; braying, barking, baaing and the plaintive mooing of the cow accompanied by the nervous calls of Puck and the mules. Cassie and Manuel shot at the two riders heading toward them and Cassie watched in satisfaction as her shot knocked one of the men off his horse.

She took off at a run for the barn.

*   *   *

“Wake up, Jake.” Water sloshed in his face and Jake sputtered. He rubbed water out of his eyes and looked up at Ward, his face illuminated by the moon.

“What happened?” he asked. His mind felt like it was wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a box, and his head throbbed at the temple. He touched the side of his head and felt blood.

“You tell us,” Ward said. He held out a hand and Ward and Cade hauled him to his feet.

“Someone attacked me on the trail.”

“And left you for dead by the looks of it,” Cade added. “Your horse turned up in town.”

“Thank God,” Jake said. “He could have just as easily gone home and no one would have noticed him until tomorrow morning. It was Baxter, it had to be. I passed him on the way.”

“He wasn't in the group that showed up at my place,” Ward said.

“He's at Cassie's,” Jake said. He took a step toward Bright, staggered and quickly righted himself. The world tilted as he swung onto Bright's back and he felt the contents of his stomach heave upward, but he quickly swallowed it back down and kicked Bright into a run with Ward and Cade by his side.

This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

*   *   *

Cassie flinched every time she heard a shot. From the sounds of it Manuel was keeping them busy. She couldn't worry about that now; she had to get the poor cow out. The heat was unbelievable and it felt as if her skin was blistering. When she opened the pen, the cow charged out into the night. Cassie ran on through the barn to the corral and undid the gate. Puck trotted through but the mules needed encouragement. She finally got them headed in the right direction and followed after them.

Her entire valley was bright as day with the moonlight streaming down and the firelight behind her. Several dead sheep lay in the valley and she heard Libby braying loudly in the distance. Max's barks sounded close to the house, so she headed in that direction. Lord help all of them if the house was on fire.

It was. Cold fear gripped Cassie's heart. She picked up her pace. The riders were headed back down the drive but she didn't care. Her mother and Rosa were inside; Manuel fired a few parting shots and followed her.

“Mother!” Cassie screamed as she got to the porch. Suzie dashed out from beneath it, and Cassie heard the panicked chattering of the coon family along with the pops and cracks of the fire.

“Rosa!” Manuel called out.

“Go around back,” Cassie yelled. “See if they got out that way. I'll meet you in the middle.”

The heat was like a wall. Cassie dashed through the door where flames licked around the frame. “Rosa?” The ceiling was on fire and flames poured down the ladder that led to the loft. “Rosa!” Cassie called again. Manuel came through the back door and shook his head. They heard a crash from Cassie's room.

“Help us!” Rosa cried out.

Manuel and Cassie both ran to the bedroom. A timber had fallen and Rosa and her mother were trapped against the back wall of the cabin. Rosa held her mother upright and was shielding her from the fire with her body.

“Oh God, what do we do?” Cassie cried out. The flames were getting higher and the heat was unbearable. They only had minutes, if that.

“Rosa, can you come to us?” Manuel said. “You're going to have to jump.”

“Mother can't jump,” Cassie said. It was hard to breathe; her lungs felt scorched and she buried her nose and mouth in her sleeve.

“Maybe we can pull them to us,” Manuel said.

Rosa put her arm around Loretta and half drug her closer to the door. Cassie watched in shock as the bed caught on fire where the timber lay across it.

Her mother whimpered.

“Cassie!”

It was Jake.

“In here!” she screamed. She felt the smoke in her throat. She couldn't breathe and she started coughing violently. Manuel did the same. Jake crashed in, followed by Cade and Ward. It only took them a few seconds to figure out what to do. Jake pushed himself against the door jam and propelled himself over the timber, and Cade did the same. There was a large popping sound.

“The roof's going to go,” Ward said. Cade scooped up Rosa and jumped back across the timber. Ward grabbed Manuel and shoved him out the door after Cade and Rosa. Jake picked up Cassie's mother, and Cassie looked in horror as her mother's dress caught on fire.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she prayed, but her voice was nothing more than a croak.

