All Roads Lead Home

The great clock in the front hallway struck midnight and the small group gathered in front of the fire in the parlor, although exhausted from the day’s activities, continued as they had since dinner with their heads together planning. Earlier, both Jess and Dick had decided that the inevitable could be forestalled no longer.

 

Although Dick and his men had done a superb job of keeping the ranch and all who lived there safe, Dreb’s men were slowly but continually tightening the noose that kept them isolated. The merchants in town, fearful of reprisal had begun refusing to sell supplies. The cattle, the very lifeblood of the ranch needed to be moved to market. With Dreb’s men sealing off the main trail and the bulk of Dick’s men needed on the ranch, a cattle drive was out of the question. It was true that the ranch was by design self-sufficient but as the enforced exile had stretched into years, critical items including Joshua’s medical supplies were growing scarce.

 

“Any folks left in the area that might help us?” Jess asked.

 

“Hard to say,” Dick replied. “Lots would want to. Abigail’s well thought of for sure and most of the ranchers around here owe Buck a great deal. Plus the last few years ain’t been easy on them. Don’t forget they can’t move their cattle either. Problem is they’re scared and I guess I can’t blame them.”

 

“Any way of getting them together and talkin’ with ‘em?”

 

After a long moment, Joshua spoke up. “Remember that tinker guy that was makin’ the rounds here a few months back sellin’ pots and pans?”

 

The other three stared at him. “Well, he seemed to get around alright. Nobody seemed to pay him much of any mind.”

 

“What are you suggesting?” Abigail asked.

 

“Well I’m thinkin’ one of us could take Paddy’s old wagon – it ain’t been out of his barn in years so it’s not likely anyone’d recognize it. We could throw a bunch of junk in the back of it, dress up one of the men in some ratty old clothes and send him around to a few of the ranches that we trust. He could pretend like he was one of them second hand dealers that used to come around all the time. Now maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn’t but we wouldn’t be riskin’ much and whoever we send could be well armed in case a trouble.”

 

“What if he gets found out?” Jess asked. “I mean, couldn’t that get the ranchers in hot water?”

 

“Yeah,” Dick agreed. “It could. But we’re all runnin’ out of options. I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

 

“What kinda terms you on with the territorial marshal?” Jess asked.

 

“We know each other,” Dick replied. “He’s a good man and I’ve worked with him before.”

 

“You think you could get one of your men to Bozeman to wire him – see if we can get him and some of his men here?”

 

Dick pondered that a moment. “Yup, I think so. We’d need to make sure the telegraph operator was on the up and up.”

 

Jess sat up straight and looked seriously at the rest of the group. “Then the plan is this. We round up all the ranchers we can. We bring in the marshal and his men. Then you, Abigail, can bring Dreb and his men out here on some excuse. We’ll need to make it good cause we’ll be wantin’ to get everyone of them we can. Tell him you’ve reconsidered sellin’ him Paddy’s land or whatever. We’ll make our stand here. If we can convince the other ranchers that Dreb’s nothin’ but a fraud an’ a cheat, it won’t be too hard convincin’ the others. Leastwise, that’s what I’m hopin’.”

 

Abigail looked pale. “Jess, what about the children? We can’t risk having them caught in the crossfire.”

 

“She’s right,” Joshua said. “Dreb knows what a store we all set by those kids. He’ll go after them first.”

 

“I know,” Jess said soberly. “Still the safest place for them is right here. This house is like a fortress. I don’t like the idea of them leaving here. We could make Dreb think we’re movin’ them though. You got any kind of a closed buggy?”

 

“Yes, Thad’s mother’s going to town buggy is still around here somewhere.”

 

“How long a ride is it to your brother’s place?”

 

“With the buggy – it would be nearly a full day’s drive.”

 

“It’s the sort of thing Dreb would expect you to do at some point. You and I’ll go – I don’t want to be takin’ any more men off the place than we have to. You’ll drive and I’ll ride along side. We’ll make it look like we’re smugglin’ the children out of here. We’ll leave at first light and once we make it there; we’ll leave the buggy and come straight back as quickly as we can. It’s risky but it sure wouldn’t hurt havin’ Dreb think the children aren’t here. From what you’ve told me, your brother’s more than capable of defending his place and Dreb just don’t have the manpower to cover both your brother’s ranch and yours.”

 

“When you thinkin’ of puttin’ this plan of yours inta action?” Dick asked.

 

“I say we start now. It all depends on when you can get the marshal here. Once we know when that is, we can let the ranchers know when to come in.”

