Wildest Dreams

chapter 24

Luke wanted to lash out in rage as he approached Zack Walker and his men, but he forced himself to stay calm. His only chance at getting Katie and himself out of this mess alive was to make no wrong moves. He prayed Runner was somewhere in place and unhurt, ready to blow the dynamite. He saw no sign that the Indian had been caught and found last night, but it was always possible Walker had chosen not to say anything about it, so that the man could lure him closer before killing him.

It was difficult to concentrate on anything but Katie now. She sat on a horse in front of a grisly-looking young man who obviously did not know the meaning of soap and water. Her head hung limply, as though she had lost some terrible battle. The sight of his pretty, proud daughter sitting there looking so forlorn and defeated tore at his heart.

Katie! Sweet, young Katie, so shy and quiet and smart. He had imagined saving such treasure for a respectable, honorable man who would know how to treat her; but by the sight of her, he already knew the worst had happened. She still wore the pretty mint green dress she'd had on at the dance, but it was torn and tattered, and she had to hold up the front of it with one hand to keep it from falling open.

"Let's see the money," Walker demanded, riding closer to Luke.

Luke met the man's gaze squarely, studied the stubble on his dirty face, the tobacco stain at the corner of his mouth. "You didn't keep your end of the bargain."

"In what way?" Walker looked back at Katie. "She's alive, ain't she?"

"You scum." Luke seethed. "Why should I pay off a man who has obviously violated my daughter?"

Walker shrugged. "Weren't me. It was my nephews there." He nodded to the one holding Katie. "That there is Benny. The ones each side of him is his brothers, Larry and Jim." The man spit some tobacco juice onto the leg of Luke's horse. "You know how young boys are. They git hard easy, seein' a purty thing like little Katie there. So what if she got stuck some? It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. Now she's all broke in for her weddin' night." He leaned closer, reeking of stale perspiration. "I believe one of my boys told you that us Walkers git our revenge. An eye for an eye, Fontaine. You're lucky we didn't just shoot down that boy of yours the night of the dance. We could have, you know." He grinned again. "Far as that girl over there, the boys say she's a nice, tight piece. We're thinkin' on takin' her with us when we leave here. Ain't a whole lot you could do about it, 'specially if you're dead."

Luke had to concentrate to keep the sound of Lettie's quiet sobbing from making him do something foolish. Wait it out, he told himself. "You won't kill me," he told Walker, never flinching. "You don't want to bring murder into this because then you know every lawman from here to Mexico would be looking for you."

"There's places to go to git away, and I expect we're gonna be hunted either way."

"There aren't so many places to hide out anymore, Walker. You'll never live to enjoy this money."

Walker held his chin higher in defiance. "We know the right places to go, and if we have your girl along, anybody that comes after us is gonna have to be awful careful if they don't want nothin' to happen to her. Hell, we could even take your wife along for extra protection from the law. They ain't gonna want nothin' to happen to her, and I expect she's still fit enough to please an old man like me."

Luke felt like vomiting. "You go ahead and try, Walker. I guarantee that whatever happens, one thing is certain. You will die! Make no mistake about it. Your only chance to live is to take this money and hand over my daughter right now and let me ride out of here."

Walker held his gaze, then showed a hint of the coward Luke knew he was. He swallowed, and Luke knew he had shaken him. He removed the carpetbag from his saddle horn and tossed it over with a force that startled Walker. "Look inside, you stinking coward, and be proud of how you earned your precious little fortune! You were a fool to ask for only ten thousand. You're so goddamn ignorant you probably think that's a lot of money for me, probably because you've never earned an honest dollar in your life, you lazy bastard!"

Walker's smile faded. "You shut your mouth, Fontaine, or you'll be hangin' from a noose, just like you did to my boys. I expect that's how you'll end up anyway." He opened the bag and looked inside, then began laughing as he fingered the money. "It's here, boys!"

Several of them let out war whoops and rebel yells, while Katie still sat whimpering. Luke moved his horse a little closer to her, taking advantage of the fact that for the moment Zack and some of the others were lost in an eager celebration, grabbing stacks of bills from the bag to count through them.

"Katie, look at me," Luke told her.

