Cotton's Devil (9781101618523) by Phil Dunlap

wasn’t he?”
    â€œI ’spect.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œSometimes, when he least expects it, a man’s past can catch up to him. Reckon mine has.”
    â€œI don’t understand. Please tell me.”
    â€œEmily, I’ve told you before that not everything I’ve done in my life has amounted to something to be proud of. What happened between James Lee Hogg and me doesn’t mean nuthin’, although I imagine it does to him. But the
real
reason he’s here might not be something you want to hear.”
    â€œCotton, there is nothing you could tell me that would make me turn away from you. Please, I have to know what this is all about, especially since it appears to involve me somehow. Please. You owe me that much. And Henry, too.”
    Cotton flinched at her words. She was right, he did owe her an explanation after she was nearly shot as a result of
his
perceived misdeeds. But could he actually steel himself to the task? It was a question he’d wrestled with for some time. There still seemed no answer in sight.

Chapter 15

    T horn McCann was groggy and disoriented when he awoke. He tried to sit up, blinking his eyes to clear them, to figure out where he was. And why. The stabbing pain in his shoulder knocked him back onto the pillow quickly, with a vague remembrance of Indians and an attack and…and Cotton Burke. He groaned and licked his chapped lips. Delilah heard him and came to his side. She sat down on a spindle-back chair next to the bed.
    â€œThat you, Delilah? Where am I? What happened?” He tried once more to sit up, but another surge of pain changed his mind.
    â€œWe’re at the relay station. The Hardins’ place. Mrs. Hardin patched you up. Just lie still so you don’t undo the good work she did sewing those bullet holes up so no more of your blood leaks out.” Her words were barely above a whisper as she leaned in close.
    â€œHoles? Was I hit more’n once?”
    â€œOne bullet, clean through.”
    â€œI sorta remember being on the stagecoach, and theattack of them blasted Apaches, and us trying to climb a hill to get you out of there before they saw us, and…and that’s all that comes to mind. Well, I
do
have some recollection of Cotton Burke, but that could have just been a bad dream.”
    â€œNot a bad dream, Thorn. If he hadn’t come along when he did, we’d all be dead by now. Those Apaches weren’t all that keen on letting us live.”
    â€œSaved by Cotton Burke. Damn! That’s humiliatin’.”
    â€œOwing a man your life isn’t nearly as bad as being under a pile of rocks for eternity.”
    â€œYeah, I s’pose you got a point, Delilah,” he sighed. “How long I been laid up?”
    â€œThree days now. You got real feverish for a couple days. Looks like its finally broke, thank goodness. Mrs. Hardin said if you lived through the fever, you’d survive.”
    â€œWhere’s Cotton?”
    â€œHe took the kid with the shotgun and that passenger, Denby, and went on to Apache Springs. Said he’d be back with a buckboard to haul you out of here. I don’t think he figured you’d be able to sit a horse for a week or more, bad as you were wounded. I look for him anytime now.”
    â€œThe driver, what happened to him?”
    â€œKilled.”
    Just then Mrs. Hardin came into the room. Thorn could hear some commotion outside but couldn’t make out what it was about. Delilah smiled and said, “It looks like your patient might pull through after all, Mrs Hardin.”
    â€œLooks like. You up to a little soup, mister?” she said.
    â€œI hadn’t given it much thought, but I could use a little somethin’, yes ma’am. What’s all that hollerin’ outside?”
    â€œA couple of Apaches came demandin’ whiskey. Jeremiah don’t hold with givin’ whiskey to Indians. They know that. He tells them every time