Chapter Nineteen

Audrey was dead tired in the saddle when Ance finally called it a night the next evening. She was an experienced horse woman who wore split skirts and knew her way around a saddle but she wasn't accustomed to spending hours upon hours riding on a horse's back in the summer heat.

She was biting her tongue hard as she slipped from the saddle and her legs protested the sudden brunt of her weight standing on them.

"Mama! Look at the waterfall!" Penelope exclaimed happily.

Audrey nodded. What her daughter called a waterfall was little more than the creek falling over a small hill and dancing over a few rocks but if Penelope wanted to call it a waterfall then Audrey wouldn't dash her spirits.

"You can't call that a waterfall." Ance apparently had no problem with dashing her spirits.

"She can if she wants to," Audrey quickly insisted as she rubbed at her aching thighs.

Ance grunted, tossing his saddle and saddlebags aside to give his horse a break from the load. "Well there ain't no point letting the girl call something a thing that it isn't," he stated. Then he tipped his hat to Penelope and winked and the girl giggled. Giggled! The man had just shot down her happiness and she was happy about that? "Don't you worry none, Penny. I happen to know there's a very nice waterfall between here and where we're going and I'll be sure to take you to it. You'll know the damn difference then between a trickling creek and a real waterfall."

"Do you promise?" Penelope asked with a tilt of her head.

"Have I let you down yet?" Ance retorted and Penelope giggled.

"Nope!" she exclaimed brightly. "You sure haven't... though I would have liked to have been able to keep that puppy," the girl lamented.

"I'll get you a damn pup some day," Ance grumbled.

"But it won't have a leg like mine," Penelope reminded him, pointing to her brace.

"I'll break its leg, make a splint and you'll be a matching set," Ance assured her. This led to a fit of laughter from Penelope. Audrey watched the whole scene with mixed emotions. She was happy that her daughter was happy and yet couldn't help but feel a bit slighted and....jealous. For so long it had been only the two of them against the world and now Penelope had Ance....

Ance grabbed a pot from his saddlebags and handed it to Penelope. "Go to the creek and fill this up. I got some taters I can boil for supper."

Penelope grabbed the pot and quickly went off to do as he bid. Ance began to walk toward an outcropping of bushes but Audrey stepped in front of him and blocked his path. "You can't be doing that," she warned.

"Doing what?" he grunted as his eyes bored into her.

Audrey fought to maintain his gaze despite the vulnerability it caused her to feel. "Speaking over me. I am her mother."

"I don't take orders," Ance growled, his fists clenching at his sides.

"From women you mean?" Audrey spat.

Ance shook his head, pulled a cigar from his shirt pocket and stuck it between his lips. "From anybody," he assured her. "Now are you gonna get out of my way so I can piss or do I just need to do it right here?"

Audrey stuttered several times before quickly stepping aside. Ance was chuckling as he walked off to the bushes. Audrey glared at his retreating back and wished she could punch him at times like these! The man was rock solid though and punching him would probably end in her having a sore fist and not much else accomplished.

"Mama!" Penelope called out. "Mama look at the fish!"

Audrey tore her attention away from Ance and happily refocused it on her daughter. She walked to the creek and saw the large catfish her daughter had spotted. Audrey let out a low whistle. "That's a nice one," she admitted.

"I'm gonna name it, Fishy!" Penelope giggled. Audrey smiled and patted her braided hair. They watched the fish for several long minutes while Penelope made up stores about taking it for walks,(along the water's edge of course) and playing in the sunshine with her Fishy.

Then suddenly the peace of the moment was shattered when a sharpened stick came flying down and pierced Fishy in the back, sticking all the way through, and pulling him flipping, flopping and gasping from the water.

Audrey and Penelope both watched on in horror as Ance set the fish down and chopped off its head in one fluid motion.

"Good eye, Penny. He'll taste good with the taters," Ance acknowledged.

Audrey cast a glance at her daughter, saw the look on her face and groaned, knowing what was about to happen.... And happen it did. Penelope let out wail and clenched her fists. Her brown eyes reddened and filled with tears as she stared broken heartedly at Ance.

"How could you do that?" she whimpered. "He was my friend!"

Audrey, who moments before had wanted to throttle the man, couldn't help but feel sympathy for him now as he sat back on his haunches and appeared completely bewildered. "Your friend? It's a fish...."

