All Roads Lead Home

Jess Harper peered closely at his battered visage in the mirror over the washstand. The rest and good food had worked wonders. He just wished he looked as improved as he felt. Shaving had been a particularly tedious task but he had managed to navigate around the many cuts and bruises, bruises now turned from dark black and blue to a noxious combination of green and yellow, with moderate success. The swelling around his eye had gone down to the point where he could now see out of it and Joshua had replaced the bandage over it with a much smaller one. Only his ribs still bothered him, especially when he tried to stand up straight but he guessed he was pretty lucky it wasn’t much worse.

 

Buttoning up his freshly laundered and pressed shirt, he glanced around and noticed his gun and gun belt were nowhere to be seen. ‘Not surprising,’ he thought.

 

Wrapping a protective arm across his tender midsection, he ventured out into the hallway. It was deserted as he made his way to the wide staircase at the end of the spacious passage. He could hear voices downstairs and decided to head in their direction.

 

The polished oak planked stairs ended in a large entrance hall at the very end of which was a massive front door. To the left was what he assumed to be behind heavy double doors, a formal parlor and to the right a smaller sitting room. Another passageway stretched past the stairs and sitting room behind him, presumably to the kitchen area from whence the sound of voices emanated. He was about to head in that direction when as he passed the sitting room he noticed off it what appeared to be a study tucked in behind glass paned doors, which at the moment stood ajar. Coming close,r he could see Abigail sitting at a large roll top desk. So intent was she on her ledger that she didn’t notice him. There was a sudden commotion from the far side of the little room and the enormous shaggy gray heads of two very large dogs filled the open door way. Abigail was on her feet in an instant. “Adam! Juno! Down!” The great gray heads considered her thoughtfully for a brief moment before lying down fully alert at her feet.

 

“Please excuse my guardians,” she said. “How are you feeling? I certainly didn’t expect to see you up and about so soon.”

 

“I’m a fast healer I guess,” Jess replied feeling as shy and awkward as a schoolboy.

 

“Well, I’m glad to see you. Come in and have a seat. I think we’re way overdue for a chat.”

 

With that, she guided him to a worn brown leather chair next to a stone fireplace and took a seat on a smaller chair across from him. He glanced about the room taking in its details. It was a warm and friendly refuge – a masculine room complete with stag’s head on the wall and bookshelves full of texts related to ranching and land management. Large windows looked out over the sweep of rough lawn and aspens leading down to the river. Abigail should have appeared out of place here but she didn’t. A large vase of wildflowers on the side table stood testament that this was her room now.

 

He looked closely at her. She was every bit as lovely as she had appeared the day before. Her long heavy honey colored hair cascaded down her back gathered at her nape with a large dark bow. She wore a simple cream-colored blouse with long sleeves and a high collar, a long dark tan riding skirt with a wide belt emphasizing her tiny waist and well worn brown riding boots. He guessed her to be about his age – perhaps a year or two older or younger. It was hard to be certain, as hers was an ageless sort of beauty. She was the kind of woman pretty enough while she was young and who had improved steadily with age. She had a long slender neck, high elegant cheekbones and a straight-backed grace that reminded him somewhat of Lucy. ‘His kind of woman,’ he thought to himself as the little voice that had thus far kept him safely single and emotionally intact whispered urgently to him to stay clear. Looking closer, he noticed laugh lines around her full mouth and a sadness lurking just behind her eyes that was fathomless. A woman who had known both joy and unimaginable sorrow.

 

“Jess?” he was suddenly jolted out of his musings. “Are you alright?”

 

“Uh, yuh,” he replied sheepishly. “Just, um, thinkin’. This is a nice room,” he ended lamely.

 

Abigail looked around her and smiled. “Yes, it is. It’s always been my favorite room. I’m glad you like it.”

 

She fixed him with her dark emerald eyes and asked softly, “Can you tell me what happened? Who beat you so?”

 

He’d known that question was coming but was still at a loss as to just how to answer it. He momentarily debated giving her an evasive answer but under her watchful stare he realized that would be impossible. “Ever hear of a fella called ‘Poke’?” he asked.

 

Her face flushed and her jaw clenched. “Your good sheriff and a guy name of Dreb Farley – the one Thad mentioned in his letter – were lendin’ their support so to speak,” Jess continued grimly and finished relating as best he could what he remembered.

 

Just as he finished, he heard footsteps and noticed her eyes glancing at the door behind him. Turning, he saw a handsome sandy-haired man in his late thirties with tanned creased features - a testament to a life lived in the out of doors. “Jess Harper, this is Dick Austin. It was he and his men who found you.”

 

Jess leapt to his feet and earnestly shook the older man’s hand. “I’m much obliged,” he said with an earnestness he felt right down to his very toes.

 

Dick regarded him without smiling. “Least we could do for a friend of Thad’s. Even if you did come a bit late.”

 

“Dick,” Abigail interjected. “Jess didn’t know. He only just recently received Thad’s last letter. He asked about Dreb back in Bozeman and that’s apparently what started the whole thing.”

 

Turning to Jess, she continued. “Dick used to be the sheriff in Ruby Creek back before the, um, so-called gold strike five years ago. It used to be a quiet peaceful little ranching town. It wasn’t long after they thought they found gold just east of town before Dreb and his cronies arrived.”

