The Redemption of Rachel: Companion Book Two: The Cattlman's Daughters Read online

  The Redemption of Rachel

  Companion Book Two: The Cattleman’s Daughters

  “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,

  I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind but now I see.”

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Prologue

  Casper, Wyoming, March 1889

  Davrum Deeks hobbled along the narrow alley way of Casper, one hand resting on the crook in his spine. The cool weather seemed to have embedded daggers there, making him ache all the way to his toes. Each step made him grimace, but the shadowy corridor covered his scowl. Slowly lifting his head, he could just make out the brightly decorated building at the end of the alley, its red paper lanterns dazzling in the afternoon sun.

  Deeks took another determined step, but hesitated even as the sole of his low heeled boots clunked on the cold earth. Standing still, he cocked his head and listened intently to the sound that had caught his attention a moment ago. He knew he’d heard it - a soft whimper. Stooping lower he turned his whole body in a slow semi-circle, pausing and listening again.

  On the right side of the alley, a stack of boxes and broken crates piled with a variety of refuse leaned against the black wall of the nearest building. Another soft moaning drifted to him from the rubble and dropping his hands to his side, he moved toward the broken slats.

  At first glance the only thing Deeks could see was a pile of filthy rags haphazardly thrust into the other rubbish and debris, then the rags wriggled and he gasped as the frail, dirty face of a woman appeared. Her blue eyes were shiny with fever, her hair so matted and begrimed he couldn’t tell what color it could possibly be. A thin bony hand reached up to him beseechingly.

  “Did you come for me, Papa?” a voice croaked from among the refuse of humanity accompanied by a delirious giggle.

  “Ma’am?” Deeks questioned. “You’d best come along with me.” He stepped closer, bending toward her, but she pressed herself deeper into the broken boxes, whimpering with fright.

  Deeks eased back on his heels, noting the terror in her eyes even as her body quaked. He needed to get her out of there. Spring in Wyoming could be fatal.

  “You come along with me now, ma’am,” Deeks said boldly. “You’ll be alright.” His voice grew gentle the way it did when soothing an injured animal. “You come along now.”

  The woman shrank back as his work worn hands grasped her arms and began lifting her. For a moment she struggled, but she had no resistance to the strength of his heavily muscled arms and shoulders. Though no longer a young man, Deeks still possessed a good portion of the bulky muscle he’d developed working the forge of the Broken J ranch as a blacksmith, and the frail, thin woman had no strength to resist as he half lifted her from the detritus of humanity.

  Davrum could see the rear door of the doctor’s office as he half-carried the bundle of bones and rags through the back streets of the burgeoning city. He hissed as he placed a foot wrong, in his hurried approach, pain stabbing at him, but tightened his grip on the creature in his arms. Even without looking closely, he could see dark bruises covering her face. One of her light blue eyes wouldn’t open fully and dried blood matted her hair. His heart squeezed with compassion for her, and anger for man’s inhumanity to man gurgled in his gut.

  She stumbled as he moved toward the steps of the small house, her whole body shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. Gritting his teeth, he swept an arm under her legs and lifted her against his chest as he stomped up the stairs to the door.

  No sooner had his boots stopped their clatter on the last step when the door flew open as a gray-haired woman ushered them in. “You take her straight down the hall to the room on the left,” she said, following him and his burden along the narrow corridor. “The other room is occupied right now,” she added, hurrying him along. “I’ll just call Doc while you settle her on the bed.” The woman’s brisk words and confident manner brooked no argument.

  As gently as possible, Deeks settled the woman on the bed where she promptly rolled herself into a ball covering her face with her hands and muttering unintelligibly. A minute later a door across the hall opened and he could hear the excited words of the ranch foreman: Will and Katie’s ecstatic chatter echoed from the room. Deeks smiled despite his heavy heart. Katie, the cattleman’s daughter had been like a niece to him ever since he’d started on the Oregon Trail with her father over twenty years ago. Even with the hardships and sorrows of this world, life and love had a way of continuing at its own pace. As the old left the world, the new arrived, grew, married and started the whole thing over again. There was a strange comfort in knowing that some things were as sure as the rising of the sun.

