Whippoorwill (16 page)

***

Caitie turned to face her captor with fury in her stance and fear in her heart. It might be her last action on earth, but she was ready to go out fighting. And then as before, it was the unexpected sound of jeers and laughter that stopped her cold.

She pivoted. They had an audience. And from their gleeful expressions, they expected Eyes Like Mole to fail. Her anger died.

Panic, mixed with that of defeat, layered the wild blank look in Eyes Like Mole’s expression. Caitie groaned. A memory of her own childhood came rushing back. Of a time when she’d been humiliated on the streets of Dublin by a gang of young bullies who’d whipped her soundly then laughed when she’d cried. She dropped her head and walked back to Eyes Like Mole, dragging the stick she’d pulled out of the stack.

“Here.” She handed it to him in as subdued a manner as she could muster. “I’ll not be arguin’ with ye again.”

It was hard to say who was more shocked, the onlookers, or Eyes Like Mole. He took the stick, aware that she offered more than herself to be beaten. She’d given up her own freedom for his pride.

His heart swelled. He couldn’t see it, but he knew that his own people were looking at him with respect, and he had the woman to thank. For that reason alone he could not do as she’d asked. But he could give them both an out by showing that he could be generous, as well as forceful. He waved the club above his head and puffed out his chest.

“It is good. You learn lesson.”

Caitie sighed. “I’m thinkin’ I’ll be needin’ me head examined,” then she buried her face in her hands. It was while she wasn’t looking that Joe Redhawk rode into camp.

“Hey Girl, I’m thinkin’ trouble follows your trail.”

Caitie jerked with shock then stumbled backward. She’d heard that voice at her back before! In Mudhen Crossing. Just as the Bolin Brothers were about to do her in. She pivoted and at that moment, wished she hadn’t given Eyes Like Mole her stick.

“You!”

He looked mad as hell and twice as scary. Although he sat his horse with apparent ease, there was a sense of violence within him she couldn’t ignore.

And then he spoke, and his rough drawl grated across her conscience. “I’ve tracked you across more miles than I care to count, girl. You sure can cover the territory.”

Her chin jutted. “And not a whit of me own accord!”

In spite of the low murmur of the crowd around them, Joe laughed. By damn, but he wanted this woman for himself. He just wasn’t sure she’d be thinking the same. However, all of the feelings he had for her must be dealt with later. He turned to survey the crowd.

Chief Little Deer knew the man who’d ridden into their camp. Breed was known throughout the territory. But it remained to be seen what purpose he could possibly have for coming here.

Eyes Like Mole sensed the familiarity between the stranger and his woman and knew that he should do something to regain his status as master. He stepped forward and shouted.

“Woman! You come!”

When he heard nothing, the frown on his face deepened.

Caitie flinched at the tone of his voice, looking to Joe Redhawk for an answer. Joe gave her a nod, yet when he started to talk, it was not what she’d expected.

“I am Red Hawk of the Cheyenne. I have come for my woman. She became lost on the prairie and I have been tracking her. Who do I have to thank for her care?”

Eyes Like Mole lurched forward, blinding reaching out for a woman he could not see. “No! She is my woman. You lost her. If you meant to keep her, you should have taken better care of what is yours.”

Caitie bit her lip. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.

Joe gauged the passion in Eyes Like Mole’s voice. Although the man stood straight and proud, something about him didn’t seem right. Then Caitie began tugging at the leg of his pants. He looked down.

“Ye can’t go fightin’ the likes of him,” Caitie begged. “He’s not seein’ his blessed hands in front of his face. T’would be nothing short of murder.”

She stepped back as he dismounted, watching as he unbuckled his gun belt and hung it across the saddle horn in a gesture of good faith, then gave her an odd, almost affectionate look.

“You do find the oddest assortment of villains.”

She tried to glare, but was too weary and heartsick to do more than blink.

“Just don’t be hurtin’ him,” she muttered.

As far as Joe Redhawk was concerned, her last request settled her fate. If she could feel compassion for her captor, then he might actually stand a chance with her, too.

“I promise,” he said, and untied her bag, willing to sort through the ownership business later. “Here.” He tossed it to her through the air. “Milt and Art send their regards.”

