knew one look too many might leave them wishing they’d never seen his face at all.
Serenity touched the butt of her rifle in its scabbard. For a red cent she would untie those ropes and leave him in the dust. He was like a sickness, a rot that would invade Avalon and steal its peace even if he never recovered at all.
Her hand closed around the rifle stock. One move…
Changying shifted behind her, reminding Serenity that she had more than her own wishes to consider. “It was right to take him,” the Chinese woman said quietly. “I know you would never have left him to die.”
Changying was right. She wouldn’t have left him. No more than she would have left a beaten dog.
When they stopped briefly to rest the horses at the well, Changying reported that he was still alive. Serenity permitted the healer to set him upright just long enough to give him water, but the liquid only dribbled over his flaking lips. Serenity pushed on even after the sun had set, torn between wanting the security of home and hoping the man died before they reached it. There was still some danger that the other men might follow, though she knew she had wounded two of them, one badly.
A mile west of Avalon, Frances spurred ahead to warn the others. By the time Serenity, Changying and their cargo reached the ranch house, several of the other women were there: Victoria, Avalon’s blacksmith, her bare arms still coated with ash from her shop; Helene, her belly bulging under her apron; Bonnie, her cascade of red hair falling into her face after a hard day of washing; Michaela and Nettie, both weary from their day’s work. Zora, Caridad and Judith were still out on the southern range but should be returning at any moment. They would be of the most use if the man caused any trouble.
Not that she would let him get the chance.
Bonnie approached Changying’s horse, her green eyes curious. She bent to peer into the stranger’s face. “Frances said you were bringing a man back here, but I didn’t believe it,” she said. “Who is he?”
“He hasn’t been able to speak,” Serenity said as she and Changying dismounted. “He may not last the night.”
“Yes, he will!” Frances said. “Changying will take care of him.”
The other women turned to stare at the girl. “You seem very happy to have him here,” Victoria said softly. “Haven’t you listened to anything we’ve said?”
Frances thrust out her chin. “I’m not afraid of him just because he’s a man! He can’t hurt any of us.”
Helene sighed, and Victoria shook her head. Victoria was right to be concerned, Serenity thought. Frances was their newest arrival, and though she’d defied a domineering father and escaped a forced engagement, she was anything but wise where the male sex was concerned.
We should never have taken her in, Serenity thought. But the alternative would have been to send her home, and in any case, it was too late now. There were more important things to worry about.
“Nettie, Michaela, will you help Changying get him to the barn?” she asked.
The two women fell in beside Changying as she led her horse toward the barn, and Serenity felt vast relief when they’d carried the man out of her sight. Victoria gave Serenity a long, troubled look and took the horses to the stable. Frances ran after her.
Bonnie fell into step beside Serenity as they walked to the house. “I never thought I’d see you bring a man to Avalon,” she said, pushing stray hair out of her face.
“Neither did I,” Serenity muttered.
Helene caught up to them just in time to ask Serenity to take off her boots before she went inside.
“I just swept the floor,” she said apologetically. “If you wouldn’t mind…”
Her meekness was like a constant reproach, though Helene would have been horrified to realize that Serenity regarded it as such. Serenity hated the idea that Helene had to apologize for anything, especially to her. They were supposed to be beyond that here.
They were supposed to be free.
Serenity sat on the bench on the porch and pulled off her boots, leaving them standing against the wall. She, Helene and Bonnie went inside, where Helene had already prepared a pot of coffee. They sat at the kitchen table and talked for a while, speaking of inconsequential things: the baby’s increasingly frequent kicks, Bonnie’s newly completed quilt and the beginning of calving season. There would be hard work aplenty soon, and most of the women, including Bonnie and Frances, would be riding out with the rest instead of helping Helene and Nettie with the domestic chores.
“I never saw myself making a quilt,” Bonnie said wryly, “but I definitely never imagined I’d be working cattle.”
“I wish I could help,” Helene said, looking down at her chapped hands.
Serenity leaned over the table. “You are helping, Helene, much more than you should be in your condition. You’re invaluable to us.”
“Would you like more coffee?” Helene asked with a sudden grateful smile.
“You stay right where you are,” Bonnie said. “I’ll get it.” She exchanged a quick glance of understanding with Serenity. In spite of their vastly different backgrounds, Bonnie and Helene were fast friends, and Bonnie shared Serenity’s frustration with Helene’s humility and shame over her condition.
I could have been like her, Serenity thought. If things had been different. If she’d gone home with an illegitimate child in her belly, if her family had turned her out as a fallen woman.
Of course, they never would have done that. None of it had been her fault. It wasn’t as if she’d chosen to…
Stop. Sometimes the simple command was enough to keep her from thinking about it. But the stranger in the barn had brought it all back in a way the other men she’d dealt with—her fellow ranchers in the valley, the suppliers and storekeepers, the idlers and drunkards and ne’er-do-wells—never had.
She tried to focus her thoughts on other pressing problems, chief of which was what the men she’d shot at might do. Chances were they wouldn’t be in any condition to look for their attackers, and she’d seen no sign that they’d been following. But there was always a danger that they would decide to salve their masculine pride by tracking the women who’d humiliated them.
They wouldn’t like what they found at Avalon, but that didn’t mean Serenity could afford to pretend the threat didn’t exist.
“You’re worried, aren’t you?” Helene asked. “About that man. What happened?”
Serenity was considering her answer when Bonnie set a plate of beans and freshly baked bread on the table in front of her.
“Eat, Rennie,” she said. “I’m going out to get Frances and Changying. They need to eat, too.” She touched Helene’s shoulder. “You just sit quiet and drink your coffee. The baby needs her rest.”
Her. Serenity wondered what would happen if Helene gave birth to a boy. An infant was born into innocence, but could a boy be properly raised in a world of women?
She picked up her