Benny chuckled. "Oh, the poor little thing is ashamed," he cooed. He kissed at her neck, and Katie flinched.

"Katie, you don't have a damn thing to be ashamed of," Luke told her calmly. "Raise your head up, goddamn it! You're a Fontaine, and these people are nothing more than animals! Don't you dare let them make you hang your head!"

The girl slowly raised her face to look at her father, a face that was battered and bruised, her eyes swollen from crying. "Daddy," she sobbed, using the term she had only used when she was a tiny girl. For years it had just been Pa, but now she was like a little girl wanting her father's protective arms around her.

"It's going to be all right."

"They said... they were going to... hang both of us... after they get the money."

Benny chuckled again, nodding to Luke. "You didn't really think we'd let you live after what you did to my cousins, did you, Fontaine? You must really be stupid to think we'd just take that money and leave."

Luke kept his eyes on Katie. "We're going to be all right, Katie." He looked around, taking a quick inventory. Nine men total. Could he get himself and Katie out of here without dying? All he needed to do was get her onto his own horse and Runner would set the dynamite that would create enough chaos and commotion to allow him an escape... he hoped.

"A couple of you boys go and get the woman," he heard Walker saying.

Luke knew it was now or never. Bringing Lettie into the middle of it all would just complicate things even more. Two men started toward the south end of the canyon to get Let-tie, and Walker ordered a third man to throw a rope over a limb on the very tree where Luke had hanged Walker's sons. There was no more time to waste in deciding what to do.

"Just ride easy back over here," Walker ordered Luke. "You willin' to give up your life for your wife and daughter?" The man grinned, hooking the bag of money over his own saddle horn. "You're gonna hang, Luke Fontaine. The easier you make it for us, the easier we'll go on the girl and your woman after you're dead. You make trouble, and all three of you will be swingin' from that there tree. Which will it be?"

Luke glanced at the two men headed out of the canyon. If they got outside, and Tex and Ty started shooting at them too soon, he and Katie were doomed. "Give me a few seconds to hold my girl," he answered. "Let me at least have a good-bye."

Walker rubbed his chin for a moment, then nodded. "Put her on his horse," he told Benny.

Luke almost laughed aloud at the man's stupidity. He reached out and pulled Katie onto his own horse, and she sat sideways in front of him, cringing against his chest. Luke held her tightly with one arm and pretended to be whispering a good-bye. "Keep right on crying," he told her, "but you be ready to hang on tight, Katie girl. I'm not leaving you here, understand?"

The girl clung to his shirt and nodded, purposely weeping harder. It was easy, for she wept with relief that her father was not going to submit to a hanging and let her mother and her suffer at the hands of these miserable wretches who had already done such horrible things to her.

Come on, Runner, Luke thought. At almost the same instant, two explosions only a second apart blew out huge boulders at the north end of the canyon. Walker and the others turned in surprise to look, a couple of their horses whinnying and rearing. Luke took advantage of the diversion and kicked his own horse in the flanks. Clinging to Katie, he charged toward the south end of the canyon, bending over slightly to keep his body between his daughter and any bullets that might get fired at them.

"Swing around and hang on!" he ordered Katie, scooting farther back in his saddle. Like Ty, Katie loved riding, and her skill and ease with horses became a valuable asset as she leaned back and managed to swing one leg over the neck of Luke's horse so that she straddled the animal. She leaned down then and grabbed hold of the horse's mane, hanging on for dear life as Luke rode like a demon. Above the pounding hooves and the noise of the air rushing past her face, she could hear more explosions in the distance, as well as gunfire. She cringed when something whizzed near them, knew instinctively it was a bullet. Then she felt a jolt behind her. Luke grunted and slammed into her, his chin bumping against the back of her head.

"Daddy!" she screamed.

"Just hang on no matter what happens!" he yelled, amid more thundering explosions. "I'm getting you out of here!"

Luke could feel horses behind him, knew the Walkers and their hired men were right on their heels. He headed his horse toward the stand of rocks across the flat valley, relieved that Lettie was nowhere in sight. Apparently she had done what she was told and had headed for the rocks herself as soon as Runner began setting off the explosions. He could only pray now that Runner would be all right, and that he would himself reach the safety of the rocks and his own men before taking a more deadly bullet in the back. He knew he'd already been hit in the upper right shoulder, but there was no time to think about the pain or worry about how badly he'd been injured. He had to hang on, for Katie's sake.

