heyes

heyes

Monday, January 30, 2012

Chapter 29


The Dead Horse Saloon looked the same as the dozens of others she'd seen in the last few months.  Except for one thing - a crudely made sign that had been haphazardly tacked beside the front door that read "Home of the ugliest whores west of the Mississippi."

Evie's face went pink as she and Preacher read the sign.  They exchanged bewildered looks before riding on towards the livery stable. The sun was low in the western sky as they rode northward through the small town of Tularosa, New Mexico.  They were exhausted.  They were hungry.  And they knew their horses felt the same way.  They had ridden until nearly dawn before they'd stopped at a homestead somewhere south of Mesquite and were generously provided with a warm place to rest for a few hours.  Evie hated to lie to the friendly couple who were so kind to them, but she had little choice if she hoped to get to the boys on time.  She had told them that she and her brother, the minister, were on their way north to console a dear friend who had just lost her husband.  With great sympathy they had offered them a hot breakfast and a warm spot in the barn to sleep.  They had slept for a few hours, while giving the horses and mule a chance to rest and eat.   Mr. and Mrs. Bennett and their three handsome little boys had refused any payment for their troubles.   But before they had ridden out, Evie had fished out a couple of the gold coins she had stashed in her saddle bags and left them on the front door step.  She was so thankful that Aunt Livvy had given her that bag of coins the day they had went shopping in Cold Springs.  She had spent little of it and the rest of it had been tucked away in the drawer of her wardrobe ever since.  She had packed it in her saddle bags last night and knew without even counting it that there was several hundred dollars in gold coins inside.  They were going to need it.  They needed fresh horses.  They couldn't hope to make it to Rising Gulch on these horses after the hard ride they'd been put through today.  Evie would leave enough money with the stable master  for Rusty to be fed and stabled until she was able to come back and get  him.

Evie climbed out of the saddle and sighed.  She was so tired.  Her body was sore from the hours of hard riding.  She hadn't spent this much time in the saddle since she and Joshua were out in the wilderness of the Trans Pecos.  Her heart caught in her throat just thinking about the time they had spent together.  He had sacrificed so much for her.  And now she would do the same for him.  No matter what the cost, she would not leave him stranded and at the mercy of a man who meant to kill him.  She felt in her saddle bags for the purse.  As she removed some coins she thought of Livvy.  She wondered how long it had taken Livvy  to realize she was gone.  She was furious not doubt.  And worried.  She had probably marched into the sheriff's office in Red Rock and demanded that he take off in search of her.  Evangeline wouldn't have been surprised to see the cavalry ride in at any moment in search of her.  I'm sorry, Evangeline.  Truly I am.  Evie recalled her aunt's words from last night before she had locked her in the bedroom.  I'm sorry too Livvy, but you left me no choice.

"Excuse me, sir, we would like to get two fresh horses, please,"  she said as she extended her hand which held several coins.  "We'll keep the same saddles and gear we have.  And I'd like to...."   Evie's words trailed off as the stable master held up a hand and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, ma'am.  I can't do it.  I got a telegram earlier today that said Sherman McMaster and the posse that's after Heyes and Curry will be riding in here about sundown and they need every horse I've got.  I sure wish I could help you, but that takes priority."

Evie and Preacher couldn't believe their ears.  The posse that they thought they were trailing was behind them.   How had they managed that when they had been a day behind?  "Are you the only livery in town?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid so."

"I'll pay extra.  I'll pay double even.  Please, we have to have fresh horses.  Ours are exhausted and we need to get north as soon as possible."

"I'm sorry, miss, truly I am.  But I just can't do it."   He shook his head with a look of genuine sympathy.

There seems to be a lot people who are truly sorry these days, she thought.  Evie resigned herself to the fact that fresh horses were not in the immediate future.  She sighed.  "Well, can you at least take a look at our horses'  shoes.  Make sure they're alright to keep riding.  We've got important business up north and we've got to be moving out as soon as possible."

"No problem.  I'll check them out right now.  Nothing for me to do now except wait for that posse to ride in anyway."

Evie and Preacher found the nearest cafe in town and sat down over plates piled high with ham, fried potatoes, biscuits and red eye gravy.   They were starved.

"The good Lord must surely be looking over the likes of us and Heyes and the Kid.  There ain't no other explanation for that posse being behind us."

"I don't understand it though.  You know the boys have got to be nearly there.  That posse should be halfway to Albuquerque by now."   They both dug into their food.  "I wonder how long that posse is going to stay here?"

"Most posses that I've ever run into don't stop at all, except to change horses, which might take an hour.   It don't make no sense to me either.  It's almost like McMaster wants them to make it to Rising Gulch,"  Preacher said before biting into a buttery biscuit.

Evie stopped in mid chew.  "That's it."   She swallowed her mouthful of potatoes.   "He wants them to get to the place where he lost them before.  He wants to redeem himself and salvage his reputation by capturing them in the same place they eluded him.  He's lagging behind on purpose, just toying with them.  And that's why he wants such a big posse too.  He wants it to be a show."   Evie slammed her fist hard on the top of the wooden table.  "Asshole.  Why doesn't he just sell tickets to it?"

 Preacher smiled.  "He has to find them first.  And just because he can find that town don't mean he'll find Heyes and the Kid.  The Lord knows all things, Miss, and he's surely using what he knows to help us.  Without fresh horses,  we should be thanking the Almighty that that posse is taking its sweet time."

"You're right.  They'll have fresh horses and we won't.  We probably won't stay ahead of them very long.  I guess we better move on after supper if that farrier says the horses are alright to ride on."   Evie thought about what the Preacher had just said.  "What do you mean he has to find them?   I thought he had been there before?"

"He's been to that old abandoned mining town, sure.  But I'd be willing to bet every dime in this Sunday's offering plate that he ain't seen the whole town,"  the Preacher said with a mischievous grin.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain it to you while we're riding.  I don't want the wrong ears to hear anything,"  he said quietly while looking around to make sure nobody could hear him.

They finished their meal and  stepped out of the cafe to be greeted by the sight of the twenty-one man posse as it came riding into town.  Half the town had lined the streets to watch with excitement as the posse that meant to bring an end to the outlawing days of Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry rode by.  And in the lead was one Mr. Sherman McMaster.  The last remaining light of the dying sun cast an eerie orange glow over the group of riders.  So that was him, huh?  Not so impressive, Evie thought.  He was tall.  That's all she could really say about the man.  He was just sort of...ordinary.   He wasn't ugly.  He certainly wasn't handsome.  At least not like her Hannibal.  He didn't look magnificent while sitting a horse like Hannibal either.    And she doubted if he could draw a gun like Kid.  But then he turned his head and looked her dead in the eye as he passed in front of her.  It was the eyes.  They were as cold as a frozen piece of steel.  He tipped his hat and smiled a smile at her that did not penetrate the icy glaze of his eyes.  A shiver ran up her spine as she watched him lead his posse through the streets toward the livery. He wasn't so ordinary after all.  There was a soulless appearance to this steely gaze.  She felt like she'd just stared death in the eye.  If this man got to Hannibal and Kid before she and Preacher did...she didn't want to say it.

"When the devil himself is after you on a fresh horse you need a miracle,"  Preacher said as he watched the cold-eyed leader of the posse dismount from his horse in front of the livery stable.

Evie had to work her way through the maze of horses and men just to get to the stables to claim her own horse.  Even dressed like a boy with her face covered in trail dust, her beauty did not go unnoticed by the trail weary men.  She merely nodded and gave half hearted smiles in return to the numerous "Howdy, ma'am's"  and  "Well, hello, honey's."   She stepped around a small gray mare to collide solidly with the chest of the man himself.  Sherman McMaster didn't budge as she bounced backwards off of him.  He grabbed her by her upper arms to steady her.  She looked down with disgust at the hands that touched her.  Her eyes slowly lifted to find his staring down at her.

"Begging your pardon, ma'am.  A pretty little thing like you should be careful around all these big animals."

"Not to mention the horses,"  Evie retorted.

To her amazement he laughed.  But the amusement did not reach his eyes. She wanted so badly to slap him across his stony face and tell him to go back to whatever part of Hades he had been spawned in.   He gave her the willies.  Especially when he was towering over her.  This was the man who was hunting the man she loved like he was a rabid animal that needed to be put down.  Her anger kindled.  She straightened her spine and thrust out her chin.  She opened her mouth to give him the sharp side of her tongue, but he released her, tipped his hat and strutted off towards the Dead Horse Saloon before she could get a word out.

Evie looked around for Preacher and spotted him trying to look inconspicuous around the corner of the stables.  She laughed slightly to herself as she approached him.  He jumped when she touched his shoulder.   "What's wrong, Preacher?"  she asked with amusement.

"Posses of any size make an outlaw nervous.  But one this size is enough to make a man lose his religion."

