Rebellion in the Valley (18 page)

Richard shook his head and the crease between
his eyes deepened.

“Could someone please tell me what that was
about?”

The youngest ranch hand hunched his shoulders
up and rolled his eyes toward the door. “Who knows? That’s pretty
much what we dealt with the entire time we were out on the road
with the man. It’s almost like he’s mad about something and expects
us to know what it is, but none of us have ever done Duffy wrong.
If anything, we’ve kept our tongue and don’t even say much of
anything at all around him. Not anymore.”

“Didn’t use to be that way when I first came
up to work on the ranch,” the man next to him added. “Something has
started eating at the guy, though, that’s for sure.”

Richard wanted to pass the whole thing off,
but after seeing for himself what the others had been complaining
about, there was little he could do except bring it to Bruce’s
attention. Duffy’s attitude couldn’t be left unattended or every
worker on the place would find his wages earned elsewhere.

“Bruce will probably be sore and tired by the
time he and Tobias get home, so if I don’t talk to him tonight,
we’ll have us a little chat first thing in the morning. If I know
Bruce at all, he’ll get it taken care of and everything will get
back to normal around here.”

The men knew they had procrastinated for long
enough. Until Bruce took care of the situation at hand, it was
probably best to work with someone else in the event Duffy tried to
start any more trouble, so out of the kitchen the men trudged,
putting the chickens to bed and closing the horse stalls for the
evening, working side by side in pairs.

P

Hailee’s head lay on her pillow, blonde curls
scattering over the pillowcase and half her face, eyes wide open
and focused on the shadows falling across tree limbs outside her
bedroom window.

Blowing out a breath of air, she flipped a
few strands of hair away from her eyelashes but made no other
movement for several moments.

As the silence in her bedroom nearly choked
the last bit of her energy away, the girl visibly forced herself to
a sitting position at the edge of her bed and turned her head
toward the blue porcelain clock on her dresser.

Tick, tick, tick.

Six fifteen.

“I imagine there’s ten different things I
could or should be doing right now,” she mumbled to nobody at all.
“And I don’t even care; the whole day can stay on hold until Daddy
walks through the door.”

Her eyes caught sight of the book she’d
bought in Canon City and she almost pulled it off the bedside
table. Then in a move resembling a lazy puppy, she flopped her hand
down on the bedspread and tucked it back under her pillow.

Tick, tick, tick.

Six seventeen.

The smell of dinner had long since drifted
into her room, but the girl couldn't have cared any less about
eating; she closed her eyes and began to rock herself side-to-side
on the edge of her bed. After the third yawn, Hailee slowed the
rocking motion to lay back down, drifting off into a world she
could always escape into when the real one became too scary.

P

Duffy opted to skip his dinner altogether
that first night back from the hunt, choosing instead to spend the
time in his bunk house with his only companion being the fire he
built in the small-yet-efficient stone fireplace; the
grumpy-looking man pulled his chair up in front of the flames only
a few feet away from his stocking-clad feet, pulling an old green
crocheted afghan across his shoulders. Biting the tip of the pencil
in his hand and tapping it a few times against the paper tablet in
his lap, Duffy’s face reflected the growing flames.

The pencil began scratching its way across
the tablet until finally the man’s face twisted in a slow, slight
grin as if an idea–or plot–had begun to take root.

An evil chuckle almost rippled from in
between his lips as he listened to the pine needles crackle at the
center of the logs, his eyes still squinted as he sat in the broken
down chair with the flicker of a wood fire splashing orange hues
against his semi-bearded face.

Chapter 21

The day had long-since given way to moonlight
when Tobias opened the kitchen door real slow and peeped inside,
grateful the squeak had been taken care of with that bar of lye
soap some weeks earlier; this was not the best time to alert Hailee
of his return.

Just as Richard whipped around the corner
with a flour sack for the following day, Tobias held one finger
against his lips and shook his head. With one hand, he made the
‘no’ sign by gliding his outstretched fingers across his throat and
pointing upward as he mouthed Hailee’s name.

