Melinda Heads West (14 page)

Boone stopped the animal in front of the house, slowly dismounted, and took off his hat. “Mindy.”

Mindy nodded, but said nothing. She stared past his head into the distance, willing Becky to hurry, with her hands clasped tightly in front of her.

Boone stepped up onto the porch. He held his hat in his hands, circling it. “I came to talk to you.”

“I have nothing to say to you, Gary Boone.”

“But Mindy, I didn’t mean for things to get so … ”

“Well, they did, didn’t they?”

Becky arrived then, tearing around the house with the wagon.

“If you’ll excuse me?” Mindy marched down the stairs, lifting her blue skirt as she went. She climbed into the buggy, saying only, “Please take me home.”

Becky looked back at Boone with daggers in her eyes. He shrugged and then threw his hat to the ground.

Mindy maintained her dignity until she arrived back in her hotel room. There, she finally broke down, throwing herself on the bed and weeping until she had no tears left to cry.

When Boone stepped into the house, his mother was waiting. “See what you’ve done!”

“What
I’ve
done? She was fine until she came to lunch with you two!”

“Gary Boone, you will not raise your voice in this house, and you certainly will not raise your voice to me. That girl will go home and cry her eyes out because
you
lied to her, not because we revealed it.”

Boone’s shoulders slumped. “Well, what am I supposed to do? She’s being courted by a rich dandy who can offer her anything she wants. What can I give her?”

“See there. I knew it! You care for her.”

Boone slapped his hat against his leg. “Heck yeah, I care for her!”

“What do you intend to do about it?”

Boone looked up into his mother’s gaze. “Do you think she’d listen to me if I tried to explain?”

“Probably not. But it sure wouldn’t hurt to try. I like that little girl, Gary. Now, you go get her.”

Boone’s eyes turned hard. He set his hat back on his head with a determined shove. “Yes, ma’am!”

• • •

Mindy had dozed off. She awoke to a loud banging on her door. “What is it? Who’s there?” she called. She wiped her eyes and realized how puffy they were. She was so tired of crying!

“It’s me, Mindy! Open the door!” It was Boone’s voice.

“What do you want?” She hollered, tossing her leather journal at the wooden door. “Can’t find any children or animals to torture? You decided to come and torment me?”

“No! Mindy, I’m not trying to torment you.” There was a dull thump on the door, as if he were leaning his head against it. “I don’t rightly know what I’m trying to do. But I need to talk to you.”

“Well, talk!”

“Through the door?”

“If you’ve got something to say, say it. I’d just as soon not look at your face!”

“All right then.” There was a long pause.

“Well? Do you have something to say, or don’t you?”

Boone exhaled. “Min, are you happy with Lucas?”

“What?” Did she hear correctly?

“Does he treat you right? Are you happy?”

Mindy thought his voice sounded muffled. She rose from the bed and walked nearer to the door. “Yes, he’s good to me. Why?” A small sparkle started in her heart.

“No reason, I guess. I just wanted to be sure.”

Mindy jumped as a fist hit the door halfheartedly.

“I want to know if he ever treats you bad. You deserve a good man, Min.”

When she opened the door, Boone almost fell in. He looked pitiful and she knew for a fact she didn’t look any better.

“Oh. Hi there, Min.” Boone took his hat in both hands and started circling it. “I’m sorry to barge over here like this, but I was worried about you. You know, after the way you left the house.”

“You were worried about me?”

“Of course I was. I could see you were all upset.” Boone rubbed his head. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. That I lied to you. At first it was just to shut you up … you being a pain and all on the trail. You understand. But then I ended up with my britches hitched on my own pitchfork. I didn’t know how to fix things without looking like a fool.”

Mindy crossed her arms and cut her eyes at him.

“Like now, I reckon.” Boone shook his head. “I ain’t never talked to a real lady, Min. I don’t know the flowery things to say or the right words to use. I’m not like Lucas, all spit-shined and polished.”

“Why on earth would you want to be like Lucas?” Mindy asked. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Boone was trying to tell her he was jealous. Imagine!
Two
men. She struggled to keep a smile from her face.

“Never mind. The thing is … I care for you, Mindy. I’ve never cared for another woman the way I care for you. I’d like a chance to show you.”

