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The clearing where the cabin stood seemed deserted. Handing Jake the mustangs’ leads and signaling for him to wait, Daniel stepped silently onto the porch and crossed to the open door. He saw Adam sitting in the rocking chair by the hearth with Jesse on his lap, her tawny hair disheveled, a tear lingering on her cheek. But she was asleep now, her hand caught in the bandanna at Adam’s neck, her face soft and sweet in repose. As quietly as he’d entered, he backed out again.
He put his finger to his lips as Jake began to speak. Taking one of the youth’s arms, Daniel guided him away from the porch.
“Jesse’s sleeping,” he whispered. “I’ll get our horses and meet you down the lane.” Jake nodded and, taking up the captives’ leads, moved the mustangs down around the cottonwood grove and onto the trail that would lead them home.
Daniel took his time saddling their horses, working slowly and calmly, remembering the first time he’d seen his sister-in-law. “Little Jesse Travers” she’d been called then, and she’d had a reputation in town as a drunkard, a tramp, and a killer.
His skill as a tracker was known far and wide, and a prospector had asked Daniel if he could determine who had assaulted and robbed him. He’d tracked bootprints and then hoofprints to the canyon where Russell Travers lived with Jesse and their crippled father. Not finding his quarry, Daniel instead had spied Jesse stumbling from a grove of sycamores near the stream that ran through the canyon. He’d been surprised at the smallness, the delicacy of her—she was nineteen, but could pass as a child of ten or twelve. She staggered again and he’d thought she was drunk. Then he saw that her face had been beaten savagely, her clothes half torn off her body, her hand clutching the remnants of her blouse over her bosom. The marks of human teeth had raised a purple welt upon her neck.
The blood froze in his veins as Daniel realized the only other tracks leading to the cabin belonged to her brother. But before he could move, before he could help her, the doctor arrived to treat her father. He’d haunted the clearing for most of a month, hoping to keep her safe, but Russell Travers found another outlet for his violence, and had attacked Elena Twelve Trees in the village, in her own yard.
Daniel recognized the bootprints of Elena’s attacker—the slightly turned-out left foot, the slice of leather missing from the sole—and he’d seen the purpling bite upon her neck. He blotted the tracks out, sure that Alec would do murder if he realized who had killed his mother. In spite of Alec’s threats and demands, Daniel wouldn’t identify the killer without more proof. He’d hoped to find evidence he could pass on to the town’s constable, but only days later it was too late for justice: Adam shot and killed Travers as he robbed the town’s only bank.
Over the past year, most in the village realized all of the filthy rumors about Jesse had been perpetrated by her brother to keep her away from the town. To keep the town from knowing the truth about him. But there were still those few who clung to the old gossip.
From that first time he saw Jesse, Daniel had sworn to protect her. He was one of the few who knew that the baby she lost the previous year had been her brother’s. That she’d agreed to marry Adam to spare her child shame; that they hadn’t lived as man and wife for more than a full year after their marriage. And he was sure Jesse was unaware of the extent of his knowledge.
Now, after an arduous ordeal, and only with Adam’s help, Jesse had almost regained her trust. Had almost found a safe place to live. She was secure in the love of his large family, but the outside world could still batter her with fear.
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled himself back to the task at hand. He needed to keep their horses calm as they met the new captives. His mare was a bit skittish, obviously scenting the newcomers on his clothes, but the black filly Fancy ignored it, and Bucky settled down when Daniel mounted her.
As he and Jake started toward home, Daniel was satisfied to see that, in spite of the tension in the sorrel mare’s gait, the young stallion was in synch with Fancy, stepping out with his head held high and taking an occasional playful head-butt at his dam’s side.
“Jesse’s okay now, isn’t she?” Jake asked.
Daniel’s head whipped around—but the look of concern on his brother’s broad face made him temper his remarks. “She’s better, and I think that’s all we can expect right now.
“Listen, Jake, let’s not forget it’s only a year since her father died. It would take us longer than that to get over Dad’s death. And Jesse was as close to Gran as any of us, so she’s got that to deal with as well.”
“Gee, I didn’t think about that.”
“Other things have happened, too―her baby was born dead and her brother got killed.”
