Blessing Read online

Sam turned back to the man on the porch. “I warn you, I’ll be waitin’ right inside this door, with my shotgun cocked and loaded.”

  “Yes, sir,” Aaron said. “That was what I was expectin’.”

  Uley tromped out onto the boards and pulled the door closed behind her.

  When the door shut, they couldn’t even see each other, it was so black.

  Aaron knew right where she was standing. He could hear her breathing.

  Uley knew right where he was standing. She could smell his bay rum.

  “Well, I must say,” she told him finally. “You smell a mite nicer than you did the last time I caught a whiff of you.”

  “It’s amazing what a wash tub will do for a man.”

  So what did Elizabeth Calderwood think when she saw you in need of a bath in that jailhouse?

  She sure couldn’t say it like that. She thought about it and decided she’d find out the same information a different way.

  “Well,” she said, “I’m surprised you were able to leave Elizabeth Calderwood long enough to come out here.”

  “Elizabeth’s fine without me,” he said. “She’s safely inside her room at the Pacific Hotel. There are so many men on the lookout for her, she can’t make a move without having a good dozen of them following down the street after her. They’re looking after her like bees protect their queen.”

  “So I’ve noticed.” Through the window, Uley could see her father lifting his gun off the rack and wiping down the barrel. “You’d best get on with what you came to say,” she said. “It doesn’t look like he’s going to give you much time.”

  At precisely that moment, the moon moved out from behind a cloud and Uley saw his face.

  “You make a habit,” she asked out of the blue, “of winking at every girl you see beneath a mule?”

  He looked straight up at the night sky and guffawed. “If one time makes a habit—” he was struggling to get the words out, he was so amused “—then I guess I’ll tell you I’m guilty. I’ve just never seen a girl beneath a mule, Uley. What was I supposed to do? Come over and bend down there with you and look up at the underside of that animal’s belly and say, ‘Lovely weather, Miss Kirkland’?”

  “Well, I don’t know.” She didn’t know why she’d expected him to acknowledge her on the street. She’d just figured he would, that was all. He’d come marching right toward her with Elizabeth Calderwood at his side and acted as if Uley wasn’t even there…that is, until she’d caught him just watching her for no reason at all.

  And then he’d winked.

  Winked.

  The way Harris Olney winked when he passed Santa Fe Moll on the street.

  “I was protecting our secret, Uley,” he said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Well,” she said, crossing her arms, “I don’t think that was a very good way of protecting it.”

  He stopped fiddling with his hat. He decided just to put it back on his head and go back to the hotel. “Forget it, Uley,” he told her. “I wasn’t winking at you, anyway. I was winking at the mule.”

  Alex Parent rang the Tin Cup town bell in the belfry of the town hall at precisely nine on Thursday morning.

  Cher-bong. Cher-bong. Of course, there wasn’t any reason to ring it. Some two hundred men were already jostling for position inside.

  Miners and ranchers had been arriving from all over Taylor Park since just after seven. Another wagonload of men had just gotten in over Cumberland Pass from Pitkin. Judge Murphy had sent for them to come. He figured there wasn’t anybody in the town of Tin Cup unbiased enough to give Mr. Brown a fair trial. Those Pitkin miners were the closest thing he was likely to find to a jury in Gunnison County.

  The bell echoed off Gold Hill over to Siegel Mountain and American Mountain and back again. Cher-bong. Cher-bong. Cher-bong.

  Those who hadn’t been able to find seats were jammed inside the back foyer, standing on tiptoe and boot heels. The men around Uley were all craning their necks to see Elizabeth. Elizabeth Calderwood hadn’t been in town forty-eight hours and the news of her arrival had already traveled as far as Pitkin and St. Elmo. That was almost faster than a good horse could run.

