The stage pushed on and arrived in Blantonville three days later. Nothing else of much interest happened after the robbery attempt. Susan kept playing Garret and Lance off against each other, making sure Kendrick saw and heard as much of it as possible. But even though there was a lot of flirting and sporting, neither Garret nor Lance got her alone enough again for even a kiss. Susan was peeved a bit that Kendrick hadn’t changed his demeanor towards her any—or anybody else, for that matter. He was always nice—but distant. And if it bothered him that Susan held hands with the other two men—which she always did when they were in the coach, partly to irritate Kendrick and partly because it pleased her—it never showed.
Everyone had come to know each other so well and shared so many intriguing experiences, that the departure was a little sad. But it all might not be final. The judge was planning on retiring in Blantonville, and it looked more and more like he might have a permanent companion—Polly—but that decision hadn’t been finalized yet. Polly had come to visit her sister with intentions of going back east after a few weeks, but that could change. Lance was searching for work, and he might remain in the area. Susan wanted to see her uncle’s ranch—her ranch now—to decide whether she wanted to stay and run it, or just sell out and go back to Alabama. Garret might not be in Blantonville for long. He was investigating railroad investments, but he would be around at least for a while. The two stagecoach men, Josh and Lem, would be leaving for sure.
That left me. And I wasn’t sure how long I would be in Blantonville. But I knew why I was there.
Polly’s sister had met her at the stagecoach station, of course, and her house was big enough that they invited the judge to stay with them. He would go real estate hunting post haste. Everybody else found lodging at the hotel—which was remodeling and expanding. It tickled Susan to no end that she had room 5—and Garret had 4 and Lance 6. Surrounding me again…Kendrick was in 8, so he was a few doors down the hall.
It was nearing mid-December, so it was cold, but dry at the moment. Blantonville, a town of about 2,000, was in a big valley, but mountains could be seen in the distance, both north and south. The town was growing; besides the hotel, there was a lot of building going on, and that was encouraging, especially to Susan. A growing town with a railroad possibly coming in made for good economic prospects.
“You’re going to need some ranch hands, aren’t you?” Lance asked her at dinner—he, Susan, Garret, and Kendrick were eating supper in the hotel restaurant the night of our arrival.
He had asked her that before—about 10 times—and she gave him the same answer. “I don’t know yet, Lance. Like I told you, I’m not even sure I’m going to keep the land. I don’t know where it is, I don’t know…anything about it. But if I need some workers, I’ll keep you in mind.” She looked at Kendrick. “What about you? Would you be interested in working as a cow hand? Have you done it before?”
He nodded and shrugged. “Yes, I’ve worked with cattle, but I don’t know if I want a permanent job here.”
“You never have told us what you came up here for. Why you were on that stage.”
“No, I guess I didn’t.”
Susan waited, but it was obvious that was all the answer she was going to get. That absolutely infuriated her about him, made her feel like he was getting the better of her, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
Some of the answers to her questions about the ranch were answered before supper was over. A couple of men in dusty, worn cowboy clothes came into the restaurant, looking around. Even though their clothes had obviously seen better, cleaner days, they looked like decent chaps. One of them noticed Susan, pointed, and they both walked over.
A big man did the talking. He was every bit of 6’3” and 225 pounds. A weathered face made it a little difficult to judge his age, but the graying of his hair and the paunch of his stomach indicated probably late-40s at least. He had thick eyebrows, and dark blue eyes, a bulbous nose that might have been broken a couple of times, but a firm jaw and big, strong hands. His companion was smaller, younger, lighter, and leaner, but also very capable looking. They had “cowboy” written all over them, down to their bow legs.
“Miss Bedford?” The big fellow spoke.
Susan looked at him. “Yes?”
“My name is Dale Metcalf and this here is Rocky Devine. I’m the foreman of the Rocking BL, and Rocky’s the segundo.” Second in command. “We understand that you came out to look over your Uncle Bob’s ranch.”
Susan brightened and stood up, shaking hands with both men. “Oh, yes. It’s nice to meet you. I guess you got my wire that I was coming.”
“Yes’m. About six weeks ago. Wasn’t sure when you’d arrive, so we been checkin’ the stage pretty regular. Found out you got in today.”
Susan introduced the rest of her party and invited Dale and Rocky to be seated. Kendrick had finished eating, so he excused himself. “This is none of my affair,” he said, “and you folks need to get acquainted, so I’ll say adieu. Nice to meet you fellows.”
