The Law and Miss Penny (25 page)

"Something like that, I suppose," Mariah said, laughing through the remnants of her tears. "But I think it'd work better if we were to figure out a way to color his mane and tail. Maybe if we dye it with a little ash from the blacksmith's fire! What do you think?"

"Dyeing sounds good, but I never seen no sorrel with a black mane and tail. Ought to be red."

Red. But where to get red dye, and right this minute? The more Mariah thought about keeping Cain's past a secret from him, the more sure she became that she could pull it off. After all, day after tomorrow they'd be on the train to Silverton, a sleepy little mountain town where they would all be safe and no one would recognize Cain as Slater. Durango's sheriff and the infamous Doolittle Gang posed the only danger she could think of, and so far, none of them had come forward to identify him.

If her luck could just hold out for another thirty-six hours, long enough to get out of Durango, Cain would be hers—maybe, she dared to hope, forever.

"I have it," Mariah said, struck with inspiration. "I believe that Colorado is the Spanish word for colorful, and for a very good reason."

"Ah." Oda nodded in understanding. The color of Colorado's soil ran the gamut from light chestnut to rich terra-cotta, and the hillsides around Durango leaned toward a deep rust color. Once an item of clothing was stained with this soil, it never came clean again. Oda broke into a rare grin. "You thinking we ought to give that horse a little mud bath?"

Mariah matched her mother's grin. "I'll just go get us a bucket."

* * *

Cain knew exactly what he planned to do with at least half, if not all, of the twenty dollars as he stepped across the threshold of Gephart's General Outfitting Store. He was going to buy himself a new hat, something that suited him better than the ridiculously pious Brother Law skimmer he'd been wearing of late, something closer to the kind of hat he assumed he had been wearing the day he'd been injured.

Maybe, Cain figured, if he could start dressing more like himself, he'd begin to feel more like himself, and thereby remember exactly who he was. It was suddenly very important to him to remember everything from the past, because until he did, he wouldn't be free to offer himself completely to Mariah, the way he should have before he let her into his room that first night, the night the memories of his father had come flooding back.

Sure that the day his entire memory would return was near, Cain fought his way through the crowded little store which advertised everything "from soup to nuts," and went toward the rear, where the clothing was on display. Dogging his footsteps, Artemis labored to keep up with him as he continued firing an endless round of questions.

"What about after we get to Silverton, Cain? You gonna stay with the medicine show when it moves on north?"

"How many times are you going to ask me that same question, son? I already told you I don't know." His attention caught by a table piled high with leather goods, he absently added, "I suppose I'll stay on with the show as long as they'll have me."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Artemis gulped and dragged his hand across his brow, sure he was sweating. Why couldn't he keep the questions he was supposed to ask the marshal straight in his mind, or hell, even remember half of them? If he wasn't careful, he was going to do what he usually did when given even the smallest of jobs: mess up.

Cain fingered the French calf cigar case he had picked up from the table, and popped the snap, opening it. The case was lined with red satin, the nickel frame embroidered with wildflowers. Cain chuckled to himself, imagining Oda's expression should he present her with such a gift, and decided the $I.45 price tag would be worth her look of surprise.

He turned to Artemis, handing him the cigar case, and said, "Would you mind holding this for me so I can go try on a few hats?"

"I sure can. Whatever you want." Artemis grabbed the case, cradling it in his palm as if it were made of eggshells, and began to wander around the store as Cain disappeared down an aisle filled with children's clothing and stacks of shoes.

Cain spotted the men's hats displayed against the back wall, but as he started in that direction, the women's millinery section to the left of them caught his eye—specifically, a lavender and black hat topped with a pair of frothy lemon-colored ostrich tips.

His original mission forgotten, Cain took the bonnet from its wooden perch and turned it on his fist. It was a leghorn shade hat made of chantilly net and finished with shiny black beads, elegant satin ribbons, and the eye-catching yellow feathers. Without even closing his eyes, Cain could see the bonnet nestled in Mariah's ebony hair, and then he imagined her strutting proudly down Main Avenue the way every other woman in town did.

Without so much as batting an eye at the outrageous $14.65 price, Cain asked the clerk to box the hat for him. Then, down to less than five dollars, he looked around the store for Artemis. He found him practically drooling over a harmonica he'd picked out from a collection of musical instruments.

"Find a good one, did you?" Cain asked as he approached him.

Artemis's eyes were as big as the tambourine he'd just returned to the shelf. "Look at how this mouth organ shines. It must be made of pure silver."

Cain took the instrument from the kid and read the engraving on the side. "It's a Richter from Germany, and although the plates are brass, the thing does have silver covers. Good eye, Artemis." Cain turned it over and read the price-tag. "Eighty-five cents. You have expensive taste. You going to buy it?"

"Buy it?" Such a thought had never occurred to him. Now that it had, Artemis began to laugh. "Oh, glory be, no. Billy don't ever let me carry no money around."

"Billy? Who's that?"

Artemis knew then that he'd finally gone and done it: He'd messed up worse than ever. His throat closed up on him and something began to squirm in his gut. "Ah, Billy's my brother."

Cain frowned as he stared at Artemis. The kid had turned white, and his hands, including the one which still held the harmonica, were shaking. Even though the day had warmed to a comfortable 77 degrees, Artemis looked as if he'd just climbed out of a snow cave.

