Hell on the Prairie (13 page)

Derrick didn’t respond. Had he known
sooner, his life might have been different…but would it have
been
better
? He would forever
be neither white nor Cherokee. It was almost worse to know for
certain that he carried Indian blood. He thought of Austen and
Josie and their life together. Being a half-breed meant that kind
of happiness could never be his. Not that he cared, he told
himself. But still, his thoughts returned to Leah, and the way
she’d looked at him from across the dinner table earlier. Then, how
her stare had held his when he’d talked about joining up with
Danby’s men. The coldness in her voice, where there had been warmth
before.

“
I’m offering Fiona a chance at a new
life, Derrick,” Ridge said quietly. He reached for the shirt that
lay at the foot of the bed, pulling it on. “I want her to stay here
with me. And I want your support in that.”

Derrick’s head came up. “Surely, at this
point, you know she does whatever she wants.”

“
Except in the matter of protecting
her children. Then, she does what she must for you…for your
sister…with no thought to herself. I’m hoping she’ll stay. I’ve
always loved her, too, you know.” He smiled. “I’m ready to admit
that to the world…to let go of any self-pride, and put only my love
for her to the center of my existence, no matter the
circumstances.” He paused, then said, “How I wish I could have done
so many, many years ago.”

“
You had a family –a wife. That would
have been impossible.”

“
Nothing is impossible, son, if you
want it badly enough. But, as I say, it takes a man to see that it
all comes right –to restore balance to his own existence, and to
his loved ones. Now that your mother has no responsibilities for
her family, I hope she’ll see the time has come to fulfill her own
happiness.”

His father had said some things that had
opened his eyes, but all this talk of emotions and the impending
changes made him restless. He wanted nothing more than to be
outside under the stars. The river called to him. It was the best
place to think. “I…need to go,” he said after a moment.

His father stood slowly, giving him a long
stare. “It is a lot to take in all at once.” He changed the subject
abruptly. “You have met Josie’s cousin, Leah?”

Derrick smiled. “At dinner.”

His father quirked a brow at his tone.

Derrick gave a short laugh. “Oh, no. Not
interested. That is one strong-willed female.”

Ridge shrugged. “It is just as well.”

“
Why do you say that?”

“
Love is too…complicated…for some to
understand or embrace. Leah has been hurt badly.”

Derrick braced a hand on the wall as his
father sat once more on the edge of the bed, reaching for one of
his moccasins.

“
I imagine we’ve all suffered our
losses at some point,” Derrick said. “You and Ma –”

“
No, this is different. Be kind to
her, son.” There was a stern tone in Ridge’s voice. A
warning.

Derrick’s quick glance met his father’s
steady gaze. “Why? What are you getting at?”

“
The men you chased…one of them took
advantage of Leah. Her family has not stood by her. Her father,
David, I have never liked. Now, even less.”

Derrick pushed away from the support
of the wall, standing straight. No wonder he’d detected something
more in her questioning at the dinner table. “
Raped
her? But, how did he get close …I mean
–”

Ridge slipped on his other moccasin and tied
it before he answered. “She and her younger sister were gathering
berries by where the river grows wider. Near the base of the San
Bois foothills.”

Derrick knew the place. No more than an
hour’s ride from here, and no more than a full day’s journey from
Demon’s Drop where the Danby gang –most recently led by Clark Davis
–stayed in hiding year-round.

“
How did she know it was one of
Danby’s men? Danby’s dead now –”

“
Yes, but the ones who followed him
still ride this land to commit their acts of evil. They were led by
another, one with flame-colored hair.”

“
Clark Davis,” Derrick said. “Dead
now, as well.”

Ridge nodded slowly. “There will be another.
And another. No matter how many of them you kill, there will always
be another.”

Derrick had to agree. There would
never be an end to evil –but hadn’t he once been a part of it
himself? As much as he’d like to deny it, war brought the evil –as
well as the good –out in men.
Sure seemed
like he’d seen a lot more of the evil than the good.

“
If only we could have gotten to Davis
a few months earlier,” Derrick mused quietly. “His death didn’t
come soon enough to help Leah.”

Ridge rose from the bed. “No. But they will
not defile another.”

“
They?”

“
There were two of them. The one with
red hair and one with brown.”

Proof enough that it had
been Davis
himself
. It could
only be, with that red hair of his. But the other could’ve been any
number of the gang members.

Ridge stepped toward Derrick solemnly.
“Leah’s sister, Rachel, gave her life that day; but she also took
that of her attacker. We know the other man, the red-haired man,
was killed at Demon’s Drop.” His gaze bore steadily into
Derrick’s.

“
My friend killed him,” Derrick said,
remembering the bloody scalp in Charley’s hand that day.

Ridge’s gaze bore steadily into Derrick’s.
“Your friend was right to kill Clark Davis, son. He was pure evil.
Now, you should let Leah know she has nothing more to fear. You
were there. You saw it. It will help her to know.”

Derrick let go a low curse. He could’ve
saved Leah’s virtue and possibly Rachel’s life if the showdown at
Demon’s Drop had only come about a little earlier. Though he’d only
met Leah this evening, there seemed to be a kind of steel in her
that, he thought, would be accepting of what had happened to her.
But she would never forget it.

They were alike in that respect. He’d
learned many lessons the hard way –lessons he would never put
completely behind him.

His face warmed at the thought of Leah’s
questions, his answers –and what the truth was that they’d both
danced around across the table from one another.

“
Things have a way of resolving
themselves,” Ridge said, as Derrick moved toward the
door.

“
Yeah.” Derrick gave a grim sigh. “And
sometimes, they need a little push.”

