Shadow of Legends Read Online Free PDF Page B

here is as dead as a buffalo chip in Kansas,” Yapper Jim hollered.
    â€œLet’s load ’em up and get back to town, Boys,” Sheriff Bullock called out. “I aim to finish that hand of whist.”
    â€œThere ain’t no way you are ever goin’ to beat three Texans,” Yapper Jim chided.
    â€œIt’s sad to see how quickly old men lose their memory, ain’t it?” the sheriff winked at Todd.
    The laughter and upbraiding continued as Todd hiked back up the bluff to his waiting horse. Loose dirt trickled down between his skin and his long underwear as he pulled himself up into the saddle.
    Brazos Fortune, did you ever think what could have happened if your oldest boy hadn’t plunged off this bluff? The possibility never crossed your mind, did it?
    Todd rode his horse slowly down to the road where the Jims tied the dead man to his horse.
    He studied the posse.
    You old men are a different breed. I can’t even think the way you think. You smell danger five minutes before it happens. You make a lifetime of decisions in a split second of terror that would freeze most men. Then you put it all behind you with a joke. You go on back to living as if you haven’t just teetered on the brink of eternity.
    It takes me six months to think something through. You four never thought about anything for six months. Maybe Daddy’s right. Maybe I should have stayed at the store. Maybe Rebekah’s right. Maybe I am a hay camp banker.
    I don’t know what troubles me more . . . goin’ to run a bank and finding out that I hate it . . . or going to run a bank and finding out that I don’t.
    That woman’s right.
    We do live in the shadows.
    Not just the shadow of a shady gulch.
    The shadow of Deadwood legends.

CHAPTER TWO

    â€œYou don’t have that morning sickness, do you?” Dacee June blurted out as she strolled back into the parlor. She left the front door wide open.
    Rebekah sat up, then slumped against the back of the sofa. She unfastened the top button of her Pride Muslin, double-ruffle, hidden-embroidery collar. “Heavens no. Why do you say that?”
    â€œYou seem to have an awfully weak stomach. Jamie Sue maintained that during the first few months that she carried little Frank, she got sick to her stomach a lot.” Dacee June chewed on her fingernails as she talked. “And everyone knows how sick Columbia’s been.”
    With thoughts of stagecoaches and strewn bodies still in her mind, Rebekah could feel her neck as well as her forehead perspire. “I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    Dacee June’s sweeping, thick brown eyebrows sagged. “I guess I was, sort of.”
    â€œThat’s quite alright. We are sisters-in-law.” Rebekah pulled a linen handkerchief from the sleeve of her blouse and dabbed her forehead.
    Dacee June’s voice was soft, almost sad. “I’m sorry I solicit such personal things. I suppose it’s the kind of question I know I should ask my mother. Even though it’s been eight years since she died, I still pine for her.”
    Rebekah stood and walked to the open door. Even though the drift was warm, it felt cooler than the stale air of the parlor. “I know what you mean. I miss my mother dearly as well. I regret I never met your mother. Todd speaks of her often.”
    Dacee June strolled up beside her. “You know what’s scary? Some days I forget what she looked like. Does that ever happen to you?”
    â€œWell, no, not really. I was much older than you when my mother died. So I have years and years of memories. Of course, she never gets older in my mind. At this rate, I’ll be older than her in another dozen years.”
    â€œI don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost this little locket. I don’t want to ever forget her.” Dacee June opened the small silver locket that hung around her neck on a thin silver chain,