In the distance he could see a horse running off without its rider, then spotted the body several yards to his left. Apparently Tex or Ty had gotten one of those who had ridden out ahead of him to try to capture Lettie. He had no idea where the second man was and no chance to look. He kept his eyes on the cluster of trees and rocks ahead, which, though only about a half mile away, seemed to take forever to reach. Katie's dark hair blew into his face as he stretched his gelding to its maximum effort, charging the horse across the flower-filled meadow toward the rocks.

Now he could see the spit of guns from the rocks. Tex and Ty and probably Lettie were shooting at the outlaws. He did not fear being accidentally hit by any of them. All three of them were skilled with firearms, and at the moment he could not be more proud of his brave wife and son, but he never would have let them come without Tex and Runner along. Even at that, he'd had his doubts he was doing the right thing, but he knew how important it was for both of them. His heart leaped with joy as he got closer and realized he just might make it. He guided his horse around the south side of the rocks, relieved to see Lettie waiting there. She reached up for Katie as Luke brought his horse to a sliding halt. With his left arm he helped Katie down from the horse, but he was beginning to feel excruciating pain in his right shoulder and all the way down his right arm.

"Luke! You've been shot!" Lettie yelled.

"Just take care of Katie," he ordered, dismounting and hurrying over to grab his rifle from her gear. He ran over to where Tex and Ty were still shooting at the outlaws. "How many did you get?"

"Not sure," Tex answered. "About six are down, I think, probably some of them just wounded. Your wife got a couple of them herself."

Luke looked back at Lettie, who was holding a weeping Katie. He was glad he had let her come, for Katie's sake. So, he thought, Lettie had shot at the outlaws right alongside Tex and Tyler. She was truly strong again, but what would Katie's awful experience do to her?

"There's the money bag!" Tyler shouted. He fired, then cussed. "I got the damn horse instead of the rider!"

"I think that's the last one," Tex answered. "I can see Runner farther out. Looks like he's rounded up a couple of them himself."

"The one on that horse I just shot is getting up, Pa, running off with the money."

"Leave that one to me!" Luke barked. "It's Zack Walker!" Almost before he finished speaking, he was back up on his own horse and riding out into the clearing.

"Jesus," Tex cussed, jumping up and heading for his own horse. "Your pa is wounded and gonna get himself killed. Stay here with your ma and sister," he told Ty. He rode out after Luke, who charged toward Walker. Walker turned and shot at Luke but missed, and in the next moment Luke rode his horse directly into the man, knocking him to the ground and deliberately riding over him. Walker screamed out in horrible pain, but Luke only gloried in the sound. He turned his horse and headed back, purposely riding over the man again. He halted his horse then and jumped off, running over to grab Walker around the throat. He began strangling the man, and by the time Tex reached them, Walker's face was purple, his tongue bulging out in an effort to open his throat and find some air.

"Luke, don't kill him here! Let him hang!" Tex tried to reason.

"They raped her," Luke growled. "They raped my Katie!"

Tex grasped Luke's powerful wrists, knowing full well that if not for Luke's own injury, he would never have managed to pull him off of Walker. By then Tyler reached them, disobeying Tex's order to stay put.

"Pa, you need help!" he urged. "The man is hurt bad. He isn't going anyplace."

Tex fell back with his arms still around Luke from behind, still holding his wrists. "Damn it, Luke, you know there ain't nobody who finds killin' a man easier than me," he said. "But you're always preachin' about law and order in this goddamn territory. You promised Sheriff Tracy there wouldn't be no revenge killin'. You said we'd bring in the survivors for a proper hangin'."

"He's got to die, and I've got to do it!" Luke fumed, lurching backward and pulling out of Tex's grip. He headed for Walker again, but Tyler stepped in front of him, pushing his rifle against his father crosswise.

"Pa, Tex is right! Think about it! A public hanging will get written about all over. After that men like Zack Walker will think twice about coming to Montana and making trouble! We can show everybody we've got laws here now."