***

Derrick had said his goodbyes and headed
back outside into the darkness. The full moon lit the dirt street.
Light spilled out of the dwellings and businesses along the way
back to Austen’s house.

Ahead of him, Derrick caught a flash
of a bright yellow dress, the same color Leah had worn.
Was it her?
They were both close
enough to Austen’s home that it was possible. He followed the
female, and once in the bright light of the moon he could see it
was, indeed, Leah.

He didn’t call out to her. She was headed
for the rushing river behind the rows of homes. Her long strides
were steady and certain. He waited at the corner of one of the
houses, watching as she slipped into the tree line with a furtive
backward glance.

After a moment, he followed.

Though she moved quietly, he was able
to spot her easily, a few yards in the distance. As she veered to
the left, he knew where she was headed. The same place Austen had
found
him
earlier that
evening. But why?

As Leah neared the outcropping of stone, her
steps slowed.

Derrick stopped, waiting to see what she
would do. She walked out onto the rock shelf and stood staring down
into the rushing water.

As she turned, her body was outlined in the
moonlight, and Derrick could clearly see what she’d hidden well at
the dinner table beneath her shawl.

She was pregnant.

She watched the churning current,
mesmerized for a moment, and Derrick read her thoughts. Desperation
was written across her lovely features.
She was about to do the unthinkable.
It seared
him to think of the beautiful fire in her eyes guttering out
forever –it seared him even more to think of having that on his
conscience. He stepped out from the shadows, coming toward her at a
leisurely pace.

Now, he understood the turn of the dinner
conversation. Had he known her circumstances, perhaps he’d have
been more circumspect in his comments.

Leah glanced up as he came closer. “What are
you doing here, Mr. McCain?” She lifted her head, and Derrick could
see the way she tried to push the dread of what she was about to do
out of her expression. Her voice was low and almost sultry, with a
forced hint of disdain.

Derrick smiled. “Carson and I used to play
down here every chance we got.” He stepped up onto the outcropping
of rock, and Leah moved away a step, just out of his reach.

He looked around, judging which way she’d
jump, if she still was determined. The look in her eyes said she
was.

“
Current’s vicious tonight,” Derrick
said, nodding at the water below. “Drowning wouldn’t be the way I’d
choose to go. I thought you were stronger than this.”

Leah gave him a long stare. “You’ve never
been in my situation, Mr. McCain, and you never will be. Sometimes,
there’s …simply no choice.”

Derrick lowered himself to sit on the
rock, his feet hanging over the edge well above the rushing water.
“I understand about having no choice, Leah. Don’t ever think
otherwise. Like I said earlier, there’s no fighting a war without
doing some things you have no say in. I never set out thinking of
myself as –a
murderer
–but,
I’ve killed.”

“
That’s different. If you hadn’t, your
enemy would have slain you. War is ‘kill or be killed.’”

“
You’re letting him take your life
from beyond the grave.” His voice was low, his gaze intent upon
her. He put a hand up to her, looking at her with expectation,
until finally, she took it and sat beside him on the
rock.

“
Who?” She stared straight ahead, into
the moon-dappled darkness.

“
Clark Davis,” Derrick said quietly.
“The man who raped you.”

She whirled quickly to face him, but the
anger was only a cover for the painful humiliation. “I should slap
your face for daring to –”

“
To speak the truth?” Derrick asked
softly. “I’m done with secrets. I’ve had enough of them to last me
a lifetime.”

She took a slow, deep breath. “I am so
ashamed,” she whispered. The despair in her tone spoke to him. He’d
been that low before. The kinship between them was instantaneous,
though the reasons for their feelings had nothing to do with each
other. Confusion threaded through her voice, as well –another
emotion that Derrick had known plenty of throughout his life. Leah
knew this was not the answer…but what else
was
there for her?

Derrick reached out to cup her cheek in his
palm. “You have no reason. This was not your fault.”

When she looked up at him, her eyes
glimmered with unshed tears of gratitude. “Thank you for –for
saying that, but it’s not how others see it.”

“
I don’t understand,” Derrick said. “I
was just reminded, earlier tonight –as though I needed to be –that
Cherokees are matrilineal. So your child would be considered
Cherokee no matter who the father was, what matters is the
mother.”

“
There are many,” she said, “who
believe there has been too much mixing with whites, that they are
taking us over… and the white outlaws who come here seeking refuge
from the federal lawmen are the worst. Many who would say the
bastard child of one of them should not be allowed to come into our
nation, and would condemn
me
for it. So much is changing with our people.”

Derrick put his arm around her and after a
moment, she leaned against him. Her slender shoulder relaxed into
him, her fingers tightening around his hand.

“
He’s dead, Leah. He’ll never harm you
again. But you can’t let him win. If you jump, it’s the same as if
he killed you the day he –he took advantage –”

“
Who killed him?” she asked.
“You?”

Derrick smiled at her eager questions. “No.
Not me. A good friend of mine, Charley Blackfeather. And he didn’t
go easy, Leah.”

“
What happened? All of it –” she added
quickly. “I want to know.”

When Derrick had told her the entire story
of Kathleen’s kidnapping, his desperate attempt to free her, and of
how Charley and some of the other men of Wolf Creek had come to his
aid, Leah sat silent.

“
Did I put you to sleep?”

She shook her head against him, giving a
light chuckle. “No. It has been a very long time since I’ve been
able to converse with anyone about this. Josie is kind, but of
course…she can’t understand.” She sighed. “I’ve wished him dead so
often. Thought of my sister –and her success in killing her
attacker. Why couldn’t I have been able to do the same?” She fell
silent a moment before she went on. “Thank you for telling me,
Derrick. Maybe there will be no more nightmares now.” She sat up
straight, looking into his eyes. “Your injuries –you
recovered?”

“
Sure.”