Crested Butte, Colorado

Late-Summer – 1885

Abigail Hawthorne stood atop of the steps leading down off the train. She was immediately assaulted by the competing smells. The fresh evergreen wind off the Rockies battled with the mechanical steam odor of the train, as both mixed with the smoky haze that emanated from the small town. It only had a few hundred residents but supplied the thousand or more miners in the area.

She adjusted the bustle of her dress and tucked the small pillow she’d been sitting on under her arm. Thankfully, her dress wasn’t the Victorian styled full bustle that was common back East, or the train ride would’ve been intolerable.

Looking down, she saw her three traveling companions staring back up at her. Two of the three were very distinct looking, compared to the townsfolk.

The first was a short thin balding man who was very well dressed and wore spectacles. Edmond Horace was a lawyer from Denver, who had been her father’s attorney for the past several years. It bothered Abby that he rarely smiled, and when he did it made shivers run down her spine.

Dwarfing them and most men, as well, was the man they called the Swede. Jonas Swanson was a mountain of a man. He was almost two heads taller than Mr. Horace, and about three times as big around his chest. Abby wondered how he could find suspenders large enough to stretch over all those muscles and keep his britches up.

Besides his imposing physique, he was covered with bright blonde hair. From his long unkempt mane to his full beard to his hairy chest and arms, he reminded her of a huge golden bear.

The third man she’d recognize in any crowd. Even though he was dressed like most there in the town, Abby knew she’d recognize the way he walked and talked anywhere. He was a good looking man with black curly hair and a full black beard. His big blue eyes and outgoing personality separated him from most. Besides that, he was Abigail’s husband for the past five years, Thomas Hawthorne.

“Stay close,” warned her husband as he helped her down. “This is certainly no place for a lady.”

‘You should know,’ she thought to herself as she fought back bitter comments.

She knew this was in his blood. It had been his life for more than a decade before he’d come back home. She looked into his eyes and could see the excitement he was trying to hide. It was a look that a year ago would’ve made her heart skip a beat, but now it was just a reminder of those things she’d given up.

‘Like a moth to the flame or Icarus to the sun,’ she silently sighed

“Mrs. Hawthorne,” Horace interjected, “please remain very close to us. Unfortunately, up in these parts, an attractive woman is rarer than the gold and silver these men are seeking.”

“Thank you, Mr. Horace, both my husband and the Swede are packing iron and I know the Swede has his rifle close by, as well. I feel quite protected. Still, I’ll be careful and stay close.”

Horace nodded and turned to the Swede. “Grab our things and I’ll go find this Buckman and his transport.”

The big man grunted and nodded. The Swede rarely spoke. Abby always believed it was because he didn’t speak much English, however he seemed to understand it very well.

Abby looked over at her husband and could see his smile partially hidden within his beard. His eyes searched the town as if he was looking for something.

“Do you really miss this?”

“What?” he replied, his face showing some surprise.

“You were looking at this place like it was your long lost lover.”

“Well that’s a bit dramatic, but yeah, I miss this every now and then.”

“So planning on leaving again?” she hissed.

“Dammit, woman! Save your venom for someone else! Yeah, I miss this, but I’m still here ain’t I? I’m still married to you and living on the ranch.

“Listen, Abby,” he sighed. “I know you got your back up ‘cause of this trip. I ain’t looking forward to facing him, either.”

Abby took a deep breath and calmed herself. She knew her husband was right. She’d been on edge for the past four months, since everything seemed to be falling apart. Now she was going to face her ex-husband and that promised to be a nightmare.

“I’m sorry, Thomas. You’re right, this trip is upsetting. Things haven’t been right since Sarah ran away last May. Now having to face Jeremiah again is bringing back a lot of bad memories.”

“You know this meeting has to happen. As for Sarah, well, I told you I didn’t do what she said I did. She’s still mad about her father. I am sorry she ran away though.”

“I know,” Abby replied. “She never forgave us for getting married. You were drinking pretty heavy back then.”

