The Gallows' Bounty (West of Second Chances) (31 page)

Boden thought he might laugh again.  He managed to control himself this time.  “And you want to make apologies to your son, a son with powerful friends who might make your bid for governor a bid harder to achieve.”

“We all make some bad choices in life, and I want to make reparations for some of mine now,” Carter Boden said.

“You’re going to have to live with those choices.  After what you did to ma, I’d never let anyone think you would make a good governor.”  Boden’s jaw clenched with his fury.  The man stirred his anger like nothing else.

“And even after she’s gone, you’re still choosing her,” Boden’s father looked at him, betrayal on his face, anger in his eyes.

“I shouldn’t have had to choose.”

“A son should belong to his father, listen to him.”

Boden perched himself on the arm of the chair in which
Willow sat.  He reached down for her hand and gripped it in his.  He wouldn’t be likely to throw his left if he let Willow hold it. “A man should take care of his wife, show his son how to live.  I thank God I had enough of a conscience to realize how you acted wasn’t the way I wanted to be.”

The elder Boden stood and loomed over his son.  “You always were a self-righteous fool.  Always knew better than I did, and your ma loved you more than me for it.”

“You didn’t want her love, so don’t act hurt now,” Boden said as he stood, shielding Willow from his father’s anger.

“Even now she keeps you from me.”

“You keep me from you, no one else.”  Boden’s eyes met his father’s in an even stare.

“You’ll take a whore into your house and not even accept your own father? The bastard she carries isn’t even yours. Everyone in
Devils Lake couldn’t wait to tell me about the woman you’d married. A murderer no less.”

Boden lost it.  He released Willow’s hand, and his left shot through the air, connecting with his father’s jaw.  The man lumbered back like a giant cottonwood, but kept his footing.  Boden took a step forward then, determined to see his father’s back hit the ground.

“No one speaks about my wife that way.”  Boden drew back, prepared to deliver another blow only to find his arm halted by a pair of hands gripping his upper arm.

“He’s still your father,”
Willow’s soft whisper floated up to his ear. He relaxed his arm to his side.  He slipped his hand back into hers.  She held it a bit tighter this time.  Smart woman.

“Still listening to a woman, I see,” the older man rubbed his jaw.

“When she speaks reason,” Boden released Willow’s hand and stepped forward to guide his father-in-blood-only to the door.  He didn’t want her getting hurt if his father proved reluctant to leave.

“I take it you’re kicking me out.” The older man stepped toward the door.

“That’s right.”

“I had planned on staying here over night.  It’s right cold out for these old bones.”

Boden heard Willow pick up the coffee cups and move to make her way around them to the kitchen. She cast Ezra a glance that told him he couldn’t be so cruel as to leave his father out in the cold.  His father didn’t miss the exchange either, and he awaited his decision.

Boden decided on a compromise.  There was no way he would let his father stay in his home, so he offered, “You can stay in the barn loft.”

His father laughed out loud then.

CARTER BODEN'S LAUGH RIPPED
across her tight nerves like a bullet. The coffee cups fell from her hands and crashed to pieces as they hit the floor.  Boden called her name and hurried into the room.

His father followed close behind him.  Carter’s stance and expression warned
Willow that her ability to act would be the only thing to keep Ezra safe.  She couldn’t let on that she now knew who Carter Boden really was.  With all the control she’d learned to exhibit over the years, Willow turned to her husband and smiled.

“I’m sorry about your mugs, Ezra.  My foot caught the corner of the table, and I had to drop them to steady myself.”  She placed her hands about her middle in a protective gesture.  “I didn’t want to chance a fall.”

She watched the elder Boden out of the corner of her eye. He physically relaxed, sealing his guilt in her mind.  One thing for sure, he hadn’t been concerned for her.

Boden stepped close.  “You’re sure you’re all right?”

“Yes, just a bit shook up.” She lifted her face to meet his eyes and smiled again.  “Why don’t you show your father to the barn while I pick up this mess?”

He looked uncertain for a moment, then kissed her lips in farewell.

Willow watched him walk out the door and hoped she hadn’t made the biggest mistake of her life.  What if his father made an attempt on Ezra’s life?  She forced her breathing to steady and sat down at the kitchen table.  He would be fine.  Surely a father wouldn’t kill his own son.

He wouldn’t, would he?

HIS
SON WOULD HAVE
to die. Ezra was too headstrong to be brought into his circle, his world.

If Carter let him live, Ezra would sooner or later know who his father was.  Had Roberts told
Willow what he knew about him?  Carter had feared the woman knew more than she should, especially after she’d dropped the coffee cups.  For a moment, he’d thought he’d be forced to kill the pair himself.

He’d breathed a sigh of relief when he’d realized she had merely been clumsy.  Having to take matters into his own hands would have complicated things.  And he didn’t want anything complicating his becoming the most powerful man in the territory.  He’d be governor when the territory filed for statehood.

Carter sighed.  He was a charmer, a politician around everyone but his son.  From him, he couldn’t hide his true nature.

Perhaps it was because the boy had chosen his ma over him.  That grated on his pride like nothing ever had.  He could win the allegiance of the powerful, of the outlaw, of the rich, but he couldn’t even win his son’s affections.

