Pray for the Dead Read online

  The first arrivals that morning were another ranch family from south of town, Morgan Strokes and his wife Earnestine, and their two teenage boys. A vaquero was there to take the team and wagon, and asked if they would like them unhitched and watered.

  Morgan acted a little uneasy answering. Chet moved in to hug Earnestine, and assured the fellow rancher that his men would take good care of his team.

  “Thank you, Chet.”

  “And thank you for inviting us,” Earnestine gushed. “We’re so glad to be here today.”

  “You go in the back door. My Liz and that bunch are inside waiting for you. Morgan, if you and those boys want to see some of those yellow horses we talked about a while back, there’s a boy up there can show them. Nice to have you.”

  He could see the two boys were excited about that and they headed off as more wagons arrived.

  It was good to be home among friends and family. Things were breaking loose and half the population of the county would probably be there before it started.

  Good enough, Victor and Rhea sure deserved a real wedding.

  My, how my Arizona family has grown.

  When they’d arrived, it had been he, his sister Susie, and May, with a small crew to mind the wagons from the end of the railroad tracks in the panhandle to the Verde Ranch. The Texas boys all got homesick before long and had left. Men like Jesus and Cole took their places, and had become his guardsmen to ease the worries of his late wife, Marge. More good boys had joined, and some of the more dependable ones, like Roamer, Shawn, and the Morales brothers, had been sent to handle his Force in the south, holding down banditry on the border.

  The Force was something else that he needed to check on in the nearby future. But he was going to take the next few weeks and go over the financial condition of the ranching operations. Liz helped him keep the books, but he still needed to know all about what was going on and what they’d need to do in the future.

  He moved about greeting the arriving guests. The day had begun to warm up and the sky was clear and blue for the occasion. Hampt and a very pregnant May arrived with their two boys and one girl on smaller horses.

  “Hey, look here the boss man’s back. How are you, fellow?” He bear-hugged Chet after he climbed down.

  “Great. Good to see you two. My sister stay with you last night?”

  Both men moved to help May off the wagon. With her feet on the ground, she glanced back down the road. “They’re coming—somewhere. You alright?”

  “Doing great. We got back to the Verde last night. I rode on up here by myself.”

  “Wonder why he did that?” Hampt teased.

  “Hampt.” May frowned at him. “Oh, thanks so much, Chet. That lawyer you got for us? He’s really straightened out that bunch at Mason on my inheritance.”

  “I knew he was good. I’m glad he got it taken care of.”

  “How is everyone?” she asked.

  “Not got a list but everyone here seems good. I guess Reg had a wreck.”

  “Lucy wrote me. He broke his leg in two places and is bedridden.”

  “I bet he’s a wonderful patient, too,” Chet deadpanned.

  May suppressed her laughter. “I bet he is. About like you or Hampt would be. I’d leave home on either one of you. How was that rim country you went to check on?”

  “Hey, we rounded up the bandits and have lots of evidence. They should be up here shortly. I left the gang at the Verde late last night.”

  “Don’t ever send a boy when you need a man,” Hampt said, and got a small shove from his wife. They laughed.

  “There’s your bunch coming now, I think,” May said. “Speak of the devils.”

  “What do you know?” Chet squinted, caught sight of the caravan coming down the lane. “I better go see them.”

  “I’ll join you,” Hampt said.

  “Good morning,” Chet said to Cole when they reached the lead horse. “Any problems?”

  “Not except for their bitching. I am tired of that. I thought maybe Valerie was already here. This the wedding day?”

  “You bet it is. Get those guys in the jail and come on back. It’ll be middle of the afternoon if I got it right.”

  “You have a big start already on people,” Jesus said, looking around.

  “They won’t be married in the church?” Cole asked.

  “No, the priest Father O’Brian said God was everywhere and there wasn’t enough room for all of us in his small church. Here was fine.”

  Cole shrugged. “I recall it was sure crowded when you married Liz.”

