The Convenient Mail Order Bride (24 page)

“I know it’s not enough to make up for what
I did,” Enoch told Abe. “I don’t blame you for not believing me. I
wouldn’t either if I was you.” He lowered his gaze and brushed
aside a strand of hair that fell into his eyes. “I am sorry, and
I’ll never do anything to hurt her or anyone else again. I stopped
drinking and am going to live life straight.”

Abe wanted to believe Enoch had made a
change for the better, but he couldn’t. Not until enough time
passed for Enoch to prove it.

Deciding the best thing he could do was
ignore Enoch, he turned his attention back to Eric. Eric left the
cabin and headed for the barn. The three waited in silence for Eric
to come out, and when he did, he slipped his gun into the holster.
Abe finally let himself relax.

Eric went over to them. “All clear. Abe, I’m
sorry. I should have told you I released Benny and Enoch from jail
earlier today. My mail-order bride came in, and it wasn’t at all
like I expected. Anyway, I was planning to come out tomorrow
morning to tell you. I didn’t think a day would make this much of a
difference.” He gestured to Benny’s dead body and the cabin where
the other man lay dead. After a long sigh, he added, “I’ll need to
take the bodies back to town. Abe, you mind if I borrow your
wagon?”

Abe nodded then asked, “Is that really Gene
Carter in my cabin?”

“I don’t know what Gene Carter looks like,”
Eric replied. “I only know him by name, and from what I heard, he
should be on a Wanted poster.”

“I’m going to see if it’s him.”

Without waiting for Eric to answer, he
strode back to the cabin, hoping it really was Gene. Maybe Phoebe
and her mother wouldn’t be wanting him to be glad someone was dead,
but he’d certainly sleep a lot better at night if he knew Gene was
no longer alive. Benny was bad enough. Gene was much worse. Gene
didn’t need a reason to hurt someone. He seemed to make a sport of
it.

Once Abe was in the cabin, he lit a kerosene
lamp and went to the dead man. He rolled the body over and, sure
enough, it was Gene. Phoebe got him in the chest and stomach. With
a glance at the couch, he saw Gene had nicked the edge of it.
Phoebe was lucky. She almost got it. But since she’d managed to
keep a cool head, she won the battle. No doubt, she could handle
anything life out here would throw at her, and that made him feel a
lot better about not forcing her onto the stagecoach for her own
good.

“Who is it?” Phoebe asked, bringing his
attention to the doorway where she stood.

“Gene Carter.” Abe wanted to spit on him as
he said the name. Since Phoebe was watching him, he forced himself
to rise to his feet instead. “He killed my uncle and raped my
mother. God only knows how many others he’s hurt. You don’t need to
feel sorry for getting rid of him. You did the world a favor.” He
walked over to her and hugged her, glad she’d been spared the same
fate his mother had to endure. “You keep on getting better with
that gun, you promise?”

“Yes, I promise,” she told him.

“Good.” He glanced back at Gene. “You go on
and tell your mother it’s safe to come out. I’m glad you didn’t
tell anyone where she’s at. You never know if you’ll ever need her
to hide there again.”

“I told her not to come out unless you or I
came to get her.”

“Good girl.” He kissed her. “Alright, I’ll
tell Eric to drag Gene’s worthless hide to town.”

He left the cabin in time to see Eric and
Enoch loading Benny’s body onto the wagon.

Abe stopped in front of Eric and lowered his
voice. “Look, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“As you said, Gene Carter is a bad man. He’s
done a lot of harm to a lot of people. He killed my uncle, and he
hurt my mother. I know the way you white people handle deaths. You
give the person a funeral and bury him. It’s how you show your
respect. I don’t like Benny, but he has a brother who’s been nice
enough to me. I don’t mind you giving Benny the funeral and burial
out of respect to his brother. But I wonder if you’d deny Gene a
funeral and burn his body instead of bury it.”

Eric indicated his agreement. “I’ll do that,
Abe.”

“Thank you.”

Eric waved to Enoch. “Help me with Gene’s
body.”

Enoch hurried to obey.

Abe followed them to the
cabin, his steps slow so they could have time to carry the body out
before he reached the porch. When they reached him, he took one
last look at Gene’s dead body. His mind flashed back to that night
he’d shot his uncle and the sneer he’d had on his face while he
said,
“Let that be a lesson to you,
half-breed. You don’t give us what we want, and you’ll pay for
it.”

Since Phoebe wasn’t watching, he stopped
Eric and Enoch so he could spit on Gene’s face. “I hope you rot in
hell.”

Taking a deep breath, he indicated he was
done, and Eric nodded for Enoch to keep carrying the body to the
wagon.

Abe took a moment to regain his composure
then went into the cabin. Phoebe and her mother were washing the
blood out of the hardwood floor.

The two looked up at him, and realizing they
were waiting for him to say something, probably to reassure them
that everything was alright now, he said, “Eric and Enoch will be
taking the bodies to town. They’re just about done loading the
wagon. We won’t have to worry about Benny or Gene anymore.” Since
he couldn’t promise them something like this would never happen
again, he added, “I think it’s best if we set out more traps along
the property. Maybe lay down some nets and dig some holes. Get
you,” he looked at Phoebe’s mother, “shooting better with a gun.
You do alright, but you should be as sharp as your daughter.”

“We were just talking about that,” Phoebe
told him. “Ma and I will continue her lessons tomorrow after
breakfast.”

“We sure will,” her mother agreed. “I don’t
want to be hiding if I can be part of the action.”

Abe shouldn’t be surprised at the old
woman’s spunk. Her daughter, after all, had that spark in her. It
made sense Phoebe got it from somewhere. But he laughed in surprise
all the same.