“Dammit, Abby! Not here, not now!” he snarled at her.

Abby turned away and looked over the little mining town. She forced herself not to dwell on the past several months. She remembered better times.

She’d moved to the Colorado Territory with her father, Henry Thompson, when she was only six. They’d left Pennsylvania a few months after her mother had died. It was 1860, just a few years before the Great War between the States. They’d arrived in Colorado several years after the “Pike’s Peak or Bust” gold rush.

Her father wasn’t searching for gold, but was seeking riches of another kind. He’d purchased a ranch that was one of three covering a small valley on the southeast base of Pike’s Peak. That valley had the potential to become very valuable if the railroad ever went through.

Their ranch was adjacent to the two others in the valley, the Old Wilson place and the Hawthorne ranch. Old Man Wilson lived up to his name and seemed to have a bone to pick with just about everyone. The Hawthornes had been heaven sent. With so few other children in the area, she’d been lucky to have two that were close to her age as neighbors. Abigail had immediately befriended the two Hawthorne brothers, Thomas and Jeremiah. She was the same age as Jeremiah, and Thomas was a couple years older. The three grew up and became inseparable.

Abby smiled, thinking back to the hours and hours the three had played together after their chores were finished. Even back then the brothers were polar opposites. When they were out playing Jeremiah always had to be the lawman, while Thomas was the outlaw. She’d always played the damsel in distress or the princess.

‘Funny how I was drawn to the one with the wanderlust even back then,’ she chastised herself. ‘Well I caught him, mores the fool! I sure shouldn’t be surprised he’s restless now.’

They had only been on the ranch a few years when the war broke out. It hadn’t touched Colorado much, but it did affect the Hawthornes. Mr. Hawthorne had left his wife and two young boys to go fight when Thomas and Jeremiah were only eleven and nine. He was only gone two years, but when he came back he was a changed man. Abby remembered him as loud and full of laughter, before, but what came home was a crippled, broken man.

He’d lost his right arm and was partially blind in his right eye. He’d also lost his spirit. Abby could count on one hand the number of times she’d heard him laugh after he came home. Her father had said he’d died in the war, but his body just hadn’t lain down yet.

His condition was a strain on his family. Mrs. Hawthorne nursed him, but everyone knew she wasn’t very interested in the ranch so Thomas and Jeremiah basically ran it under their father’s oversight.

It was Abigail’s dream to stay in the valley and raise a family, and that seemed to be Jeremiah’s, as well. Thomas had other dreams and wasn’t interested in a life on the ranch. His outlaw personality and craving for adventure matched his vagabond spirit.

She’d loved both Thomas and Jeremiah back then. Jeremiah had been her castle, her knight in shining armor while Thomas had been her pirate, the one who stole her heart. Like most dreams, reality crushed hers when shortly after his seventeenth birthday, Thomas left to seek his fortune looking for gold and silver in the Rockies.

It had broken her heart but made her choice easy. Jeremiah was her future. At the ripe old age of sixteen, she and Jeremiah were married.

Their marriage had started out rough. Things were tense when Jeremiah found out Abby wasn’t a virgin. She’d given herself to Thomas just before he’d left. It took a bit, but they were able to work through it and the marriage began to get better.

The only other rough patch during those first years was after she’d given birth to Sarah. The birth had been difficult, but her daughter was born healthy. Unfortunately, Abby was never able to carry another child more than a few months after that.

Abby had been heartbroken, but Jeremiah had been her rock back then. His love and attention had covered her and her love for him grew.

‘But it wasn’t strong enough, was it?’ she thought to herself.

Henry Thompson had been busy about that time, as well. A small village at the mouth of the valley sprang up. It wasn’t large, only about 50 people lived in it, but it had the basics of being a town. It had a general store, a church, a smithy and a boarding house with a tiny saloon attached to the back. Abby was aware her father owned a stake in almost all of those. Unsurprisingly, it was called Thompsonville.