“Bu-but...” Jake sputtered. “Why does her brother matter? He was nothing but bad.”
“Maybe so, but she told me when they were kids in Texas―before her mother got sick―her brother would sometimes play hide and seek with her, and swing her from a tree in the yard.”
“Hard to imagine,” Jake said.
Daniel grunted. That the man who beat his sister on a regular basis and finally raped her could have been a happy child was impossible for him to believe. Yet he wouldn’t discount Jesse’s memories.
“Do you think she wanted the baby?”
“Why would you ask that, Jake? What possible difference would it make? You and I can’t know what a woman feels. I sometimes think of having a baby with Annie and, man, the love I can feel for that child already―I can’t describe it. More than I’ve ever felt before in my life.”
Daniel’s face tightened and his voice became as rough as sand on a whetstone. “A woman has that baby growing right there in her womb. That baby was forced on Jesse, but it was still there growing, then one day it just died inside of her.
“You’re too young to remember Henry. He was born back in Abilene and when he died―he was only two―Mother was shattered. She cried all the time. It has to be horrible to lose a child, no matter what.
“So I don’t know what Jesse felt,” Daniel added. “I just know it was terribly hard for her. And it’s one more thing her brother’s paying for in hell.”
Though it wasn’t a concept Daniel held with, he knew Jake believed wholeheartedly in hell. He pulled his mare up when he realized Jake had stopped. He looked back to see the youth staring at the hands he clenched on his pummel. The woodsman was about to speak when Jake looked up with accusation in his eyes.
“You think her brother killed Elena.”
Daniel turned his head away and nodded.
“Why won't you tell Alec? He deserves to know!”
Biting back an oath, Daniel answered in a voice that brooked no dissent. “He doesn’t. He’s too upset. He’s already gone off the rails at me a couple of times, and I don’t know what will happen if he knows there’s nothing he can do―no revenge he can take. If he tells everyone...
“Family, Jake. That’s what’s most important in this world, even before friends. Even before neighbors. And Jesse is family now. We have to protect her.” Seeing an argument on the boy’s face, Daniel repeated, “We have to. Whether she knows it or not, she’s depending on us to do just that.”
Jake stared at him for a long minute before he nodded. His father’s primary tenet could be summed up in one sentence: a man has nothing if he has no family, and he is nothing if he’s not a good neighbor. It was a doctrine they’d all learned from the cradle.
“Family comes first,” Daniel added. “What do you think would happen to Jesse if the whole town finds out? If Sarah Taylor and Jane Barber start in on her again? You know they were behind the rumors that made her out a drunk, the ones that said she was involved with Tommy since she was a kid. You’ve heard what they say about her living with Adam and Brian both.”
One look at his brother’s crimson face told Daniel his harsh words had hit home. Still the youth protested, “But that’s stupid stuff.”
“People believe stupid stuff every day, Jake. Every damn day. What will those two women say if they find out Russell killed Elena? They’ll somehow make it Jesse’s fault, and start over with the stories about her and Tommy. And who knows what else they’ll make up so they can feel important. Do you think Jesse deserves that? Don’t you think she’s had enough hardship?”
“No. I mean, yeah.” Jake scrubbed at his face. “You’re right.”
“Jake, I can’t let you work with Alec unless you promise you won't tell him.”
“Okay.”
“I want your promise.”
“I promise.”
Daniel nodded curtly as Jake raised his eyes. “Daniel, what made him do it?”
“I don’t know, Jake. I don’t understand it. Tommy says some folks are born ornery―I don’t know if anyone will ever understand more than that.”
They began to ride again, and for a moment, Daniel wondered how he could feel so deeply for Jesse when his whole heart was given to Annie. And he regretted that his responsibility had cost him his closest friendship.
I thought it would help when I told Alec the man who did it is gone. But it hasn’t made any difference at all. He’s so angry—no, furious. Yet what can I do? I know Jesse isn’t strong enough to bear the shame. Even after all that Adam has done for her—after all the family’s done—she wouldn’t be able to endure it. She’s still so fragile, so delicately balanced between our love and her fears.
I cannot tell him. I couldn't bear to be the one who hurts her one more time.