Circle Eight: Vaughn (18 page)

Elizabeth refused to admit she’d been untruthful. If they kept him in the restaurant longer, it would give Tobias time to get to the boys and make sure they were safe. She’d been worried Boyd had set extra guards at his house when he was suspicious of Vaughn and his new wife. Now they had to worry about leaving the restaurant, and Houston, without Troxler chasing them.

“I resent the insinuation. I insist we contact the authorities and file a complaint.” Elizabeth got to her feet again. “I am a citizen of the Republic and I have rights.”

Troxler shook his head, bemused. “You don’t take to orders very well do you?”

“I never will.” She pulled on her gloves. “Now, if you don’t mind, Mr. Troxler, we will take our leave of you.”

“Oh, but I do mind.” Boyd gestured to the men behind him. “We will leave together.”

Elizabeth looked to Vaughn. He took her arm and pulled her close. “I told you this was good-bye, Boyd. I meant it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I have the upper hand here, boy. You must realize that.” Boyd’s gaze slid to behind them and his gaze widened. “Vanessa? You’re dead.”

Elizabeth turned to find Winifred walking toward them clutching the pistol Elizabeth had just lamented leaving behind. Accompanying her new friend were her brothers, Nicholas and Benjy. It was all too much to take in.

“What’s happening?” she hissed at Vaughn.

“Winnie is seeking revenge. Who are the men with her?”

“My brothers.” Elizabeth closed her eyes against the onslaught of emotions. Seeing her family had reminded her just how much she’d missed them. The adventure with Vaughn had been a constant wave of surprises but in the end, she was a Graham and she belonged with her family.

“Fuck. She will kill Troxler without preamble. Where did the gun come from? It looks like…” He scowled at Elizabeth. “Is that Granny’s Colt?”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to use it.”

“Jesus, woman, how about when they took us captive? That would have been a good time.”

“Do you really want to argue about it now? I was playing the odds and they never seemed to be in our favor. And they still don’t. Two men with guns and one angry woman.” Elizabeth didn’t know what Mr. Troxler had done to Winifred but it was apparently enough to warrant murder.

“Vanessa. I saw you dead. I had you buried.” Boyd’s face had turned as waxy as his mustache. “You cannot be alive.”

“Oh but I am, you rotten son of a bitch.” Winifred pointed the weapon with steady hands right at the man’s heart. “You stole me from my mother, forced me into prostitution, and then pretend you’re happy to see me back from the grave? No, you do not deserve that privilege. I will not allow it.”

“Vanessa, darling, you have to understand.”

Winifred cocked the weapon. “I’ve waited five years for this moment. You will not ruin it by speaking.”

The two bodyguards raised their guns and pointed them at Winnie. Then Nicholas and Benjy raised rifles and pointed them at the bodyguards. What was left? A sword fight?

“We must cease this fighting immediately.” Elizabeth’s voice boomed across the restaurant. Every patron and employee had already stopped to stare at the spectacle, not that she blamed them. It was a sight for entertaining stories for years to come. “There must be a peaceful way to settle this.”

“I cannot possibly see how. This woman deceived me and pretended to be dead. She owes me, as does your supposed husband. I shall have everyone arrested.” Boyd snapped his fingers. “Call the police!”

The maître d’ jumped to attention, scrabbling around like an insect. Elizabeth wanted to squash him.

“No one has committed any crimes here except you. You have swindled the last innocent person in Texas.” Vaughn’s grin was positively lethal. “I have all the evidence they need to put you in prison for the rest of your life, if not stretch your neck.”

“Preposterous. You have no evidence, and even if you did, you would be right next to me.”

“So be it. You’ve destroyed too many lives and it’s time for it to stop.” Vaughn looked at Winifred. “Let’s do this the legal way and charge him with crimes. You don’t want to go to prison for killing him, do you?”

“No one is killing me.” Boyd’s face had turned nearly purple with rage. “I am one property away from selling my land to the railroad. You will not stop me now.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pepperbox pistol.

Time slowed down as everyone moved at once. Vaughn threw Elizabeth toward the chair, out of the range of fire. Someone screamed as the gun went off. Winifred fired, the boom from the Colt like a cannon in the high-ceilinged restaurant. Blood flew everywhere and panic ensued. People fled, shouting and yelling, knocking over tables and other people. Grunts, curses and moans filled the air along with silverware and china hitting the floor.

