Kylee Marks had spent all her life, 25 years to be exact, trying to prove she was every bit as capable as any male. Yet her father still treated her as his precious little princess, capable of arranging details for barbeques at the ranch, but not capable of handling the horses or rounding up the steers.
Two nights ago someone had stolen onto their property and set loose two of their prize mustangs not yet broken. It was the fourth time in a month the same thing had occurred. Someone obviously wanted the ranch to suffer. Tonight, Kylee had snuck from the house, taken a rifle from her father's gun case, and now waited on horseback in the shelter of a line of trees. She'd show her dad what she was really made of. She was going to catch the perpetrators and bring back the missing horses.
Kylee dismounted and looped her reins on a low bush, ready when something happened, and crept to the edge of the tree line for a closer look. She raised her binoculars to her eyes and studied the paddock and stables, but nothing seemed to be moving there. She wished desperately that she had a pair of night vision binoculars – but that was out of the question. She snuggled deeper into the cover, and that was when she heard it. Or did she? It sounded like a footstep right behind her, but she didn’t hear anything else. Just when she let her guard down again, she felt the steel arm wrap around her, pinning her arms to her sides, and the callused hand pressed hard over her mouth to quickly stifle her scream. She tried to kick her assailant, but he was too quick for her.
“Kylee!! Stop it!!”
She recognized that voice – it was Luke Danvers – the head horse trainer at the ranch.
“Will you be quiet if I let you go?”
She nodded and when she was released she wipped around and looked at him with fire blazing from her amber eyes.
“What are you doing here? Did Dad set you to following me?” She whispered in a furious hiss.
“No, you were making so much noise a deaf person could have found you. Now sit still – I think we have company.” He whispered as he nodded toward the paddock.
Out from the paddocks came a low wimper. A grey wolf limped out.
"It's Belen!" whispered Kylee. Belen was a great grey wolf that Kylee nursed back to health as a puppy when hunters killed his mother and siblings. He became her friend and although he still had his wild moments, whenever he saw Kylee he became docile and receptive. She named him after Belen, the ancient Celtic god of light.
Kylee got up from her hiding place and embraced Belen. The she noticed that he held his paw up to her.
Kylee took the wolf's paw and pulled out a thick thorn, surely from the high thorn bushes the Marks planted on the outer perimeter of the ranch to keep out predators.
"There, that's better, isn't it? She smiled at the wolf. "But how did you happen to get that thorn, Belen? You've always managed to get in without hurting yourself. What were you doing on the thicker side?"
As if answering her question, Belen got up and and growling, started padding towards the thicker bushes.
"He wants us to follow him," said Luke. They both got up and started after the wolf. After a short while they arrived at the outer perimeter where the bushes were their thickest and stared in disbelief: in one corner a big hole was cut through and they could see the grassy meadow that lay beyond. Belen shot through the hole and started running west, where the Marks' enemies, the Kingleys, had their homestead.
Not too far ahead lay two masses in the meadow and Kylee knew instantly they were the Mustangs, dead and decaying. Luke ran towards them and upon closer inspection, surmised that they had been shot. Enraged, Kylee began running towards the Kingley’s Ranch, rifle still in tow, but Luke stopped her in mid sprint.
“Kylee, no, not like this” he said strongly, his eyes permeating a promise of revenge but rightly done.
“Right now, we need to let your father know what’s going on, and we need to do this right. If we run over there with guns in tow, we’ll just be feeding into what they want, and it will only give them the upper hand on getting your father’s ranch. We need to keep our heads on tight, ok girl?”
She knew he was right. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked upon the Mustangs one last time, turning back to find her father.
After returning home, Kylee ran straight to her dad’s room and woke him.
“Dad, I found the spot where our horses went and they are all dead.”
“DEAD???” asked her dad
“Yes, they are all dead. Dad they have been shot, each and every one of them” Kylee said.
“Right, well, get the other hands together, make sure they have their guns and tell them to meet me in front to of the stables in ten minutes. We are going to hide out around the stables and wait for these people to return again.”
“Yes dad, I will get right to it” Said Kylee
“And Kylee?”
“Yes Dad??”
“Good job, honey”
“Thanks, dad”
With that she darted out the door and rounded up everyone. It was going to be 7 of them against who ever was stealing and killing the horses. As she was round them up, she couldn’t help but to think to herself that she had finally shown her dad what she was made of. She felt like she had finally done it, she was finally an asset to the home and farm.
It would have been 8 of them but her dad came out and saw her still standing with all the other men. He has huge reservations about his little girl having a shoot out with a bunch of scruffy men. He had to be gentle about stopping her. He had to get her in the house and fast!
Kylee's Dad leaned over quietly said that he needed her to stay at the ranch, in case more trouble occurred, someone would be there to intercede. Kylee looked at her father with sadness in her eyes. She quietly moved away from the bunch of men, dismounted and went into the house. It seemed no matter how hard she tried, she could never get her father's approval!
The bunch of men all headed toward the Kingley's ranch, steadily paced and decisively angry. About a mile from the Kingley's, they suddenly saw a flash of light, and then the sky lighting up. FIRE! The Kingleys's homestead was ablaze and riding at a full run, they began to see the Kingley's in their night clothes out trying to put it out to no avail. The wind was starting to blow, and it was taking control of the fire. Kylee's Dad and hands jumped off their horses and helped with the passing of water buckets.
