Always, Ransom Read online

  “So, let’s get you set up at the hitching post. Once Cordell comes through, you’ll be on the trail and we won’t see each other for a few days, which is fine by me.”

  The horse seemed to think so too, plodding along to the hitching post and stopping with a toss of her head that sent her mane swishing to the other side of her neck. With a sigh, Delia looped the reins over the post and gave the mare an open-handed pat on her shoulder. “Good girl.”

  Looking up at the sky, lifting her hand to shade her eyes from the bright sunlight, Delia didn’t have to look at the clock to know the time, living where she did, knowing her family’s business like she did, she could almost feel the ticking of time pushing through her like the wind across the fields.

  The approaching dot and trail of dust behind it spoke volumes. A rider was coming and nearly on time by the looks of it. A quick glance off to the side said that the trough was full, there was an empty stall waiting for the horse from the Three Rivers livery and when the wind pushed across the trail and lifted stray strands of her hair into her eyes, she missed watching the approach of the rider and only heard the thunder of hooves as the horse came to a stop a few feet away.

  Delia brushed her eyes clear and stepped closer to take the reins of the pony in her hands. “I saddled SadieBelle for you.” She didn’t look up at the rider, she didn’t have to. The schedule told her what she needed to know. It was Cordell. She rarely dealt with his rides on the schedule. At this time of the day she was usually involved in any number of chores, but her father’s sudden departure had made it necessary for those chores to wait. There would be time for them later.

  The gelding she held side-stepped as Cordell removed the mochilla from his back. “Surprised to see you out here, Miss Burroughs.”

  She drew in a long breath and let it out with a shrug. “My Pa was called away to help with the next swing station.”

  “Oh?” He trudged on by and swung the mochila up onto the spare wooden saddle on SadieBelle’s back. “What happened?”

  Delia smoothed her hand down the nose of the bay gelding. “Someone loosed all the horses while the riders were having their breakfast. Pa went to help them recover the horses and get the next rider on his way.

  She turned to look at Cordell when she heard him laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  Cordell shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “Then don’t laugh. It’s a big problem for them.”

  “Won’t be a problem much longer,” his smile was just as disconcerting as his words.

  She let the pinch of unease roll off her back and turned away from him. There was enough drama in her life without his smarmy laughter.

  He was about to step up onto the horse when he stopped and dropped his foot back down into the dirt. “Hold on a second. I think I left my glove.”

  Delia held the horse steady, waiting for Cordell to return. Her back ached a little, the long hours of work hurt, even with her father’s added help. So, while Cordell made his way around the gelding, Delia let her eyes close and leaned back against the corral. Any rest was welcome when your work went around the clock.

  “There it is,” she heard his laugh and felt his shadow crawl over her, the heat of the sunlight lifting just a bit as he reached for the horse, “thanks. Don’t know where I’d be without my gloves.”

  Her heart stilled in her chest. Her skin went cold. And then dread prickled along her arms almost as if he touched her. But he hadn’t. No, he didn’t touch her.

  But just being this close to him was enough.

  Opening her eyes, she blinked at him, searching for something in his face. And finding nothing she wanted to see. Another wind blew through and the scent that reached her nose nearly drove her to her knees in a blind panic.

  Her mind was locked on an evening less than a week before. She felt the scratch of pebbles in her palm. Felt the shallow gasp of breath trapped in her lungs. She smelled ‘him.’

  And when he tugged his glove free of the wooden saddle frame, his coat sleeve pulled back his shirt cuff and there, tracked along his tanned skin, the jagged catch of her nails in his skin.

  Delia looked up at him, and then away before he could return the gesture, but her mind was in a whirl. What could she do?

  Holding his gloves aloft in triumph he sighed. “Great, now I can go.”

  She nodded and watched him round the horse and head for SadieBelle who was impatiently pawing at the dirt.

  When Cordell swung up into the saddle. She had only a moment to decide what to do.

