Something Like Love

  “They went home,” Teresa said.

  Olivia wished the bounty hunters would do the same.

  The next day, news did arrive, but it wasn’t the news she’d been expecting. It came in the form of a letter from her mother.

  Dear Olivia,

  Disaster has struck. Your father discovered your letters hidden in my bureau and all perdition has broken loose. We will be leaving for Kansas today on the nine o’clock train. Accompanying us will be Horatio Butler. Your father and Mr. Butler are determined to see you married. Mr. Butler has obtained a writ of some sort that he boasts will force you to honor his suit. We are scheduled to arrive…

  Olivia looked at the date and felt sick to her stomach. They’d be in Henry Adams tomorrow! “Oh, no!”

  Chase was seated at his desk. “What’s wrong?”

  “My parents are coming!”

  The confusion on Chase’s face made her tell him the story.

  When she was done, he stared, amused. “You ran away from home?”

  She nodded and read the letter again, hoping the wording would change. It didn’t. “My lord. What am I going to do? With all my other worries, now this?”

  Marrying Horatio Butler was the last thing she wished to do. What she knew of him she couldn’t abide, and she was very concerned about this writ he’d supposedly armed himself with. Could it really compel her to marry him, and under what penalty should she refuse?

  Footsteps entering the office made them both look up. A big, dark-skinned man wearing a Stetson and sporting a topaz stud in his ear stood on the threshold.

  Chase grinned and jumped up. “You made it!” He shook the man’s hand. “Thanks for coming, Dix. Olivia. Marshal Dixon Wildhorse.”

  “Welcome, Marshal. I’m Mayor Olivia Sterling.”

  He touched his hat. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. You’re the mayor?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  He smiled. “Not many lady mayors outside Indian Territory.”

  Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by the entrance of three more men. Dix said to Chase, “These three were visiting and decided to come along.”

  The sight of one of the men seemed to catch Chase by surprise. “Jack? Jack Blake!”

  “Been a long time.” The two men embraced like old friends while Olivia looked on with a smile. Jackson Blake was as handsome and dark as Neil.

  Jackson said, “Don’t know if you know my little brother. Griffin Blake, meet Chase Jefferson.”

  “Only by his Wanted posters.”

  The redheaded Griffin Blake laughed and shook Chase’s extended hand.

  The last man walked over to Olivia and said, “These heathens have no manners. The lady is always supposed to be introduced first. I’m Vance Bigelow, ma’am. Folks call me the Preacher.” He was dressed all in black. He had brown skin and luminous green eyes.

  Olivia couldn’t hide her surprise. “I’m Mayor Olivia Sterling. Pleased to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” he returned politely, then he said, “you seemed surprised when I gave you my name. Has Neil been telling lies again?”

  Olivia couldn’t tell whether he was kidding with her or not. “I’ve never known Neil to be a liar.”

  Griffin Blake burst into laughter. Olivia turned to him in confusion.

  The Preacher explained. “Don’t pay him any mind. He’s known Neil a long time, and the Neil he used to know is probably not the one you know.”

  Griff took offense, “What do you mean, used to know? When they left Texas, they took a carpetbag of my gold.”

  Dix scolded, “I’m sure the lady doesn’t care about that.”

  Griff saw the stunned look on Olivia’s face and said, “You’re right. Sorry, ma’am.”

  Had Neil taken Blake’s gold? Olivia reminded herself that Neil was an outlaw, but surely he didn’t rob his friends, too?

  Dixon switched the conversation. “So tell me about these bounty hunters.”

  Chase and Olivia took turns telling parts of the story. When they were done, Griffin Blake asked, “And this Malloy is the man who shot Neil in the back?”

  “Correct,” Olivia said.

  “Let the bounty hunters have him, I say.”

  “I agree,” Olivia replied, “but Chase and I have a duty to protect the citizens, and he is one of them.”

  Dixon Wildhorse thought for a moment, then said, “How about I go down and give them a talking to?”

  “Fine, but answer me a question first. Are the Twins really marshals?”

  Dix nodded. “They were.”