  Judge J. M. Murphy sat behind the bench, a massive table of lodgepole planks made by the Beckley brothers, the only two men in town who took the time away from mining to build furniture, houses and coffins. Murphy banged his cup on the wood and did his best to call everyone to order. “Let the record show that I call to order this court on April 27, 1882, the trial of Gunnison County, Colorado, and Marshal Harris John Olney versus defendant Mr. Aaron Talephas Brown.”

  Uley about fell out of her tumbledown pine chair. Talephas. Next time he talked to her about winking at mules, she was going to call him Talephas. That ought to put him in his place.

  That is, if he lived long enough.

  Murphy continued with his speech. “Seth Wood will represent Gunnison County and Marshal Harris Olney in this matter. John Kincaid will represent the accused.”

  Commotion broke out in the room.

  Murphy pounded the table with the cup again, making little C-shaped dents in the pine planks. “Quiet! Or we won’t go on! Seth,” he hollered over the din, “come on up here and start your case.”

  Seth Wood approached the bench and whispered to Murphy while the talking died down. As soon as everyone could hear him, he started calling witnesses.

  Carl Hansen came forward, put his hand on the Bible and was sworn in. He sat down beside Murphy and told all about how he’d been on his way to Frenchy’s when somebody hollered, “Uley’s got a man down over there!” He told how he’d run to help Uley and had found the accused—here he pointed at Aaron Talephas Brown—lying beneath Uley in the dirt.

  “Thank you, Mr. Hansen,” Seth Wood said. “Next witness, John West.”

  West walked to the front and told the same tale.

  During the morning hours, Seth called at least a dozen men to the bench. Each one of those dozen men told the judge and jury the exact same story. At about eleven-thirty, Seth Wood stepped up beside Judge Murphy and looked right at Uley.

  Everybody knew it was time for the lawyer to call his key witness.

  “Uley Kirkland. Will you approach the bench, please?”

  She hadn’t figured on being this nervous. She felt like a marionette as she went to stand beside Seth Wood, a marionette with someone waiting to drop the strings.

  Judge Murphy held out the biggest, blackest Bible Uley had ever seen. “Repeat after me,” he said somberly. “I, your name…”

  “I, Uley Kirkland…”

  “Do solemnly swear…”

  “Do solemnly swear…”

  “To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…”

  Uley figured everyone in the room saw her swallow. This was one time in her life when being a gal stood her in good stead. She didn’t have a protruding Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. To get her out of this mess, she uttered a silent prayer. I promise I’ll do my best to get it right, God.

  Out loud she said, “To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…”

  “So help me God.”

  “So help me God.”

  From the front of the room, she could see everyone in town. She could see her father on the third row, sitting with his hands clenched between his knees. She could see Elizabeth Calderwood with her hair all done up in a bun and her neck as long and graceful as a trumpeter swan’s. She could see Harris Olney just below her, his marshal’s star gleaming. And she could see Aaron Brown.

  Aaron Brown. Today, when it seemed the whole world was against him, she felt some regret that she hadn’t been kinder to him last night. Then again, she found she was afraid to meet his eyes. Just suppose he winked at her again—here in the courtroom! It would totally unnerve her. Here. Where she needed to be quick-thinking and smart.

  No, she’d look anywhere except at Aaron Brown. She trained her eyes on the windowsill beyond his left shoulder.


  “Now, Uley,” Seth Wood said, “tell us about the night in question. Tell us where you were and what you were doing.”

  Uley proceeded to speak in great detail about the renaming of Tin Cup and the ensuing invitations to Frenchy’s. “I decided to go home instead. I was on my way when I greeted Harris Olney and kept walking,” she said, in a clear, steady voice.

  “What did you see as you walked down the street?”

  “I saw a man standing there in the darkness.”

  “What made you think something might be amiss, Uley?”

  “I saw the glint of steel in his hand. I realized he had a gun.”

  “The gun was drawn?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What makes you think this man was after Marshal Harris Olney?” Seth Wood asked.