  “It was that. Get them in jail and get on back here. That paper I wrote will get them locked up and we can talk to the assistant federal prosecutor about them later.”

  Cole nodded, then waved at Liz as she came down the road to greet them.

  “Thanks for taking such good care of him,” she said, clutching Chet’s arm possessively. “I owe you another one.”

  “It was a tough job, but we managed.” Cole smiled and tipped his hat. “We’ll be back before things really get started.”

  “We’ll have another couple of guests, it sounds like,” Chet told his wife.

  “Oh, who’s that?”

  “That second woman from the gang’s hideout, Candy. Cole dropped her with Millie, and Millie’s found her a dress and bringing her along.”

  “Two women?”

  “I guess I forgot. I told you about that Navajo woman they had chained up in a shed, right? Well, Candy was there, too. She isn’t all there, though. Talks to herself. I think she’s had some bad experiences and now ignores life.”

  “No, you didn’t mention them.”

  “Well, you know me,” he said. “I feel sorry for folks like that.”

  “That makes four women like that in a short while.”

  “I’m not keeping score. I can’t stand for a woman to be mistreated. She won’t hurt anyone. And she damn sure does not appeal to me.”

  “I’ve not said a word—”

  “But you sound like you’re thinking it,” he pointed out.

  “I’m thinking I’m so glad you do the things you do for everyone. As for the women, I’m not worried. I won’t ever let them have you.” She hugged his arm.

  Chet laughed. “Good. Don’t ask me what I’ll do with her, though. I have no idea.”

  “Millie and I will solve that for you when she gets here.”

  He turned, kissed her forehead, and said, “Good. That’s what I’ve got you for. Keep me out of scrapes.”

  They headed for the cooks and helpers, with Hampt trailing with them.

  “You two beat it all.” Hampt laughed. “I thought I had a bad case on May. But after I came home from that lost herd episode I told May, I never knew a man and woman as close as you two are who could smooth the waters in a stormy ocean in three sentences.”

  “That one took four,” Chet corrected.

  “And you know what?” Liz said to Hampt.

  “What’s that?”

  “I never expected to find anyone like him in this world.”

  “He’s a rare breed,” Hampt agreed. “Came here from Texas, told me just how things would be, and they turned out exactly like he said. I was doing day work. Ryan had run me off the Quarter Circle Z for arguing with him, put the word out not to hire me. No one but some small ranchers needed day help would hire me because they all feared Ryan so much. Then here came this soft-talking Texan. Jenn introduced us and he told me I had a job soon as he got control of the ranch. I thought, ‘Yeah and hell’s going to freeze over.’ But he got it away from them—bad guys.

  “Liz, he turned my life around. Me, Tom, Sarge, and a bunch of other hands on the ranches were all out of work and banned from any jobs. He saved our lives. Amen.”

  “I know he saved mine, too,” Liz said. “I wouldn’t trade my spot in his life, either.”

  “Aw, you two would have made it anywhere you went,” Chet replied.

  Liz shook her head. “You heard him. You
heard me. So suffer, hombre.”

  “Dadgum right.”

  In Spanish, she addressed the busy cooking crew. “How is it going today?”

  “We are ready, señora.”

  “Gracias, mi amigos,” she said in return. She turned back to Chet. “We don’t have one thing to worry about here.”

  He hugged her. “I never worry about our people. They all work hard as you and Hampt do. It’s the people that make these ranches work. I’ve been lucky as all get out to find you. We had a nice ranch and setup in Texas, but it would have been hard to expand like this there. The cattle drives to Kansas led the economy. But I’d never had this much land or opportunities back there. I loved it until the feud threatened to kill off my family. But I never looked back. Arizona is the new frontier.”

  “Well, Hampt and I are glad to be along. More folks are coming. I’m going to change clothes, dear. You’ll want to welcome them. I’ll see you later.”

  “Thanks,” Chet said after her.

  “I better go find my wife and be sure she has what she needs,” Hampt said. “We’re going to have a real ranch out my way. And my family is growing. That oldest boy Ty is talking about going on to school. I’m encouraging him.”

