CHAPTER 34

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I heard the scream before I saw the house, the sound like a terrified animal. It stopped me quick and then I started to run, barely daring to breathe.

“No!” The word pierced the murky dawn and echoed. I couldn’t run fast enough. It was like I was dreaming something terrible was happening and I just couldn’t get there. Where was the dog? Pain in the ass since we got him. Where was he now? And then I almost ran over him a few hundred yards from the house, his throat slit, eyes bulging and teeth bared. It was obvious he had tried, for once, and now he was dead. I ran past, trying not to look, legs pumping harder.

Another scream. Moira? Casey? Oh God. Whoever was in there with them still had the knife that killed the dog. Closer now, the window only a few feet away, I began to hear voices.

“Please, no.” It was Moira.

“Another fucking word and I’ll shove my fist down your throat.”

My stomach damn near vaulted up my insides. Gabe. I crept slowly to the window, keeping my head low.

“You’re not human,” Moira said, trying to sound brave.

“You’re a whore. And I told you to shut the hell up.”

If he saw me, who knew what he’d do? Slowly, I lifted my head until I could just peer over the windowsill. Casey sat on his bed, eyes big and scared. Gabe had Moira around the throat with one arm, the knife pointed at her chest with the other, while he pushed her toward the bed. They disappeared and I heard the loud creak of the bed’s frame. Oh God. I was afraid he’d kill her if I just ran in. The tears were rolling down Casey’s face, and he worked his thumb to keep from crying out.

“Don’t do this,” Moira said, loud and harsh.

“He took everything that son of a bitch. My land. And now my woman. Dancin’ with her all night, the prick.” Gabe was breathing hard. “She’s mine. Her father promised her to me.”

There was a ripping sound and Casey whimpered.

“Roll over, I want you from behind. That’s what a whore likes.”

Oh God, Oh God. There was a shriek of pain and Moira went flying past the window, blood all over her nightgown.

“I won’t let you do it, you bastard,” Moira panted. “You can kill me, but I won’t let you do that.” She tried to wrap the torn and bloody nightgown round herself.

He waved the knife in the air, grabbed Casey and threw him over his shoulder. Casey howled and I went crashing through the door. Moira was huddled by the crib, her face filled with fear, but something else too, something saying she’d win or die. Gabe threw Casey on the bed and spun around to face me. Slowly he raised the knife, pointed it at me and smiled. His eyes were fired with a kind of hate I’d never seen. Crazy eyes.

“Get out of my house.”

He lunged and I jumped out of the way. His shoulder caught mine and we both crashed into the table, the knife clattering to the floor. I pushed off the table and pain rocketed through my head as he punched my nose.

“Ha.” He was enjoying this, sick with loving to hurt people.

I threw myself at him again, swinging hard, and connected with his chin. His head shot back, teeth snapping together, stunned an instant. And then he was on me, spitting blood, his arm across my throat so I couldn’t breathe, and I was thumping on him, thrashing my legs, trying to break his hold. I thought I might be done, but suddenly his arm went slack and he slumped, his bulk heavy on top of me. It took everything I had to roll him off. Moira stood above us, her bloody nightgown wide open and pale tits hanging out, Gabe’s knife in her hand.

“It’s over,” she said, looking at the pool of blood growing round Gabe, her voice weirdly calm. She dropped the knife onto the table and went to the crib, where Shannon was whimpering.

I stood real slow, picked Casey up from the bed and hugged him tight. He clung to my neck, his soft little hands pulling so hard it was like he wanted to become part of my body. Then he drew back and touched my nose where the blood was drying, and looked into my eyes.

“Daddy?”

“It’s okay, Casey.”

His tears let go and he sobbed, me rocking him like he was a baby again, just holding him ‘cause I’d come so close to not bein’ able to. He kept glancing at Gabe, who’d started moaning. I turned so Casey couldn’t see him. I don’t know how many minutes we stood rocking, but finally his breathing slowed, and when I looked down he was drifting off on my shoulder. I laid him on his bed and turned back to Moira. She was standing over Gabe, just looking down at him. She’d tied her nightgown to cover herself up, but I could see her shoulder was bleeding bad. Then she bent and put her fingers to his throat.

“He’s still alive,” she said. “Get my bag.”

I couldn’t believe she would want to save him. She took the bag from me, and I rolled him on his side, like she asked, seeing the hole the knife had made between his ribs. She said to bring water and towels, calm-like, as though she was in a trance. She pressed the towels tight against his wound, soaking up the blood, grunting through her own pain the whole time. When the leaking finally slowed, she cleaned round the wound while I ripped sheets into lengths, and then helped wind them tight round his body, holding everything together. When we were done she stood up and looked across the room. “A pillow,” she said. I brought it, wanting to tell her he didn’t deserve any comforts as she put it under his head.

Finally she sat down, leaning into the chair, exhausted, her face gone white and slack. The door flew open. Silas stood there, framed for a second by sunlight, loped his long legs across the room, giving a glance first to Casey, then Shannon in her crib. He stepped over Gabe, looked at us both and then picked Moira up gentle, like she was a broken sparrow. She put her good arm around his neck, her head on his shoulder and went limp with fainting.

I brought Shannon to the wagon, laying her on the blankets beside Moira, and covered them both with another. Silas said he’d take Moira to the doctor in Ibsen and then back to his place. I could only nod, watching Moira drifting in and out of sleep, thinking how Silas didn’t know the half of what had happened. Moira had fixed Gabe even though he’d hurt her, and would have done worse if I hadn’t showed up. I didn’t understand. But I knew one thing; she was a bigger person than me, better than any of us.

Gabe was moaning when I went back to the house. He hadn’t moved, but I tied his hands to the table leg anyway, just in case. I filled a canteen with water, put some bread and cheese in a sack, picked up Casey and headed outside to tack up Nelly for the long ride into Moose Jaw to see the Mounted Police. To tell them what Gabe had done and where to find him, to finally make him pay, for everything. As I was about to leave, I went back to the house, walked over to Gabe, and pulled the pillow out from under his head.