Page 131 of Texas Glory
“He won’t hurt you, Rawley,” she whispered, stroking her fingers through his hair. “He’s gone away. He’s gone to heaven.”
Rawley jerked back, studying her. “You mean he’s dead?”
She hadn’t wanted to put it so bluntly, and in all honesty, she didn’t think he had gone to heaven either. Although she didn’t think Rawley had any affections for the man, Cooper had been his father. “Someone killed him.”
“I’m glad,” Rawley said with vehemence. “I’m glad he’d dead so he can’t hurt nobody no more.”
She pressed his face against her breast and soon felt his warm tears soak through her clothing. She knew he needed to grieve. Even though his father had never loved him, he had still been Rawley’s father. Just as she needed to grieve for the family she had said farewell to that afternoon.
She had finally come to realize that with the exception of Cameron, she had never truly known their love, but still it hurt to say good-bye.
The heavy pounding on the door awoke Cordelia at dawn. She had put Rawley back in bed and returned to Dallas’s side, only to fall asleep in the chair. She placed her palm on his cheek. His fever had risen.
The pounding continued, and she wondered why Austin didn’t attend to it.
She rushed into the hallway and began her own pounding. “Austin, can you answer the door?” When he failed to respond, she opened his door. His bed was empty and looked as though he hadn’t slept in it. Had he come home?
She hurried down the stairs and flung open the door. Sheriff Larkin filled the doorway. She pushed her way past him. “Slim?”
The foreman turned from the group of men. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Send someone into town to fetch Dr. Freeman. Right away.” “Yes, ma’am.”
She turned to the sheriff. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. Did you need something?” “I need to talk to Austin.”
With her fingers, she brushed the stray strands from her face and tried to remember when she’d last taken a comb to her hair. Too long. “I don’t think he’s here,” she said as weariness settled in. “He went into town yesterday evening, but it doesn’t look as though his bed has been slept in so you might check the hotel.”
“I’ve already made inquiries around town. No one saw him yesterday evening. He didn’t check into the hotel.”
Alarm skittered along her spine. “He said he was going into town. Do you think he’s hurt?”
Beyond the sheriff’s shoulder, she saw Rawley shuffling out of the barn. “Rawley!” She motioned for him and he ran to the house.
“Rawley, have you seen Austin?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Not since I told him ’bout the man.”
Cordelia knelt in front of him. “What man?” “The man what paid my pa to kill Mr. Leigh.” Her heart started pounding. “Who would that be, boy?” Sheriff Larkin asked. Rawley didn’t take his eyes off Cordelia as he answered, “The man what hurt you.” “Boyd?”
“Don’t know his name. Pa always called him ‘my special friend.’ Only I never thought he was special at all.”
Cordelia agreed with Rawley’s assessment of her brother. He had not been special, only cruel.
“How do you know that he’s the one who paid your father to kill Mr. Leigh?” she asked.
“Pa told me that once he’d killed Mr. Leigh for my special friend, he was gonna give me to him for keeps.”
Imagining the terror that the child must have felt upon hearing his father’s words and the fate that might have awaited him had they not escaped, she drew him into her embrace.
“And you told this to Austin?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Said he’d take care of everything.”
She rose to her feet as the vague outline of a rider on a black horse emerged in the distance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sheriff Larkin rest his hand on the butt of his gun. “There’s Austin.”
Austin brought his horse to a halt and dismounted, eyeing Sheriff Larkin warily. “What’s going on, Dee?”
It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what was going on, what exactly had brought the sheriff out to the house. “I’m not—”