"So, how are they?  Are they alright to keep traveling?" Evie asked the farrier who had checked their horses.

"The shoes are fine.  I just had to get some mud and rocks out of them.  But, ma'am, these animals are bone tired.  I don't recommend going another mile on them until they've had a least six to eight hours of rest and some good grain and water."

"Six hours?  We don't have that kind of time."

"You're welcome to try it ma'am, but I'm telling you from experience.  You set out on these animals now and you'll be walking back in a couple of hours leading a lame horse or one with a thrown shoe.  The next nearest town north of here is White Oaks and that's a one horse mining town.  You won't get fresh horses there."

The farrier threw up his hands and went back to helping the stable master unsaddle the posse's trail worn horses, leaving Evie and Preacher to muddle over their options.


"We can't leave.  But we can't stay.  What are we supposed to do, Preacher?"

"The way I see it, we managed to get ahead of that posse before, so I don't see why we couldn't get ahead of them again if we start out the same time they do.  It'll take a couple of hours to get all those horses unsaddled and new ones resaddled.  We'll just rest here until they ride out again."

"If only there was some way to make sure they stayed here at least six hours so the horses would be fit to ride.  Not to mention the two of us,"   Evie said, thinking out loud.

She was beginning to feel defeated.  Her shoulders sagged slightly and she felt cold.  Oh, how she wished her Hannibal were here.  He would hug her tight and kiss her worries away.  "Everything will be alright,"  he'd say.  And she'd believe him and she'd feel instantly better.  Then he would come up with a brilliant and genius plan that would make sure that everything would in fact be alright.  But he wasn't here.  She wanted to cry.  The tears were there burning the backs of her eyelids, but she took several deep breathes and staved off the emotional dam that was threatening to break.

Her thoughts were interrupted by loud hoops and hollers coming from down the street.  The stagecoach had just arrived and a group of men had gathered around it, apparently eager to see whoever was getting off.  Evie was about to turn and make her way back into the livery stable to tell the stable master they'd be heading out when the posse did, but she stopped short when she heard a familiar voice.

"Thanks, ever so much, honey.  Now don't you forget to come up and see me any old time,"  the lilting female voice cooed.

Evie's eyes grew wide.  She whirled around to see the pretty blonde haired woman, surrounded by admiring men, flirting shamelessly with the stagecoach driver who was climbing down from the top with her baggage.

"Sally?"   Evie whispered to herself, not daring to hope that it really was her friend.   "Sally!"  she called again, loudly enough to be heard over the vocal advances of the smitten men.

The blonde woman spun around at the sound of her name.  For a moment she couldn't believe her eyes.  "Evangeline?"

Simultaneously they both began to laugh and ran towards each other.   They grabbed onto each other and hugged tightly, laughing and giggling.

"What on earth are you doing way up here?"   Evie asked, out of breath, when they finally let go of one another.

"I met me a man a couple of weeks ago who told me I could make a fortune here in  Tularosa, because they had the ugliest whores west of the Mississippi.  As soon as I could I made a bee line right  for this place."   She frowned as she looked around.  "Sure hope I didn't make a mistake.  But enough about me.  What are you doing here?  And where are my two favorite cowboys?"   Her blue eyes swept the surrounding street, hoping to see Thaddeus Jones strolling cockily in her direction.  "Please tell me Thaddeus is with you."

Evangeline's face fell in spite of her happiness at seeing her old friend.  "No, Sally, he's not with me.  And neither is Joshua."

"What?  Don't tell me he up and left you.  But that man is head over heals in love with you. What happened?"

"He didn't leave me Sally.  Not because he wanted to.  He's in trouble....and.....and I...."  seeing Sally's face brought back so many memories that she associated with a better time.  A time when she and Joshua had just declared their love for each other.   And having a sympathetic motherly figure embracing her while those memories came flooding back was all it took to make the dam break.   She fell onto Sally's breasts and wept.

Sally held Evie there in the street while she cried.  Sally looked questioningly to the man who had walked up behind Evangeline.  He appeared to be a minister and he appeared to be accompanying her young friend.  She pulled the younger woman's head up and brushed the tears from her dust streaked face.
"It's too cold to stand out here in the street.  Let's go into the cafe and have some coffee while you tell me all about it.

Over coffee Evie and Preacher explained everything to Sally.  Everything except that Thaddeus and Joshua were really Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes.

"So you two need this McMaster fella to stay put here for a while, so you can get to Dimples and Blue Eyes before they do?"

"That's right.  If we knew they would be staying in town until dawn, we could get a room and rest ourselves while the horses rested.  Otherwise we'll be putting the horses at risk and we can't afford to do that either.  Who knows how far we'll have to go to get fresh ones."

"Honey, consider it done.  Every one of those men in that posse is in that saloon, including Mr. McMaster.  I heard one of those fellas, say so.   You give me an hour and that man will forget his own name, let alone that he was chasing anybody.  They have a room upstairs already waiting for me.  I'll go up the back way and get changed.  Once I set my sights on him and he lays his eyes on me, he won't stand a chance.  Preacher you come to the saloon in about an hour.  I'll leave you a message with the bar keep letting you know the rat had taken the bait."

"Sally, I don't know how to thank you.  If you can pull this off, it could mean the difference between life and death for Joshua and Thaddeus."

"Honey, think nothing of it.  There's nothing I wouldn't do for those boys and for you.  And what's all this 'if' nonsense.  Have you forgotten who you're talking to?  Men don't turn Sally Buckner down.  Unless of course they're hopelessly and helplessly in love with the girl they just rescued."   She winked and touched the tip of Evie's nose as she stood and walked out of the cafe.

"Sometimes God works through the most unlikely of vessels,"  Preacher said as he watched the pretty blonde make her exit.

And Evie thanked God in that moment for sending Sally.  With renewed hope and confidence that Sally could work her magic, they walked to the hotel to get two rooms for the night.


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The sign certainly was dead to rights, McMaster thought as he looked around at the group of  fallen angels that had just descended the staircase of the Dead Horse Saloon.   They were all ugly as sin.  He was disappointed.  He had told the men in the posse that they could take a few hours to get a drink and visit the ladies upstairs if they chose.  There was no hurry to catch up to Heyes and Curry.  The papers were just now beginning to follow the story like he wanted.  Besides it gave him a break from the cold for a while.  He hated the cold.  But he was disappointed because he had been looking forward to a few hours in the company of a woman himself.  He wasn't much of drinker.  Drinking made you too loose lipped and stupid.  But he had wanted him a woman.  He took a moment to appraise each of the "ladies." One didn't have a single tooth in her head.  One was cross-eyed.  One weighed about three hundred pounds.  And another had a huge black mole with a hair growing out of it on her cheek.  He groaned and turned back to the bar.   Then again, a drink might not be such a bad idea.  He motioned to the bartender to pour him a whiskey.  Too bad that sweet little thing at the stables wasn't here, he thought as he sipped the smooth Kentucky bourbon.  She was a looker.  Even though she was dressed like a boy and was coated with trail dust.  He could just imagine what she would look like cleaned up and in a dress.   Or better yet out of a dress.  His manhood began to ache.  He threw back the rest of his drink.  He needed a woman.  But it would sure take a lot more whiskey before he could imagine that sweet thing's face on the shoulders of one of these unfortunate looking gals.  His groin grew tighter.  Damn it all to hell.  He motioned for another whiskey.  He downed it in one shot.  Before he could set his glass on the bar, a pair of soft feminine hands caressed his shoulders and the sweet scent of lilacs filled his nose.   "Oh, my, you're a tall drink of water, ain't you, darlin',"  a soft seductive voice drawled in his ear.  He cringed as he turned, expecting to see big black hairy moles or a toothless mouth.  Instead he was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful blue eyed blonde smiling beguilingly at him.  "Lucky for you, I happen to be extremely thirsty."

"Either they got some of the fastest working whiskey in the world or that sign on the door doesn't apply to you, ma'am."

"As it happens, this is my first night here in Tularosa. I was hoping to improve the view around these parts.   And I was also hoping that the most handsome, most powerful man in this bar would help me celebrate my arrival with a private little party up in my room."

She didn't have to ask twice.  He headed for the stair case.  She passed a folded piece of paper to the bartender.  "If a man called Preacher comes in, give him this,"  she said quietly as she followed the tall cold eyed man up the stairs.


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They were saddled up and ready to ride when the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon.
"Thanks, again, for getting up so early so we could head out,"  Evie told the stable master as she walked Rusty out of his stall.

"It's the least I could do since I couldn't sell you any fresh horses.   This here's a prime animal.  He should give you many miles of good service.  Just make sure to rest them every twenty miles or so."

"I will.  Thanks again."

She was just about to mount when she heard her name being called.  She turned to see Sally running down the dirt main street towards her.