  As soon as he kicked his heels into SadieBelle’s chest and sent them rushing toward the west, Delia set a boot on the bottom rung of the corral and with her hand on the pommel, she swung up and onto the saddle. There was a dull thud of pain that went through her hips. “Goodness.” Even with the layers of skirt and petticoat and drawers between her and the saddle, the wooden frame with its spare cover of leather made for the express by the Israel Landis' saddlery in St. Joseph, was made to be light weight not comfortable.

  But that was the least of her concerns. Leaning forward she ran a consoling hand down the neck of the gelding, ending at his shoulder. “I’m so sorry to take you back on the trail, boy. But I have to tell them.” She took hold of the reins and swung the horse around toward Three Rivers and once she set her sights on the horizon and the town, she knew was there but couldn’t see, it all became clear. “I need to tell Levi so he can make this stop. Then, we can truly have our fresh start.”

  They launched into action, the gelding finding enough energy to keep going even though it was tired. She knew her skirts were going to get tangled up on the ride, but the only thing that mattered was to worry about how to disentangle herself later. She had to get there first.

  “Hey!”

  It was no more than a whisper in the air when she heard it, but Delia looked over her shoulder and saw the tiny figure in the distance behind her widened for a moment and then continued. She knew exactly what happened. Cordell had seen her. He knew what she was doing. He knew where she was heading.

  And he was going to try to stop her.

  “Oh please,” she dug her heels into the sides of the gelding, hoping that he would feel the movement even with her skirts tangled about her legs, “go faster. Please, faster.”

  Chapter 13

  It was Matthew that saw the dust from his perch in the livery stable. Scrambling to his feet he yelled toward the house. “There’s a rider coming!” He grabbed the rope attached to the bell hanging just outside the open hayloft doors. It was long enough to reach down to a few feet above the ground, and Matthew could easily reach it from the edge of the loft floor. With a few heavy-handed pulls, he knew everyone would hear the sound.

  The bunkhouse emptied out in a rush. They knew the schedule by heart and a rider at this time of day meant something was wrong.

  Levi hit the porch with Olivia hard on his heels. “Who is it?”

  Matthew gaped at the sight that reached his eyes. “It's Delia, Pa! She's riding fast and there's someone coming up behind her, hard on her heels.”

  Ransom disappeared into the bunkhouse and emerged again in what seemed like heartbeats.

  Levi balked at the rifle in Ransom’s hands, but he held his tongue. Wyeth tossed his rifle to Clay and reached for Ransom’s gun.

  “Give it here, Ransom.”

  Ransom shouldered the butt of the rifle and set his sight along the barrel, aiming it at the rider behind Delia.

  “Let me.” Wyeth leaned toward his friend.

  “I can do this,” Ransom’s hands were steady, but they could all hear the waver in his voice. They could all feel the frustration and fear rolling off of him in waves. “It's Cordell. I can see him.”

  Luke, who had scrambled up into the loft of the barn, stood shoulder to shoulder with Matthew and called out to those on the ground. “It is him! What’s wrong?”

  “Let me have the gun.” Wyeth grabbed a hold of the long barrel and pulled it off
to the side. “Think, Ransom.”

  “I can take the shot if I need to.”

  “I know you can,” argued Wyeth, “but I think you’d best take care of Delia. Something’s wrong or she wouldn’t be riding in like this.”

  It may have been Wyeth’s words that got through to Ransom, or perhaps it was the look in Delia’s eyes as she rode full speed toward the station, but Ransom handed the rifle into his friend’s capable hands and stepped out into the open.

  She heard Matthew’s voice like an echo in her chest instead of her ears. Fear pounded through her veins in place of blood, but rather than cry out in alarm, she focused on the line of men waiting for her at the station. The riders, all of them, had offered her a kind word or smile in the past, she knew she could trust them all, but seeing them together for the first time since that first fateful meeting gave her reason to hope that she would soon be safe.

  Ransom handed the rifle to Wyeth, or at least that’s how it looked through the haze of her tears. Bending low over the gelding’s neck, she kept her focus on the one spot on the horizon that mattered to her. Ransom.

