Charlie walked for a long time until he couldn't walk anymore. His ankle hurt, he was so hot, and tired. He had to rest. He found a lone cottonwood standing in the middle of nowhere. He headed straight for it. He sat down under it, finding a bit of shade and before he realized it, he went to sleep.
A couple of hours later he was awakened by horse hoofs. He opened his eyes and a Mexican man came toward him. "Pedro?" Charlie called not able to see him for the sun.
"No I am Don Diego Salazar, Pedro's cousin. And you?"
"I'm Charlie." He said simply.
"Lilly's boy?" Don Diego asked with a big smile.
"Yes!" He was overjoyed to have been found by Pedro's kin. "Can you take me to Juan?"
"Si, hop up behind me," He instructed with a smile.
"Thank you," Charlie managed.
"What are you doin' out here in the middle of nowhere?" Don Diego asked.
"I'm lost. I was trying to get away from the Dubs boys." Charlie told him as he hung on the man's waist.
"Oh, they are mucho bad. I am glad I found you."
"Me too!" Charlie chuckled.
Don Diego took him to Pedro's house and Maria came out on the porch, "Charlie!" She called and ran to him.
Charlie hopped down off the horse and Don Diego went to put them away.
"What in the world?" Maria rubbed his head and hugged him. "You look terrible."
"I hurt my ankle in one of them prairie dog holes," Charlie told her.
"Come in, come in, I will take care of you. But your father and Pedro and Juan are all out looking for you." Maria told him.
"I'm sorry. You see I went fishing with Dan…and, well, they sort of kept me there. So I had to get away. So I walked for a long time. I fell in a prairie dog hole and turned my ankle. Then I ran into Dan and hit him with a rock and stole his horse. And Don Diego found me. I was lost. I wasn't sure where I was." Charlie finally finished in a rush.
"My goodness, well, I will tend your ankle, then fix you something to eat and then you can rest up." Maria told him. "I am just glad you are here." She sputtered around the kitchen like a mama bear, Charlie thought.
"Me too!"
The other children rushed in and crowded around him as their mother doctored his ankle and while Charlie was telling the others about his adventure, Maria fixed him something to eat.
Charlie had two helpings of beans and enchiladas and went to sleep in the kitchen chair.
When Don Diego came into the house he saw him and picked him up and took him to one of the kid's bedrooms.
"He is mucho tired." Don Diego laughed.
"Poor thing, he's a bit sunburned too, and he drank so much I thought his stomach might explode. But he is better now. He stepped in a prairie dog hole and hurt his ankle. I wrapped it and he needs to stay off of it a while. It is good he is sleeping." Maria smiled as she stared at him on the bed. "He's a lot like his father. Very strong."
"Si, he is. Is there any word from them yet?" He asked her.
"No, I'm afraid there will be mucho trouble at the Dubs place. And they don't even know Charlie is here now." Maria fussed.
***
The ridge above the Dubs place was a perfect place to watch and see what was going on. Cord motioned for everyone to get down low and wait. Before planning any action, he wanted to see if anything was going on.
Everyone crouched down and laid on their bellies to watch over the ridge. They heard a lot of yelling and Cord was worried that with their tempers flaring Charlie might get hurt.
"I need to get down there to see what's going on." Cord whispered to Pedro.
"Wait!" Lilly called softly to him. "They're coming out."
Sure enough Jason and Butch came out on the porch, both in a heated argument. "Where the hell you suppose your ignorant brother went?"
"Probably after Charlie!" Butch replied. "Either that or they are together fishing."
"I don't think he'd take him fishing." Jason frowned. "But just in case he is that stupid, go look."
Butch ran off to the creek and came back quickly, "Ain't no sign of them there." He yelled. "Where you reckon they went?"
"Well how do I know where they are?"
Cord listened carefully as they were shouting at each other.
"Jason?" Cord called out.
Jason took cover immediately behind a barrel on the porch and searched about the place for Cord.
"Yeah, what do you want?" Jason yelled back.
"We want Charlie!"
"Charlie, I don't have him." Jason returned.
"I don't believe that." Cord hollered.
"Come search for yourself." Jason invited.
"If you don't hand him over and now, I'm going to start shooting and someone is going to die before this day is over." Cord informed him.
Butch had scrambled for protection, but there wasn't much to shield him. "Where's he at?" He hollered to Jason.
"On the ridge, near as I can figure. He's got a good spot. He can pick us off up there." Jason frowned.
"Time's up, Jason. Where's Charlie?"
"I don't have him. He run off."
"You sent a note saying you did." Cord answered back.
"Well, he run off." Jason fumed. "The fool kid."
"I don't believe you Jason."
They began opening fire, dust scattered everywhere and the acrid smell of gun powder perfumed the air around them. A hailstorm of bullets ricocheted off the building and went flying every which way. But the sound was deafening and there was a loud yelp. A bullet caught Butch in the chest and he lay sprawled in the yard face down, with a resounding thud, probably dead Cord assessed.
Lilly grabbed Cord's arm. "Don't shoot anymore. If Charlie is in there, we could hit him, accidentally."
