A Grave for Lassiter (30 page)

“I shouldn't have been so cheap,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I should have paid ten men to come and kill you.”

Then, with that note of regret in his voice, he fell forward on his face. Some men rushed forward and turned him over.

“Dead,” Loland announced with a shake of his head.

At Doc Overmeyer's small hospital, Lassiter found Roma. She was in bed and her leg had been splinted.

“I'm going to leave, broken leg or not,” she said, her eyes wet.

“We'll talk about it later.”

He patted her shoulder and went out. The Thursday northbound stage was just rolling in. Aboard it was Herm Falconer. Lassiter hardly recognized him. He had lost so much weight he seemed almost scrawny. He used a cane to help him walk with a peg leg.

“Took you long enough to get here, Herm,” was Lassiter's greeting. But he gave the man a weary smile and shoved out his hand. They shook.

“For a time there I figured to let you an' Melody run things. I guess hearin' about my brother Josh, then losin' my leg, well . . . I just didn't give a damn. But you kept writin' an' I kept thinkin' . . .”

“You're here now and that's what counts. And just in time. You're the one going to help Melody run things.” “Where you think you're goin'?”

“I've got a date to take a lady home. She nursed me when I had a bullet in the back. Now I'll do the same for her with a broken leg.”

“You an' my niece never hit it off, huh?”

“I wrote you she married Vance.”

“Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I could've told her he wasn't much good.”

“He's dead, Herm.”

Herm Falconer blew out his cheeks, leaned on his cane and reached for a bandanna. He wiped his eyes. “I feel bad on account of his ma, my poor wife. She loved him . . . too much, I reckon.”

Three days later, after a tearful farewell with Melody, Lassiter left with Roma in a wagon. He would stay with her till her leg healed and she found her family.

He turned to look back at Melody, seeing Brad Dingell standing at her side. They both lifted their hands to him. He waved back. Nearby was Melody's Uncle Herm, leaning on his cane. She would be in good hands between the two men. And if she found marriage for a second time in her young lifetime, he hoped it would be better than the first. With Dingell it was certainly possible.

Roma called to him from the bed of the wagon. “I'll be with you all summer, Lassiter. I have a feeling my leg is going to take an awful long time to heal properly.”

He smiled to himself. “We'll see.”

“Can't we make an early camp tonight?”

“Maybe.”

“The landanum the doctor gave me killed the pain. I want you with me tonight.”

“We've got to be careful of that leg.”

“It won't be in the way. You'll see.”

He looked back at her under the canvas top, black eyes shining mischievously.