  A moment before she reached the safety of the line, she closed her eyes in silent prayer that this would bring an end to the danger and worry that they'd all been through.

  Delia held tight to the reins and pulled back to stop the horse. She worried that the severe action would hurt the horse’s mouth, but her pain and her worry were running rampant through her veins. The horse stopped its forward movement, hooves pawing at the ground, tucking its powerful back legs under its powerful bulk. “Stop, oh please, stop.”

  A hand took hers with a strong squeeze. “Delia.”

  Her head whipped up and she felt her shoulders sag in relief. “Ransom.”

  He gave her a tentative smile. “Let go of the reins, Delia. Give them to me.”

  She nodded, and stared at him, but she didn’t move.

  She saw Ransom look behind her and then back up into her eyes. “Give me your hand, Delia.”

  Looking down, she saw the white knuckles of her hand and the reins grasped tight in her fingers. With an effort, she managed to open her fingers enough to allow Ransom to tug the reins from her.

  He lifted a hand and she slid from the saddle down to the ground and the safe circle of his arms. “What happened?”

  She shook from head to toe, her skin icy cold with fear. “He came to the station.” She looked up as Levi moved closer, his eyes focused on her face. “Normally it’s Papa’s responsibility to work Cordell’s rides,” she looked at Levi and quickly turned away, knowing that he’d probably read the truth in her eyes, “but he was called away to help the next station, so I pitched in.” She gasped in a breath, knowing that she only had a moment or two before Cordell would be there. “I saw his hand. He has scars.” Delia looked up and met Levi’s eyes now. “I didn’t tell my pa or you,” she felt Ransom’s arm tighten around her shoulders, “but when Matthew was staying with me, someone grabbed me and I scratched him.”

  Levi’s face tightened, the color leeching out of his skin. “Cordell has the scars?”

  Delia nodded and Levi turned to Ransom. “He told me he scratched himself on one of the posts, said the nails tore into his skin.”

  Ransom shook his head, struggling with the sudden flare of anger in his gut.

  Wyeth called for Cordell to stop, and the returning rider waved him off with a laugh. “What’s with this reception, boys?” He lifted his hand in a greeting toward Levi. “I know, I should be on my way to the next station in the other direction,’ he began, “but during the exchange, Miss Burroughs ran off, upset. I wanted to make sure she’s all right.”

  “Is that right, Cordell?” Levi’s tone was light enough, but there was an edge of suspicion in his tone.

  “Well,” he slid from his horse and handed the reins off to Matthew who had moved closer even with a stern shake of his father’s head, “I doubt you would want me to let the young lady ride off alone, obviously upset.”

  “You pursued her.” She heard Ransom’s voice rumble up through his chest and she laid her cheek against his shoulder. “Maybe you were afraid of what she’d say to us.”

  “What she’d say?”

  Delia heard the laughter in Cordell’s voice, a rough scratch of sound as he struggled to even out his breathing. She understood the feeling. She was still struggling to slow the rapid rise and fall of her chest. The pain as her ribs pressed hard against her corset, even with the layers of cotton between the boned underpinning and her bare skin, she felt as if her skin had been rubbed raw.

  “It’s him.” She drew in a breath and winced at the pain. “I know it’s him.”

  The door to the house burst open and Anna was suddenly on the porch, concern etched in her expression. That’s when the tears began to fall.

  “It’s,” she gasped, and turned her head to look over her shoulder, “it’s him. I know it’s him.”

  Ransom pushed her behind him and took a step toward Cordell, but Levi stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Go, take her inside with Olivia. You’re too angry to help us sort this out.”

  That was when she felt the truth of Levi’s words. Even though she’d been clinging to Ransom, she hadn’t realized the naked anger seething from his pores. It shocked her. She wasn’t afraid of him. Ransom wouldn’t hurt her. But, she heard the entreaty in Levi’s words and realized that it was meant for both of them.

