Beatrice and the Beast, page 41
‘We ain’t got time to jaw,’ said Zelletta. ‘We gotta put some distance between us and Zimmerman’s men. Get on your hoss Miss Mellowday.’
She thought she’d misunderstood what he said.
‘You mean get back on your horse?’
‘Nope, your horse, the sorrel over there.’
She looked where he indicated and sure enough, her sorrel stood there waiting for her and was saddled with the comfortable Mexican saddle she had become used to. Furthermore, the Winchester rifle Zelletta had given her, was sitting snugly, in the saddle boot.
‘How did you?’ She cried. ‘I thought he was locked in one of Jacob’s stables under guard.’
‘He was, but me and Charlie rescued him. Mount up and we’ll tell you about it when we get you somewhere safe.’
‘Oh, yes of course, sorry.’
She hurried to her horse and tried to mount, but she had become so weak with exhaustion and hunger, she simply hadn’t the strength to pull herself up. She turned her imploring eyes to the big man.
‘Would you help me Mister Zelletta?’
He went and stood behind her, before, as she’d become used to, he spread his big hands on her slender waist and easily lifted her high enough so she could throw her leg over the saddle. She needed to hitch up her skirt in order to get comfortable, but it no longer bothered her, that her underwear was on show and despite her debility stemming from weakness and exhaustion, she determined to sit straight and tall in the saddle.
Beatrice had no idea where they were headed as they set off at a gallop with her following Zelletta and Charlie bringing up the rear. She was simply elated to be reunited with them both and did not care where they were taking her as long as she could be close to Frank Zelletta. Even her painful and undignified journey face down over his horse, had been unable to dull her elation once she realized who had placed her in that position. However, though she’d felt strong enough to do this journey when they set out, she soon realised, she’d been running on adrenalin alone. When it was no longer able to stimulate her, her strength began to wane and was soon replaced by nausea and faintness.
Charlie yelled out to Zelletta when he saw Beatrice begin to sway in the saddle and the big man quickly came to a halt. Then, as the sorrel began to pass him, he reached out and grabbed the reins from her weakened grip and halted the horse, before snaking an arm around her waist to lift her onto his own horse so she sat sideways across his thighs.
‘Take the roan Charlie,’ he yelled back. ‘We gotta keep moving.’
He spurred his horse into action and the game animal took off as fast as he was able under the extra weight added to Zelletta’s already considerable bulk. Beatrice was happy to cling on to Zelletta with her arms around his waist and her head resting on his chest, while he held her steady with his own strong arms. She already felt better, simply because she was close to him. She had always felt safe when she was nestled in his arms and despite her hunger and debilitation, she would have been content to remain that way forever.
She lost all track of time and on several occasions, fell into a restless stupor whenever the horse was slowed to a walk, which happened several times to spare the animals. Then after a long time, she awoke from one final bout of semi-consciousness to hear sounds of activity all around and realised, they were in a busy town.
‘We’d better get you to a doctor,’ said Zelletta as she raised her head from his chest and stared around.’
‘No,’ she said hoarsely. ‘All I need is rest and something to eat.’
‘We’ve got rooms at the hotel,’ put in Charlie. ‘I reckon we could get another one.’
‘I don’t want to be alone,’ she replied. ‘Can I stay with you Mister Zelletta?’
‘Let’s get you something to eat,’ he answered. ‘Then we’ll talk.’
They found a restaurant and though it wasn’t yet, time for lunch, they were happy to rustle up a late breakfast of eggs, bacon and beans, with flatbread on the side, as well as coffee with milk and sugar for Beatrice. Because they had left town long before sunup and hadn’t eaten since the previous night, both Charlie and Frank had the same, apart from milky coffee which they both took black.
They ate in silence and Beatrice discovered how ravenous she truly was once she began to eat and unusually for her, ate everything on her plate as well as the bread. Then while they sipped their coffee, they talked.
