Chapter Forty-Five

"Damn, that was a rifle shot!" Ance growled. 

Were them damn coyotes back? It had to have come from the ranch which was over the next rise in the distance. Without waiting for Irish to respond, Ance kicked his mare into a gallop and raced toward the ranch. 

The house and barns came into view. Ance took in every sight and sound but could see or hear nothing out of place. The horses were quiet, the chickens were still, nothing was amiss. There were no coyotes that was for sure. 

So why the hell was someone shooting a rifle? 

Ance felt fear grip his heart and he rode his horse right up to the porch before leaping off and rushing into the house. He could hear sobs, Penelope's sobs. Ance pulled his gun and followed the sound of her crying. He found her near the back door and instantly he stopped. 

Penelope was clinging to Audrey who was on the ground, leaned against the wall and unconscious... at least he hoped she was only unconscious. She was covered in blood and her breathing was shallow. There was a rifle on the floor beside her which explained where the shot had come from. 

And the dead man on the floor must have been what she'd been shooting.  Ance went to the man and stared down at him with shock. He was covered in burn scars, monstrous and nearly unrecognizable but lying dead from a bullet hole to the chest was Rodger York. 

"Ance?" Penelope whispered. "Where were you?" 

Ance holstered his weapon and went to her. He scooped her into his arms and held her tight. "I had to go into town and pick up a few things. I thought I'd be back before you were awake." 

"He hurt mama," Penelope whimpered, pointing at Rodger. "And he hit me. Ance, is mama going to be okay? She fell asleep and won't wake up." 

"Who the devil is that?" Irish's voice came from behind them. 

"A dead man," Ance growled. "Take him outside, Irish, and then get to town and get the doc out here. Audrey's hurt bad." 

Without a smart comment or single word of argument, Irish grabbed Rodger under his arms and dragged the man out the back door. "Where's your brace, Penny?" Irish asked her. 

"In my room... I heard mama yelling and I heard him. I used the wall to hold myself up and slid down the stairs on my backside trying to get to her." 

Ance wanted to focus on Audrey but couldn't just leave Penelope down here. Hell, Audrey might be dying and Penelope didn't need to see that. Ance was stiff legged and fighting hard to remain cold and turned off to everything that was going on as he carried Penelope up the stairs. He sat her on her bed and helped her into her brace. 

"Now listen, I want you to stay up here until I come get you, okay? I'm going to tend to your mama and as soon as she's settled in and feeling a little better I'll come get you and let you come see her, okay?" 

"Okay...." Penelope was nearing tears again and Ance cursed under his breath. He grabbed her doll from the bed and handed it to her. 

"I need you to be strong for me, Penny. I can't be worrying about you while I'm trying to help your mama." 

Penelope hardened her chin, squared her shoulders and nodded. "Okay." 

Ance nodded, patted her head gently, taking note of the red welts on her cheeks. He took a deep shuddering breath and heading back downstairs. His heart was heavy and his chest tighter than he could ever remember as he stepped up to Audrey and knelt beside her. He ran a gentle finger down her cheek. "Audrey, I need you to wake up, lady. Come on now..." 

He took note of her injuries. It looked as if she'd had her face bashed against either the floor or the wall. Her lips were split and swelling and her nose was bleeding. He hoped that was what had knocked her unconscious... Slowly Ance began running his hands down her body, checking for other injuries. 

Audrey let out a loud moan of pain when Ance reached the left side of her ribs. He moved his hand back up and cursed. He wasn't a doctor but he knew a thing or two about wounds and broken bones and Audrey had a couple broken ribs. 

Ance was trembling with rage. It was a desperate rage. A rage that he had no way of easing. Rodger was already dead so Ance couldn't kill him. Ance had left the ranch for only a couple hours and had damn near lost the only two people in the world that he knew for a fact he couldn't live without. 

Ance went to the kitchen and quickly built up a fire in the stove and put a pot of water on to heat so he could clean Audrey's face. While that was warming, he returned to his woman and, as gently as he could, lifted her up bridal style in his arms. 

She moaned and her eyelids fluttered open. "Ance?" she whispered, her voice laced with pain. 

"Shh, don't try to talk. Your ribs are broken and you'll only hurt yourself." 

"Penelope?" 

"Is upstairs in her room and just fine. You took care of him, whiskey lady, I'm proud of you. But I obviously can't leave you two for longer than five minutes because every time I do, you wind up in some kind of trouble." 

A smile graced Audrey's bloody lips and Ance felt his heart lighten a bit. "You came back," she whispered. 

Ance sighed as he went up the steps as gently as he could. "Of course I did. I was only going into town to get some traps for them coyotes since I couldn't find none around here. I planned on being back before you woke up." 

"You shouldn't...plan.." It was clear that Audrey was in terrible pain and it broke Ance's heart. "You're a... terrible planner." 

"I know." 

"Why am I...wearing a ring?" Audrey questioned. 

Ance stepped into her master bedroom and was wowed at the size of the fireplace, the double doors out to the balcony and the massive canopy bed. He laid her down gently upon the blankets and rubbed at his neck. "For the same reason I'm wearing one," he grumbled, uncomfortable with the current turn the conversation had taken. ""You don't have to wear it if you choose not to." Ance shrugged. "It's up to you. Now I'm going to go get that water I had heating so I can clean you up a bit before the doc gets here." 

