Lucinda (15 page)

“I forgot all about your bottom, Mrs. Zabarski,” he admitted.  “Tell you what… I’ll take a basket and go and bring supper home and you can be comfortable right here.  And before I leave, I am going to do what I should have done last night.  Go on in the bedroom, and bare your pretty butt for me, and lie on the bed.  I’ll do my best to take away some of that pain.”  He saw her blush.  “You already applied some ointment?” he asked knowingly, and wasn’t a bit surprised when she nodded guiltily.

“I was too harsh with you, honey.  I don’t fault you this one time for soothing yourself.  Now go lie down and I’ll apply some more ointment and see if we can’t have you feeling much better by tomorrow.”

Lucinda didn’t argue with her husband.  She much preferred this loving, caring Henry over the man who was so angry with her last evening.  It didn’t take her long to remove her clothing and she felt no embarrassment when Henry returned.  He was very proper when treating her, and Lucy deliberately wiggled her backside, tempting him to make love to her.

Henry didn’t miss the wiggle and gave her a playful little pat.  “Are you sure, Mrs. Zabarski?”

She rolled over to face him.  “Oh yes, Henry.  I need to be loved and I’m so sorry I was pouting last night and denied us both the comforting we needed.  I’d like to make it up to you now.”  She opened her arms to him and Henry didn’t need any more urging.  He was careful of her sore bottom, but he loved her so thoroughly that she felt like a limp noodle when he was finished.  Henry put a crocheted throw over her and quietly left the room after dressing once again.  When he returned they had a picnic right on their bed and Henry decided it was wonderful to be in his wife’s good graces once again.

* * *

Calvin Jacobs sent for his lawyer and his wife, in that order.  The first he expected to get him off and sue the Sheriff and the town for false arrest.  The second would testify for him as to their daughter’s age.  And, he would have the pleasure of seeing Henry Zabarski arrested for rape and assault.  When the day of his impending trial drew closer and closer with no sign of either his lawyer or wife, Calvin insisted the trial be post-poned.  Mac said that wasn’t possible since the Judge only came through town once every ninety days.  He offered to pay bail, but Mac refused to set bail telling him that kidnapping was a capital offense.  Calvin couldn’t wait to see the man humiliated.

When the day of Calvin’s trial dawned, Lucinda calmly fixed breakfast for her husband like she normally did.  She did not look forward to seeing her father, but it was time to take a stand against his tyranny.  As she and Henry walked to the schoolhouse, which was used as a courtroom when the Judge was in town, the stage pulled into town.  They didn’t stop to see who was arriving in town.  It was Mac’s job to meet the Judge and escort him to the makeshift courthouse and fill him in on the cases he was to try.  As witnesses, it was their duty to be there promptly at nine o’clock and be ready when the Judge decided to hold court.  It was going to be a long day.

Calvin was frantic, but rather than be thankful his lawyer and Mildred arrived, he berated them both for taking so long to get there.  He barked orders at his lawyer and told Mildred what he expected her to say.  Sheriff Mac came for them and escorted them to the courthouse.  Theirs was the first case for the day since it was expected to take the longest.   Judge Dickerson wasn’t a man to waste time.  The jury was quickly selected and he listened as Sheriff Mac, Doc Z, and Lucinda gave testimony.  The livery owner testified, too.  Calvin was furious when his lawyer did nothing.

Finally, it was the defense’s turn to present their case and Lucinda was surprised when her mother took the witness stand.  She listened as the Bailiff, namely Sheriff Mac, swore her in and watched as Mildred took her seat.  The poor woman looked flustered and uncomfortable, but the defense council commanded her attention.

“Your name again, ma’am, just in case the jury didn’t hear…”

“Mrs. Calvin Jacobs.”

“Are you related to the defendant?”

“Yes.  He is my husband.”

“And you are Lucinda Jacobs’ mother?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Very well, you should be able to put an end to this whole misunderstanding by answering the next question.”  The lawyer smiled triumphantly.  “How old is your minor daughter, Mrs. Jacobs?”

“Lucinda is not a minor.  She is of legal age.  She turned twenty-one months ago, long before she left to come out here.”  The courtroom gasped.

Calvin Jacobs jumped to his feet, screaming, “You lying bitch!  You’re in this with her!”

“I merely told the truth, as I promised to do.  I do not place my hand on the Holy Bible and lie for anyone, even my husband,” Mildred stated firmly.

