Once an Outlaw

Chapter 1 Forlorn Valley, Colorado "Emily, honey you sure you're going to be all right here on your own? I don't much cotton to leaving you." The stoop-shouldered giant with the grizzled face and stringy gray hair peered intently at the young woman beside him on the porch of the old log cabin. His seamed face was full of doubt, but in the gold afternoon sunlight that slanted down across the Rockies and made the sky glisten a hot and burnished blue, his niece looked as calm and unruffled as a mountain lake. "I'll be fine, Uncle Jake," she assured him. "I can take care of myself." Yet, even as she spoke the words, Emily Spoon felt an eerie prickle across her neck. She couldn't imagine why. She wasn't afraid of this beautiful isolated patch of land deep in the heart of the Colorado foothills or of the dark or of being alone. She wasn't afraid of anything except losing her family again. "And don't forget," she added, as a gust of wind swept down from the mountains and blew a strand of midnight hair across her cheek. "I'm not all alone. There's Joey." "Hmmmph. That little twig of a young'un? You know what I mean, girl." Her uncle's voice was deep, scratchy, and gruff, well suited to the leathery and intimidating visage of his fifty-plus years, but Emily wasn't fooled. She knew that despite his fierce appearance and his deep-set, squinting eyes that were the color of mud, when it came to his family, those he loved, Jake Spoon was gentle as a lamb. Of course, there was no doubt that his years in prison had changed him, she reflected, a sadness touching her fine gray eyes as she studied the uncle who had raised her. Before Deputy Sheriff Clint Barclay had tracked him down and arrested him, he'd been larger than life and twice as bold, a man who always thirsted for adventure. He'd been in constant motion, craving hard riding and wild roaming, a good fight, and a mean chase. He'd been drawn to the lure of riches ill-gotten riches especially if they belonged to the wealthy and powerful. But those seven years he'd spent behind bars and all that had happened to his family while he was gone had drained him of much of his vinegar and aged him in countless ways. There was a weariness now in the craggy lines of his face, a somber dead look to his eyes, and his smile, once big and crooked and easy, was now as rare as a gold nugget in a turnip patch. Meeting his searching gaze, Emily felt a twinge of concern. These days Uncle Jake's shoulders always looked as if they carried some invisible, impossibly heavy burden that was too much for him to bear. And perhaps, she reflected, thinking of her Aunt Ida, they did. "Of course I know what you mean," she said with a quick smile, patting his arm. "But everything will be fine. So you just go on to Denver and buy the best horses you can find, and as much stock as we can afford. Joey and I will be perfectly all right until you and the boys get back." "Load up that rifle and keep it at the ready, you hear?" "I will." "And if any strangers come by, shoot first and ask questions later." Emily eased him toward the porch steps. "Uncle Jake, I know how to take care of myself." At that he nodded curtly and turned his head away, but not before she saw the sheen of guilt in his eyes. "Please, don't look that way." Emily took a deeGregory, Jill is the author of 'Once an Outlaw' with ISBN 9780440235491 and ISBN 0440235499.