Understanding what he meant, Richard only
nodded when Tobias tugged his head toward the door.

The old cook laid a hand on his friend’s
shoulder and whispered, “Where’s Bruce?”

“I’ve got him out in my bunk house, but it
ain’t good news and I don’t think Hailee should be seeing him this
way…I want you to come on out if you can, but don't let anyone see
you,” he whispered even lower. “Don’t want to tip Duffy off that I
got back. Not yet. You and me, we got us a whole lot to talk about
tonight.”

“You go on ahead, I’ll be along. It’s easier
for one to creep along in the shadows than it is for two. I’ve got
some talking to get done myself.”

As he peered out into the darkness to make
sure nobody saw him, Tobias slid along the edge of the Johnson
home, careful not to step on a twig or anything else that might
give away his presence; there wasn’t much he could at that point
but to make a mad dash for his bunk house and hope for the
best.

He'd stayed in the shadows until he spied the
glowing of Duffy’s oil lantern die out in the window and then
waited a good spell after that before he made his way to the main
house, but he still took precautions not to stir the man.

Once back inside the safety of his own
domain, Tobias kicked his boots off and sat them in a neat
side-by-side manner next to the door on a small rug and waited for
Richard. It didn’t take very long before his palm pressed the door
open and he helped himself inside.

“Like I told ya,” Tobias repeated, “We gotta
talk.” He stepped aside so the cook could get in a good eyeful of
the Boss laying there in his bunk house, still all stretched out on
the makeshift cot.

Richard and Tobias agreed that in all the
years they’d known Bruce, not once had they ever seen him in that
condition.

“‘Bruised and scratched beyond belief,”
Richard frowned. He shut his eyes in order to prevent himself from
shedding tears as Tobias pulled one of Bruce’s arms back up and
rested it on his chest before reaching down to the end of the cot
and pulling the blanket upward in a gentle tug before giving a
respectful nod of his head at the boss.

“Have a seat there and let me get you caught
up,” Tobias started.

P

Richard looked out the window and noticed the
early sunrise beginning to cast shadows here and there. He knew it
wouldn’t be long before Duffy and all the others – including Hailee
– would be piling into his kitchen for grub; a ball of nervousness
began to build a nest in the pit of his belly, so he
absent-mindedly popped a chunk of sour dough bread into his mouth
to keep from feeling sick.

The man hadn’t slept at all; he hadn’t even
changed out of his clothes from the day before. He and Tobias, each
looking at a whole heap of problems to work out, weren’t looking
forward the upheaval Hailee would have to endure.

The tapping at his shoulder caused him to
turn his head.

“Do you want me to turn those for you?”

Richard cocked his head to the side when his
nose finally understood her question.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” the cook moaned,
realizing the morning’s flapjacks were burning.

Hailee stood back and rested her eyes on the
older man.

“No offense intended, but you look just
terrible this morning. Are you okay?”

Flapjacks discarded and the next round
bubbling in the cast iron skillet, Richard tried to reply, to say
something happy and positive, something that didn’t involve tears
or that feeling he had in his own belly, but what came out instead
was the blunt statement, “Tobias came in early this morning.”

Her eyes grew large with excitement, but when
she noticed the concern in his face, Hailee appeared reluctant to
ask any questions. She had known Richard her entire life and knew
when to let him take the lead.

“We’re gonna have to sit down, Hailee. We got
us one big mess to deal with, and I need you to promise me that
you’ll give me the most careful listen you’ve ever given in your
life.”

Richard turned the flapjacks, gave the batter
a couple of nervous stirs.

“You know I’ll listen, Richard,” she assured
her friend with a gentle smile. “When will the others be bringing
Daddy back home? He’ll be tickled to get out in the barn and see
that cat pelt, don’t you think? Too bad they couldn’t have saved
the pelting until he got back,” she chuckled out loud. “I bet he
woulda liked being in on that.”

“Hailee, I know you won’t soak this in until
later, but there are a few things I learned early this morning.
Things you need to know.”