  “You need any money for that boy’s education, just let me know.”

  “Thanks. I’ll tell May that, too.”

  “I better get to shaking hands. More folks are coming in.”

  For the next hour, Chet worked the crowd. Millie and Candy arrived with Millie’s kids in a buckboard. Tom and his oldest, they said, were checking on a few things and would be there later. Several of the ranch hands were there. Susie, Sarge, and their baby arrived, with three of the Windmill Ranch hands trailing behind.

  Bo Evans and his intended, Shelly, drove in. Tanner from the bank arrived in his light buggy. The Freys came with all their offspring, then Ben Ivor and his wife with their baby, Kathrin looking ready to deliver another. She’d told him once, privately—“My first husband and I never had any children. Now I can’t get far from my first baby. But I’m happy, and I feel very lucky thanks to you.”

  “I’m simply pleased that you have him and are happy,” he’d replied.

  “You ever need me, just holler.”

  “Kathrin, you’ve helped me lots in this life. You owe me nothing.”

  “Chet Byrnes, you took a big chance bringing me down here considering my state of affairs at the time. You saved my life for much better things. I won’t ever forget that.”

  Now, helping Kathrin down off the rig, Chet gave her a hug and shook his head at her swollen belly.

  “What will you call this one?”

  “If it is a girl, Mira. That’s for the miracle part.”

  “And a boy?”

  “That’s up to him.”

  “I better get going. Good luck to both of you.”

  “Tell Liz hi. I love her, you know. She’s as smart a woman as I’ve ever met.”

  “Me too, Kathrin,” he said with a nod of his head. “Me too.”

  More folks arrived and they gathered for lunch in the tent. Chet said a short blessing, then stopped and apologized when he realized the priest was already there, too.

  “The Lord was pleased to hear it from you, Chet.”

  “Thank you, padre.”

  Chet smiled sheepishly and sat beside his wife. “How many are coming?” he asked in a whisper. “Did you invite the whole county?”

  “You feed them too well.”

  “I’ll cut back next time.”

  Liz stifled a laugh. “No you won’t.”

  “Have you seen Jenn and Valerie yet? Have I missed them?” he asked.

  “They’re at the house and will be here shortly. Said they passed the boys and the prisoners on the road.”

  “Cole and Jesus should be back by the start of the wedding.”

  “I am sure they will,” she said. “Your aunt and her husband came, too, did you see?”

  “I need to hug that man.”

  Liz made a face at him. “Why’s that?”

  “In Texas she was the biggest pain in the backside I had. Nothing I did ever pleased her.”

  “Oh, she speaks so highly of you now. What happened?”

  “Some outlaws kidnapped her thinking she was Susie and I rescued her.”

  She snorted. “Sounds just like you. But she really is happy in her new life. Maybe that was part of the problem in Texas.”

  He stopped eating. “Maybe. She is happier, though. My father’s brother was her first husband and father of those two boys—JD and Reg. He was killed in the war—the very last days, we think. Records weren’t kept all that well back then. I always thought he might have survived and would turn up someday, but I think now after all these years he really did die.”

  “I’d never heard that story.”

  “I guess someday I should write it all down, make a record of our family history.”

  “When would you have time to do that?”

  He laughed. “Good question.”

  “Did you learn anything about those brothers you arrested in Utah?”

  “Not much. They complained all the time and would have killed any and all of us if they’d gotten half the chance. They couldn’t believe how we’d found them.”

  “I guess they thought they were real smart?”

  “Or too tough to be caught.”

  “Can they be hung?” she asked.

  “I’ve no doubt they will be tried, found guilty, and executed.”

  “I’m simply glad you made it back.”

  Chet hugged her close. “So am I.”

  “You have any plans?”

  “Maybe go check on the Force down south, and JD’s operation at Diablo soon. But that can wait until the newlyweds get back, since you and that girl will have Adam until they come home.”