Jake beat at the material with one hand as the flames around them shot up higher. “Get her out of here, Ward,” he said.

Ward grabbed Cassie around the waist and pulled her back. “No!” she tried to scream, but the words could barely form in her raw throat. “Let me go! Jake! Mother!”

She heard another crash as Ward dragged her into the main room of the house. The walls were on fire around them, but still she fought against Ward's strong hold until miraculously, Jake was behind them with her mother thrown over his shoulder. They made it outside just as the entire roof fell into the house. They kept moving until they were at the bottom of the hill. Jake lay her mother on the ground beneath the huge oak tree. They were all coughing violently and Ward went to the trough for water. Cassie noticed three men sitting on the ground with their hands tied behind them by the corral and Dan and Randy standing guard over them.

Cassie knelt down. “Mother?” Her hair was singed, and there was a huge burn on her hip where her gown had caught on fire. Cassie touched her mother's soot smeared face. She saw a spark in her mother's eyes, something she hadn't seen in the past two years.

Her mother lifted a trembling right hand to Cassie's face. Her mouth moved and Cassie leaned close. “Cassie,” she whispered, and Cassie sobbed because her mother knew who she was. “Be happy,” she said. “Just look ahead . . .” Her voice trailed off and the breath rattled in her chest.

“Mother?” Cassie put a hand on her mother's chest. It wasn't moving. “Mother?” she asked again and gently shook her.

Jake knelt beside her. “I'm sorry, Cassie,” he said. “She's gone.” Rosa knelt on the other side and closed her mother's eyes, made the sign of the cross and put her hand to the silver cross she wore around her neck and said a prayer.

“Not like this,” Cassie said. She staggered to her feet. “Not because of more violence,” she whispered, because her throat was so raw from the smoke and the flames.

“Cassie?” Jake was behind her. She knew that he wanted to comfort her, to hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. She couldn't let that happen. If she did, she might just dissolve into tears. She had to hold on. She had to keep going. She had to be strong.

She was so tired of being strong. Cassie wrapped her arms around herself. Why should she be strong when there was nothing left? Her mother was gone. The sheep were gone. Her home and the barn were gone, and Manuel and Rosa would be better off without her.

Jake put his arms around her from behind. She held herself rigid. She couldn't accept his comfort, because she had nothing to offer in return. Her emotional strength was spent. She couldn't give him herself, because her capacity to feel was gone.

“You're not alone,” he said. “You'll never be alone again.”

Cassie stood, stiff and unresponsive. He didn't know. How could she believe him, how could he say these things? He didn't know. But he did . . .

Jake bent his head next to her ear. “As long as it takes, Cassie, I'll be here waiting.”

His body was so warm and she felt his heat enveloping her. She nodded in agreement and let her body relax against him. And then she cried.

TWENTY-FOUR

R
iders were coming. Jake wasn't surprised. The flames and the smoke had to be visible for miles. Cade and Ward both took up a position on the road, ready for whoever it was. Ward with his pistol out in case of trouble, and Cade in a deceptively easy stance that belied his ability to draw quickly if necessary.

Cassie's tears had finally subsided. They'd been heart wrenching and he'd never felt as helpless in his life. If only he'd gotten here sooner. Was it worth the few minutes it took to catch Baxter and the others? If he'd arrived earlier, would they have been able to save Cassie's mother?

The barn was gone, nothing but a pile of burning timbers. He could only pray that Puck and the rest of the stock weren't inside. The cat sat on the lowest limb of the oak tree with her tail twitching. Manuel had covered Cassie's mother with a blanket.

“Someone is approaching, Cassie,” Jake said. “We need to be prepared, in case . . .” He couldn't imagine anything else bad happening tonight, but if Watkins and the rest of his men showed up and there was a shoot-out . . .