First to converse, was Beatrice who looked coyly at Zelletta before speaking shyly.
‘I thought I would never see you again Mister Zelletta. I thought you would be on your way to Kansas by now.’
‘I would have been if Charlie hadn’t turned up and persuaded me to stay another night.’
‘I came after you a couple of days after you left Fort Worth,’ explained the older man. ‘But I couldn’t catch up to you. The deputy’s job didn’t work out for me so I figured I’d come down to Laredo and try my luck here.’
‘But why were you both there just when I needed help so badly.’
‘We heard you were in trouble,’ replied Zelletta.
‘How could you?’ Nobody knew except Jacobs friends and his men.’
‘I saw Rosa last night,’ replied Zelletta. ‘She told me you were unhappy and that Zimmerman had been beating you. I couldn’t have that, so I decided to come and get you, and Charlie insisted on coming along.’
‘Did you ask her about me?’
‘I guess I would’ve if I’d known she was in town. But I didn’t know until she come looking for me.’
‘She sought you out?’
‘I guess so and she was very worried about you.’
‘Oh no. Poor Rosa. Jacob is sure to figure out she told you about me. There’s nobody else who knows that Jacob hit me. He will be furious with her when she goes back.’
‘She ain’t going back. She left town last night with some feller straight after she told us about you.’
‘Oh, thank heavens. She deserves some happiness. I hope she goes where Jacob will never find her.’
She fell silent for a while pondering over what had happened during the past couple of days.
‘How did you know where to find me?’
‘We’d been watching the ranch since around, three hours before sunup trying to figure out where you were. But it’s a big place and heavily guarded. Then when first light came, we saw Zimmerman sending his men out looking for you and heard some of them calling out your name, so we figured you’d ran away.’
‘How did you get my horse back?’
‘There were only a couple of men left there to guard the place and I knew from my time here when I worked for Zimmerman, where he would have kept him as well as some very valuable thoroughbreds. So, we found him easily and your saddle was there as well.’
‘What he ain’t telling you Beatrice,’ put in Charlie. ‘Is, we took all seven of his thoroughbred hosses as well.’
‘You stole his horses?’
‘Not exactly,’ said Zelletta. ‘We just liberated ‘em so to speak.’
‘Is that another way of saying you stole them?’
‘Nope, we took ‘em away from the ranch aways and turned ‘em loose. It’s a bit of comeback for what he did to you. I expect he’ll round ‘em up sooner or later. But there’s a good chance they’ll be ruined if they join up with some of them wild mustangs that roam these parts.’
‘There’s a good chance Indians might find ‘em before he does or rustlers,’ said Charlie.’
‘Will he come here and try to take me back?’
‘He’ll come to see if you’re here. But he knows he can’t take you if you don’t wanna go, not here in town where there’s law officers. But he knows we gotta leave town at some point. So, I figure he’ll leave a bunch of his men here to watch us and follow us when we leave. Then, when we’re away from the town’s jurisdiction, they’ll try and take you by force.’
‘Then let’s leave now before he comes.’
‘We can’t do that.’
‘Why not? There’s nothing holding us here.’
‘You’re exhausted and need rest and treatment. You wouldn’t last five minutes in your condition. I already seen how badly cut your feet are. We need to take care of them before you can travel anywhere. No, we stay here until you’re fit enough to travel. Me and Charlie will take care of Zimmerman’s men.’
The way he took over control of her destiny thrilled her more than she cared to admit, but she felt very uneasy that him and Charlie were ready to put their lives in danger. She would rather go back to Zimmerman and face the punishment he was sure to make her endure, than see Zelletta, and Charlie for that matter, killed on her behalf.
‘I can’t expect you to put your lives in danger for me,’ she whispered. ‘You’ve already done so much for me, far more than I deserve.’
‘We could never stand by and let that bastard abuse you again. He must have done something damned bad for you to run away.’
She decided, they needed an explanation. She didn’t want them to think she’d simply run away because she didn’t like the arrangement and had changed her mind.