  “Deeks?” The doctor, a short, be-spectacled man with wisps of fuzzy white hair standing every direction, questioned. “Madge said you brought a patient in.” He glanced toward the cot, then ran his hands through his already disheveled hair before pulling a stool up to the cot and beginning to examine the woman.

  “Ma’am? Ma’am?” the doctor got no response but with gentle pressure encouraged he woman to straighten out on the bed. Behind him Madge entered with a thick blanket and enamel bowl full of steaming water which she placed carefully on a table by the cot.

  “Where’d you find her?” the doc turned his hazel gaze on Deeks.

  “In the alley along the west side o’ the street.”

  The doctor blinked. “What in the world were you doin’ over there? That’s about the seediest part of Casper I ever did see. Nothin’ but gambling dens, saloons, and houses of ill repute to be found over there.”

  Deeks squirmed a little as he leaned against the door frame, hat in hands. “Well, ya see Doc, I heard of a place that sells some new medicine that might just help me with this ol’ back a’ mine.”

  Doc’s eyebrows climbed toward his receding hair line. “What in thunder?” he gaped. “You know them quacks haven’t got anything worth paying for.”

  Deeks scuffed his boots on the floor. “A fella riding ta’ Yella’stone this winter said his wife swore by the stuff. Sompin’ called Medicated Ointment by a fella’ named Raleigh. Said I could get it at a apothec’ry place.”

  The doctor sighed. “Well I actually know what you’re talkin’ about at least, I even got some here myself that you can have. I don’t know how much good it’ll do your back, but you can try it.” He turned his attention back to the woman on the bed.

  “She sure looks like she’s been through the ringer.”

  Just then the front door opened and a slim, coppery haired young woman entered on the arm of a raven haired cowboy who looked like he’d been in a bit of a dust-up.

  “I’ll be right with you,” the doctor called.

  “I’ve got this one, Joseph,” his gray-haired wife called back as she hustled the couple down the hall to the kitchen.

  For just a moment, Deeks pondered their presence. He couldn’t imagine why Meg and Clayton had come to see the doctor, but for the moment he had enough to worry about right where he stood.

  “Hand me that brown bottle on the shelf behind you,” Doc called, tucking the blanket up around the prostrate woman’s neck.

  Deeks handed the bottle and watched as he poured a measured dose into a shot glass, then helped the woman drink.

  “Laudanum,” the Doc stated. “She’ll rest a little easier now and wo
n’t feel the pain so much.” He tsked, clinking his tongue a few times. “You know what she must be don’t ya?” he continued, “but someone sure worked her over good.”

  “I know,” Deeks voice was barely a whisper, “but I couldn’t hardly just leave her there to freeze to death.”

  “Either that or starvation.” The doctor’s voice suddenly grew silent as the woman opened her blue eyes as wide as possible and stared right at him.

  “Ma’am. I’m the doctor here in Casper and I’m going to fix you up.”

  Both men watched as she flicked her eyes from one and then back to the other but didn’t utter a word.

  “Can you tell us your name, ma’am?” the doctor asked.

  Again the eyes, hard as cold steel, raked their faces.

  “Call me Dusty.” Her voice was like a rasp. “Dusty Ray.”

  Chapter 1

  Deeks made his way slowly back to the boarding house where the rest of the crew and family from the Broken J ranch were staying. He had a lot to tell them, but how much should he actually say? “Either way what’s done is done.” He grumbled to himself as he shuffled along the dusty streets of the small, but ever-growing town.

  “I’ll just tell Josh an’ Benji,” he spoke again as he grasped the railing that led up the stairs to the rough wooden house, and walked across the plank walkway to the door.

