Everafter
by Arren
Part Eighteen
Chapter 52
It only took minutes for McCoy and Brubaker to make their way to the back of the compound and pick their way around the outbuildings while all eyes were on their boss out front. They let themselves in through the kitchen of the main building and then ascended the stairs to the main floor.
One of the nuns was in the main office. Brubaker hung back as McCoy approached. McCoy saw Madrid lying on the sofa. He looked dead. If he wasn’t, he’d like to fix that, but his mission came first. Brubaker had promised him a crack at Madrid when this was over.
The nun was startled, but did not make a sound. When McCoy put his gun on Madrid and winked at her, she came quietly. It took only a few minutes to find the others. The old woman and the girl were together in the dormitory, the little girl was sleeping and the old woman was with her.
They’d expected screaming, or crying, but none of them behaved as they expected. They told them quietly to stay together and do as they were told and no one would get hurt, and then they herded them to the front door.
Chapter 53
Scott watched his father’s back, trying to interpret his posture, his gestures, anything to know what was going on. He and Elizondo had been talking quietly for several minutes. Scott scanned the men behind Elizondo. A scroungy, well-armed, seemingly well-disciplined group. They hung back at a respectful distance.
Something was wrong. Scott couldn’t quite put a finger on it. He scanned the men again, then looked to Elizondo and his father.
Brubaker! Brubaker wasn’t there! Neither was McCoy! Scott lunged to his feet. “They’re inside,” he whispered and turned.
Kate pulled at his arm. “Scott, wait…”
Scott turned and took her hand. “I have to.” He looked at Slim and put her hand in his. “Keep her here, Slim.”
Scott turned and ran towards the main building. “Murdoch! Get out of there!” he shouted over his shoulder. He heard several dozen rifles and handguns being cocked and then a massive explosion of gunfire. He prayed his father had been able to get out of the way, but he couldn’t look back now.
Scott’s legs carried him, barely touching the ground as he hit the steps to the massive entrance and jammed his shoulder against the stucco wall. Jess had followed him, appearing from out of nowhere on the opposite side of the door.
Scott put a finger to his lips and signaled that they would go in together, one high, one low. Jess reached over and lifted the latch, pushing the massive carved door inward. Scott went low and lunged through the door, landing on his stomach. Jess stood to one side, crouched with his gun drawn on the Reverend Mother’s startled face.
He immediately raised the gun to point at the ceiling and released the hammer slowly. He raised his hands and let the gun drop and hang from its trigger guard.
“How nice that you decided to join us. Do come in gentlemen.” Brubaker sneered, his voice formal and dripping sarcasm.
Scott slowly rose to his feet, leaving his gun on the floor, not being told, but knowing it was expected. He glanced behind Brubaker and saw McCoy holding Isabelle up in front of him with one arm around her waist and the other holding a gun to her side. Michael was beside them, her wide eyes holding Scott’s with a silent plea for help.
“Give me the girl and go get Madrid,” Brubaker told McCoy. McCoy handed Isabelle over to Brubaker and turned back toward the offices.
He approached the couch with his gun drawn just in case, but Madrid had looked pretty bad to him. They’d found the Tripps just before daybreak and there had been more than their blood on the ground. He stopped and stared, momentarily stunned. The blanket that had covered Madrid was on the floor and the couch was empty.
“Looking for me?”
Johnny stepped out from behind the heavy drape of the window behind the Reverend Mother’s desk.
McCoy smiled and raised his hands. “Well, Madrid, you surprise me. I’m glad you’re not dead though. Gives me the chance to take care of that pleasure myself.”
“Aw c’mon, Virgil, I thought we were pals.” Johnny walked around the desk and pushed McCoy backwards. “Don’t even think about drawing down on me, Virgil. It would be no challenge at all for me, and even though I’d hate it, I’d have to stop you.”
McCoy kept his hands raised and turned around. Johnny pushed him towards the door. When they reached the door, he grabbed McCoy’s collar and yanked him to a stop. “Brubaker, we’re comin’ out! Let’s not let this get messy now.”