Elizabeth saw Winifred on the floor, the front of her yellow dress spattered with red. “Winnie!” She extricated herself from the chair and crawled over to her friend. Nick had already gotten to her side and was currently pressing several napkins into a wound on her shoulder.

“I think that bastard shot me.” A few drops of blood decorated her porcelain cheek.

“He did but we will save you, won’t we, Nicholas?”

“Damn truth.” Nicholas looked at Benjy. “Find out from one of these fools where the doctor is and get him here.”

Benjy, wide eyed but calm, nodded and scampered away to do as he was told. Elizabeth hadn’t stopped to consider how the violence might affect her youngest brother. He had already been through so much in his young life, more than many saw in a lifetime.

“Did she kill him?” Nicholas’s jaw was tight. “’Cause I sure hope she did. Rotten son of a bitch.”

“How do you know who Boyd Troxler is? And how are you here with Winnie? I don’t understand.” She touched his whiskered cheek. “I am happy to see you, though.”

“I rode like hell to find you—both of us did.” He moved to cradle Winnie’s head in his lap and adjusted the napkins to staunch the bleeding. “We never gave up, though. I knew Caleb, Matt and Brody wouldn’t.”

The older Grahams and their brother-in-law were fierce men who always did what was right, no matter how difficult the task set before them. Nick had always shied away from emulating them, choosing instead to become an expert at horseflesh, the one who delivered all the foals and doctored the mares. He had a touch with the animals the rest of them didn’t have.

“Thank you.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

“I never would, Ellie.”

“This is a touching family reunion but I need to know if I killed him. Is he dead?” Winnie’s normally pale complexion was now the color of milk, blanched and tight against her face.

Elizabeth peered through the table and chairs and saw a body on the ground behind the table. The two men who had been bodyguards stood over it, but no one was providing assistance to him.

“I think you did.” Elizabeth didn’t know the details of the crimes committed by Troxler but she couldn’t be sorry he was dead. The man was a demon in disguise.

“Good. Now I can finally sleep, even if it’s from a prison cell.” Winnie’s eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Nick felt her neck for a pulse. He let out a relieved sigh. “She’s only fainted.”

Vaughn squatted down beside them. “How bad is it?” He brushed Winnie’s hair from her forehead. For the first time since she’d met the woman, Elizabeth was not jealous of the attention he paid to his friend.

“Bullet passed clean through. She’s bleeding pretty bad, though.” Nick’s gaze narrowed on Vaughn. “You the son of a bitch who kidnapped my sister?”

Vaughn held up his hands. “I was kidnapped along with her. She saved my life.”

“You’re the naked stranger?”

“I suppose I was. I can see Mrs. Dolan has been telling tales.”

“Granny is alive?” Elizabeth grabbed her brother’s arm. “Is she all right?”

Nick shook his head and Elizabeth’s heart dropped. “She made it out of the fire just fine. Sat there and waited for a day for someone to come. Benjy and I made it in time though. She told me she was just old and it was her time.” He squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. “She didn’t suffer none, Ellie. She wanted you to know it wasn’t your fault.”

Oh, but it hurt. Very much so. Elizabeth had harbored a hope the older woman had survived somehow, but she was over seventy years old. Life had taken its toll on their surrogate grandmother. She could hardly walk any longer. It would have been a matter of time before she passed, but Elizabeth was comforted to know her brothers were there with her.

“So where are the men who kidnapped you? I’ve got a rifle bullet with their names on it.” Nick held Winnie as if he knew her. Elizabeth would have to ask about that later when the coppery scent of blood and the acrid scent of gunpowder wasn’t in the air.

“It’s a complicated story. They’re going to make it right, rebuild the Circle Eight.” Elizabeth realized she’d sent Tobias to help his brothers but they could have taken their deed and cash and run back to Pops. There was no guarantee there would be anything done to help the Grahams. Nothing beyond the word of an angry young man who burned her ranch.

“Says who? The men who kidnapped you are not good people, Ellie. You know how I know that? Good people don’t kidnap other people.” Nick spotted Benjy sprinting back into the restaurant followed by a tall, skinny fellow with a doctor’s bag. “We’ll finish this later.”

Elizabeth gritted her teeth, tired of the high-handed way her older brothers treated her. She had changed since she left the ranch, no longer the bookkeeper who hid behind the ledger books. Elizabeth had fallen in love, made love, cursed, fought and pretended to be a sophisticated rich woman. She was different and she would no longer allow her family to order her around.