Luke calmed down some, and Tex took hold of his arm. "Luke, do this one the right way. We all helped lynch the Walker boys, but some think that's no better than what outlaws do. You're always talkin' about bringin' good people to this territory. A proper trial and hangin' will show folks we've got things under control here, that we take care of these things the proper way. And after what these men did, everybody deserves the pleasure of watchin' them hang!"

Luke breathed deeply to stay in control, but his eyes brimmed with tears. "I won't have Katie sitting through any public trial and having to tell people what happened to her!"

"Then you can make sure no public gets in," Tex answered. "You've got the pull to do this however you want. Only the jury needs to hear Katie's story. Then let everybody in Billings and for miles around watch these bastards hang!"

"Oh, God, I'm hurt bad!" Walker groaned. "Everything's broke!"

Luke looked down at the man, then walked over and kicked him in the ribs. The man screamed out in agony. "Go ahead and hurt, you stinking piece of filth! You're going to hurt a lot worse when I'm through with you! You're going back to Billings over the back of a horse, and you're going to feel the pain of every broken bone all the way back! If you're lucky, you'll die on the way!"

Runner rode closer then, herding two men ahead of him, his six-gun leveled at them. "I think we got them all, Luke," he spoke up.

"I got a couple myself," Tyler told Runner. He looked down at Zack Walker. "I shot this one's horse from under him. I just wish I would have got him instead of the horse."

"You did good today, Ty," Tex told him. "After today I won't call you boy anymore."

Ty wanted to feel good about the remark, but he was too sick over what had happened to his sister. If it wasn't for Katie, he would have celebrated being allowed to come after outlaws with men like Tex and Runner... and Luke Fontaine. "Pa, you'd better let Runner look at your shoulder. Your shirt's all soaked with blood."

Luke looked down at himself, only just beginning to realize how badly he'd been hurt. He looked up at the men Runner had brought in. One of them was Walker's nephew, Jim. Luke remembered Zack Walker telling him Jim was one of those who had raped Katie. "You're going to feel a hot rope around your neck in a few days, boy!" he spit out. "You'll regret what you did to my Katie! You and any of the rest who are still alive!" He grimaced and grasped his right arm then as the pain in his arm and shoulder grew more intense. "Tie them up, Runner, then I think you're going to have to throw some whiskey on this wound and wrap it up." He looked at Ty. "You okay, son?"

"Sure, Pa, I'm fine."

Luke nodded, and their eyes held in understanding. Tyler knew Luke was proud of the good job he'd done, but that this was not time to celebrate anything. "Help Tex round up the bodies," Luke told the boy. "We'll send men back to bury the dead, and we'll take the wounded back to Billings for a trial and hanging." He looked over at Runner, who was already tying Jim Walker's wrists behind him and bringing the rope under the man's horse to truss his ankles together under the horse's belly. "I'll be over by Lettie and Katie." He hated the thought of having to face his wife and daughter, hated this feeling that he was partly responsible for all of this. He sighed with grief. "Pick up the money," he said dejectedly to Tex. "I'd gladly give up every last dime of it if it would mean they had never touched Katie." His voice nearly broke on the words, and he closed his eyes for a moment. "Maybe it isn't right to kill them right here," he added, "but by God when the day comes that they get hanged, I'd like to be the one to pull the lever!" He left them then, and Tyler watched after his father, struggling against his own urge to cry.



"I can't go, Mama. I can't even face Pa or my brothers or Tex and the other men, my own family and friends. How am I going to tell all those ugly things to strangers?"

Lettie walked to the window where Katie sat in her room bundled in a flannel gown and robe in spite of the heat. It was only her second day home, and already she had bathed six times. Lettie well knew the feeling of wanting to wash away the filth, hoping the memories would be washed away with it; but that was impossible. She touched her daughter's lustrous dark hair; this young girl who had been cruelly introduced to sex in the worst way. In so many ways she had still been such a child, but now the child in her was gone.

"You will go and tell your story, Katie, because you are a Fontaine, and you're strong and proud. You did absolutely nothing wrong and have nothing to be ashamed of, and there isn't one person in this family, or on this ranch, or in all of Montana who would think less of you. You will go because the right thing to do is to get those men hanged, because it will show any other outlaws who think about coming here what happens to men who steal and kill and rape. You'll do it to help bring law and order to Montana, and because if you don't get them hanged, your father will find a way to kill those men himself, and then he might be the one to go to prison."