Johnny shoved McCoy forward and moved out to his side. Johnny assessed the situation in an instant. Brubaker was at the front door. He was holding Isabelle, but was slowly letting her slide to the floor as his attention was now centered on Johnny. The Reverend Mother was slowly inching her way unnoticed away from Brubaker to where Sister Michael was standing far to the right, thankfully out of the way.
Scott was lying on the floor watching his brother, and Jess was standing to Brubaker’s right, his hands raised, his gun on the floor.
Johnny’s reflexes had not been tempered by bruises, stab wounds, headaches, broken eardrums or fatigue. Scott had a hard time later remembering what had happened first.
He remembered reaching up and pulling Isabelle down on the floor with him and seeing the Reverend Mother and Mike hit the floor.
Johnny had pushed his gun back in its holster in a challenge to Brubaker, only to draw it out an instant later when Brubaker decided Madrid was not going to keep him from his kingdom. At the same instant, McCoy drew, but was blown backwards when Jess, with lightening quick reflexes, dove for the floor, grabbed his own gun and rolled, firing at McCoy and hitting him dead center of his forehead.
Scott had pulled Isabelle underneath him and covered her with his body. When his brain finally registered the silence, he looked up into the smoke filled room. The smell of gunpowder stung his nose. He glanced to his left and saw Michael, just sitting up from her position where she had wisely thrown herself to the floor. The Reverend Mother, sat with her tiny feet splayed out, and crossed herself.
Jess had already stood up and kicked Brubaker in the ribs to see if he got a response, then bent over and picked up his gun. Johnny did the same with McCoy.
Johnny looked around. Everyone that should be okay, was okay. He smiled at Jess. “Well, I guess that answers our question, eh?”
As if a demon rising from the earth, Brubaker twitched and opened his eyes, unseen by the others. He reached inside his vest and pulled out a derringer. Bringing it around in a wide arc from his position on the floor, he aimed it at the nearest body he could see, which was the Reverend Mother.
With an instinct born of years of practice, both Johnny and Jess’ gaze had flickered in his direction with the first movement. As one they whirled and fired, the reports so close as to be indistinguishable.
Jess shoved his gun in its holster with satisfaction, “Yeah, I reckon it does. Too bad you got so slow since you quit the business.”
“Me slow? No, I think you have that wrong my friend.” Johnny finally felt comfortable holstering his gun as well. He couldn’t resist a couple of twirls first though. “I distinctly remember your guy hummin’ a tune before you finally managed to hit him.”
“Well, I guess losin’ all that blood musta effected your eyesight, Mister Madrid, not to mention your reflexes. Good thing I was here to cover your…”
“Thank God you were both here, gentlemen,” the Reverend Mother interjected, her blue eyes twinkling.
Jess’ face turned bright red as he remembered the Reverend Mother. He reached down to her and pulled her to her feet. “Uh, yes ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.” Jess turned and put an arm around Isabelle. “You okay, honey?”
“Yup,” she said, looking up at him. It would probably all hit her later, but all she could think of right now was that Jess and Johnny were okay and that they had saved everyone. She couldn’t have imagined two braver or more graceful heroes. She was already writing this adventure in her mind.
Scott stood up and went to Johnny. “You okay?”
Johnny held a hand pressed to his side and Scott could see fresh blood. “Sure. I’ve been a lot worse.”
They both realized at the same time that all was quiet outside.
“Murdoch!” Scott broke for the door with Johnny right behind him.
The pink dawn had come and the fog gave a sense of unreality. Scott ran in a crouch to the barricade, scanning the yard for Murdoch. Behind him, men were lowering themselves off of the roof.
Slim stood with Kate out in the open beyond the barricades looking down at the ground. Scott stood again and ran to the place where he’d last seen Murdoch. As he came up behind Slim, he stepped aside and Scott could see his father kneeling at the side of Elizondo who was dead. Johnny came up beside him and put an arm around Scott’s shoulders.