“No, we won’t finish it later. I won’t speak to you about this until you can treat me with respect.” She got to her feet. “I’ll go back to Winnie’s house and prepare her room with bandages and such.”

Nick’s mouth fell open while Benjy simply watched and Vaughn laughed. He took hold of Elizabeth’s hand and kissed the back.

“Let’s go back to the boarding house.”

“I need to get this dress off.” Elizabeth ignored her brothers’ shocked looks and left the restaurant. She did note that Vaughn left something with the maître d’, perhaps his direction so the restaurant would be paid. The police could find them at the boarding house if they needed a statement. However, Elizabeth doubted they would. It was clear Boyd Troxler had fired first, plus he had two armed men at the restaurant.

She left the restaurant on Vaughn’s arm, as she had entered it. This time the ordeal was nearly over. She hoped Tobias and his brothers had found what they needed at Boyd’s house because after today, there would be no more chances. Whatever secrets he had would die with him.

It was only after they stepped outside that she realized tears flowed down her cheeks. Vaughn handed her a handkerchief and they walked slowly together back to Winnie’s. Perhaps tonight, she would sleep too.

The moonlight led them through the streets of Houston to the boarding house. Vaughn held Elizabeth close, disturbed by her tears. She’d seen a man killed and a woman shot, but hell, she had a scar from a bullet wound in her thigh. Any Texas woman worth her salt, especially a rancher, accepted death as a normal occurrence.

Yet she cried for the first time since he’d met her. They had been through much together but she’d stayed strong and focused. It worried him she now had taken to weeping.

“Are you all right?”

“Mmm, not yet but I will be.” She leaned into him. “It’s chilly tonight. I should have brought a wrap.”

“I’ll keep you warm.” He tucked her under his arm as much as he could. She was quite tall for a woman and was an easy fit while they walked. Their strides were well matched and he loved that fact. “Why the tears?”

She sighed. “I am embarrassed to admit that my emotions got the better of me. Seeing Nick and Benjy, knowing that Troxler had hurt Winnie or Vanessa, whatever her name is, and knowing his reign of thievery was over. Then I worried about you.”

“Me? Whatever for? I was right beside you the entire time. I was in no danger.” A half-truth. The damn pepperbox’s aim was notoriously off when fired. He was lucky he had both ears.

“Because now it’s over. Mr. Troxler is dead. Winnie is shot. Tobias and his brothers disappeared. My brothers are here, which means it’s time for me to go home.” She sniffed. “I didn’t think I would regret this adventure coming to an end but I am full of it.”

Vaughn was glad the dark hid his smile. “Are you saying you want to stay with me?”

“I thought I made that clear earlier when I told you I wanted to wear your wedding ring.” She stiffened against him. “I was truthful.”

“So was I. I want to marry you, Ellie. Very much so.” He kissed the top of her head, the smell of roses filling his nose from her beautiful hair.

“What about Mr. Troxler and the ring? Plus, Winifred is really Vanessa. I don’t understand all of what happened.” She definitely was the type of wife who would want an accounting of everything. That would not be an easy task but he would manage, considering he could wake up next to her, in a bed, every day.

“The ring belongs to Winnie. She holds on to it to remind herself what her father valued, which wasn’t her. I will tell you the whole story when we return to the boarding house. We need to ready Winnie’s room.” He hoped she could wait to get all the details. Some of it was Winnie’s story to tell but he knew Ellie would not wait.

They arrived at the boarding house to find lanterns lit from within. He hoped like hell it was Tobias, Jeb and Will. Perhaps it was the rest of Elizabeth’s mad family, including the ones who apparently hunted for lost children. She truly came from extraordinary people.

When they stepped up on the porch, the door swung open and Tobias stood there with a gun in his hand. “It’s about damn time. I thought I’d have to get a move on and kill that snake.”

“Too late. Winnie did it already.” Elizabeth’s laugh was not healthy.

“Put some coffee on and add a bit of whiskey to it.” It was going to be a long night.

He managed to get Elizabeth settled in the kitchen with the Gibson brothers and then went about heating water and locating linen for bandages for the impending arrival of Winnie. She would need help from people who cared about her. Within ten minutes, a carriage rolled up outside and he went out to meet it.

The oldest Graham, Elizabeth had called him Nicholas, emerged from the carriage and then leaned back in. He scooped Winnie in his arms and carried her toward the door. The doctor and the younger Graham followed. Vaughn held the door while they tromped in.

