The Outlaw's Daughter ( On Hold)

Chapter 4

Wayne couldnt get the memory of that man out of his head. He remembered clear as day what this man had done to him. What this man had brutally taken away from him. He had been in town when he saw the smoke.upon realising that it was coming from the direction of his and his father's ranch, he drove the wagon back home as fast as he could. upon reaching the ranch The pain in his heart that he thought he was over, resurfaced again. Carson. This time he would pay.
    The memory was a painful one for Wayne, but as vivid as yesterday. Wayne had married young, his mother had wanted him to wait and become more established before taking on a family of his own, but his father was willing to give up everything for Wayne to have a great start.
     Emily was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Her hair was as bright as gold and fell down past her shoulders in the most perfect curls. Her eyes were more blue than anything Wayne had ever seen, but his father described them as being as blue as the ocean. Wayne remember when her family had just moved into town, he was 17, and running errands for his father.
     There had been rumors of a doctor moving to town, but no one expected him to have a family. Wayne had been sent in to town to sell a few hogs and bring back what his mother had given him for a list. He had tied the three hogs to the back of the wagon like he had seen his father do more than a dozen times and set off on the hour drive to town. Roads were muddy, but on the mend as the sun was starting to shine and dry the streets.
    Town wasn't emasculate but it did pride itself with a saloon, store house, butcher shop, stable and a church which doubled as a school house three days a week. Wayne had been one of the few lucky enough to get to finish out his years in school, graduating youngest in his class. The rest of Main Street included a few shut down businesses, a handful of houses and the newly constructed doctors office, located conveniently across from the saloon. As he stopped the wagon in front of the butcher shop, the old butcher came out and greeted him.
"Hello Wayne! How's yer pa doin'? You bring them hogs yer pa and me agreed on?"
"Yeah I got 'um." Wayne replied. He had noticed how the town looked to be buzzing. "What's ever'one excited about?"
"You hadn't heard?" The old man asked as he untied one of the hogs and lead it around back to the slaughter house. "The doctors in town."
     Wayne grabbed the second hog and followed around back, handed the tether to the old man and went after the last one. By the time Wayne had got around the front of the shop, he could hear the excited squeal of the last pig as it ran through the muddy streets. Scanning the town he saw the pig rutting the mud in front of the saloon, what was left of his chewed tether still hanging around his neck.
    Wayne took after the last hog, hurrying before the animal caused real damage like rooting up Mrs. Harris's flower bed. He advanced on the pig as it was enjoying the mud the sun hadn't yet got the chance to dry. As Wayne bent over to grab the fraying end of what was left of the rope, the pig hopped up and ran towards the edge of the street. At this time, people had stopped to see what a hog was doing in the middle of town. Wayne watched in horror as the boar plowed through the group of bystanders and busted through the door of the building behind. Women's shrieks filled the air. He ran in right after the pig, finding that the new doctor was in town, for his pig had just busted the door down to the doctors house.
    Slipping on the mud the pig tracked in, Wayne found himself sprawled on top the most beautiful creature he was sure God had ever created. He felt his heart beat replaced with a more rapid pace which left his breath caught in his throat. As the small heap of beauty began to grumble, he remembered that he must have been crushing her petite structure under his much larger one.
    As he struggled to his feet, covered in mud, he remembered the hog that had run back out the door as he was momentarily disabled. With brief apologies, he dashed back out the door, leaving the frail young woman covered in mud, sitting on the floor. By this time the old butcher had round up a pan of corn, and the hog was there contently eating.
   "Boy am I glad that pig is goin' to slaughter." Wayne said as he arrived back at the butcher shop.
    "You and the doctor both I 'spose."
After getting all three hogs secured behind the butcher shop, Wayne made his way to the general store. After giving the storekeeper his list, Wayne made his way down to the doctors office. The chaos caused not so long before was already on the mend. Two women were working to tidy the kitchen that had just been destroyed. chairs were set back up and the table was pushed back to the center of the room. A man, who Wayne assumed to be the doctor was carrying the last of their belongings in from their wagon.
