Boldly Chapter Fifteen

 Chapter Fifteen

An Unexpected Offer

"Oh, it sounds… delightful!" Lorna laughed as she clasped her hands in excitement. "Just like… like in th' old legends o' Robin Hood. Th' archery tournament for th' golden arrow. When is it t' be?"

"Saturday," Mrs. Sullivan smiled. "But there won't be any archery… just rifles and pistols. And what exactly is Robin Hood?"

Lorna turned to her with reproachful eyes.

"Never heard o' Robin Hood? Why… he was one o' th' greatest heroes ever t' live! O' course he was English, which is highly unsatisfactory… I suppose I prefer Rob Roy when all's said an' done… but Robin Hood was an outlaw durin' th' Crusade o' th' Kings. An'…"

"There must be something with you an' these outlaws, child," Mrs. Sullivan shook her head ruefully over the sock she was darning. "I bet this Rob Roy you mention is also an outlaw?"

"Well… aye, he was," Lorna answered quietly, feeling rather deflated. "But what d'ye mean… me an'… an'… outlaws?"

"Oh… nothing dearie. Never mind me. Sometimes I say more than I mean to. But about this shooting contest…"

"Oh, please do call it a tournament," Lorna begged. "Th' very word just smacks of adventure an' chivalry an' all th' wonder o' th' old days."

"Tournament, then." Mrs. Sullivan laughed. "And as I was trying t' say, the winner will be getting fifty dollars in gold. Not a… what was it you said? Golden arrow? But probably better, at that. I'm pretty certain that you can't spend a golden arrow in any kind of normal business transaction. Now… Lorna, dearie, I can see what you're thinkin' of right now and I want you to put it out of that pretty little head of yours, right now. The contest is strictly for the men. It wouldn't be… seemly… for you to shoot."

"Why… did I say anything about shooting?" Lorna asked, her eyes green depths of innocence. Mrs. Sullivan simply nodded, knowingly.

"I pride myself on knowing people's characters and, even if you've only been here a month, I feel I know yours pretty well. No need pretending innocence, dearie, I can see it plain as plain, just written on your face." and Mrs. Sullivan shook her head, laughing softly to herself. There was more than one thing that she could read on Lorna's face.

---

The marksmanship contest was essentially the last great event of the year… until Christmas, that is. Once again the townspeople and ranchers from as far as nearly to Deadwood, fifty miles away, crowded into Keystone. Or rather, just outside the town for nowhere inside the town could a crowd of that size be accommodated.

Ilse sought Lorna out immediately, all a-flurry with excitement.

"Josh, he is not exactly the best shot," she confided. "But he has been practicing and is doing well. I haf high hopes!" She seemed nearly dancing with anticipation and Laura and Benjie were not to be outdone in theirs.

"Aye! Fifty gold dollars… that is certainly quite the prize," Lorna nodded. "But alas fer th' golden arrow."

"The golden arrow?" Ilse laughed. "You are also a friend of Robin Hood? I haf been reading the book to the little ones before they go to sleep… and they are so hoping that Robin Hood vill be showing up today. And it is quite the disappointment to them that there vill be no bows and arrows today."

The rules of the contest were simple… the contestants aimed for targets far out in the field, with rifles of all various sorts. Those with similar guns had been grouped, in attempt to make it as fair as possible.

"I see there's a stranger here," Ilse said suddenly as they watched the first round. "That tall man there… vith the gray hair… have you seen him before?"

"I… wouldna ken." Lorna shrugged. "I dinna ken th' people here well enough yet."

"He's the only one I haf not seen before. Benjie, vill you please sit still? Stop pinching your sister. Laura, just scoot over and he vill not bother you." Lorna smiled. Ilse's comments were always punctuated with admonitions or instructions to the "kleine lieblings", as she often called them. She told Lorna this meant "little darlings" and Lorna felt sure that no term could describe Laura and Benjie better.

"There's Jason now," Lorna murmured aloud, without even realizing she had and Ilse smiled. She was of the type that was a born matchmaker and, between village gossip and what she had heard from Lorna herself, she had long put the two together. But she said nothing, for something told her that Lorna would not entirely welcome her advice in that corner. "Jings crivens… a perfect bullseye!"

"And that means he has beaten Josh," Ilse groaned. But she was laughing. "I shall just haf to make him practice harder… perhaps next year, jah? Jason has von all three of the years that I haf been here. I suppose he just cannot be beaten."

"That was just the first round," Lorna reminded her. That inopportune moment, however, was the one in which fate chose to remind her of Mrs. Sullivan's words. "The contest is strictly for the men. It wouldn't be… seemly… for you to shoot."

"Oh, it wouldna, would it?" Lorna laughed softly to herself and tossed her head. Just perhaps she could prove them all wrong. Murmuring an excuse to Ilse and plopping Benjie back into her friend's lap, she stood and made her way to the line of contestants. The first groups were being eliminated and a break had been called. Without thinking over what she was doing, without even remembering that she didn't have a gun, she approached the contestants. Jason noticed her right away.

"Good mornin', Lorna. Come t' get a better view of the targets?"