Katie closed her eyes, and more tears spilled down her cheeks. Her stomach ached so badly that she felt constantly nauseated and could not eat. Everything hurt, and she couldn't sleep because of the haunting, ugly attacks that kept revisiting her every time she lay back on her bed. "All those people—"

"Katie, Sheriff Tracy said he would talk to the federal judge when he gets into town, and he is sure the man will allow only the jury in the room with you, if that's the way you want it. The men on trial don't even have to be there. You don't ever have to look at them again."

"But you don't know," Katie sobbed. "You don't know how it feels."

Lettie closed her own eyes and took a deep breath for courage. There was only one way to help her daughter, and that was to face her own experience, something she had buried deep in her soul long ago. Oh, how it hurt to dredge it up again! "I do know, Katie. I know better than you think."

Katie sniffed and turned to look up at her mother. "What do you mean?"

Lettie felt her heart beating faster. What would her daughter think of her if she knew the truth? She pulled a chair over near the girl and sat down across from her, reaching out and taking her hands. "Katie, the same thing happened to me. I was a couple of years older than you, but I had also never been with a man before. I had the same cruel awakening that you have had, but I would suffer it all over again if I could just take it away from you. I wish those men had taken me instead."

Katie's eyes widened in shock. "Mama! You were... raped?"

Lettie held her gaze. She had been preaching to Katie about not feeling shame; how could she turn around and show any of her own? "It was back when we lived in Missouri, and there was a lot of raiding just before the Civil War. Our place got raided by Southern sympathizers because we were for the Union. I ran out to the barn to try to save my favorite horse from being stolen, and that's when I was attacked."

Katie looked her over as though she were someone she didn't even know. "Why didn't you ever tell us? Does Pa know?"

Lettie nodded, love beginning to shine in her eyes. "He was the one who helped me see it wasn't my fault and that I shouldn't feel ashamed. Luke made me see I had every right to go on with my life, to love and be loved. He taught me the gentle side of man, and it was through your father that I learned that being in love and making love can be a beautiful thing, Katie. It can and will happen for you. What those men did... it isn't like that when you truly love a man. Someday you will learn to give yourself out of true joy and desire; but I still remember how I felt back then. I know exactly how you are thinking and feeling right now. It was almost worse for me because... because I was left in a family way."

Katie drew in her breath, and her eyes teared anew. "Oh, Mama, will that happen to me?"

Lettie squeezed her hands reassuringly. "No. I remembered that the day before the dance you had just finished your time of month. It's very unlikely." She sighed deeply. "Oh, Katie, I had intended to talk to you about men and marriage and such, but I never expected to have to do it so soon. We'll wait and talk more about the magic between a man and a woman when you're more ready to listen. I didn't tell you about what happened to me to frighten you. I just thought... as long as I felt compelled to tell you what happened to me, you should know that Nathan was the result."

Katie's mouth dropped open, and Lettie thought that in spite of the difficulty of having to tell the girl all these things, maybe the shocking news would help get her mind off of her own problems, at least for a time. "You mean... you were never married to Nathan's father? You weren't really widowed from the war?"

Lettie's eyes teared. "Katie, there was a baby inside of me, a human life, and it was not my place to judge why God blessed me with that life. I learned to look at my baby that way—as a blessing, a gift with some purpose. That purpose might have been nothing more than to show that something precious and beautiful can come from something terrible. I only know that when Nathan was born, and that little baby clung to me and looked to me for love and survival, I couldn't help but love him in return. I think that's partly why I took his disappearance so hard, Katie. I suffer from the guilt of thinking maybe I should be punished for the times I hated that baby inside of me and wished it would be born dead." She saw the disbelief in her daughter's eyes. "Yes, Katie, I couldn't help feeling that way at first. But as I told you, I grew to love my little boy, and when he was taken from me, I felt such a terrible sorrow for the times when I hadn't wanted him because of how he was conceived. I came to realize it wasn't that baby's fault. He was just a little human life that needed his mother."

