Cowboy Caveat (18 page)

“
Of course, for these
documents to be legal we need two witnesses unrelated to us,” Ed
told him.

Henderson looked annoyed but he nodded; he
was so close to getting what he wanted but he had to make sure it
was done all nice and legal.

“
I’ll call Maria, my
housekeeper, and her daughter. They can write, so they’ll do as
witnesses to our signatures.” He went to the door and yelled,
“Maria!” Then he sat back down and finished his statement, as Ed
waited uneasily.

“
You call, Mister?” a
large Mexican woman said as she stuck her head around the
door.

“
Maria, would you and Lou
come and witness the signing of a couple of documents?”

“
Si, Mister, I fetch
Lou....LOU, LOU, COME HERE!”

There was a sound of running feet and a
pretty, olive-skinned girl of about sixteen or so sidled into the
room. Judging by the flirtatious way she looked at Henderson from
under her lashes, Ed guessed there was more to the relationship
than just employer and servant. Henderson signed the statement he’d
written about Amy and the two women signed as witnesses. Then
Henderson signed the bill of sale amending the price to include
another fifteen percent before he handed the pen to Ed who
hesitated but signed since there seemed to be no other choice.

Just as Ed was handing the pen for Maria to
use to witness the signing, the door was flung open and two Texas
Rangers burst inside. The very same moment, the glass in the window
shattered inwards, and in all the confusion, shouting, women
screaming and glass breaking, Henderson was grabbed from behind by
Ed, who jerked his arms upwards, twisting Henderson’s arms up his
back. Ed pushed him to the floor, falling on top of him to hold him
down. He was quickly joined by Rick Cook, who cuffed Henderson
adroitly, and between them they hauled him back up to his feet. It
was a smoothly executed operation and over within a couple minutes.
No one was hurt and not a shot fired.

“
Lawrence Henderson, you
are under arrest for robbery and accessory to murder on several
counts.”

“
You have no right to come
barging in here like this and accuse an innocent man! I
demand
to see your
evidence for these accusations, sir!”

Rick Cook and two other
Rangers began towing the struggling Henderson out from the room.
Rick said, “You can contact your lawyer from jail, Mr. Henderson,
but you
are
coming with us now. We have a warrant for your arrest signed
by Judge James Richardson.”

* * * * *

“
So, have you got the
statement Henderson signed exonerating Amy?” Ethan asked Ed after
he had finished his tale.

They were all sitting in Hilda’s grand
parlor. Lucy and Amy held their breath and leaned forward as they
waited to hear Ed’s answer.

“
Sure-nuff!” Ed pulled a
paper out of his jacket and handed it to Ethan to read.

Ethan scanned it quickly and, ignoring Amy’s
beseeching cry, stood and handed it straight over to the judge. The
judge read the document and nodded, then spoke directly to Amy. “It
all seems to be in order and witnessed correctly. My dear, with the
number of charges this man Henderson has against him, I am certain
this will go no further. I can confirm that the bill of sale is
null and void due to the lack of witnesses.”

“
No whipping?” Amy
asked.

“
No whipping,” the judge
confirmed.

Amy squealed with delight. She jumped up, as
did Lucy and Millie, and they leapt about the room, hugging each
other with glee. Everyone began to talk at once and then Rose
interrupted the celebrations by announcing there was a Mr. Peabody
to see them. Luca looked up in panic and scuttled over to Amy,
hiding his face in her skirts.

“
Would you please join us,
Jim, we might need your assistance with this,” Ethan said, and he
stood and patted Luca’s head reassuringly.

“
I’ll be glad to help but
I suggest we all see this man in here.” The Judge nodded to Rose to
show Mr. Peabody into the parlor. A short, portly and officious
looking man bustled into the room and seemed only slightly taken
aback by the number of people present.

“
Which one of you men is
Ethan Walker?” he asked without any polite introduction.

Ethan stood up, saying, “That’ll be me,
sir,” and he held out his hand, but Mr. Peabody ignored him.

