Jay sat forward, reaching to take the bandaging from her as she knelt in front of him. She set the whiskey bottle down and reached to run her hand over the wolf-dog's head.
"Good boy," she crooned softly. "We'll fix you up." She reached to turn him, with Jay's help. They maneuvered the big dog to his right side, and Jay moved in front of Allie to look into his companion's amber eyes.
Big Mack had been here almost as long as Jay had. Half-shepherd, half-wolf, he'd approached the house with wary caution, waiting for scraps from meals, sleeping just inside the front door of the barn. As time passed, he became more trusting, and now, he and Jay were inseparable.
Allie poured some of the whiskey on a cloth and carefully began to clean the deep lacerations across the dog's neck, side, and stomach. Jay held his head, whispering to him in a mixture of Comanche and English. Big Mack whined softly in his throat as Allie touched a deep, raw gash. "I'm sorry, Mack," she murmured.
"You're a lot like Mr. Gabriel, Mack," Jay said. "I sat with him earlier, like I'm doin' with you now. I told him you were hurt worse than he was, but that wasn't true. I just told him that so's he'd feel better."
Allie glanced at Jay. He met her eyes. "Mr. Gabriel's not gonna die, is he?"
Allie shook her head. "No," she said emphatically. "And neither is big Mack. But they'll both be in a lot of pain for awhile, Jay."
Jay nodded, understanding the unspoken warning that neither the dog nor the man might be fit company for several days. That somehow made the gunman's earlier gruffness easier to bear.
"I want to talk to you."
Jay didn't reply. He knew from her tone it was about what he'd said earlier, when they'd brought the gunfighter inside, and Jay had gone to see to the animals.
Allie wrapped a length of bandaging across Big Mack's neck, and then began to salve the claw marks the big cat had left on his side and massive chest.
"What did you know about – about Mr. Gabriel? And when did you know it?"
Jay shrugged and looked down at Big Mack. "Everyone knew he was here to get rid of the Claytons," he said.
"You know what I'm talking about." The warning in her tone was unmistakable.
Jay moved to strengthen his grasp on the dog as Big Mack jerked and whined. After a moment, he said, "Just today, Mama. At lunchtime, Jimmy Smith was talking about it. But he didn't say for sure what would happen. All the boys went to see."
"To see Mr. Gabriel fight the Claytons?"
Jay shook his head, not meeting her eyes. "No. 'Cause Jimmy said, his pa would tan his hide if he came around before the Claytons were done in. But he was going later, after school. He and the others went to the bluff to watch—"
"Do you mean to tell me all the boys knew what was going to happen to – to Mr. Gabriel?"
Jay shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly."
****
Allie turned her attention back to the dog to buy herself some time. She needed to get a hold on her emotions. She had picked the wrong place to settle down. The wrong place to start the orphans' home and ranch that had been her dream for so long. She couldn't fight an entire town for something as common as everyday decency. She couldn't single-handedly show them the meaning of honor. And it would be damn hard to show it to a passel of boys – young men – who would be living at the orphans' home, if they were surrounded by townsfolk such as those in Spring Branch.
She was not unaware of what they said about her. About Jay. There was still much conjecture that Jay was her true son. That he'd been born out of wedlock. Now that Brandon was here, there would be all kinds of fuel for that particular fire, owing to the obvious – he and Jay both carried Indian blood. And she had shattered Arnie Smith's kneecap defending Brandon.
"Mama, what did happen in town?"
Jay's voice called her back to the present. She gave him a quick look before turning her attention back to the dog. Finally, she spoke.
"Jay, I picked wrong for us. When I brought you here and we bought this place – I thought it was like heaven."
"Me, too."
Allie smiled, and then became serious once more. "No matter how good we try to be, how honorably we want to live, it doesn't matter if we – if we pick wrong." She swallowed hard, not looking at him, barely even able to admit her impending defeat to herself. She'd had such plans for this place, so many dreams she wanted to make a reality.
"The men – Jimmy's father and several of the others – had planned to cheat Brandon – Mr. Gabriel – " she corrected quickly, "out of the money they paid him to run the Claytons out of town. Then, they planned to kill him."
"I figured – somethin' like that." Jay shook his head. "Jimmy's been braggin' at school about stuff, but he never said exactly what his pa planned to do. Just acted like he had a big secret of some kind."
Murder. Double cross. Betrayal. The biggest secret of all.
"Easy, boy," Jay murmured as the big animal whined and tried to escape Allie's gentle fingers. "Mama, did you know Mr. Gabriel from before? I mean, it seems like maybe you were already friends. And how did you get him away from the other men?"