Blood Wedding

Molly laughed. “You just might be, at that. But just the four of us wouldn’t stand a chance, even if we could flush Murray out of wherever it is he’s hiding now. We have to think of something better than that.”

“Maybe in the morning,” Lem said. “It’s mighty late for thinking.”

“Too late for you to go back to Talley’s place, too,” Fargo told Molly. “It wouldn’t do for you to be riding out alone, not with Murray still on the loose.”

“She can stay in the spare room,” Abby said, “and you . . .”

“Can stay in the barn,” Fargo said. “I knew that already.”

He didn’t really mind staying in the barn. In fact, he thought it was a good idea. You never knew, with two women like Molly and Abby in the house, what one of them might take it into her head to do. And if both of them had the same notion and showed up in his room, Fargo might find himself in a heap of trouble. Or some other kind of heap that would be more interesting, but maybe even more complicated. It was the kind of situation he preferred to avoid, so he went out to the barn without complaint. He spread his blanket on the hay and lay down, realizing only then how tired he was. He was asleep within seconds.

Angel woke him just before sunup. The light in the barn was dim at best, but Fargo could see well enough to tell who was crouching near his foot, shaking it lightly, as soon as he opened his eyes. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, thinking that he hadn’t had nearly enough sleep.

“Don’t you think it’s a little bit dangerous for you to be here?” he asked.

Angel sat on the floor, her knees drawn up and her arms clasped around her legs. She looked at Fargo over the tops of her knees and said, “I know it’s dangerous, all right, but I came to do you a favor. Do you want to listen?”

Fargo yawned and sat up. “I’m listening.”

“I didn’t think you’d get away in that cave. I still don’t know how you did it, but you made Pa really mad.”

“As I remember it, he’s never been a very happy man, anyhow,” Fargo said. “So I guess he hasn’t changed all that much.”

“No, he hasn’t. But this time he’s worse than he usually is. He’s sorry he didn’t kill you when he had the chance, and he blames me for that.”

“Seems like I ought to thank you.”

“You should. It was a weakness in me, and I know it, just like coming here now is a weakness. Pa doesn’t like weakness in a man, or in a woman, either.”

“I wouldn’t call it a weakness,” Fargo said. “And I do thank you.”

“You’re welcome, then. But we’ve talked about it enough. What you’d better do is get yourself out of here, because Pa and the gang aren’t far behind me. He’s coming to get you, and anybody else that’s here, no matter what. He’d skin me alive if he knew I came to warn you.”

“Won’t he find out?”

“I don’t care if he does. I’m not going to stay around any longer. He never really cared for me, not the way he did for Paul. He thinks a woman is prone to weakness, and I guess I’ve proved him right about that.”

“Maybe you just don’t enjoy killing as much as he does.”

“He doesn’t enjoy it. It’s just something he has to do.” Angel unclasped her hands and stood up. “I have to go now. You’d better get yourself ready. He’ll be here mighty quick.”

She didn’t say anything more, just turned and went down the ladder. By the time Fargo got his boots on, she was gone.

There was no time to plan anything elaborate. Lem wanted to send Abby to fetch help from the nearest farm, which happened to be Frank Conner’s.

“The only one there will be Frank,” Abby said. “And maybe one hired hand. You’d be just as well off if I stayed here. I can shoot as well as Frank, and better than any hired hand he might have. You just want to get me out of the way.”

She’d seen through Lem’s plan, and he gave in reluctantly.

“You can stay, then,” he said. “What’re we gonna do, Fargo?”

“Try to catch Murray’s bunch in a crossfire. Molly and I will set up in the barn, and you and Abby can get ready in the house. We might kill enough of them so that they won’t stay around long. If Angel was telling the truth, they won’t know we’re waiting for them.”

“I’d still like to know how you and Angel got so close,” Abby said. “Thicker than thieves. I find it hard to believe she’d come to warn you and betray her father.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Molly said, helping Fargo out. “Worry about staying alive for the next hour or so.”

Abby looked at Molly thoughtfully, then nodded. Fargo and Molly went to the barn.

“Looks like you get around even more than I thought, Fargo,” Molly said. “I never would have thought Abby would give in to you.”

Fargo didn’t tell her that he was the one who’d done the giving in. He said, “I can be mighty persuasive when I try. Do you want the loft or the doors here?”

“It’s not easy shooting down at an angle, but I can do it. I’ll take the loft.”