“
You stole a boy from the
inward travelling Dallas train five days ago. I want to know what
you have to say to that sir!” Ethan folded his arms and assessed
the small man, his hazel eyes narrowed. “I take exception to your
tone is what I say sir,” he drawled. Amy jumped in before Ethan
could say anything else. “We want to adopt Luca, Mr. Peabody, as
soon as possible...”

“
Absolutely out of the
question!” Peabody interrupted her rudely. “Excuse me sir but might
I ask why the adoption of this child out of the question?” Judge
Richardson asked pleasantly. The small man turned to the Judge
obviously having no idea who he was addressing. “This boy was
kidnapped from the train sir, taken forcibly from his
warden-guardian Miss Cardon. The courts do not allow people such as
this to adopt children. I intend to return him to the proper
facility and back into the capable hands of Miss
Cardon.”

“
I am Judge James
Richardson, Mr. Peabody, and I can personally vouch for these good
people. From what I understand they rescued this poor child from a
life of eternal bullying from the harridan you have named as Miss
Cardon, a woman who was supposed to be protecting him and other
children in her care. I shall personally see to it that this woman
no longer works with children and I shall be keeping a close eye on
how the Boys Home is run in the future. I will personally arrange
the legal adoption of the boy Luca into this loving family. Now
then, Peabody, do you have Luca’s papers with you?”

Mr. Peabody blanched, gulped and nodded,
holding out his black bag.

“
Very good. Mr. Walker,
shall we go through to the other room and peruse Luca’s records?”
Ethan grinned, “Sure thing Jim, come on Peabody, follow
me.”

* * * * *

“
A letter?”

“
Yes, a letter on file
which nobody at the orphanage had thought to open. Shall I read it
aloud?” Ethan asked the family after dinner that night.

“
Go ahead, dear, and read
it,” said Hilda.

Everyone quietened down and they all looked
at Ethan expectantly.

“
Okay, here goes,” he
said.

“‘
OPEN: ESPECIALLY IF
SOMEONE WANTS TO ADOPT LUCA GONZALES.

“
To whom it may concern.
The baby boy what is give to the orphanage this day, must not be
adopted he was taken by my husband
after
he killed the baby’s parents. He took him for me - we ain’t got no
kids. The boy’s family name is Campbell and they live at the Lazy Z
Ranch. I am dying I think and if I do my husband promised me that
he will take Luca to the orphanage. His real name is Luke
Campbell.’”

There was complete silence.

In the Wichita Falls County Courthouse the
presiding judge asked, “Gentlemen, have you reached an
agreement?”

“
Yes, sir,” answered the
foreman.

“
What is your
verdict?”

“
Guilty as charged on all
counts”

“
You are all
agreed?”

“
Yes, sir.”

Judge James Richardson reached for his black
cap. “Lawrence Henderson, you have been found guilty of conspiracy
to commit murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, of receiving stolen
goods and of blackmail. In view of the number of deaths that you
have caused, I have no hesitation at all in passing the death
sentence. You will be taken from here to your place of execution
and hanged by the neck until you are dead, God rest your soul! Take
the prisoner down!”

Outside the courtroom, Ed threw his hat up
into the air and whooped, “We did it, Eth, we finally nailed the
bastard!”

Ethan clapped Ed on the back as he grinned
from ear to ear. “Let’s git on home and tell the girls.”

“
What about telling
Grandma?” Ed asked, frowning.

“
I think we can safely
leave that to Judge Jim, don’t you? I wonder what’s going on
between those two?”

Ed looked horrified, “We’re talking about my
grandmother here. I don’t think so!”

Ethan shook his head with a grin. He had his
own thoughts on that!

Luke had settled into ranch life like a duck
to water. He was back in the midst of his family and life was
moving forward as though he’d never left them. There was obviously
no need for adoption since he was rightfully theirs. Luke shared
Tyler’s room, and he adored Tyler, who was thrilled to have a small
brother hanging on his every word. Luke’s nephews were so close in
age to Luke that they were more like brothers, and Luke had never
been so happy.