  “Well, Shafts is here, along with Teresa July.”

  Dix raised an eyebrow. “They come to break Neil out?”

  “Yep, but he turned down the offer.”

  Griffin said, “What?! You sure we’re talking about Neil July?”

  Chase nodded. “He gave me and Miss Olivia his word, and he kept it.”

  “Well, I’ll be,” Dix responded.

  The men all studied Olivia. She held their gazes for as long as she could, but the speculation in their eyes made her change the subject. “Marshal Wildhorse, do you think the bounty hunters will leave?”

  “If they have any sense, they will,” Jackson Blake cracked.

  Griffin said, “After we talk to the bounty hunters, I want to see this new and improved Neil July. The Neil I know would never turn down an opportunity to escape the law, and you say Teresa’s here, too?”

  Olivia nodded.

  Dix said, “Been after her for months now. Don’t suppose I should arrest her if she’s on our side.”

  Preacher turned to the marshal and quoted quietly, “‘Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm.’ Psalm one hundred and five.”

  Olivia had no idea how to take a Bible-quoting bounty hunter.

  Griffin said, “That’s why we keep him around. Shall we go?”

  Neil was on Olivia’s back porch talking with Teresa and Shafts. Teresa was still upset about his refusal to hightail it out of town, and he was attempting to make her understand. “I’m thirty-eight years old, Tee. I’m tired of running.” Neil glanced over at Shafts, who met his gaze emotionlessly. “Tired of sleeping on the ground, tired of always having to look over my shoulder. Times are changing.”

  “I understand that, but what will you do if they send you to prison?”

  “Probably have you break me out,” he said with a small smile. “Spend the rest of my days in Mexico.”

  “Then why not leave now?”

  Olivia’s face floated across his mind’s eye. “I can’t. I need to work out something here first.”

  “Is it the woman?”

  Neil didn’t hesitate in his answer. “It’s the woman.”

  Teresa shook her head. “Don’t tell me you’re in love.”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know.” And he didn’t. What he did know was that leaving Henry Adams without a clear understanding of how Olivia might fit into his future would haunt him for the rest of his life if it wasn’t resolved. Frankly, he was more surprised than anyone else by his decision to turn down the escape. Only time would tell if the choice had been sound, but there was a peace within him that made him feel it was. He met his brother’s eyes. “Do you think I’m loco?”

  Shafts replied solemnly, “No. We’re both feeling our age. Every morning I wake up with the call of my land in New Mexico in my bones, and every morning it’s getting harder and harder to resist. Think I may want to answer it now. We had a good run, you and I.”

  Neil’s face echoed his brother’s words. “That we did.”

  “Time we start acting like old men.” Shafts added wryly, “We need sons, though.”

  Neil chuckled. Olivia’s face shimmered by once more. He wondered if the call of Shafts’s land was as strong and as sweet as the call of the Madam Mayor.

  Teresa looked at both of them with a mixture of pity and disgust. “I need a drink.” She stepped from the porch and walked to her mount. As she rode away, the laughter of her br
others followed in her wake.

  Chapter 12

  Olivia accompanied the long-striding peace officers down the walk to the Liberian Lady. They were an impressive sight with their heights, good looks, and stars pinned to their shirtfronts. The Preacher, striding beside them clad in his flowing black duster, added to the effect. The townspeople shopping and conducting business on Main Street stared. An eerie silence descended, and the only sound Olivia could hear was the death knell-like cadence of the lawmen’s boots on the wood. Even folks standing in the middle of the street trying to coax their wagons and buggies out of the mud stopped what they were doing and followed the procession with their eyes. Soon people began to follow the men with the stars. Others ran for cover, while others ran to alert their neighbors of the confrontation to come.

  The lawmen stopped across the street from the Lady’s front entrance. Marshal Wildhorse said to Olivia, “Ma’am, I’m going to ask you to get behind that buckboard over there.”

  The buckboard was one of many vehicles parked near the walk. Olivia picked up her skirts and hastened to safety.

  Chase turned to the small crowd that had gathered. “Go home before you get hurt.”

