Chapter 15

This town, like so many of the era, was simply a collection of people and buildings. There was no Mayor, Sheriff or any other formal form of government. There was, however, the town meeting for important decisions. Therefore, when the family came down to breakfast the next morning, a crowd of town's folk met them.

Jean and Maeve were in the lead as the family descended the stairs. Jean spotted the group and noticed that all of the men were armed, and he also noticed that they, to a person were acting very nervous. Nervous people are far more dangerous than professionals.

Without taking his eyes off of the crowd, Jean said in French, "Belle, go get Shaylee. The rest of you ... be ready to fire!"

As usual the family was armed to the teeth. That, in fact, was what was bothering the town's people. They saw that even the young in the group of strangers wore their weapons in the manner of shootists and that was a worry for the simple people of Ferry's Landing.

As the family arrived at the bottom of the stairs they spread out in a single line facing the nervous crowd.

"What do you want?" Shaylee called loudly from the top step.

The town's people shoved a huge mountain of a man to the front. It was clear to see that he was the local blacksmith. For all of his size and obvious strength the man acted timid if not down right afraid of the person standing at the top of the stairs.

"Beggin' your pardon, but we was wondering why you kilt those two men last night?"

Shaylee's countenance darkened and her eyes took on a dead, reptilian look. She was ready to bring down the full wrath of hell on these people, if they displeased her. Shaking in their boots with fear the entire group of town's people took a step back.

"I will tell you why I killed those two! It was because the little man was raping a child and the big one was helping! I hate rapists, AND those that give them succor! Any more questions?"

"No Sir, that covers it."

Shaylee looked over the crowd and saw a small woman in the rear of the group trying to be as inconspicuous as humanly possible.

Shaylee pointed at her and said, "You! Come up here and talk to the child."

The woman blushed and shook her head in fear as she said, "Me? No, no I..."

The blacksmith turned and in a tender voice said, "Go ahead, Millie. I will go with you and stand in the hall. You will not be hurt."

Trembling in fear and with her head lowered she said, "Yes, Jeremiah."

The incongruous couple made their way through the family and up the stairs. As they passed Shaylee on the narrow staircase the tiny woman shrank as far away as was possible from the shootist.

"I will stay right here, Miss. You have nothing to fear," said Shaylee.

"Thank you, Sir. Millie suffered a great deal before I rescued her. It has made her very fearful," whispered Jeremiah to Shaylee once Millie had passed on to the landing.

The darkness left Shaylee at the big man's words and she nodded her understanding. Jeremiah was perceptive and saw instantly that there was a mountain of pain at the core of this gunslinger.

"I will just stay here, Millie. You go and talk to the child."

The tiny woman looked confused and started to ask where the girl was, but Shaylee beat her to it and said, "The first room there on the right."

Millie nodded and disappeared into the room. Ten minutes later she exited the room crying and ran to Jeremiah. Without a word the big man swept the distraught woman up into his arms, he nodded at Shaylee as he descended the stairs. The town's folk gathered around the couple and spoke soothingly to the tiny woman. Suddenly Edmee was forcing her way through the crowd with a small glass of red wine that Beau made from his own grapes.

"Drink this, dear," Edmee said in French.

Though the young woman did not understand the strange language, she accepted the glass and sipped at the wine, calming significantly.

Millie looked up into the face of her man and said, "You may put me down, now, Jeremiah."

With his eyes full of love, the big man smiled and then set Millie down as light as a feather. She gathered the other women around her and explained how the child told of the rape. With anger and sorrow she also told of her examination of the child and how the girl was torn up inside. Incensed, the women descended upon their men like a swarm of angry bees! The end result of all of this was that the foreign family was welcomed with open arms! All of the women were thankful that the evil rapist was gone, before he despoiled any of their girls. The women also made sure that their men treated the travelers kindly.

The victim, orphaned by a fire at the homestead where she grew up, had walked for days to get to town only to be grabbed by the hotel owner and enslaved. It had taken weeks to get the starving child to a point where she looked appealing to her attacker. Fortunately that was the day Shaylee showed up.

Later that morning, a totally out of character, Millie sought out Shaylee and demanded to know what was to become of the child!

Shaylee looked up from her coffee and calmly said, "Come, join us and have some coffee. We were just discussing how to help the child."

Some of the fire seeped away from Millie, as she accepted the offer and she began to shake.

"Now ... Millie, is it?"

"Yes."

"Well then, Millie, you obviously have something in mind. Please tell us."

Millie was slightly distracted when Maeve handed her a cup of coffee. The small woman took a deep breath, and a huge gulp of coffee.

She said, "I am barren, made so by the same kind of brutality that this child suffered, yesterday ... and we, Jeremiah and I, want to adopt the girl!"

The table fell silent! It was unheard of for a woman to speak of such things in public, AND in mixed company. As all at the table stared at Millie she began to shrink in her seat. Then, something quite remarkable happened! Millie gave a violent shake of her shoulders, sat up straight, and continued before anyone could say a word.

In a firm strong voice she said, "I have years of love stored up in me, and that is just what this poor child needs now. Something such as this could destroy that sweet child; but love ... love is what she needs, now. It will help her heal! Jeremiah and I will give her that love!"

Millie had looked each member of the family in the eyes as she spoke and all could see that she spoke the truth, also all could see that Millie was fighting for HER child as any mother would and the growing love for the young girl was also healing the sad, timid woman.