“Same here, Mr. Kendrick,” Dale said and they shook. He had a strong, firm handshake. Rocky as well.
Before he left, Susan said to Kendrick, “Please keep in touch, Mr. Kendrick. I…might need some…workers…if I stay.” Her voice trailed off at the end. I hope he’s not jealous…
He looked at her, and gave her a soft smile. Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds. “Thanks. I’ll keep it mind.” Then, he nodded at Garret and Lance and left. Susan watched him for a few moments…He’s going to leave town, I know he is…and I don’t even know WHO he is…
I wasn’t jealous, and I didn’t want a cowboy job. I don’t like flirtatious women. I didn’t think I’d be in the area very long, anyway.
But I glanced back right before I left the restaurant and saw Susan looking at me. Our eyes met and held for a couple of seconds again…I turned and left, a little irritated.
I SAID, I don’t like flirtatious women….and I certainly didn’t want to work for one.
I stopped in mid-stride. No, I don’t want to work for her…Then, irritated again, I shook my head and walked on…
Lance and Garret were a little more reluctant to go, but thought that propriety dictated that they should. But Lance couldn’t help but ask Dale, “Do you reckon you’re going to take on any more hands? I’m looking for work.” Then he glanced quickly at Susan. “I mean, I understand Su—uh, Miss Bedford would have the final say.”
Dale scratched his chin. “Don’t rightly know yet. It is gonna depend on what Miss Bedford wants to do.”
“Ok.” He smiled at Susan. “I’ll be seeing you.” Then he gave her his biggest, most irresistible grin. “Soon and up close, I hope.” He didn’t care what he said in front of anybody.
Susan blushed a bit at that, but said good-bye. Garret leaned down and pecked her cheek and said he hoped he would see her again as well.
“We probably will,” she replied.
Dale watched the two men leave, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You rode in with them fellers?”
“Yes. All the way from Riverton. Why?”
He turned his gaze back to her and frowned. “Seem to be quite fond of you.”
Susan shrugged. “I guess so.” She wasn’t sure it was any of Dale’s business, but then, she wasn’t sure that that was the sum total of his concern. I’m sure he wants to have confidence in his new boss…if that’s what I turn out to be. I need to be careful. But she set it aside and changed the subject. “Tell me about the ranch.”
So Dale gave her a quick rundown. 55,000 acres, fenced, 10 miles north of town. Ran several thousand cows, he didn’t even know how many at the moment, everything had been pretty much in turmoil since Susan’s Uncle Bob had died about three months previous.
“You probably know that your aunt Lilly passed on about two years ago, and Bob never was the same afterwards. They never had no children, so I guess you’re the heir. We understand that you might want to sell out since your home is back east. Or if you do stay, you might want to bring your own people in to run it. That’s the way these things go and me and the boys all unnerstand that.”
“How many ‘’boys’ work the ranch?”
“There’s 15 of us at the moment, includin’ me and Rocky.”
“Well,” Susan said, “Let’s get a few things straight right off. I don’t know if I’m going to sell or stay. I haven’t decided yet. If I do decide to stay, I will certainly want to keep all the hired hands on, at least for a while. I know nothing about running a ranch, Dale, so I’m going to need all the help you can give me…….”
That conversation went on for a couple more hours. It was agreed that they would go out to the ranch the next day for Susan’s first glimpse at it. She liked both Dale and Rocky. They seemed open, honest, good men. They inspired confidence, and were a definite plus if her decision was to stay. She was eager to see the Rocking BL, as Uncle Bob had named it. For Bob and Lilly, she assumed.
The next few days for her were a whirlwind. She loved the ranch, and even though it was cold and there were some snow flurries, she loved the wide open spaces. The ranch house was beautiful. A two-story log structure, well kept and preserved. Clean, neat, and tidy. A nice fireplace in the living room with a huge grizzly bear rug lying in front of it. Black leather furniture, book shelves, a strong Indian flavor to the decorating. It was lovely.
Dale took her through the financial books. Susan was a little more comfortable with that, having helped with accounting at the law firm she had worked at in Alabama. From what she could tell, everything was in order. “Might be a good idée to have them audited anyway, Miss Bedford. I know Bob was meticulous with finances, but those last two years after Lilly died…” He shook his head sadly. “He just wasn’t the same.”
