When the Good Turn Evil – Extended Epilogue

Just three years after her wedding to the new sheriff of El Paso, Eliza Gable Mayhew was delighted to finally have gotten the blessed news from Doc MacDougal. She’d come straight from the doc’s, in fact, promising to tell her mother even before telling Nathan. The shop was on the way to the sheriff’s office, anyway, and Eliza was thinking about waiting to tell him once he got home at the end of the day.

“Oh, darling,” Martha Gable said, her red hair even grayer than before, “what wonderful news!”

Thomas Gable stood beaming, stepping up as his wife and daughter shared a hug. “You’re well, in other ways? Healthy, strong?”

“Perfectly, Papa.”

“You mustn’t discount that, not at this time. Take every precaution with my little grandchild… and with yourself, of course.”

“I will, Papa.”

“No more of your misadventures.”

“Papa, it’s been three years—and the most peaceable stretch in El Paso’s memory, thanks to Nathan.”

“And that,” Martha said, “is thanks to you.”

An undeniable warmth filled the shop, a family scene which had been close to being consigned to the imagination. They’d barely made it through, but they had. And they would stick together as a family from then on, as they had since that chaotic clash. It was a time of calm, of growth, of family, of love.

“I’m sure your Nathan will be very pleased,” Thomas said, “be it a boy or a girl.”

Eliza set her hand on her belly, unable to resist the new energy stirring there, still too tiny to see but impossible to deny or to resist. “It will be a boy, I should think.”

Martha turned to Thomas, wearing the expression of his usual doubt. “Women sense these things,” she said with a little smile to his amused chuckle.

“Let’s make sure not to say a thing about it, Martha, not until we know Eliza has told her happy husband.”

“No, of course not,” she said.

“Be more than careful,” Thomas said. “You know how word gets around in this town, and how dangerous that can be.”

“I should think you’ve learned that lesson as well as anyone,” Eliza said, her father looking down with a humbled pallor.

The bell above the door jingled and two men stepped into the shop. They were dressed in ranch wear, riding boots and leather vests and denim, their hats down low over their faces. Thomas said, “Welcome to Gable’s, gentlemen. Anything I can help you with?”

One man mumbled an answer as the other looked around.

“Our men’s finery is upstairs,” Martha said, glancing at Thomas even as she stepped closer to Eliza, hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Martha said to Eliza. “Nice of you to stop by, dear, best you let us get on with our business.”

“No, I… I really should stay, just for a moment.”

“That’s all right, dear,” Thomas said, “on your way now.”

“That won’t be necessary,” one of the men shouted. He raised a Colt pistol in one hand and held a red bandana over his face to disguise himself. His partner locked the door and turned, armed with one hand and disguising his face with a blue bandana with the other. “Scream and you’re all dead!”

The man by the door stormed past Eliza and Martha toward Thomas. “You, pops, get your hands up.” Thomas stepped back and the bandit passed him to the area behind the counter, where the cash register was, a pistol hidden underneath. The bandit took the gun, tucked it into his pants and holstered his own gun, then opened the cash register and pulled out a small sack to fill it.

“Where’s the rest?”

Thomas said, “It’s only halfway through the day, that’s all we’ve done.”

“Not in the register,” the other man said, standing dangerously close to Eliza and Martha but speaking to Thomas. “The safe. I know you have one! Why do you think we didn’t just hit you overnight? Where is it?”

“All right,” Thomas said calmly, “all right, it’s in the back room, just behind us here. The combination is fourteen, thirty-six, eight.”

The bandit looked him over. “It better open, old man.” The bandit disappeared into the back room and Thomas remained by the register, the other bandit in the center of the floor with Martha and Eliza.

The bandit was busy looking Eliza over from behind his bandana. “You’re a good-lookin’ woman.”

Eliza stayed calm, knowing pressures worse than those, men worse than him. But she didn’t like him so close to her mother, the two of them marauding them in their very store. She had other worries, too, one of them just beginning to grow in her belly.

“Leave my wife and daughter alone,” Thomas said from nearby. “We’re giving you what you want.”

“Don’t you tell me what I want, you dandy bastard! And you don’t tell me what I can take, ain’t fer you to give!” He turned back to Eliza, head turning a bit as he seemed to drink in the sight of her tight curves and pretty face. “I take what I want.”

Martha said, “You pig, you make me sick.”

“Mother, please.”

“No, Eliza, no, I’m tired of these criminal types. What are the times coming to?”

Thomas said, “Martha, hold your tongue.”

The first gunman re-entered from the back room. “It won’t open.”

“It can be tricky,” Thomas said. “Take me back there, I’ll open it.” The two gunmen shared a glance and a nod, and the one bandit led Thomas into the back room.

“No tricks,” the one next to Eliza said, turning her attention back to her. But Eliza’s concerns were for her father, whom she was suddenly afraid was never going to step out of that back room alive.

