Chapter 16
“No! No!” Millie pushed through the cheering and booing crowd and ran up front. She had no idea what she would say, or how she would do it, but Trey was not going to hang on her watch.
Someone grabbed her arm to prevent her from reaching the judge’s desk, and she jerked around to the face of Sheriff Avery.
“Don’t let them hang him!” she exclaimed, jerking against the sheriff’s hold.
Trey whistled through his teeth and nodded toward the door. She clenched her teeth and obeyed her husband, allowing the sheriff to lead her out of the loud courtroom.
“You have to help him” she told him. “He can’t die.”
“Can I ask why you car so much for this man? He’s a murderer” Sheriff Avery asked.
“No, you can’t. He’s not a murderer! How many times do I have to tell you that he’s innocent?” Millie exclaimed.
“How can you be so sure?” Avery asked, taking a step closer to her. “He’s been convicted by a judge and jury.”
“Because I know the man” Millie said. “The man in there would never kill anyone.”
“He even confessed to being an outlaw, Miss Millie” Avery was fast losing patience.
“So he’s guilty by association?”
“In this case, yes” Sheriff Avery put his fists on his hips, appearing exasperated.
Millie clenched her teeth. “He won’t hang. If I have to go get Wes myself, then so be it.”
*****
“Would you shut up!” Trey was tired of listening to the egotistical sheriff go on and on about how much he deserved what he was getting. The man thought he had a saddle to fit every horse and it was grating on his nerves.
“A hanging’s too good for you, if you ask me. I would’ve shot you as soon as you came to town” Avery sat slouched in his chair, his muddy boots propped up on his desk.
“I didn’t ask you anything, Avery” Trey threw his pillow over his face as if to drown out the man’s next remark.
The ring of hammers outside was reminder enough that he would hang the day after tomorrow, let alone the sheriff reminding him every second that his time on earth was limited.
How any man needed a punishment after a stay in jail with this man was beyond Trey’s comprehension. If a judge really wanted to torture a man, he would give him a week stay in the Casden jail under constant watch by the glorified lunatic that was the sheriff.
The door swung open and Trey jerked the pillow off his face. He knew Millie would save him from the ongoing conversation between himself and Avery.
“Miss Millie” The sheriff greeted.
“Sheriff” Millie didn’t look at the man she addressed, but strode up to his cell. “I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” Avery asked, nearing the cell.
“About personal business” Millie said.
“I’m sorry, Miss Millie. He’s a convicted murderer now, and I can’t let you be alone with him” Avery stared at Trey.
“Fine. I’ll have to talk with him with you here” Millie stepped up as close to the bars as she could. “I’m not going to let you hang” she whispered.
“Please don’t do something stupid, Millie” Trey asked, keeping his voice low while eyeing the sheriff.
“I have to find Wes. I’ll kill him if I have to” Millie said.
“Did I hear you say something about killing someone?” Sheriff Avery asked from his position at his desk.
Trey and Millie ignored him. “No. No, Millie. You’ll stay away from them, hear?”
“I can’t, Trey. I…”
“Don’t disobey me, Millie” Trey hated using her innocence against her, but he had no choice.
“If I have to disobey you to save your life then so be it” Millie said.
“What’s going on?” Avery asked.
“I’m warning you, Millie. If you go against me then I’ll bend you over my knee myself” Trey threatened.
“I’ll take a spanking as long as you’re alive enough to give it” Millie smiled.
Trey rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to die. I know I didn’t kill your father, and something will work out.”
“That’s the kind of thinking that will get you taken away from me for good” Millie said, obviously peeved at him.
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, Millie” Trey said, gripping the bars between them.
Millie thought for a moment, appearing at war with herself. “Fine. Nothing stupid.”
“Thank you” Trey blew out a breath.
“I’ll… be strong for you. Just know that this isn’t what I want” Millie’s bottom lip trembled and a tear lazily slid down her cheek.
“I know. Just have faith, okay?” Trey reached through the bars to touch her face.
“Faith is easier when you feel like there’s hope” Millie leaned into his touch while several more tears escaped her eyes.
“With God there is always hope. Remember that, sweetheart” Trey said softly.
“I’ll try” Millie said.
“If God can part a sea and make dry ground, or make water into wine, or raise from the dead, I’m sure he can work out a little miracle for us, okay?” Trey said, forcing a smile.
Millie looked up at him. “How can you have so much faith when you’ve only been saved for a few weeks, and I’m the one doubting when I’ve been saved half my life.”
Trey smiled.
“A’ight. Break it up, you two. Don’t like anyone gettin’ all cozy with my prisoner” Sheriff Avery said.