  No one moved.

  He repeated himself, louder this time, but nobody paid him much mind.

  Olivia saw Doc Johnson, bag in hand, running toward them. He took up a position behind the buckboard with Olivia. He was out of breath. Olivia was glad he’d arrived.

  Since no one would take Chase’s advice, he gave up. He turned back to the Lady and called out, “Send out Malloy! Then come out with your hands high!”

  The answer was gunfire, and the lawmen scrambled even as they opened up with their own weapons. The few panes remaining in the Lady’s upstairs window were broken out by the men inside so they could add their lead to the fray. Bullets were flying and pinging everywhere. The male citizenry hidden behind the vehicles drew their Colts and Winchesters, adding them to the fight on the side of the lawmen.

  Olivia tried to see the action but was forced to keep ducking down to avoid the bullets peppering the buckboard. A quick look up showed a man firing from a window on the second floor. She saw him take a slug in the chest, then slowly pitch forward out of the window and spiral to the ground below. The gut-wrenching sight made her hold her heart and pray this would end soon.

  The two sides exchanged bullets for what seemed like an eternity. Olivia hugged the wood of the board and tried to keep out of the way. Amidst all the noise, she heard Griffin Blake let out a loud curse followed by, “I’ve been shot!” On the heels of that he declared angrily, “All right. I’m tired of this. Cover me!”

  To her dismay and surprise, she saw him zigzag his way through the mud and a hail of bullets toward the Lady. Guns blazing, he barreled through the single hanging door and disappeared inside.

  The citizens and the lawmen continued their fierce firing, providing Jackson Blake the cover he needed to follow his brother. Chase followed him. Then, to Olivia’s complete astonishment, Teresa July ran toward the door, firing from Colts in both hands! Teresa took a second to blast a man on the roof. The hot lead spun him around and made him cry out in pain. Teresa was already inside by the time he landed on the ground. It was a jaw-dropping show of marksmanship. Olivia shared a stunned look with Doc Johnson, then trained her attention back on the fight.

  Gunfire continued to erupt from the saloon’s interior. Added to it came the sounds of crashing wood and glass, leading Olivia to believe they were fighting with their fists now. The sounds of mayhem continued for another few minutes, then it stopped. Silence echoed from the scene. Those outside drew down their guns, and they, along with the townspeople, waited and watched tensely.

  Moments later a grim-faced Chase came out, followed by a line of angry bounty hunters, whose wrists were bound together with rope. Bringing up the rear were the Griffin brothers, Teresa July, and a very dirty Armstead Malloy. Beside him were the crying but happy saloon girls.

  The crowd’s cheers were as loud as thunder, and the grinning Olivia was sure the celebration could be heard in Topeka. She was so glad this was all over. So glad.

  When she walked out to congratulate the victors, her smile met Chase’s. “Excellent job, Sheriff Jefferson. Excellent job.”

  “Thanks.”

  Griffin Blake had blood staining the sleeve of his blue shirt from the bullet he’d taken in the arm. “Not bad for a day’s work, wouldn’t you say, Dix?”

  Dixon nodded, then addressed the lady in black leathers hanging back a bit. “Thanks, Teresa.”

  “Anytime,” she said. “Now, figure out a way to get my brother off his hook and I won’t tell Mrs. Wildhorse that this town is run by a lady mayor.”

  Dix stared.

  Jackson laughed.

  Olivia didn’t understand.

  Dix explained. “Miss Olivia, my wife, Katherine, is so filled up with marching for women’s rights I’ve spent most of my marriage either putting her in jail or bailing her out of jail.”

  Olivia began to laugh.

  Dix continued, “If she ever finds out nontribal women can be mayors, she is going to start her own campaign to change the laws at home, and neither I nor the men in Wewoka will get any peace.”

  He then turned to Blake and said, “I don’t know why you’re laughing. Your banker wife, Grace, is no wallflower either. What do you think she’ll do if she finds out there are places she can run for mayor?”

  Jackson hung his head, apparently conceding the point.