"Alright, honey." Cord nodded.
"Wait. I'm telling the truth, Cord. I don’t' have him. He must have run off." Jason stood up and lifted his gun. "Come look for yourself." Jason said glancing at his brother. "Butch, hey Butch."
Butch didn't move.
Jason's face turned pale at the thought of his brother dying.
Cord stood up and came down the ravine, but he told Lilly and the others to stay there until he had a look.
"Where is he?" Cord demanded as soon as he got close to Jason.
"I don't know. It's the truth, check for yourself. We woke up this morning and he was gone."
Cord went inside, cautiously and started running through the rooms, calling Charlie's name, nothing. He wasn't there.
Cord came out and motioned to the others to come down. "What happened? Where's Charlie and your brother Dan?"
"I don't know. I woke up and they were both gone. That's the truth." Jason told him with a frown. "You killed Butch. You killed my brother. You'll go to jail for this Cord."
Cord glanced at the body in the dirt.
"This all could have been avoided, Jason." Cord's mouth firmed and his frown deepened. "You better have some answers quick, because my patience is running thin." Cord leveled his gun at him.
Lilly, Pedro, and Juan came down the hill and Lilly ran to Cord, "Where's Charlie?"
"He's not here." Cord looked around. "Pedro, I want you to take him to town and have the Sheriff arrest him for kidnapping. Check the saloon and see if Charlie went home. I'm going to scout the place out and see if I can find any tracks."
Lilly looked about, "If he escaped he'd go either home or to your place Cord."
"Juan will you ride home and check to see if Charlie is there. If he is send someone out to tell us. We'll stay here for a while."
"Si."
Juan got his horse and took off at a gallup for home. He almost stumbled over Butch's body and he stared for a long moment.
Pedro took Jason in to town after he tied his hands and helped him on his horse.
Lilly and Cord searched the place. They went to the barn and all through it, then a couple of outlying sheds. There was no sign of either one.
When Cord went out back, he found tracks.
"Lilly," he called her outside.
"Did you find something?" She asked, her worry increasing by the minute.
"Yeah, looks as though he's headed for my place." Cord told her.
"Shouldn't we go there then?"
"Yeah, let's follow the road in case someone is out to find us." Cord told her.
"It looks like Charlie's prints and he's definitely headed for my place."
"On foot?"
"Looks like."
They mounted up and headed to Cord's. But Lilly turned around to look at Butch's dead body. "Shouldn't we bury him."
"Later, we need to find Charlie first." Cord insisted.
"He'll get lost." She fretted.
"Let's don't borrow trouble. I've taught him several things about taking care of himself. I have feeling he'll be remembering some of them." Cord assured her. "Things like that kind of spring to mind when you're in a tight spot."
"Oh Cord, why did they do this?"
"They wanted to ambush me." Cord told her. "It didn't quite work out that way. And I don't expect Jason to give up now that I've killed Butch. He'll be hell bent for leather to try something else."
"Well at least you got rid of the meanest of them, Butch." She sighed.
"Butch isn't the meanest, Lilly. Jason is, and he's still alive. He sure took Butch's death easy enough. And they won't hold him if we find Charlie. And then there's Dan. Dan's not that bad, except when he's around his brothers." Cord glanced at her and extended his hand to comfort her. He could tell she was frantic and he wanted to calm her. "I'll bet Charlie's at Maria's right now, eating enchiladas."
"I hope so." Lilly cried. "But where did Dan go I wonder."
"Near as I can figure, he probably went after Charlie, knowing Jason would be upset if he woke up and Charlie was gone. So they are either on their way or at Maria's by now."
"You don't think Dan would do anything do you?" Lilly looked a bit alarmed.
"Not unless he's that worried about Jason's reaction. He might try to get Charlie back before Jason finds out. But knowing Dan, he's not inclined to violence as much as Butch and Jason. He'll probably lay low, and wait to see. Dan's not as brave or daring as his brothers."
"I hope so. Charlie told me yesterday he was going fishing after he finished his chores. I told him he could. But he didn't tell me he was going with anyone. Do you suppose he went with Dan? Because Dan was in the saloon yesterday."
Cord thought on it a minute. "It was probably a trap for Charlie. Dan took him to his place, promising him to go fishing. They got a creek out there."
"I only wish Charlie had spoken up and told me he was going with Dan. I wouldn't have let him go." Lilly cried.
"Well honey, boys do things sometimes that they don't tell their mother about. He's growing up and he's making decisions for himself. We need to have a talk with him about safety and about making those kinds of decisions on his own. But you got to figure that he's testing his wings a little."
"Well, he's not old enough to know a good decision."
"You learn by making mistakes Lilly. And if you don't make a few mistakes, you don't learn very easily."
She nodded, "You're right, I suppose. I'm not ready for him to grow up."
He smiled sexily at her. "Don't fret honey. I'd bet my life he's at Maria's as we speak."
Lilly looked over at Cord, and with a slight blush she added, "I'm glad I'm marrying you. I think I'm gonna need some help with raising Charlie."
He reached for her hand again. "I'm right here honey."