"Evangeline!  Wait!  I didn't want you to leave before I could speak to you,"  Sally said breathlessly.  There was concern in her eyes.

"What is it?"  Evie asked nervously.

Sally paused trying to find the words.  She searched Evie's face as she whispered, "Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry?"

There was no sense in pretending or lying.  "So he told you."

"Then it's true.  Joshua and Thaddeus are really Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry?"

"Yes."

Sally took Evie's hands in hers.  "Listen to me.  He does not mean to bring those boys in alive.  He's not one who likes to drink.  But he drank quite a bit last night.  So he wasn't shy about sharing information.  You were right.  He's giving them time to get to Rising Gulch.  He wants them to think that they've made it and that they're going to be safe.  Then he's going to in his words 'swoop down on them like an eagle on a mouse.'  He's enjoying the fact that they are out there in the cold with no food and no place to stay.  He wants them to suffer.  Then he wants to kill them and put them on display for everyone to see."   Sally's voice choked just a bit.  "In all my years I don't think I've ever met a man who could talk so coldly about taking another man's life.  He talked about killing them like you and I would talk about tossing out an old pair of shoes."   Evie saw a shudder wrack her friends body and she wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders.   "You get to those boys, and you get them somewhere safe, you hear."

"Where is McMaster now?"

"He's getting dressed.  He's cussing a blue streak because he didn't want to be here this long.  He said they should have been gone hours ago."  She gave a coy smile.  " What can I say?  I've still got it.  I told him I'd bring him some coffee.  I better get back before he sees me talking to you."   She hugged Evie and kissed her cheek.   "You be safe.  And give Dimples a big ol' a kiss for me.  And tell that blue eyed cowboy of mine I hope to give him one for myself when you all come back through safe and sound."

"Alright, I'll tell him.  Thank you, Sally.  For everything."

There were tears in both women's eyes as they hugged one last time.   Evie watched her friend walk away until she disappeared inside the cafe.

"Preacher,  I have a feeling that posse is going to be hell bent for leather once they get going.   They've played around enough and now he's going to get serious.  You're sure about this short cut?"

"Yes, ma'am.  I'm as sure of that as I am that Moses parted the Red Sea."

"Then let's get going.


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She strolled silently, seductively out of the shroud-like mist.  She moved determinedly towards him.  If seduction was her intent, she had realized it.  He was seduced.  He couldn't control his body's reaction to her warm naked form as it moved closer to him.  Her moist lips parted in invitation.  Her long glorious hair billowed out around her, begging him to run his fingers through its silken length. He reached for her, longing to feel her soft, fragrant skin against his. She was so beautiful.  His beautiful Evie. "Heyes."  She called out his name as she came closer. The inviting and alluring scent of her wafted into his nostrils,  intoxicating him. "Heyes,"  she said again as she stretched her arms out to him.  One more step and she'd be in his arms.  But she walked past him.  He turned and watched her walking away.  Every step she took flowers sprang up in her path.  Beautiful fragrant flowers of all colors.  She reminded him of the Lady Godiva with her hair flowing down to cover her breasts.  She turned to face him.  She stretched out her arms, beckoning him.  "Come to me,"  she said.   He wanted her so much.  He moved to join her.  But when he took a step onto the pathway of flowers, they turned black and gray and withered.  He looked at Evie.  So sweet and beautiful.  Her eyes filled with longing.  "Hurry, my love,"  she beckoned.  He waded further into the stream of flowers.  More withering.  More decay.   He looked to her again.  Her eyes were filled with tears as she beheld the decaying flowers.  "I can't come to you.   You will have to come to me,"  he called to her. "Or else the flowers will die."   She moved to come to him and her face wrenched with pain.  They both looked down.  Where there had been flowers now there were tall wicked thorns.  Their eyes met.  Hers were filled with pain and sorrow.  "I'm sorry.  I sorry."   She turned to leave.   "No, Evie, don't go!"   He reached for his gun.  He would shoot them down.   His gun was gone.   He grabbed at them.  He would tear them up by the roots.  But he recoiled in pain, as the thorns tore at his skin, bringing blood.  "Wait, Evie, don't leave.  I'll find a way to get rid of them.  I'll make it right somehow.  Don't go!"  But it was too late.  She was already disappearing into the mist.  He tried again to follow after her but found he was surrounded by the thorns.  They now towered over his head.  They quickly changed into hard cold bars of iron.  "Evie!" he screamed, reaching for her but only darkness surrounded him.


"Heyes, wake up.  You're falling asleep in the saddle again."

Kid's voice jarred him out of his dream.  He was glad.  He didn't like that dream.  Hunger and exhaustion were beginning to take their toll.  He didn't usually  have dreams like that.  At least it wasn't so cold today.   He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to rid his head of the images from the dream.  He tried to picture his sweet Evie as she had looked that morning before they had set out for Cold Springs,  her beautiful face beaming with love and excitement after he had asked her to be his wife.  What a fool he felt like now.  To think that he, Hannibal Heyes, could ever hope to have anything as good and pure as Evangeline Webb.  Had it really only been three days since he'd seen her?  It seemed like weeks.

"Look, Heyes.  There they are.  The mountains.  Just a couple more hours and we'll be there.  I can't believe we've made it this far without seeing so much as a lone scout from that posse."

"Me either.  It's almost too good to be true.  Makes me nervous."  Heyes turned in the saddle and searched the horizon from all directions.  Nothing.  Stillness and quiet.  He didn't like it.  All he could think was this is the calm before the storm.

"Sorry for dozing off like that, Kid.  I guess I'm just exhausted."

"Me too, Heyes.  But hopefully, in a couple of hours we'll be able to eat and sleep without worrying about the cold or that posse."  Kid spurred his horse into a gallop.

Heyes shook his head and smiled.  Not even running from a posse could keep Kid Curry from thinking about food and sleep.  He was glad that some things never changed.  He knew that no matter what else may change in his life, Kid Curry would always be there.  He snapped the reins against Odin's flanks and the stallion took off like a shot.  Despite the pace they had been keeping this horse seemed tireless.  He overtook Kid's horse with ease.    Heyes pulled up and turned his stallion around to face his partner who was urging his horse to catch up.  When he finally did, Heyes couldn't keep the smug grin off his face.

"See, Kid, I told you you should have kept one of those mustangs for yourself.  We'd already be in Rising Gulch by now."

"Maybe your right.  This poor guy's been put through it in the last three days."   He reached down and patted the side of his horses neck.  "But that horse of yours just ain't normal, Heyes.  I think he could go at a full gallop for three or four miles at a time.   I've never seen a horse with that much speed and stamina."

"Yeah, he's one of a kind all right.  Maybe  if we make it out of all this mess, I can enter him in a horse race.  You could bet on him and we could make some big money."

"And we're going to need big money if we get out of this mess.  This time I mean it Heyes.  We're going to South America.  And another thing...."

As Heyes listened to Kid's latest rant he couldn't help but think that it almost felt like old times.  Like before he'd met Evie.  When it was just him and the Kid riding to the next town, looking for honest work.  But he had met her.  And he had been forever changed.  A broken hearted smile crossed  his face as he thought of her.  Where was she at this moment?  What was she doing?   He could hear the Kid talking but he didn't really hear what he was saying as he stared off into the distance with visions of his beautiful Evie filling his vision.  And then...

"....and if that don't work, then...."   Kid saw the expression on Heyes face change.  He was staring off into the distance behind him.  Kid twisted in the saddle to see what had caused the stricken look to come over his partner's face.  Rising over the hilltop was the posse of about ten men riding hard and fast in their direction.  The ex-outlaws exchanged brief knowing looks before kicking their mounts into a gallop.

A shot was fired.  But the posse was too far away to hit anything.  But the sound of gunfire sent Odin into a flat out run.  Heyes bent low over the horse's neck and just let him run.  But he looked back and saw that the Kid was getting further behind.  He slowed the big stallion and waited for Kid to catch up.  Heyes could feel the power of the animal beneath him.  He knew it wanted to split the air wide open and run as hard and as far as his legs could carry them both.  He knew the horse sensed the urgency of the man who held his reins.  But he also knew that that man was in control and so he pranced as he waited.

Heyes sat atop the prancing steed waiting for Kid to catch up.   He was almost here.  But that posse was gaining.  Another shot was fired.  This one was closer.  It take all Heyes had to keep Odin from bolting.  He steadied the horse.  Another shot.  Heyes watched in horror as Kid's horse went down.  It landed hard on the ground.  The Kid leaped away just in time to keep the full weight of the animal from crushing his leg.  Heyes snapped the reins and sped back to Kid.  He stretched out his arm and pulled the Kid up behind him.

Another shot was fired.  This one whizzed right over the top of Heyes' head.  Surely they could outrun the posse now that they were both on Odin's back.  But he was carrying double the weight now.  That would surely slow him down some.