  “I’d just passed the marshal. I’d just spoken with him.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “I was frightened,” Uley admitted. “I knew I couldn’t call for help. I figured he’d turn that gun on me.”

  “What next?”

  “I ran at him and jumped on him.”

  “Will you repeat that, please?”

  “I ran at him and jumped on him.”

  The crowd roared.

  “Hang Aaron Brown!” someone shouted.

  “Uley caught him red-handed!” someone else bellowed.

  “String him up!”

  “Order in this court!” Murphy hollered. “We will not proceed until we have order!”

  “Hang him!”

  “Get a new rope! Tie it to that cottonwood tree….”

  For some reason, during the clamor, Uley felt Aaron looking at her. She glanced up from the windowsill—just a glance, just once—and there he was, watching her, his sad blue eyes telling a mysterious story all their own, something she didn’t understand.

  Uley didn’t know what happened in her heart just then. She felt something wrench inside her and try to break free. A bit of sorrow, perhaps, because she’d had such a part in bringing him here.

  Murphy was so angry now, he rose and started flapping his black-robed arms up and down like a bat. “The next man who speaks out of turn in my court of law is going to get thrown out. Understand?”

  Uley supposed she felt compassion for Aaron Brown. She wished, for some absurd reason, that she could do something, anything, to make this part easier for him. But then, she decided, remembering the pasties she’d baked and the letter she’d posted, perhaps she already had.

  The noise level fell a bit.

  “Do you understand?” Murphy was still flapping.

  The din subsided to a murmur.

  The judge stared everyone down until the place was so quiet you could hear the flies buzzing.

  “There you go, Seth,” he said finally. “You may continue.”

  Seth came toward Uley and walked all the way around her chair. “You said you ran at him and jumped on him? You overpowered him?”

  “I believe so, Mr. Wood.”

  “A little thing like you? Would you say that this man was so intent on stalking Marshal Olney that you totally surprised him?”

  “Yes, sir. I believe he was. Surprised, that is.”

  “What happened after you overcame the man, Uley? Did he fight with you? Did you wrestle? Did you pin him to the ground?”

  Oh, my goodness, here it came. She’d been so busy thinking about the accused that she’d forgotten to steel herself for this part. She’d known all along it would be coming.

  The truth…the whole truth…nothing but the truth…

  “We wrestled,” she said. “He tried to fight me off, but I was too tough for him. I got his arms pinned up behind his head. He tried to roll and pitch me off…”

  Father, forgive me for this.

  “Yes?”

  “But he couldn’t do it. He rolled back the other way and threw his knee up in the air, trying to come up with enough balance to get his arms free.”

  “Yes?”

  “We wrestled some more. I almost had the gun out of his hand, but he jerked it back.”

  “Did you get a good look at this man, Uley?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Do you see him in the court today?”

  “I do.”

  “Where is that man sitting?”

  She pointed straight at Aaron. “He’s sitting right there.”

  The uproar started again, but one narrow-eyebrow glare from Judge Murphy cut it off. “Did you exchange words with this man while you were wrestling, Uley?” Seth asked. “Did he say anything to you?”

  For the life of her, she couldn’t quite remember what he’d said.

  All she could really come up with in her mind was that one moment, that one terrible instant, when he’d taken one look at her head without that hat and said, “You’re just a girl.”

  She sure couldn’t tell the judge and jury he’d said that. Never in her life had she thought she’d be in a predicament like this one.

  Never in her life had she thought she’d have to measure her words when she’d sworn on a Bible.

  She smiled at Judge J. M. Murphy. She turned back and smiled at Seth Wood. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice as strong as she could make it. “I don’t quite remember.”

  But in truth, she did. He’d said “You’re a lady!”

  “Something about Harris Olney, not getting to go after him.”

  That’s the way with hiding things, isn’t it, Lord? You start out one small place and a secret starts growing and it never ends.

  Chapter Six

  Seth Wood dismissed Uley from the stand. Just as she rose from the chair, John Kincaid shouted, “I would like to cross-examine this witness.”