“Me things!”

Her face lit up like a candle as she dropped to her knees and began digging through the bag to make sure that all she owned was still intact.

Eyes Like Mole stepped forward and in doing so, almost fell on top of her. She jumped up to steady him. Somewhere within the gathering of the tribe, a woman giggled.

“Get lost the lot of you,” Caitie shouted, waving her arm at the crowd.

Joe frowned. The warriors looked none too happy. If he didn’t do something soon, the situation was going to go sour. His posture shifted as he pointed toward Caitie.

“I came for my woman. I will barter for her.”

“You have nothing I want,” Eyes Like Mole said.

“Oh, but I do. You want my woman.” Joe turned and stared at the small, shorn woman as his mouth quirked at the corner. “And, so do I.”

Caitie was in shock. The gunfighter had laid claim to her right in front of an entire band of heathens. She wondered how much of it was truth, and how much of it was simply a ploy to get her out of her latest predicament.

While she was pondering the last question, Breed lapsed into Indian dialect and she became lost her as to what was now going on. Several of the women standing in the crowd started to glare at her and shout what she suspected were insults.

“Blessed Jesus,” she muttered, aware that her future and her safety had suddenly been tossed up for grabs.

There was always the possibility that they’d be forced to make a run for it and if that happened, she wasn’t about to be leaving her precious possessions in the hands of heathens. Her movements were frantic as she began shuffling her belongings back into her bag.

The bag was small, and spilling the contents had rearranged the spare space until she was having trouble making it all fit back. But when her fingers slid across a small leather case, her pulse gave a kick.

Maybe… just maybe.

She yanked it from the bag then jumped to her feet.

“Joe! Wait!”

He frowned. What was she up to now? He’d been about to make his offer and she had messed up his speech.

“Girl—”

Warning was thick in his voice as Caitie bolted toward him with the small leather case in her fist.

“Look! They were belongin’ to me father. He was afflicted with bad eyesight as well. Maybe—”

Joe’s eyes narrowed. “I’d say give it a try. It beats fighting a blind man all to hell.”

As Caitie turned toward the little Indian, her conscience pricked. If a body wasn’t too picky about the details, he had sort of saved her life. There was no telling whether she would have survived a night on the prairie alone. If this gesture would set her free, it was the least that she could do.

“You! Eyes Like Mole.”

He turned toward the sound of her voice as Joe Redhawk began to translate Caitie’s words into their language.

“It’s time for me to be goin’,” Caitie said. “But before I do, I’ll be rewardin’ ye for your kindness and bravery. Ye saved me from drownin’, as well as gave me shelter and food.”

The Arapaho began to mutter among themselves. They had not known of Eyes Like Mole’s bravery in these things. They thought he’d simply stumbled over a lost woman and dragged her home behind his horse like a stolen calf.

Eyes Like Mole started to argue, but Caitie stopped him with a touch of her hand. “And because of yer kindness, I’m bringin’ great magic to ye.”

She opened the case and pulled out her father’s eyeglasses. The wire rims were old and worn, but the glass was still intact. When she unfolded the earpieces and extended her hands toward his face, he stepped back in fright.

Whatever Joe said seemed to calm the little man. Caitie proceeded again. And this time, he stood, bowing slightly as she slipped the glasses up his nose and settled the ear pieces behind his ears.

“You can be openin’ yer eyes now,” Caitie announced.

“Aaiiee!”

Eyes Like Mole’s cry was somewhere between a war whoop and a shout of pure joy. He began to run, darting from people to places, touching and feeling, seeing that which had eluded him all his life. His small brown eyes seemed huge beneath the prism of the lens, but for the first time, he was seeing the world in clear colors and shapes.

“Ye must be careful!” Caitie warned. “Or the magic will break!”

Joe translated again, and this time Eyes Like Mole nodded. Of course they could break. Magic could not last forever unless great care was taken.

To the amazement of those gathered, Eyes Like Mole stalked directly toward Chief Little Deer.

“I was wrong,” he announced grandly, speaking in English so that his woman could understand. “The spirits of my ancestors did send this woman to me, but not to take as wife. She brought great magic with her instead. She brought me eyes so that I would see.”