  Dix then eyed the smiling Teresa. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Teresa gave Olivia a satisfied wink, then disappeared into the still excited crowd.

  It took most of the afternoon for the lawmen to mop up. The eight uninjured ruffians had their guns confiscated by Marshal Wildhorse, then they were given the choice of either going to jail for firing on a deputy marshal or leaving the county. The bounty hunters grumbled, but all chose the latter. The three injured men, including the two who’d tumbled to the ground, were treated by Delbert and put up at his small hospital. When they healed, they too would get to pick which option they preferred.

  To honor the lawmen, Sophie Reynolds offered them free lodging for the remainder of their stay in Henry Adams, and she passed the word that she would be throwing a party for them at her hotel that evening. The whole town was invited.

  As for Armstead Malloy, he charged into the sheriff’s office late that afternoon and declared angrily, “I demand the Elders pay for the damages to my establishment.”

  Olivia sighed. One would think that after such an ordeal, Malloy’s personality would have tempered. Apparently not. “Which establishment are we speaking of, Mr. Malloy?”

  “The Lady, of course.”

  Olivia shared looks with the lawmen standing around the room before asking Malloy, “Why should the Elders pay?”

  “Because the sheriff didn’t do his job.”

  Dixon asked, “Did the sheriff tell you not to return to the saloon after the bounty hunters moved back in?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “You have no case. And if you take it to court, I will come and testify on the town’ s behalf. Good day, Mr. Malloy.”

  Malloy balled up his fist again, steamed for a silent few moments, then stomped out.

  Everyone was glad to see him go.

  An hour later, Olivia finally headed home with the lawmen and the Preacher in tow. They all wanted to see Neil.

  Neil, Shafts, and Teresa were on the back porch drinking lemonade. When Neil saw Olivia come into view with a smile of greeting, he thought his heart would beat out of his chest. When he saw the men she had with her, his heart began to pound for other reasons, and he grinned. “Well, if it isn’t the four laziest sheriffs and marshals this side of the divide.”

  He eased himself up out of the chair and greeted each of his old friends, even Preacher, with a warm embrace.

  A pleased Olivia went into the house and left the men to visit.


  She was pouring herself a cup of coffee when Teresa entered. Olivia held up the pot. “Do you want some?”

  Teresa shook her head negatively. “No. Hate the stuff.”

  Olivia took a seat at the table and gestured for Teresa to join her.

  “I’ll stand.”

  Olivia didn’t press, but she sensed the young woman had searched her out for a reason. Olivia took a sip of the hot brew and set the cup down on the tabletop. “That was some fine shooting you did out there today. On behalf of the town, thanks.”

  Teresa nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  Silence.

  Then Teresa said, “May I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “How do you feel about my brother?”

  Olivia hadn’t expect that, so she answered cautiously, “I enjoy his company.”

  “Is that all?”

  Olivia scanned the young woman’s face. “Why the questions?”

  “Because he’s very taken with you.”

  Olivia smiled inwardly. “To be honest, I’m taken with him also.”

  “You don’t mind that he robs trains?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Teresa studied the serious set of Olivia’s features. “It’s not fair of you to ask him to risk jail for you.”

  “I’ve never asked your brother to do that for me.”

  “Then why is he talking about not being an outlaw anymore.”

  “Maybe because he is old enough to make his own decisions in life.”

  Teresa July’s jaw tightened, and she looked off Olivia’s steady gaze.

  Olivia asked kindly, “How old are you, Teresa?”

  “I’ll be nineteen next month.”

  “One day, when you get much older, life will call upon you to make decisions others might not understand, but you will follow your own conscience. Just as your brother seems to be doing.”

  This was the first Olivia had heard about Neil’s planning to change his direction in life. It pleased her and gave her hope that maybe they could explore a future. At the moment, her own future was clouded by her parents’ arrival tomorrow with Horatio Butler. She still had no idea what to do. Had she married one of the farmers who’d come courting when she’d first arrived in Henry Adams, Butler and his writ would be thwarted. An idea popped into her head, but it was so outrageous that she forced it away.