Whispers on the Wind

  Copyright © 2004 by Brenda K. Jernigan

  2012 Published by Brenda K. Jernigan - at Smashwords

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  Whispers on the Wind

  Brenda Jernigan

  This book is dedicated to my cousin, Carol Haught. When I was young I spent one Easter at Carol’s house, and three boys brought her Easter baskets. I knew right then and there that I wanted to grow up to be just like Carol Over the years, I’ve always looked up to Carol. She is pretty, smart and very sweet. Everybody loves Carol But now I admire Carol for a completely different reason—it’s not for her beauty or great personality—it’s for her courage. You see, Carol has been battling breast cancer for the last fifteen years. And she has done it with a positive attitude and a great sense of humor. When I call her, she asks how I’m feeling. I hope one day that Carol will win her battle and be cancer free.

  So, Carol, this book is for you. And one day when I grow up, I want to be just like you!

  Prologue

  Billy West and Mary Costner were thirty miles away when they caught their first glimpse of Pikes Peak. The mountain rose to a majestic height of 12,000 feet and its apex was covered with perpetual snow.

  As they wound their way around the mountain through lofty pines and cedars, the air grew cooler so that they had to slip on their jackets. Billy wondered if there really was a mining town in this wilderness. They had ridden for miles without seeing anything other than antelope and a bear or two.

  About the time he was ready to suggest turning back, they reached a small mining town. The rough wooden sign said they were in Gregory Gulch. In a field to the left was a herd of antelope grazing in a meadow. Everything appeared very peaceful, or was the word dead?

  “This isn’t much of a town,” Billy said as they sat on their horses looking down a dirt street that had log cabins scattered on both sides. Each brown cabin looked alike—some didn’t even have windows.

  “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this,” Mary admitted.

  “Do you want to go back?”

  “No. I’m determined to make this work. If a little hard work will bring me gold and independence, then I can handle this. However, I am glad we stopped and picked up supplies and heavy clothes. It is the middle of August, but it’s cool up here.”

  “Yes, it is,” Billy said. “I guess we should go to the claims office first and find out where your claim is located, and then we can see about finding you someplace to stay.”

  “I really do appreciate your help,” Mary said.

  Billy smiled at her. That’s what brothers are for.”

  It was easy to find the recorder’s office because it was in the middle of the buildings and had a big sign hung on the side. When they dismounted they found a line of prospectors waiting to see the clerk, so they had to wait

  Finally Mary made it to the desk. She pulled out her deed and handed it to the man. It took him a few minutes to read it over. He reached under his desk and pulled out a very large book that looked like it contained a variety of maps.

  After flipping several pages, he frowned and reached for a brown book on the edge of his desk. He turned back and forth between several pages until he found what he wanted. He scanned the page with his index finger. “Ah, yaw,” he said, and tapped the spot with his finger before looking up at Mary. “You have a problem.”

  Mary gave a disgusted sigh. “What is the problem?”

  “Somebody has already filed a claim on this here land.”

  “But this is a legal document. I’ve had a lawyer look it over,” Mary insisted, and then added, “What can I do?”

  “I’d go see Marshal Stanley. Maybe he can straighten this out for you.”

  Bitty stepped forward. “Where do we find the marshal?”

  The clerk pointed. “Two doors down on the right”

  “Do you know the name of the other owner?” Billy asked.

  “Let’s see,” the clerk looked down. “Oh dear, it’s Big Jim McCoy. He’s an Irishman with a mean temper.

  “Great! ” Mary rolled her eyes. “Just what I need.”

  They took their horses and pack mules with them and tied them outside of the marshal’s office.

  Upon explaining to Marshal Stanley the problem and showing him the deed, he sent a deputy to get Big Jim.

  Fifteen minutes later Big Jim McCoy strode into the office shouting, “Who the hell is trying to welsh my claim?”

  The man made two of Billy. McCoy was broad-shouldered and wore faded overalls with a blue flannel shirt, a gun and a bowie knife tucked into his work belt He wasn’t a young man, but a weathered veteran.

  As soon as he saw Mary, he removed his wide-brimmed hat displaying his black hair streaked with gray. “Ma’am,” he said with a nod.

  Turning his attention back to the marshal he said, “Now who is this cussed sidewinder?”

  “I am,” Mary said, and stepped in front of him. “My mother sent me the deed.” She handed him the papers. “As you can see, it’s legal. It says nothing about me having a partner.”

  Big Jim snatched the deed from her.

  Billy was proud of his sister for not backing down from Big Jim. As a matter of fact, she looked more like an angry cat with its fur standing straight up. Big Jim would scare most men with his thick black beard and long black hair that was tinged with gray.

  Evidently not Mary.

  After Jim read the legal paper, he threw it on the marshal’s desk. Then he pulled his deed out from a pocket and tossed it beside hers.

  “That deed used to belong to Toothless Tom. When he left, he told me I could have his part ’cause he was through with mining,” Big Jim told the marshal.

