Wyatt touched her shoulder. She ducked away. His hand followed and rested on her as she shook. The strength of it might hold her together when she seemed about to fall apart.

“He killed her. And you walked in on it?”

Nodding, she didn’t think more words could come free.

“And you’ve never told anyone? Kevin had to know.” His hand, steady and strong.

Kevin, her big brother. Her kind brother who’d done everything he could to protect her. “I wanted to tell him. I knew I should go to the sheriff and confess. But Kevin’s need to protect me was so strong I was afraid he might insist he’d pulled the trigger. He might convince the sheriff to arrest him instead of me. He might’ve been the one to hang. He might’ve laid down his life.”

“No greater love, that sounds like Kevin.” Wyatt hung on to her but not so tight she couldn’t talk.

“He came running in from outside only seconds after it happened. He’d heard the shot. I was standing there, holding the gun. Pa dead next to Ma. I didn’t know she was dead then, but Kevin checked.” Inhaling a jagged breath, she said, “He said, ‘I’ll bury them. Don’t let Andy see this.’ And then he dragged them outside. I heard Andy and rushed to him to keep him in bed. Kevin loaded Ma and Pa over two horses and rode away. I never saw them again. Once Andy settled back to sleep, I cleaned up the blood, and that was the end of it.”

“Kevin never asked about what happened? And he never told you where they were buried?”

Shaking her head, she said, “He had to guess I’d shot Pa, but it was like those bodies. We buried it. We never spoke of it. No one missed them or asked after either of them. Ma never went to town. Pa was hated and feared because he rode with the night riders. No one even knew they were gone.” Molly slid her hands into her hair. “It’s too much like the story of Hawkins’s parents. And we’re talking about hanging him.”

Wyatt’s arms closed around her, and it brought her back from the ugly past. She couldn’t decide if he wanted her still, or if he was comforting her before he said goodbye. If he didn’t say it, she would.

Twenty-Nine

Molly, I—” Wyatt started but then shoved her away.

He took one second to see she was devastated, but there was no time to explain. He heard hooves on the trail, but not the one right near them. The sound came from the side of the cabin. “Hush, someone’s coming.”

He got on his knees behind the boulder and saw Cheyenne across from him down the trail a ways, just before the clearing.