It was too easy for Eliza to imagine them gathering their booty and then opening fire on the unarmed family. She could envision her mother trying to protect her, taking as many bullets as she could before the fated lead finally found her, her father snapping back with a quick shot to the forehead.

But no, Eliza reminded herself, they’re covering their faces, that means they expect to leave us alive, if they can. Think about what Nathan would do, just stay calm.

The bandit kept looking at her, his eyes returning to her face again and again. Finally, she couldn’t resist asking, “What, what do you want? I’m not afraid of you!”

“Well, la-dee-da on that,” the bandit said. “Thing is… I know you?”

“My daughter would never know any man the like of you,” Thomas said.

“You don’t,” Eliza confirmed, “no.”

“I don’t know,” the bandit said, seeming to be lost in her appearance or his memory or both. His partner returned from the back room with Thomas and a filled sack. “Got it all.”

“All right, then,” the gunman said, returning his attention to Eliza and Martha. “We want to thank you ladies for being so co-operative, and to wish you a very pleasant day.” Eliza stood, rigid, strong for her mother as the man with the sack passed her and the two approached the door.

But the one stopped and turned. “Wait a minute… that’s where I know you from! I’ve seen you around town… with the sheriff, you’re the sheriff’s wife!”

“No,” Martha said, “that’s not so.”

“Don’t lie to me, mother,” the gunman said, “that’s her, I know it.”

The other asked, “So what? Let’s get outta here.”

“What? Are you crazy? The sheriff’s wife? She’s gotta be worth a lot more than this!”

“Yeah, a hole in the head! I’ve heard about this particular sheriff, we don’t want any part of him, trust me. He went up against El Diablo!”

The bandit stopped to think about it. “Oh yeah, I… I heard ‘bout that. That’s her? Oh, wait, a shopkeeper, the stories said, that’s right. That’s right!” He turned back to Eliza. “Hey, you’re famous! Ain’t that somethin’?”

“Not really,” Eliza said. “Shouldn’t you two be going now?”

“Hey, man,” one said to the other, “listen to me, listen, listen. What if we bag this filly and take her to El Paco ourselves? Knowin’ who she is, that’d be a high price. Any of his highfalutin amigos’d pay top deniro.”

“No,” Thomas said, “don’t even think about it.”

“Shut yer cake hole, papa bear. We say what happens here.”

Martha said, “Just go… what if somebody wants to come in, gets… suspicious?” A little pause passed before she went on, “Just take what you want and go.”

“It ain’t what no more… but who.” He turned to his partner. “Find something to tie her up with.” Eliza flinched but his Colt was suddenly pointed directly at her head. “Just take it easy, sweetie.”

His partner tied his bandana around his head, holstered his gun, and searched around the store.

“Don’t do this,” Eliza said, “it’s a big mistake. My husband will come after me.”

“He won’t shoot at us, not with you between the two parties! And his authority ends at the border, we all know that.”

Finding several long silk scarves, the bandit crossed back toward Eliza. Martha gasped in terror. Eliza said, “It’s okay, Mother.” He pulled her hands behind her back and wrapped the scarf around one wrist, then the other, then both before tying it off.

“You’ll never make it as far as Durango,” Eliza said as the man bent down to tie her ankles together. “El Paco’s men are out there, he controls every bandito in the region. What makes you think they won’t just kill you and bring me to him personally?”

“We’ll take our chances.”

“You’re a fool,” Eliza said. “I’ll give you misery every step of the way.”

Her ankles tied, he stood up and wrapped a scarf around her head, pulling it into her mouth, pushing her cheeks back and her tongue down as the man tied it tightly behind her head. “Maybe I’ll just be looking forward to that. I’ll break you just like a wild colt, Red.”

“Wait,” Thomas said, fear and desperation in his voice. “Wait, I… I can make you an offer.” The two bandits exchanged a glance and turned to listen. Thomas went on, “The store, Gable’s—take it.”

“The store?”

“Lock, stock, and barrel! Wouldn’t you rather start good, clean lives? You’ll make more over a few years than whatever that man down in Mexico might pay you.”

“Enough,” one of the gunmen said, turning to his partner. “We can’t just ride out of town with her slung over the back of the horse.”

“I’ll ride up the thoroughfare, shootin’ up a storm, get everybody’s attention. You ride her out east, I’ll meet you at the camp.”

Martha said, “Please… you can’t!”

“It’s been decided, mama. You just sit tight, and the old man’ll be fine.”

“You’ll have to kill me before you take my daughter,” Thomas said.

“All right, then.”

He leveled the gun at Thomas, but his partner said, “You fool, you’ll bring the whole town on us.”

“Beat him to death, then, the old woman too. Let’s get this over with. Probably better for us, we don’t leave ‘em behind to talk.”

The other bandit seemed to give it some thought. “Yeah, I suppose yer right.”

Eliza screamed, “No!” It was muffled by her gag, but came across clear and loud and just a few seconds too late.