“It is a lie!  Lucinda is only eighteen!” he screamed at the Judge.

“Sit down, Mr. Jacobs.”

“I will not!  This whole farce was planned by that bastard Lucinda is living illegally with.”

“Your Honor, I was a witness to the wedding.  Doc Z and Lucy are married proper,” Mac stated.

The Judge banged his gavel and called the room to order once again.  “I don’t know how they do things in the East, but I won’t put up with your client’s outbursts, Counselor.  Instruct him to shut the hell up or I’ll find him guilty on principle.”  He then turned to Mrs. Jacobs and said kindly, “Ma’am, I have learned over the years that Mothers are much more reliable when it comes to knowing their children’s ages and birth dates.  What year was your daughter born?”  Mildred answered promptly and without hesitation.  The Judge used pencil and paper to do some figuring, and then nodded.  “That makes Mrs. Zabarski of legal age, Mr. Jacobs.”  He looked at the Jury and said, “Do you need to deliberate this, or are you of one accord?”

After a few seconds of whispering and nodding, one man stood and said, “We find the defendant guilty, Your Honor.”

“Yes, I thought so.  Can’t see any sense in putting this off.  The defendant will rise.”

The attorney pulled Calvin Jacobs to his feet.  “Calvin Jacobs, you have been found guilty of kidnapping.  I can’t imagine a father arranging to have two men he doesn’t even know kidnap his daughter, a daughter who is of legal age and happily married to a good man.  You give fathers everywhere a bad name, and I see no reason to have mercy on you as you’ve shown no remorse whatsoever.  According to the laws of this land, you are hereby sentenced to hang by the neck until dead.  Sentence will be carried out one week from today at high noon.  May God have mercy on your soul.”  He banged the gavel and got to his feet.

“Lucinda, do something!  He is your father!” Mildred cried out.

“I’m sorry, Mother.  He has never been a father to me, and I have no sympathy for him.  He should have stayed in Boston and left me alone.”  She turned and left the courtroom, Henry right beside her.  She was numb from hearing the sentence.  She’d expected that somehow Calvin would get off with a tap on the wrist.

“This is all your fault, Mildred.  You set me up!” Calvin’s face was mottled with anger.  He started to say something else, but suddenly pitched forward.

“Someone call the Doc back in here,” the Judge ordered.

Henry hurried into the courtroom, but frowned when he saw who was lying on the floor.  “Please, young man!” Mildred begged.

Henry couldn’t refuse her and knelt beside Jacob’s motionless body.   After a few seconds he said, “He’s dead.”

“Noooo!” Mildred wailed in genuine distress.  Lucinda came forward and put her arm around her Mother.  It occurred to her that Mildred was probably the only person on the face of the earth who would grieve for Calvin Jacobs.  Still, as his daughter, she was relieved he didn’t hang.

* * *

A few weeks later Mildred went back to Boston.  Lucinda tried to get her to stay in Snow Ball, but Mildred insisted her life was in Boston.  Lucy didn’t argue.  She knew that Mildred blamed her for Calvin’s death.  She also knew that she would tell her friends nothing about the trial.  Lucinda would be as dead to her as her son and husband.

“Are you all right, honey?” Henry asked as the stage pulled out of town.

“Yes.  I feel sorry for her, Henry.  Father never loved her, and there has to be a part of her that realizes that.  To be honest, I’m still surprised she told the truth on the witness stand.  When she was called as a witness, I fully expected her to say whatever Father told her to say.”

“She couldn’t do that after placing her hand on the Bible,” Henry said gently.

“If Father would have had enough time to fill her head with lies about you, she would have perjured herself to protect me.  Fortunately, his attorney was involved in another trial and they didn’t leave Boston until the last possible moment.”

“I wouldn’t have let him take you away, Lucy,” Henry told her, his blue eyes full of love for his pretty little wife.

“I wouldn’t have gone.  Father couldn’t have kept me with him!”  She was positive of that.

“Now, I do believe that,” Henry replied with a grin.

Things seemed to settle into a calm routine, and Henry couldn’t say that he was sorry.  He was content and Lucy seemed to be happy and content, too.  Of course, he should have realized that with such a feisty woman for his wife things would never be dull for more than a few weeks at the most before she managed to get herself into mischief.  And that mischief usually occurred when he was out of town delivering another baby.