‘He expected me to give myself to a man who can help him become governor of the state.’
Both Zelletta and Charlie stared in disbelief, at her blushing face.
‘Goddamn it,’ gasped Charlie finally. ‘He expected you to bed some guy as a reward for helping him?’
Beatrice nodded her head several times as tears welled into her eyes.
‘Yes,’ she sobbed.
She looked up to try and read Zelletta’s mood. But his face was set in a mask of stone. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but note the fury in his eyes and hoped her revelation hadn’t turned him against her. She felt her whole world would collapse around her if Frank Zelletta’s love, turned to hatred.
‘I’m sorry Mister Zelletta,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t do anything to encourage them to think I would be a willing participant. Jacob seemed to think it was my duty to prostitute myself to another man. But I would rather die than do that.’
He regarded her tear streaked face and his eyes softened.
‘You ain’t got nothing to be sorry about Miss Mellowday. You ain’t done nothing wrong. But the stakes have changed now. Zimmerman has to pay for what he done to you and frightening you so bad, you ran away and spent all night in them woods.’
She felt a great sense of relief that he believed in her, but she regretted her confession had made him angry enough to want revenge.
‘Please Mister Zelletta, can’t we just leave before Jacob’s men come looking for me?’
‘Don’t worry Miss Mellowday, we won’t put you in any danger.’
Her disappointment at his words, was almost palpable.
‘It isn’t me I’m concerned for Mister Zelletta.’
‘Well Zimmerman has it coming.’
‘It’s you I am concerned for,’ she snapped. ‘You and Charlie. I don’t want anything to happen to you and it will if you try to get at Jacob. He’s too heavily guarded.’
He looked away sheepishly, he’d already figured she had meant him and not Zimmerman. But couldn’t help having a dig after the way she had turned him down for what she thought would be a more comfortable existence with an older but richer, man.
As though reading his thoughts, she continued in a much more subdued tone of voice.
‘I now realize with extremely deep regret, that I was wrong to choose security with Jacob over a more uncertain and hazardous existence in your world. I also realize, I have very likely, burned all my bridges with you and do not blame you if you no longer want me. I certainly don’t deserve what you have already done for me and I hate myself for being the reason you are putting your lives in peril.’
Charlie gave Zelletta a pointed look.
‘Am I missing something here Frank? Did you and Beatrice get a bit closer, so to speak, after you left me in Fort Worth.’
Zelletta frowned with uncertainty about whether or not he should embarrass her by revealing what had happened between them.
‘Nothing that need concern you Charlie.’
‘We slept together the night before he drove me to the ranch,’ she revealed. ‘I’m not ashamed of it because I love him.’
Charlie gaped.
‘Well I’ll be damned,’ I always knew there was something between you. Why the hell did you allow her to go to Zimmerman Frank?’
‘It wasn’t my place to force her to come with me. I was being paid to take her there and that’s what she wanted.’
Charlie looked at Beatrice.
‘Is that really what you wanted Beatrice?’
Charlie’s question caused her to question herself more deeply and the answer she came up with, surprised her.
‘If Mister Zelletta had refused to take me to Jacob and been more assertive in his insistence that I have to go with him, I do believe I would have complied and gone anywhere he asked me to.’
Zelletta’s frown deepened.
‘If I had of made you come with me, you would always have wondered about what you could have missed.’
‘Perhaps so Mister Zelletta and because I chose the easy option, I will regret it for the rest of my life.’
Zelletta regarded her and noted her pretty face, still dirty from her flight through the forest and streaked with tears.
‘We’d better get you cleaned up and afterwards, you can rest a while. Then later, we’ll get you some new duds. That dress you’re wearing ain’t gonna be suitable for travelling in.’
She felt bitterly disappointed that he’d given her no indication he wanted her, and answered servilely.
‘Yes, Mister Zelletta.’
‘You can rest up in my room until we decide what to do.’