"Let's go, Heyes, come on!"

"H'yah,"  with a snap of the reins Odin shot forward carrying the partners north as fast as he could.
More gun fire.  They were getting closer.  Kid looked behind.  They were gaining.  Carrying double the weight had slowed Odin down.  And the posse probably had fresh horses.

"Let's go, Heyes, there gaining..."

Kid didn't finish the sentence and Heyes felt his partner's body lurch forward behind him.  Oh, no.  He was hit.

"Kid!   Are you hit?"

"Yeah.  But keep going.  It's not that bad,"    Kid said in a strained voice, obviously in pain.

More gunfire.  Kid sagged forward into Heyes' back.

Heyes knew that Kid had been hit again.  Then he felt a hot stinging pain in his left shoulder.  He looked down and saw the blood on his shirt.  That last shot had passed through Kid's shoulder and then grazed the top of his on its way out.

"Hang on Kid!  I'm getting us out of here!"   He felt Kid's arms come around his waist to hang on.   Then Heyes took the reins and swatted Odin's flanks first the left then the right side.  Again the stallion could sense the urgency of  rider on his back and the sound of gunfire made him even more eager to run like the wind.  He raced forward, accelerating with each stride.  The partners bent low and let the animal run.  They didn't care where he took them as long as it was out of range of  any more bullets.

He carried them for at least three miles before he slowed his gait,  becoming winded.   Heyes brought the horse to a halt and swung him around.  They had lost the posse for now.

"Kid, how bad is it?"

"I'm still alive, ain't I,"  Kid managed between grunts of extreme discomfort.  "One got me in the shoulder and the other one went through my side.   I'm bleeding pretty bad though.  I'll be fine, just get us to the Gulch."

Heyes took his bandanna from around his neck and handed it to the Kid.  "Here, press this hard on the wound to help stop the bleeding."  Heyes had almost forgotten his fleshwound.  He checked it.  The bleeding had already stopped.  But it burned like hell.  He could only imagine how the Kid must feel.

Heyes looked around.  Odin had ridden them to the edge of the mountains.  Not much longer and they'd be riding into the canyon that would be their salvation.  He knew these mountains and that canyon better than he knew the floor plans to the bank of Fort Worth.  He doubted if anybody in that posse had ever been to these mountains, let alone that canyon.  They were entering his territory now.  He sent up a silent prayer of thanks that it had been Kid's horse and not Odin that had been shot.  The speed of the powerful beast beneath him was going to be the only reason they were going to get to Rising Gulch in plenty of time time to be out of sight before that posse rode in.   This horse had called the canyons of south western Texas his home before Heyes had wrangled him.  He would be sure footed and comfortable riding in the canyons.

Two hours later they crossed a plateau at the top of a small mountain they had slowly and carefully ascended.   On the other side of the plateau the mountains opened up and a large canyon about ten miles wide and five miles long spread out beneath them.  There was only one way in from this side of the canyon.   Heyes found the trail that lead into the canyon with ease.  He had committed every part of this place to memory.  He knew that someday they may have to come back here to save their lives.  The trail resembled a staircase carved out of the side of the mountain.   It took them down into the floor of the canyon.  The rode into the heart of what had once been a mining town.   Heyes recalled every shack and shanty that still stood here.  It looked much as it had the last time he'd been here.  Only a few changes that were obviously the result of changing weather conditions.   This canyon had been full of gold at one time.  Supposedly the town had sprung up over night in the summer of 1850.   Then for some unknown reason, it had been abandoned overnight a year later.  No one had lived here since.  Well, except for a few desperate outlaws who were on the run a few years back.

"We made it, Kid.  Now all we gotta do is get ourselves settled in our hiding place and..."

Kid slumped forward against Heyes' back.   Heyes jumped from the saddle and caught Kid as he slid from the horse's back and collapsed into his arms.  Heyes felt the cold canyon air hit the wetness that had spread across his back.   He felt the back of his shirt.  It was soaked with blood.   Kid's blood.
Heyes helped a weak and hurting Kid Curry to his feet.    He held onto his partner as he walked him towards safety.  "Come on, Kid.  Don't give up on me now.  We're almost there.  Just a few more feet and we'll be there.  Then you can rest and get some food.  I'll build a fire and we can get warm."

Kid struggled to stay on his feet.  He clung to Heyes, feeling weak and sleepy.  They came to an old well that was behind an old bath house.  Heyes kicked the pump out of the way, not wanting to lose his hold on his partner.  The pump and the square piece of wood it was attached to fell to the side.  Beneath was a crude wooden ladder leading to the empty well below.   Heyes helped Kid into the dark depths of the well that dropped down fifteen feet below the surface.   Using the light from the opening above he found the lantern and matches that had been left there still undisturbed.  He lit the lamp, sat it beside Kid and hurried back up the ladder.

Odin stood there, pawing the ground, expecting his owner to climb back astride him.  Instead, Heyes removed all the gear and tack from the horse and placed them near the mouth of the well.   He approached the big black stallion and stood facing him.  He rubbed the powerful jaws with his hands.  "Well, old friend, this is it.  Thanks for getting us here.  Without your speed we'd probably both be dead.  You're free now.  I don't have any place to hide you so I'm just going to let you go.  That's where you belong anyway.  Out in the canyons roaming free."   Odin nudged Heyes chin with his nose.    Heyes gave his nose a scratch.   "Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Heyes walked behind the horse and swatted his rump hard with the palm of his hand.  The black took off,  his mane and tail flying in the wind.   Let him go Heyes.  Let him go back to where he belongs.   He doesn't belong in this world.   His mind went immediately to Evie.  She didn't belong in his world either.  But could he give her up as easily.  He couldn't think about it right now.  Right now he had to do what he'd been doing all of his life.  The one thing he did better than anything else.  Take care of his partner.    He threw the gear down into the well and climbed down inside.  He pulled the wooden platform with the well pump attached back into place,  sealing out the world above.



Chapter 29 Soundtrack Selection



Chapter 29 is almost done.  I may even have it ready by tonight, so check back.  

Sunday, January 22, 2012

"Evangeline" is now on Wattpad

I have taken a bold step (at least for me)  and I've started posting my story to Wattpad.  For those of you who don't know, Wattpad is a public site for authors to post their work.  There are thousands of new stories posted everyday.   I am asking all of my readers to please go to  http://www.wattpad.com/3097014-evangeline-~-a-hannibal-heyes-love-story  and become a member.  It only takes about five minutes.  Then vote for the chapters you like best, or you can vote for them all if you like.  And become my fan.  My user name, so no one is confused, is "sleepswithroses."

Since most of the readers on the Wattpad site have no clue what "Alias Smith and Jones" is, I used the shows intro as a sort of back story at the beginning of the prologue.  And I've made a few minor edits and changes to some of the chapters as well.  I thought this was a great opportunity to make some new fans of the story and of the show.  And don't worry, nothing about the blog will change.  I look forward to seeing you all on Wattpad!  Don't forget...."like"  "vote"  "fan."   Thanks everybody for reading!

Peace and love,
Karen :')

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Chapter 28

Whew!  This one took a lot out of me.  I'm spent.  Don't know why this one was so difficult to write.  But anyway I hope you all like it.


"I can't believe we were so stupid.   We knew better, Heyes.  You never leave without being prepared.  That was always one of the most important things we taught all the greenhorns who came into the hole.   And now here we sit.  Freezing our tails off.  Hiding out in a barn in the middle of nowhere.  No food, no coats.  And you don't even have your gloves."  Kid Curry kicked the bail of hay that sat at his feet, releasing some of his anger and frustration.

Heyes just sat there on another  bale of hay with his arms crossed over his chest, his hands tucked under his arms to warm them.  He said nothing.  He just stared at the dirt floor while Kid paced back and forth in front of him.

"How did we end up like this?  Where did we go wrong?  I'll tell you where.   We got too comfortable.  We let our guard down.   We forgot that we're both wanted men.  How stupid can we be to just ride out of that ranch without so much as an extra blanket or something to eat? Family men, huh?  We don't look much like family men now."  The object of his frustration this time was an empty wooden pail which he sent flying across the barn with the tip of his boot.  It landed with a loud clatter after banging against a stall door on the opposite side of the barn.

"Will you stop it?"  Heyes admonished.  "You keep doing stuff like that and you'll get these animals riled up and somebody in that farmhouse will be out here to see what's going on and then we'll really be in hot water."

"I wish we had some hot water.  Some hot anything."  A shiver wracked his solid frame.
"And ain't nobody gonna hear anything over that blasted wind."

As if to punctuate his statement, a blast of frigid wind blew in through the cracks between the board walls of the barn, causing loose bits of hay and straw to skitter across the barn's hard packed dirt floor.
 
"Why don't you just relax and sit down for a while.  Or better yet, why don't you lie down on that pile of hay over there and get some sleep.  I'll keep a watch out."

