CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
The day after Johnny Teague and his men left, the roof of the mine shaft collapsed, bringing down an avalanche of rubble. When the dust cleared, it looked as though the Lucky Cuss had never existed.
That same day, Luna Talbot told Buttons Muldoon and Red Ryan that she was leaving and taking the Rathmore women and children with her. “They’re all in pretty bad health, but I’ve sent Leah Leighton ahead to meet us with wagons and food. It will be a long trek across the desert, but I think the Rathmores will make it all right.”
“What are you going to do with them?” Buttons said.
Luna smiled. “Find homes for them, I guess. When they get stronger, some of them will just leave.”
“Well, good luck with that,” Buttons said.
Luna nodded. “Thank you. I think I’ll need it. I hear Daphne wants to go with you and Red to El Paso.”
“Yeah, she does,” Buttons said. “It’s the policy of the Abe Patterson and Son Stage and Express Company not to accept nonpaying passengers. That’s a rule, and it’s wrote down somewhere. But in the girl’s case, I guess we can make the exception.”
“She still intends to be a whore,” Luna said. “Nothing I can say will change her mind.”
“Well, if that’s her chosen profession, El Paso is the place to hang out her shingle,” Buttons said. “Plenty of business to be had there with the railroads an’ all.”
“Mr. Muldoon, I hesitate to ask you this, but could you take care of her for a while till she’s settled?” Luna said. “I’ve grown quite fond of her.”
“Me and Red will see that she’s settled,” Buttons said. “Red is one for the ladies, so I’ll tell him to give her some teaching on the whoring profession. He can be a regular schoolmarm when it comes to lecturing folks.” Buttons dropped his voice to a whisper, fearing Daphne was within earshot. “Trouble is, that little gal ain’t real pretty. In fact, she ain’t pretty at all.”
Luna shrugged. “We all have our crosses to bear.”
“Ain’t that a natural fact,” Buttons said.
“Mr. Muldoon, I wish to thank you and Red for all you did for me,” Luna said. “Day and night, any time of the year, my door will always be open to both of you. I want you to know that.”
Buttons said, “Well, thank you kindly, Mrs. Talbot, and let me say just one thing. If’n you ever want a stiff delivered again . . . use a different stage line.”
Arman Broussard had decided to return to the Talbot ranch with Luna. Used to the ways of humanity, Buttons guessed at a budding romance, a notion that Broussard reinforced.
He said, “I’m giving up my wandering ways and have decided to settle down.”
Buttons grinned. “Gonna do some cowboying, huh, gambling man?”
Broussard winced, and Luna said hurriedly, “Arman will do my bookkeeping. He’s very good with figures.”
* * *
Farewells were made. Crystal Casey, who’d also decided to return to the ranch in the face of Johnny Teague’s indifference, kissed Red good-bye and wet his gaunt cheeks with her tears. In spite of the Rathmore women insisting on taking their cooking pots and their few belongings, Luna Talbot fussed over them and their children like a mother hen as she herded them south.
Buttons and Red, who was finally standing on his feet, his plug hat on his head where it belonged, watched them leave until their dust cloud settled and they were gone from sight. The arroyo was deserted
After a few years, it would look like no one had ever lived . . . or died . . . there.