Cowboy Caveat (12 page)

* * * * *

Lucy had dinner waiting on the table, and
her sons as well as Tyler were all washed up and waiting to eat.
Tyler had said nothing at all about his adventures to his
sister-in-law. She was just beginning to get cross with Ed for
keeping them waiting when the screen door banged and in he
walked.

“
Honey...boys!” he called
in greeting and sat down at the table. Ed waited until after the
meal was over and the boys had all scattered before he spoke to
Lucy.

“
Honey, I need you to pack
the boys off to your Aunt Peggy’s for a few days. We’re off to
Dallas to visit Grandma.”

Lucy frowned and asked, “Can’t I stay here
with the boys?”

“
I suppose...but I really
want you with me, Lucy. There’s bad things happening around here,
and I may need you to look after Amy and Millie if things get
worse. Our boys are best off here safe with Peggy. They love her,
and she’ll make sure they’re jus’ fine.”

“
What about Tyler, Ed?”
she asked

“
He can stay at Peggy’s,
too, keep the boys amused.”

Lucy wasn’t too happy
about going to Ed’s grandmother’s in Dallas, but arguing with her
new
spanking husband
meant that Lucy was becoming more careful about choosing her
battles. “Alright,” she sighed, “I’ll go pack their things right
now. So when are we leaving for Dallas?”

“
Eight o’clock in the
morning. We’ll drop the boys off on our way into town.”

Finally, Rick Cook led the unhappy little
band into the wooden building of the single-story staging post. It
wasn’t up to much, but it was shelter and the couple that ran it
seemed friendly enough -- Mr. Elmer Carter and his Mexican wife,
Carmella. Carmella had Amy sit the children down at a dusty wooden
table with plates of hot chili beans placed in front of them almost
as soon as they walked through the door.

Rick nodded to Ethan and Elmer to follow him
outside and the men walked the horses into the barn before
divesting them of their gruesome burdens. Elmer gasped and jumped
back as the second body dropped to the floor and landed on its
back. Rick caught the man’s arm in a vice-like grip. “You know
him?”

Elmer stared mesmerized at the dead man as
he said, “Sure do, he’s my brother-in-law, Carmella’s brother.” He
looked at Rick, shaking his greasy head, and added, “A mean
sonofabitch that one, been plaguing us for years now, terrified the
life out of Carmella, the evil bastard!” He hawked and spat on the
dead man’s face.

Now that Ethan looked closely, he could see
that the dead bandit was a Mexican. “What was his name?” He nodded
toward the body.

“
Pedro Gonzales, but he
was known as ‘Tex-Mex.’ He was a nasty piece of work. What’d he do
this time?”

Rick answered, “Robbed trains, murdered folk
and attacked the stage today. I’m a Ranger by the way an’ there’s a
bounty on this man’s head. Did he visit here much?”

“
He had a locked room
here. He used to come an’ go as he pleased, took money from us an’
never paid us back. Sold his own kid once his wife had died.” Elmer
shook his head.

“
I want to see his room
right now,” Rick told him.

“
Can’t get in, mister, he
had the only key.”

“
Search him then – he must
have the key on him.”

Elmer spat again, to the side this time and
said, “You shot him, you search him!”

“
I’ll do it,” Ethan said.
He bent down and emptied out the man’s pockets, and when he stood
back up, he held a large metal key.

“
Right then, I’ll go tell
my wife that her brother is dead – not that she should shed a tear
for that evil bastard.” Elmer hitched up his threadbare trousers
and strolled away.

After their meal, Carmella showed Amy where
they could all sleep in the one large room, which contained a
double bed and a set of what looked like jail-made bunk beds
covered with colorful but grubby Mexican blankets. There was a
rickety table with an oil lamp standing on top and that was it. Amy
thanked her and settled Millie and Luca into the bunks for the
night, before softly closing the door and going off to find
Ethan.

She found all the men and a wailing Carmella
inside a small room on the other side of the large central room
where they had just eaten. The men were systematically tearing the
room apart, obviously looking for something. Rick pulled a valise
out from under the bed and swung the heavy bag up onto the
mattress. When he opened it, they all gasped, because it was full
of pocket watches and jewelry of all descriptions. Ethan let out a
low whistle as the Ranger tipped the whole glittering hoard out
onto the bed.