"I can't sleep.  I'm too cold.  And too hungry."

Heyes ignored Kid, who continued to pace and grumble under his breath.  He for one was just thankful they were out of that blasted wind for a while.  Before they had stumbled across this barn, his fingers had become so numb from the cold that he could barely hold the reins.  His fingers were beginning to feel normal again after being shoved in his armpits for the last hour.  He removed his hands from under the warmth of his arms and as he did his hand brushed across the hard little square in the breast pocket of his navy blue shirt.  He reached inside and pulled the tiny box out.  He held it in his hand for a moment before lifting the lid and staring at the simple silver circle that lay inside.

"Will you put that away.  I don't ever want to see that thing again.  It reminds of how stupid I am."
Heyes just gave his partner a puzzled look.  What was he talking about?

"I was stupid to ever let this whole thing get this far.  I knew you weren't thinking straight.  I should have sent her back east.  All my instincts told me to just put her on a train to Nashville.  You were too loopy headed with love to make any rational decisions.  I should have just took control of the whole situation and done what I knew was best for all of us.   But no.  I didn't do that did I."   Kid paused his pacing and ranting for a moment. Heyes wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to himself.  "I almost wish somebody else had saved her. None of this would be happening if it weren't for...."

Heyes stood quickly and pointed a finger at his cross partner,  "Don't you dare blame her, Kid.  This is not her fault."  There was warning in his tone.

Kid came and stood directly in front of Heyes and swatted his accusing finger out of the way.  "I'm not blaming her.  I'm blaming you,"  he spat out angrily as he stabbed his finger into Heyes' chest.  "None of this would be happening if you would have just done what you knew was right in the first place.  We've always had that one unspoken rule when it comes to women, Heyes. You enjoy them while you can and when it's time to move on,  you move on.  Even if it means breaking their heart.  It's not right to let a woman get emotionally tangled up and then have to up and leave. And you and I both know that eventually we always have to leave.  I should have followed my gut and made you send her back east.  She'd be living with Livvy now and you and me would have been hell and away from Cold Springs and Sherman McMaster.  Sure she would have been heart broken.  But she'd be getting over it by now."

Heyes didn't say anything.  The truth of what Kid was saying was like a festering barb under his skin.  He just stood there scowling at his partner as he continued his rant.

Kid walked away from Heyes and began his pacing again.  "Stupid, stupid, stupid."  He shook his head in dismay.   "I can't believe I let you get so caught up in playing house for so long."

"I wasn't playing, Kid,"  Heyes said in an almost inaudible voice.


"Well, you may as well have been for all the good it did you.  And I was right there with you.  Playing right along."   He paused again, thinking about Livvy.  Visualizing her lovely, petite figure, her sweet laughing face, her passionate eyes.  "And now you've gone and....dammit, Heyes, I hope you didn't make her pregnant."


"Alright, Kid, I get it.  You're mad.  And you think this is all my fault.."

"I don't think it is, I know it is!"

"Alright!  It's all my fault!  Are you happy!   I take full responsiblity for everything!"  Heyes turned away from Kid, not wanting to look him in the eye, his shame and guilt making him feel like a scolded child.

No,  Kid wasn't happy.  And he immediately felt sorry for being so hard on his partner. He could only imagine how hard this must be on him.  He softened some and said in a calmer voice,   "Well, Heyes, you should have done right by her and just sent her away even if it meant breaking her heart."


"You think I don't know that?"   Heyes said facing his partner.

Kid could see the pain in Heyes' face and could hear it in his voice.  He opened his mouth to say something.

Heyes waved his friend off.   "Just forget it."

"Yeah. There's nothing we can do to change the past now.  Let's just concentrate of getting some rest while we can.  We need to be riding out of here before those folks in that house wake up.  It's going to be a long hard ride."   Kid dropped down onto a pile of straw in a dark corner and covered himself with a dusty old saddle blanket they'd found hanging over one of the rafters.  "Wake me in a couple of hours and we'll trade places."   He yawned loudly and closed his eyes.  He was snoring in minutes.

"So much for being too cold and too hungry,"  Heyes mumbled under his breath.  Heyes knew Kid must be exhausted.  He was exhausted himself, but he didn't require as much sleep as Kid did.  They had managed to get a couple of hours of sleep last night when they'd come up on a line shack that cowboys used for rests on cattle drives.  But the wind had been so fierce, making the temperature feel much colder than it actually was, that they hadn't rested well.  They had awakened to a bright and very welcome sun which warmed the air throughout the day.  They had ridden as hard and as far as they could before the cold once again became unbearable and the winds began to pick up with the sinking sun.  They were giving up hope of finding any shelter for the night when they'd smelled the burning wood from a fireplace chimney. The little farm sat in the middle of nowhere somewhere near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  Isolated and remote, it had been like a beacon of light in an otherwise dark and bleak situation.  They had silently made their way across the yard and into the barn after watching the owner and his small son secure the animals inside for the night and then disappear behind the walls of their cozy little farm house with its warm glowing windows.  But even if he had been behind those walls in the warm glow of a family fire he couldn't have slept.  He had too many things on his mind.

Heyes wandered aimlessly around the barn.  His mind was in a turmoil.  He stopped beside the lantern they'd found hanging by the barn door and stared into the glow of it's dim light as he held his hands close to its flame for warmth.  Kid was right.  He was right about everything.  He should have sent Evie away.  He should never have professed his love for her.  He should never have allowed her to grow so dependent on him.  And he certainly never should have touched her.  He should have been thinking with his brain instead of his heart.  And his....he looked down at the bulge below his gun belt and rolled his chocolate colored eyes.  She was so young and so innocent.  And he had spoiled her.  And what if he had made her pregnant?  What if his child grew in her belly at this moment?   He had been the worst kind of irresponsible.  He'd been stupid and selfish and irresponsible.  And now if he ended up in the Wyoming State Penitentiary or worse,  if he ended up dead, she'd be left alone.  Heartbroken and alone.  Possibly with a child on the way.  His child.  She would be the one to pay for his foolish mistake.  And so would their child if there was one.

His child would be branded a bastard.  The bastard son or daughter of a wanted outlaw.  And Evie would be shunned as a harlot.  My God what had he done?  Why hadn't he left her alone?   Falling in love with her was something he couldn't help.  But taking her virginity, that he could have stopped.  Of course in the moment it hadn't  felt like he could stop, but that wasn't true.  He had had every opportunity to back out.  To save her innocence.  And he hadn't stopped there.  Oh, no, he had to go to her room that night didn't he.  He rolled his brown eyes again, wishing he hadn't thought about that night.  It only made him more lonely for her.  Made him long to touch her.   And now there was  a possibility that she could be  carrying his child.  The thought of it filled him with indescribable joy and at the same time, petrifying fear.

He wouldn't deny he had pictured her, her belly large and round, ripe with the fruit of his loins.  But he'd also pictured her with a ring on her finger at the same time.  Now their future was unclear.  He doubted if marriage was in the cards now.  Had it ever really been in the cards for him?  Kid was right, he had known better.
 
Heyes left the glow of the lantern to wander again.  Moving kept his mind off the cold.  He found himself at the front of the barn near the door, where they'd tethered their horses.  He approached the massive black stallion and smiled when the steed caught his scent and turned his big head towards him and began to paw the ground.  "Yeah, I knew you were beginning to like me.  No matter how big of a fuss you try to make about it."

Heyes had been astounded by the black's speed when they had headed out of Cold Springs.  Once Odin had hit the wide open fields and had sniffed the clean air he'd taken off like a....well, like a wild horse.  Heyes grinned to himself.  If he'd been alone he could have been miles further by now.  Kid's bay gelding just wasn't a match for Odin's speed and agility.

Heyes rubbed the thick black coat that covered the straining muscles beneath it.  He couldn't see it in the dim light but he could feel that the normally slick shiny coat was dull and dirty and in bad need of a good curry combing.  Just like the day they'd wrangled him and brought him home.  Home.  It had felt so good to be able to say that word.  For a while at least.  He should have know it was all too good to be true.  He thought this time might be different.  That maybe God wasn't still making him and Jed pay for the sins of their past.  But obviously he was wrong.  He felt a longing begin in his heart and his chest tightened.  He wished he could be on the back of this powerful beast with Evie.  Holding her, kissing her, laughing with her.   Just being normal.  Just being home.   And home was simply where ever she was. But once again the reality of who and what he was had reared its ugly head to smack down any dreams he had of having a normal life and a home and a family.  He could picture it in his mind.  A little white washed clap board house with a porch sitting on a nice little grassy spot of land. Evie standing in the front yard waving to him as he came home from an honest day's work.  The sun shining brightly down on her lovely face, tanned and freckled from working in the little garden at the back of the house.  Her beautiful hair flying free on a breeze.   And two little children running to meet him.  A boy and a girl.  One with blue eyes and one with brown.