   " let me give you a hand with that sir." Wayne said to a mid aged gentleman. The man let Wayne take one end of the trunk and carry it into the house
"Take a right, this trunk goes to infirmary." Said the doctor. Wayne did so as he stole a glance at the blonde who had an equal amount of mud on her dress as the floor.
"I'm sorry about that mess my hog caused, I'll pay for the damages sir."
"The name is Dr. Collins. I'm not much good with a hammer and a nail, I'll take you up on that offer, and let you fix up the front door your pig busted."
Wayne entered the kitchen with the doctor and apologized again. " I'm sorry for the damages that I've caused. If there's anything I could do, let me know."
It was the doctors turn to speak. "Wayne, this here is my wife Rosie." He said as he addressed a thin brown haired, middle aged woman. " and this is our daughter Emily." He said, gesturing towards the blonde.
Rosie was the first to speak, " how are you Wayne? Do you live in town? It really isn't a problem, Emily and I have it mostly cleaned up now."
"Doing fine ma'am, just rightly embarrassed about wreckin' yer home. No, I'm about an hour in the country." Wayne replied with some color to his cheeks. Emily had in her hand a pail of dirty water that she had been using to scrub the floor.
"Miss let me dump that bucket for ya." Wayne said as he crossed the room and took the bucket from her. He went out the back door and threw the water into the bushes. She followed him out the door.
"This isn't really the lifestyle we left back home." She stated as he began to draw the water. "We usually had to wait at least a week for anything half as exciting to happen." He filled her bucket of water and carried it back to the house. "Glad to help." He replied with a grin.
After a trip to the general store, Wayne returned with what was needed to patch the door and set to work. Wayne got to know the family as he worked, and he and his family was invited to dinner on Sunday, when the family would be in town next.
One year later, Wayne found himself just as flushed in the face as he had been upon first meeting the Collins family. He knocked on the door, looking at the patchwork he had done the first day of meeting Emily, surprised he even got one nail pounded straight while stealing glimpses of that beautiful woman. Rosie answered the door. "Hello Wayne, Emily is upstairs, let me call for her."
"Actually" he said. "I came to speak to Matthew." Surprise covered her face, "he's in the infirmary taking inventory." She replied. Wayne tipped his hat to her as he reached for the doorknob to the right and opened the door. The room was filled with empty beds, he was thankful for that. Dr. Collins was at the end of the room, writing on a sheet of paper and mumbling softly to himself. Wayne walked down the rows of empty beds to where the doctor was, sweat now gathering on his brow and around his collar.
"Dr. Collins."
"Ah Wayne. It is good to see you this morning, I hope you will be joining us for lunch."
"Sir, I came to ask you a question."
"Of course my boy! What is it? Does something ail you? You don't look well."
"Most defiantly sir." He said with a small laugh. He looked down at his hat he had held tight by the brim, scrunching its edges. "Sir I came to ask your permission to marry your daughter.
The doctor sat his pencil down upon hearing Wayne's question, scooted the chair from the desk and slowly stood up. This had Wayne wondering what the doctor would say, surely he had known his intentions.
"Rosie!" Cried the Doctor, " call for Emily!" The doctor hollered, as he turned to face the young gentleman he had grown accustom to having as a guest. Both entered the room in a hurry, as the doctor never raised his voice about anything. Worry showed on both their faces.
"The young Mr. Martin has a question for our. Dear Emily." Said the Doctor, his voice returned to its usual calm.
"Well I-" started Wayne. He switched his hat to one hand, holding on to it for dear life as he dug in his pocket with his now free hand. After finally retrieving what he had been searching for, wayne took the last few steps to where Emily stood.
"Emily you know how I feel about ya-" he started again. Emily listened intently as Wayne continued to fumble with his words. He had tried to ask his question four or five times already, without much luck. He had always been a shy fellow around the women folk, and today was no exception.
"I wanna ask you to be my wife." He finally said, with the color well past his cheeks. He opened his closed hand to show the ring he had ordered through the general store and had waited many weeks to have it delivered.