Millie leaned forward and Trey kissed her through the bars before letting her go, much to the shock of the sheriff.
“I’ll see you soon, Trey” Millie smiled and left the sheriff’s office, leaving Trey to deal with the sheriff’s withering gaze alone.
“What was that about? Who is that woman, and why…?” He left the sentence unfinished.
Trey collapsed onto his cot and replace the pillow that had covered his face earlier. He didn’t owe the man any explanation for anything.
*****
Clink. Clink. Clink.
Millie couldn’t sleep for the loud ringing of the hammers as they built the gallows that would serve to her husband’s demise. There was no way that she would stand back and watch him hang. She couldn’t wait for a miracle that might not ever come while her husband spent his last few days contained behind the bars of a jail.
Don’t disobey me, Millie.
His words lingered in her mind. How could she not disobey him?
Rising and going to the windows, Millie gazed out to the construction of the gallows. One would think that the constructing men would be allowed to sleep at night, but it appeared that they were going to work the whole night through.
“What’s wrong, Miss Millie?” the sound of one of the Morris twins’ voice brought Millie out of her musings.
“Victoria, what are you doing awake?” Millie asked.
“The hammers woke me up” Victoria stated.
“Oh” Millie sat beside the child on the little bed.
She had been forced to share a room with the twins and a little baby, but the arrangement wasn’t turning out so bad.
“What are they building?” Victoria asked.
Millie didn’t know what to tell the child. “A… um…” her voice cracked and she couldn’t force any words out.
“I’ll ask Miss Texiss tomorrow” Victoria snuggled back into her pillow.
“You do that” Millie squeaked.
She covered Victoria up with the quilt on the bed and rose.
How am I going to make it through tomorrow knowing that It’s Trey’s last day one earth?
A tear slipped from her eye. She had thought that she had cried all the tears she could cry, but it appeared she was mistaken. It felt like there was nothing holding her together at all.
*****
Trey paced his cell the next day, feeling restless as voices yelled outside the jail door. The platform had gotten done earlier than expected, and now a lynch mob was forming outside of the jailhouse door. Sheriff Avery said that the hanging would take place the next day as expected, and that hadn’t went over well with the townspeople.
“Are you gonna do something about them?” Trey asked the sheriff.
“Nope. They’ll get tired and go home soon. They’re just bored” Avery said, peeking out of the window.
“That, or hang me early. Want that on your record?” Trey asked. “I can see the headline in New Orleans. ‘Small town sheriff trampled to death by lynch mob.”
“Be quiet, Shannon. If you’re scared, cover your face with that pillow again” Avery bent over some papers at his desk.
Trey clenched his teeth and mumbled under his breath. The sheriff had a way of making anything sound annoying. He collapsed on his cot and folded his arms under his head as his thoughts went to Millie. That one week of her being his might just have the best week of his life. He missed her constant smile. The smile he hadn’t seen on her face in all it’s genuine glory since before he turned himself in. He needed that smile right now. Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine her face when it was truly happy and carefree. No face came to mind.
“God, if You can take her pain away, please do it soon. I want to see her smile one last time” he muttered.
“What was that?” Avery asked.
“Nothing” Trey said, throwing his pillow the end of the bed.
He heard rustling outside this window, and when he turned his head to listen, something white fell from the small opening above him.
Glancing back at Avery to make sure he was occupied, Trey retrieved the paper that had fallen to the ground and opened it.
There was nothing written on it. Hopping up to look out of the window, he looked up and down the street. Something was making him uneasy. Then he saw down the street where Millie was walking with three men.
Three men he recognized.
Wes.
He gritted his teeth and ran to the door of his cell. “Avery, you’ve gotta let me out. Millie’s in trouble, I just saw her” he said.
Avery looked at him and laughed. “Nice try, Shannon.”
“I’m not lying. This piece of paper got slid through that window and when I looked out, I saw her walking with them and I know that she wouldn’t willingly go anywhere with them” Trey explained.
The sheriff came to stand in front of him, folding his arms across his chest. “I’ve been in this business for a long time, Shannon. I’ve seen desperate attempts to escape a hanging, but using a woman is a first.”
“I’m not using her! I’m telling you, they’re gonna do awful things to her if we don’t help her” Trey said, anger rising in his chest.
“Why do you care so much about her? I think she’s capable of handling things on her own” Avery said.
“Because I’m married to her!” Trey yelled. “I’ll tell the whole world if you want me to. Just let me out!”
Avery stood there, shock in his eyes and his mouth agape. “M-married? Why would she marry the man who killed her father?”
