Chapter Twenty-Two

 

Whipping the horse with my hat, I lay flat across its neck as the animal streaked for the barn. A hot wind blasted my face, and I stared intently as I rode toward home. Was that the kitchen stovepipe rising over the roof? Had Peter just scampered from the garden with vegetables in his hands?

“Abby, wait for us!” Adam shouted.

Hooves pounded behind me, but I never slowed my pace.

“Darn it, Abby,” Mark hollered. “Slow down before you get tossed.”

No horse would throw me, unless someone made them do it.

“Abby!” Charles bellowed.

Their futile yelling faded away as we rode pell-mell into the yard. Charred beams pointed at the sky, those not smoldering on the ground. Uncle Andy stood in front of what used to be the wash shack, cradling one arm with a hand. Smoke floated around Paul as I skidded my horse to a halt and threw myself off.

“Where are they?” I screamed as I scanned the area.

Paul pointed at the house. There was no sign of Ma, Pa, Bart, or Peter anywhere in the ruins.

“What do you mean in there?” Adam demanded. “What happened?”

“It was ... it was.” Tears dripped through the soot on Paul's face.

“Michael took sick again. Louisa was tending him,” Uncle Andy said. “She kept Peter at the house to help. Bart, Paul, and I were in the corral.” He sounded strange, like he had shut off his feelings. “The Johnsons rolled up tumbleweeds and set them on fire. The whole house went up in seconds. We tried. Lord knows, we tried. It was too hot to get close.”

“Where are they?” I yelled.

Ma and Pa couldn't be gone.

They're in the barn. That's it.

I took off at a run, determined to prove my parents and brothers had escaped.

“Abby, they're gone.” Uncle Andy grabbed my arm when I darted past him. “Honey, they couldn't get out of the house.”

“No!” I squalled. “Tell me it's not true!”

As Adam, Charles, Mark, and Paul dropped to the ground while tears streamed down their faces, I realized the truth. Ma, Pa, and Peter were gone. But what about Bart? Where was he?

I have to find Bart. The others are still alive if I do!

After yanking free of Uncle Andy, I dashed past the chicken coop and darted through the doors. Cats hissed and whizzed into the corners when I startled them. Their tails fluffed into huge brushes, and they snarled at me from behind hay bales.

“Where are you, Bart?” I cried.

Cows mooed, the pig grunted, and horses nickered while I searched every inch of the massive building, except the loft. A promise to Ma, and the thought she might find out, kept me off the ladder. Hay drifted in the air when I burst outside. Maybe Bart was in the chicken coop. It would be just like him to scare me.

“Ma's gonna burn your britches for scaring me. Holy heck, this isn't right. Don't tease me, Bart.”

Squawking loudly, chickens scattered in all directions. After another desperate but thorough search, I failed to find him.

“Abby, get over here!”

The harshness of Adam's voice made me stare at where the house had been. Mark took off his shirt and wrapped it around Uncle Andy's arm. Charles knelt beside Paul and hugged him. Adam hitched our horses to the corral fence.

“Where's Bart?” I screamed.

My voice came out scratchy, and my throat hurt. When no one answered, I scampered back to the barn and searched the loft.

That'll bring Ma back! Sure as shootin', it will. If I have to endure her hand against my backside, so be it!

I found nothing and went back outside.

“We have to deliver the next group of horses,” Adam said.

His insensitive comment drove through me like a knife. No one seemed to care we were orphans. A hiccup tore through me as I tried to hold in the pain ripping me apart.

“Don't go running off, Abby,” Uncle Andy called. “We don't know for sure if the Johnsons are gone.”

So what?

My errant thought drove me forward, until Mark spoke.

“Where is Bart?”

“Gone for the sheriff,” Paul said. “We can't let them get away with this. It's murder.”

A low snigger came from behind the barn. I grabbed a couple of rocks. A girl I might be, but I could throw as well as any of my brothers, maybe better.

“Show your ugly face,” I whispered. “I'll teach you a thing or two.”

Gabriel strolled out from behind the barn.

“Take that!” I pelted a rock at him, hitting his nose.

He yelped and ran. Adam and Mark tackled Gabriel.

“Are you hassling my sister again?” Mark demanded as they hauled him to his feet.

“She threw a rock at me,” Gabriel wailed.

“Hit you, too,” Adam commented. “And improved your looks. Did you do this?”

He pointed at the remains of our house.

“Looks like you can't finish your contract. Russell, Waddel, & Majors will have to deal with my family now.”

Gabriel's assessment brought out the anger I had squashed. I ran toward him, picking up a stick on my way.

He'll learn. No one, but no one messes with a Weston!

“Drop that right now, or I'll tan your hide!”

Bart's shout brought me up short. I spun around as he and a stranger wearing a tin badge on his shirt trotted into the corral.

“You aren't hurt, Bart,” I cried. “They didn't lie!”

He dismounted and put his horse into the corral. After latching the gate, he glanced at the rest of us.

“Sheriff Cove wants to know what you saw.”

The lawman pointed at the stick in my hand.

“Son, you weren't going to dispense justice, were you?” He walked over to me. “Did you see what happened?”

“That's my baby sister,” Bart said. “She wasn't here when it happened. Adam, Charles, Mark, and Abby took a herd to the Pony Express station.”

“Miss Weston, will you please drop your weapon?” Sheriff Cove asked. “It'll make me feel much better.”

The stick fell from my nerveless fingers.

“He didn't say he did it, but the Johnsons, especially Gabriel, have given us problems for a long time. Can you make them pay for what they did?” I asked.

He knelt in front of me. “Did he admit to starting the fire?”

“He said we couldn't make our contract anymore, but we can! You tell the stationmaster Bart will bring the rest, just like we promised. Won't you?”

“Oh, Abby,” Uncle Andy said. “Things will work out. We won't break your pa's word.”

“But what about ... about...”

Suddenly, it was all too real. I hiccupped as my heart tore in half.

“Come back, Ma,” I whispered. “I didn't mean to talk to Pony Bob, but he punched Blaze. Please, Ma, don't leave me.”

When I wailed, Charles grabbed me into a hug.

“We aren't mad at you,” he said. “Don't cry, honey. We'll make it right.”

None of my brothers could ever understand. Only one person could help me feel better, only one person had the power to prove I wasn't living through the nightmare of losing part of my family a second time.

“You can't!” I howled. “Only Ma knows how to do that. Where is she? I need her!”