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Kudos for The Hanging Bride
"Pam Labud’s THE HANGING BRIDE is a
good old-fashioned
Wild West cowboy love story with a unique twist."
Reviewed by Tammy of Love Romances
Read the
full review at
Love Romances.
Publisher:
Wings ePress
Published: May 2006 |
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Book |
Excerpt from The
Hanging Bride
by
Pam Labud
“Well, little
girl, just lookie what’s goin’ on! You didn’t tell me we was
having another hanging.”
Natty Lane,
sole proprietor of the Denton Lane Silver Mine, stood along
the edge of the crowd, stretching on tiptoes, and trying to
see the spectacle that was gathering at the foot of the
gallows.
“Yeah, I did,
Dermott. I’ve told you every day for a week. Remember the
trial we went to last Monday? And then we talked about how
we were going to ride into town and fetch us a man to help
around the place?” She squinted against the early morning
sun and stared at the newly built gallows.
“Naw, I
distinctly remember you telling me we was gonna get us some
salt water taffy. I love salt water taffy.”
“Sure you do,
Derm. I’ll get your candy, right after I take care of
business.” For a moment, she craned her neck, deciding the
best way to navigate around the mass of people crowded at
the farthest end of Main Street.
“You stay
here, Derm. I’ve got to talk to the Sheriff.”
Seeing
Sheriff Watkins hauling out the prisoner, she hesitated. The
outlaw didn’t look scared, cowed, or even guilty. In spite
of his predicament, the drifter held his head high, almost
daring the crowd to oppose him. He looked defiant. Damned
defiant.
“Sheriff, I
need to talk to you,” she lurched forward before her bravado
slipped completely away.
“Natty, I’m
real busy right now. Come on over to the office when we’re
done here. Has Lester Biggins been bothering you again?”
“Uh, no sir.
Not since he accused Dermott of setting his outhouse on fire
last month. I wanted to talk to you about today’s hanging.”
The prisoner
glanced briefly at her. His deep, hazel gaze instantly stung
Natty. A hot flush rose up her neck and nearly took her
breath away. It took two quick swallows to get her mind back
on track.
“What about
the hanging?”
“Well,
I...um, I want to buy the condemned man.” There. She’d said
it.
The Sheriff
looked at her with a stunned expression. “You wanna do what?
Girl, do you know what you’re saying?”
“I do. My ma
told me she read about how some widowed women in Oklahoma
needed men to help with their farms, but there wasn’t any.
They were allowed to pick ones that were sentenced to hang
and marry them. So, she’d decided to do the same to get us
some help with the mine. Ma got sick so quick, and then the
fever took her. I’ve got to do something. Last year, we
almost died cause the winter was so bad.”
“Now, Nat.
Don’t be foolish. A girl as pretty as you can get any buck
around here. How old are you? I heard you turned eighteen
last fall. You should be married, anyhow. And everybody
‘round here loves ole’ Dermott. You won’t have any problem
getting someone to take care of him if your new husband
won’t.”
Natty chewed
her bottom lip. “I ain’t courting any of the boys from
around here. Three of ‘em came to my doorstep last spring.
Not one of them cared a whit about the mine. Then there was
that Bob Devlin. His poor wife died in childbirth less than
a year ago. He doesn’t want another wife, just someone to
take care of his young’uns and keep house. He ain’t
interested in mining silver.”
“Could be you
didn’t give any of those fellas a chance to court you right.
You’ve still got plenty of time to pick one. I think that
Hansen boy is pretty upright. If my Lizzie wasn’t already
engaged to Taylor Jones, I’d have picked him right up
front.”
“I ain’t
marrying anybody but who I want.” She pointed at the
prisoner. “I want him.”
“Natty, think
about this. How are you going to get the money? You ain’t
buying a horse, you know.”
“No, a horse
would cost more. I mean to pay with this.” She held out the
pure gold band that had been her mother’s wedding ring.
“Aw, Natty,”
the lawman muttered.
“It’s my most
precious possession, and it’s barely been worn. My Pa won it
in a poker game in San Francisco when he met my Ma.”
The Sheriff
took the ring and eyed it carefully. “Are you sure, Nat? I
mean, this is an awful nice ring.”
“It is. Now,
do I get to buy the drifter, or what?”
“Your mind’s
really set on this?”