“Ok, I’ll have that done. Have you had any offers for the ranch?”
Dale hesitated. “Yeah, one. Trot Wise on the T-Bar-M just west of here said he’d give $75,000 for it. I told him I’d pass the offer on to you, but to get lost just the same.”
Susan was a little shocked. $75,000 sounded like a very good offer to her. She was expecting maybe $50,000 tops. “That’s not a good offer?” she asked him.
He grunted a laugh. “Miss Bedford, this ranch is worth—land, cattle, house, buildings, fencing, water and all not a penny less than $250,000. If you want to sell, ask for $500,000. If the railroad comes in as expected, you’ll probably get it.”
Susan swallowed. She loved the ranch, that’s for sure. But $500,000…she never dreamed of having that kind of money. I could retire right now…London…Paris…Rome…Vienna… “Thank you, Dale, I’ll have everything looked at and try to come to a decision whether to keep or sell very shortly….”
She had been so busy the first week she was there that socializing had been totally out of the question. Lance and Garret had both said they would come calling, but they hadn’t done so yet. She had seen them a couple of times since she arrived, but only for a brief moment in town. They had been busy—as she had—so it wasn’t a matter of much concern, but she did fleetingly wonder if it had been nothing more than a playful game to them—and to her—just for the duration of the stage trip. What would she do if either, or both, wanted to get intimate again? She didn’t know. It had been a flirtatious game for her, but she did like both men. But it wasn’t something she had a lot of time to think about at the moment.
And Kendrick? Susan never saw him and almost never thought of him.
Almost. Somewhat sardonically, she thought, I’ll bet he never gets intimate with anything but his gun…She smiled. Am I jealous of his gun?…
I had bought a horse, a good one, the best I could find. And I knew horses. I didn’t have just a whole lot of money left, but I could make do for a little longer. I spent the first week to ten days just getting oriented with the territory. Lots of riding around and getting used to the horse and visa versa. He was a prince and I was going to keep him if I had to sweep floors at the general store to do it.
But I hadn’t come to Blantonville to sweep floors.
Then things turned a little sour for Susan. To say the least.
After having been in Blantonville for about ten days, she still hadn’t quite made up her mind whether to stay or sell. She had lived back east all her life, so this would have been a radical, a very radical, change for her, and she didn’t want to make a decision like that on the spur of the moment. But she loved the ranch, she liked Blantonville and the people she was meeting, and in spite of the cold—something she wasn’t used to in the South—she loved the area. Wide open spaces. She felt like she had some room, and from her ranch house, she could see tall, pine covered mountains in the distance. It was beautiful.
But…she had a life back in Alabama that was hard to leave. It had been her home all her life. Even though she had no family left there, she did have friends, good friends, life long friends. How could she leave there? Plus, $500,000 for the ranch…
$500,000…London…Paris…Rome…Vienna…
Kendrick…
She almost busted a gasket at that last thought. You are NOT going to do that to me again, mister!…
Well, to stay or to go back home wasn’t an easy decision by any means.
But she was going to remain in Blantonville a little longer, at least until the new year, and see how the area “grew” on her. If it did. If not, she’d go back home and have no regrets. She hoped.
She needed some money and went into the Blantonville bank early one afternoon to ask for a wire transfer of funds from her bank in Alabama. It might take a day or two, but she could make do till then. Just as she had finished making the appropriate arrangements with the bank manager and was fixing to leave, four masked men burst into the building. They were holding guns and their intent was obvious.
But in case somebody missed the point, one of them said, “Nobody move. We’d just like to borrow a little money….” One of them laughed. “Borrowing money” was obviously not what they had in mind.
Not another one, Susan thought, meaning a hold-up. And she shrunk back against a wall, like everybody else was trying to do.
One of the men went up to a teller cage with a bag. “All right, all the money in here. Safe, too. Snap to it.” He tossed another bag and motioned with his gun to a second teller. “You help. We start shooting in three minutes, so hurry it up if you don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
The other three robbers were standing at the door, waving their guns, keeping everyone covered. Besides the bank employees, there were five other people in the bank, including Susan. She could here someone whimpering—a teen-aged boy who had slid down to the floor against the opposite wall, but the rest of the customers stood rock still. Or were perhaps trembling. And they certainly had frightened expressions on their faces.
