[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]lar sitting in his wagon in the rain outside her cabin.
She went out onto the porch and called to him
through the hiss.
What are you doing, Otis? You re going to
drown.
I came to . . . A crash of lightning obliterated his
words.
You came to what? she yelled.
I came to tell you something, he yelled.
What is it?
I came to tell you. . . that I love you, Karen. And
that I m sorry what happened to Dex . . .
She could see in the intermittent flashes Otis s sor-
Dakota Lawman: Last Stand at Sweet Sorrow 307
rowful face, could not tell if it were tears or rain run-
ning down his cheeks.
Go on home, Otis, she said. Go home to your
wife. She ll be worried about you.
I want to come back sometime and talk to you,
he yelled.
No, Otis, we ve nothing to talk about.
She saw him looking out toward the spot where
Dex was buried, then back toward her.
It s okay, Otis. Everything is okay. Go on home,
please.
He looked pitiful. She waited until he rode off into
the rain, but did not go back into the house right
away. The rain had a quality to it she missed, a feel
about it that gave her some small comfort in a world
that lately held none. She reached forth a hand and let
it fill with rain then brought it to her face and neck
and let its coolness relieve her fevered skin.
Dex, she knew, was in a place where it never rained
too much, or the sun never got too hot, where the
grass was always green, the air always just right, the
rivers always pure and full of fish and angels guided
him each hour of his journey. He was not out there
where Otis had looked. He was in a better place.
She wished only the same for herself when the time
came. In time she d come to peace with Toussaint as
well. This much she knew to be exact.
Those folks backed you up the other day, Roy
Bean said. That tell you anything about them?
308 Bill Brooks
It does, Jake said.
I m glad you decided to take the job.
If only temporarily, until you can find a profes-
sional lawman.
Hell, son. This ain t exactly New York or
Chicago it ain t even Dallas. Might be a spell before
another proper man comes along to apply for the
job.
Still, I m not sure I m exactly cut out for such
work.
You couldn t prove it by anyone around here that
you re not, me included.
What about you? Jake said. Are you still going
to try and get elected judge?
I m not plum sure. I ve been missing my wife and
kids a great deal. I might wander back down to Texas
and check on them before I make any final deci-
sions.
Sweet Sorrow won t be the same without you.
Birdy s going to marry the preacher.
So I heard.
It was a fine funeral they held for Doc and your
uncle today, in spite of the rain, or maybe because
of it.
It was. Preacher preached a fine sermon and Tall
John and his boy did a nice job. Jake would have been
proud of such a burying.
Jake? Was that his name? I thought it was T.
Shade.
Yes, it was . . . Some of us called him by his nick-
name.
Dakota Lawman: Last Stand at Sweet Sorrow 309
Well, here s to old dogs and kinfolks, Roy Bean
said, lifting his glass of beer the two of them sitting
alone in the Rosebud. And here s to Peg Leg Watts,
and old Doc Willis, and all the others gone before us.
Jake matched Roy Bean s salute by clinking
glasses.
And to the future of us all.
And to rain.
And to rain, Jake said.
And the rain fell for three days straight much to
the joy of everyone.
About the Author
BILL BROOKS
is an author of fifteen novels of historical and
frontier fiction. He lives in North Carolina.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive
information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Books by Bill Brooks
Dakota Lawman: Last Stand at Sweet Sorrow
Law for Hire: Saving Masterson
Law for Hire: Defending Cody
Law for Hire: Protecting Hickok
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters,
incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author s
imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to actual events or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
DAKOTA LAWMAN: LAST STAND AT SWEET SORROW.
Copyright © 2005 by Bill Brooks. All rights reserved
under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you
have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable
right to access and read the text of this e-book on-
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information storage and retrieval system, in any form
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