She nodded,
showing more certainty than she actually felt.
He sighed.
“Look, I’m sorry but I can’t let you have this fella. If
you’re really set on this plan, there’s three boys down at
the jail. Two of them are just wanderers, came through town
about a week ago and were arrested for disorderly conduct.
They tried to practice shoot at the Ladies’ Auxiliary
meeting. Then there’s the Dennis boy, he stole a horse from
the Granger stock. Pick one of them but be quick about it.
Right now, I need to get this over with before the crowd
gets ugly,” the Sheriff glanced around nervously, “and, they
ain’t that close to pretty as it is.”
Natty dug her
heels into the dirt, not budging from her spot, and gave him
a scornful look.
“I don’t want
one of them. They ain’t condemned and facing a hangin’.” She
crossed her arms, waiting for the lecture that was to come.
“A girl has a right to marry who she wants, and I want him,”
she said between clenched teeth.
“Listen here,
Natty, this fella’s a dangerous killer. He’d just as soon
shoot you as look at you. You’ve got no business tying up
with the likes of him.” In demonstration, the Sheriff yanked
the chain, causing the prisoner to scowl. “Lookit,’ he’s got
the devil in him for sure.”
“He’s the one
I want, Bill. He’s young and strong, and if you just leave
those irons on for a spell, I know I can get a good portion
of work out of him.”
The lawman
scratched his head. “I don’t know, Natty. I don’t see how it
can be done. I mean, what if you was to take him home and
something bad happened?” He glanced up as his deputy
finished tying the counterweight to the noose. Natty knew
they would be testing the gallows as soon as he gave the
word.
“Please,
Bill. I ain’t givin’ up my Pa’s claim and spending my life
raising some widow man’s brats. And I sure ain’t gonna end
up tied up to some half cocked local boy who thinks I’ll
just throw in my silver mine so he can move me into town and
cling to his Mama’s skirts.”
“I don’t know
how you’ve made it this long.”
Natty stepped
forward, grasping his arm. “I love that place. I know most
people think mining silver out of that hill is a lost cause,
Sheriff, but I ain’t gonna give it up until I have to!”
“If this
young fella gets hold of a gun, Natty, he might just blow
your fool head off.”
The man
beside him stood silent, staring at the gallows and the
crowd of people beyond it.
“Maybe you
can hobble him, Bill.” Dermott said as he walked up to join
them. “You know, the way you do a mule that won’t behave.”
Sheriff
Watkins chewed on his bottom lip. “Well, there might be one
thing we could do. I heard tell that down in Kansas they
fixed a fella so he couldn’t ever shoot a gun again. Might
be we could help you out after all. All you really need him
to do is a push cart, swing an ax, and lift a shovel,
right?”
“That’s about
all there is to it, yeah.”
“All right.
I’ll have to talk it over with Judge Cummings. He’s got the
final say in what happens. Come back after supper, and I’ll
see what we can do.”
Suddenly, the
condemned man snapped to attention, jerking the chains in
the Sheriff’s hands. “You can’t do this. You promised me a
hanging.”
Sheriff
Watkins yanked the man back. “I’m the law in this county,
and I can do whatever the Hell I want, bushwhacker. If I
wanted to dress you in women’s pantalets and march you down
the middle of Main Street, there ain’t nothing you can do
about it!”
“You found me
guilty. I’m not going anywhere but up those steps.”
“You don’t
have no say in anything anymore, son. Whether you like it or
not, you’re going to do what I tell you.”
The sheriff
turned to one of the men holding court over the proceeding.
“Hobart, send everybody home. I’ve got business to attend to
here.”
In the next
instant, a loud crack sliced into the afternoon. A hush fell
over the crowd. All eyes looked up to see the counterweight
had snapped, and the bag of sand had fallen through the trap
mimicking what would have happened had a man been standing
there with the noose around his neck.
Natty glanced
at the gunslinger. He jerked as if he’d been struck by
lightning. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead, and he
squinted against the bright sunlight. Turning his head, he
glared back at her.
The sharp
pain that lived in the muddy brown-green depths of his eyes
stung like a hornet. For a moment, she hung suspended by his
gaze, caught like a fly in the web of his emotions. Just as
suddenly, he looked away, and she plummeted back to earth,
suddenly set free of his penetrating stare.
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