She and Jeremiah had been married just over six years when Mr. Hawthorne quietly passed away. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Hawthorne decided to go to San Francisco and stay with her sister. Jeremiah told Abby that his father had left the ranch to him and Thomas with a provision that they care for their mother.

A year later, in 1877, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway went to war over access rights.

The most notable incident was a major standoff when Bat Masterson and his strongmen from Dodge City, who were hired by the AT&SF Railway, took over the roundhouse in Pueblo. A man from the D&RG railway ended up bribing them to leave.

During those several years, there were rumors of homesteads being burned and people being run off their land. The valley was tense with fear. That was when her father brought the Swede onto the ranch.

Despite the Swede’s presence, the railway war touched the valley. The Wilson’s ranch burned one night. His grandson and his new wife had just arrived a couple months earlier to help on the ranch. Old Man Wilson died in the fire and his grandson was badly burned.

Not a week later, the grandson and his wife had left, but not before selling the ranch to Henry Thompson. Her father had said they did it because the grandson wouldn’t have been able to rebuild and they wanted to keep it out of the railway’s hands, at least for a little while.

Jeremiah had always questioned the particulars of those events, and the relationship between her father and husband soured dramatically. It put a huge strain on her marriage and she felt like she was constantly defending her father to Jeremiah.

As the railway wars continued, Abby’s marriage began to slowly fall apart.

They were arguing more and there were fewer and fewer nights that they didn’t go to bed angry at each other. Gone were those nights of passion, the heat of his breath as he claimed her. Missing even more were those nights of tender love making, when she’d swear that they were one person. She missed his strong arms holding her at night and his soothing voice telling her they were going to be all right. She knew they’d both failed each other. She’d stubbornly rebuked most of his advances and he’d quit trying, giving in to his frustration and anger instead.

Sometime later, Jeremiah told her he needed to go check on something and would be gone for several days. When she’d questioned him he’d been vague and said he just wanted to be sure of something. He left two days later.

The next day the nightmare began at the Hawthorne ranch. It was two months later before Abby was able to confront Jeremiah.

With a deep sigh, Abby closed her eyes and remembered one of the worst days of her life.

Thompsonville, Colorado

Spring – 1880

Jeremiah rode warily up the ranch house. He knew things were wrong. The last two months had been frustrating. First he’d gone up to Leadville to check on his father’s investment. Finding it safe, he’d gone to Denver to check on when Henry Thompson had actually put a claim on the Wilson ranch. Something hadn’t seemed right, the dates he’d told Abby didn’t match with how things seemed to happen.

He’d stopped by the law office Henry had used and asked some questions. They’d told him that he needed to speak with a Mr. Horace, who would be back in a couple of hours.

He’d gone into a saloon just across the street to wait. Not thirty minutes later a man accused him of insulting his family and hit him. A few minutes later, both he and the man found themselves in the Denver city jail. He was tried and convicted, despite his claim that he’d never seen the man before that day. Thirty days later, he was given another thirty days for unknown reasons.

After he’d been released, he’d stopped by the law office again, but was told Mr. Horace was out of town. He was also told that the documents he was looking for were missing. The man suggested Mr. Horace may have them for some reason.

He’d known things were strange when he’d gotten to Thompsonville. He’d stopped at the small saloon and found that Pedro and Maria Mendez were gone. The new owner served him and disappeared. Several minutes later he reappeared and let Jeremiah know he wasn’t welcome anymore. Surprised and annoyed, Jeremiah left and headed home.

When he’d gotten to the ranch he found a welcoming party waiting for him.

Abby was there with her father. Besides them, was the Swede and a small well dressed man. To his surprise, Jeremiah noticed that Thomas was with them as well!

Jeremiah quickly dismounted and walked over to the group.

“Tom!” Jeremiah said smiling, “when did you come back?”

“About six weeks ago,” Thomas said coldly.

Jeremiah was surprised at his brother’s reaction but quickly focused his attention on his wife. Striding up to her, he reached out to take her in his arms. Instead he felt her hand slap across his face!

“Bastard!” Abby screamed. “How could you do that to me?”

