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his
voice.
    Levi Redbourne was always up to something. Though,
from some of the stories he’d told her about growing up with his twin brother
and all the trouble they’d gotten into back then, she guessed that the war had
taken a lot out of him—as it had everyone. But, for those who’d actually witnessed
the heart of battle, she imagined it was that much worse. He could be playful
without a doubt, but she had a hard time imagining him as a ‘hooligan.’
    Levi looked back over his shoulder at the
stranger and smiled.
    “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now
would it?” he finally answered. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
    “Should I be scared?”
    Levi chuckled. “It’s exactly what you asked for.”
    “That doesn’t help.” Kate could not think of a
single thing for which she’d asked him or anyone else. And nothing she’d
expressed interest in would come from Oregon.
    They passed by several men whom Nate had
recruited for the committee and several more who she guessed had been at the
Belle of the West saloon when Long and his brothers had been arrested. Most of
them were excitedly mumbling amongst themselves and barely gave notice to her
and the others as they walked by. The town seemed to finally be able to breathe
with the reprehensible lawmen gone.
    When they reached the boardwalk in front of the
hotel, a woman leaned quietly against the log-lined walls, her face hidden
behind a handkerchief, her shoulders shaking.
    Kate stepped out from beneath Levi’s arm and
walked over to her, reaching out and placing a hand on her arm.
    “Stella?”
    The woman whipped her head up as if startled,
then met Kate’s eyes. Dark-colored tears streaked her face and colored her
cloth tissue. One of her eyes and her cheek were swollen, the bruising
detectable beneath the face painting cosmetics Stella generally wore.
    To the devil with that man.
    Kate bit back the words, but it irked her to no
end when she learned of any man who would lay a heavy hand to the woman he
claimed to love or intended to wed. She placed her fingers under Stella’s chin
and raised it slightly to get a better look at her in the beams from the torchlight.
    “He can’t hurt you anymore,” she spoke in a
quiet, coaxing voice, raising a finger to wipe away another tear that had just
escaped the corner of the woman’s eye.
    Without warning, Long’s fiancée sprung into Kate’s
arms and continued to sob, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. Kate stroked
her hair, holding the woman while she cried. While she mourned the loss of the
man she’d thought to love.
    After a few moments, Stella hiccupped as she
pulled herself together.
    “It was you, Miss Callahan. You gave me the
courage to do what was right. I didn’t mean to get him hung, but he wasn’t a
good man, and I had to stop him from killin’ any more folks.” She looked up at
Kate with wide eyes. “I’m so sorry about your pa. If I’d been stronger before…”
    “Shhhh…” Kate shook her head. “What happened to
my da wasn’t your fault. You were very brave going all the way out to Mr.
Boswell’s ranch and telling him what you knew. Thank you.”
    Stella nodded.
    Hiccup.
    She raised her fingers to cover her mouth.
    “Do you need anything?” Kate asked out of
habit.
    Stella shook her head.
    “There’s nothing left for me here in Laramie. I
think I am going to head up to Montana. Reverend Jones just obtained a job with
a new parish and Cindy, I mean Mrs. Jones,” she corrected, “invited me along.
Says there are a lot of good men looking for wives there.”
    “I hope the best for you, Stella.”
    “You could come too, you know,” she said with a
sniff, then looked up as if noticing Levi and the other men with her for the
first time. “Or,” she leaned a little closer and spoke in whispered tones, “you
might just be lucky enough to find a good man right here in town.” Her head
jerked only once in the affirmative.
    Kate opened her mouth, then closed it