Carter would never admit it, but his son was the only person he feared, because he knew he was the only one who could defeat him.  And despite their tense relationship, pride filled his chest.  It wasn’t many a man who could make a reputation for themselves by the age of twenty-four, a reputation that stretched beyond the territory.  And that’s just what his son had done.

Too bad he had to have him killed.

Carter hadn’t made his way out to the Box B to apologize to his son.  No, he’d come this way to meet with French and light a fire under the man.  He wasn’t getting things done fast enough.  But when he’d ridden close, he’d realized he couldn’t resist seeing Ezra.  Curiosity had always been his weakness.

Carter Boden truly regretted having to kill his boy, but that was the price some paid for power. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d pull the trigger himself.  He’d make sure French got the job done.

BODEN SAW HIS FATHER
settled without any other confrontations.  He checked his livestock quickly before he headed into the house.

He felt a knot of uneasiness in his stomach that had nothing to do with his father.  Willow may have smiled at him before he’d left the house, but he couldn’t help but think she was anything but clumsy.  Something had to have upset her to make her so careless.  If she’d fallen and hurt herself and the baby…

He picked up his step, eager to talk with his wife.  He walked into the house, expecting to find Willow in their bedroom.  She’d grown increasingly tired lately.  But she wasn’t in bed; she sat at the kitchen table waiting for him.

When she looked up at him, he knew something beyond her tiredness and his argument with his father distressed her.  “I thought something might be wrong,” Boden said.  “You feel all right, don’t you?”

“No,” Willow’s answer sounded devoid of life.  The happiness reflected in much of Willow’s recent speech had vanished.  She sounded as she had that day in Devils Lake, hopeless, terrified.

“What is it?” he knelt in front of her and took her hands in his.  They were abnormally cold.

She met his eyes as tears rolled down her face.  “You’re not going to like what I have to say.”

“Tell me anyway,” Boden urged.  Anything had to be better than the worry he was experiencing.

“Your father,” she stopped, appearing to collect herself, then continued, “your father is the Boss.”

Boden thought he hadn’t heard her right at first, and then he noticed how cold her hands were in his and how much they shook.  “My father is the Boss?”

She nodded.

“What makes you say that?”  His heart pounded in his chest. He’d always disliked his father, but he wasn’t prepared for this.  His father would move from the category of abusive father and husband to mass murderer.

“His laugh.  The Boss laughed that way when my father tried to bargain for my and my mother’s life.  He laughed and shot first my mother and then my father.  I’d forgotten all about the laugh until I heard him.”

She sobbed then, and Boden lifted her into his arms, realizing he had no time to comfort himself.  She needed him more.  He’d have to deal with his own feelings later.  He carried her back to their bedroom.

“Don’t hate me, Ezra,” she whispered at his neck.

Hate her
?  “Why would I hate you?”

“He’s your father,”
Willow explained.

Her explanation made little sense.  Did she think he’d blame her for his father’s guilt?  “I’ll never hate you, Willow.  There’s never been any love lost between my father and me.”

He sat down on the bed with her, resting himself against the headboard and drawing her across his lap.

“I know, but you probably never figured him to be this bad,”
Willow explained around another sob.

He stroked her hair.  “No, I reckon I didn’t, but I can’t say as I’m surprised either.  There were a lot of signs, but they just didn't add up until now.”

“Like what?” Willow asked.

“He left ma and me on our own a lot.  I always thought it was strange that he spent so much time away from home.  And he always had a lot of money.  Too much, in fact.  That money bought him a lot of power and respect in
Bismarck.  He loved the power.”  Boden thought back to his childhood and realized everything was there.  His father's long absences, his father's warnings to his mother that she keep quiet, the unending supply of money his father had flashed around.

“You lived in
Bismarck as a kid?” Willow asked.  She was calming down now and genuine curiosity lit her face.

“Sure did,” Ezra said.  “Pa liked being at the center of things and as far as
Bismarck goes, it's the center of power in the territory.”

“Well, his desire to be governor makes sense.  If he's always been power hungry, the governor's seat has to look awfully good.”

“He's going to find out that power comes at a price,” Ezra vowed.   He held Willow closer.  How could his own father be threatening his wife's life?

“It's kind of intimidating that so far he's been so untouchable,”
Willow said, a shiver shafting through her.  Ezra could literally feel her fear.

“He's not untouchable.” Ezra remembered the times his pa had come home and holed up in his bedroom.  “There were a few times he came home from his trips, and ma spent days nursing him back to health.  I was always told he was sick, but I remember the bloody bandages.  I wonder now why she just didn't let him die.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll have to turn him in to Owens,” Boden said.  Even knowing what he did about his father, he still had no desire to kill the man.  He didn't like killing, and killing one's own father was a bit too Shakespearean for his tastes.

“He’s merciless,” Willow said as she drew herself off of his lap. “Be careful.”

“I will be,” Boden rose and kissed her on the forehead.  “I’ll lock him up somewhere  and take him to town in the morning.  Don’t open up the door to anyone but me.”