Emily was beyond shocked and it showed in how she covered her face with her hands. "Yes Wayne!" She said as tears streamed down her face. He was so afraid she'd say no, the relief made him sick to his stomach. He slipped the ring onto her finger and then embraced the most beautiful girl, his future wife.
"There!" Said the doctor, "you have my blessing."
Wayne's father had sold a good portion of the calf crop that year to buy another spread of land two towns over, and Wayne and his new bride started their life on that spread with 200 head of his father's cattle he had gifted them as a wedding present.
He remembered all of this and the tears welled up in his eyes. He missed her. More than anything. He wanted more than anything to put a bullet right between that mans eyes, and in just a few moments he might. This man stirred a fire in Wayne, a fire only quenched, he thought, by revenge.
They had only been married a year when Emily informed Wayne about the baby. He could still see the glow of her face and how her eyes sparkled as she told him the news. She had wanted him to know before he left for his father's ranch. His father needed help bringing in the harvest, and he would be gone a week. He had neighbors who had said they would check in while he was away, and that made it easier for him to say good-bye.
" I'll miss you Emily." He said as he held his wife tenderly around the waist. He let his eyes travel down to her still flat stomach. He couldn't believe they would be having a baby.
"Ill miss you too Wayne. And so will Gabriel." She said with a smile.
"Gabriel?" He questioned, looking puzzled at her stomach. "Don't you mean Hannah? We're having a girl, just as beautiful as you Dear." As he said these words he leaned in and kissed her softly on the nose.
"It's a boy Wayne, you'll see." A smile playing its way onto her lips.
Wayne saddled his horse early the next morning, having said his goodbyes to his wife the night before. If he rode hard, he would make his father's spread by evening.
Emily spent the first few days in solitude sewing articles for their new family member. She had been praying for a baby boy, and hoped that the Lord would bless them with at least a couple more. Neighbors had been stopping by each morning to check in with her, and she found that to be more than excessive. If she needed help, she had told Wayne she would saddle the mare and go get some.
It was the afternoon of the day of Wayne's return. She was excited to hear how the harvest had went. He would be proud of how she went and checked the cows just as he had showed her how to. Her only problem she had encountered thus far was the difficulty to keep her breakfast down. She remembered how her mother had told her stories about her pregnancy, but she hadn't really thought it would be that bad.
She heard the sound of hooves and it pulled her attention away from the bread she was making. Wayne loved fresh bread and she wanted to surprise him. Wiping her flour covered hands on her apron, she went to the window to see who was coming. Two men on horseback approached the house. The men got off and tied their mounts to the porch rail. Emily met the men at the door.
"Good afternoon Gentlemen." Emily greeted the Gentlemen, "what brings you out this way?"
"Looking for cattle." Said the taller of the two men.
"Well I hope you find your missing cows." Replied Emily earnestly. She didn't know what these men were actually up to, nor did she know about the 10 other men rounding up her and Wayne's livestock.
As she bid her guests goodbye, the second man who hadn't said much pulled out his pistol, and pointed at Emily, catching her off guard. As she stood there shocked, he flipped the gun around, now holding it by the barrel, and hit Emily hard across the face. The impact knocked her to the ground where she lay unconscious in a heap. The men jammed the door making it impossible to open, if she happened to regain consciousness, grabbed a bottle from the saddle bags struck a match, and started the house on fire.
Wayne remembered riding into the yard late that night, smoke filled the air. His heart had raced the moment he picked up the scent, and it pounded harder and harder the closer he got to his ranch. Then he saw it. I heap of burning rubble, glowing orange from the embers that still burned. As he got closer he could hear the soft nickers of the mare horse his wife had loves so. He found her grazing the edges of the burning homestead, unwilling to leave her rider. That's when he knew, his wife hadn't made it out. He had lost the only woman he had ever cared about, Wayne wanted revenge. He was going to find the man that had caused him so much pain, and make him sorry he had ever messed with Wayne Martin.