“What in blazes are you talking about, Abby?”

“Maria Mendez! And don’t you play dumb with me!”

“I’m not playing dumb; I just don’t know what you’re talkin’ about!”

“Maria and Pedro paid us a visit not two days after you ran away!”

“I didn’t run away. I went to Denver to check on a couple of things before I talked to you about it. When I got there stranger accused me of something and then started a fight with me. I’ve spent the last two months in the Denver city jail!”

“Why were you up in Denver?”

“Abby, we need to talk about this, alone.”

“No! We’ll say everything we need to right here! I know why you ran, Maria told me everything!”

“What are you talkin’ about, woman!”

“Maria said she was with child!”

“Oh gawd!” Jeremiah snorted. “Whoever the father is better run before Pedro gets ahold of them!”

“She said it was you, you bastard! She said YOU were the father!”

“Me?” Jeremiah replied in shock.

“And you’re right,” Henry interjected, “Pedro wasn’t happy and came after you.”

“Pedro never talked to me,” Jeremiah stated. “This ain’t funny y’all.”

“No it’s not, son,” Henry said in a patronizing voice.

“Don’t you ever call me that, you hear?” Jeremiah seethed. “I ain’t your boy and I ain’t NEVER touched Maria. Abby, you’ve got to believe me!”

“She said you did! And then you shot her Pepe!”

“What?” Jeremiah stammered. “Pedro is dead?”

“No,” Henry said, “you just wounded him in the arm.”

“I never shot Pedro and I sure as hell never slept with Maria!”

“That’s not what they say,” Henry continued, “and that’s not what they told the Colorado Springs sheriff.”

“That’s a lie! Where are they? I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“They’re already gone!” Abby yelled with tears in her eyes.

“Yes,” Henry said calmly. “They left shortly after they talked to the sheriff. I believe they were headed to Santa Fe, or further south.”

“What, they just up and left their boarding house and saloon?”

“No, I bought it off of them so they’d have money to start over somewhere else.”

“This stinks, Henry. It smells like someone’s trying to frame me!”

Jeremiah turned to his wife. “Abby, you can’t believe...”

Jeremiah’s heart froze as he saw her in Thomas’ arms being consoled. The look on his face went from anger to one of great sadness.

“No,” he groaned. “Abby please tell me you didn’t.”

“Thomas, why are you holding my wife?”

“She was hurting, Jeremiah. After what you did, she was hurting.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Jeremiah retorted flatly, the anger beginning to return. “So you came back just in time to swoop down and take my place? It that what you’re telling me, dear brother? How long have you been sleeping in my bed?”

Thomas said nothing and he held Abby tighter.

“You son of a bitch!” Jeremiah growled and started towards Thomas. Unfortunately he was so focused on the couple that he didn’t see the giant shadow moving towards him. The Swede hit him once, but it was more than enough to knock Jeremiah out.

When he came to, he was laying on the floor inside. He struggled to stand and leaned against the wall to keep his balance. In front of him sat Henry and the smaller well dressed man. Beside them stood the Swede and behind them Abby and Thomas.

“Where’s Sarah?” He croaked.

“She’s back at my ranch,” Henry said calmly. “We didn’t think she needed to see this travesty.”

“Ashamed of yourself, Henry? You should be.”

“I’m sorry, Jeremiah, but that sounds mighty hypocritical coming from a man who impregnated a girl and then shot her father!”

“I didn’t do those things.”

“They said you did!”

Jeremiah searched the room for anyone who would believe him and found none.

“Regardless of your denials,” Henry continued, “there are some things you need to know. The sheriff in Colorado Springs has created a warrant for your arrest. Mr. Horace and I have convinced him not to issue it yet.”

“Mr. Horace?”

“Yes, Mr. Horace is my attorney from Denver. I’ve mentioned him before.”

“He’s the one I was looking for in Denver! They said you had the documents I was looking for, Henry’s land acquisition on old man Wilson’s ranch.”

“Why were you looking for that?” Henry inquired.