‘Thank you Mister Zelletta.’
While Charlie went to buy some salve and bandages for her feet, Zelletta took her to his room and told her to rest on his bed. She lay down on top of the blankets and watched him go to the window to peer out.
‘Are you watching for Jacob and his men Mister Zelletta?’
‘Nope,’ he replied without turning around. ‘Just checking some of the buildings in the vicinity.’
She supposed he had his reasons for observing where they were situated, but she was unable to come up with an answer and didn’t want to test his patience by asking what he might consider, to be foolish questions. Instead, she remained silently watching him until her exhaustion took over and she fell asleep.
When he looked round at the slumbering girl, Zelletta picked up the only chair in the room and brought it close to the bed. Then he sat and watched her, unable to avert his eyes from her pretty, dirty face and he remained that way until he heard a light tap on the door before it was opened by Charlie. Zelletta holstered the gun he had drawn as soon as Charlie knocked and gave the man an enquiring look. Charlie grinned and handed him something wrapped in brown paper. It contained a jar of salve and some gauze bandages.
‘Thanks Charlie,’ responded Zelletta. ‘I’ll let her sleep awhile before I take care of her.’
Charlie grinned from ear to ear.
‘Seems you didn’t need me to bring you two together. Here was me thinking you were too bashful to ever get to know her,’ he whispered. ‘How the hell did you get so courageous?’
Zelletta was too chivalrous to betray Beatrice and reveal it was her who came to him.
‘It just happened and I’m glad it did.’
‘Are you gonna get together with her now she’s left Zimmerman?’
‘I don’t rightly know if she’d be willing to face the kind of living, I can offer her. Even if she was ready to give it a try, she’d maybe find it too tough after the way of life she’s been used to. She’d sure as hell need to toughen up some.’
‘You know as well as I do,’ responded Charlie. ‘She’s tougher than she looks. You didn’t expect her to be able to make the journey all the way here. You thought she’d want to return to where she came from after a few miles. But she sure proved you wrong and have you forgot how she saved your life?’
‘No, I ain’t forgot Charlie, I’ll never forget and you’re right, she is tougher than she looks. But she already chose what she thought would be an easy life over me. What if somebody else comes along who can offer her more than I can.’
‘You know she ain’t that kind a gal Frank. I ain’t never seen a more honest and sincerer woman. If she tells you she wants to spend her life with you, you can damned well believe it and she’ll keep her word no matter what troubles may come your way.’
‘I guess you’re right Charlie. But she hurt me once and I couldn’t bear it if she did it again.’
At that moment, they heard through the partly opened window, the sound of galloping hooves and both men hurried to look out onto the street below. What they saw was Zimmerman and five of his men, all gunmen, come to a halt by a saloon on the other side and twenty yards along the street and were in the process of dismounting. As they did so, Jess Doonen who had accompanied Rosa to town, emerged from the saloon and spoke to Zimmerman. After a couple of minutes, he nodded toward the hotel motivating all eyes to turn and look at the building from which Zelletta and Charlie were watching. Zimmerman saw the two men instantly and strode toward them. He came to a halt opposite the building and locked eyes with Zelletta.
‘You’ve got five minutes to give her up Frank and then I’m taking her by force.’
‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.’
‘The hell you don’t. Jess here saw you bring her to town and I figure it was that whore Rosa who told you she wasn’t happy with me. She’s in that hotel and I want her back now.’
‘Kidnapping girls is an offence Zimmerman and folks don’t take kindly to men who do that.’
‘I don’t give a damn what folks around here think. I own most of them anyhow including the county sheriff. So, you haven’t got any choice but to send her out or I send my men in to drag her out.’
Zelletta turned to his friend.
‘Wake her up Charlie,’ he whispered. ‘You gotta get her outa here while I stall Zimmerman. See if you can take her out the back way, maybe through the kitchen.’
Zimmerman had already pre-guessed, the plan.