Elmer arrived one fine day with a couple of
wriggling toffee-brown and white fluff balls, all pink tongues and
wagging bottoms, tiny tails waving excitedly in the air. The two
newest members of the family managed to keep everyone on their toes
and caused more mess and mayhem than all of the children put
together. All in all, life became the nonstop happy chaos that Lucy
and Ed were used to, and they loved every exhausting minute of
it.

Amy and Ethan settled down at Aunt Peggy’s
house, and Ethan was kept so busy whitewashing walls and shifting
furniture around that the hands began to call him Miz Walker! Amy
felt that with Lawrence Henderson’s death, the final note had been
played in a long and mournful tune. She could move forward,
enjoying life with a lighter step. Amy still hated cooking, so for
the time being Aunt Peggy was happy to continue with that chore,
since not only was she a darn good cook but she enjoyed it,
too.

Ed had contacted the Cullinan drilling
outfit, and they were coming to assess the quality of the oil on
the homestead land. Together, Ethan and Ed purchased the Red River
Ranch from Henderson’s estate. All of the ranch hands who had
worked for Henderson were dismissed; most were hired guns as
opposed to cattle men anyway. Maria and her daughter had packed up
and moved on as soon as Henderson was sentenced, and no one knew
where they had gone.

Hilda had surprised her grandchildren by
announcing her betrothal to Judge James Richardson. Ethan ribbed Ed
something rotten over the announcement that he had seen coming.

* * * * *

It was the Fourth of July, the race was
about to begin, and Lucy was moaning.

“
Luce, do you want to jump
off now? Because if’n you do, you’d better be quick – the race is
about to start!” Amy shouted, looking anxiously sideways at her
sister-in-law as she struggled to hold the reins.

Lucy groaned and shook her head; she would
see it through, but she regretted her decision to join Amy now that
the moment was upon her. The horses were eager to be off and pawed
the ground, tossing their heads with excitement.

Amy and Lucy had been secretly practicing
racing the cart in preparation for the Fourth of July. It had been
difficult to find the time because they could only practice when
their men were away from the ranch. Millie and Luke had been
helpful lookouts and in on the secret from the start, wanting to
ride in the cart themselves, until Lucy had convinced them of the
importance of their role.

Ethan had only specified horse-racing and
bull-riding as off-limits; he had at no point mentioned cart
racing. Amy had persuaded Lucy against her better judgment to be
her partner and enter the cart race.

Now that the race was about to commence,
Lucy recognized that it was too late to pull out at this stage.
Their husbands were over at the bull ring with Tyler and Lucy’s
sons, Ben and Nat, while Millie and Luke were on lookout, with
instructions to warn the two women should their husbands appear. So
far so good - it was much too late to stop them now! Lucy gripped
onto the side of the cart, the starter gun fired, and they were
off!

There were eight other entries and they were
all regulars each year; the girls didn’t hold out much hope of
winning but they wanted to give it a go just to show their men that
they could do it! The dust thrown up from the carts made it
difficult to see how close the carts and wagons were to each other
and the sound of wood cracking coupled with shouts and wild
whinnies told them that at least two carts had collided.

They were approaching the bend that took
them past and around the old hanging tree, when Amy felt two wheels
on the left hand side of the cart lift off the ground. For one
sickening moment, she thought they would tip over, but then the
cart dropped back down to the earth with a crack and they were off
again with Lucy screaming blue murder from a heady mix of
excitement and fear!

They successfully overtook a wagon and then
another, until there was only one cart in front of them. Amy
couldn’t believe it; they were going to be second! They clattered
over the finish line and Amy had to stand and drag on the reins
mightily to pull the horses up. They were shrouded in dust and Amy
and Lucy were clinging to one another. Lucy had tears running down
her face; she had been crying with fear during the race but now
they were tears of joy! Amy was laughing and bouncing up and down
with excitement. Millie and Luke sped out from the cheering crowd
and hopped around the cart in joyful excitement.