Part One – Lori Connelly
Part Two – Paty Jager
Part Three – Julie Lence
Part Four – Susan Horsnell
Part Five – Aileen Harkwood
Part Six – AJ Nuest
Part Seven – Mandy Baggot
Uneven footsteps shuffled across the street behind Daniel, scuffing up puffs of dust when they stopped at his right side. “Give the child to me, Marshal.” The voice, pitched low and even, carried a request, not a demand. “I won’t hurt her. I swear.” Daniel canted his gaze toward the claw-thin hands reaching for Marigold. Sadness muddled with guilt stared back from Virgil’s eyes. “She’s my flesh and blood.”
At Daniel’s other shoulder, Fannie gasped. The shotgun never wavered. “Your—”
“Annabelle was my sister.” Virgil lifted the whimpering girl from Daniel’s arms with a tenderness he’d seldom seen…and never from a derelict.
Anderson’s grating rumble kicked up more dust. “Gimme the girl and get on outta here, you old gimp. You ain’t been worth spit since the war crippled your leg and half your mind.”
Virgil stiffened and returned the viper’s glare. “I thought the kids would be better off with anybody but me. I was wrong.” Hugging Marigold tight to his chest, he turned a sharp, clear gaze on Fannie. “Sorry about your barn, ma’am.” His voice wound down to a worn-out whisper. “I got it into my head General Custer…”
Daniel locked Anderson’s glower at the same instant he snagged Virgil’s elbow. Fingertips met thumb around an arm frail enough to snap in a firm grip. “Do as the man said. Take Will with you. Help Doc see to the girl.”
A threat shot from Anderson’s lips with the force of a bullet. “Move one inch, and it’ll be the last movement you make.”
“And yours, Montgomery.” Fannie adjusted the shotgun against her shoulder.
Taking control of his breath, if not his galloping pulse, Daniel eased a hand toward the Colt on his hip.
Anderson snorted. “You ain’t about to shoot me, teacher.” The muzzle of his Remington took aim at Virgil while he tossed a command at Will. “Boy, don’t make me tell you twice. Get your sister and plant both of your asses over here by me.”
Trembling and pale, Will nonetheless stepped between Anderson and his mark and dug his heels into the dust. Virgil oozed backward.
Anderson flicked the revolver’s muzzle skyward, and then dead-centered a bead on Will. The boy raised his chin and held his ground.
Fannie shifted; steadied the gun. Virgil’s limping, backward slide quickened. Daniel’s fingertips slipped onto the cool surface of a walnut pistol grip.
“You ungrateful little polecat.” The words hissed between Anderson’s bared teeth. “I done right by you kids, but you ain’t never been no good. Just like your ma.”
As hard as he shook, the boy’s innards had to be rattling. He didn’t back down, though. “Did you beat her, too?”
“Lester’s the only one of you heathens got a lick of sense. Must've got that from me. Sure as hell didn’t get it from your faithless whore of a mother.”
Will launched himself at Anderson’s sneer. “Take that back.”
Daniel yanked his hand from his Colt and caught the boy by the collar. Jerking and twisting at the end of Daniel’s reach, Will nearly ripped the thin fabric from his grasp. The boy had sand to spare.
And he was about to get himself killed.
Rapid, limping thuds and delicate taps hit the boardwalk and disappeared behind a slamming door. Daniel hauled Will against him and clamped an arm around the boy’s waist, widening his stance to shore up his balance.
Will’s heart thumped hard enough to pound a hole through Daniel’s chest, but the youngster continued to squirm. “He’s a goldurn liar. My mama wasn’t no whore. He’s a thief, though…or would be if he had the guts.”
Anderson took a half step forward on a snarl. “Shut your mouth, boy.”
Fannie tracked Anderson with the shotgun. She shot Daniel a tense glance.
Will froze. Stiff as a fencepost, flush against Daniel’s chest with his feet dangling six inches above the ground, the kid pinned Anderson with a poisonous glare. “Said if we didn’t bring back something worthwhile this time, Marigold could pay him and his friends another way.” He jammed a hand into a pants pocket. When he opened his fist, sunlight glittered on multicolored stones set in gold. “I took it. I didn’t have no choice.”
“I said shut your mouth.” Anderson’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Daniel twisted toward Fannie, shoving his shoulder between Will and a rabid wolf. Her blue eyes fixed his for a fractional second before lancing back to her target.
Anderson slithered forward another step. “Think that’ll protect that city fop’s leavin’s, Marshal?” A cold chuckle wound through the words. “Think again. I can take you both with one shot.”
“And you’ll go with them.” Fannie’s tone bore an even deeper chill, made all the more wintry by a deadly calm.
“It’ll be worth it.” Anderson sucked a breath, lips twisting as his empty hand scratched the worn flannel covering his chest. “Only thing I wanted when I got outta that hellhole was mine by rights.” His eyes narrowed into black slits. “They got their comeuppance. Made damn sure Mr. Fancypants got a lesson in how a real man loves his woman.” He thumbed back the Remington’s hammer.
Daniel shot Fannie a sidelong glance. She gave a quick nod.
Hand already in motion, he dropped the kid.
****
“Be Mine, Marshal” concludes March 31 with Kari Lemor’s Part Nine. Y’all stay tuned!