“Upstairs, first door on the left. I’ll be up with the supplies.” He dashed back to the kitchen and poured the hot water into a pitcher. As Elizabeth watched him, he gathered up the bandages then kissed her.

She smiled sadly. “Is she all right?”

“She will be. I won’t let her not be.” He would explain to Elizabeth how he and Winnie had met, bonded and found kindred spirits. Winnie was the sister he’d never had. Even though she was younger than him, she acted like an older sister and always had.

When he made it upstairs, the doctor was checking Winnie while she lay there, pale and still. Nicholas stood there scowling, a mulish tilt to his jaw that Vaughn recognized. The younger one sat in the corner on a chair, his eyes wide and expression blank. Vaughn recognized that look too—this young man had been through hell and survived.

He set the pitcher down on the stand beside the bed along with the bandages. “What else do you need?”

“Peace and quiet. These two were arguing the entire way.” The doctor was German but Vaughn recognized him as a good practitioner, one who wouldn’t turn away someone who needed help regardless of their ability to pay.

Vaughn looked at the Graham brothers. “Could you not hold that in until she got home safely?”

“Not those two.” The doctor pointed at Winnie and Nicholas. “These two.”

“She’s awake?” Vaughn knelt beside the bed and took Winnie’s cold hand. “You are ordered not to die, Winifred.”

Her blue eyes cracked open. “I order you not to order me.”

Vaughn smiled. “She’s a fighter, doc. It keeps her alive so let it run its course.” He kissed the back of her hand. “Elizabeth is worried sick. When she’s calm enough, can I send her up?”

“Please do. I quite like your wife.”

“Wife?” Nicholas’s scowl grew deeper, if that was even possible.

Vaughn ignored him. They could deal with the explanations later. “You shouldn’t have gone to the restaurant.”

“I had to. He had to be stopped. The gun was there and when Elizabeth’s brothers arrived, I knew I had to intervene. You and Ellie put your lives at risk. Troxler was mine to kill and I won’t be sorry he’s dead.” A lone tear coursed down her cheek. “I don’t care if he was my father. He was a monster.”

Vaughn knew how much it cost his friend to kill her father, even if he’d tried to kill her more than once. The spawn of someone so evil had to contend with self-worth and self-loathing that many couldn’t understand. Winnie had started over in life, a new name, a new beginning. Now she’d fallen back into that pit and in the end, killed the demon that haunted her.

“You are amazing.” He squeezed her hand. “Now let the doctor patch you up so we can find out what the consequences are to what we did.”

He stepped back and let the doctor work. The bullet had gone clean through so it was a matter of stitching her up, using salve on the wound, and applying bandages. He left laudanum for her to take and took his leave. The entire process was over with in less than an hour.

Nicholas and Benjy stayed, lending their support to a woman they hardly knew. Vaughn wasn’t surprised, given how Elizabeth was. The Grahams were not the type to give only a little—they gave everything or nothing at all.

Vaughn waited until Winnie fell asleep and then shooed the Grahams out of the room. “We need to go downstairs and talk.”

“She needs to have someone sit with her.” Nicholas wasn’t giving up easily.

“She will be out for at least a couple hours. We can go downstairs and talk. I will leave the door open so we can hear her if she calls out.” Vaughn wasn’t about to leave his friend on her own for long. However, they all needed to discuss what happened and what the next steps were. Now that Troxler was dead, things had changed.

“Fine, but I don’t like it.” Nicholas gave him a good glare before he left the room. Benjy looked at Winnie, however, with a measure of sadness. The young man had depth that many adults didn’t.

They all tromped downstairs to find Elizabeth in the kitchen with the Gibsons. Tobias paced while Jeb and Will sat at the table, wide-eyed and silent.

“Thank God you’re here. I was going to have to trip him to stop the pacing.” Elizabeth frowned at Tobias. “He’s being ridiculous.”

“I ain’t being ridiculous. I’m logical. We broke into Troxler’s house and there was three men guarding it.” Tobias looked at his brothers. “We gave as good as we got.”

“Did you get the deed?” Vaughn leaned against the doorframe. He wanted to pull Elizabeth into his arm and kiss her, but now didn’t seem to be the right time. Particularly with her brother burning a hole in Vaughn with his scowl.

“Yep, but not the cash. There wasn’t none in the safe.” Tobias patted his pocket. “I ain’t letting this go again.”

