“The name is Cynthia,” she revealed.
Hickok faced Geronimo and raised his right hand. “Let me be the first in the Family to offer congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Geronimo said, leaning down, completely unprepared for what transpired next.
Hickok gripped Geronimo’s wrist and hauled him from the horse.
Before Geronimo could resist, Hickok had him by the front of his shirt and was shaking the tar out of him.
“Don’t you ever do this to me again!” Hickok shouted. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? I was all set to come after you, you lousy Injun!
Ruin my honeymoon and everything! And all because you can’t find your way back here without help!”
Geronimo was beaming in unrestrained delight.
“So,” Hickok went on, his voice lowering several octaves, “why don’t you come in and meet the missus?”
“It is Sherry, I assume,” Geronimo remarked.
“Well, I wouldn’t be marrying Yama, now would I?”
They started to stroll across the drawbridge.
“Hey!” Cynthia shouted. “What about me?”
“You and the others are free to enter in peace,” said a deep voice above them.
Cynthia and Kilrane looked up. A huge man with bulging muscles was perched on the edge of the rampart, standing behind the strands of barbed wire placed all along the top of the wall.
“You sure it’s all right?” Kilrane asked, gazing at the Bowies on the man’s hips.
“You have my word,” the man assured them. “You and your men will not be harmed. The Family welcomes you in peace and friendship. Any friends of Geronimo’s are friends of ours.”
“You can’t have too many friends in this world,” Kilrane said.
Blade glanced behind him, watching Hickok and Geronimo enter the compound, exchanging lively banter. “Ain’t it the truth?” he stated quietly.
He faced Kilrane and Cynthia, smiling, speaking louder for their benefit.
“Ain’t it the truth!”