The women joined him in laughing, and for
the moment, the mood lightened considerably, helping to ease the
stress from the tense and long night.

Chapter Twenty-Two

A
week later, after Phoebe helped Abe set out nets, she helped
him dig holes and cover them along key points along the property.
As Abe covered the last trap, he said, “That’s all I can think of
to do to protect us.” He turned to her. “None of these may even
keep an intruder at bay.”

“Abe, you’ve done all you could. Ma has
gotten better at her shooting, and you know I can handle a stranger
who comes into our home uninvited. We’ve all discussed where we’ll
go and what we’ll do next time someone threatens us.” She slipped
her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “There’s nothing
worse than sitting back and not doing anything. We’ve planned out
as much as we could, and that makes me feel a lot better.”

He drew her closer to him. “I don’t want to
lose you. You mean everything to me.”

She smiled. “You mean everything to me, too.
We’re in this together.”

He returned her smile and kissed her in a
way that told her he loved her. Afterwards, he wrapped her in his
arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. She closed her
eyes and exhaled, hoping he wouldn’t continue to blame himself for
Gene being able to sneak into the cabin the way he had. The
important thing was she heard Gene and was able to hide in a place
that allowed her to save herself and her mother from any harm.

Yes, it’d scared her. It would have scared
anyone in her position. But she’d known how to shoot a gun, thanks
to Abe taking the time to teach her. If he hadn’t given her the
tools she’d needed to protect herself, who knew if Gene would have
found her and her mother? Knowing Gene had been a horrible man was
the only comfort she received from killing him.

Abe kissed the top of her head. “I hope
we’ll never have to go through a night like that again.”

“I do, too,” she whispered. “But if we do,
we’ll be ready.”

“Yes, we will.” After a moment, he added,
“As long as we’re together, we can do anything.”

She grinned. “Yes, we can. And we will. We
should get back to the cabin before my mother wonders if we fell
into one of the holes you dug.”

He chuckled and gave her another kiss. “I
suppose we have been out here long enough.” Keeping his arm around
her shoulders, he led her back to the cabin.

***

Two weeks later, after the judge read the
will, he put it on his desk and glanced from Carl to Abe. “I’m
sorry, Abe, but Carl has every right to the stream and twenty acres
that go with it. That’s what your father stated in his will.
There’s no changing it.” He leaned back in his chair and put his
hands over his stomach. “Abe, I know you don’t like this, but your
uncle did sell the stream and twenty acres to your father.”

Carl nodded in satisfaction. “I kept telling
you I had every right to it,” he said, turning to Abe. “Maybe now
you’ll finally leave me alone.”

Abe didn’t know what to say. Why would his
uncle make that kind of a deal with a white man? After going
through the horror of being forced from Georgia and watching his
family suffer at the hands of the white men, what force on earth
would compel him to sell something as precious? What had his uncle
been thinking?

“Things aren’t as simple as you’re making it
out to be,” the judge told Carl, drawing Abe’s thoughts back to
him. “You have to have a legitimate child before you turn thirty.
If not, then the stream and land goes back to Abe and any of his
children.”

“There’s nothing in there about a child,”
Carl argued.

“Yes, there is,” the judge replied. “It’s
toward the bottom of this page.” He held up the will and showed it
to him. “It’s right here if you want to read it.”

Carl didn’t reach for it right away. He
tapped the edge of the chair arm for several seconds, his gaze on
the will in front of him. Finally, he reached forward and took
it.

This was one time when Abe wished he could
read. Even if he’d had a copy of the will, it wouldn’t have done
him any good. But by the way Carl’s face paled, Abe knew the judge
had told the truth, that despite the sale his uncle made with their
father, there was a chance he could get the land and stream back.
And it would be in a way no white man could dispute.

Carl was twenty-eight. He was quickly
running out of time. He didn’t have to say it. Abe knew desperation
when he saw it.

“There has to be some mistake,” Carl
muttered as he flipped to the first page of the will.

“No, there’s no mistake,” the judge replied.
“I went through the will twice to make sure I understood it
correctly. You can see for yourself what I’m saying is true, and
that is your father’s signature.”

Carl scanned the page in front of him and
shook his head. “Why would he do this to me?”

“To you? To you!” Abe snapped, straightening
in his chair. “You think he did this to you? That was my uncle’s
land and stream. My uncle was there before your family came along
to upset things.”

Carl clenched the will. “Your uncle sold it.
That’s what this document says.” He waved it in front of Abe. “You
and your mother took everything from me. That land and stream is
all I got left. So don’t you dare act like this is against you.
Right to the very end, you’re getting everything. Right to the very
end!” Carl bolted to his feet, moving so fast the chair fell to the
floor. He shoved his finger in Abe’s face. “I hate you! Every day
of my life since you were born, I had to live in your shadow. All
because our no-good father loved your mother more than mine. And
mine was the one who was rightfully wedded to him!”

Abe stood up and glared at him. “Oh, right.
Things have been so easy for me. I grew up as a bastard.”

“You have so much, and you don’t even know
it. Why can’t you be content with what you already have? Why can’t
you focus on your wife? Anyone can see how much she loves you.”

“I owe it to my wife to give her a stream
she can wash clothes in instead of having to pull water from the
well all the time.”

“That’s enough!” the judge barked.

Both men stopped and watched as the judge
slowly rose to his feet.

“I understand this is a difficult
situation,” the judge began, “but the past doesn’t change anything.
The will is legally binding. Abe, you will not be taking that
stream unless it goes to you in the manner the will stipulates.
Until then, you two will do no good to argue about it.”

“I’m getting that child,” Carl told Abe
after a long moment of silence passed between them. “That stream
and land are the only good things our father left me, and I’m going
to do whatever it takes to keep them.”