“What the hell is going on here? You people are a bunch of thieves and kidnappers. Somebody better get talking or I’m gonna start firing.” Nicholas’s voice was tight as a bow string, ready to fly.

Elizabeth spoke up. “It’s a long story, Nick. Sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”

“You’d better.” Brothers appeared to be the biggest pains in the asses. When Vaughn had one it was great some days, but not always. Like now.

Elizabeth told the story of how they all met, not leaving out any details of the ranch burning or the kidnapping. Nick’s fists clenched and he lurched at Tobias. Vaughn held him back, and none too easily.

“He did what he did for his kin. You would have, and have done, anything for your family.” Elizabeth’s logic was unquestionable. “Now listen to the rest of it before you start pounding on flesh.”

Nick sat down with a grunt. Elizabeth told the rest of the story while everyone listened. She left out a few parts, such as the fact they had been intimate or had discussed marriage. When she finished with the scene in the restaurant and Troxler’s death, everyone was quiet. Vaughn thought about the woman upstairs who had sacrificed so much for Boyd, maybe even her own life.

“Why did she do it?” Nick asked the question the rest of them were probably thinking. “Who was he to her?”

“The story is hers to tell but I will say that Winifred was born Vanessa Troxler. She lived the first sixteen years of her life under his thumb, doing things no daughter should never be asked to do by her father.” Vaughn knew some of her story but not all of it. “She nearly died six years ago and I helped her disappear, start over as Winifred Watson. Until today, Boyd thought his daughter was dead.”

“She killed him.” Elizabeth’s voice reflected pain for her friend.

“He was a monster, a spider who pulled everyone into his web, draining them dry until they were husks of who they were.” Vaughn cursed the thickness of his throat. He didn’t want to be that person, who mourned the loss of ten years of his life and couldn’t move on. He sure as hell didn’t want to regret that Boyd was dead.

“Winnie don’t seem like a husk.” Jeb spoke up. “I think she’s nice.”

“She is nice. I hope she doesn’t die.” This from Benjy. The young men were all enamored of Winnie, which wasn’t a surprise. She had that effect on most men, no matter their age.

“She won’t. She’s stronger than most of us.” Vaughn thought Elizabeth was as strong as Winnie. The women put the men to shame with their strength.

“Now that we’ve heard the story of how you got here, how about you tell me the story of how my sister is your wife?” Nicholas’s eyes were so much like Elizabeth’s, it was disconcerting.

“We aren’t married.” Yet. “We needed Boyd to believe we were married, at least until we got the deed back.”

“We were supposed to get the money back too.” Tobias interjected. “I ain’t forgot about that.”

Nicholas looked at Vaughn. “You took their money?”

Guilt pinched at him. “Yes, I did. I’ve admitted that, paid for it with a pound of flesh.”

“Apparently not, because they didn’t get it back.” Nicholas smirked. If Vaughn married Elizabeth, he wasn’t ready for this smartass brother-in-law. There might be some tussling.

“I worked for Boyd, not for myself. I gave him all I garnered. What I got was what he decided to give me.”

“Where is it?” Tobias and Nick seemed to both be ready to lynch Vaughn.

“I don’t have it. The meager amount I had on me was taken when you found me.” Vaughn was now shouting at both of them. “Boyd took everything from me too. I lived a lie for more than ten years, a shell of a man who has been nobody and everybody.”

Emotions ripped through him. He looked at Elizabeth, hoping she understood. Her expression gave him strength.

“Enough brow-beating Vaughn. Everyone was a victim of Boyd Troxler in one way or the other.” She looked at her brother. “Tobias and his brothers will help rebuild the Circle Eight and all of us can go on with our lives.”

“Not without money we ain’t.” Tobias crossed his arms.

“Then we get the money you’re owed.” Elizabeth looked at Vaughn. “If Winnie is his daughter, does she have access to his house?”

Vaughn hadn’t considered that. “It’s possible. She was declared dead six years ago but she is his kin. She might have access but she won’t be able to move for some time.”

“For now we need to get Winnie well and make sure she doesn’t get arrested for killing Mr. Troxler. Let’s wait a few days and see what happens. This house can hold all of us.” Elizabeth yawned. “There are too many men in here. It reminds me of home. All of you need to go find something to do that doesn’t involve fighting or cussing.”

With that, she got to her feet like a queen and left the room. Vaughn was stuck with her two brothers and the three Gibsons.