Jeremiah came into the room with a worried look on his face. The look turned to deep concern, when he found Millie sitting with the strange group. As he moved quickly toward the group, the floor trembled under his weight, enough in fact, to alert the group of his presence. All, that is, except for his wife. She was used to the seismic vibrations that her husband caused when he moved about.

With a strong self-assured voice Millie called out over her shoulder, "Jeremiah, please get a chair and come sit next to me."

The big man stopped dead in his tracks! Something was different but he couldn't say what it was. With a sleight shrug he complied with his wife's request. Once he was seated Millie turned toward him with a smile. What he saw shocked him, in a good way, but it still shocked him. His wife was sitting in a fairly large group of people and she was sitting erect! She was NOT trying to shrink back out of sight but fully present in every way.

Millie patted his hand and said, "I was just explaining to these people why we need to be the ones to adopt little Lucy."

Jeremiah's jaw dropped! He was unable to say a single word!

Millie smiled at him again and said, "I know, dear. We will talk about that later." She turned back to Shaylee and continued, "Now that I have put forth our case, are there any questions?"

Shaylee looked around the table taking the silent vote and then turned back to Millie.

"I see no problem, here. The child is a local, and it would be better for her be with people she knows. However, I think that she should stay here for a few more days until her insides heal more. I do not think that that foul excuse for a man will mind, anymore."

"I am so glad that you killed that repulsive creature before he despoiled more of the children!" said Millie with deep rancor and a darkened visage that bordered on Shaylee's angry persona.

"Well Jeremiah, your timid Millie is gone! I think you are in for a lot of surprises, now!" thought Shaylee with a smile.

"It is a good thing that you are a blacksmith, Jeremiah. Your wife has found her iron core, and will never be the timid mouse again! It will take a man that knows how to handle iron to deal with her from here on out." thought Maeve.

Similar thoughts passed through the heads of the rest of the family as they watched the little woman take charge of the big man.

"Come, Jeremiah, we need to go see Lucy. It is, after all, her decision if she is to be our daughter," said Millie as she took the arm of her mountain of a man and led him away.

"Now that that woman has found her metal, she will be forevermore a formidable wife for that poor man," said Jean with a smile.

That afternoon, a beaming Millie caught Shaylee as she was on her way out of the hotel.

"Sir? May I have a word, please?"

Shaylee, catching some of the joy flowing out the little woman, said with a big smile, "Well, I can see that you have a new daughter."

Millie hugged herself and nodded, as her tears of joy flowed. Once she had regained her composure she said, "Thank you for saving us!"

"Us?" asked Shaylee, confused.

"Yes! You saved my wonderful Lucy; and in so doing, saved me, as well!"

"Ah, yes. I see. You are welcome."

"There is one other thing that I need to ask of you, though. You see, my Jeremiah is a big man and knows much, but he knows nothing of guns. I was wondering if, while you are here, you would teach Lucy and me the fundamentals of shooting? I am sure that you noticed that most of the people in town use shotguns, and I see that you and your gang are true shootists, and use handguns. I do not ever want to feel helpless, again! I NEED to protect my baby, too!"

"Millie, we are not a gang! We are a family that has been forced to be the way we are, by the conditions of life here on the frontier. That said, I would be happy to teach you what I can. However, I think that you should learn edged weapons, too. I will talk to Jean. He is a Master at hand-to-hand combat."

Millie hugged Shaylee in her exuberance and then jumped back, shocked. "But you ... you are..."

Shaylee went black with anger. She grabbed Millie's arm in an iron grip and hissed through her teeth menacingly, "Shut up! You are to never mention this to anyone. EVER! Not even Jeremiah, do you understand?"

Afraid to her inner most being, Millie nodded. Finally she was able to speak and she said weakly, "Yes! Ah, I do not know your name."

"I am The Spanish Kid! Just call me 'Kid, '" snapped Shaylee.

"Yes, Kid."

Being very intelligent and extremely perceptive Millie's brain went into high gear. In seconds many scenarios passed across her mind. Suddenly she saw what she felt was the most likely reason for this woman to dress as a man.

Millie said, softly, "Trust me, Kid. I understand abuse, and of being thought of as nothing, in this male dominated society! Your secret is safe, with me."

Shaylee receded from her dark place, and nodded. She took a deep breath and said in a more civil tone, "You will need weapons and holsters that fit your sizes. Is there a gunsmith in town?"

"No, just the Mercantile, and I have never seen anything but rifles and shotguns in there."

"Right, then, I will take care of that part. I will come to the smithy in the morning. Be ready to spend the whole day."

"Yes, Kid, and thank you again for saving us."

Millie then turned and walked back into the hotel.

Still deeply upset as she walked to the livery stable to check on the rolling stock and the animals, Shaylee muttered over and over, "Damn ... damn ... damn..."

Maeve and Jean were standing looking at the wheels that had been repaired in the spring, just prior to the start of their renewed journey. Shaylee stopped worrying about her secret when she saw her sister's face and started worrying about the rolling stock. Maeve was as angry as she ever got and Jean was not far behind her with his Gallic temperament.

Shaylee quickened her steps to the two and asked, "What is the matter?"

"That town deserved that old woman! They are all a bunch of cheating vipers! Just look at this! The man used green wood and bad iron to repair the wheels! They are worse than when he started!"