Arizona Territory (23 page)

“Cole used to grow cotton when he was a boy.”

Manuel twisted in the saddle, but Cole already had his hands up. “I was just a disinterested boy then.” They laughed and rode on.

When he and Liz were a little apart, he spoke to her. “This is a very large operation and I am impressed.”

She nodded. “Manuel is handling it very well. That is a relief, but I expected him to do that. His brother trained him well. I am certainly pleased.”

“Monica also told me you wanted to paint.”

“Oh, it is a whim.”

“We will pursue it when we get home.”

“Good.”

They rode back for lunch and a
siesta
. Operations of the place were typical Hispanic, with no big problems. After lunch, they met his main man, Fredrick Rodrigues, who reminded Chet of his foreman, Raphael, at home. When questioned by his boss, his answers were quick, and Chet would have bet they were accurate.

In their suite, he held Liz in his arms. “You lived like a queen here.”

“Are you asking me if I regret leaving here to be your wife?”

“I feel a little short on facilities and atmosphere.”

She closed her lashes and shook her head. “This house, this
hacienda
, represents a lack of you, and that to me is more important than all the fuss we have here. I slept by myself for three years. I made all these decisions on what to plant, when and how, and how to sell it. Manuel helped me, but in the end, it was me. I had no one to treat my heart. No one to kiss me. No one to share his thoughts and have his body's warmth in bed.

“I an only a woman. His death made me the leader, and I am not lazy, but I discovered this was not what I wanted. When we make love, I fly away like an eagle. You made me realize that—in a haystack. I never tired of riding mile after mile, because at the end of the day I would have you.

“Men accumulate ranches and
haciendas
. Women accumulate their kisses and their attention.”

He hugged and rocked her. “And I am damn grateful.”

Their visit was soon over. They parted with Manuel and his wife-to-be. The coach with guards took them uneventfully back to Nogales, and from there they started the trip by stage to Preskitt. Chet hated that they had not stopped and gone to Rancho Diablo, but he'd do that later. Christmas was only a few weeks away and it was such a large event for everyone in the ranch family. JD and Bonnie would travel north for the holiday and to visit her mother, Jenn.

Liz kept a list of things he wanted for the event. Where would the celebrations be held? What did they need to gather? If they closed the Force, Shawn McElroy would be there looking for his next job. Would Victor accept managing the Verde Ranch farm operation? A lot of questions he didn't have answers for, but it would work out.

They arrived at the ranch after midnight and the place was full of rigs. He turned to her and said, “No sleep yet.”

She hugged him and acted pleased.

Cole, riding with the
vaquero
, turned and said, “I should have known. One of the
vaqueros
said he'd take me to town after he got you two here.”

“I would bet Valerie is here,” Liz said.

Cole nodded and turned back around.

They were swept into the living room with hugs and kisses. Hampt shook his head. “They didn't skin you up.”

“No, we had not one incident. Peaceful place.”

“For you, that is a record. Good to have you and everyone back.” Hampt hugged Liz next.

When Chet hugged May, she smiled. “He was worried you'd have trouble and him not there.”

“We're fine. All is well?”

“Oh, yes. Hampt hired a tutor for Ray. He seems to like it. The young man is really making him work on books. I hope it will get him in a college.”

“I'll follow up.”

“Good. And good to have you home.”

“Anything fall off the wagon while I was gone?”

“No. But we count on you leading us.”

He went to see Tom and Millie next. Liz carried his sleepy son over to him. Taking Adam from her, he winked. “He is special.”

“Oh, yes. He will steal many women's hearts.”

He agreed and handed him back to Rhea, who was smiling. “That wouldn't be some guitar picker over there we know, is it?”

“He brought your sister.”

“That was nice.”

“Oh, yes. Very nice. I think he wants to talk to you.”

“I will talk to him before he goes back.”

“Adam is cutting more teeth.”

“Better to bite you with, huh?”

“He can bite. But he is a sweet baby. Tomorrow, he will walk some for you.”

“You can take him back to bed. I know you're concerned about him getting his sleep.” He hugged her. “Good to see you.”

“And you.”

She was gone and Susie was there. “How was Mexico?”

“Where I was—quiet. She has a large expansive
hacienda
that her brother-in-law, Manuel, runs very smoothly.”

“Did you like it?”

