The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,195

now.”

Emory flinched. “But what are you gonna do out here all alone? It’s dangerous.”

“I kill trouble like I kill Black Dog. You go.”

Letty got in the wagon. Eulis started turning it around.

Emory didn’t believe she was serious, and didn’t move when she ordered him to go.

Then she pulled the hammer back on the rifle.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

“You wouldn’t kill me? Not after all we’ve been through together?”

Eulis was pulling out of the campsite when he heard the rifle go off. He flipped the reins on the mules hard and fast. They bolted into an all-out run. He didn’t look back.

But Letty did.

She saw Emory James jump, and then turn around and chase after them. She knew the mules were going too fast for him to catch up, and she didn’t bother to tell Eulis to slow down. She didn’t like the man, and from the way Millie Sees Crow had behaved, she didn’t like him either.

“Is he dead?” Eulis asked, as they cleared the trees.

“Not yet,” Letty said, which was the truth.

Emory was still running and waving at them to stop.

“That was a close one, wasn’t it?” he said.

She nodded, then settled the rifle back across her lap and turned her face toward the mountains.

“Eulis?”

“What?”

“Reckon it will be safe to make camp tonight?”

He thought about it, and then frowned.

“We could go on until it gets dark. I don’t mind making cold camp if you don’t.”

“Works for me,” she said, and then added. “Let the mules run a bit, why don’t you? The farther away I am from that mess, the better I’ll sleep.”

Eulis urged the mules on, letting them run for a bit longer before he slowed them down. That night, they made camp beneath the overhang of a rock. With the mountain at their back, and a clear view of the land in front of them, they felt confident that they were safely out of harm’s way.

The next morning they resumed their journey, and four days later, they found Cherry Creek.

It had rained on them last night as they’d slept beneath the wagon, using the bed as a shelter from the storm. This morning when they’d awakened, the air had been chilly, almost cold. Letty had put on two shirts instead of the usual one and put on two pair of socks to help warm her feet. Eulis had done the same, and then had to shed one shirt as the morning had lengthened. But it was their first sign that the elevation was significantly higher, and the year was coming closer to an end.

They’d been on the road since daylight, and knew they must be close to their final destination. They’d seen a pair of men on horseback late yesterday evening who informed them they were on their way back to Cherry Creek. It had been promising—even a little bit exciting—to know that they were on the verge of a new phase of their lives.

Last night as they’d made camp, Letty had wanted to talk and make plans about the future, but she had to keep reminding herself that her future was not necessarily Eulis’s. There was bound to come a day when he wanted to move on—maybe even find a woman and marry. Now that he didn’t drink any more, Letty was of the opinion that Eulis would make a good husband.

The thought that he might leave to marry another woman left her torn. On the one hand, she was happy that he’d changed his ways, and when she was feeling self-righteous, took most of the credit for his transformation. If it hadn’t been for her, he would still be sweeping floors and digging graves for drinks. But then she had to remember that a man had died before Eulis’ chance for redemption had come. At that point, the image she had of herself being Eulis’s redeemer became tarnished, since the man who died, had died in her bed.

She lived with the guilt on a daily basis, and even though she’d experienced a sense of salvation during Eulis’s first revival preaching, she wasn’t sure that her redemption was good enough for a happy-ever-after life of her own. So she stayed quiet about her dreams, and never let on that she wanted more out of life than what she had.

“Eulis! Look! Oh my lord… there’s a house up ahead!”

It had been so long since they’d seen anything resembling civilization that Letty was ecstatic.

Eulis leaned forward to look, then grinned.

“By golly, Letty, you’re right. It’s a right nice