  Deeks pushed his bent frame through the door into the sounds of family. The long, narrow front room of the boarding house was all but taken up by the people he called family. On the far side of the table Meg, the copper-haired daughter of his boss and longtime friend Joshua James, sat next to her new husband, and for once they seemed to be getting along, despite the fact that Clay had bandaged hands and a rapidly swelling cut on his high cheek bone.

  Will and Katie, wrapped in each other’s arms, beamed with their own news. The oldest James’ daughter face glowed as she toyed with her long golden braid. Deeks smiled, already knowing their joyous proclamation. The old blacksmith continued his perusal of the people he called family from the shadows at the front of the room, while the boisterous crowd chatted and laughed. He saw the large form of Hank Ballard, a big arm wrapped affectionately around his wife Fiona, her dark wild curls tumbling over his shirt sleeve, as he chatted with his small son. They were all beautiful.

  “Uncle Deeks!” Mae, the youngest called, spotting the old man standing by the door with his hat in his hands. “What are you doing just standing there? Come and eat before it’s all gone.” She smiled brightly, her dark eyes twinkling merrily as she swung her long black hair over her shoulder.

  “What’s been keeping you?” Joshua asked his ice blue eyes bright with delight.

  Taking a deep breath, the bent man plunged in. "I done got myself hitched." Deeks announced to the group at large. "Ray is feelin' a might poorly just now, though, so she's with the doc, but she'll be headed home with us just the same." The old blacksmith wrung his scarred hands as he stood in the parlor of Mrs. Bick's house making the announcement before stepping outside to have a lengthy talk with Joshua James and Benjamin Smith.

  “Josh, I hope you understand.” Deeks rubbed his lower back, trying to ward off the sharp, pinching sensation nagging at him.

  “Deeks, you did what you thought you had to, and we’ll stand by you with it. Any decent human being would have done the same.”

  The old blacksmith looked at Benji, who smiled back at him reassuringly, his dark blue eyes full of concern. “It won’t be easy learning to live with a stranger.” He huffed, thinking back to his own marriage to a mail-order-bride almost a year ago.

  “I can’t say I ain’t worried,” Deeks said. “She’s in pretty bad shape, but she went along with my proposal and I reckon if nothin’ else she can have a little peace and safety.”

  Josh reached out a hand, laying it on his friend’s thick shoulders. “God sometimes brings things into our lives that we don’t understand, and all we can do is have faith and do our best. We’ll be right with you as best we can.”

  The next morning the crew of the Broken J Ranch, plus one, mounted up and headed out on the trail home. No one had an opportunity to talk to Deeks’ new wife, as she’d been led to the back of the old chuck wagon and made as comfortable as possible inside the covered transport.

  Deeks helped Ray into the wagon. She looked a little better today. The doc and his wife had managed to get her cleaned up a bit and even found her a clean dress to wear. He hoped that once they reached the ranch that the new woman in his life would find time to heal and build her strength. He also worried how she’d be received by the rest of the crew once they knew about her previous profession. Perhaps Bianca Leoné, Joshua’s mother-in-law, could make her feel at home.

  The drive home was uneventful and quiet as Ray slept for most of the journey, wrapped in a heavy blanket in the back of the wagon. She neither approached the fire nor greeted any of the members of the ranch, only leaving the wagon to relieve herself. Deeks brought her meals to her and she ate them greedily in the small hole she’d nestled in among the supplies.

  The ride to the ranch was difficult for Deeks. Although he was sure he’d done the right thing, he didn’t know quite how to continue forward. Ray was sullen at best, and morose for the whole trip. She barely spoke to him, simply taking whatever he brought her, then curling back onto her pallet and sleeping again.

  “Billy,” he finally said as he sat on the wagon seat following the big red freight wagon ahead of them, “I on’y wanted to help, best I could.”

  The old cook grinned at him toothlessly. “You just get on with bein’ yourself, Deeks, and let things work out the way they should. Things usually do, you know.”

