Miss Morgan

Thirteen

July 1889
-John-

Gunfire erupts. I fire my pistol at Colm until it clicks empty. He runs, the son of a bitch.

My ears ring, muffling the sounds around me.

Hosea catches Ivy and pins her to the ground as she runs for Annabelle. Tears leave streaks in the dirt on her cheeks. She screams until her voice cracks. I want to go to her but my feet won't move.

Arthur, Mac, Davey, and Bill jump onto their horses and chase after Colm and his men, the hoofbeats thundering in my muted ears. I want to go with them but my feet won't move.

Dutch sits in the grass, covered in Annabelle's blood. He holds her limp body in his arms with a catatonic expression plastered to his face. He doesn't move, I don't think he even blinks.

Annabelle's dead.

I'll never get the image of Colm shooting her in the back out of my head. She whispered something to Dutch as she took her last breath but they were words only for his ears.

Hosea catches my attention and he gestures for me to take Ivy and says words I can't process. I finally step forward and pull Ivy into my arms, her body trembles and shakes with angry sobs.

Finally my hearing begins to clear.

"He doesn't get to live!" Ivy sobs into my arm. I hold her tight because I don't know what else to do.

We're on the ground like this for a while. Time seems to stand still until Arthur leads the boys back to us, what has to be hours later.

"We couldn't catch him, the bastard." Arthur announces solemnly. He climbs off his horse and walks over to Ivy and I, then looks over at Dutch who hasn't moved a muscle since they ran after Colm.

"We have to get out of here." Hosea tells Arthur quietly.

Arthur nods and turns to me. "Get Ivy out of here. Take her somewhere safe for a few days."

I nod, standing up and pulling Ivy to her feet.

"No. I want to be with Annabelle. We have to bury her. I have to be there." She sniffles.

I look back to Arthur.

He pulls his sister into a hug which only causes her sobbing to start again. "You're right. I'm sorry." He grumbles to her.

"Dutch?" Hosea gently squeezes Dutch's shoulder.

"I know." Is all Dutch says in response. He stands up and carries his beloved Annabelle to his horse.

I pull Ivy up onto Coal's back behind me and she clings to my back in silence the entire ride back to camp.

The only words she says are "I'm gonna kill him."

We bury Annabelle on a hill next to a tree overlooking a meadow with yellow flowers as the sun sets with a brilliant golden glow. Afterwards, Dutch jumps into his saddle and rides away. No one dares to try and stop him.

Arthur pulls me aside as we walk back into camp. "Ivy needs you, brother. Get her out of here for a while. A few days maybe." He hands me some money and shakes my hand.

"Alright Arthur." I nod and walk to our tent and find Ivy curled in a ball on the bedroll.

"Ivy?" I question.

She sits up and wipes her eyes on her sleeve.

"Let's get out of here for a while." I suggest and pull her to her feet.

She follows along behind me and I lead her to the hitching posts where Coal waits.

"Lune." Ivy gasps, her reddened eyes grow wide.

"What?" I question.

"We have to find Lune and Bourbon. They were hitched up in Abilene when we got jumped." She climbs onto the back of my horse and I mount up in front of her, pushing him into a gallop down the trail.

"That was two days ago." I point out. "You really think they'll still be waiting there?"

"Maybe someone took them to the livery. I have to find them." Ivy mutters.

When we arrive in Abilene we check the posts outside the general store but the horses aren't tied where they left them. I can feel Ivy's heart sink. "Hang in there. We'll check the livery." I guide Coal through the crowded streets and tether him to the post outside the stables.

Ivy practically sprints in the door.

"Can I help you folks?" The rancher greets us.

"I'm looking for a couple horses that got left in town a couple days ago." Ivy answers. "A dark bay thoroughbred and a cremello lusitano mare."

"Oh the cremello, what a horse. I knew someone was missin' her." The rancher smiles and leads us to the stall where Lune stands, nervously pawing at the ground until she sees Ivy.

Ivy bursts into tears once more, sobbing into the mare's golden fur. "I'm so sorry.." Ivy whispers to the horse.

The rancher suddenly looks nervous with Ivy's outburst.

"This was her mother's horse and she just died yesterday." I explain to him in a whisper.

"Oh... I'm terribly sorry." The rancher frowns.

"What about the thoroughbred?" I question.

He shows me the horse in the stall next to Lune and Bourbon munches happily on hay.

We saddle the two horses up to leave and the rancher stops me in my tracks. "That's a nice stallion you got." He points to Coal.

"Thanks." I pet Coal's black velvety nose.

"If you're ever looking' to sell him, I'll pay a good price for a stallion I can offer for breeding." I hesitate a moment. I know Ivy wants Lune, I could take Bourbon. "How much?" I ask.

"Four hundred, if you got papers?" The rancher walks around Coal, checking his hooves.

Ivy looks up at me, confusion in her eyes.

"You're taking Lune right? I could take Bourbon."

Ivy thinks for a moment and nods.

"Sold." I hand Coal's lead and paperwork to the rancher and pull my saddle from his back.

We leave Ivy's saddle here for the time being, the rancher offering to hold it here for her and I put my saddle on Bourbon's back. Ivy climbs into Annabelle's saddle and pats the mare's neck with a few more tears and I lead us back out onto the road.

"Where we goin'?" She asks me.

"I saw a town called Topeka on the map." I explain. "I just figured we could go somewhere new and spend a few days away from camp."

She only nods in response.

We enjoy a few days at a hotel in Topeka and I take her shopping, take her to dinner and drinks, and I even take her to a theatre where we watch some performers singing and dancing. As fun as that is, we spend most of our time in the hotel room because Ivy doesn't want to leave the bed.

When we finally start the ride home, her mood seems to have lightened just a bit. We get back to camp and greet everyone, minus Dutch who still has yet to return. That's when it hits me. I've been so preoccupied trying to keep Ivy afloat that I haven't processed what happened to Annabelle.

I feel almost responsible. I should have killed the O'Driscolls when I had the chance. Ivy told me some of what happened when they caught her and Annabelle in town. A lot of the same torture I had endured.

Cal had told Ivy to come find Dutch and return by sundown or they'd kill Annabelle. We had all been worried because the girls hadn't come home the night before then she ran into camp in a panic, all bloody from the beatings she endured and I wanted to kill them.

I should have killed them when I had the chance. I'll never make that mistake ever again. I vow it to myself.

When Dutch finally returns to camp he tells us to pack up and we do without question or hesitation, and we move our camp once again. We travel south to set up just outside of San Antonio where we stay for the winter.