"His name was Fishy!" Penelope exclaimed. "And you killed him!"

"Penny, I'm...." Ance swallowed hard as tears streaked Penelope's face. "Hell, I'm sorry..."

"You are evil!" Penelope sniffed loudly, threw the metal pot to the ground and then turned and ran as quickly as her leg would allow away from him. She stopped at a tree on top of a nearby hill and collapsed beside it, pulling her knees into her chest and sobbing into her skirts.

Ance simply stared after her and appeared quite lost. He began to rise up but Audrey stopped him. "You stay and cook the fish, I'll go tend to Penelope," she assured him. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ance, we have to eat... I'll try to make her understand that."

Ance simply nodded and stared down at the dead fish at his feet as Audrey rose up and walked to her daughter. She sat down beside her and silence reigned for several long moments before Audrey spoke. "Ance loves you very much, Penelope, and what you said to him was mean."

"But he killed my Fishy..." Penelope voice was muffled from within the folds of her skirts.

"You stop that now. You are eight years old, not four, and you understand that fish are food. Why are you acting this way, Penelope? It isn't like you to blow up that way. Tell me what's really wrong."

Penelope sniffed quietly and glanced at her over her knees. "I'm scared, mama.. I miss our house and the horses... Why can't we go home? Why do those men want to hurt me?"

Audrey's heart broke for her daughter. She didn't deserve this pain and it only served to further fuel Audrey's hatred for U.S. Marshall Rodger York. She put her arm around Penelope and the girl crawled into her lap just the same as she had when she'd been younger.

"I'm scared too, baby girl, but I'll do everything I can to keep you safe and we have Ance to help us. Before you know it, this will all be over and we'll be back home."

"But what about those men, mama? Why do they want to hurt me? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything," Audrey promised her.

"She's right, Penny," Ance's voice came from beside them and Audrey nearly cried out with shock at his sudden presence. How did a man so large move so silently? Ance held out a white wildflower clutched in his callous and scar covered fist and stuck it in Penelope's face. "I'm sorry about your fish, Penny. I promise when all this is said and done, I'll dig you a pond and you can fill it with all the damn fish you want and I won't fry none of them up for supper."

Penelope swiped her hands over her face and took the flower. "Okay," she whispered. "Sorry I yelled at you."

Ance shrugged, a small grin tugging at his lips. "Sorry I cut your fish's head off."

Penelope launched herself out of Audrey's lap and threw her arms around Ance's neck. He grunted and Audrey could tell he paled beneath his beard. She knew he was in pain from the wound on his side but when she opened her mouth to speak he shook his head and hugged Penelope tighter.

"I love you, Ance."

Audrey saw Ance's throat bob and though he turned his back to her, she still heard him whisper, "I love you too, Penny."

***

Ance sat in the dark and stared at Audrey's slumbering form. It seemed he constantly found his eyes watching her. There was no denying the way his body was beginning to respond to her presence. The touch of her hand on his arm whenever she grabbed him or wanted his attention had him biting his cheeks 'til they bled to keep from growling and tossing the beautiful woman to the ground. It was an unfamiliar thing for Ance--this desire and passion. While he'd had whores in brothels before he hadn't been passionate about any of them.... Audrey was different. She was strong, brave and a truly loving mother to Penelope--and Ance wasn't happy about it.

Ance's gaze went to the girl who had been so upset hours ago by his slaughtering of her scaly friend. Hell, Ance hadn't realized she'd be upset... he'd forgotten in a sense what it felt like to care so much about something...

All he cared about in the world was Penelope and he would do everything he could to be certain he never gave her a reason to look at him with that kind of hurt in her brown eyes again.

Ance's mare snorted lightly and tossed her head where she stood beside a small bush. Ance nodded at her as he shoved himself to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain in his side. "I know he's out there, girl. You watch these two and I'll deal with him."

The mare slowly cantered over to Penelope and Audrey and stood beside them. Ance knew that should anyone happen into camp, his mare would bite, kick, scream and whinny before she'd let harm come to those he told her to watch out for. She was a damn good horse--Ance supposed he liked her.

Ance slipped away into the darkness and toward the man he'd noticed dogging them since yesterday. The man had followed them from town and at first Ance had thought perhaps he was just going the same way--until Ance had headed straight toward Indian Territory and the man had followed. Not many folks made their way there.