“Because the date you said Wilson’s grandson sold it to you doesn’t match up with when it was supposedly written. If my calculations were right, those documents were written before old man Wilson died in that fire! That would mean you are lying about what you know about that!”

“That’s absurd!” Henry huffed. “I didn’t have anything to do with that!”

“Mr. Hawthorne, I can assure you that you are mistaken,” Mr. Horace added.

“So where are those documents? Your office said you have them.”

“They were wrong, as well. I don’t have them!”

“This is all hogwash!’ Henry interjected. “Just the attempts of a guilty man trying to smear others to lessen the severity of his own actions! Boy, you need to know that I’m the only thing preventing that warrant being issued!

“Now, unless you want to be an outlaw, I suggest you listen closely. Mr. Horace has some papers for you to sign. It will turn over your portion of this ranch to Thomas. In return, that warrant will never be issued. Your wife and daughter will be taken care of for the rest of their lives.”

“My wife is a cheating whore and is being taken care of by my backstabbing brother!”

Abby gasped and clung onto Thomas. Jeremiah took a step towards the couple but the Swede stepped in front of him.

“You sit. Don’t make me hurt you any more,” the giant growled.

Jeremiah looked into the faces of his accusers. He realized he had lost. Spending time in the Colorado Springs jail wound be futile. Henry would find witnesses to lie against him and Thomas would still end up getting his share of the ranch. Thankfully, his father had foreseen possible problems surrounding the ranch. It was a small victory considering what Jeremiah had lost. There was nothing left to do but retreat.

He’d agreed to their terms and asked to say goodbye to Sarah before he left. They refused. She’d been told that he’d ran off a month ago.

Jeremiah Hawthorne left the valley that day a defeated man.

Crested Butte, Colorado

Late-Summer – 1885

Abby, remembering that terrible day, wiped a small tear from her eye. Jeremiah had seemed so sincere denying his actions, but the evidence against him showed otherwise. She’d also struggled with her actions during that time.

‘Did I quit on our marriage too soon?’ she questioned herself. ‘What if Jeremiah was telling the truth and he hadn’t run off. Then I really was an adulteress!’

Abby had been an emotional wreck after their meeting with Maria. She’d not been able to get through those first days without breaking down in to great sobs. It had been two weeks after that meeting when Thomas returned. She’d like to have said she didn’t run into his arms, but she knew she had. She’d found solace there, comfort from the storm that was tearing her world apart.

It was two weeks after he’d arrived that he’d sought her out. He had since shared their bed. When Jeremiah had returned he’d recognized the truth, that she had moved on and was now Thomas’.

It was three months after Jeremiah’s confrontation that Thomas and she were wed.

Sarah had been beside herself. She couldn’t believe her father could’ve done the things he was accused of. She’d only been ten at the time. She’d been young and naive.

‘Naïve? She was still only a girl. What was my excuse? Why didn’t I stand beside Jeremiah then? Why did I choose my father and then Thomas over my husband?’

Those were the questions she’d fought with for the past several years. They were questions to which she didn’t have answers.

Except for Sarah, the following years had been relatively calm. Her marriage to Thomas had been a challenge.

Thomas has been becoming more and more emotionally guarded. When he learned of his mother’s death three years before, he’d simply brushed any feelings aside. Abby realized he hadn’t seen her in over fifteen years, but she’d hoped he wouldn’t have been so callus about it. As Thomas continued to hide his feelings, Abby felt more and more distant from her husband.

Added to their lack of closeness was the creeping suspicion Abby had that Thomas was being unfaithful. She feared it was occurring on Thomas’ monthly visits to Colorado Springs. She’d confronted him several times, and he’d denied it each time. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any proof.

Now his wanderlust was beginning to show again. She could tell there were times he resented being stuck on the ranch, and his drinking had been getting steadily worse.

Four months ago things exploded.

Sarah had always resented Thomas for trying to take her father’s place. It seemed that her anger at him continued to fester. There were many times she’d sass back to Thomas and Thomas would threaten to put her across his knee and tan her bare backside.

