The Five Dollar Mail (Book 1: The Green & Book 2: Lynch's Boys)

55: Coming Home to Roost

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Luis by Melissa Zayas of Three of Swords. All graphics by me.

Supper was going to be excruciating. Of that, Lily had absolutely no doubt. Mr. Bender was going to come into the kitchen, and there was going to be no chance of ignoring the fact that she and Fiona had literally chained the man's bedroom door shut, trapping him inside.

Jesse had reported that he had finally resorted to hauling the piece of lumber sideways to relieve the tension on the chain. No easy feat, he'd said, as the lumber was wedged under the doorknob and jammed against the opposite wall, where the corner of the hallway was near Bender's door. The moulding was all chewed up there now. Her brother's knuckles were also pretty chewed up, she had observed. He claimed he'd scraped them while wrestling with the doorframe.

Lily had been relieved to learn that Saint had not exactly left Bender alone and trapped; Jesse had been the one working on the padlock. Her relief, however, had been short lived when she discovered that Saint had taken the bolt cutters right out of Jesse's hand and had walked away with them.

"So..." Lily turned from the stove to look at the back of her brother's head as he lounged at the table. His shoulders beneath his buckskin coat looked tense as he stared at the doorway. He'd been waiting all day for the mochilla to come in and the waiting was starting to seriously agitate him. "How angry was he?"

Jesse cocked his head at the question, but didn't turn around. "I dunno, Lily. I think he was too tired to be all that mad at ya."

Lily walked over to him and pulled his braided yellow pigtail out from where it was trapped under his collar. She settled her hands onto his shoulders and gently kneaded the anxious knots out of them. "I guess I don't have to tell you I'm about scared out of my mind for you going off on your run now."

Jesse turned his head towards her at that, and sighed. "I know, Lily. I'm sorry." He reached up and gave her hand a squeeze. "Look, I ain't westbound tonight. I'm headed up to Three Crossings. Ought to be an easy ride."

"That's exactly what you said about Storm's last run."

"And neither of the two jackasses that jumped him are in any position to do anything like that tonight."

She was silent, her fingers working over his shoulders. It was more to soothe herself than it was Jesse, she realized.

"Lily, you know I got to do this."

She nodded. "I know."

"Probably be Luis that comes in tonight, too. That's who you really need to be worried about. After that mess with Saint and Wash, you know."

Luis. Dear Lord, help me. What am I going to say to him? "Already? He just left, I didn't expect he'd be back so soon."

"Well, it don't take that long for express to get from here to Salt Lake House. So yeah, it might be him bringing the eastbound mochila back."

On any other day, this would have been good news to Lily. The idea of Luis riding straight into the trouble that had nearly gotten Saint, Wash, and the Church Buttes stocktender killed filled her with dread. However, his coming back before this Storm Peltier Debacle got straightened out was just going to complicate things.

Out in the yard, Lily heard a sharp whistle from the barn. Jesse stood up abruptly, turning to put his arms around Lily. "That was Bender."

Lily clung to him, the breath crushed from her lungs as he hugged her hard against his chest. She had to force herself to let him go. "I love you." She blurted.