He looked at Caitie, then frowned and shook his head. “While she has given me a great magic, I do not think she would give me many fine sons. She is too small and has no hair.”

Joe laughed at the disgust on Caitie’s face. “Mount up while you’ve got your chance, girl, and quit fussing about the fact that he no longer wants you.”

Caitie did as she was told. Minutes later, they rode out of the Arapaho camp in a more dignified manner than that which she’d come in.

***

A coyote howled from the ridge beyond their fire. The sky was dark but clear. It was one of those nights that you could see forever. But Caitie O’Shea was not looking past the man who sat beside her. She was too intent upon making sure that certain rules stayed fast.

“I’ll be wantin’ to know, Joe Redhawk, why ye keep comin’ after the likes of me?”

Joe looked into the flames between them while he struggled for an answer she would be willing to hear. Would she accept the truth of what was in his heart, or should he simply lie and let her go when they returned to Mudhen Crossing? The latter thought didn’t bear consideration. This small person had become fixed in his heart.

He looked up. “You never told me your name.”

Caitie rolled her eyes and tucked her buckskin tunic a little tighter around her knees. “Yer not about askin’ me to believe ye’ve came all this way, fightin’ outlaws and Indians just to be askin’ me name.”

Joe hid a grin. “I might.”

Caitie frowned. “I’ll be wantin’ the truth.”

“You might not be wantin’ to hear it,” Joe said, mimicking her mode of speech to perfection.

Her nose tilted upward just the tiniest bit. “The truth is best, even if it’s sometimes painful.”

“Then hear this,” Joe said. “At first I came after you because I felt I owed it to you. But I kept looking because I didn’t want to lose you, girl.”

“My name is Caitlin O’Shea. My family called me Caitie.”

“I didn’t want to lose you, Caitie O’Shea.”

Her heart thumped twice in rapid succession. This sounded awfully like a declaration of love.

“And why would that be?”

He looked away. If she said no, it would kill him.

She wouldn’t be swayed. “I’m waitin’, I am.”

He stood and Caitie resisted the urge to run. He was so terribly big and intimidating.

“I had in mind that you and I… that maybe we could—”

She jumped to her feet. With nothing between them but a small campfire, she doubled her fists.

“Ye’ll be comin’ no further, Joe Redhawk. I’m not about sleepin’ with a man unless we’re wed.”

Joe grinned. The perfect opening.

“Then, Caitie O’Shea, I wonder if you’d consider coming with me to Lizard Flats.”

“Why? What’ll there be in Lizard Flats that’s not in Mudhen Crossing?”

“A preacher. A real one from back East. I thought if you were a mind to, maybe we could get hitched.”

Caitie gasped. This man was offering her his hand in marriage. It was an enticing, yet frightening thought.

“Horses are hitched. It’s people who be gettin’ wed,” she muttered.

Joe scooped her up into his arms. “Oh hell, girl. Anyway you say it, it still comes out the same. Will you be my wife?”

Caitie grinned. “I’ll be givin’ ye many fine sons,” she offered, mimicking the demand of her weak-eyed captor.

Joe Redhawk laughed.

The next day, they struck out for Lizard Flats.

***

Eulis was standing at the end of the bar near the back wall, watching for the odd customer who left without finishing a drink. It was his job to clear the tables. He considered it his right to finish off the liquor before Will the Bartender wiped out the glasses, and the way business was booming tonight, he had started hoarding the dregs in a jar in the back which he could drink later after he’d swept up the floor. No sense making Will angry by passing out before he’d done his job. Will might cut him off from his three free drinks, and then what would he do on the nights when business was slow?

A tall, scrawny man was sitting at the far table with his back to the wall. Eulis watched as the man suddenly laid down the hand of cards he was holding. He rolled the unlit cigar in his mouth from one corner to the other, then leaned forward and raked the coins on the table toward him.

As far as Eulis knew, the man had been at that table for almost thirty-six hours. Except for the times when he’d gotten up to relieve himself, he hadn’t budged. And he hadn’t seem him lose. Either the man was the best card player to come to Lizard Flats, or he was a damned good cheat. Eulis thought about telling him what had happened to the last gambler who’d come into town, then decided to mind his own business.