  “Do you have any paperwork to prove that, Big Jim?”

  Big Jim frowned. “A man’s word ought to be good enough.”

  “Not when it comes to property. As you well know, many have been killed over property disputes,” Marshal Stanley told him. “The way I see it, you have a new partner.”

  “But she’s a female.” Big Jim pointed out the obvious.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Mary snapped.

  “Plenty,” Big Jim said, and looked directly at her. “Mining is damn hard work, and you’re puny. ’Sides, every man would be after you once he saw you, and I don’t have time for such.”

  “I’ve already thought about that,” Mary informed him. “I’m going to dress as a man and keep my hair under a cap so everyone will think I’m a boy. As for work, I intend to work just as hard as you. What I lack in muscle, I’ll make up with brains.”

  “I doubt that,” Jim shot back.

  Mary stepped closer to the man. “Well, Big Jim, you don’t have a choice.”

  He glared at her. “You’re a mouthy little thing.”

  “So I’ve been told,” Mary said.

  With that comment, Big Jim started laughing and all the tension in the room eased. “All right I give you two months before you’re running back home.” He looked at Billy. “Who’s he?”

  Billy pushed away from the wall where he had thoroughly enjoyed the exchange between these two. It seemed Big Jim had a wildcat by the tail and didn’t know qui
te how to handle her.

  “I’m her brother, Billy West”

  “Good. You can help her.”

  “I’m not staying,” Billy told him.

  The Irishman appeared as if his patience was all but gone. “Is she plumb loco? Life ain’t easy up here.”

  “So I’ve tried to tell her,” Billy said. “But as you can see, she has a mind of her own.”

  “I can also speak for myself,” Mary informed both of them.

  “See,” Billy said with a shrug.

  The marshal cleared his throat “Then it’s settled. You both have equal ownership in the mine. If one of you dies, then the other inherits full ownership. Is that agreeable?”

  They both nodded their heads.

  “Good,” Marshal Stanley said. Then he scribbled the agreement on both deeds. “Sign here that you agree. Myself and Mr. West will witness the signatures.”

  When the signatures were obtained, the marshal said, “Good. Now get out of my office. I have work to do.”

  Once they were outside, Big Jim asked, “Where are you staying?”

  “I don’t have a place yet,” Mary said.

  “Well, there ain’t no empty cabins around here.”

  “Oh,” Mary said as she stopped by the three pack mules full of supplies.

  “These yours?” Big Jim asked.

  Mary nodded.

  “How about if I make you a deal?” Jim said with a smile. “Seeing as I can’t get rid of you, why don’t you throw your supplies in with mine, and you can stay with me.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Billy said.

  “Don’t go getting your dander up. I have the biggest cabin up here with two bedrooms. It’s a little ways up the hill. She’d have her own sleeping quarters. ’Sides which, I’m old enough to be your da. I have a daughter your age back home.”

  So an agreement was made.

  Billy stayed another month to make sure that Mary was settled in and could handle everything. Then he decided he needed to worry more about Big Jim than Mary. She already had the man eating out of her hand.

  When it was time to go, Billy did have a talk with Jim and told him if he ever made the mistake of hurting his sister that Billy would return with a vengeance.

  Big Jim nodded.

  Billy gave Mary a hug. “You take care of yourself.”

  “I will,” she said in a soft voice. “You take care of yourself and my future sister-in-law.”

  Billy smiled. “I will.”

  He rode off with a peaceful mind about Mary. She was going to make it on her own. As he started down the mountain heading for home, he realized that he’d been gone much longer than he’d expected. He wasn’t sure of the day but it had to be two months since he’d left Billy did know that Mary was getting ready to start her own adventure... one that would be harder than anything that she had ever faced.

  But Mary had more gumption than anyone in the family, and it would take every belligerent bone in her body to survive mining for gold.

  God help those poor men.

  Chapter One

  Two years later—1872 Pikes Peak, Colorado Territory

  Mary Costner bolted straight up in bed.

  She felt disoriented.

  Why was her head so swimmy? And her skin clammy?

  Blinking with difficulty, it took her several moments before she realized she was in her own bedroom, even though she couldn’t remember actually going to bed.

  She couldn’t remember anything!

  Panic set in. It was almost as if she were waking up in a dream. Nothing was real. There had to be a reason for her confusion.

  Her breath came in short pants. And her head was killing her. She reached up to touch her forehead, and that’s when she realized she had something tightly clutched in her right hand.

  It was a knife ... a bloody bowie knife.

  She glanced at her hands as if they didn’t belong to her. They were covered in blood. But whose blood? Hers?

  “Jim!” Mary screamed.

  She threw the knife away from her as if it were a poisonous snake. Glancing down, she saw blood on her clothes and all over the sheets. She checked herself and found a small cut on her arm, but other than that she seemed to be all right She had to be alive because the pounding in her head wouldn’t hurt so bad if she were dead.

  The blood was sticky, and the smell... oh God, the smell. She was going to be sick.

