The boy took off like he had rockets on his feet.
Smoke picked Vicky up and placed her on the couch in the living room. He was dampening a cloth at the kitchen pump when Sally ran in.
“What happened?”
“She fainted after I told her that Max Huggins and Robert were brothers.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t have a heart attack. Give me that cloth and go outside.”
Smoke went outside and sat on the porch. Sal, Jim, and Pete had just arrived, out of breath from unaccustomed running in high-heeled boots. They were typical cowboys; anything that could not be done from the hurricane deck of a horse they usually tried to avoid.
“What’s up, Smoke?” Pete asked.
He brought his men up to date. Judge Garrison rolled up in his buggy and joined the men in the front yard.
“That poor woman,” the judge said. “She certainly has a heavy cross to bear.”
“Judge,” Smoke said, “can you get Robert declared insane?”
“All I have to do is sign my name to a piece of paper. He’ll be taken to the state hospital for the insane.”
One of Joe Walsh’s hands rode up and dismounted. “Say, Smoke, I just seen Dr. Turner headin’ north toward Hell’s Creek. He was putting the whip to that horse of his. He was shoutin’ and cussin’ as he drove. Damn near ran me down. I hollered and asked him what was the matter. He said he had to get to his brother. What brother’s he talkin’ about? I didn’t know he had any kin out here.”
“We just found out that he and Max Huggins are brothers,” Smoke told him.
The cowboy’s eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open. “Holy crap!”
Smoke turned to the judge. “Get all the legal action going that needs to be done, Judge. Committing Robert, and seeing to it that his estate is in Victoria’s hands.”
“Easily done, Smoke. I’ll have the paperwork done in an hour and wire his banks back east. You get into his strongbox or files and find out where and how much. Have the papers sent to me.”
Smoke walked back into the house.
Sally had opened Victoria’s bodice and placed a cool cloth on the woman’s head. Her eyes were open and she seemed alert. Smoke pulled a chair up close to the couch.
“I’m sorry, Vicky,” he said. “But I just didn’t know how else to tell you.”
“It’s all right, Smoke. I’m glad you did. It answers a lot of questions I had in my mind. Now I can see the family resemblance.”
Smoke told her what the cowboy had seen. “Judge Garrison is going to have him committed, and we’re going to get Robert’s estate in your hands. I need to know where he keeps his documents, bank books, and so forth.”
“I’ll show you.” She fastened a few buttons on her bodice and sat up on the couch.
“You best lay back down,” Smoke told her.
“No.” She smiled and stood up. She was steady on her feet. “If I’m to be a western woman, I’ve got to learn to be strong.”
Smoke returned the smile. “I thought you were leaving, heading back east?”
“I’m staying,” Vicky said. “I want my daughter to be raised out here. The town needs another schoolteacher, and that is what I was trained to be.”
Sal had entered the room. He took one look at Vicky’s open bodice and blushed. Turning his back to the woman, he said, “I sent Pete over to fetch your girl, ma’am. They’ll be along directly.”
“Thank you, Mr....”
“Just Sal, ma’am.”
Vicky buttoned up her bodice. “You may turn around now, Sal.”
“Thank you. I feel sorta stupid standin’ here talkin’ to a wall.”
“That was kind of you thinking of Lisa.”
Sal blushed. “Wasn’t nothin’, ma’am.”
“It is to me, I assure you. Well!” She patted her hair and got herself together. “I have to assume that Robert is not coming back. So I think what 111 do is this: If you all will leave me alone for a time—Sally, will you look after Lisa for a few minutes? Good, thank you—I’ll have myself a good cry and then start putting my life back in order.”
Sal was the first one out the door. Women made him nervous, unpredictable creatures that they were.
“Man ought to be horsewhipped leavin’a a good woman like that one back yonder,” Sal said to Smoke as they all walked back to the office.
Sally looked at Smoke and winked at him. “Sal, what are your plans when we leave here?”
“Why ... I don’t rightly know, ma’am. Why do you ask?”
“The county is going to need a sheriff,” Smoke picked up on what his wife was leading up to. “And you’ve been a fine deputy. How’s about I recommend you to Judge Garrison.”
“You mean that?”