"I don't think I'd be wrong if I were to guess that your brother is not a very nice man. Does he beat you,son?"

Not sure how he even got into this conversation, much less how to get out of it, Artemis rolled his eyes. When he opened his mouth to speak, to deny at least the beating part, the only thing that came out was a strangled, gurgling sound.

As he saw the terror in the young man's eyes, Cain's temper snapped. "Where is this brother of yours, Artemis? I think maybe I ought to go have a little talk with him."

"Oh, God, no. God in heaven, no, no, no. You can't do that." Just the thought of the marshal confronting Billy prompted Artemis to do something he'd worked and worked at training himself not to do in public. He began to cry.

"Take it easy, son." Cain moved up close to Artemis in an effort to shield him from curious or amused customers. "I'm not much of a family man, but I do know this isn't the way brothers should feel about one another. What does Billy do to keep you so afraid of him?"

Artemis squeezed his eyes shut hard, hoping the act might wring every drop of moisture from them as he tried to figure out what to do next. How could things have turned so badly on him? What had he done to make it all go so wrong? This wasn't how things were supposed to go—the marshal wasn't supposed to be asking
him
questions. In spite of his efforts, several tears escaped through his puckered lids and ran down his cheeks.

Feeling at least partly responsible for Artemis's distress—he had, after all, backed him into a corner with all the questions about his brother—Cain patted his trembling shoulder. "Forget I mentioned Billy, Artemis, but if you ever change your mind and you do want me to have a talk with him, all you have to do is ask. Understand?"

Artemis blew his nose on the sleeve of his shirt. "Yes, sir," he said between hiccups.

Cain took the harmonica from the young man's hand, and then impulsively reached over and grabbed a two-dollar sheepskin banjo off the shelf. There were, he decided then and there, worse things than not remembering who had raised you. Sometimes knowing was harder to live with.

Keeping his voice calm and compassionate, Cain smiled at Artemis as he said, "I figure anyone who can play music the way you do ought to have his own instruments. Consider these as a little gift for being such a good helper."

Didn't it just figure. No sooner had Artemis finally capped his well than along came Cain to blow the lid off again. Tears spilled down his cheeks before he could even think to slam his eyelids shut, and he began bawling like an orphaned calf. A squeaky "Thanks" was all he could manage to say before Cain spun on his heel and headed for the cash register. After lagging behind awhile so he could wipe his nose and his tears on his cleanest shirtsleeve, Artemis flashed a grin as broad as Cain's shoulders. Then he followed his new hero out of the store.

* * *

Mariah and Oda had just finished "bathing" the horse and cleaning their hands when Cain and Artemis returned from their mysterious trip to town. As they strolled in through the wide back entrance to the barn, Mariah could see that Artemis was beaming.

"Look what Cain got for me at the outfitter's store." He held up the harmonica in one hand and the banjo in the other. "They're mine and no one else's... forever."

"Put them in the back of the medicine wagon," Cain said as he quickly tucked the hatbox under the bench seat of the supply cart. "I think we've held up this trip to the hot springs long enough."

As Artemis disappeared around the back of the wagon, Cain approached Oda. "This is for you," he said, handing her the cigar case. "It's just a little something to thank you for putting up with me the last few weeks."

It was a good thing she hadn't lit a new cigar yet, or it would have fallen from her surprised mouth into the bedding straw and most likely set fire to the barn. She looked from Cain to the cigar case and over to her daughter. Her mouth twisting into an almost bashful grin, she said, "That's pretty fancy. You sure it's for me?"

He pinched her cheek. "I'm sure. Now what can I do to get things moving around here?"

From behind him, Mariah said, "You can help me finish hitching the mule to the supply cart."

Careful to appear businesslike and cousinly, Cain kept his voice brisk as he said, "Right away."

As he reached under the animal's belly to pull the harness strap up tight, Mariah leaned against the wooden seat and eyed the package Cain had placed there. "What's in the box?" she asked, more than a bit curious after witnessing his generosity with both Artemis and her mother.

Cain wanted to wait until he and Mariah were alone before he gave her the bonnet, so he only lied a little as he said, "I bought myself a hat."

"Oh." The word was barely audible. Mariah hadn't really expected Cain to be out buying gifts for her, and she was most certainly happy to see that he'd spent his twenty dollars on tangible goods rather than on a few moments with a wild saloon girl, but still, she couldn't help feeling a few pricks of disappointment. In fact, she was so distracted by the thought that Cain had slighted her, Mariah forgot to take Artemis aside as she'd planned, to let him know what she'd done to disguise the horse. And why. When the young man's voice cried out from the other end of the stable, Mariah was as startled as anyone.

"Hey. Somebody's been messing around with Big Red."

Chapter 13

Mariah hadn't known she had it in her to move so fast, but when she heard what Artemis had to say, and realized that all their work might have been for naught, she practically flew down to the stall. She found him gawking at the big sorrel.

"Hush," she whispered as she approached him, very aware that Cain was not far behind her. "I don't know where you got this horse, but I do know it doesn't belong to you. Marshal Slater lost one just like this a while back."

"Holy shi—Y-you sure it's his?"

"Sure enough that we can't take any chances. I thought I was doing you a favor by disguising it. He'll hang you for sure if he thinks you're a horse thief."

Artemis peeked over her shoulder to see the marshal bearing down on him. "B-but T-Tubbs found it, not me."