Bang! The window shattered as one gunman snapped back. He staggered a few steps to the side, dazed and stunned and hemorrhaging blood from the side of his head. He finally dropped his Colt pistol and then joined it on the shop’s hardwood floor.

Martha screamed, but the other gunman was quick to react. Already standing behind Eliza after tying her, it was easy enough to pull his own Colt from his holster and press it against the side of her head. Wrapping her other arm around her neck and holding her close, Eliza was his human shield. He seemed to know he was safe, but only for a time.

Eliza’s heart was pounding, mouth dry around that scarf as it sapped her saliva, eyes darting around the shop. They all turned to the shattered window, a bullet hole piercing the glass.

“What— Who—?”

“That’s the sheriff,” Thomas said. “Now you see what you’re up against?”

“He won’t shoot me now, not with his wifey right here.”

“You don’t understand, pal,” Thomas said, “this guy, he’s… he’s a Davy Crockett, lightning bolt and all! And he knows this store like the back of his hand.” The gunman’s eyes flashed as he looked around the two-level store, pointing his gun in front of him as he turned in every direction. “Yeah,” Thomas said, “he could be coming in through the roof right now.”

The gunman turned and pointed up toward the second floor. “Or in through the back room, through here.” The gunman spun again, eyes wide and sweat pouring down the sides of his face. “But when he gets you,” Thomas said, glancing down at the dead man at their feet, “well…”

“Shut up, old man!”

“I’m just trying to help you, young man. I know this man, he… in some ways, at certain times, he seems… more animal than man; the strength of a bear, the quickness and stealth of a cougar, the perfect aim of the rattlesnake, the tenacious death grip of the gila monster.”

“I said shut your mouth!”

“Give up now, he may let you live. But every heartbeat goes by brings you closer… closer…” Thomas turned to look up at the second floor. “There he is!”

The man spun again, and he wound up with arm’s reach of none other than Martha herself. The normally reserved woman grabbed the man’s gun arm and thrust it upward with a sudden and forceful move. The gun discharged, a loud shot filling the store. But Martha showed amazing strength for a woman of her size, Eliza could feel the years of motherly devotion pouring through her.

Eliza knew it was her only chance, and she took it. She lurched forward a bit, then snapped back to smash the back of her head into the bandit’s face. He grunted in pain with the crack of bone as he snapped back, ready to collapse behind her.

Thomas lurched forward, too, arms reaching for Eliza. He pulled her out of the way to hop on her bound feet to clear the area. Thomas was fixed on a different task; grabbing the gunman’s pistol from his stunned hand and taking it, pointing it directly at the bandit.

Through her cleave gag, Eliza shouted, “Papa, no!” Thomas froze, locked in a combination of protective rage and murderous anger. But his daughter’s plea clearly had gotten through, the man staying his own hand even as the gun was poised a few inches away and only a fraction of a second from its terrible task.

But Thomas clearly needed a release, and when he pulled the gun and then brought the butt of the handle down to crack against the man’s forehead, Eliza could hardly blame him. The bandit had at last been rendered harmless, his family saved, and that was what mattered most.

Martha untied the gag and the scarf around her wrists, bending to free her ankles before standing to share a hug.

“Oh, my angel,” Martha sobbed. “Are you all right, dear?”

“I’m fine, Mother, I’m fine. You? You were… amazing.”

Nathan stepped in from the rear entry to the back room, gun still drawn. “Everyone okay in here?”

Eliza reached out and fell into his embrace, squeezing tight.

“We’re fine, Son,” Thomas said. “These fellows less so. But this one’s alive.”

“I see.” Nathan bent down and picked up the dazed and bloodied gunman. “I have to get this one to the doc; mind having the grim reaper down the block send his stretcher for this one?”

Thomas sneered at the man’s corpse. “It would be my pleasure.” He shook his head. “Such a mess to clean up. Those bloodstains will never come out.”

The two men saw to their tasks, Eliza leading Martha to the sheriff’s office to make their official statement. It was a procedure Eliza knew well and that she felt her mother would weather with great aplomb. Martha was getting stronger with age, and Eliza could only hope to be able to evolve as well for as long as both her parents. Once again, she was grateful to have them, and to have Nathan; her savior, her love, the father of her child.

It was later that night when, as planned, she sat her husband down on the porch of their stately home, just on the outskirts of town. She took his hand and rested it gently on her belly, looking up at him to share a smile. No words needed to be said.

They shared a kiss and nuzzled beneath the moonlight, relishing the sweet moments of their lives. Once again, they’d come terribly close to losing everything, for one could not live without the other. Once again, pluck and instinct and sheer force of will and wit had seen them through. They would be the hallmarks of his career as a sheriff and onward into politics, and she to see the future of Gable’s into the modern era.

Their children and their business and their lives would be beacons to others, examples to the rest of El Paso and all of the Great State of Texas. The thrilling story of the assault on Gable’s Finer Goods and Sundries would only add drama and luster to their family lore, helping it to echo through the generations—a great American family in the great American age.

THE END

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