"Actually," Lorna grinned. "I was hoping to get a better shot at the targets."

Jason raised his eyebrows, looking at her in surprise. She had never before said anything about knowing how to shoot. But he didn't have an opportunity to answer for the second round was called. Jason was last and again, he shot a perfect bullseye.

"Well? Are ya gonna give it a try?" It was Lorna's turn to be surprised. Was he really serious? But he seemed to be… and he was holding his rifle out to her. "Promise me ya'll be careful. It's a heavy gun."

"Dinna fash," Lorna laughed. "I'll be fine."

"What…" Jason frowned. "Dinna fa… uh, Lorna?"

"Aye?"

"What did you just say?"

"Dinna fash," Lorna repeated carelessly.

"I know. What does it mean?"

"Ye dinna ken what that means? An' I thought… I thought ye were a Scot!" Lorna laughed.

"My great great grandparents might have been, but I consider myself to be an American." Jason shrugged. "Are ya gonna tell me what that means?"

"It means dinna worry," Lorna grinned as she took the rifle from his hands. "I ken how t' shoot. Just watch."

She stepped up to the line, realizing suddenly how fast and how hard her heart was beating. She had never felt nervous like this before. She was suddenly vaguely aware that she was doing something terribly foolish. But it was too late to turn back now. She raised the rifle to her shoulder and took careful aim. It was suddenly as if… as if she could feel Robbie's presence at her side… as if he was whispering to her, as he used to, "Keep yer aim straight an' true, Lorna."

"Straight an' true." she whispered as she pulled the trigger. In the hubbub of excitement that followed, she handed the rifle back to Jason, feeling rather numb as she watched the judge inspect the target and announce… that she had completely missed it. But Lorna wasn't upset. This had happened before and she knew what was wrong. At her insistence, a more thorough examination of the target revealed that her bullet had bored into the dead center… right on top of the bullet that Jason had previously fired... so that there was only one bullet hole. The crowd was cheering… really cheering… and Jason was smiling as if he had just won himself.

"Are ya gonna shoot again?" he asked as she turned, shakily, from the line.

"I think I'd better rejoin Ilse an' th' lieblings," she laughed. "I dinna ken what came over me…"

"I guess that's good news fer th' rest of us," Jason grinned. "Ya'd be purty stiff competition."

---

"Ya got yerself quite th' gal there, Jason," the man to his side chuckled as they lined up for the third round. "Even though most o' the women out here can handle a gun, I've never known one of them to make a shot like that. She learn it from you?"

Jason grinned and shook his head. He had never dreamed that Lorna could shoot like that… but it seemed like her. Independent and unpredictable.

"I didn't know she could do that until today." Jason took aim and fired again… yet another perfect shot. There were only a few contestants left. As he glanced down the line to size up the remaining competition, he felt alarm suddenly shoot through him. A tall, thin man with iron-grey hair and a drooping mustache was standing on the opposite side of the line. As he calmly reloaded his rifle, he glanced suddenly toward Jason and his eyes narrowed. Jason looked away casually, as if he hadn't seen the man. The stranger was in the contest all the way up to the fifth and final round. But his last shot was a trifle to the left of the bullseye. Jason's was again dead center.

"Well, folks, it's our long-time champion, winning his fourth year!" The sheriff announced as the crowd cheered. As Jason accepted the prize, he noticed the grey-haired man watching him again, eyes narrowed even more. It did not bode well. Jason McCulloch had defeated Will Slade once again.

"Meala-naidheachd… congratulations, Jason," Lorna smiled as he reached her side. "I believe th' only man I've ever seen shoot as well as ye was Robbie. Ye might ha' even beat him." Her voice trembled slightly as she said this and she lowered her eyes. But she was smiling.

Jason swallowed hard. If he was going to do it… he might as well do it now… before he thought too hard about it and gave up the idea. It was probably foolish… a crazy idea… but he couldn't help asking. He had to. He didn't know when or how it had happened but he knew somehow that he loved Lorna. The races were beginning then for the younger boys and the crowd's attention was diverted… he took Lorna's hand and drew her back from the crowd.

"Lorna… can I ask ya somethin'… somethin' crazy?"

"Fire away," Lorna laughed, not altogether certain what he meant by "somethin' crazy".

"Lorna, I…" He paused as she looked up at him suddenly, something almost of alarm in her eyes. But she didn't say anything, nor did she pull away when he took both her hands in his. "I love you. Lorna… will you… marry me?"

But her face had turned white. And the alarm grew in her eyes, then changed to pain. Depths of pain. Slowly she put her head down and her answer was so quiet that he could barely hear her.

"I canna."

"Why? Is it… is it because of… the train robbery? I…"

"Nae."

"Robbie, then?" He hated himself for saying it. It was the wrong thing to say, he could feel it. But he knew that was why. She nodded but didn't answer. With a sigh, he released her hands and stepped back.

"I'm sorry, Lorna. I… shouldn't have asked."

She looked up again and the look in her eyes was like he had never seen before. It was almost… frightening. He was about to speak again, though what he would say, he didn't know. But she had turned and slipped away into the crowd.