Another sharp gust of wind rattled the boards of the barn walls and jarred him from his reverie.    He wondered what Evie was doing right now.  Since it was the middle of the night, she was probably sleeping, or at least trying to sleep.   Had she gone looking for him in Cold Springs?  He hoped she hadn't.  He didn't want her and Laura to cross paths.  And he certainly didn't want any one becoming suspicious of her connection to him and the Kid.  But he knew her better than that.  Of course she had gone looking for him.  Did she find out what had happened?  Did she know he hadn't abandoned her?   Had she cried?  Had she waited and watched?  And what about Livvy?  Had she found out the truth?  If she had then Evie was probably on a train bound for Nashville right now.  But he couldn't blame Livvy.  Who in their right mind would want their niece married or even associated with an outlaw?  Even if he had been the most successful outlaw in his time.  Heyes smiled smugly.  If Olivia Vanderbilt wanted her niece to marry a successful man, then he was the perfect candidate.  The fact that his success had been found on the wrong side of the law was a mere formality.   But his smile quickly vanished as he thought of the look that would cover Livvy's pale face when she learned who he and Thaddeus really were.  She would be angry.  She would be hurt.  And she would make Evie leave with her.  He knew that as sure as he knew that the hat on his head was black.  And Evie, not knowing what the future was going to bring would have no choice but to go with her.  And once Livvy had her in Nashville,  even if he and Kid managed to escape the long arm of the law once again,  he'd never be able to contact her.  Livvy would make sure of it.

He wished now he had ridden off with her that day before Livvy came.  Evie had begged him to pack their things and ride out.  Just the two of them.  But he wouldn't do it.  Now he wished he had.  But that too was water under the bridge and not worth dwelling on.  All he needed to think about now was getting to the one place where they could get lost and not be found for a while.  The one place where they could wait the posse and Sherman McMaster out.

"You've got to get us there, friend,"  he addressed the black.  "Get us there so I can get back to her.  I've got to get back to her somehow.  So I can make things right."   There was one small window in the back wall of the barn.  He left the horses and made his way to the window.


He stood beneath it and looked up into the brilliant sky.  It was a clear night.  The stars were more vivid and bright than he'd ever seen.  And the moon was three quarters full.  The longing began again as he wondered if his Evie were looking at the same moon and stars at that moment.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The moon and the stars were brilliant and beautiful.  If only she were looking at them with her beloved.   Evangeline sat by the window of her bedroom in the McCreedy ranch house,  gazing skyward.  But neither her eyes nor her mind really focused on anything.  Where was he right now?  Was he cold and hungry?  Was he hurt and afraid?  Her heart ached to think of him needing help and her being helpless to do anything.  She had never felt so utterly alone.  Even though Aunt Livvy, Mr. McCreedy, Georgia and Preacher all sat in the parlor downstairs, she still felt completely alone.

She and Preacher had agreed upon the story they would make up to tell Olivia and made their plans to help the boys as they rode home from Cold Springs.  When they had arrived as the sun was going down this evening, Livvy had run to meet them.  Evie had seen her hopeful face fall as she realized it was only the painted pony that followed them and not two shamed and hungover cowboys.   She had masked her disappointment well.

 Once she'd gotten inside Evie had asked Georgia to help her draw a hot bath.  It would probably be the last one she would get for quite a while if she and the Preacher put their plans into place as they had discussed.  With absolutely no appetite and a mind filled with checklists of things she would need for her journey, she had sat at the dining room table and listened while Livvy had lectured her all through supper about never trusting any man except your father and praising the good Lord that she had seen Joshua's true colors before it was too late.  Evie had simply listened without response while she pushed her food, uneaten,  about her plate.  When everyone else had retired to the parlor for coffee, Evie had asked to be excused, claiming a headache.

Once in her room she had packed a set of saddle bags with anything she thought she might need and hid it inside the back of her wardrobe.  She sat now looking out the window, wondering if Hannibal were doing the same.  Did she have the courage to do what she was about to do?  Did she really have the strength to see this thing through?  God, please give me the strength and the courage.  They don't deserve to be hunted down and shot like dogs.  They're good men and you know that.  So please help me help them.


A knock sounded at the door.  "Come in,"  Evie called.

Livvy glided primly into the room and sat atop Evie's canopied bed.  She patted the spot beside her, indicating her desire for Evie to come and sit beside her.  Evie rose from her seat by the window and crossed the room silently to sit beside her petite aunt.

"My dear, dear girl,"  Livvy said as she took her niece's hands in hers, her voice laced with sympathy.  "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"About how you feel.  I know you must be unbearably heartbroken and you need to let it all out.  It's not good to keep your emotions all bottled up inside.  You haven't shed a single tear since you came home this evening, and yesterday, you were inconsolable.  I know if I had found out that the man I thought was going to be betrothed to had gotten drunk and then hightailed it out of town without so much as a goodbye or 'kiss my foot,' I'd be a blubbering lump that wouldn't get out of bed for days.  I know you're strong and I admire your courage, but, my dear if you need to cry then do so.  Let it out."

"I'm fine.  Really I am.  I just need to be alone right now.  If you don't mind."

"All right.  But first I must tell you that Pat and I talked today while you were gone to Cold Springs and we both decided it was best if you had a fresh clean start.  Something new to get your mind off of Joshua Smith."

Fear welled up inside of Evie.  They had decided?  She didn't like the sound of that.

"Pat went into town and purchased two stage tickets for El Paso.  We will pack tomorrow and leave the day after.  From El Paso there's a train east to Nashville.  We will be home at Heavenly Hills  by Friday."

Evie stood and walked to the window, looking again at the moon.  "I hope you have a pleasant journey."

"We will have a pleasant journey.  You are coming with me.  I hadn't told you but I've been corresponding with the dean of students at the Boston Conservatory.  He's assured me that you can begin there in the spring.  It's all been arranged and Mr. McCreedy agrees that it's best for you.  He's having all your things  here in your room packed and shipped out to Heavenly Hills."

Evie turned unbelieving eyes on her aunt,  "You mean he's kicking me out?"

"Of course not!  He's simply sending your things home.   Home with me where you belong.  You belong at Heavenly Hills with your aunt Libby and me."  Livvy could see the distress on her niece's face and went to her and took her by the shoulders.   "My dear, it's almost Christmas.  You'll love it at the Hills.  Cook will be making gingerbread cookies and pumpkin loaves.  We'll bring in boughs of cedar and holly to hang on the mantle.  There will be a beautiful wreath on the front door.  And the most magnificent tree we can find will be in the main room with lots of presents beneath.  I know you'll be happy there.  At least in time."

"It all sounds wonderful Livvy, but I can't go. Not to Heavenly Hills and not to the Conservatory.   And if Mr. McCreedy doesn't want me here then I'll go to a boarding house or a hotel and stay.  But I'm not leaving here. This is where I belong.  Wherever Joshua is, that's where I belong."

"Do you hear yourself?  Are you listening to what you are saying?  The man left you.  He jilted you.  He made you promises and he didn't keep them.  You are better off without him.  And you will be better off leaving this place.  So that everywhere you look you're not reminded  of him.  Of what you shared together."

"Is this lecture for me or for yourself?"

"This isn't about me at all, it's about you.  And what's best for you. I know I'm not your mother but you are not in an emotional state that's conducive to making good decisions.  Therefore, I'm putting my foot down.  You are going with me.  We leave Tuesday. Period."

"Livvy, you don't understand.  I can't leave."

"I understand better that you think I do.  I understand that you think if you wait here long enough he'll be back.  But you're foolish if you think he's going to come riding back in here with a dozen roses and a ring, begging your forgiveness."

"Like I said, you don't understand."

"Then help me understand.  Explain it to me."

Oh, how I wish I could, she thought.  But instead she stood there silent as the grave saying nothing.

"Just as I thought.  You know deep down in your heart there is no explanation except that he got scared and he ran out on you."

Evie huffed in exasperation, "You don't know everything, like you think you do, Olivia."

Again, Livvy grasped her niece firmly by the arms, "Look at me.  It is time for you to snap out of it.  There isn't going to be any fairy tale ending to this.  I know he was a big part... the biggest part of your life, but, darling,  he didn't love you enough or respect your feelings enough to even come to you and tell you in person that he'd changed his mind.  It's time to face reality.  Your prince charming turned out to be a toad."

Evie had had enough.  She wasn't going to continue to let her aunt berate the man she loved when she didn't even know the whole story.  She stood and walked back to the window. "That's enough, Livvy!   The reason I can't leave is because Joshua and Thaddeus need help.  They are both in trouble and they need help.  And I plan to give it to them."

"Trouble?  What kind of trouble?  And how can you help them?  Wait, let me guess, they were in jail when you got to Cold Springs weren't they?"