She nodded, and he left her then.  He dreaded what he must do.  Even though the man was pure evil, he was still his father.  Willow had pointed this out several times just in the last few minutes.

But when Boden climbed into the loft, his father was nowhere to be found.  The man’s horse was gone as well. Carter Boden hadn’t been as afraid of the cold as he’d claimed.  He’d been more afraid of his son.

And he should be.

W
INTER SET IN AGAIN
with a vengeance.  Its crystal claws sank deep into the frozen ground.  Snow fell throughout the rest of January with a regularity that was sure to bring flooding in the spring.  The runoff would overflow Devils Lake.  The fishing would be all the better for it.

Boden worried.

His days as a bounty hunter had taxed his abilities, but they couldn’t compare to his life as a rancher.  Things may have been simpler if he had kept on hunting criminals for a living.

Simpler, yes, but he never would have married
Willow.

Willow
.  She warmed his heart though he’d long thought it dormant.  Yet it was she who caused his worry.

Willow
figured she’d become pregnant shortly before marrying him. The baby would soon make an appearance, and the very thought made his hands clammy. He absently stuffed them into his pockets.  He’d delivered plenty of animals into the world–calves, foals–but never a human baby.  And animals sometimes experienced difficulties, ones even human hands couldn’t prevent.  What if Willow experienced complications of her own?

He’d met marshals and criminals alike on his journeys, and they’d all told stories around the campfire.  Aside from the gunfights and drinking escapades everyone liked to relate, the men would talk about women.  Some had been far into their cups when they’d spoken of women they had loved and lost.  Ezra still remembered one big marshal who’d appeared unbreakable.  The man had sobbed like a baby when he’d talked of how he’d lost his wife in childbirth only a month before.  Boden still remembered the man’s name, John Walker.  Walker had spared him few details of his anguish.  The mental images
Walker conjured then stalked Boden now.

Boden’s hands shook, and he gripped the handle of the pitchfork tighter. He’d never forgotten the horror of watching the life ebb out of Laura Taylor.  It would make him crazy to watch
Willow fade.

Other things concerned him as well—the frigid temperatures and snow-covered ground that could spell the end for much of his herd and the threat of his father’s return.

“Ezra,” Willow’s voice floated up from the floor below.

Boden forked another clump of hay, calling, “I’ll be down in a minute.” He turned toward the opening in the loft to be sure his voice would carry to her ears and to dump the pitchfork full of hay to the level below.

“Hold it there, cowboy,” Willow spoke from her position at the top of the loft ladder.  “Let me get out of your way.”

Boden dropped the full pitchfork. “What are you thinkin’, woman?” Boden asked as he lent
Willow a hand into the loft.

She accepted it.  “I thought I’d get out of the house for a while, Ezra.”

“Well, did it have to include a climb up into the loft?” Boden asked, grabbing Willow by the shoulders.  He felt her stiffen under his chastisement.

“I’m sorry,” was her soft apology.

Boden said, “You scared me is all.”

“I didn’t mean to,”
Willow explained looking up into Ezra’s face.  “I was just excited to share this with you.”

She grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach.  “He’s been kicking nonstop this afternoon.  Hard too.”

Boden grinned.  “He’s gonna kick a hole in you if he doesn’t watch it.”

“You’re tellin’ me,”
Willow agreed.

The baby quieted after a while, and Boden turned his attention back to its mother.

“Sick of being cooped up in the house?”

“Yes.”

“Suppose I’m babying you just a bit?” Boden asked.

“A little,”
Willow admitted.  “It’s nice, but difficult to take since I’m not used to it.”

Boden lay down on a pile of hay, and Willow slowly lowered herself to join him.

“We’ll stay in here for a while.  A change of scenery may be just the thing for you.”

“That and you’re stalling my descent down the ladder,” Willow teased.

“That too,” Boden conceded.  He took her hand in his.

Willow
scooted closer to him, nestling herself into his side.

“I’m ready for spring,” she commented.

“I’d rather it never came,” Boden said absently.  He shouldn’t have spoken his wish aloud.

“Why’s that?  I thought you were worried about the cattle.”  Willow cast him a bemused glance.

“I have a feeling this weather is buying us time where my father’s concerned,” Boden explained.

“I had thought so as well,”
Willow said.  “But I’m anxious to have this whole mess over with.”

Boden sighed.  “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”

“Willow?”

“Yeah?”

Boden kissed her in response.  His mouth drank in the taste of her.  His hands drifted over her body.  He no longer wished to think of their problems, but the love that bound them together.

Placing a hand on Boden’s cheek,
Willow drew away.

“Ezra.”

“Yes?”  he answered before placing his lips on her neck.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“You have,” he answered.

She kissed his neck as well. And Boden shivered at the feather light kisses.

“Ezra, I’m going to be fine,” Willow reassured between kisses.

Boden stopped his caresses short.  “What do you mean?”

“You’re worrying about me.  The baby.  Giving birth.”

She looked him in the eye, and Boden found he couldn’t deny her claim. “I don’t believe I’d know what to do without you,” he confessed, placing a hand on his wife’s cheek.

“I’m not plannin’ on letting you find out.”

Boden held his wife close, hoping she’d be able to keep her word.