One night while Abby was at her father’s ranch, he done just that.

Sarah claimed it went further than that. She said he touched and caressed her womanhood. Thomas vehemently denied it. Sarah didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know whether to believe her daughter or her husband.

Had her drunk husband crossed a line and molested her fifteen-year-old daughter, or was her resentful daughter lying to get back at the man she blamed for her father leaving?

Abby was lost. Then Henry intervened. He chastised Sarah for trying to stir up a hornet’s nest right in the middle of their negotiations with the railway. He believed that Thomas shouldn’t have disciplined her like he did, but he felt that Sarah had mistaken what had happened.

Sarah was crushed and ran to her room. Abby tried to console her, but Sarah wouldn’t allow her too, since she’d sided with Thomas and her father. Much to Abby’s regret, she allowed Sarah to be alone.

Two weeks later, Sarah ran away. They’d searched for her for days and even had someone report that she’d been seen in Colorado Springs. From there, they’d lost her. Abby had wept for days as Thomas tried to console her. Even now, Abby would still sometimes cry herself to sleep at night thinking of her daughter.

Thankfully, two months ago, they’d received news that Sarah was alive and well up in Leadville. It was a surprise to find her, since the man who found her wasn’t actually looking for her; he was actually looking for Jeremiah.

Several months earlier, Henry had discovered that Thomas didn’t own controlling interest in the Hawthorne ranch. It seems Mr. Hawthorne had used 51% of the ranch to secure a loan to buy a small business in Leadville. The profits from the business had been used to provide for Mrs. Hawthorne after he died. When Mrs. Hawthorne passed, the business and stake had gone to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah now owned controlling interest of the Hawthorne ranch.

Henry had hired a man to track down Jeremiah. His search had accidentally turned up Sarah. She was living and working as a handmaid for some rich widow named Wilcox up in Leadville.

A few weeks later, Jeremiah was discovered near Ashcroft. Now Abby and her party were heading there in an attempt to persuade Jeremiah to sell or sign over all or a portion of his claim to the ranch. It figured to be an emotional and unpleasant meeting.

“This is a bad idea,” Abby said flatly.

“What?” Thomas replied.

“I said this is a very bad idea.”

“We don’t have much of a choice.”

“Mrs. Hawthorne,” Horace added, “We need to do everything possible to convince your ex-husband to sign over at least a small portion of your ranch. The deal your father is working on with the railway requires full access through the valley.”

“I realize that, Mr. Horace, but I don’t know how we are going to do that. If Jeremiah still believes that we betrayed him and he was framed, there’s little we can offer him.”

“Not true! Besides the fair amount of money I’m carrying, we have several other incentives.”

“Surely you don’t think an apology from Thomas or me will persuade him?”

“No, not by itself,” Horace explained. “However, that, together with a good amount of money and possibly portions of the deeds to many of the Thompsonville businesses should help ease the hostility.

“We’ll offer to make that old warrant for his arrest go away for good. We’ll further offer information on Sarah’s location. So he’ll be able to reunite with her. I believe that will help seal this deal.”

‘I’m not so sure, Mr. Horace,’ she thought to herself. ‘The look of pain and betrayal on his face that day... ‘

That look had haunted her for years. It screamed of his innocence in the face of the evidence of his guilt. She’d been so hurt by his betrayal it had torn out her heart. Even though their marriage was in a bad place, she’d loved Jeremiah.

Him missing for so long and her emotional pain had left her lost and alone. When Thomas had returned, she’d fled straight into his arms. He’d been there for her at her lowest time.

Abby reverie was broken by a loud voice talking as it approached. It was coming from a rotund man with a huge smile.

“Yes sir! We’ll get y’all up to Ashcroft in a jiffy!”

The man came to a stop in front of the group.

“So y’all ready? We’ll be on our way shortly. The trip will be a little slow and some parts are pretty rough, but we should get you up to Ashcroft sometime this afternoon. We’ll be going through Pearl Pass, real pretty, but a bit rough.