 

“I’ll send one of my men first thing in the morning.”

 

“Be careful who you send. I wouldn’t go tellin’ any more of them any more than you hafta.”

 

“I hear ya,” Dick replied grimly. “You know it’s bad times when you feel like you can’t hardly trust no one.”

 

“Well,” Abigail said with a false brightness. “It looks like we’ve got busy days ahead of us. How’s about we all turn in?”

 

The clock in the front hall solemnly tolled two am and then three. Abigail lay wide-awake staring at the ceiling. Never had she felt so alone in the enormous bed. Never had she ached so for company. Not just any company. For the last week she had been struggling with her growing feelings for Jess. She had known long before she ever set eyes on him that she would like him – that he was special. Thad’s stories had struck a chord with her and even though when Buck was alive her love for her husband was strong and steadfast, she had found herself right from the hearing of the very first of Thad’s tales looking forward to the day when she would meet Jess. And that that day would come she had never had the slightest doubt. Now he was here. Sleeping just two doors down the hall. It might as well be two miles for she also knew with the same certainty that she knew he would come, that he wouldn’t stay. When he spoke of Laramie, of the modest ranch and his friend Slim, the look in his clear intelligent blue eyes said that he spoke of his true home. Oh, she could undoubtedly use her feminine wiles and keep him here perhaps forever but while she could restrain his body, she would never be able to capture and contain his spirit. Nor would she want to for that was what made him uniquely him. The man that Thad had so beautifully and truthfully painted.

 

She sighed and for the first time in a very long time the tears came. Tears of longing and loneliness and loss.

 

Two doors down, Jess Harper lay awake listening to the doleful tolling of the clock and the beating of his own heart. Like Abigail, sleep eluded him. He felt as though his feelings were tearing him apart. On one hand, he was overwhelmed by the attachment he’d formed in such a short time to this place and to the people who lived here. The children, Joshua, even Dick and most especially Abigail. She was all the woman he had ever dreamed of and so much more. He both lusted for her and yearned to know her better. To be worthy of her friendship and yet to make deep consuming passionate love to her at the same time.

 

At that last thought, his rebellious body literally sat up and took notice. ‘Oh God, not that!’ he thought. He needed to keep his head clear if they were to make it through the next dangerous days and the very last thing he needed was to be distracted by his desire for her.

 

Complicating things further was the fact that all this by no means diminished the feeling of homesickness that never quite left him. A hundred times a day he found himself wondering what Slim and Andy were doing, of things he wanted to run past Slim, of things he wanted to share with him. How he would have enjoyed little Ben’s brave posturing or Lucy’s kind intelligence. And Abigail. How he would have enjoyed her. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself smiling. ‘Guess there’s one good thing about him not bein’ here.’

 

Dick Austin heard the clock chime as he took the last of what had been many walks around the outside of the house. Unable to sleep, he prowled like a restless cat. Gazing up at the waning moon he thought wistfully of Abigail and of the love he so wished she had for him. The truth was he had loved her from the first moment he had seen her. Always a quiet and solitary man, he had had little use for the inane rituals of courting and had found up until then bachelorhood to suit him nicely. But she was a woman that he would don a suit for and propose on bended knee if it came to that. He also knew she would never return his feelings and amazingly he found that he could live with that. That he could love her enough for both of them. And even if this were all it would ever be – him gazing up at her window from the outside looking in – then that would just have to do. It would be enough. It would have to be.

 

Joshua checked on the children for at least the fifth time since first heading for bed. Ben’s dreams worried him and he feared the events of the next few days would make them worse. He could only imagine what Ben and his sister had seen when their wagon train was attacked and their parents killed. He had made a solemn promise that he would give his life if necessary that they would never go through such a thing again. And he was a man who kept his promises. He checked the lock on the front door one last time as the clock chimed three and then stood for a moment in the little study, gazing out at the darkened lawn. How far he had come from the place of his birth. Not just in miles. He had been a slave and now although few outside the immediate family knew it, he owned a substantial piece of this ranch. Buck had deeded it to him years ago when Joshua had made it clear that he would never leave. This was his home and he was as much a part of the fabric of its being as the sturdy stone foundation the house stood on – as the great wide river that flowed before it. He knew without a doubt that as he had lived here all these years, he would die here as well.

 

Lucy sat up in her bed as she heard Joshua climbing the stairs one last time. It had been a long night and she hadn’t slept much. She caressed the great gray head of Adam the dog who slept at the foot of her bed. ‘Dear God,’ she prayed quietly. ‘Please keep us safe.’

 

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Chapter Thirteen