Mindy almost swooned. She stood for a moment with her mouth open. “But … Boone, I thought … ”

“I told you I’m not too good with talking, Mindy.” Boone stepped forward and placed one hand on either side of her waist. He pulled her toward him, and before she knew what to expect, she was lost in his kiss. A long, dreamy, searching, foolish kiss. When he set her back, she stood dumbly. She couldn’t speak or think. Her eyes had glazed.

Boone started to grin. “I guess Lucas doesn’t kiss you like that, does he?”

Mindy drew back, realizing how forlorn she must have looked, now that the kiss had ended. She spat, “It’s none of your business what Lucas does or does not do!”

“I’d say it is!”

“Now how do you figure that?”

“I just told you that I care about you. What else do you want? Flowers? Hard candy?” Boone kicked the doorframe. “I knew it was stupid coming over here like this. I told ma that — ”

“What?” Melinda paled. “Gary Boone, did your mother set you up to coming over here?”

“Well, it was her idea, but — ”

“Then you go back and tell her it didn’t work! I don’t know what pleasure you get in tormenting me, Gary Boone, but I don’t care for it. Not one bit!”

“I told you, Mindy … ” But the door slammed in his face.

Mindy jumped again when a loud bang sounded on the other side of the wall. She waited a few moments and then opened the door and looked out. Boone was gone, but there was a huge fist imprint in the wall.

Boone secured one man to help with his mission and tried to think of a second. His thoughts kept coming back to Lucas. Admittedly, part of the reason would be to keep him away from Mindy for a few days.

He found Lucas in a saloon on Main Street, flirting with one of the barmaids. His temper soared. Before he knew what he was up to, he had Lucas in a headlock in the middle of the dirty street.

Lucas gave him an elbow to the ribs, and with a great, “Uumph!” Boone lost his hold. The two men circled each other but Lucas jumped first. He grabbed Boone by the waist and threw him to the ground. Boone reacted by throwing a roundhouse punch to Lucas’s jaw. The blow knocked Lucas aside and he lay there panting and holding the side of his face. He started to rise.

This time, Boone jumped, throwing Lucas back to the ground; he gave Lucas several sharp blows to the face before the two were broken apart by a sheriff who had come running when the commotion started.

“What in Sam Hill is going on here?” he demanded. “Don’t you two have anything better to do than scare the women and children of this town? I ought to lock you both up for ignorance!”

Lucas pointed a dirty finger at Boone as he rubbed his jaw. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth. “He started it.”

“I don’t care who started it. It’s finished now! Go on!” The sheriff was a no-nonsense older man. He had graying hair with a cowlick at the temple. His cheeks were flushed as he chastised the men.

Lucas eyed Boone with hostility, but Boone shook the dirt off his pants and turned to leave. He gave Lucas a last look. “Treat her right, Lucas, or I swear I’ll come after you.”

“All right, all right. We’ve said all we need to say. Now, go on!” The sheriff gestured with his hands.

Boone had taken three steps in the opposite direction when he was tackled from behind. Lucas threw him to the ground and began pummeling his kidney.

The sheriff stepped in again. “That’s it! You’re both headed off to jail. I can see you ain’t got this out of your system yet. We’ll just give you two little ladies time to think about it.” A deputy arrived, grabbing Lucas, as the sheriff helped Boone to his feet. He was favoring his right side.

The steel doors clanged shut and the boys looked at each other from adjacent cells.

“Are you happy now?” Lucas asked.

“Naw, I ain’t happy,” Boone said. “Not when I see you cozying up to some other girl while you’ve been courting Mindy! She deserves better than that!”

“It’s none of your business what she deserves! That’s between her and me!”

“I’ll say it’s my business! You’re not the only one who cares for her!”

Lucas’s mouth dropped open. Then he paused and a smile started, lifting the corner of his lips. “Well, ain’t that just too bad, friend. Because we know who it is she’s spending her time with, don’t we?”

Boone lunged at Lucas through the bars but the blond man backed away, still smiling.

“You better watch your back, Lucas. I’m waiting to see how you treat her.”

Lucas lay back on the cot in his cell and tipped his hat down over his face. “Well, watching it ain’t the same as living it.” He chortled. “I think I’ll just get me some shut eye while you stew on the matter.”

