Jake (18 page)

They’d leave and go west, just him and Becky. She’d go back to working and taking care of him and he’d go back to drinking and carousing and forgetting how much he hated his daughter for what she did. Killing his Jenny. His wife. The love of his life. It was Becky’s fault. If she’d never been born, then Jenny would still be alive.

Vengeance and hatred were all he had now. All that drove him.

He opened the tent flap and fell upon the sleeping forms. He stabbed and stabbed, expecting to hear their screams but he didn’t hear…anything. Something was wrong. Something… He felt soaring pain and grabbed the back of his head.

He fell over and for a second, he saw them. He raised his knife. Something hit the side of his head again and pain crashed over him, but for only a moment.

He raised his hand upward. “Jenny. Jenny, I’m finally coming home.”

Jake held his gun aloft, ready to hit Billy again if he needed to. They’d been waiting for him to make his move, had prepared for it ever since David told them he’d seen a man in the woods above the camps.

Becky lit the lantern.

Jake had moved their sleeping pallet to the very back of the tent rather than near the opening. He was afraid Billy or someone Billy hired, might try to kill them. Kill him, Jake amended. Billy wanted Becky alive. She was worth money to him.

It had taken some rearranging to make the room for two sleeping pallets, one filled with sacks of dry goods, flour, beans and sugar. All of which was full of holes now from Billy’s knife. Better them than Jake.

Jake checked Billy’s neck to see if there was a heartbeat. He really didn’t want to have killed him. As much as Becky may have hated her father, Jake knew she hadn’t wanted him dead. But there was no heartbeat. Billy was dead.

He looked over at Becky and shook his head. “I’m sorry. He’s gone.”

“Don’t be sorry,” said Becky, biting her lip. “The bastard just tried to kill us, well you anyway. Did you see that the knife was only in your side of the bed?”

“I saw. He wanted you alive.”

She swiped at a lone tear that rolled down her cheek. “I will not cry for this man who hated me. I will not.”

Jake opened his arms and she flew into them. She cried for a few minutes and then pulled back away from him.

“Why? Why did he hate me so much and then go through with trying to kill you to get me back? Surely, he felt something for me. Didn’t he?”

Jake was torn. Should he tell her the truth or let her believe that Billy somehow cared for her. Truth won out.

“Becky, sweetheart,” Jake wrapped her tight in his arms. “Billy didn’t love you. He wanted you back so he didn’t have to work. You always took care of him and worked for him. That’s all he wanted you for. He sold you remember? I believe he planned on killing Winters and getting you back, maybe to sell you again.”

She shuddered.

“I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I don’t want you to feel bad because I had to kill the man who fathered you. He was never a father to you. Fathers don’t treat their children the way Billy treated you. Do you see Liam behaving the way Billy did with his children? Liam loves his children. They are not just work horses for him. Understand?”

She nodded into his chest.

“I plan on being a father like Liam to our children.”

She looked up at him. “You still want to be married to me? Billy’s dead, you don’t have to protect me anymore. As far as any law knows we were never married and you can walk away.”

“No, I can’t. I don’t walk away from my obligations.”

She pulled back out of his arms. New tears trickled down her cheeks. “Is that what I am to you? An obligation?”

“No. That’s not what I meant,” he stammered. “I said it wrong. Becky, I want to stay married to you. We’ve made plans and we have dreams and I can’t imagine doing any of those things or being without you.”

She looked up at him, her face, dirty from working so hard, streaked with trails from her tears. “You…you want to stay married…to me?”

“Yes. I do.”

“But why?” She slowly shook her head from side to side. “Not just because of the things we planned to do. Either of us can do those without the other and still fulfill those dreams. Tell me why, Jake. Why should I stay with you?”

Her voice was almost pleading and he knew what she wanted to hear. Did he love her? Was that why he wanted her to stay?

“Becky…I,” said Jake. He looked down and took both of her hands in his. “I love you. I can say that now and know it to be true.” He let go of her and ran his hands through his hair and began to pace in front of her. “I want to be with you all the time. I can’t imagine my life without you. The thought of not seeing you every day, of not talking to you and loving you every night fills me with such a void. I—oof”

She launched herself into his arms, unmindful of his shoulder and covered his face with little kisses. “I love you, too. So much I hurt inside just thinking of us parting.”

He steadied her with both hands and then took her face between his the palms of his hands, angled his mouth over hers and kissed her with all the love that was in him. Becky, his sweet little miner, his lover, his wife. He’d been redeemed by this little rebel of his. His life was now about her, not about vengeance, not about death. She saved him because she loved him.

“Come on, let’s go get Liam and Zach to help us with Billy.”

“What are we going to do with him?”

“Take him into Deadwood and get him buried, just like we did the bounty hunters. He deserves at least that much,” said Jake, easing his grasp on his beautiful wife only long enough to turn and take her hand.

~*~

They had no service for Billy. Jake paid the undertaker twenty dollars to bury him. No words were spoken. No one attended.

That part of Becky’s life was over and Jake wouldn’t have her reliving it as she buried her father.

~*~

With his shoulder finally healed, Jake went back to working the cliff and the ropes. He discovered, much to his irritation that he’d lost some strength in his arm and couldn’t work as long as before.

“How was your day?” asked Becky when he returned to camp the first night.

“Long. I’m still weaker than I need to be.” He pulled her into his arms. “But I’m still strong enough to hold you.” He gave her a kiss.

He let her go and bent to stir the ashes and build the fire bigger. “I can’t pull my weight, yet. Zach and Liam are having to do more than they should. I did, however, hit a big vein today. It’ll be a matter of days before we find out how deep and how wide it is but it could be the one. The one that will let us get out of this place and start over. Start pursuing those dreams we have.”