  Everyone could feel the excitement and anticipation as they approached the Broken J. The big, arched gateways with the name of the place written large welcomed them into the fenced compound. No matter how many times he’d ridden this way, Deeks always felt pride at what they’d built here. He gazed around the ranch as the horses picked up their pace, glad to be home.

  The big, gray, two-story house with its galvanized roof and wrap-around porch. The tiny sod shack where Fiona now lived with her husband, Hank, and his son Eric. The huge barn with its new weathervane turning in the breeze. He’d crafted that charging bull with his own hands at his forge on the other side of the barn.

  The horses clopped briskly into the ranch yard, coming to a halt just past the big corral with its lazy windmill.

  Deeks took a deep breath, taking in the rest of the ranch. The dark, brooding bunkhouse along the far fence and a glimpse of the bathhouse. He wondered what the woman still huddled in the back of the wagon would think of the place and climbed gingerly down from the wagon to get his wife.

  Deeks hobbled around to the back of the chuck wagon and eased the frail woman he now called wife from the back, where she’d spent nearly every moment of the trip. In the light of day, purple green bruising was evident on her cheeks and jaw, and one eye seemed to squint in the white glare.

  “This is it,” he said cheerfully, trying to put some of the pride he felt into his words.

  The woman gazed around her at the buildings and stock, but didn’t say a word; instead, she just leaned against the wagon.

  “You can come on into the house and meet eve’y one,” Deeks said, watching as Josh nodded toward his father-in-law, Isadoro, indicating they needed to talk with a look.

  “Deeks, why don’t you take Ray on into my room where she can rest, and we’ll all have a talk in a bit,” Joshua said cheerfully.

  Deeks turned to the woman who stood unsteadily on her feet next to him, vigorously shaking her head. “You’ll be comfortable in there, an’ you can have a lay down in a real bed.”

  “I’m not going into that house and have everyone looking at me,” Ray said, her words clipped. “I’ve got no truck with the people here, you just show me where I’m staying and I’ll keep out of everyone’s way.”

  Isadoro, Joshua’s father-in-law, watched
Deeks talking to the woman by the chuck wagon and knew something was up when a hushed argument ensued between the bent old blacksmith and the rail thin woman in an oversized woolen dress. After a few minutes, Deeks stepped away from her and walked to where Josh was mounting the stairs.

  “She says she won’t come in ta’ house,” he said, his tired blue eyes looking sad.

  Josh cast a glance to the chuck wagon as Fiona walked by holding Eric’s hand.

  “Well, she can’t stay in the chuck wagon,” Josh began.

  Deeks lifted his hat and scratched his thatch of gray hair. “She won’t budge,” he said, concern evident in his voice.

  Isadoro looked from one man to the other, then toward the woman in question, sure he was missing something important.

  “Take her on down to the bunk house,” he began. Both men turned shocked eyes toward the wiry man. “You can have the other side of the place to yourself since we aren’t using it anyway,” he finally finished.

  Deeks wrung his big hands, looked toward the old green wagon, and nodded. “I reckon she’ll be alright there.” Dropping his head, he shuffled off to where Ray slouched against the wagon.

  “You go on and get warmed up, Josh.,” Isadoro said. “I’ll get the stock turned in.” He’d no sooner said the words then both men saw Clayton gathering up the reins of the horses, directing them toward the corral where his stud horse was now kicking up a fuss.

  “I think we have a lot to discuss about this trip. By the looks of things, you had quite a trip to town.” Isadoro’s cinnamon eyes were bright with curiosity.

  Joshua James looked at his father-in-law and smiled at the small, dark man. “I think more than any of us can know yet, happened on this trip. I just hope Deeks knows what he’s doing.” He gazed off toward where the old blacksmith, his arm supporting the frail woman by his side, walked toward the long, log structure of the bunk house and lifted a silent prayer heavenward before joining his family inside.