Amy drew closer and watched as Elmer moved
the baubles around in awe. Her gaze was drawn to a small golden
locket and the breath left her chest as she recognised it as her
mother’s. She stretched out her hand as if to touch it, then
thought better of it and pulled it back.

Rick was rummaging inside the valise and
pulled out a packet of papers, which he quickly flicked through
muttering under his breath as he did so. He paused while reading
one paper carefully before gazing into the distance thoughtfully.
He then looked around at all of them and said, “I’m taking these
things into evidential custody as of this moment. You are all my
witnesses. Do you have any paper that I can make a list of items
with, Mrs. Carter?”

Carmella nodded and hurried off to fetch
what the Ranger wanted. While everyone’s attention was elsewhere,
Amy quickly picked up the locket and hid it in her skirt pocket.
When Rick had his paper, he sent Ethan and Amy away while he and
Elmer inventoried the loot.

Ethan watched Amy, who didn’t realize that
he’d seen her take the locket, and he decided he needed to talk to
her about why she’d done such an underhanded thing. “Come on
darlin’, we need some air.”

Amy followed Ethan round behind the barn
away from the house. Hastily she took the locket from her skirt
pocket and placed it inside her bodice.

“
Empty your pockets, Amy,”
Ethan said grimly as he spun her around to face him. Amy did as he
asked and looked at him innocently. “What have you done with the
locket?” he asked her, his face stern. Amy blinked.
How did he know
?

“
Amy, I promised you a
lickin,’ for the Henderson shooting, an’ darlin’, believe me, this
ain’t helping your case none right now!” Amy stood silent. What
could she say?

“
Okay, this is how it’s
going to go: I’m going to count to ten and at any point you chip in
an’ explain to me why you took that locket, I promise you I’ll hear
you out to the end but after ten, believe me, I’m gonna light up
your backside.....and Amelia, you will be begging to tell me
everything by the end of your whipping. So now then, what do you
say?”

Amy knew Ethan would make her give the
locket back, but she needed to examine it first to ascertain that
it really belonged to her mother. What could she say to Ethan? So
she said nothing, and in so doing, sealed her fate.

Ethan counted and waited between counts for
Amy to say something, but she kept silent, her head hung low, her
hair covering her face. By the time he reached nine, Amy realized
it was time to flee. She took off like a streak of lightning only
to be caught about the waist and swung upwards through the air and
down hard over her husband’s knee. Ethan planted his foot firmly on
the bottom rail of the corral fence. Amy gasped as her skirt was
flung up over her waist and her pantalets were pulled down, leaving
her bottom bare and defenseless.

“
This is
not
for shooting
Henderson. This is for defying me and not telling why you stole
that locket.” Ethan raised his hand and began spanking his newly
wedded wife, peppering her bottom with hard smacks and slapping her
hard until she was squealing and kicking. Ethan had no intention of
stopping, even if Amy did suddenly decide to tell him where the
damned locket was. Ethan was so livid with Amy for not trusting him
with her secret, he intended to teach her a lesson she wouldn’t
soon forget.

Amy was startled to find this spanking hurt
more than the one she remembered receiving on the train, which she
had thought was bad enough. She thought she could bear it but as
her bottom heated up the scalding slaps seemed to hurt more and
more. The burning was intolerable and Amy was furious with herself
when she began to bawl.

Ethan was intent on turning Amy’s behind a
very deep red. She would soon learn he wasn’t the push over her
brother Ed was; he was her husband and she would do as he told her
or suffer the consequences!

Amy hated the consequences and right now she
hated Ethan! So she told him so, very, very vocally, so vocally in
fact, that they ended up with a brief audience that had come out of
the staging post to watch. Before long, though, the onlookers
retreated back inside, shaking their heads in amusement and leaving
Ethan in private to continue disciplining his wife.

