she’s taken care of, Jesse.”
Jesse clutched his shirt and pulled him closer. “Don’t let Maxwell or any of the Evans gang near her. They’ll try to take her.”
Jesse’s fear for Rebecca was real and Seth found himself saying the words he knew the dying man wanted to hear. “I’ll protect her, Jesse. That’s a promise.”
With Seth’s words, peace entered the young man’s eyes and then Jesse Cole took his final breath. Twenty-two was too young to die. Jesse had only been three years younger than himself. Seth shook his head at the sadness of the past week.
Memories of Jesse flooded his mind. Jesse had arrived in Cottonwood Springs six years ago. Nobody knew anything about him, just that he worked hard at the livery where old man Rodgers had given him a job. Then he’d taken up with Maxwell Evans and his brother. For four years he’d run with Maxwell, his brother Clod and Horace Nance.
The four men made up the Evans gang. They had been more a nuisance than a real gang. They’d stolen small things and the men of Cottonwood Springs didn’t feel the need to press charges against them. Boys will be boys, as the old saying goes. Old man Rodgers died one night and Jesse moved in with Maxwell.
And then one night Jesse ran into Reverend James Griffin and found the Lord. Jesse turned his life around that night; he started working on the Vaughan farm just a couple of miles out of town. The other Evans gang members hadn’t been thrilled with the turnabout and they’d given the Vaughan family plenty of trouble.
Over the next two years the Evans gang had grown and become braver. Their crimes had developed into more serious transgressions. With each passing year, Maxwell had become more dangerous.
Seth hadn’t been surprised when they’d robbed the bank in Durango. What had surprised him was when the smoke cleared, Jesse had been the one left to die on the bank floor. He shook his head again. Jesse hadn’t even carried a gun. What had he been doing robbing a bank with no gun?
Guilt slammed into Seth’s gut. He’d shot down an unarmed man. Never had he felt the gravity of being a U.S. Marshal as strongly as he did now. The law was behind him, but he still felt as if a small part of his own soul had been ripped from his body the day Jesse Cole died. No matter how many times he played the events of that day in his mind, it came out the same. He’d killed an unarmed man, he’d killed Jesse Cole.
Thankfully the Vaughan orchard came into view. He shook his head and muttered, “I need to stop dwelling on it. Jesse is gone and there’s nothing I can do about it now.” Seth gave a little kick of his boots against the horse’s sides and sent it into a trot. It was time to go tell Mr. Vaughan that his hired hand wasn’t coming home.
He rode into the front yard. Two big hounds came to greet him with loud barks and yips. Mrs. Vaughan waved from the front porch and Mr. Vaughan walked out of the barn to meet him.
“Afternoon, Marshal. What brings you out this way?”
Seth slid from his mount. “Bad news, I’m afraid. Jesse Cole got himself shot up last week. Didn’t make it. He won’t be returning to work.”
Mr. Vaughan took his hat off and wiped at the sweat on his brow. “I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good man.”
“So it would seem,” Seth agreed.
“Mind telling me what happened?” The old man slapped the hat back on his gray head and indicated Seth should follow him to the bunkhouse.
Seth fell into step with him. “He was present during a bank robbery over in Durango last week. One of the Evans gang took a shot at me and things got out of hand. Jesse got caught in the cross fire.”
Mr. Vaughan pulled the door open and walked to one of three bunks in the one-room building. “I see.”
Seth pressed on, trying to explain away his own feelings of guilt for having shot Jesse. “I’m afraid he was running with the Evans boys again. They were the ones hightailing it out of Durango with a bag full of money.” He didn’t feel the need to tell Mr. Vaughan that Jesse hadn’t been carrying a gun when he was shot. That fact still bothered him. Instead Seth asked, “Did Jesse say where he was going when he left here?”
“No, just said he had some unfinished business and that he’d be back in a couple of days.” He pulled a suitcase out from under a bunk that Seth assumed was Jesse’s. “I thought he’d gone into town to see about buying the Porters’ place. Had no idea he was running with the Evanses again.” He grunted as he lifted the case for Seth to take. “These are his belongings. Feels like this thing is filled with rocks. He also has some clothes lying around here, too. Do you want those?”
Seth shook his head.
“Do you know if he has any family we can give this to?”
Seth took the heavy case and shook his head again. He frowned at the weight of the container. “I don’t think he does, but there is a young woman in town that might. I’ll ask her.”
Mr. Vaughan nodded and followed Seth from the bunkhouse. “It’s too bad.” He muttered more to himself than to Seth. “I really liked that boy. He was real excited when that gal answered his mail-order-bride ad, too.”
They walked back to where Seth’s horse waited. Seth set the suitcase onto the saddle and then swung up behind it. So Rebecca Ramsey was a mail-order bride. He’d heard of women answering those ads, just never figured he’d meet one way out here in the New Mexico Territory.
Seth arranged the case in front of him, before saying, “I’d like to keep this as private as we can. His mail-order bride arrived last week and, well, I’d just as soon she not be told what happened to him.” He paused and shook his head. “Honestly, I’m not sure I know what happened. I’d like to think Jesse was there against his will.”
Mr. Vaughan took his hat off and twisted the brim. “All I know, Marshal, is the poor boy seemed to have got caught in some cross fire and was shot in Durango.” He shook his head and looked at the ground. “Poor boy was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.” He looked back up.
Seth nodded. “Thanks.”
“Do you know if his lady will be staying in Cottonwood Springs or moving on?” He shielded his face from the sun as he looked up at Seth.
Seth had wondered the same thing. “Don’t know yet.” He waved and headed back to town. His thoughts turned to what Mr. Vaughan had said.
Had Jesse been heading to town to buy a place and get married? Or had he met up with the Evanses with the purpose of robbing the bank to secure a better future for his new bride? Seth could still see the fear and concern in Jesse’s face for Rebecca’s safety.
As the horse lumbered back to town, his thoughts turned to the pretty young woman who had come to town to marry Jesse. Her eyes had done something to his heart that only one other woman’s eyes had ever done.
Remember she was killed because of your job, Billings. How could he forget? He couldn’t. And because of Clare’s death, Seth vowed never to love another again. His job and her meekness had gotten her killed. Nope, he wasn’t going to fall in love again, at least not until he was done with marshaling. He doubted any woman would wait for him that long.
Rebecca Ramsey’s heart-shaped face filled his mind’s eye. No, Seth
