Free Tracker’s Sin by Sarah McCarty Page A

healed,
    so did her mind. She couldn’t go on being a mother with only eleven months of life experience. Josefina should be able to understand that. Yes, Ari had
    lost her husband, but she was stil living. She just wasn’t alive.
    Are you sure you’re getting the right answers?
    Damn Tracker and his insinuations. This was al his fault. He had to go and voice her own recent doubts, giving them weight. What if there
    was more going on than Vincente was tel ing her? What if they were important things she needed to know for her son?
    “We have to know, baby.” She kissed Miguel’s soft black hair as she walked down the road. “We have to know.”
    Miguel grabbed a handful of her blouse and dragged his mouth to it. He was such a happy child, rarely fussing. She was lucky to have
    him. She freed her blouse and gave him her finger instead, closing her eyes for a heartbeat to let the tension go. She needed to relax. Tension always
    brought on the flashing lights behind her eyes that were the first sign of a pending episode.
    The sun was bright against her eyelids and warm on her skin, reminding her that it was a beautiful day. This was the prettiest part of
    summer, before drought turned the grass brown. Everywhere she turned there was blue sky, green grass and colorful flowers. Everywhere except around
    the Morales ranch. That was dry and dusty, the vegetation eaten by the cow and trampled under her feet.
    There was no sign of Vincente, so no opportunity to ask him if he would take her to her old home. Wherever that was.
    Supposedly, the home she had shared with Antonio was fifty miles to the east. She’d never gotten an answer from the Moraleses as to
    why she and Antonio had lived so far away from his parents. It certainly wouldn’t have been Josefina’s preference. There were lots of opportunities around
    Esperanza, but maybe Josefina had been too much in her and Antonio’s life? Maybe Ari had needed distance between them. New wives rarely got along
    with their mothers-in-law. The fact that theirs was a mixed marriage could have added to the tension. Maybe Josefina hadn’t been too happy to have Ari in
    the family.
    Ari sighed. She didn’t know. No one would give her answers. Vincente would just tel her to count her blessings and to be grateful. She
    was tired of being grateful.
    The sound of a gunshot carried in the afternoon breeze. It came from the direction of town. Her heart skipped a beat.
    I’m going to get a drink.
    Tracker was in town. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to announce that he was a Texas Ranger, of that she was sure. But his looks were
    Indian enough that someone might easily pick a fight. Sober, he’d be a match for anyone, she didn’t doubt. The man wore his experience like a cloak of
    honor. But drunk he would be fair game for any troublemaker.
    She bit her lip. She couldn’t afford to lose him now. He was their only hope, and he real y couldn’t know how bad town had gotten lately.
    Vincente was always tel ing how the gringos delighted in flexing their power in senseless violence.
    Keep him safe, Lord. I need him.
    For more than just her son’s protection. Something deep within her recognized Tracker.
    Ari checked the watch pinned to her blouse. A gift from her husband, Vincente said. It was a plain watch with no engraving. A simple gift. It
    could have belonged to anybody. Her husband must not have been a very romantic man. She wondered if she’d been happy with him. Was that what her
    memory was hiding? she wondered. An unhappy marriage? Did they worry that she’d remember interference on their part, and take her son away from
    them? She would never do that. Family was everything, but so was the memory of that family.
    She couldn’t take this anymore. She couldn’t just sit around watching the days bleed, one after the other, into a senseless future because
    she had no past.
    Ari hitched Miguel up on her hip. If she wanted to change what had always been, she needed someone strong