She let go of Katie's hands and stood up, walking over to look out the window at Luke and Tex, who were in a corral trying to break and train a stubborn but beautiful stallion. Since taking Zack Walker and the other four surviving men to town to sit in jail and wait for the traveling judge, Luke had kept himself busy again, trying to channel his anger, refusing to get any bed rest because of his wound. Instead, he kept his arm in a sling and worked, from dawn until after dark. Lettie knew he was in physical pain, but his emotional pain was much greater.

"This has to be our secret, Katie. I don't know if or when I will tell the rest of the children. I might never tell them. I wouldn't have told you if not for what happened. You need to know that someone else understands, and you need to know that you can go on with your life, just as I did; and that you'll find a good man who will look beyond what happened to you and just love you for who you are... the way Luke did with me. He took us both, loved Nathan as if he were his own. If Nathan came back today and wanted to be a part of this family, Luke would welcome him as eagerly as he would welcome Ty or Robbie. There are evil, ugly men in this world, Katie, but there are a lot of good men, too, like your father. I promise you that time will heal your wounds, and a man will come along who will erase the ugly memories and turn something vicious and painful into a beautiful experience for you."

Katie rose. "I'm sorry, Mama, for what happened to you. It must have been hard for you to tell me, but I'm glad you did." She put out her arms, and Lettie walked over and embraced her tightly.

"Please dress and come to the supper table tonight, Katie. It would make Luke so happy to see you trying to rise above this." She kissed the girl's hair. "Don't you see, Katie? If you let this destroy you, if you allow yourself to be ashamed and go around looking like a fallen woman, then even if they are hanged, those horrible men will have won. They will have defeated not just you, but your father, also. They will have achieved what they set out to do—to hurt him in the worst way. If you go talk to the judge and the jury, hold your head proudly and tell the truth and refuse to be ashamed, you'll be proving what the Fontaines are made of. We can't let people like the Walkers defeat us, Katie, just as your father taught me not to let my rapist destroy me; and as he has refused to let other men defeat him in any way while building all that we have here."

Katie sniffed and hugged her mother tighter. "You and Pa are happy now, aren't you? I mean, you're over the bad time you had when Paul died?"

Lettie stroked her hair. "Yes, my darling, we're all right now. I think our love is stronger than ever."

Katie pulled away, wiping at her eyes. "I'll go down to supper tonight. Will you help me pick out something to wear, and fix my hair?"

Lettie smiled through tears. "Of course I will."

Katie left her and walked to the window herself, watching her father work the stallion. "Pa risked his life for me, shielded me with his own body. I felt the punch when that bullet hit him, and I remember his groans when Runner dug the bullet out of his shoulder. I also remember how he looked at me when he first saw me with that horrible man. I know how much Pa wants to see those men die, and I do, too." She turned and faced her mother. "I'll go tell my story to the judge and the jury, as long as I only have to look at those men long enough to identify them to the jury."

Lettie nodded. "Luke will be proud. We'll all be with you, Katie, every step of the way." She walked closer and grasped the girl's arms. "Remember, what I told you is our secret."

Katie studied her mother's gentle green eyes, seeing the woman in a whole new light, understanding her own suffering. "I won't tell." She blinked back tears. "I'm glad you found somebody like Pa."

Lettie smiled, looking out the window along with Katie, noticing Luke was standing outside the corral then talking to Robbie. She knew how miserable Robbie had been over what happened to Katie, blaming himself for not watching out for her, sure his father hated him and would never forgive him. Her heart swelled with love then when she saw Luke embrace the boy. Oh, how Robbie needed that. "I'm glad, too," she told Katie. "Your father and I have had our differences, but nothing could ever get in the way of how much I love him."

"When will the judge get to Billings?" Katie asked.

Lettie watched Luke and Robbie walk toward the house, arm in arm. "Sheriff Tracy says he should be here by Saturday." Oh, how she hated the thought of what poor Katie would have to go through, but it had to be done. There would be law and order in Montana, and men like Luke would make sure of it. Talk about a hanging was already rampant, and word was, people were already filtering into Billings from all over Montana and even from Wyoming to see the event. How sad that all that excitement had to be from her daughter's personal horror. God be with us all, she prayed.