  She ran for the slop jar and emptied the contents of her stomach, then rested back on her heels. Feeling that she’d been plunged into a black, cold hole and was having trouble reaching the top, she grabbed her middle and forced herself to take deep breaths.

  What was wrong?

  Where was Jim? And why hadn’t he come when she called?

  Slowly she turned toward the door. There was still a light flickering in the main room, so the fire hadn’t gone completely out She tiptoed across the floor, the wood feeling cold on her bare feet ‘Jim?” she called again to her partner.

  They had worked the Lazy Dollar Mine for two years and had hit their third strike yesterday—a rich vein of gold. She could remember that part of yesterday, but after returning to the cabin she couldn’t recall anything else. It was as if someone had erased her memory.

  “Jim?” Mary whispered as she entered the main room. There lying in front of the fireplace was Big Jim. Maybe he was just sleeping. “Jim.” He didn’t respond.

  She ran to him and knelt down. “Wake up, Jim. Tell me what happened,” Mary pleaded, but she didn’t receive a response. Jim normally didn’t drink, and the one time he had gotten rip-roaring drunk, he hadn’t been pleasant That had been a year ago, and he’d sworn he would never get drunk again.

  However, he reeked of alcohol. She rolled him over.

  His eyes were wide open in a death stare and his throat had been cut—in a nasty bloody hole.

  Mary started screaming and crying all at the same time as she jerked her hands back. Her heart slammed against her chest Finally, she lost her voice as she rocked back and forth, staring at the man she’d come to love as a father. “Who did this?” she sobbed, “and why didn’t they kill me, too?”

  She stood up, but her legs were so wobbly, she fell back down. Now wasn’t the time to fell apart She must pull herself together. So with as much determination as she could muster, she rose again. This time her knees held, but she was still shaking all over as she made her way to the bedroom to get a sheet.

  She jerked a sheet off the bed and covered Jim. What happened last night ? Her mind screamed the question over and over. She couldn’t remember anything from the minute she walked through the cabin door.

  Glancing out the window, she realized it would be daylight in a few hours, and then she could go for the marshal.

  Mary turned from the window and glanced at her clothes. No. She couldn’t go to the marshal. Look at her, she was covered in blood, and she’d had the knife in her hand. In the eyes of the law, she’d look guilty as sin.

  “Hell,” she swore, having picked up some colorful language from the miners. With the evidence all around her, even she would think she’d killed Jim. But something deep within Mary told her that she hadn’t He’d even helped her hide her identity. She’d been careful to conceal the fact that she was a woman. One woman in a mining camp with thirty men would cause a distraction.

  So if she didn’t kill Jim, then somebody else did and wanted her to take the blame. Or maybe they were waiting to come after her again. She must do something. But what?

  As soon as daybreak arrived, somebody would come by to check on Jim, and see if he was ready to head to the mine.

  She began to pace. A sob escaped her throat

  “Think, Mary! Now is no time to fall apart,” she said to herself. She looked back at Jim. She didn’t want to leave him like this. She wanted to see to a proper funeral. Jim deserved that. But the authorities probably wouldn’t listen to her. Not when they found out she’d been lying about her identity.

&n
bsp; And the law would be coming. Soon.

  Run, Mary.

  Mary jerked around. Had Jim said something? No, that was impossible. But that was the answer. It was the only thing she could do. She ran to the sink and started washing the blood from her arms. Her stomach lurched, but she managed not to get sick again. However, she couldn’t seem to stop trembling, whether from fear or cold she wasn’t sure. The only thing she knew she was that she had to keep moving or she’d keel over.

  Stripping off her jeans and letting her clothes fell where they landed, she stumbled to her bedroom.

  Keep moving, Mary. You 're in danger.

  Why did she feel as if Jim was here with her, warning her? And what danger? She got down on her knees and reached under the bed, her fingertips brushing the old travel bag which held the only two dresses she’d brought with her. She had almost forgotten that she was a woman after posing as a boy for so long. Everyone in the camp knew her as Mark, the boy who worked with Big Jim. She’d always kept her hair tucked under a hat and in the summer she’d actually cut it short like a man, but it had grown out again this past winter.

  She stepped into the dull gray wool dress and realized that her teeth were chattering. The soft material felt good on her skin. Hopefully, it would provide some warmth and she could stop this god-awful shaking. She’d never felt so cold... and empty.

  Grabbing the valise, she stuffed everything that was feminine in the bag. At least the marshal would be looking for a boy, and it would give her a little time to get away. Her true identity was the only good thing she had going for her tonight Just before she closed the bag, she remembered the gold, and she reached tinder her mattress and took the two small bags she’d kept for emergencies. She and Jim had become wealthy over the last year, and they could have stopped mining, but every time they even considered it, they would strike a new vein.

  Mary was getting ready to close the bag when she spotted an odd piece of green plaid material that had evidently been tom from something or somebody. She jerked involuntarily and wondered why.