“Well, old man, you look like you’re alright. Are you alright?” Johnny asked.
Lancer stood and turned to his younger son. “Yes, son, I’m fine.” He turned to look back down at Elizondo. “Strange. In the end, after all this, he was shot by his own men.”
Scott looked out to where Elizondo’s men had been. Several lay on the ground, but most were gone.
“What happened?” Scott asked.
“When you shouted, Elizondo panicked. I guess he thought…well, I don’t know what he thought, but he turned to his men and shouted for them to charge. Several of them did, but most of them hung back. I moved fast when you shouted at me, but Elizondo just stood there and when everyone opened up, he just raised his arms and began shouting something. He was finally cut down by a bullet that came from behind him. Don’t know if it was an accident or not. That’s when most of the others turned around and left.” Murdoch turned to Johnny and Scott. “What happened inside?”
“They were going to try and take the place using hostages. We fixed that,” Johnny grinned at Jess who had just arrived with Isabelle in tow. Kate rushed to put an arm around Isabelle.
“Well, no sense standing around here. Let’s get this mess cleaned up and go home,” Murdoch declared.
Chapter 54
Going home to Lancer was his fervent desire, but not to be for Johnny for several days. He wasn’t able to travel right away and had to submit to Pearl’s care at the hotel while Scott, Jess, Slim and Murdoch helped out at the orphanage.
The children had been taken home, much to Pearl’s disappointment. She had loved having them in the hotel and had turned the little-used ballroom into the boys’ dormitory. After they had gone back, she lavished all of her motherly attention on Johnny.
The knife wound had been deep and had required several layers of sutures. It was at the itching stage now and Pearl was constantly reminding him to leave it alone. She devised distractions for him to take his mind off it, but when he wasn’t sleeping, he was miserable. His hearing was gradually coming back, as if the cotton were being removed from his ear a little each day. The jolting pains were less each day and Johnny vowed, that he’d happily give up his hearing again if the deep down itching in his side would abate.
Scott and Murdoch returned to the hotel every night and kept him apprised of the goings on at Our Lady. The Bishop from Sacramento had come to take charge of the relics and the Cardinal was on his way. This was the largest find of heretofore unknown Catholic artifacts ever and the Church was very excited.
The Reverend Mother was efficiently cataloging each piece and lovingly packing it for shipment. Despite their efforts, word had gotten out, and Murdoch had left several of his men to guard the treasure.
Murdoch had signed papers with the Church that left their agreement intact and in perpetuity. The agreement between the Catholic Church, and the Lancer family could never be broken by anyone other than either the Church or the Lancers.
Jess and Slim were planning their trip back to Wyoming by the end of the month. Jess was well enough to travel and Murdoch had convinced them to come with them to Lancer for a few days and then leave by train from Sacramento.
Upon hearing this, Isabelle made herself scarce. Saying goodbye to Jess would be the hardest thing she’d ever done and she was determined to not make a fool of herself. They were leaving the next day for Everafter. Sister Mike and Isabelle would accompany them that far. Isabelle had insisted that she be allowed to say goodbye to Johnny.
As she made her way to her secret perch on the rocky outcropping, she thought about tomorrow and how life would be different. Jess had been with her for almost six weeks, and she couldn’t remember what it was like before.
She sat and watched the long, yellow grass of the valley sway in the breezes that brushed over the landscape. She thought it looked like someone had painted it like some of the pictures in Pearl’s hotel. It was perfect, and she hoped it would never change. She intended to travel, to experience life in far away places someday, but this place she would forever see in her mind’s eye. She looked with an eye towards impressing it on her memory.
She remembered how the last time she came here, she’d found Jess, and she had not been back since. She hadn’t needed to with him to take care of.
As much as she loved the Reverend Mother and the sisters, she knew her path lay elsewhere. Her hunger for life and education would take her far from here and she couldn’t wait to get started. She had talked for long hours with Kate about just this thing and sometimes, she thought that Kate was the only one who understood her. She was herself an unusual woman, not content to settle down as a wife and mother, but to pursue a profession that few other women would dare.
