friend I ever had.” He took out his bottle and was relieved when Sarah said nothing. “John had in mind to do some ranching, so I lent a hand here and there. That’s how I came to meet Quiet Water.”
Casually Sarah pleated her skirt. “I suppose you knew Jake as a boy.”
“I’ll say I did.” Lucius let go a whistling laugh.
“Tough little cuss. Could look a hole right through you. Ain’t changed much. He was spending some time with his grandma’s people. Would’ve thought he was one of them then, ‘cept for the eyes. Course, he wasn’t. They knew it and he knew it. Like John said, it’s hard not being one or the other. I used to wonder what would’ve happened if Quiet Water and me had had kids.”
“What happened to her, Lucius?”
“I had gone off looking for gold.” His eyes narrowed as he stared off into the sun. “Seems a regiment rode through early one morning. Some settler claimed his stock was stolen, and that the Apaches had done it. So the soldiers came in, looking for trouble, hating Indians. Killed most everybody but those who made it up into the rocks.”
“Oh, Lucius. Lucius, I’m so sorry.” Unable to find words, she took both his hands in hers.
“When I come back, it was done. I was half-crazy, I guess. Rode around for days, not going anywhere. I guess I was hoping somebody’d come along and shoot me. Then I headed to the Redman place. They’d been burned out.”
“Oh, dear God.”
“Nothing left but charred wood and ashes.”
“How horrible.” She tightened her grip on his hands. “Oh, Lucius, it wasn’t the soldiers?”
“No. Leastwise they weren’t wearing uniforms.
Seemed like some men from town got liquored up and decided they didn’t want no breed that close by. John and his missus had had trouble before, like I said, but this went past hard words and threats. They started out to burn the barn, raise hell. One of them started shooting. Maybe they’d meant to all along, there’s no saying. When it was over, they’d burned them out and left the family for dead.”
Horror made her eyes dark and huge. “Jake. He would have been just a boy.”
“Thirteen, fourteen, I reckon. But he was past being a boy. I found him where he’d buried his folks. He was just sitting there, between the two fresh graves. Has his pa’s hunting knife in his hands. Still carries it.”
She knew the knife. She’d seen it stained with blood, for her. But now all she could think of was the boy. “Oh, the poor child. He must have been so frightened.”
“No, ma’am. I don’t believe frightened’s the word. He was chanting, like in a trance the Indians sometimes use. War chant, it was. He figured on going into town and finding the men who killed his folks.” “But you said he was only thirteen.”
“I said he was past being a boy. Best I could do was talk him out of it for a time, till he learned to handle a gun better. He learned mighty fast. I ain’t never seen a man do with a gun what Jake can do.” Though it was hot out, she rubbed the chill from her arms. “Did he…go back for them?”
“I don’t rightly know. I never asked. I thought it best we move on until he had some years on him, so we headed south. Didn’t know what to do for Mm. Bought him a horse, and we rode together awhile. I always figured he’d hook up with the wrong kind, but Jake was never much for hooking up with anybody. He’d’ve been about sixteen when we parted ways. Heard about him off and on. Then he rode into Lone Bluff a few months back.”
“To lose everything that way.” A tear ran down her cheek. “It’s a wonder he’s not filled with hate.”
“He’s got it in him, but it’s cold. Me, I use the bottle, wash it away now and then. Jake uses something in here.” He tapped his temple. “That boy holds more inside than anybody should have to. He ever lets it out, people better stand back.”
She understood what he meant. Hadn’t she seen it, that flat, dangerous look that came into his eyes? That expressionless stare that was more passionate than fury, more deadly than rage.
“You care for him.”
“He’s all I got that you might call family. Yeah, I got an affection for the boy.” Lucius squinted over at her. “I figure you do, too.”
“I don’t know what I feel for him.” That was a lie. She knew very well what she felt, how she felt. She was even coming to understand why she felt. He wasn’t the man she had once imagined she would love, but he was the only man she ever would. “It doesn’t matter what I feel,” she said, “if he doesn’t feel it back.”
“Maybe he does. It might be hard for him to say it right out, but I always figure a woman’s got a sense about those things.”
“Not always.” With a little sigh, she rose. “There’s work to be done, Lucius.”
“Yes’m.”
“There is one question. What have you been doing in the mine?”
“The mine, Miss Sarah?”
“You said yourself I have a good eye. I know you’ve been going in there. I’d like to know why.”
“Well, now.” Fabricating wasn’t Lucius’s strong suit. He coughed and shifted his feet and peered off at nothing. “Just having a look around.”
“For gold?”
“Could be.”
“Do you think you’ll find any?”
“Matt always figured there was a rich vein in that rock, and when Jake-” He broke off.
“When Jake what? Asked you to look?”
“Maybe he might have suggested it sometime.”
“I see.” Sarah looked up to the top of the ridge. She had always wondered what Jake wanted, she thought, her heart shattering. Perhaps she knew now* Gold seemed to pull at the men she loved. “I have no objection to you working the mine, Lucius. In fact, I think it’s an excellent idea. You must let me know if you require any tools.” When she looked back at him, her eyes were as cool and hard as any man’s. “The next time you ride into town, you might mention to Jake that Sarah’s Pride is mine.”
“Yes, ma’am, if you’d like.”
“I insist.” She looked toward the road. “There’s a buggy coming.”
Lucius spit and hoped it wasn’t Carlson. As far as he was concerned, the man had been too free with his visits to Sarah in the past few weeks.
It wasn’t Carlson. As the buggy drew closer, Sarah saw it was a woman holding the reins. Not Liza, she realized with a pang of disappointment. The woman was dark and delicate and a stranger to her.
“Good morning.” Sarah set the rifle against the wall of the house.
“Good morning, ma’am.” The young woman sat in the buggy and sent Sarah a nervous smile. “You sure live a ways out.”
“Yes.” Since her visitor didn’t seem in a hurry to alight, Sarah walked to the buggy. “I’m Sarah Conway.” “Yes, ma’am, I know. I’m Alice. Alice Johnson.” She gave the puppy a bright, cheerful smile, then looked at Sarah again. “Pleased to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Johnson. Would you like to come in for some tea?”
“Oh, no, ma’am, I couldn’t.”
Baffled by Alice’s horrified expression, Sarah tried again. “Perhaps you’re lost?”
“No, I’ve come to talk with you, but I couldn’t come in. It wouldn’t be fitting.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Well, you see, Miss Conway, I’m one of Carlotta’s girls.”
Carlotta? Wide-eyed, Sarah looked her visitor over again. She was hardly more than a girl, a year or more younger than Sarah herself. Her face was scrubbed clean, and her dress was certainly modest. As Sarah stared, thick lashes lowered over her dark eyes and a blush rushed into her cheeks.
“Do you mean you work at the Silver Star?”
“Yes, ma’am, for nearly three months now.”
“But-” Sarah swallowed the words when she saw Alice bite her lip. “Miss Johnson, if you’ve come to see me, I suggest we talk inside. It’s much too hot to stand in the sun.”
“I couldn’t. Really, it wouldn’t be fitting, Miss Conway.”
“Fitting or not, I don’t wish sunstroke on either of us. Please, come in.” Leaving the decision in the hands of