One of the gunman was taking an especial interest in Susan. “Well, well, ain’t she a purty one.” Susan closed her eyes and grimaced. Oh, no, please no, leave me alone…But he walked over to her. He had his bandana pulled up almost to his eyes, but she could tell that he was younger, dark blond curls ringling out from under a flat-crowned black hat. She had to admit that his eyes were a startlingly lovely shade of blue. I’ll bet he’s handsome…then she berated herself for having that kind of thought.
She could also tell that he was grinning under his mask. “Would you like to go with us, honey? We’ll treat you right nice.”
She gave him an annoyed, disgusted look. “I wouldn’t go to a funeral with you. Unless maybe it WAS yours.”
All that did was make him laugh. He looked over his shoulder at the man collecting the money. “Hey, boss, can we take this pretty filly with us? She could entertain us for sure.”
The bank manager was standing behind the railing which led to his office, just a few feet away. He spoke up and his voice was strong. “Kidnapping is as bad an offense as bank robbery, mister, and you ought to know that out here in the west, kidnapping a woman is even worse. And rape will get you hanged.”
“Aw, shut up, you old goat,” the young outlaw said. “You and your stupid laws don’t frighten us none.” Then back to the gang leader. “What’cha say, boss? Take her or not?”
The “boss” had finished collecting the money and now had two full sacks in his hand. He came over and looked at Susan. Taller, older, dark brown eyes which said loud and clear that this was a very dangerous man. He glanced up and down at her, and nodded.
“Yes. She’ll be a hostage and protection.” He glanced at the bank manager. “You tell the sheriff that if he comes after us with a posse that all he’ll find is this young lady on the side of the road dead. You got that?”
There was a general gasp in the room, and Susan’s heart fell into her stomach. “That would be a murder rap, mister,” the bank manager said fiercely.
“She wouldn’t be the first I’ve killed, fatso. In fact…” he turned and shot the bank manager in the chest. The blow of the bullet knocked the manager back against his office door. A surprised, then agonized expression, came over the face of the unfortunate man, and then his eyes rolled up in his head and then he slid down to the floor.
Susan gasped, horrified at the brutality of what she had just seen. “Oh, no,” she heard someone say. “He killed him.”
The man tossed the money sacks to the younger, blue-eyed outlaw, grabbed Susan’s arm and turned. He said to the other people in the bank, “You tell your sheriff that that’s what this lady will get unless he stays off our trail. She’ll get that after we finish with her.” Then to his partners he ordered, “Let’s go.”
Susan fought, struggled, and kicked, and made such a nuisance of herself that one of the other gang members had to help get her outside. There was a fifth outlaw on the sidewalk, keeping the horses. He didn’t have his face covered, but then he quickly pulled up his kerchief when the others came out. There was some general confusion in town, as people wondered what the shot they heard was all about. The gang leader unceremoniously dumped the struggling Susan across his horse in front of his saddle, mounted, and the robbers took off at a gallop. One of the patrons came out of the bank yelling, “Stop them! They robbed the bank and killed Mr. Skillet. Stop them!” Somebody pulled out a gun and was about to shoot, but was stopped when another man yelled to him, “Don’t shoot! You might hit the woman!”
And the outlaws disappeared around a corner and were out of town in less than 30 seconds.
Susan was infuriated, as well as being scared. And she was also extremely humiliated at lying in the position she was in, across the back of the horse’s neck. She kicked and screamed and tried to get up, but all it got her was a very, very hard swat on the rump and the warning, “If you don’t quit squirming, we’ll stop and have a party right now.” The smack on the backside was bad enough, but she probably would have kept fighting if not for the threat, a threat she knew the man would actuate. She sighed, closed her eyes, and clenched her fists in frustration. Tears welled up in her eyes. She knew what she was in for. Why did I ever leave Alabama for this savage place? But she quit struggling. Think, Susan, THINK…She tried to remain calm and figure a way out of the mess. Nothing immediately came to mind. Three more thoughts came into her head and gave her a fleeting amount of hope. The sheriff will surely form a posse and come after us…maybe Garret and Lance will come…And then, the one word thought that gave her more hope than anything….
Kendrick…
But will he come? Why should he? Why should he care? All I’ve ever done to him is flirt with other men…Susan wanted to scream at her own silly, childish behavior.
The horse continued to gallop. All Susan could do was watch the dirt road passing beneath her eyes….