Isabelle had lovingly packed away her Penelope Poindexter books, to be kept safe for her own daughter someday, but from now on, she would write her own books. She had begun the day she found Jess, and had written in it each day.
“Mind if I sit a spell?”
Isabelle turned, startled, to find Jess climbing over the rocky edge of her perch, she had been so deep in thought she hadn’t heard him.
“Sure, there’s plenty of room.” She scooted over and made a place for him beside her and then put her chin on her arms and continued to look out over her valley.
“This is real nice up here. Is this where you were when you found me?”
“Yup,” she nodded. “Your horse was right down there,” she pointed to the copse of trees down below.
“That sure was one of the luckiest days I ever had.”
Isabelle looked over at him, studying his profile. “Me too.”
Jess drew his legs up and turned around to face her. “Isabelle, I really don’t want to say goodbye, but you understand how I have to go back home, don’t you?”
“I know,” she said in a small voice, her throat constricting painfully.
Jess gathered her up into his lap and held her. “I want you to know you’ll always be special to me and I’ll never forget you. If you’ll write to me, I promise I’ll write back.”
Isabelle couldn’t speak, but she nodded into his chest. Jess couldn’t stop the tears that dripped down into her hair. He picked up her braid and held it, and then wrapped both arms tightly around her, and they sat like that until after the sun had gone down.
Chapter 55
They left Our Lady in the morning, Mike and Isabelle in a wagon with Murdoch driving. Scott, Jess and Slim rode along side as Murdoch’s horse trotted behind.
The last of the relics had been packed and the Pinkertons were coming today and then Murdoch’s men could go home. The Reverend Mother had been allowed to keep one piece for their chapel as a reminder that this place had been blessed. It was a beautifully rendered icon of the blessed Virgin. It would always be the symbol of Our Lady and quickly became affectionately known as The Lady of Our Lady. They had bid a fond farewell to her and the children, and then started off for Everafter.
In town, the air seemed different, the mood lighter. Perhaps the residents, who had been aware of Elizondo, were relieved. Certainly the businessmen were happy that the unsavory element had left town.
Murdoch pulled the wagon up in front of the Happily Everafter Hotel where Kate, Pearl and Johnny were waiting for them in the big white rockers that stood like soldiers along the broad porch.
Without waiting for anyone, Isabelle jumped down and rushed up to hug Kate. Kate stooped down and whispered to her as she straightened the straps of Isabelle’s overalls and pushed stray locks of red hair from her face. Isabelle nodded and then walked over to Johnny.
He smiled as he stooped down speak to her. “I swear, you’ve grown at least an inch since I saw you last.” He looked up to her face, wet with tears but smiling broadly. Her glasses perched on her nose were sliding down. He reached up with one finger and pushed them back up her nose and she giggled.
Without a word, Isabelle threw her arms around Johnny’s neck. He hugged her tightly and stood up with her still in his arms. “I’m gonna miss you, squirt.”
“I’ll miss you too, Johnny.” She slid down out of his arms, but held onto his hand. “But you don’t live that far away. You can come visit!”
“And I will, I promise I will. Besides, I have a feeling my brother’s gonna be here a lot. I’ll have to come along to keep an eye on him.”
They turned to see that Scott and Kate were standing close and holding hands. As if no one else were around, Scott held Kate close and kissed her deeply. Her arms went around his neck and she returned the kiss enthusiastically.
Johnny smiled down at Isabelle, and she stood on tiptoes, tugged his shirt until he bent down, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“I expect you to come see me too, handsome, and I’ll be cut to the quick if’fn you don’t stay with me when you’re here.”
Johnny stepped over to Pearl and gathered her in his arms and kissed her on the cheek. “I wouldn’t dream of staying anywhere else. ‘Sides, you’d probably sic Percy on me.”