Ance crouched low as he crossed over the rise and saw the tiny camp down below. A lone silhouette sat on a rock beside a tiny fire, staring into the flames. Ance pulled his revolver and headed down the hill, not bothering to hide himself.

The man looked up and quickly leapt to his feet and held his hands high. "Don't shoot!" he exclaimed.

"Why the hell you been doggin' me?" Ance growled.

"I ain't been doggin' nobody!" the man vowed. "Honest!"

Ance glanced around. There was only one horse hitched but there were two tin cups and plates on the ground beside the fire. Unease trickled down Ance's spine. He'd been wrong... there were two men, not just one, and the other man was currently away from camp.

"Where's your friend?" he asked, keeping his voice low and even.

"I ain't got no friends," the man stated with a smirk. "Not a single friend in the whole world."

Ance tilted his head toward the plates and cups. "You must have one hell of an appetite."

A toothless grin was flashed his way. "I always was a big eater."

Ance decided he'd had enough. Without a warning, he raised his gun and fired a shot, blowing a bullet through the lying son of a bitch's gut. The man stumbled back and clutched at his bleeding abdomen. He reached for his gun but Ance clicked his tongue and cocked the gun, preparing for another shot which stopped the man's movements.

"Where's your goddamn friend?" Ance snapped.

"You son of a bitch... I'm dying!" the man cried as he fell to his knees.

Ance nodded calmly and stepped forward. "You asked for it, you yellow bellied coward. How much money are you and your friend hoping to gain by killing an innocent child?"

The dying man laughed weakly. "You should have thought twice before you stole from Barnaby. That girl is as good as dead because of what you did.. And so are you."

Ance glared at the man, decided to leave him to bleed to death out here in the middle of nowhere--which would happen within the next hour or so-- took the man's gun and headed quickly back toward camp. He hoped he'd get back to the women before his mare was forced to take the honors of killing the second bastard away from him.

***

Audrey jerked awake in the night and sat up quickly. She had no idea what had awaken her but was startled to find Ance's mare standing so closely.

The horse's head shot up and her ears swiveled. Audrey heard a twig snap nearby and she looked to the other side of the fire to realize that Ance was gone.... Where had he gone?

"Ance?" she whispered into the darkness.

A shadow appeared and as it moved closer, Audrey knew it was nearly large enough to be Ance's. Reaching for her revolver, Audrey clutched it in her hand as Ance's mare stomped her hoof and let out a snort. Audrey prepared herself for protecting her daughter.

A sneering man stepped close enough to the firelight for Audrey to make out his features in the darkness. He was short, thin, pock scarred and held a gun in his hand which was aimed straight at her.

"Hello there, pretty lady. I'll have to keep you alive awhile. You could be fun."

A low growl emitted from the darkness behind the sneering man and a much larger shadow suddenly loomed in the night. "I wouldn't count on that," Ance's deep, gravely voice warned.

Audrey watched with a mixture of shock, relief and a bit of irritation at once again needing to be saved, as Ance shot forward, wrapped one massive arm around the man's shoulders and slid his knife across his throat before the other man even knew what was coming.

The man's eyes widened as he flailed desperately in Ance's arms a moment before those black eyes went blank and the man slumped lifelessly. Ance dropped him to the ground and his eyes roamed over Audrey. "You okay?"

Audrey could do little more than nod as she breathed deeply and fought off waves of nausea. Never in her life had she seem as much blood come out of one person as had come out of that man's throat....

"Who was he?" she whispered, letting her gaze drift over her peacefully slumbering daughter.

"I don't know," Ance replied, cleaning his knife on the dead man's stiff trousers. "Barnaby hired him and his friend."

"Friend?" Audrey frowned as she slowly pushed herself to her feet and clutched her revolver tightly to hide the trembling in her hands.

"Don't worry. He's dead," Ance assured her. His eyes washed over her once more and Audrey found herself shifting under his gaze as her body seemed to warm from the swift caress of his deep blue eyes. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes...thank you.. Again."

Ance shoved his knife back in the holster on his leg and shrugged. "Don't mention it." He grabbed he dead man under his arms and hefted him up halfway. Audrey's stomach rolled at the sight of the man's neck flopping back and that gaping wound in his throat flopping open. "I'll get rid of his so Penny don't see it.... I uh.. I'm glad you're okay, Audrey."

Audrey watched him walk away in the night and wondered just how many times Ance was going to ride in and save her life....