Mac was enjoying a cup of fresh coffee in his office when he heard footsteps running.  He got to his feet as Gracie came bursting through the door.  “You need to come right away, Mac.  Mrs. Z is in trouble at the saloon.”

Mac cursed under his breath, but grabbed his hat, checked his gun and went running.  Why in hell did the Doc always have to be out of town when Lucy got into trouble?  He stepped through the swinging doors and took in the situation at once.  He took out his gun and fired it into the air.  While that might work with brawling men, Mac learned it didn’t seem to have the same effect on two women determined to pull out each other’s hair.  Both Lucy and the well-built redhead ignored him and continued to fight with each other.  He finally grabbed up a pitcher of beer and dumped it all over them.  That worked!

“Mac!” Lucy sputtered angrily.

“What is this all about, young lady?” he demanded as he reached down to grab each of them by an arm and pull them to their feet.

“She hurt Dove,” the redhead accused.  “I’m gonna carve her in pieces.”

“Dove was already hurt, Mac.  Gracie came to get me because he passed out cold and hit his head.  There’s nothing I can do.”

“You done killed him!”  The other woman tried to come at her again and Mac gave her a firm shake.

“Settle down, Red.  Gracie, what happened here?” he asked.

“It’s like Mrs. Z said, Mac.  Dove came in and ordered a beer, and all of a sudden he keeled over and hit his head on the rail when he went down.  We tried to revive him, but when he didn’t come to, I ran for Doc Z.  Mrs. Z said he was out of town deliverin’ another baby, so she came to see if she could help.  Mrs. Z didn’t do nothin’ wrong.  This here woman came in, took one look at Dove on the floor and Mrs. Z tryin’ to help, and she went for her gun.  Mrs. Z kicked it out of her hand, and then they went to fightin’.”

“Is this man still alive, Lucy?” Mac asked, already positive he knew the answer.  The man was turning blue.

Lucy checked for a pulse and listened to his chest.  She shook her head, and then looked at the redhead, “I’m sorry, Miss, but he’s gone.”

“Nooooo!” the redhead wailed.  “Dove, don’t you leave me, too!” she cried out.

“Lucy, there isn’t anything else you can do here.  You’d best get on home and figure out how you’re goin’ to talk Doc Z out of takin’ his belt to your backside when he gets home and hears about this.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, Mac!” Lucy indignantly defended herself.

“I’m not your man, so save all the excuses for Doc Z,” Mac ordered.  “If you were mine you wouldn’t sit for a week.”

“You always say that!” Lucy angrily accused and without giving it conscious thought, she drew back her foot and kicked Mac on the shin before taking off on a dead run for home.

Mac howled in pain and hopped on one foot while he held his injured leg.  Gracie laughed and said, “I don’t reckon you should go to Doc Z’s office and ask for help, Mac.  Mrs. Z might kick the other leg!”  People chortled but Mac silenced them with a glare.

He pulled himself together and stepped forward to pull the redhead to her feet.  She couldn’t seem to stop crying and he did the only thing he knew to do, and that was to put his arms around her and offer comfort.

* * *

Lucinda was furious, and after she took a bath and washed the beer out of her hair, and put on clean clothing, she put all that furious energy into scrubbing the floor in the infirmary and waiting room.  Sheriff Mac Forrester really aggravated her at times.  What he needed was a woman of his own to worry over and maybe then he would stop messing into her business.  She didn’t go into the saloon for nefarious or immoral purposes; she went because a man was injured and needed help.  No one would think it remiss if Henry went to help, but just because she was born a female, it was wrong for her to breathe without a man’s blessing.  It made her angry, and if Henry objected, then he was going to get a piece of her mind!  Her temper lasted long enough for her to scrub the floor in the kitchen, too.

She put on a pot of vegetable soup for dinner and had just set it to simmer when she heard Henry come in through the office door.  She went to greet him and see how the birthing went.  From the expression in his blue eyes she gathered that it didn’t go well and she hurried forward to comfort him.  When he lost a newborn, or the mother, it caused him great pain.  “What happened, Henry?” she asked quietly.

He reached out and took her arm and led her through the infirmary and into their living quarters.  He didn’t stop until they were in the bedroom, and then his hands went to his belt buckle.

“Henry, no!”  She gasped in outrage and backed away from him.  “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but you should at least hear me out before you go crazy!”