Finally it was out, and Mr. Kingley shook Kylee's Dad's hand for helping, but suddenly growled out about Kylee's Dad being on his property. Kylee's dad said that there had been two of his Mustang's shot and killed and their carcasses found on their property and they were coming to have a talk with him. Mr. Kingley said that he wasn't responsible for the Mustang's, nor was he responsible for setting his house on fire. When the fire had been put out, one of his hand's found several fuel cans under what used to be the porch. It seemed someone had it out for him also, and/or were pitting them against the other.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Kylee paced the front porch like a wildcat trapped in a pen. She didn't know what infuriated her more-finding her beautiful mustangs on the Kingsleys property, or her father ordering her to stay home.
Her pacing came to an abrupt halt when another, more disturbing, thought came to her. Where was Luke when her father gathered his troops and headed towards the Kingsley's? And why was he out so late, finding her hiding in the brush earlier?
The smell of acrid smoke filled her nostrils, interrupting her thoughts. She lowered her shotgun and peered over the side railing of the porch. The Kingley's homestead was ablaze with brilliant flames lighting up the darkened night sky!
She heard the footsteps, then, silent as they were. Her heart pounded fiercely inside her chest, as Kylee spun around and leveled her shotgun, aiming directly at Luke Danvers chest.
"Kylee! What are you doing?"
Through steely eyes Kylee held her gaze upon the man not only she, but her father had trusted. Luke Danvers had been with them for years, earning his way up from ranch-hand to head horse trainer. He'd become part of the family, as there was only Kylee and her father since her mother had died in childbirth many years before, taking her stillborn son with her. Now the man they had trusted, the man she'd secretly loved for so long, had betrayed them.
Kylee looked at him now and felt that fine line between between love and hate as she continued to hold her aim steadily at Luke's chest.
"It was you!" she whispered, willing herself to remain calm.
"Kylee, what are you talking about?" he reiterated with a half-smile, as if in disbelief. "I want revenge just as much as you for such injustice."
The soft pools of moonlight reflected in his eyes as he held her gaze, but Kylee shook her head fiercely.
"NO!" she spat. "You are not going to win me over, Luke Danvers, with your baby blues and your charm!"
Taking a step forward, inching the shotgun closer to him, Kylee could smell his manly scent but refused to fall under his spell.
"I know it was you so there is no point denying it," she hissed. "It wasn't coincidence you were in the bush earlier just as you disappearing when father and I were gathering the men to go and confront the Kingsleys! And it's certainly no coincidence that now their homestead is ablaze."
Kylee paused for a moment before she added, "My only question is why?"
The silence seemed to last for an eternity before Luke's eyes hardened in a way she had never seen. There was an unspoken hatred emanating from them that it almost scared her.
"You rich folk have it all, don't you?" he spat. "You think because you have money you can buy your way out of everything and never mind the consequences! Well, it won't work with me. I've invested too much to walk away now, Miss Marks!"
Hearing the vehemence in the emphasis of her name made Kylee cringe. She hated being reminded of her wealth and status as she had never believed in using it to keep their employees in their place. Now she wondered if she'd made the right decision.
"Haven't you ever wondered about the similarities between us?" Luke continued his tirade. "The same dark hair and wild fire eyes. I see you and it's like looking in a mirror."
"What - what are you talking about?" Suddenly Kylee felt caught off-guard.
"I'm talking about genes. Your genes and my genes. I may not be rich like you, but we're alike, you and me." Something in Luke's eyes silenced her as he went on. "What has your father told you about your mother? Besides that she died in childbirth. Nothing. That's because she didn't die, not then anyway.
"Let me tell you a little story. A young wife with a vibrant young daughter in tow, living on a lavish estate in a loveless marriage, finds herself in an affair with a ranch-hand and ends up pregnant. Hubby dearest discovers the tryst when he finds the two in one of the stables one night, a ranch-hand and his heavily pregnant wife. He knew then that the child she carried wasn't his and he beat the hand to within an inch of his life and banished his wife, cutting all ties with her. He packed her bags and took her into town in the middle of the night, and when he came home he told everyone the sad news that his wife had died giving birth to their stillborn son. I'm sure you know what followed from then on, but you only know one half. What you don't know is that after being kicked out, your mother had nothing. Not a cent to her name, and she went into premature labour, had her child, a son, and endured a difficult life until the cancer she had ate at her so much she died of a broken heart. Your father cut her off without a dime, and we had nothing! While YOU had everything! He as good as killed my mother as if he'd pulled a trigger himself. And now, your father is going to pay!"
"I don't think so, Luke," came a voice from behind him, as he turned to find Kylee's father standing in the shadows. "The Kingsleys are all dead, but you know that, don't you? Just as I'm sure you're aware of Josh Kingsley's role in all this. Yes, he was your father. And you hated the fact you were entitled to his name and his estate, being his firstborn, though illegitimate, and he rejected you."
"It's because of you that I have nothing!" Luke sneered at the man who had looked on him as the son he never had. "Whether it be as a Marks, or a Kingsley. It doesn't matter. You took that away from me. But more than that, you killed my mother! She loved you and you broke her heart. And I came here all those years ago intent on making you pay. I made you trust me, you took me under your wing and looked on me as your son." Luke laughed bitterly now. "How ironic it is that I'm really the son of the wife you threw out and your arch enemy!"
With a swift movement Luke drew his holstered gun in the direction of Daniel Marks as a loud explosion filled the silence around them. Falling on the patios hard surface, Luke was dead before he hit the ground. Kylee kept the shotgun aimed steadily as her father slowly walked towards her with tears in his eyes. Carefully he lowered her aim and took her in his arms, holding her tight.
"I'm sorry, Kylee," he cried. "I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
Kylee looked up at her father as tears stung her eyes and she smiled.
"There's nothing to forgive," she replied. "You're my father and I love you."
© WOSIB Literary Garden 2006