She took the frying pan she’d put on the ground and set it in the fire after he’d gotten it going. She wanted the grease melted and the pan good and hot before she poured the batter in. It gave the bread a nice crisp outside. “I thought I’d make some cornbread to go with the beans for tonight. Would you prepare the coals for me while I make the batter?”

“Sure,” Jake banked some of the hot coals to one side of the fire. Then he moved the hot fry pan on top of the glowing embers.

Becky took a spoon, scooped some lard out of the can and let it melt in the skillet. Then she whipped up the ingredients for the cornbread and put it in the skillet, covered it with the lid to the Dutch oven and let it bake on the side of the fire in the coals.

After she was done with that, she put the beans from the noon meal back on the main fire to heat up.

“What if it is the big vein we think is there? What are we going to do?” asked Becky.

“We’ll get men and equipment in here to mine it for us and we’ll reap the reward. We’ll have to work it for a while ourselves before we can buy the equipment but if the gold is as pure as I think it is, we’ll have the money for the mining equipment in no time.”

Becky moved one of the camp stools closer to the fire, so she could keep an eye on their supper. She closed her eyes and said dreamily, “Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep in a real bed and have a real bath not just one in the cold river?”

Jake felt like a heel. They had enough money he could take Becky to the hotel for the night and let her relax. “Let’s do it,” he said.

She cocked her head. “Do what?”

“I’m going to take you to Deadwood and we’ll stay at the hotel for at least one night. Sleep in a real bed and have a real bath. I’ll even get a shave and you’ll be able to see the man you married under all these whiskers.”

She ran her hand over his jaw and tangled her fingers in his long beard. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your beard. I won’t know who you are.”

“You’re in for a shock then, when you see my ugly face looking back at you when we make love.”

She kissed him softly. “I’m willing to risk it.” Then she rubbed her breasts back and forth on his chest. “Think we can get one in before dinner?”

He grabbed her to him and stopped her merciless teasing. “Who cares about dinner.”

Her tinkling laughter echoed through the gulch as he led her into the tent.

~*~

Liam looked over at his baby brother, Jake, and his new wife, Becky. Jake was still wanted for murder and he knew Jake hated bringing that to their marriage.

As to the murder charge, that was something that Liam was going to try to take care of. He planned on leaving tomorrow to talk to the Governor of Missouri, Charles H. Hardin, who was a friend and could perhaps intercede with Mayor Green.

The fact that the sheriff of Blackwater believed Jake was innocent, would have a lot of weight with Charles. Much more than just the feelings of a distraught father. The sheriff was unbiased.

After that Liam would leave to talk to the commanding general at Fort Leavenworth and find out what could be done about Colonel Jordan. Once the charges of murder against Jake were dropped, the general might see the colonel’s story in a different light and Zach’s roll in it as well. It was what he was hoping for anyway.

“I need to talk to you all,” said Liam to his family. “Even you David, and Hannah as well.”

David and Hannah were his joy. He didn’t know what he would have done without them when he lost Mary. He probably would have died, too. Admittedly, he only lived for his children. He had no use for women now, maybe not ever. If he needed a woman, there was always
The Gem
. It had women with whom he could slake his lust, if he needed to.

He gazed around at his family. They all sat around the camp fire in front of the tents. They needed better shelter; he should start building a cabin. They had the lean-to for the horses at least which would help them get through the winter, but not a cabin yet. It would have to wait. They could survive in the tents, they were sturdy.

Liam watched his children play naughts and crosses in the dirt. He was going to miss them while he was gone.

“I’m leaving for Missouri tomorrow,” announced Liam.

“What? Why?” asked Jake.

“We need to get this situation with you and Mayor Green settled. I think I can get the governor to intercede on your behalf as long as the sheriff is still willing to vouch for you.”

“As far as I know he is.” Jake squeezed Becky’s hand. “Why do you think the governor will help me?”

“Because he’s a friend and,” he smiled. “He’s leaving office after this term and owes me a favor. I should have thought of it before, but there was no time. Now with you both safe here for the moment, I can take care of this.”

“Good,” said Zach. “The kid needs to start his family with a clean slate.”

“Then,” continued Liam, as if Zach hadn’t spoken. “I’m going to Fort Leavenworth to talk to the general. I intend to tell him the truth about Colonel Jordan and I’ll have the fact that the murder charges have been dropped against Jake to convince him of Jordan’s perfidy.”

“Thanks for doing this, brother,” said Jake. He brought Becky’s hand up and kissed it. “We don’t know what to say. How will we ever repay you?”

“You’ll take care of my kids while I’m gone.” He hugged both his children to him. “I can’t take them with me. I need to make it to Missouri before the really cold weather sets in. It’s early October now and we’ve already had a small snowstorm. If I’m lucky and ride hard, I’ll make it to Jefferson City by January, maybe before. I’d like to be headed back this way by mid February or the first of March at the latest.”

“Don’t you think that’s pushing it? It’s a thousand miles there and a thousand back. It took us six months with the wagon one way,” said Zach from the other side of the fire. He added wood and the flame burst to life.

“Exactly why I can’t take the kids with me. I can ride a lot faster by myself.”

“We’ll be happy to take care of them while you’re gone,” said Becky. “They spend half the day at our place anyway.”

“And it’s the least we can do for you, especially if you’re successful. I’ll owe you my life,” said Jake.

“Our lives,” said Becky.

EPILOGUE

Late June 1877

Jake paced back and forth across the imported Moroccan carpet, a purchase Becky made when they went on their honeymoon trip to San Francisco. Now it looked as if he was going to wear a hole in the carpet and he didn’t give a fig if he did.