Cassie wiped her eyes. Her rifle leaned against the tree where Cade had put it after retrieving it from the burning house on their way out. She checked the load, found it empty and sighed.

“There are cartridges in my saddlebags,” Jake said. “Here's hoping we don't need them.” She and Manuel found the ammunition while Jake pulled his gun and went to stand with Cade and Ward. His palms and face stung with burns. Within a minute Cassie and Manuel joined them, along with Dan and Randy. There wasn't much left to protect, but dang it, they were going to fight for it.

The riders came over the rise. Watkins and his men.

“Let me do the talking,” Cade said. “I've dealt with his type before.”

“You're the sheriff,” Ward drawled.

Watkins and his riders halted when they saw the group standing in the road with their guns ready. “Looks like you had some trouble here, Sheriff,” he said.

“Just a bit,” Cade said. “You looking to cause some more?”

“Just looking for my men,” Watkins said.

Cade jerked a thumb in the direction of Baxter and the others. “These men?” Cade asked. “I'm afraid they are under arrest.”

“For?”

Cade ticked the charges off on his fingers. “Arson, attempted murder and murder, for now. I'm pretty sure I'll think of some more come morning.”

“Baxter! Are you boys guilty?” Watkins called out.

“No, sir,” Baxter said.

“They're not guilty,” Watkins said. “Let them go.”

Cade laughed. “It doesn't work that way. You're not the judge around here. Nor are you the jury. We'll have an official trial and let a jury decide.”

“You got any witnesses?” Watkins asked. “And I mean someone that isn't a dirty sheep lover.”

“I got Jake,” Cade said.

“Jake wasn't here,” Baxter said. “We left him on the trail.”

Jake grinned at Ward. Baxter's cockiness had cost him. “And that would be the attempted murder charge,” Cade said.

“Since he's alive, what's the murder charge?” Watkins asked.

“The fire killed my mother, you son of a bitch,” Cassie said.

“Easy . . .” Jake said. Her grip on the rifle was tight and he wasn't entirely sure that she wouldn't start shooting at any minute. While he knew Cade was deadly with a gun, and he and Ward were handy, they were still outnumbered and he didn't want to lose Cassie in a gun battle after everything else that had happened.

“Miss Parker's mother died in the fire,” Cade said. “Which makes it murder.”

“You idiot,” Watkins yelled at Baxter. “I told you to make sure nobody died. I just wanted them gone.”

Cade laughed.

“That sounded like a confession to me,” Ward said.

“To me too,” Cade said with a satisfied grin. “Raymond Watkins, you are under arrest.”

“The hell I am,” Watkins said, and reached for his gun.

If Jake had not seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. Cade drew his gun and shot Watkins before the man's fingers touched the handle of his gun. He flopped over the back of his horse and landed in the dust. The rest of his men looked at the body in shock. Jake and Ward kept their guns leveled on the group that was still trying to figure out what had happened to their leader.

“Was he a boss worth dying for?” Cade asked the men. A few of them raised their hands in surrender. Jake kept his gun steady. Cassie stood beside him, only half his size, but the hold she had on her rifle was steady.

“Why don't you go on home now,” Cade continued. “I heard Watkins has a son. Take care of the place until he can get here.”

One of them spoke up. “Just as long as it's clear to you we were only following orders, being here tonight.”

“It's clear,” Cade said. “Just as long as it's clear to you that if I hear of any more trouble coming from your direction, I will put a whole lot of hurt on all of you. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” the man responded.

“You the foreman?” Cade asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“You seem like a smart man. I'll trust you to keep the rest in line.”

As one the men turned on their horses and rode away. Jake hadn't even realized he was holding his breath until Cassie lowered her rifle. He reached out his arm and pulled her to him. “It's over now,” he said.

“No it's not,” Cassie said. “I've still got to bury my mother.”

*   *   *

Cassie thought that burying her mother would be the end of it, but it was only the beginning. The beginning of what to do next. Except she didn't know the next step. She'd let herself be carried along on the tide of caring and concern that came their way when the community found out what had happened.