He finished pouring the last of the flapjack
batter and then poured a couple mugs of fresh coffee for them while
the unsuspecting girl looked around for the sugar bowl and a
spoon.

Taking a quick peek out the kitchen window,
Richard asked, “Are you ready to hear me out while I can still do
this?”

With a puzzled look of concern spreading
across her lips, Hailee nodded and turned to take a seat at the
table in the dining room.

He took his own seat on the other side of the
table and opened his mouth. Nothing toppled out yet, so he stood up
again and wiped his hands, attempting to hide how nervous he was.
It wasn’t working even a little bit.

Hailee began tapping her foot on the chair
leg.

Richard sat down again.

“Tobias came back home this morning, Hailee.”
He squinted his eyes, leaned just a tad closer to her. “Just
Tobias. Do you understand me?”

She heard his words just fine, but their
meaning refused to sink into her brain, refusing to absorb the real
jest of what he was trying not to say out loud. Instead, Hailee
just yanked at a strand of her curls and began the familiar
twisting. When he caught her mouth beginning to curl up at the
edges, Richard felt her pain as she fought the tears that were
certain to show themselves at any moment.

“Sure, I understand,” she affirmed with a
crack in her voice. “Everyone else already came back, and Daddy’s
in town being taken care of by the doctor. Daddy’s in town.
Right?”

Searching Richard’s face for the world’s
worst punch line to the world’s worst joke, her blonde hair shook
in uncomfortable thoughts as the shock set in.

The back door of the kitchen shut all too
quiet-like and instinct told her right off it was Tobias.

She stood in a fluid motion and ran to the
man she knew would have the answers.

When their eyes met, tear for tear, every bit
of physical strength drained from her mind and body as she slumped
to the wooden-planked floor in a soft heap. Tobias wasted no time
in hitting his knees to sit down on the floor next to her, making
himself available for comfort as one hand raked through her long
hair.

For what seemed like half an hour, the trio
sat in the silent kitchen, making no movements except for the
occasional sniffle and runny nose she wiped away.

“Where is he now?”

It was the first question Tobias knew she
would want answered.

“No, Hailee, you can’t see him. He’s not
here,” Tobias lied.

She shook her head as if she hadn’t heard him
right.

“Excuse me?”

Richard stooped down to make eye contact with
Hailee; the anticipation of this very moment was what kept the old
man awake all night and as much as he’d practiced it, this was not
the way it went in his head.

“I’ve been up with Tobias all night. Doc
Amerley don’t want you to see your pa this way. Says you can’t
handle…it. He was there, Hailee. And the sheriff, he agrees with
the doc. This is one you’re going to have to trust me on.”

With the corner of her petticoat, Hailee
wiped at her nose before nodding at Richard.

“So, then, Daddy is in town, right? He’s at
Doc’s place. Well, we can all go in soon as we’ve eaten our
breakfast – that should give Daddy plenty of time to get ready for
visitors, shouldn’t it,” she stated more than asked.

When neither of the men offered any response,
the runny-nosed young woman refused to accept anything other than
the fact that she was going into town to see her father. Her eyes
searched their faces but found no signs of them offering to take
her into town.

“Tobias! Where’s Daddy?”

His head barely shaking, the man’s brown eyes
fell to a section of floor a few inches in front of her blue
gingham dress. He tried to focus on the lacy edging on the bottom
of her petticoat, but his eyes refused to cooperate.

“Richard, I’m trusting you to tell me the
truth!”

“Let’s go back into the dining room, Hailee;
we all need to talk and you need some coffee, it’s bound to be a
long day.”

Nodding her compliance, she held her hands
out for assistance in regaining her standing position just as Duffy
came strolling into the kitchen for his breakfast. His eyes locked
with Tobias’ and the men froze mid-glare, causing the air to became
thicker than someone telling a fib on Sunday.

Richard finally broke the silence by handing
Duffy a plate stacked with four buttermilk flapjacks and pointed to
the table.

“Eat, we got business to tend to in here,”
Richard told grunted. The old man had begun to grow weary of
pretending that Duffy was still the same man he’d met many years
ago.