  “Good. Maybe we can slip down to the hacienda in Mexico while we’re down south? See how things are going down there?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  After lunch, Rhea arrived in her spectacular white dress, and Victor waited up at the large horse barn for the hour hand on his watch to get close to two. More folks arrived, and Jesus and Cole came back from town to report the prisoners in jail and the evidence under lock and key.

  “Good. No more plans today. When Rhea comes back after the honeymoon, we may go to Mexico to Liz’s place, check on the Force, and see JD and his operation.”

  Cole’s wife shook her head and smiled. “Always busy,” she said.

  “No rest for the wicked,” Chet affirmed. He led the way off toward the tent to prepare for the service. Halfway there, Valerie left Cole’s side and hurried forward to speak with him.

  “I didn’t make a face at you back there, Chet,” she said. “I know Cole is proud to be with you. I am, too. We’ve all benefited. I’m just a wife who misses him.”

  “No problem, Valerie. I understand.”

  “Valerie, I make the same faces. Don’t worry about it.” Liz hugged her.

  They went inside to find seats. Raphael was already there in his new suit, the slender Rhea at his elbow, ready to take her to the altar and give her away.

  It was a great day on his ranches—another wedding. A wedding between a wonderful girl who cared for his son like her own, and a very talented young man who’d proved his worth over and over. A great day in spite of crimes committed by greedy people like the Cassidy brothers and others all across the frontier. These were the days that made it all worth it, and they were twice as fine as their discovery of the bloody evidence under the floor of that house, and the knowledge that people’s lives had been cut short by the greed of a few cutthroat outlaws.

  “You look awful serious for such an occasion,” Liz whispered.

  “Just thinking about the good and evil in this world.” Chet nodded, tight-lipped. “This is the good part.”

  “I agree.”

  The wedding march began, Raphael marching down the aisle, taking Victor to his bri
de. A glorious event in the ranch’s history, as neat as his own wedding to Liz had been. New book, new chapters to fill. Chet had never even dreamed things like this could happen here on his own ranch. Surrounded by so many he called family, he listened to the priest’s blessing, watched the couple share communion and their vows. Finally, they were pronounced husband and wife.

  Let the fandango begin.

  After the ceremony, Chet kissed the bride on the forehead and shook Victor’s hand. Then he led them to the decorated buckboard, all loaded and ready for their trip to Oak Creek. Rita held Adam up for Rhea to kiss one last time, and then they were gone among shouts and cheers.

  He hugged Liz close to him. “Best thing that’s happened since I got back and hugged you.”

  “Hugged me?” She shook her head.

  They both laughed and turned to go back to the party.

  CHAPTER 8

  After the wedding, it was time to get back to the business of ranching. A horse wreck had occurred earlier in the week while sorting cattle, sending a vaquero to the doctor’s office with a broken arm. Raphael reported the man’s arm was set and that they’d be bringing him home in two days. Horse fine, cowboy fine in a few weeks. That was the nature of the thing, and they were all thankful it hadn’t been worse.

  Chet also spent some time with Adam. Monica had everything up on higher shelves to save them from the boy’s ever-growing explorations. His staggering trips around the house to new places entertained his father all afternoon. They rolled a ball at each other, chased each other around the house, laughed and laughed while wrestling on the living room floor. But Adam’s attention span always quickly shifted to something else, leaving Chet to watch the diapered backside disappear down the hall. Nonetheless, they had some rare private time to share some manly things.

  The short rest came to an end late in the week. Jesus had gone and gotten the mail, and came back with a letter for Chet. He handed it over. Opening the envelope with a bone-handled letter opener, Chet unfolded the notepaper and read the neat handwriting.

  Dear Marshal Byrnes

  I have heard much about what you do for people and their problems with outlaws. I am a widow. My husband of ten years, a sober Christian man named Arnold Hayes, was shot six months ago by an outlaw named Burt Clayton for no obvious reason. Three witnesses testified at the JP hearing that Clayton became irate over something Arnold had nothing to do with: a horse he had bought for a stallion but was infertile.