Raymond Watkins was dead and had been buried on his land. The men who attacked her place were in jail in town. The one she'd shot was only wounded and Cade said he'd survive. Cassie was grateful. When it came down to it, she didn't want to be responsible for someone's death. She'd seen the look in Cade's eyes after he'd killed Watkins. She didn't want to carry any more guilt. She had quite enough to last her for a lifetime.

Luckily the bunkhouse on Cassie's property had escaped notice by Baxter and his friends and it was livable, but there wasn't any privacy. She felt like an intruder with Rosa and Manuel, even though they did nothing to make her feel unwelcome. They'd lost another twenty-five sheep in the attack, including some of the precious lambs, but the rest of the stock, including Libby, was fine.

They'd spent the Sunday after the attack sifting through the ruins. Leah and the Martins came from town, and the Castles were there, and Jake of course, and his two men, Dan and Randy, who apologized over and over again for not being there when the attack happened. Jake's cook, Fu, showed up at lunchtime with a wagon full of food and Jake's puppy, Josie, who kept everyone entertained while they ate. The Gentrys, the Castles and the Martins had all brought furniture and supplies from their own households to help replace everything lost in the fire, and Cassie felt overwhelmed by their generosity.

So much had happened that she couldn't comprehend it all. It seemed she had just closed her eyes to go to sleep and the next thing she knew she found herself standing in a borrowed dress with a pinned-up hem by her mother's grave listening to Ward Phillips read from the Bible with his dog sitting by his side.

The cemetery really was in a pretty spot. Tucked behind the freshly painted white church at the end of Main Street, the graveyard had a stream running through it and a field of wildflowers just beyond it. Someone had gathered a bouquet from the field, tied it up with a piece of blue ribbon and laid it on the coffin that had been hastily made by Jim and Cade.

How wonderful it would be just to sink into the field of flowers and lie on her back and watch the clouds float across the sky. How wonderful it would be to lean on Jake, who stood behind her as Ward read the Twenty-third Psalm. Yet she couldn't. Cassie knew it wasn't because she didn't want to. She did. She just couldn't bring herself to cross that bridge. She couldn't let go, she couldn't take that final step, and she had no one to blame but herself.

Someone started singing a hymn, “Blessed Be the Tide that Binds,” and other voices joined in. Cassie mouthed the words; her throat still hurt too badly to sing. Jake croaked out a few words behind her and tried to clear his throat. His voice seemed like it would be nice given other circumstances.

The song was over and everyone stood patiently, waiting on Cassie. She knew what she was supposed to do. It was time for her to say good-bye. Cassie scooped up a handful of dirt and looked down into the grave that held her mother's coffin. She dropped the dirt and heard the chunk-chunk as it hit the wood. “Good-bye, Mother,” she said, but it was only words. Two years was a long time to say good-bye to someone.

Was it wrong that what she felt was a sense of relief that her mother's suffering was over? That she was glad she was gone because the alternative was only a living hell?

Jake took her arm, and she let him because it was easier than saying no. She was only going through the motions now. Doing what was expected because it was just too dang hard to do anything else. Everyone followed as Jake led her to the Devil's Table where a luncheon was ready for them. Cassie almost laughed as they walked up the steps and into the café. All this time of trying to keep the devil at bay and here she was, walking into his place plain as day.

“We want you to come stay with us for a while.” Laurie Castle slid into the chair across from her when Jake got up to refill her glass with tea.

“Please do,” Eden begged as she stood beside her mother's chair.

“You need time to heal, Cassie, time to relax, time to just be,” Laurie continued.

“I would love to have someone close to my age to talk to,” Eden said.

“Let us take care of you,” Laurie said.

Cassie looked at Jake. He stood at a table talking to the Martins. There was a red streak on the side of his face where he'd been burned, and he held two glasses in his hand, one for her and one for him. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he looked up and gave her a sweet smile.

She wasn't ready to be with him. She didn't know if she'd ever be ready. So she looked at Laurie and Eden and said, “I'd love to.”