The Peacemaker

Shattered Pieces

Olivia woke up to hear a strange man's voice and another sound. Olivia would later recall it as the sound of someone's world shattering into pieces. Wyatt clutched Claire's body to his chest sobbing uncontrollably. She was gone and it was all his fault. "Wyatt we can't stay here long," said Jim. "You know they'll come back looking for you."

"I can't just leave her here Jim! This is all my fault! Claire is dead because of me!"

"Wyatt come on. You did everything you could to protect her. Hey Wyatt...where's the kid?" Wyatt had not seemed to have heard him, so Jim started to look for any signs of the little girl. If only he could remember her name. "Uh...Emily? Maria? Umm...Olive?"

At this Wyatt seemed to come to his senses as he frantically made his way to the book shelf. He threw it to one side and cried in relief when he saw a dusty little face peeking back at him. "Liv! Are you hurt? Did those men touch you?" Live shook her head at her father's frantic questions. She looked warily at Jim and then saw her mother lying on the floor.

"Mama," she called. "Mama  wake up Daddy is here." Jim and Wyatt exchanged a sorrowful look. How do you tell a little girl that her mother is dead? How do you tell her that the life she has known is gone and will never return?

Wyatt and Jim quickly but carefully buried Claire's body. "Jim what am I going to do now? Claire was everything to me."

"You find a new everything," Jim stated. About that time, Olivia tugged on Wyatt's pants, asking to be held. He picked her up, and she snuggled her face to his chest. Wyatt knew in that moment that Liv was his new everything. He had failed Claire, but he would not fail their daughter.

"Steady now. Look down the sights, keep your elbow up, and fire as you exhale," Wyatt stated as he tried to teach a now eight year old Liv to shoot a rifle. She shot the gun and hit bullseye. Wyatt smiled at her with pride. The girl was a natural marksman and learned quickly. "What do you say to that fellas?" Her father's whole gang had gathered to watch her shoot the rifle. She looked at each of them as they offered words of advice or praise. Her father had formed the gang shortly after her mother had died. They were Liv's family as well as her protectors.

"Hey Wyatt! I need to talk to you. Nice shootin' kid," Jim said as he rustled Liv's hair. Liv giggled in response. "Liv why don't you go see if Sam needs any help with the horses?"

"Ok Uncle Jim!" Liv ran off to where they kept the horses and found Sam. He had her brush and feed her father's stallion, Whiskey, and the mare that had belonged to her mother, Estrella. Liv was the one who rode Estrella now. She was really the only bit of her mother she had left besides her few and faint memories. Wyatt, Jim, and a few of the other men came over and began to tack up their horses quickly. "Where are you going? Can I come too?" Liv asked her father.

"Not today Liv. We have some important business to attend to." That afternoon and evening Liv continued to help out around camp. All of the adults seemed anxious, but none of them would answer Liv's questions. She knew her father must have finally found the men who had killed her mother. She lay in her tent that night unable to sleep. She got up and went to stare at the stars. Jim's wife Ellie, the closest thing Liv had to a mother now, came and sat beside her. "I couldn't sleep," Liv stated.

"What are thinking about with that big brain of yours?" Ellie asked her. Liv sat in silence for several moments.

"I don't remember much about my mom, but I do remember the night she died. Aunt Ellie I'm scared. I don't want them to take my daddy away from me too." Liv sniffled and tried her best not to cry. The next week was torture for Liv. She barely ate or slept and spent most of her time watching the horizon for her father's return. Finally, after being gone eight days, she saw riders in the distance. Liv leaped out of the tree she had been sitting in and then her heart plummeted. There were only four riders  coming back to camp when there had been six that left it to seek revenge for her mother's death.