He shook his head. “I would not trade this ranch here for it.”

“Not your kind of place?”

“No, but it works. I'm in the heart of the land I want to live in the rest of my life. From north to south, I love this state-to-be where we ended up. I want to continue to help it grow, and our holdings as well.”

“Big brother, you've done a lot for all of us. Thanks.”

He hugged her. “It‘s worked out well, despite some sad things that have happened to both of us.”

“Yes. But you're like me, looking at what lies ahead.”

“Right.” He noticed small tears in her lashes, but she forced a big smile for him.

Cole came over to join them. “We're going upstairs and go to bed. I've had enough rocking in that coach to want to sleep.”

Valerie kissed Chet on the cheek. “Thanks for bringing him back.”

“I count on him, too.”

“I know,” she said. “You all have had a long drive home.”

Chet agreed. “But I'm as glad as you are to be here. Good night.”

Later, he and Liz went upstairs, too. By then, he was caved in and ready to sleep. Long days, but they were back and the ranches were running on an even course. Good. He'd sleep hard and figure out the rest in the morning. It looked like for the time being, Victor planned to go back and stay with the Windmill.

They had a big Christmas season on the home ranch and at the other ranches. Things settled into a routine, with the added winter duty to feed hay when it snowed. Chet worked hard to note anything undone in the past year. He found lots of chores to tackle, if they had the manpower to get them done. He and Liz attended some social events in town, like the orchestra that came to entertain and several plays. They also attended the dances in Camp Verde. The cattle drives continued smoothly. Barbwire piled up in rolls at the Verde Ranch blacksmith shop, to fulfill the enormous need to build drift fences. And Adam began to walk.

Spring was moving north rapidly. After Chet, Liz, Cole, and Jesus returned from a visit to Reg's ranch, a wire came one morning about ten to the Preskitt Valley house, from the U.S. Marshal's office in Tucson.

Chet read the wire to himself.

“What is it?” Liz asked.

“There's been a robbery of a payroll shipment to Fort Grant. Men were killed and ten thousand dollars in gold coins is missing.”

“That is a lot to carry off, isn't it?”

“They didn't get it in their saddlebags. I have heard and read about train robbers who left thousands of dollars of coins behind 'cause they couldn't carry them.”

“What do they want you to do?”

“Help them find the criminals. Let's see, it's . . . John Thomas is the new U. S. Marshal in charge at Tucson.”

“Will they, or have they, contacted Roamer?”

“I hope so. I'm going to have to go down there and help. I'm sorry, but there won't be much place for you in this mess. We won't have a camp or a base and it will be hot as hell. If things get straightened out, you might be able to join us later.”

“If you will be careful and stay with your men, I can stay home and play with Adam. I understand taking a crazy woman along is like taking too many suitcases.”

He hugged her, still in deep thought. They'd switched head marshals so many times, for reasons he wasn't sure about, the job must be hard to handle. He didn't want it. The top man spent all his time setting up courtrooms and finding jurors for grand juries and court cases. People who came to Arizona for the job didn't realize how hot it was there, and how demanding it was to set up trials and that business.

“You need to leave right now?”

“I need to send him my reply, gather up my two men, and wire Roamer and Shawn to meet us, if he isn't already there.”

“Alright, busy man. Kiss me and I will help clean up the kitchen dishes and be Monica's helper.”

He kissed her and then smiled at her. “Sorry. This should not be too long. You've spoiled me. We haven't been apart hardly at all.”

“Both of us are spoiled. But I am very proud of you, and don't worry about me. I knew I married a busy man. I only ask that you be careful, for Adam's sake and mine, and Monica's, too.”

“Yes,” their cook said. “I don't want to have to break in another cowboy.”

They laughed.

Jesus came in the back door and politely knocked. “Did that boy bring trouble?”

“Yes, a large Army payroll was stolen, several men killed, and the new marshal wants our help. I need to write a wire to Roamer and one to this new man and tell him we'll join them.”

“I'll take it to the office and get Cole.”

“We need Roamer to bring us horses and pack animals from down there, in case we need them. We can take the stage and be there in a day and a half. If we can find them, we need some fresh tracks. Tell Cole we may be down there for some time. Doesn't sound like he has any fresh suspects right now.”

“I will attend to that, boss man. Good morning, ladies.”

