Love on the Range (Brothers in Arms #3)(49)

“It’s Wyatt and Molly.” Falcon holstered his gun. “And Kevin and Win.”

Cheyenne, the reins of a plodding single horse well in hand, twisted around to look, and a huge smile broke over her face. “They’re leaving the Hawkins Ranch. They must be.”

The foursome caught up to Cheyenne.

“Rachel?” Win looked in the wagon, which never stopped its steady forward march.

Win’s brow furrowed with worry as Rachel struggled to sit up, then resigned herself to making the trip flat on her back. “What happened? Is she badly hurt?”

“We’ve got a lot to tell. We were going to get Rachel home, then come and get Wyatt and Molly out of Oliver’s clutches. Rachel’s been knocked unconscious, but she’s coming out of it, somewhat. We hope she’ll be all right.”

“And shot,” Falcon added.

“What?” Win shouted.

Grimly, Wyatt watched their back trail.

“Rachel had to write down the names of the missing women somewhere,” Molly said.

Falcon rode up beside her. “She didn’t carry much with her. But maybe she’s got notes tucked in her satchel.”

“We’ll look,” Wyatt said. “But unless we can find something, until we know names, and hopefully they’re the same names as what we found in Hawkins’s safe, I’m not sure what to do next.”

“You got in the safe?” Cheyenne kept driving.

Nodding, Molly said, “We’ve got a lot to tell, too. And then we’ve got a lot to sort out. We’re going to need a lot of good luck to put it all together.”

“What we need,” Wyatt said, studying Rachel, “is a Pinkerton agent.”

They all looked at Rachel for a time, but she’d settled in to sleep.

Cheyenne was relieved to have all three brothers watching all around. Three skilled men, feeling fully threatened, watching out for trouble. They eased up some when they reached a wide spot in the trail, the forests far enough back no coyote looking for an easy kill would be lying in wait for them here.

“Like I said, there’s a lot to tell.” Cheyenne set out to tell what had happened, including the connection from Kingston to Clovis to Hawkins.

Wyatt told the tale of what had gone on at the Hawkins Ranch.

Cheyenne eyed the shadow of a bruise forming on Win’s face and scowled. “Let me see your arm, Molly.”

“Not out here for heaven’s sake. I can’t pull my sleeve up far enough to show so you’re just going to have to wait.”

Cheyenne didn’t like to admit it, but Molly had a point. It stewed and boiled inside her to see how bad hurt Molly was, and Cheyenne wanted to hurt Oliver Hawkins even more.

“But you got word to the Pinkertons?” Molly picked up the story Cheyenne had spun.

“Yes, according to Rachel, what we sent will let them know she’s in trouble. So they should send help. And we’ve set in motion the investigation of Falcon’s ma.” Cheyenne looked at Falcon regretfully. The importance of knowing the date she died seemed unfeeling, all about land and money and ownership. But she thought of how young he had been, left alone in a cabin. His ma needing to be buried. It didn’t bear thinking of. She wanted to hold him and offer him comfort.

The RHR came in sight, and Cheyenne’s heart lifted. So much going on, and now she was home. Home. The law might not say so at the moment, but in her heart this would always be home.

“I think I’ve figured out what God meant when he said honor your father and mother.” Win pressed her hand over her swollen cheek.

They all turned to look at her. It was a question they’d all wrestled with.

“I think God calls us to honor them. But He’s given us the Ten Commandments all at the same time. When you consider how many of those commandments our fathers have broken. Have sneered at every day of their lives. God, well, He wants honor. He wants a soul turned to Him and a life lived faithfully and honorably. I will pray about this, and I will continue to show honor to my father, but only as an example to him. I will live with honor myself. I hope it’s with God’s understanding and support that I admit I will never trust him. I know him too well.”

Kevin reached out. He was on the same side as the bruised cheek, so she had to uncover the bruise to take his hand.

Their hands clutched each other. Their eyes met with love and trust.

It was a private moment, an intimate one. Cheyenne felt as if she was intruding by watching them.

She turned back to her driving, glad to be home.

Glad to have her family together.





Twenty-One




I want to see that arm.” Wyatt stood in front of Molly like a couple hundred pounds of stubborn.

“Wyatt, I am not going to expose—”

“Go upstairs and put something on so you’re not exposed. Cheyenne has a short-sleeved shirtwaist if you don’t. Put hers on.” Wyatt crossed his arms. “We do nothing more until I see how bad he hurt you. And you haven’t told us what he did, either.”

Wyatt’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. “I can see he said or did something that really frightened you. We’re trying to be honest here, to clear this up. Molly, don’t keep secrets from me.”

Molly thought of the terrible secret she was keeping from everyone, even Kevin, secrets that had nothing to do with Oliver Hawkins. A tiny niggling deep inside whispered that maybe, just maybe, this family would help her find a way past the guilt, the nightmares that still jerked her awake at night.