"No, Livvy, they weren't in jail."

"Did you catch Joshua in bed with some soiled dove?"

"No!  Just trust me that they are in trouble and they need help."

"If they are in trouble why haven't you said something before now?"

"There's a lot I can't tell you.  I wish I could but I can't."

Livvy walked calmly to the door of Evie's room.  She opened it and stood for a moment, thinking.   She turned and faced her niece her hand still on the door knob.  "Well, then, until you decide you can tell me,"  she produced a key out of her skirt pocket and held it up for Evie to see.  Realization sprang into Evie's mind and she raced towards the door just as Livvy slammed it shut and turned the key locking it tight.

Evie began to frantically pound on the door with her fists. "Olivia, open this door!  Don't you dare leave me locked in here!"

"Are you going to tell me the truth about what's going on?"  She heard Livvy ask from the other side of the heavy door.

"I can't tell you, Livvy.  You have to trust me."

"That's not good enough."

Dear God, what was she supposed to do?  She couldn't tell her the whole truth.  If Livvy found out that Joshua and Thaddeus were really Hannibal and Jed she'd be lucky if her aunt didn't force her to  spend the next twenty years in a tower like Rapunzel.  But she didn't have to tell her the whole truth.  Just enough of the truth to get that door unlocked or else her plans were going to be ruined.

"All right.  I'll tell you the truth.  Just, please, open the door."

Evie heard the key slide into the keyhole and the click as the lock turned.  Livvy stepped swiftly inside and spun around to lock the door once again from the inside then deposited the shiny gold key into her pocket.

"Well, I'm waiting.  Astound me with this glorious revelation of truth."

It was obvious Livvy didn't think she was being sincere.  She no doubt thought that Evangeline was merely  deluding herself and defending the actions of the man who had left her high and dry by inventing some tale that explained his absence.  Boy was she in for a big surprise.

"Do you remember the woman you rode with on the train, the one with all the children?"

"Mrs. Shepherd, yes, I remember her.  Why do you keep coming back to that woman?"

"If you'll just listen I'll explain."   Livvy sat on the edge of the bed as Evie paced and explained.  "She wasn't a stranger.  At least not to Joshua and Thaddeus.  They knew her, although they didn't recognize her at first.  She had been Joshua's first love when they were kids in the orphanage.  She saw him in the mercantile that day when we were shopping and she recognized Joshua.  I wasn't really ill that day.  I was pretending so we could get out of town fast.  Because Laura Shepherd knows who they really are."

She stopped then and turned cautiously to look at her aunt.  There was confusion on her face.

"What do you mean  'Who they really are?'"

"Their real names aren't Smith and Jones.  Those are aliases they use because they are wanted men.  Wanted by the law."

Livvy sat silent and still, her lovely arched brows drawn together in a frown of concentration.  Evie expected her to start another rant about never trusting a man and Joshua being a toad, but instead she just sat there silent, obviously stunned.

"Laura's husband was also in the same orphanage and he also recognized them yesterday when they brought the pony to him to be shod.  He informed the sheriff about them, but before he could arrest them they managed to get out of town.  Now they are on the run out in this cold weather without so much as a jacket.  That's why they need my help."

"Who are they?  What are their real names?"

"I'm not going to tell you that.  And what does it matter?"

"What does it matter?  Oh, well, call me silly but I do like to know a man's real name before I let him...."  she stopped herself before she got too personal.  "What are they wanted for?  What were their crimes?  They aren't murderers are they?"

"Of course not!  They just pulled a few robberies, that's all.  But they've mended their ways.  They haven't committed any crimes in almost a year."

"How do you know all of this if they rode out of town?  Who told you this?"

"Laura Shepherd.  She helped them get out of town.  She said they headed north."

"Why didn't they come here?  I don't understand.  If they would have come here, I would have paid any fines or bail that they may have incurred."

"The man who's after them was once a Texas Ranger and they made a fool of him so now he wants revenge.  I don't think they wanted to bring that kind of trouble here."

Olivia's head felt like it was going to explode.   In a few short moments her whole world had turned upside down.  Nothing was right anymore.  Nothing made sense anymore.  She stood and walked slowly towards the door.   She needed to lie down.  Then she stopped and spun around her skirts whirling about her feet.  Her face turned a ghostly white.

"Livvy are you all right?"

"Dear God.  No, it can't be."   Her eyes searched the floor as her brain gathered and processed the information.  "The baby.  The looks you all shared when I told you that baby's name.  The safes.  He knew all about every kind of safe that's ever been manufactured.  And the gun.  He draws faster than any man I've ever...."  Her eyes lifted to find those of her niece.  "Hannibal."  Evie looked away.  "You defended that baby's name and you defended the mother of the outlaw who shared that name.  You defended the mother of the man you love.  Hannibal Heyes."   Evie could not meet her gaze.  "You're in love with Hannibal Heyes."    She began to tremble and her voice shook slightly when she said,  "That means that I've been..." She felt faint. Her stomach lurched.  She reached for the bed post for support.  "With Kid Curry."

Evangeline remained silent.  She neither denied nor confirmed what Livvy had said.  But at this point she figured her silence was as good as confirmation.

"I saw it in the paper that Pat brought from Red Rock that there had been a Heyes and Curry sighting in Cold Springs.  I just didn't put two and two together.  They are worth ten thousand dollars each.  Dead or alive.   Someone identified them and now there is a manhunt in progress."

"Yes, there is.  That's why they need help."

"What do you think you can do?  I understand now why they didn't come back here."  Livvy shook her head in disbelief.  She just couldn't wrap her head around it.  "A few robberies, huh?  There won't be any bail for Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes.  They had the good sense to know that there's nothing any of us can do for them and so they rode in the opposite direction to spare us any trouble.  My, God, they'll be lucky to escape this alive to serve time in jail."

"Yes, I know.  That's why I have to help them."  She was desperate for Livvy to understand.

"Again I ask,  what exactly is it  you think your going to do?  Ride in with guns blazing and rescue them?"

"I don't know exactly.  I just know that they're out there alone and I can't just sit here and do nothing.  Not while they're being hunted by a man with a personal vendetta against them.  I can at the very least find them and give them a coat and some food.  And I can't believe that you aren't willing to do the same.  I know you care about Thaddeus."

"Of course, I care about him.  I care about them both.  But I'm not foolish enough to think I can make a difference in the outcome of this whole mess.  They've made their beds and now they will have to lie in them."

Evie said no more.  She could tell that her aunt was going to stand firm in her view that the boys were on their own.  A terrible silence hung in the room as each woman pondered the present predicament.  Evie was drawn back to the window, back to the moon.  The same moon her beloved stood under, somewhere.

Livvy turned slowly as if in a stupor and made her way to the door.  She unlocked it and turned around and stood in the door just like before, her hand still on the knob and faced her niece.  "I'm sorry, Evangeline, truly I am."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Livvy, because you see now that he didn't leave me because he doesn't love me, he..."  She whirled around at the sound of the door slamming shut again and the key turning the lock.

Oh, how stupid was she?  Why hadn't she left the room while she had the chance.  She ran to the door and began beating and begging again.  "Livvy, please.  I have to help them.  The man that's after them doesn't want to take them to jail he wants them dead."

Olivia felt terrible about locking Evangeline in her room.  She felt even worse that Thaddeus and Joshua, or should she say Kid and Hannibal, were running for their lives.  But Evangeline could not help them.  If she let her ride off in search of them she might end up being hurt or killed herself.  She was responsible for her niece now.  And she loved her dearly.  She had to protect her.   The boys were on their own.  "Be sure your sin will find you out.  That's what the Bible says.  And now that I know who they are and what their sins are,  I will not let you be the one to pay for them.  I'm doing this for your own good.  And if Joshua were here he would agree with me.  I'm sorry."   She felt nauseous.  She ran to her bedroom in search of the chamber pot.

"No!  Olivia!  Don't do this.  You don't understand.  He'll kill them!"  There was only silence from the other side of the door.  "Livvy!  Please!"   It was no good.  She was gone.

Evie ran to the window and threw it open.  She looked down at the ground below.  It was so far.  Too far to jump.  There was no way to climb down.  Now what was she going to do?

She rushed to her vanity table and found a hair comb and a letter opener.  Maybe she could pick the lock.

An hour later she threw the comb and letter opener across the room in frustration.  Why hadn't she let Hannibal teach her how to pick locks?  She looked at the clock over the fireplace mantel.  It was eleven o'clock.  She was supposed to meet Preacher in the stables in an hour.  He was to have all the supplies they needed ready and they would pack them all on the horses and head out for New Mexico.   She had to find a way out of this room.  The sheets!   She could tie the bed sheets and the curtains together to make a rope and rappel down the side of the house.  She yanked the curtains from the windows and pulled frantically at the pink coverlet of her bed to get to the sheets underneath.  She was knotting the corners together when she heard a familiar pecking sound at the window.  It was the same sound she'd heard the night Hannibal had thrown pebbles at her window so he could tell her he loved her after narrowly escaping the wrath of Georgia Moon and her broom.