“That's alright, Jesus,” Liz said, holding Adam and teasing him. “We know you two are very busy. Rhea, Anita, and I understand our roles here, and we all will be waiting.”

Jesus thanked them.

Chet explained to him the part about the coins. Anita had gone for some paper and pencil to write out his telegrams. Jesus excused himself to go saddle a horse.

Chet wrote out his reply to Marshal Thomas, and then the one to Roamer about bringing horses and when they would be there. He decided to send one to Tubac and another for Roamer to Tucson, in case he was already up there.

“Will you go by and see JD while you are down there?” Liz asked.

“Maybe when it's over. If I do, you can come down and see that ranch.”

“I will have my bags packed. You made that offer, if you recall, a long time ago.”

“I don't know what this will take, or how long, but it sounds serious.”

“Here, you better hold Adam so he doesn't forget you.”

The girls at the table laughed.

He took the baby in his arms and talked to him. “Tell those silly women you aren't going to forget me. Are you? Why, no. Soon you can ride a pony and go with me.”

Liz looked hopelessly at the ceiling and put her hand to her forehead. “Then I can worry about the two of you.”

His son could walk a little but ran most of the time. The women all commented on how he was like his father. Chet shook his head and denied it all. Adam was a nice-looking boy, but he needed two or three more years to have stood the test for what Chet considered survival. Childhood mortality was a large factor in these times, and even carefully handled children took diseases and died. He kept his fingers crossed and prayed a lot for his son's well-being.

In the living room, Chet sat on the floor to play with Adam. The little one went back and forth between him and Liz, who kneeled a short distance away. As time passed, his son became even more precious, and, in bed some nights, Liz cried over her frustration about not becoming pregnant. Despite his reassurances, he had no problem with the situation. He told her the same thing Cole told his wife. If God wanted them to have children, they would, and no amount of crying or pining over the matter would change it. Still, that was the soft spot in their marriage, and he walked cautiously around it.

By mid-afternoon, Cole was there with his war bag and saddle. “I was coming out to see if I could help Raphael today, when I met Jesus on the road. Had to go back and get my things and tell my wife where we were going.”

“No problem. I just got the wire this morning. I thought we could take the stagecoach down there and look for clues as soon as possible. Roamer has horses he can bring up there, easier than us riding down there.”

Cole agreed. “They don't have any leads?”

“They don't seem to. But most U.S. Marshals are more administrators and businessmen, rather than range detectives, like you and Jesus.”

“Good thing. That means we have a job.”

“Yes, how is Valerie?”

“Oh, fine. She and Jenn have been real busy at the café. I appreciate the time I had off to be with her and was ready to get back to work.”

“Been a short turnaround, I know, but we don't plan these crime sprees.”

“That's for sure. You don't need me, so I'll go find Raphael and some of the
vaqueros
and catch up on what they know.”

“Fine. Get some sleep this afternoon and evening, in here or at the bunkhouse. We won't get to sleep much on that rocking stagecoach tonight. Monica will have supper at six.”

“I'll be here for that.”

When Cole left, Liz caught his arm. “Let us go rest, too.”

He grinned at her. “You mean rest?”

She poked him in the muscled gut with her flat hand. “I mean real rest.”

They went upstairs with him teasing her privately all the way.

Suppertime, and his men were there to eat. Jesus sat beside Anita and they helped Rhea with Adam. Cole was telling Liz and Anita about the flowers his wife had planted. They promised to go by and see them and her garden.

“Rhea? Have you seen Victor lately?”

She quickly nodded. “Oh, yes. He took me to a dance last Saturday. He is going to Gallup this week with the cattle herd, so I won't see him again for two weeks at least. The musicians had him play with them a lot, but the cowboys from the Verde Ranch danced with me. They are very polite and asked him if they could.”

“Vic is a good guy and a good musician. He is lucky you are understanding,” said Liz.

She turned up her hands. “I try.”

Liz agreed. “You do try. But being in the shadow of a good man sometimes is not easy.”

Everyone laughed. Rhea looked a little embarrassed, but she quickly recovered. Life went on, his ranches and his family were busy, all the time. But they were succeeding, a thing that he worried about making the move from Texas only a few years before. But the threat of the feud had evaporated for him, and he hoped it stayed gone. Those days, now years behind him, were so bloody and hectic, and the thought of his family's losses in those years made him shudder.

