Thief of My Heart (Watty Awards Finalist 2012)

Chapter 30

Only one person in the world had ever called him "Hannie."  Hannibal Heyes had not recognized the frail, tired looking woman as she had walked towards him.  But when she had called him by the childhood nickname, a closer inspection allowed him to see the slight resemblance she held to the girl he had once thought he'd loved.  Time had not been kind to her.  Her once shiny auburn hair was now a nondescript brownish color with streaks of grey.  Dull strands of the thin hair escaped a haphazard bun to fly in disarray around her pale face.  A face that was marred with more lines and wrinkles than a woman of thirty-two should have.  A figure he would have once described as elegantly slender could now only be described as haggard and gaunt.
  
They stood there staring at each other.   He unable to believe that the woman in front of him who looked so old,  and worn was the same girl he had known.  She unable to believe that the boy she had treated so shabbily was standing in front of her now, holding her child.

Hannibal Heyes.  The same Hannibal Heyes who had robbed trains and banks for the last fifteen years.  The same Hannibal Heyes she had dreamed of on the lonely nights when she was up with a baby.   The same Hannibal Heyes she wished she had never let go.  The same Hannibal Heyes she had daydreamed of running away with.  She had fantasized about being the handsome desperado's woman.  She had only been able to imagine how he would look as a grown man,  as there were no pictures of Hannibal Heyes or Kid Curry.  But what her imagination had conjured did not  compare to the reality of the lean muscular man she was looking at now.  She didn't even try to disguise the obvious look of lust that crossed her face as her eyes raked him up and down.  The years had certainly been kind to Hannibal Heyes.  He had been a cute boy.  But he was a gorgeous and no doubt virile man.  The fact that he was a wanted outlaw only added to the element of danger and to his appeal. 

As soon as Evie heard her say "Hannie,"  she knew who this woman  was.  She was Laura Thompson.  The stupid girl who had broken the heart of young Hannibal Heyes.  Evie could read this woman's thoughts as clearly as if they had been written on a chalk board above her head.  "Boy did I mess up" she was thinking as she looked him up and down.  Evie's spine tingled.  This was the woman her mother had been warning her about in the dreams.   She wanted to step between Hannibal and this woman, to shield him from her.  Whether it was her mother's warnings or the way she was practically taking his clothes off with her eyes, she wasn't sure, but one thing was for sure, she did not like this woman.

"Hannie, it's me, Laura, don't you remember."

Heyes put the little girl down and she rushed to grab onto her mother's leg. 

"I'm sorry, ma'am you must have me confused with someone else."  He took Evie's hand and moved past the woman. 

She grabbed his arm as he walked by her.  "You don't have to worry.  I won't give you away."  Her bony fingers encircled his firm bicep, squeezing.  "I won't tell anyone who you really are,"  she whispered in a desperate tone.  Her eyes were begging him not to leave.

He tipped his hat, said, "Good day, ma'am,"  and headed for the door.

They met Thaddeus and Livvy coming in the open front doors.

"Evangeline, here you are. You should see the adorable shoes they have in that little shop on the corner.  Joshua, you won't mind terribly if I steal her for a few moments will you?"   She stopped and looked questioningly at the two of them. Their expressions were grave.  "What's wrong?"

Kid had seen that look on Heyes' face before.  It was the "somebody knows us, let's get out of here"  look. 

"Evie's not feeling so well.  I think maybe our shopping trip was a bit premature,"  Heyes lied.

Evie caught on quickly and feigned fatigue and illness.  "Yes, my leg is starting to throb and so is my head.  It's only been a week since I was bitten by that snake.   I think we should head back to the ranch."

Livvy tossed her boxes into Thaddeus' arms and turned her full attention to her "ailing" niece.  "Come sit here on this bench while Thaddeus  and Joshua go get the surrey."  She led Evie to a bench on the boardwalk in front of the mercantile.

Heyes looked over his shoulder as t-he and Kid crossed the street.  Laura was observing their every move and hanging on their every word.  Now she had seen Kid.  And now she had heard their aliases.  This could mean trouble.  They had to get out of here fast.  He and Kid practically ran to the surrey that was parked in front of the cafe.

"What happened, Heyes?"

"Laura Thompson happened.  She spotted me in the general store.  She was the woman with all the kids.  I told her she was mistaken but then she saw you.  She's going to know that it's you and me for sure."   Heyes climbed in the front and took the reins.  "Let's get back to the ranch.  Giddy up!"