She kissed him back and pulled him tighter to her. “You’re damn straight mister, and don’t you forget it.” She released him and Johnny took a deep breath, sucking in the air that had been temporarily cut off.
Scott had reluctantly left Kate and was saying his goodbyes to Pearl. Johnny chuckled as she crushed his slender brother in an eye-popping hug.
Slim, stood on the street which brought him to almost eye level with Isabelle standing on the porch. “Isabelle, I sure wish you could meet my little brother, Andy. I think you two would hit it off.”
Isabelle smiled. She hadn’t heard about a little brother. Now there’s something to think about. “Maybe someday you could visit?”
“Or maybe you could visit us. You would always be welcome.” He reached for her and drew her to him and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek and then pressed his cheek to hers. “Thank you for taking care of Jess. We’ll never forget what you did,” he whispered to only her.
Isabelle nodded, speech becoming more and more difficult. She knew she’d have to say goodbye to Jess next and was steeling herself. They had said their goodbyes privately last night, but this was the last she would see him for a long time, maybe forever. Her throat was tight and she blinked hard to stop the tears.
Jess hadn’t come down from his horse yet, seemingly content to sit up there and watch everyone. He walked Traveler over to the porch and held out a hand to Isabelle. She took it and he swung her up on the saddle in front of him and they took a ride together. When they came back a few minutes later, Isabelle was laughing.
Kate had watched carefully and was relieved. Isabelle’s heart would be broken for awhile. Her first love was leaving, but she had such a promising future ahead of her. She’d be all right. She and Pearl would see to it.
Isabelle dropped down from Traveler and Kate held her hand out. Isabelle slipped in beside her and held her hand tightly.
“I think you should go ahead and tell everyone now, Kate,” Sister Michael said, hooking an arm through Scott’s.
Scott looked at her, surprised. “Tell us what?”
Everyone turned to Kate. “Well, the Reverend Mother has agreed to allow Isabelle to come and live with me. The church frowns on single-parent adoptions, but they are making an exception for us.” She smiled down at her new daughter. Isabelle returned the look and the happiness came off her in waves.
Murdoch was the first to congratulate them. He stepped over and took Kate’s hand in his, covering it with his other hand. “Well, that’s just wonderful news, Kate. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
Johnny did the same and gave both of them a peck on the cheek. He noticed for the first time that Isabelle already looked like she could be Kate's daughter. They shared their fiery red hair, freckles, and the sparkling eyes, although Kate's were green and Isabelle's blue.
Isabelle sought out Jess, still sitting on his horse as if afraid to come down. He winked at her, and she winked back.
Scott gave Mike a huge hug, spinning her around off her feet, and then mounted, as did Johnny and Slim. As they rode slowly out of town, they turned back to see the Everafter contingent waving from the porch, Pearl flapping her handkerchief when she wasn’t using it to dab her eyes.
Scott had not been happy to come here a week ago, but was now leaving with reluctance, and not just a little excitement about the future. A future that he hoped would include Kate and Isabelle.
Johnny took off his hat and slapped his brother on the arm with it. “Race ya!”
“Oh no you don’t, young man!” Murdoch bellowed. You’re not healed up enough for that nonsense yet.” Johnny’s shoulders slumped, but he obeyed and settled his hat back on his head.
“Say, Jess,” Slim said, pulling his horse up beside Jess’. “You think you’re gonna be happy on a little ol’ relay station after all this excitement and all these women makin’ over you?”
“Guess I’ll just have to make do, pard," Jess sighed. "I feel obliged since you obviously can’t get along without me.” His smirk turned into an evil grin as he pushed Traveler into a full gallop to avoid the hat that Slim had swung at his head.
Scott and Johnny, denied the chance to race, were arguing about something. Murdoch heard Kate’s named mentioned.
Murdoch sighed and smiled as he shook his head. The next few days would give him a glimpse of life had he produced four sons instead of just two. Suddenly he longed for his sweet Teresa, his loyal Maria, his chair by the fire and his scotch.
The End
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