Innocence and the Outlaw

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"I'm not sitting around here anymore! I'm gonna go find my damn sister!" Chance exclaimed as he slammed his fist down on the dinner table and jumped to his feet.

"Your sister is dead, boy." Paul countered coldly. Sarah gasped and threw her napkin on the table.

"Stop saying that!" she sobbed.

"Well it's the damn truth." Paul stated matter of factly. "She's dead or as good as with those outlaws having had her this long. It's her own fault too. If she hadn't run off none of this would have happened!"

"Pa, don't blame Leah. If we hadn't been such hard asses and had let her marry who she wanted to then this wouldn't have happened at all!" Chance stated solemnly as he handed his sobbing mother the bandana from his pocket. "Now I'm gonna go find her and if, God forbid, she is dead then I intend to kill every single man who had anything to do with her being taken."

"They'll kill you too, boy." Paul warned. "They'll kill you just like they've killed your sister and then what will your mother have?" Sarah's sobs grew louder and Chance shook his head.

"They ain't gonna kill me, pa. They won't have the chance because I'm gonna kill them first." Chance stormed from the dining room and into the living room where Benjamin was sitting in his wheelchair.

"Chance?" he said and Chance stopped and looked down at the man.

"What?"

"Make sure you kick those men a few times while they're down for me."

"I will." Chance promised.

"And when you find Leah, tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry."

"I'm sure my sister will be happy as hell to come back to you." Chance replied before heading up the stairs toward his room.

Benjamin sighed and leaned against his chair. Leah wouldn't want him once she knew about his legs. She was young, vibrant, full of life. That was one of the things he had always loved the most about her. He couldn't be a husband to her. He couldn't give her children or walk with her in the sunset.

He prayed those men hadn't killed her but even if she was alive and Chance managed to bring her back, those outlaws had succeeded in taking her away from him.

Chance came back down the stairs several minutes later with a revolver on his hip and a rifle on his back. Sarah came out of the kitchen and handed her son a burlap sack that smelled of homemade biscuits.

"You be careful, son, and you come back to your father and I." she ordered. Chance tipped his hat.

"Yes'm." A tear rolled down Sarah's cheek but she stuck her chin up and squared her shoulders.

"Your daddy isn't mad at you, Chance. He feels the guilt clear down to his bones that your sister got taken and he feels the sadness even deeper than that. It's just that your daddy has always been a negative thinker and he's sure that it's....it's too late." Chance hugged his mother tight.

"I'm gonna find her mama. Dead or alive, I'm gonna find her and bring her back home where she belongs."

***

The weeks flew by and before Leah knew it she had been living among the outlaw camp for a month. None of the men bothered her anymore, even if she wandered around camp while Chase was hunting. Their fear of the Indian was greater than any desire they may have for her.

More than once Chase had made several of the men swallow their own teeth after they had made lewd comments toward her or stared at her for too long. He always made sure to simply make it seem as if he was marking his territory and showed her no tenderness among the men but she knew the truth and couldn't help but feel flattered by his protectiveness and jealousy.