Evangeline glanced over her shoulder.  The woman was pretending to be interested in a display of iron skillets and cooking pots located just inside the door of the mercantile.  But Evie could tell she was only trying to hear every word they were saying. 

"Perhaps we should just check into the hotel and call for a doctor.   It's a long ride to Red Rock."

Would you please hush, Livvy!  Evie wanted to shout.  She didn't want that woman to know where they were headed.  "No, I just want to get out of this town.  All these people and the noise are giving me a headache,"  she fibbed.

Heyes stopped the surrey in front of the mercantile.  Thaddeus helped the ladies inside.  As they rode away Evie and Thaddeus looked back to see Laura Thompson, baby Hannibal still on her hip, standing on the boardwalk watching them depart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You're sure it was her?"

"Kid, who else in the world would call me Hannie?"

"But you denied it?"

"Of course I denied it.  And she might have believed it wasn't me until you walked in.  And thanks to Livvy now she knows we go by Thaddeus and Joshua."  The boys turned towards the bunkhouse door when it opened. 

"And that we were headed to Red Rock."  Evie added as she came through the door of the bunkhouse to join the boys in their discussion.  "While you two were going after the surrey Livvy was saying what a long ride it was back to Red Rock.  And that bony old brood mare was right there listening to every word."

"So what should we do about it, Heyes?"  Kid asked.

"There's nothing we can do.  I don't think she's going to turn us in though.  As we were walking out she told me not to worry, that she wasn't going to tell anybody who I really was.  And I don't think she will."

Evie's mouth fell open.  She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And you trust anything that lying old biddy says?   She stomped on your heart and took up with another boy without so much as an apology or a 'kiss my foot' and you think she's going to be loyal to you now?  Didn't you see all those children?  Don't  you think she could use twenty thousand dollars?  I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her."   She thought about that for a moment.  "Well, I probably could throw her pretty far,  she didn't look like she weighed over ninety pounds soaking wet."

"Just calm down.  We've had to deal with this kind of thing before.  We know how to handle it."

"Yeah, but, Heyes,  usually when somebody spots us and we have to get outta town, nobody  knows where we're headed.    She knows we were coming to Red Rock.  And she knows we go by Thaddeus and Joshua.  If anybody comes asking questions it won't take too long for them to put it all together and head straight for the ranch,"  Kid said.

"Well, if she is going to turn us in, she'll probably do it soon, so we don't have a chance to get too far away.  So I figure if we don't see a posse or a sheriff riding in here in the next day or two, we're safe."

"I don't like taking that kind of chance, Heyes and just waiting here like sitting ducks.  I think we should leave, hide out for a while.  We can always go to Rising Gulch."

"And how are we going to explain that to Livvy.  If we just up and disappear without a good explanation,  she'll pack Evie off so fast our heads will spin.  And you know we only go to Rising Gulch if there's no other choice."

"Where's Rising Gulch?  And don't gulches sink instead of rise?"

"It's an old abandoned mining town it northern New Mexico.  It's close to the Colorado border.  We stumbled across it one time when we were being chased by a posse and we hid out there for a couple of weeks.  They never did find us.  So we decided that if we ever got into trouble and had to split up, we would always meet in Rising Gulch.  It's hard to get to and not many people know about it."

Evie listened as the boys discussed their options.  She could see now why the amnesty was so important to them.  How miserable it must be to have to worry every time you ran into an old acquaintance.  She wished they had never gone to Cold Springs.  She would have rather been missing them while they were out wrangling horses for days instead of going through this.  A light went off in her head.  Maybe that was the answer. 

"Why don't you just go out to wrangle some more horses.  You can stay gone for a few days and if anything happens, like the sheriff comes by or there's news about a Heyes and Curry sighting, Big Mac can send one of his hands out to find you and warn you.  And if nothing happens in a few days, we can assume everything is alright and you can come back home.  Livvy will just think you're out doing your job."

"You know, I think some of Heyes' genius must be rubbing off on you, Evie.  That's perfect."

"It is perfect, just like you,"  Heyes said as he gathered her in his solid embrace and kissed her smiling lips. 

"You two get packed then and I'll go in and tell Livvy something that won't make her suspicious.    We'll be back to say goodbye."

"You know, Heyes, if we can stay out of trouble this time,  I think I'm going to stay put on this ranch and not go anywhere until that amnesty comes through.  It's getting too dangerous to go anywhere."

"I've been thinking the same thing, Kid.  Home is where you hang your hat, they say.  Maybe it's time we hung our hats here for good."   And where ever Evie was, that's the only place he wanted his hat to hang.   This was home.  And home was simply wherever Evie was.