Luckily for Amy she had no idea her
humiliation was witnessed, and as she balanced precariously over
Ethan’s hard thigh, she began to see the funny side of her
situation. She started to chuckle, much to Ethan’s annoyance. He
escalated his spanks and Amy was forced to grasp his
trouser-covered calf just to stay in place. Her chuckles grew until
she was half crying and half howling with merriment and pain; this
was not going according to Ethan’s plan at all. He finished with a
volley of smacks placed on the tops of Amy’s thighs, which proved
useful in so much as she did yell and cry out. Satisfied, Ethan
lowered his leg and caught his wife in his arms, turning Amy to
face him.

As he looked down at her, he noticed
something gleaming in the dirt between them and he bent to retrieve
it. Quick as a lightning flash, Amy beat him to it and grabbed the
object, concealing it in her hand. Ethan caught her wrist and
pulled her hand to him, prising open her fingers. There lay a small
gold locket. Ethan waited but when Amy said nothing he took the
locket and turned it back and forth looking it over. It was
unremarkable, just a plain locket case like so many that women
wore. His eyes met Amy’s and she sighed. “Open it,” she said
quietly. Ethan opened the little heart-shaped case and inside there
were two likenesses; a man on one half and a woman on the other.
Amy stared at the tiny pictures, unaware of the tears that fell
down her cheeks. Ethan took a deep breath and clasped Amy to his
breast, the locket closed tight inside his hand. He wrapped his
arms around his wife and buried his head in her hair.

After a while they pulled apart and Amy
looked up into Ethan’s solemn face. “Exactly,” she said softly.

“
Aw honey, I’m sorry.
You’re sure they’re your parents? Stupid question, I recognize
them, too. Amy, this is evidence; you have to give it to Rick to
inventory so it can be used in court.”

Amy nodded. Ethan turned to walk away, but
Amy pulled on his arm so that he turned back to her
questioningly.

“
You know what this means,
Ethan?” she asked softly.

“
No-o?” Ethan
frowned.

Tears began to fall from Amy’s eyes in
earnest now as she said, “It wasn’t Henderson.
Ethan....I....I...shot a...an...innocent man!” Her head fell onto
her chest and she shuddered.

“
Yes Amy, that possibility
is what I’ve been trying to get through to you all this
time!”

“
Oh God, oh God,
Ethan,
what have I done
!”

“
Listen to me, Amy. First
of all, we are going to take this locket back to the Ranger and we
are going to tell him absolutely everything, and then we will talk,
really talk.....alright?”

Amy nodded. Ethan gave her a quick hug and
then headed back inside.

But Amy hung back. She took a deep breath
and was about to follow behind dejectedly when one of the horses in
the corral whickered softly. Before Amy had even thought her
actions through, she was over the fence and up on that horse,
riding bare back. She jumped the fence and rode away, barely aware
of Ethan’s desperate yell as he ran fruitlessly after her, cursing
as he ran.

* * * * *

“
So let me get this
straight, Walker: your wife shot this man Henderson in cold blood
for the murder of her parents eight years ago, even though she has
no proof, other than her so-called
woman’s
intuition
. She then stole a locket from
government property and now she’s ridden off on a stage-owned
horse, adding horse theft to her long list of offenses. Am I
gettin’ this right?” Rick Cook couldn’t quite believe his own
ears.

“
That’s about
right.....ahem.....sounds real bad when you put it like that, sir,”
Ethan said, feeling like an idiot.

“
It is
real bad,
son. You should have taken
your belt to her arse today and she might have thought twice about
jumping on that horse!” Rick ran his hand through his hair; this
case just kept getting even more confusing.

“
I’m going after my
wife....she’s no criminal, just a frightened girl who needs her
husband right now!” Ethan ground his teeth.

“
How d’you plan to do that
then, steal another horse?”

“
Hell man, cut me some
slack! Lend me the damn horse and I’ll bring her back here right
now!”

Ethan wanted to go after Amy before it was
dark in case something bad befell her. She had eaten with the
children early but Ethan was starving. Still, food had to wait
until Amy was safe. Relatively safe, because when he found his dear
little wife, she was going to get a taste of his belt across her
backside and it would be a number of days, if not weeks, before she
would be able to even think of sitting on anything, let alone a
horse!