Boone started to punch the wall, but instead sat down on his own cot and gently tested the side of his stomach. It felt like Lucas had ruptured something!

• • •

Mindy heard about the fight at the mercantile later that morning. She marched down to the jailhouse with eyes that sparked.

The two boys woke when they heard a familiar voice: “I tell you I want to see them, and I want to see them
now
!”

The sheriff mumbled something under his breath, but soon preceded Mindy down the hall to the room where the boys were now standing.

“I just want you to know that Boone here started the whole thing, Mindy,” Lucas said quickly.

“I don’t give a fig which one of you started it! How dare you both shame me in front of the people of this town! Fighting like dogs over a bone! How’d you think this would make me feel?” She stared at each one in turn. She had her hands pressed firmly to her hips and looked magnificent. “I hope the sheriff leaves you locked up for a week!”

Mindy turned to Boone. “And what do you think your mother will say when she hears of this? I imagine she’s going to be right proud of her son, then, huh?” Lucas laughed and she turned on him.

“And I thought better of you Lucas Wilhite! Don’t you
dare
laugh!”

Lucas sobered immediately. “But Mindy … ”

“Don’t you ‘but Mindy’ me! I’ve had it. I don’t want to be seen with either of you! Think about that!” Mindy whirled and stomped out of the room, skirts flying.

The sheriff lingered in the holding room a bit longer. “Hoo-whee, boys! She is something else. Good thing neither of you decided to tangle with
her
in the street today!” He laughed the whole way back into the office.

When Boone and Lucas were released from jail, they went their separate ways: Boone to prepare for his trip, Lucas for a bath and shave and then to visit Mindy to try to make things right.

Boone quickly found another man to complete the threesome that would be going after the Byler brothers. Both men traveling with him were older and more than qualified. One, Jake Myers, could track a ghost across a wide open plain. The other, Micah Powers, was trail-hard and one you’d be glad to have in your corner in any fight.

The boys were loading up outside the general store, when suddenly Boone cursed, throwing his pack onto the horses’ back. There was no way he could leave without trying to say a word to Mindy. But why did he care? What was it about her that had him so enraptured? She wasn’t the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. She sure wasn’t the daintiest. And she cried at the drop of a hat. But he’d never known another woman that would pull a gun on a man! Or travel alone across the country. Or chew him to high heaven. Except, maybe his mother. Dog gone it! He hated seeing that similarity!

These feelings were foreign to him and he didn’t like them. His ma might call it love. Boone spat in the dirt. Love! Regardless, he soon found himself marching angrily to the hotel. He pounded on Mindy’s door.

• • •

“Good heavens!” Mindy said. “What is it?” When she opened the door to find Boone standing there, in his two-day-old clothes, with two-day stubble, and a swollen, black eye, she told herself he looked like a filthy beast. Her heart didn’t agree. “What on earth could you want?” she demanded.

“I reckon I came to say goodbye. I’m headed out to find the Bylers and won’t be back for a while. I just wanted to … ” Boone twisted his hat. “ … tell you, I guess.”

Mindy stiffened and crossed her arms over her chest. “And I’m supposed to care?”

“Naw. I reckon not.” Boone paused. “But I thought — heck! I don’t know what I thought.” He stared at her face. “I guess I’m sorry for acting the way I did. I’m sorry you got mad about the fight.”

“You mean, you’re sorry for the fight,” Mindy corrected.

“No, I’m not sorry for the fight. I’m just sorry you got all up in the air about it. I guess I’d do it again, given the chance.”

“What kind of apology is that? You never cease to amaze me, Gary Boone. You expect me to forgive you when you’re not even sorry?”

“I’m not trying to
apologize
!” Boone shuffled from foot to foot. “I’m just sorry you got mad, is all!”

“Humph!” Mindy said, tightening her arms. She couldn’t help but consider the dangerous mission he was about to undertake. After a lengthy pause, during which the two stared at each other, Mindy asked, “How long will it take to get to Dodge City?”

“Dodge City?”

“Yes. While we were walking those days, Byler mentioned the city a couple of times. Made me think he was from around there. He kept saying that there were tall beers waiting on him in Dodge City. Didn’t you hear him? It was before we found the water.”