 

Motioning to Jess to sit, Dick went on, “they bought out a number of the local ranchers, dammed up the river in several places and turned a good town into nothing more’n a cesspool. I tried to fight them – Buck and his family helped all they could; but in the end Dreb and his pals came up with a trumped up election and voted me out of office.”

 

“Well the town’s loss was the Davis Ranch’s gain,” Abigail said warmly. “I don’t know what I’d do without you and your men working here and keeping us safe.”

 

“After I was voted out of office,” Dick continued, “Buck hired me and my deputies. We do our share of ranch work for sure but we also make sure Dreb and his goons stay away from here. We can’t keep all of Montana safe but we can do our best to protect this little corner of it.”

 

Abigail looked at Dick proudly. “In time the gold madness will play out. Until that time we plan to hunker down here and wait it out. That’s all we can do,” she concluded.

 

Jess gazed thoughtfully out the window to the lawn where Ben and Lucy were playing with the two great gray dogs. Lucy was carefully combing the hair of the larger one while Ben tossed a stick for the other. He couldn’t help but notice that stationed at intervals around the perimeter of the lawn were what appeared to be three or four of Dick’s men. All were armed and all were highly alert.

 

“Is that any kind of a childhood for them?” he asked quietly. “Always under guard – never free to just be children?”

 

After an awkward moment, Abigail said, “Jess, I think you of all people would know a thing or two about growing up quickly. No, it’s not ideal but it’s the best I can do for them right now. You met Poke – you can imagine what could happen…” she trailed off, her face pale with a mixture of fear and anger. “I don’t consider myself to be an owner of this ranch. I’m merely the caretaker and it’s my job to keep it and them safe until they are old enough to take it over.”

Jess decided it was time to take the conversation in a different direction. “In his letter Thad mentioned he’d gotten in some trouble with Dreb. Do you have any idea what that might have been?”

 

Abigail glanced briefly over at Dick and then looking straight at Jess said, “As you know, Thad had quite a temper and nothing set him off like the threat of someone he cared for being harmed. There was a delightful little old Irishman by the name of Paddy Flanagan who had a small place nearby on the upper branch river. Nice grazing land – a beautiful spot. He built himself a little stone cottage just like the one he was born in back in Ireland and raised a few head of cattle and some crops. Nothing fancy but he loved it and Thad loved spending time up there. He’d visit with Paddy and he’d paint. When he came back here, once he was strong enough to ride, he’d spend days up there helping around the place. I think it was all a part of his road back to us. A few months before he – ah – died, a substantial gold strike was made just down river from Paddy’s place – on his land. Dreb, of course, got wind of it and tried to get Paddy to sell out to him. Naturally Paddy refused and shortly afterwards his body was found floating in the Branch River. Dreb claimed that Paddy had sold the place to him – claimed he had a deed but it turned out Paddy’d already deeded the place to Thad. When they found Paddy’s body, Thad went crazy. Rode into town and confronted Dreb. Told Dreb that he was the owner of Paddy’s place and that he’d fry in hell before he’d sell it to him. Apparently, Dreb just laughed and said if that was what it would take well so be it. He also said if he didn’t sign over the deed, he’d go after us. It must have been right about that time that he wrote to you and a few days later we found his body up near the stone cottage. There were several empty whisky bottles scattered around and the new sheriff said Thad must have gotten drunk and shot himself. “

 

“Thad had been drinkin’ a lot last time I saw him,” Jess said sadly.

 

“But he was long past that,” Abigail replied. “When he came back I think he found his father to be a changed man. The children had done that. Buck had finally realized that he couldn’t force Thad to be something he wasn’t and that the man Thad had grown into was a fine one just the way he was. Buck had learned to enjoy Ben and Lucy in a way he had never let himself enjoy Thad when he was little. He knew he’d been wrong and he welcomed Thad home. It was a wonderful thing to see. I never saw Thad touch a drop of whisky after he returned here. No, Jess, if you’d been here those last few years you’d know that there’s no way Thad would have killed himself. No way he would have left us except if he thought somehow it would keep us safe.”

 

Jess could see that tears were threatening and he felt dreadful for having in any way been the cause.

 

Dick had been watching him closely and finally clamped a large hand firmly on his shoulder. “If you’re feelin’ up to it, how’s about I show you around.” His eyes didn’t match the friendliness of his words.

 

Giving Abigail a rueful small smile, Jess got up and started to follow Dick out of the room.

 

“Wait, Jess,” Abigail called out. “You’d better take this,” and with that she handed him his gun and gun belt.

 

Jess strapped it on and joined Dick out on the wide front porch. As soon as they were out of earshot from Abigail, Dick fixed him with a pointed stare and said, “that lady – and you’d better believe that’s a lady – has been to hell and back. She don’t need to be hurt any more than she already has been if you get my drift.”

 

Jess got his drift, all right. “Uh, please don’t take this wrong but is there anything between the two of you?”

 

Dick looked down at his feet uncomfortably, “I’d sell my soul if that could be the case but it ain’t. She’s my boss and my good friend and that’s about it.”

 

Jess nodded his understanding and the two of them spent the next two hours touring the barns and immediate environs of the ranch. The last hour or so, Jess was so tired he could barely stand but resolved not to let Dick see his weakness. If Dick did, he never let on.

 

It was with great relief then when one of Dick’s men called him away and Jess was able to make it back to the house and to his bed where he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

 

 

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Chapter Nine