She went quickly to the window and stuck her head out into the cold night air.  She smiled from ear to ear.  She almost laughed out loud.  There below her window in the back yard stood Preacher holding a ladder. He had his horse and  Rusty saddled and a pack mule loaded with supplies ready at his side. One thing her Daddy  and Hannibal Heyes had taught her,  never play all your cards at once.  She hadn't told Livvy about Preacher.  He had been her ace up the sleeve.

After silently signaling for him to give her a few moments, she rushed to her wardrobe and pulled out her hidden saddle bags.  She changed into her britches and bundled herself tight into Hannibal's coat and gloves.  Then she pulled on her black hooded cloak and climbed through the window.  They were going to make it.  They were going to get off the ranch without anyone seeing them.  She mounted Rusty's strong back.  Her heart hammered in her chest.  Just a short ride to the gate and they were home free.  "Hold it right there, you two."

Evie closed her eyes and inwardly groaned.  No, Georgia, please don't ruin this.  Her first thought was to dig her heels into Rusty's flanks and take off, but something in Georgia' voice told her to wait.   Big Mac's housekeeper stood on the back porch outside the kitchen door.   Evie walked Rusty up to the porch where Georgia stood holding a burlap sack.  She extended the sack to Evie.

"Here, this is some food that will keep good and long in case it takes you two a while to find them boys.  And there's some remedies and medicines in there too.  Case them boys needs any mendin'.  I done told the Preacher how to use 'em."

Evie's wide eyed stare moved between Georgia and the Preacher.  "How did you know?"

"Know what?  That them boys is really Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry?  I am the eyes and ears of this household.  Don't nothing go on here that I don't know about.  Just like I knowed that boy was in your room that night.  What I don't know is how he got around the corner of the house before I spotted him."

Evie was glad it was dark and her face was shielded by her hood, because her face was flaming with embarrassment.  "How did you know he was there?"

"Please."  She swatted the air dismissively.  "I could smell the cigar all over the room."

Evie could only smile at her as she took the sack and secured it to the saddle horn.  "Thank you, Georgia."

"Something else I know for sho,  that boy loves you.   And both of them boys is good.  No matter what they might of done in the past. They may not know it but they are.   And don't you worry none about Miss Livvy.  I'll take care of her.  Be careful.  The good Lord will be with you."

Georgia waved them goodbye then wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders as she watched them disappear around the corner of the ranch house.  She hoped and prayed they got to them boys before it was too late.

Once outside the gates, Evie exhaled the breath she had been holding.   Relief washed over her the further they rode from the ranch.   She looked over her shoulder several times, just to make sure no one was following.  There was only darkness and stillness all around.

"Just one question, Preacher."

"What's that?"

"How did you know Livvy had locked me in my room?"

"Thank Miss Georgia for that.   She is the eyes and ears of that household after all."

"And the ladder and the horses and mule?"

"One thing Hannibal Heyes taught me and all the boys who ever rode with him,  if plan A don't work,  always have a plan B."

She could see the flash of his white teeth in the dark as he smiled at her.   She smiled back, her heart swelling at the sound of her beloved's name.  The respect this man had for Hannibal and Kid was apparent.  She trusted him and was so thankful he was with her.  Without him she could never do  what she was about to do.  When she began to think about it, doubt threatened to overtake her.  Was she being foolish?  Did she really think she could ride for hundreds of miles on horseback to find him and help him?  But then she pictured that sweet face, smiling at her with his big dimples and chocolaty eyes and her heart squeezed tight with love.  Then she thought of him shivering in the cold.  Weak with hunger.  Looking over his shoulder as he ran for his life.  And she became angry.  She wouldn't doubt again.  She could do this.  She would do this.  Nothing would keep her from finding him.  They'd been through too much together to give up now.  She looked at her new partner, and without having to speak he understood, and they both spurred their mounts into a gallop, heading north towards New Mexico.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A hundred miles away, somewhere between Las Cruses and Alamogordo, New Mexico,  a pair of cold, steel gray eyes stared up at the three quarter moon that shone brightly down on the campsite.  He wasn't even going to worry about catching up to them.  He knew where they were headed.  In fact he kind of liked knowing that they would be out in this cold, looking over their shoulders,  waiting for a posse to appear over the next hill.  The longer the chase went on the better.  They'd be too tired to give him much of a fight when he did catch up to them.  They thought they were going to lose him again like before.  But little did they know that he'd been back to that abandoned town since.  And he knew the whole town like the back of his hand.  Every board of every dilapidated building he had committed to memory.  There wouldn't be any place for them to hide that he didn't know about.  Yes, he looked forward to the chase, but not nearly as much as he was looking forward to the capture.




Sunday, January 15, 2012

Soundtrack Selection for Chapter 28



Does Evie have the courage and the strength to do what she has to to save Heyes?
Can Heyes find the courage and the strength to do what he has to do to make things right?




Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Happy Birthday to Me!





January 11, 1967 ~  a day that will live in infamy.  ;')

Friday, January 6, 2012

Rock and Roll Outlaws

If Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were modern day rock stars, this is what you'd get.....


There are various degrees of cool.  There's just plain old cool.  There's __________ (insert adjective of choice)  cool.  And there's Pete Duel cool, which is the coolest you can get.  This song is Pete Duel cool.  :')

I'm working on the next chapter, I swear.  Until it's finished, y'all stay Pete Duel cool.
Karen :')

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year

What a year 2011 was!  It started rather melancholy for me, being still in the fresh renewal of grief over Peter's death, having only rekindled my dormant but ever present love for him in December 2009.   In the fall of 2010, after reading many "Alias Smith and Jones"  fanfictions, a desire welled up inside of me.  It was the desire for more.  More of the great Hannibal Heyes and his fast-drawing partner Kid Curry.  I wanted more episodes, heck, I wanted a darn movie.  And being a huge investor in the cheesy, Fabio-on-the-cover, heroine-clinging-to-the-shirtless-hero,  romance novel industry,  I decided it was  high time that Hannibal Heyes was on the cover of one of  those novels (not literally, but figuratively) with a heroine of his own clinging to him.  And thus "Evangeline" was born.  I didn't make any plans for it.  I didn't write an outline.  I just opened up a page on Word Pad on my pc and started typing.  And that's what I still do.  It comes from a place inside of me that I didn't know existed.  And I never expected to share it with anyone else.  But in the spring of 2011, my three sons and one of my son's girlfriend, who is also a fanfiction author,  encouraged me to share it.    I was too scared to post it to any fanfiction site.  I was afraid of being critiqued by other ASJ fanfiction writers who are so good at what they do.  And I also wanted to keep it for myself.  It was mine.  My connection to Peter.   When a friend and fellow romance novel enthusiast read the first few chapters and gushed about how good it was,  I finally decided to share it.  But I was still too intimidated to post to a fanfiction site, so I decided to post to a blog.  That way I had complete control over what I put there.  And now I am so glad I did it.

Through writing this story and sharing it with fans of Peter's and "Alias Smith and Jones"  I have found a connection with Peter's spirit that I never dreamed possible.  I've found friendships with people all over  the country and been inspired by their words of praise and encouragement.   I have people reading and following this blog from all over the world.  I've had hits from every continent except Antarctica.  I didn't expect to get 400 hits, let alone over 4,000 in less than a year.
Writing this tale has been like a balm to my soul. A soul that needed healing.  Healing from wounds not only left by Peter's absence, but by other events in my life as well.  And all of you who have stuck with me on this journey of discovery have been a huge part of the healing process and I thank you.

And now the bittersweet end of the year is here.  Sweet because of the renewed love and joy I have found in Peter. Sweet because of the  new joy I have found in writing these characters and the joy of watching the love you have all developed for them.  Bitter as we mark the 40th anniversary of Peter's passing.   Due to the holidays and the anniversary of that sad day,  I have not concentrated on writing much of late.  But as I put 2011 behind me,  I resolve to put my best efforts into finishing this -  I am going to start calling it a novelette - not for you, but for myself.  I write for myself.  Then I share it with you.  And I'm sure Peter will be over my shoulder, instructing me, guiding me, inspiring me.

Happy New Year to you all.    I pray that 2012 will bring you all an abundance of joy, health, happiness, and prosperity.   May peace and harmony fill your homes and your hearts.

Peace, love and dimpled smiles,
Karen :')


A very special  thanks goes to you, Clarissa, for always lifting my spirits and my ego with your praise.  You are a blessing and  I cherish your friendship.

But the biggest thanks of all.....Thank you, Peter.