The ropes tightened around his shoulder and arm as Win slid across the mud and water. He fought wildly but couldn’t free himself.
‘‘Keep the ropes tight while the snakes bite!’’ the leader yelled again. ‘‘We don’t want him getting lucky and drowning. We want to take him back alive so we’ll be heroes. Then when the poison seeps in, it’ll look like we done our best to save him. While they’re mourning, we’ll follow the rest of the plan.’’
Water rushed over Winter, barely deep enough to cover him before he felt them. Snakes, thin and fast moving over him, curling around his legs, crossing over his chest.
Water moccasins. Winter’s mind drifted back to when he was a boy living among his mother’s people.
‘‘How many bites would kill me?’’ he asked his mother once as they watched the olive-brown snake slide across the water with his head up slightly.
‘‘With the wet snake be it little or long, it’s not how many, but how long you have left. One, two, three… a man can take, but after that he doesn’t need to count the snakes… only the hours of pain he has left.’’
TWENTY-TWO
THE SUN HAD A WAY OF LYING DOWN ALONG THE horizon and dying a slow brilliant death. Kora sat on the porch and watched, smiling at her memories of last night. Fate had given her a chance to be a wife, and she planned to enjoy the role as long as it lasted. All her life she’d wondered how it would feel to be cherished. Winter might frighten half the folks around here, but he was gentle with her. He thought she was special. She could see desire in his eyes, and his passion proved his longing for her. He was also talking to her of the problems of the ranch, which made her feel like she belonged, she was truly family.
Three riders appeared far to the south. Kora watched them approach, trying to see if one was Win. She shook her head. None of them had the height.
Jamie slammed the screen door as she joined her sister. ‘‘I’m bored.’’ She pouted. ‘‘I wish I’d gone with Win. Since Cheyenne is still hobbling around here, I could have riden backup. Now I’m stuck here bored out of my mind.’’
Kora knew the mood had more to do with Wyatt leaving after their fight than with Jamie’s lack of anything to do. Cheyenne had been wrong when he’d predicted the gambler would propose. Wyatt wanted a girl, but not a wife, it seemed. And Jamie wanted no strings on her as well.
Leaning against the porch railing, Jamie added, ‘‘Maybe it’s about time we moved on before the witchin’ luck catches up to us.’’
Kora didn’t say a word. She didn’t want to think about her mother’s pet name for the bad luck that always followed them.
‘‘I don’t want to leave this time,’’ Kora whispered more to herself than Jamie. ‘‘I like it here and Dan hasn’t coughed in days. He’s growing stronger with regular meals and clean air.’’ She knew Jamie loved the adventure, but Kora had longed for roots. ‘‘I thought we’d stay till summer.’’ She’d been wondering how she’d tell Jamie that her marriage to Win was only temporary. Even with all that had happened, Win had never said a word about her not leaving. ‘‘Then we might finally head to California.’’ She tried to sound excited.
Her sister wasn’t listening. As she spotted the riders, Jamie bolted like a shot from her perch and ran toward the yard. ‘‘Logan! Cheyenne! Come quick!’’
‘‘What is it?’’ The air seemed to pop with excitement around Kora. ‘‘Jamie, what’s wrong?’’ All she could see was three riders, one leading a horse, the other two riding a few yards ahead. Nothing seemed unusual, yet Jamie was dancing around wildly.
Logan and Cheyenne appeared at the barn entrance as Jamie shouted, ‘‘That’s Win’s horse they’re pulling behind them!’’
Cheyenne was in the saddle in a heartbeat riding toward the men at full gallop despite his injury. Logan disappeared back into the barn. He stepped out a few seconds later with a rifle in his hands.
‘‘Best get in the house, ladies, until we know something.’’ He moved toward the center of the yard. Other rifles slid out the doors and windows behind him. ‘‘ ’Pears trouble finally found us.’’
‘‘No,’’ Kora answered, standing beside her sister in the center of the yard. ‘‘I’m not leaving.’’
The riders drew closer. They were hard men with the look of a drifter about each. All three needed haircuts and shaves, and their clothes were so layered in dust and sweat Kora couldn’t even guess what color the fabric had once been.
Just as Cheyenne reached the riders, she saw a body tied over Win’s horse.
Kora screamed as Cheyenne jumped from his mount at full gallop and drew his blade. He slit the ropes holding Win and pulled his friend into his arms. With great effort, he lifted Win on the saddle and climbed up behind him. He kicked the horse into action and rode toward home.
All the blood seemed to drain from her as Kora watched Cheyenne bring Win the last hundred yards. She couldn’t move. Her husband’s body was covered in mud and soaking wet. And lifeless.
Logan shouted orders as the riders came in, but all Kora could do was stare. They lowered Win to the dirt while the three strangers climbed down from their saddles.
‘‘We found him in the water,’’ one said.
‘‘Snake bit. They was crawling all over him.’’
‘‘We know you’d want us to bring him home for the time he has left,’’ another mumbled.
Kora glanced at Jamie. Neither said a word, but both were thinking the same thing. Witchin’ luck had struck again. They hadn’t left this place soon enough. Misfortune had found them.
Kora felt her flesh turn to stone. She’d known from the first that nothing good lasted. How long did she think she could stay in this daydream that she could live happily as Winter’s wife? People like her and Jamie and Dan were never meant to be happy. They were never supposed to stay in one place.
‘‘Take him inside!’’ she ordered. ‘‘All the way to our bedroom.’’
The men did as she asked, marching in a funeral procession up the stairs.
Kora hardly noticed the mud they tracked across her floor or the dirt that scarred the walls as the men scraped against them. All she saw was Winter’s lips, white and swollen, and his body limp and twisted awkwardly by several pairs of hands.
The strangers who brought him in were the only ones talking.
‘‘He’s been bit several times.’’
‘‘I counted six on his arms and legs.’’
‘‘Ain’t never known anyone to live with more than three or four.’’
‘‘Your boss will never see another sunrise.’’
Kora wanted to grab Win’s Colt and shoot all three of them. But they were only the bearers of bad news and not the villains. ‘‘Thank you for bringing him home,’’ she managed to say. ‘‘Please come in and rest while I see to my husband.’’
The three men smiled and began thanking her, but Kora was no longer listening. She followed the men upstairs never stopping the string of orders to first Logan, then Jamie, then several of the hands. She couldn’t explain why, but danger still seemed heavy in the air. Maybe she was just seeing Dan’s ghosts, but something seemed wrong. When she had time she’d reason each clue out, but for now she’d protect them.
Cheyenne unstrapped Win’s gunbelt and laid it on the floor. ‘‘I’ll help you get him out of these clothes first, then we can take a look at the bites. With water moccasins there’s no use sending for the doc. He’ll either be better or dead before the doc could get here.’’
Kora lifted the wet gunbelt from the floor and strapped it around her waist not caring that the mud stained her dress. The weapon hung low over her full skirt. She pulled the Colt from its nest. ‘‘Will it fire?’’