Feeling a little guilty about leaving his wife behind, after all their adventures together, the situation niggled him a little. But she'd do fine, and when it was over, they could go to Rancho Diablo and see all the progress his nephew, JD, had made on the sprawling ranch.

Under the stars, Liz sat next to him in the buckboard as a
vaquero
drove them, Cole, and Jesus to the stage office on the east side of town, where the Black Canyon Stage Line would take off around midnight for Hayden's Ferry. It was a cool evening, so his wife wore a shawl and he had on an unlined jumper. He wouldn't need it in a few hours when they dropped off the mile-high elevation into the Valley of the Salt River and the sentinel saguaro cactus. Quite a transition, and he dreaded the heat, but it was only part of what he agreed to do when he accepted that badge.

The coach would then switch from there to the stage that went to Papago Wells, a transfer point to go west to Yuma and California, or south to Tucson. He kissed Liz good-bye. His men loaded their war bags and saddles in the freight holder on the back of the coach. He helped Liz onto the spring seat, and she was ready to go back with the
vaquero
who had driven them down.

“God be with you,” Chet told her.

“You too,
hombre
. I will burn candles for your safety, and theirs as well.”

He thanked her and she drove off. Climbing in the stage, he spoke briefly to the stage office agent holding the door and felt an empty spot form in his gut.

“Damn you, Chet Byrnes. You can find the purtiest women in this whole world to be your wives. I swear you must be a genius at finding them.”

“He damn sure is, Paul,” said the driver when he shut the coach door behind Chet.

“Well, I can believe that, too,” Paul said, and climbed up on the seat. “Hang on, boys, we're leaving Preskitt right now.”

They were off to Tucson. Sleeping was hazardous as always inside the stage. Besides lurching from side to side, it also rocked up and down. In places, the driver ground the two teams up front almost to a halt going off steep hills and grades, then opened them up in the moonlit flats. It was a whirlwind ride, like usual, but Chet did steal some sleep.

He and his men caught breakfast mid-morning at Hayden's Ferry. Then they reloaded for Tucson. The day's temperature hovered over a hundred already. Besides the dust that swept into the coach, the desert heat was like a furnace blast. After several horse changes, they took a break at Papago Wells. The eastbound stage from Yuma was late, and the agent asked Chet to give them a little time because a top man for the U.S. Marshal's office was on that coach. Sheldon Arnold and his wife, Rachael, were the party they waited for.

Obviously, the agent didn't want to listen to the important man's lamenting about any delays. Two hours later, which Chet knew would make their arrival in Tucson be after dark, the stage from Yuma arrived. Cole climbed up with the driver, so Chet and Jesus shared the coach with the Arnolds. He introduced himself as head of the Force.

“Oh, yes, you are the man who shut down most of the border invasion forces that were plaguing the southern territory. I understand you ranch here.” Arnold mopped his face with a Turkish towel and then handed it to his wife who looked equally heat stressed. A nice-looking lady, but much younger than her husband. Chet guessed her to be in her early twenties and Arnold in his forties.

“I have several ranches across the state,” Chet told him.

“Well, I am pleased to meet you at long last. I was busy inspecting our California operations when I received notice about the payroll robbery.”

“You know, Marshal Byrnes, that San Diego is in the seventies night and day?” his wife asked.

“No, I didn't. While it's not that cool at my ranch at Preskitt up in the mountains, it's much cooler than it is down here.”

She squinted her green eyes and shook her head. “I hope you two quickly solve this case. I am not anxious to be here very long.”

“I think with Marshal Byrnes and his men here, we soon may have this case solved and on our way, my dear.”

“Good, Bootsie, because I am really ready to leave now.” She looked perturbed and stared out the side window at the boiling dust.

Chet counted his blessings that she wasn't his wife. Taking her along would be torture, compared to Elizabeth and his adventures with her.

“Do you have any idea who these murderers could be?”

“No. But that doesn't mean we can't find them. There are a lot of criminals that filter in here from the more eastern places. Recent restoration of the Texas Rangers has pushed the Texas criminals westward. So I suspect these felons may be unknown to Arizona territory lawmen.”

“I know you are familiar with this element better than myself or Marshal Thomas. I do appreciate you coming in to help us.”