“Because I didn’t kill him and she knows that. The man who did kill him has taken her, and I need to get to her.” Trey shook the bars, making them rattle.
“So that’s why she was always wanting to see you and be alone with you. Ya’ll were thinking this plan up, weren’t you?” Avery shook his head. “For shame.”
Trey groaned. It looked like he was going to have to get on the bad side of the law one last time.
“Oh, no! One of them’s getting in!” Trey pointed to the door behind the sheriff.
Avery turned around and Trey reached out to pulled the man up to the bars, putting him in a headlock.
“Now where did you say those keys were?” Trey asked.
Avery struggled against him, and it took all Trey had to keep him contained. He heard jingling on Avery’s gun belt, and smiled. Pushing Avery forward as far as his arm would reach, he brought him back as hard as he could, banging his head into the cell bars and knocking him out cold. Then he let him fall so that he could reach the keys. After unlocking his door, Trey knelt beside the sheriff.
“Bet that’s gonna hurt the old ego, huh?” he muttered.
He walked to the gun rack and took a shotgun from it’s peg before retrieving his own gun from the Sheriff Avery’s desk drawer. He took the back way out and went down the alleys to the livery where he took his horse from the corral.
He knew where Wes and Adam would take Millie.
*****
“So what’re we gonna do with her?” Millie heard Wes ask of Adam.
She struggled against the ropes that bound her to the large tree at the edge of a small encampment beside a swampy creek where her three captors paced back and forth.
She had been minding her own business looking over the garden behind the orphanage when they ambushed her and stuck a gun in her ribs, thus nearly scaring the life clean out of her. She had known better than to fight back, though at the time she was too shocked to even think of defending herself.
“Did you give the note to Trey?” Adam asked Jed, who stood leaned against a tree to Millie’s right.
“Yep” Jed said.
“What’d it say? Wes asked.
“Oh, you know. ‘We have your lady friend, come and get her if you want her back’, blah blah blah. I expect to see him soon” Jed said, seemingly bored.
“When I see his back-stabbin’ face, I’m gonna shoot it off” Wes growled.
Millie rolled her eyes. Wes had been saying the exact same thing for the past hour and a half.
“Yes, Wes. Don’t worry, he’s all yours. If he were to come back to life or something, I don’t wanna be on his hit list. He can make our lives a living nightmare if he wants to” Jed said.
“I’m not scared of him” Adam said. “He’ll tuck tail and run if we pull our guns out, anyway.”
“Ha!” Millie chuckled out loud.
Adam whirled around to face her. “You got something’, redhead?”
Millie shook her head. The last thing she needed was to get her captors riled.
“That’s what I thought” Adam mumbled.
Millie looked over at Jed. She had thought he was the good guy in this situation, but apparently she was mistaken. Trey had trusted him, why did he just throw that away?
“What’re we gonna do with the money?” Wes asked.
“We spend it, duh” Adam said.
“Don’t you think we should do like Trey did and save us up a little before we spend it?” Jed asked.
“No. What’s the use of having money if you can’t blow it?” Wes said, sitting by the fire.
Jed rolled his eyes and poured himself a cup of coffee.
The sky appeared dark above them as a harsh wind blew in on them, nearly blowing out the campfire. Distant thunder rumbled through the sky and a few raindrops hit the ground here and there. A spring storm was coming, and Millie knew her chances for being rescued were very slim.
Trey would have to get past Sheriff Avery before even thinking about coming after her, then he would have to escape the lynch mob that was forming out in front of the sheriff’s office. On top of that, how would he know where to find her? Their camp was out in the middle of nowhere. Then the approaching storm would make any kind of tracking attempt futile.
“Looks like a whopper” Adam said, looking up at the sky as lightening whizzed across the sky and flashed down on the ground.
“We better head inside the tent unless we want to get wet” Wes said, putting out the fire.
Adam nodded and gathered up his saddlebags.
“What about me?” Millie asked. Surely they weren’t planning on leaving her outside in the storm!
“What about you?” Wes said casually.
“Are you just going to leave me out here?” Millie asked.
“No room for you in the tent” Wes said, following Adam inside their dry abode.
Jed looked over at the tent and quickly walked to her, taking off his coat. “You’ve gotta stay dry.”
He put his coat over her head and Millie pulled at her tied hands. She had to get out of here.
“I’m sorry, Miss Williams. You’ve got to understand that I have no choice in this. Trey will be along soon, I’m sure of it” Jed said, looking down at her with sympathy.
Millie nodded. She hoped he was right.