  “Ransom, please?” He turned his head toward her. Anger changed to concern in a heartbeat and he took her hand in his and gestured for her to move ahead of him. When she barely had a foot on the bottom step, Olivia and Anna swarmed around her, drawing her up into the house with them. She knew by the steady drum of sound after them, that Ransom was just a step or two behind them, and she let out her first sigh of relief. She was safe.

  And she was with Ransom.

  What else could she ask for?

  When Levi entered the living room, Ransom started to stand, but Olivia waved him back down. “Stay.”

  He would have argued, but the gentle stroke of Delia’s thumb over the back of his hand settled him back against the seat and her shoulder.

  Levi pulled a chair out and sat heavily, dropping his hands down on his knees. Olivia quickly poured a cup of water for her husband and bent down beside his chair and placed it in his hand. “What happened?”

  Ransom felt Delia tense beside him, and before he could think better of it, he raised their joined hands and brushed a kiss over her knuckles.

  The gentle gesture didn’t go unnoticed by their friends and Levi began his explanation with a smile on his lips.

  “I had a few words with Cordell. He said all the right things, but I couldn’t get out of my mind the way he listened to what Delia had said,” he turned and looked at Ransom and then Delia, “and he denied it, but he didn’t seem shocked at the accusation.”

  Olivia shook her head. “I just can’t believe that he’d lay his hands on a woman.” Her tone spoke volumes, shocking her as much to say the words as it was to consider Cordell’s actions.

  “I don’t think,” Delia met Olivia’s eyes and then looked away, “I don’t think he expected me to know it was him.” She looked up at Ransom and he felt his heart constrict within his chest. “He knocked me down from behind.” He felt her shift nervously beside him. “He told me to get my father to quit the station. He warned me what would happen if we didn’t leave.”

  Ransom cupped her hand between his, trying to warm her skin. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He chanced a look at Levi and Olivia. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  She turned her gaze to the floor, but the others waited for her to speak, knowing she had been through quite an ordeal.

  When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. “I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t even tell my father,” she turned her gaze to Levi. “He’s been different recently. He’s stronger somehow, and eager to do the work. I wasn’t going to take all that away from him because o
f one man.”

  Ransom watched as Levi and Olivia shared a look, and knew that a wealth of information passed between the two with just that one glance. When they turned together to give Delia a soft encouraging smile, Ransom felt Delia shake with silent sobs.

  “I know I’ve made a big mess of this, haven’t I?” She tried to pull away from him, but he held her hand securely between his. “I should’ve done things differently, but once I made the decision, once I decided to lock away the memory instead of asking him to run away, I couldn’t go back and take it all back. I didn’t want my father to lose this last little piece of his pride.”

  “Why would he?”

  Delia turned slightly on the seat, her eyes speaking volumes about her confusion. “Even with the two of us,” she explained, “we’re not enough to keep the swing station running. There have been so many problems and the two of us just aren’t enough to keep up with the work and defend ourselves from these horrible people that are causing trouble.”

  “That’s just it, dear.” Olivia gave her a gracious smile. “You’re not the one causing the trouble.”

  “No,” Delia shook her head, “but we’re ill equipped to fix it as well. I think that’s easy enough for everyone to understand, including Russell, Majors, & Waddell. I’m sure they’ll have you remove us from the station since we can’t keep things running smoothly.”

  Olivia’s shock was evident on her face. She turned to Levi for reassurance. “Is that right?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Surely when Cordell admits to what he’s done, it won’t be held against Frank and Delia.”

  Anna from her place on a nearby chair, interrupted the momentary silence. “Where is Cordell?” She looked at her father. “Did the boys tie him up?”

  Levi shared a look with his wife, as if he wasn’t sure he should give the details to his younger child, but a nod from Olivia opened his mouth. “Wyeth and Luke took him to the smithy.” Anna was the only one who seemed confused. “You don’t spend much time down at that end of town.” Levi’s tone said he understood, and that she should keep it that way. “Samuel built a cell there, to keep people who’ve broken the law until they can be transported to another town for a trial.