  Seth Wood seemed surprised. Then a shrewd smile appeared upon his face. He looked as if he were so certain of the outcome he could afford to be charitable. “Certainly, Kincaid.” He made a gesture with one hand, as if to allow Kincaid through a door. “Be my guest.”

  John Kincaid stepped up and smiled at Uley.

  Uley smiled back.

  “I only have two questions to ask you, Uley,” he said kindly.

  “Okay.”

  “They aren’t difficult questions.”

  “Okay.”

  “Your answers could be very important in the decision of this case.”

  Uley could feel her hands shaking in her lap. She had absolutely no idea what he was going to come out with. “I understand that.” Her voice began trembling for the first time. She felt it, and heard it, wavering.

  “The night you saw Aaron Brown in the street, the night you jumped on him and held him there until you got help, you saw a gun in his hand, correct?”

  “Yes. That is correct.”

  “I ask you, Uley,” Kincaid said pointedly, “if at any time during your altercation with Mr. Brown you actually saw him level the gun and take aim at Marshal Harris Olney?”

  “I…” She had to think about this one. “I don’t know.”

  “Think about it. You can remember what you saw that night, can’t you?”

  “Yes, I can.”

  “There is no hurry. We’ll all wait for your answer. Did you see Aaron Brown aim the gun at Harris Olney?”

  “I…” She glanced around the room. She’d never seen so many people staring at her. Made it hard to think, with those eyes all trained in her direction.

  First she looked at Aaron. He was gripping his chair with both hands, as if he were afraid it might buck up and pitch him off. Elizabeth Calderwood appeared quite pale. Uley’s father looked as confused as she felt. Then she found Harris Olney. The marshal was grinning slightly, with one jaw pouched out by his chaw of tobacco. As she met his gaze, his grin broadened. Then he nodded at her. Just a slight nod, indiscernible to everyone around him. He lowered his face and hunkered his eyebrows at her as if to say, Come on, Uley. Say yes and let’s have it over with.

  He wanted her to lie!

  He had absolutely no idea what she had seen.
>
  What was worse, he had absolutely no idea that she’d struggled with telling the complete truth already!

  She raised her chin and told John Kincaid, “I’m ready to answer the question.”

  “Are you? You remember the details?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Okay,” Kincaid said calmly. “I’ll repeat the question for the jury. Uley, did you see Aaron Brown aim his six-shooter at Marshal Harris Olney?”

  She took a deep breath and plunged on as best she could.

  She shook her head. “No.” She watched while Harris Olney pummeled the arm of his chair and spewed tobacco all over the shirts of the fellows sitting in front of him. “I never saw Aaron Brown aim his gun at the marshal.”

  Judge Murphy called for a dinner break because he knew he couldn’t get the ruckus under control any other way. Uley took her bucket with her and found a solitary place in the willows that lined the creek. She’d just started gnawing on a sourdough biscuit when she heard something else coming through the willows toward her. Figuring it for a moose, she started shoving her dinner back into the handkerchief at the bottom of the bucket.

  Just as she was about to jump up and move on, she saw the top of a brown Stetson parting the branches of the willows.

  “Uley?” Aaron Brown said. “Who’re you trying to hide from? Where did you go in here?”

  She’d shoved almost the entire biscuit in her mouth, and she couldn’t speak. “Ova…ere…” Over here, she was trying to say.

  She heard him stop then begin to back away with great care.

  She couldn’t speak because her mouth was full. He must think he’d come upon some kind of animal or something. She plunged through the willows after him, trying to call to him. She was going to choke on this biscuit before she got it down.

  He started running faster.

  She started running faster.

  He was pounding through the willows about as fast as he could go.

  She took some pleasure in the fact that she was able to stay right behind him.

  Of course, she couldn’t have done it if she’d had skirts on.

  At last she got the biscuit down. “Aaron,” she shouted. “It’s—”