But no more. The Butchers were going to die and that was all there was to it.
Evening found me in the foothills fringing the Dark Sister. I had shut Daisy from my mind. Emotion would no longer rule me. Only cold determination. So who should I come upon unexpectedly around a turn in the trail? Who else but Daisy Mae, with her brother Sam. They had heard Brisco from a ways off and were waiting, Sam with a rifle to his shoulder.
I was in my preacher garb. The shotgun was in my bedroll, my long-barreled Remington in a saddlebag, the short-barreled Remington in my shoulder rig under my jacket, the knife in my boot. I appeared to be unarmed except for the Winchester in the saddle scabbard. Since it was only common sense to go armed in that neck of the country, it would not seem out of place for a parson to have a rifle. “Trust in the Lord, but keep your guns well oiled” was a saying that applied to everyone.
I could have kicked myself for not leaving the trail sooner. I should have cut through the woods. But I had been anxious to get it over with. Too anxious. Drawing rein, I leaned on the saddle horn and smiled. “I’d prefer if you don’t shoot me, Brother Butcher,” I said to the stripling.
Embarrassed, Sam jerked the rifle down. “Shucks, Parson. How was I to know it was you?”
Daisy placed her hand on my leg. “What a delight to see you again, Reverend Storm. Ma will be pleased.”
“Will she?” I looked at her, horrified by the tingle that had coursed through me at her touch. Damn me to hell, but I was acting worse than a boy her brother’s age. Conflicting desires tore at me: one to clasp her hand in mine, the other to draw my short-barreled Remington, touch it to her sweet face, and thumb back the hammer again and again.
“What brings you out our way?”
“I heard about Clell,” I replied. “I figured your family would need some comforting.”
“That’s awful decent of you,” Daisy said, giving my leg a squeeze.
“Everyone else treats us as if we have the plague,” Sam contributed.
“Not everyone,” Daisy corrected him. “Miss Modine and a few others have been nice. We do have some friends.”
“Precious few compared to the Tanners,” Sam said. “Most of the town is on their side.”
“It’s only natural. The Tanners were here long before we were.” Daisy lowered her arm. “Come along, Parson. We’ll escort you the rest of the way.”
Here was my chance. I could shoot them in the back. But Sam let me go by him, saying, “I’ll catch up. Ma said for us to keep watch and that’s what I aim to do. Give a holler when it’s time for supper.” He stood there watching until we came to the next bend.
Now it was just Daisy and me. I fingered the garrote in my jacket pocket, but the thought of wrapping the wire around her soft, slender throat and choking the life from her while she struggled and thrashed under me caused me to break out in a sweat.
“Are you all right, Reverend Storm? You look sickly.”
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice hoarse and low. To distract her I asked, “How is your family taking your latest loss?”
“About as you would expect. Ma cried for an hour last night. Thank goodness it wasn’t Ty. She loves all of us as dearly as can be, but there’s a special place in her heart for him, Ty being her firstborn and all.”
“You are wise beyond your years.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” Daisy smiled and touched my hand. “But then, that’s why you became a preacher, I reckon. So you can go around saying kind things and being good to folks.”
Why didn’t I kill her then and there? What in hell was happening to me? I was so mad at myself, I shook inside.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how is it a handsome cuss like you hasn’t ever married? Or do you belong to a religion that won’t let you?”
“I could marry if I wanted.”
“That’s good. I never could understand that business about how a preacher can’t be close to the Almighty and a woman, both. Seems to me the Lord wouldn’t begrudge a man having a companion.”
“You wouldn’t think so, would you?” was all I could think of to say. I wanted to rip off my collar and toss it away.
“I admire how you always think of others,” Daisy flattered me. “Coming here like this. It means a lot to us.”
I wished she would stop talking. I wished she would shut up and never say another word to me.
“What kind of woman would you want? To marry, I mean? Would her age matter? Or whether she was refined, like Miss Modine?”
“I’ve never given it much thought,” I mumbled.
“You should. It’s not good to go through life alone. Ma hates being alone. She misses Pa something fierce. They were special close, her and him. Always holding hands and making cow eyes, even after being married so long and having all us kids.”
“She has held up well.”
“She says she has to, for our sake.” Daisy stared at me. “What will happen, Parson? How will this all end?”
“I can’t predict the future,” I responded. “But I pray it ends as it should.” She could take that however she pleased.
“Ma is worried, Parson. She’s heard about the Texas Rangers coming, and it can’t be soon enough to suit her. She was all fired up to fight the Tanners tooth and nail after Sissy was killed, but losing Clell has changed her mind. Now all she wants is for all of us to live through this.”
I was glad when the clearing and the cabin appeared. Their dog started barking, and Jordy and Carson came out of the woods. As was to be expected, they were armed with rifles and revolvers.
As I was dismounting Hannah emerged. She looked terrible, as if she had not slept in days. She had dark bags under her eyes and more lines in her face than I remembered. Deep sorrow had her in its grip, and I was partly to blame.
“Reverend.” She grasped my hand in both of hers. Her eyes moistened and her lips trembled. “How good of you to pay us a visit. Come inside, won’t you, and let me treat you to coffee or whatever else you would like.”
Ty and Kip appeared, and Ty cleared his throat. “We would be right honored if you would say a few words over Clell. We buried him this morning next to Sissy.”
“Certainly.” That was when I realized I had left the Bible back in my room at Calista’s.
“Would you rather do that first and then come in?” Hannah asked.
“Lead the way.”
The two mounds of dirt were a dozen yards into the woods. Crude crosses had been stuck atop each. The Butchers ringed them and bowed their heads.
I racked my brain for a quote, but for the life of me I couldn’t think of one.
“Whenever you are ready, Parson,” Hannah politely prompted.
I stared at the mounds, wondering which was which as the crosses did not have their names carved into the wood. “Death comes to us all,” I said, groping and hoping I sounded like a real preacher. “We don’t want it to, but it does. Rich or poor, young or old, it comes for us when we least expect, and there is nothing any of us can do. Death is always there, always waiting.” I was rambling and not sounding very biblical. “Look at the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, Samson, they were all close to God, yet they all died. Look at the New Testament. Even Jesus was put to death. When our time comes, it comes.”
Hannah and Daisy were looking at me.
“We are gathered to give our respects to two fine people, Clell and Sistine Butcher. They did not deserve to die, but they did. None of us does, but we do. Some say it’s not fair and it’s not right, but it’s the way God arranged things, so what can we do?” I promised myself, then and there, that this was the last time I would ever pretend to be a preacher. “We ask you, Lord, to welcome Clell and Sistine into the hereafter. Look after them. May their stay in heaven be happier than their stay here. And may we one day join them in their happiness.”
Some of the Butchers were fidgeting. I needed a drink. Not a glass or two but an entire bottle.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The Lord is our shepherd,
