She said, “I like this. What else can we do?”
He leaned down and kissed the soft mound of her little belly. His breathing was short and hard and there was a pounding in both temples.
He straightened up. “Hannah, we can do a whole lot of other things. But we can’t right now.”
“But you’ll come back and show me? I’m willin’ to learn.”
He swallowed and took a deep breath. “I’m sure you are.” He let his breath out in a long sigh. “Hannah, you are about as tasty as pie. I hate like hell to leave you, even for a short time.”
“You be back in time for supper? I got a side of beef Daddy brought over in the springhouse. It be of prime age. I’ll cut you off a big steak.”
Longarm stood up and shook his head regretfully. “I’ll be back, Hannah, darlin’. You keep on thinking about how it is gonna be.”
“You gonna learn me all about it then?”
“Oh, yes,” Longarm said, nodding, his breath getting short again. “I will learn you all about it.” He leaned down and kissed her. Her tongue came out like a pouncing cat. He started to tell her you saved those kind of kisses for when one of the persons wasn’t leaving, but decided not to load the girl up with too much information at one time. He said, glancing at the door, “Otis Bodenheimer had better have something up a tree or I’m going to hang him to it.”
Her smooth brow furrowed. “Huh?”
“Nothing, Hannah,” he said. He patted her on the shoulder and then put on his hat. “I’ll be back quick as I can.”
But at the door he stopped and turned back. A thought was troubling him, had been troubling him all week. He said, “Hannah, I been meaning to ask you something, but first one thing and then another has been getting in the way.” He knew what that one thing was and it didn’t have anything to do with law work.
“What?”
He frowned. “Did you know Gus Home before you married him?”
She shook her head slowly. “No, not really.”
“What do you mean by that? Did ya’ll court? Did he call on you at your daddy’s place? Take you out for carriage rides? Barn dances?”
She looked prim. “Well, Marshal Long, Gus Home be a outlaw. He couldn’t go ‘bout like he wanted to. Not here in this county. They laid low mostly, I guess.”
He frowned again. “What about after you were married? How was that supposed to work? Was he still going to have to lay low?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Never thought about it, an’ Daddy never said. I reckon you’d have to talk to Daddy about that.”
Longarm was still having trouble digesting the situation. Dalton Diver was a well-to-do and respected rancher. He could not understand how he would willingly marry off his daughter to an outlaw. But it seemed impossible to believe that he couldn’t have known what Gus Home was.
Longarm said, “Your daddy did know that Gus Home was a wanted man, didn’t he?”
She thought a second, pursing her full lips. “Well, yeah, I reckon. But Daddy said so long as he done his dirty business somewheres else, wasn’t none of our affair so long as he behaved at home. I ain’t the first one, you know, married into that bunch.”
“No, you have a sister that did also. Lives close to here somewhere.”
Hannah nodded. “That’d be my sister Sarah. She lives on the next section east, down the river. She married Archie Bowen near a year ago. Course he got kilt.” She thought a moment. “You knowed I was the fourth to marry into that gang.”
Longarm blinked. He had not “knowed.” He said, “No, tell me about it.”
Hannah sat up further, causing the blanket to fall down around her hips. Longarm swallowed. It was a sight that it was hard not to be affected by. She said, “First one was my fourth oldest sister, Rebeccah. She married Lester Gaskamp. Little over two years ago it was. ‘Course he was the leader of that bunch when they first commenced their stealin’ and whatnot. You know he was killed.”
Longarm stood there in some amazement. He’d been in town a full week and this was the first he was hearing about such matters. He said, “No, no, I’ve never heard the man’s name. The one I heard was the leader was Wayne Shaker.”
Hannah tossed her head sending her fine, long hair flying in a shimmering sheen of light brown. “Oh, some says he is, some says he ain’t. He’s a Mason County boy, you know, but he ain’t all that bright. They was a lot of hope for Lester, but he got kilt when they was trying to rob a bank in Junction City, and them fool boys didn’t know any more about robbing a bank than a mule knows about Santa Claus. They was just startin’ out an’ ups and tries a big bank like that one in Junction City. That was just plain silly.”
“The sister that was married to Lester—Rebeccah?”
Hannah nodded.
“Did she get a cabin and land and money?”
“Oh, yes. Boys around here know they might not as well come around unless they got the price of our hand in marriage. Got to be a nice place on a good piece of land. And the land had better be a section, six hundred and forty acres, and the money better be ready to hand. Daddy ain’t always so strict about the amount of land as he is about the quality. Now this land on the river ain’t nowhere near a section, but Daddy says water is worth a whole bunch of acres of dry land. I don’t know if that is so or not, but that is what Daddy says.”
Longarm said slowly, “That’s three. Any more?”
“Well, yes. I’m kind of ashamed about him so we don’t talk about him much. Daddy is the most ashamed of all. Was a boy named Jim Squires. He asked for the hand of my sister Salome, she’s my second oldest sister. But he didn’t have the price. Well, they was in love and Salome was kicking up a ruckus about the matter, so Daddy said they could go ahead and get hitched, except Salome was goin’ to have to live at home until Jim could raise the money for what was needed. When he got that tended to they could live together like man and wife, whatever that is supposed to mean. Well, you wouldn’t believe what happened. Jim Squires went off with that bunch and they was going to stick up the mail stage comes down from Austin. Was a little shootin’ and that Jim Squires turned tail and run off like a rabbit. We ain’t seen hide nor hair of him since. Salome is just plain mortified. And I reckon she has got good reason to be. I know I would if a husband of mine pulled some such trick.”
Longarm stared at her, dumbfounded. Finally he said, “As a general rule, where do these young men get the kind of money to afford you and your sisters?”
Hannah shrugged. “Steals it, I guess. I don’t know. But I know this. They ain’t never again none of them goin’ to get one of us on credit. Daddy done said that. It’s cash on the barrelhead and no exceptions. My word, you ought to have seen Daddy when he got the news about Jim Squires. He just ranted and raved till the world looked level. He’s just layin’ for that young man to show his face ‘round these parts again. He’ll get himself a divorce so quick it’ll make his head swim.”
“So there have been four of you married into that gang. Any children?”
Hannah gave a hoot of laughter. “Not very likely. Ain’t a one of ‘em got a chance to do his duty. I ain’t the only flower wiltin’ on the vine.”
Longarm shook his head slowly. “This is about the damnedest situation I reckon I ever run up against. Did your momma give you girls any advice?”
“Advice about what?”
“Well, you don’t seem to have any luck with husbands. How did she figure you were supposed to get your petals plucked?”
Hannah said, “She told us all to take the first one came along we took a shine to and get right after it.”
“And I’m the first one to come along.”
“First one seemed to know what it was all about.”
Longarm nodded. “Well, I’ve got to comment that your daddy has got one of the most unusual businesses going I ever heard of. Seems to be doing right well.”