Free Stained Snow by Fallon Brown Page A

Please don’t try.”
    “I won’t. Trust me, Will. In fact,” he said and disappeared into his office. He returned a moment later with a small sack. “I figured this would be your plan and had Mary make up some food for you.”
    “I don’t even know what to say,” William said, but took the sack.
    “You don’t need to say anything,” Al told him. “I would be doing the same thing in your shoes. This is the least I can do.”
    William saddled his horse and led him out of the stable where the sheriff waited for him.
    “You can’t do this,” Carl told him.
    “I am doing it. You’re not going to stop me.”
    “You can’t seek revenge in the name of justice, Will. You don’t want to do this. You don’t want to tarnish that badge you carry.”
    “I’m not seeking revenge, Sheriff. I plan on bringing him in if I can. Don’t worry, I won’t tarnish your badge.” He reached into his saddlebag where he kept his deputy’s badge. “You can have this back until I return. Even longer if you wish.”
    He held it out until, with a sigh, the sheriff took it from him. He settled into the seat of his saddle and took up the reins. His mother called his name again as he turned the horse toward the edge of town, but he ignored it and kept riding.
     
     
    #
    Barnes Ranch, Colorado
    October 29, 1887
     
    Maggie stepped down off the porch and couldn’t stop her gaze from scanning the horizon. It was early, though, and still too dark to see much of anything. She wrapped her arms tight around herself, trying to ward off the chill of the morning. Snow would be coming soon.
    She didn’t know why she still looked for him. It had been almost six months since Thomas had ridden away. She should accept he wouldn’t be back.
    What if he couldn’t come back?
    The thought always nearly took her to her knees. She tried to shove it as far back in her head as she could. He would come back. It might be another year, but she would wait for him. He told her of all those exciting, faraway places. Places she would never get to on her own. He had to come back.
    She dropped her gaze and headed for the milk shed. Their two cows would be ready to be milked by now, and she still needed to collect the eggs from the chicken coop before she started breakfast. Pa would be coming in from his morning chores and expecting that to be ready. She didn’t have more time to dawdle.
    Still, she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder toward the west, the direction he usually rode in from. Nothing lay out there but the same trees, the same peaks in the distance. The same everything. She wanted something different. Thomas had given her a glimpse of it, but that had gone with him.
    She sighed and stepped into the shed. He wasn’t coming back. She needed to move on. Moping around about it didn’t do any good. It certainly didn’t get the chores done. That wasn’t acceptable. Her father relied on her as much as he did his other hands.
    Maggie filled two pails with milk before carrying one to the bunkhouse and the other up to their porch. The cook made the hands meals at the bunkhouse while she took care of food for her and her father.
    She grabbed a basket and started for the chicken coop but turned quickly at footsteps behind her. Her face fell when one of the hands came around the corner of the bunkhouse. “Maggie.” He seemed as surprised to see her as she’d been.
    “Adam.”
    He was only a couple years older than her. His naturally dark skin, from his Shoshone mother, had been tanned darker by the summer sun, although that faded now. She’d always thought him attractive, in a way, but he was a ranch hand. He didn’t even have any desire to own his own ranch. He’d never get her away from here, and she’d always considered him a friend.
    “I brought Cook’s milk. I, uh, I still have to collect the eggs. Pa won’t be happy if breakfast isn’t ready when he comes in.”
    “I’ve never known him to be too upset with you,