Ance didn't give her time to speak before all but running from the room. Hell fire if the woman didn't want that ring, if she didn't want him to wear the matching one, he didn't know what the hell he'd do with himself. Irish seemed to think he should have gotten on one knee, spouted out pretty love words and asked her to be his wife... then gotten a preacher and been blessed and signed papers which would be stamped by a man in a robe who liked to tell people what to do..

Ance had no use for all of that. He didn't give a rat's ass what anyone else thought. He loved Audrey and, in his heart, she was his wife, his one and only. That was enough for him. But maybe he could have tried to say something romantic--then again he never had bothered with pretty love words so far and the woman didn't seem to mind. Maybe she wouldn't mind this time either. 

Ance went to the kitchen and took the water off the stove. He grabbed a rag and then filled a plate with some biscuits and ham left from the night before. Holding the water bucket in one hand and the plate in the other, Ance went back upstairs. He sat the water outside Audrey's room and went to Penelope's. 

"Here's something for your stomach, Penny. I figured you might be hungry." 

"How's mama?" Penelope asked as she moved to the edge of the bed and took the plate. 

"She woke up but she's hurting real bad. I'm gonna get her cleaned up and Irish should be back soon with the doc. You just stay in here until the doc gets done tending to her, okay?" 

"Okay pa." 

Ance paused. He'd been leaving the room but his foot stopped in midair. He glanced back at her. "Pa?" 

Penelope's face turned red and she looked away from him. "Sorry... It slipped out..." 

"Well let it slip out more often then," Ance stated. "That's alright." 

A smile lit up her face and Ance knew it was mirrored on his own as he left the room and returned to Audrey. His smile faded when he remembered the rings and he picked up the water and walked hesitantly into the room. 

Audrey was staring at the ceiling and didn't say a word as Ance began to tenderly clean the blood from her face. When he moved the rag to her neck, she sighed. "I never.... gave much thought to marriage after Alexander died. I never.... thought I'd want another man beside me." 

Ance merely grunted and continued to clean her off, rinsing out the rag now and then. "I love you, Ance, and I... would be proud to wear your ring.. Not... that you asked me." 

Ance heard the teasing in her tone and he met her brown eyes. "I don't know how to go about doing all that romance nonsense." Ance grumbled. "Hell I don't even want a wedding if we can get by without one, though if it means enough to you, I reckon I'd do it. All I know is that I can't leave you and Penny. The two of you are the best thing that's ever happened to a man like me and I'd like to stick around." 

"And when did you buy the rings?" Audrey asked. 

"Grandy." 

"That long?!" Audrey gasped and then winced in pain. 

"Calm yourself, whiskey lady," Ance scolded. "And yes, that long. I bought them before I even knew for sure I wanted to use them. Now before the doc gets here and starts asking questions, what the hell happened?" 

Audrey shivered as Ance finished cleaning her face and neck and tossed the rag into the bucket of water. "I...woke up and came..downstairs to start the chores. I realized.. You and Irish weren't here.. I thought you'd left us... I...I was distracted and he came." 

"You were crying weren't you?" Ance growled. "Damn woman, you sure know how to cut a man. You thought I'd left for good without so much as a goodbye." 

"I'm..sorry..." Audrey whispered. 

Ance just shook his head. "Well you know now that you were wrong. What happened when he came?" 

"He was talking crazy.. And he looked like a monster.. He faked his death.. So he could come be with me.. Then he saw ring and he.. He attacked me. I almost made it to the gun but he.. Grabbed my hair.. Threw me down and kicked my chest before slamming my face into the wood... Then Penelope came... I could barely stay conscious but I.. I got the gun and I shot him." 

Ance was relieved to hear that nothing worse had happened but he was angry and guilt ridden that he hadn't been here to protect Audrey and Penelope. He was supposed to be their protector and yet he kept failing. Audrey's hand gently stroked his cheek. "Don't do that, Ance. Don't...blame yourself. Didn't you say... just last night that there are bad people in this world....and they are relentless and cruel?" 

Ance sighed, leaning into her touch. "Yeah, I did. I won't fail the two of you again, Audrey." 

"You never have failed us, Ance. We love you." 

Ance stood up and picked up the bucket of bloody water. "I'm going to go down and start cleaning up down there. You stay in bed. If you move around too much with those busted ribs, you could poke a hole in your lung. When the doc gets here I'll bring him up." 

"Ance... I love you."

Ance smiled back at her. "Me too, whiskey lady." 

Ance left the room and went downstairs. He began mopping up blood with rags and towels , not wanting Penelope to come back downstairs and see that mess again. As he cleaned, his anger built and built until he finally could not stand it any longer. 

Standing up straight and tossing down the rag, Ance strode out the door. He found Rodger's body covered with a canvas tarp. He yanked off the tarp and stared down at that bastard's scarred face. He pulled his gun and aimed it down at the bastard's face. Everything in him wanted to pull that trigger over and over until he ran out of bullets. 

Ance was about to do just that when he thought of Penelope. If she heard a volley of shots, after the morning she had, it was liable to do real damage to the girl. Grudgingly, Ance holstered his gun and settled for taking his boot and driving it into Rodger's chest until he could barely lift his foot off the ground. 

He then tossed the tarp back over Rodger's dead body and headed back inside to finish cleaning. 

A/N: Woohoo! Four chapters in two days. You are welcome :) Truthfully this story is nearing it's end and that seems so strange to say after how long I've been working on it!! Love y'all! And thanks for all your support so far!