Chapter Text
Lissy pulled on the collar on her dress and then she wiped her forehead under her bonnet with the back of her hand
"Lissybeth, a lady never pulls on her dress, you are old enough to know that now," her mother hissed from the row of urbs next to where she sat, picking weeds out of the urbbeds.
"A lady doesn’t lay in the dirt picking weeds either," she grumbled back at her mother, something that was stupid, she knew that, the well-known gasp came as expected
"How dare you talk back to your own mother like that," her mother said trying to fill her lungs with enough air to not faint in the heat, "your daddy will have this ranch up and running in no time, don’t you doubt that missy."
Lissy shared her parents enthusiasm for moving from New York out into the west to try and start a ranch, she didn’t miss the stuck up lifestyle they used to live, out here it was wild, and she was free, the only thing that bugged her was her mother constantly nagging about how a proper young lady should act.
No one could judge them out here, they were a one-hour ride from the nearest small town, it was only her, her parents and her twin brothers who lived here, since her daddy had not found any good cowboys to help herd their livestock.
She actually loved to dig her fingers into the sandy dirt, she loved that she didn’t have to wear a corset or that she had to sit still and sip tea every afternoon and listen to gossip. She loved the fact that she wasn’t being judged every time she turned her head or opened her mouth.
She bit back her comment and kept pulling up the weeds, the waft of the urbs filled her nostrils and she sighed in blissfulness.
"Lissybeth, come ‘ere," her daddy shouted from the porch of the house, she got up and dusted off her skirts before she walked with light steps over to her father.
"Yes daddy, what do you need?"
He pulled out a piece of paper from his vest pocket and handed it to her "I need you to ride into town and take a telegram for me, and also buy some more seeds and order more timber, I have it all written down, you just hand this to the clerk and he will take care of it, tell him to put it on my account"
Lissy nodded and gave her daddy a big smile, her daddy understood her adventures nature, that was one of many things they had in common.
"Of course daddy" she said and walked over to the stable to get her horse ready, a beautiful white mare.
As she guided the horse out of the stables, she heard her mother panicky voice ring out
"Oscar, you can’t be serious, you are not sending her into town by herself, my little girl."
Lissy could see her daddy rolling his eyes
"And what might I ask is the problem with that? She knows the way, she is only going to the postal office, she will be back in roughly three hours, I think you will survive without her for three hours Margareth"
This was not the first time Oscar had this discussion with his wife Margareth. Margareth always questioned her husband’s decisions. Margareth had always been the worrying kind, while Oscar was more of a risk taker.
"But what if she rides right into an ambush of savages? Or worse, what if that notorious Dixon gang get their dirty claws on her?"
Lissy watched as her daddy pulled her mother into an embrace to stay her hysteria.
"Oh Margareth, you were always so dramatic, she will be fine, she has learned how to use weapons, she knows her way into town, and people there knows her well, they know us well, they know she’s a proper girl who comes from a good family, they will protect her, don’t you worry your pretty little head about that my love".
She guided her horse over to her parents and as she adjusted herself in the saddle, her father reached her the letter and the list of the things he needed
"Do you have your colt?" Lissy just nodded and smiled down to her daddy, who gave her a wink.
"Good girl, be home in time for supper," she once again nodded and then she pressed her heels into her mares’ flanks and in a dust cloud she took off, she could hear her mother’s gasp and coughing and laughed to herself.
As she rode into to the little town she was met with a couple of greetings and smiley faces, her daddy was right, her family was well known in the small town, and all respected their name.
She dismounted her mare and left it at the towns stable and gave the stable boy a coin to water her and take care of her. She walked first over to the postal office, but the door was locked, she scrunched her brows and peeked inside, she even knocked on the window, but no one answered.
She shrugged her shoulders and thought where she was gonna give the shop clerk her list first, maybe she had better luck there. It was just over the street. She pushed the on the door and the little bell over the door rang out, the clerk came out from the back room with a wide smile.
"Good afternoon miss Lissybeth, what might I do for you on such a sunny day?" he said and Lissy made her way up to the counter, smiling back to the clerk.
"Good afternoon Mr. Blake, my daddy has some timber he needs to order," she handed him her daddy’s list, and he looked it over and nodded
"You can tell your daddy that I will have this in about a month’ time, if the telegraphist pulls through," his voice was low and Lissy could spot the gloomy undertone.
"Oh, is he sick? " she asked innocently, her voice light as always, the clerk nodded, and he brushed his fingers over his moustache.
"Yes, he came down with some kind of a flu four days ago, the sheriff deputy rode over to the nearest town to get a hold of a doctor."
Lissy put her hand on her chest.
"Oh my, that is most unfortunate, my daddy wanted to send a telegram, oh I really hope the poor man pulls through and that there isn’t anything bad."
The clerk nodded, Lissy could see how the old man was itching to gossip about the man’s illness, people where alike all over, didn’t matter if they came from small towns or big city, they always loved to gossip.
Lissy had to bite her lip to not roll her eyes at the man.
"Maybe I could write the telegram into a letter and leave it here with you, maybe you could pass it over if he gets better?"
The clerk’s eyes flickered, and she could see he was trying to come up with a good excuse not to, so she slid a coin over the counter.
"I am sure my daddy would appreciate it Sir."
The clerk’s eyes beamed up as he grabbed the coin from the counter and stuffed it into his vest pocket, greedy bastard she thought to herself.
"Of course, I will take care of it, don’t you worry miss, and send greetings to your ma and pa from me."
Lissy smiled her sweetest smile as she walked over to the door, stopping in front of a jar of liquorice, she pulled out two pieces.
"Oh, please put this on daddy’s account, he said I could treat myself."
The clerk gave her a sickening wide grin as he continued to rub his moustache between his thumb and finger, she knew he would add two extra pieces of liquorice to their tab. She slipped a piece of the sweet candy over her lips and sighed when the sweet taste exploded on her tongue, so good she thought.
She walked outside and looked up at the sky, it was still early afternoon, her stomach was growling, she knew her daddy wouldn’t mind if she got something to eat over at the inn.
By the time she had finished eating some delicious freshly baked rolls with butter and jam, she paid and went out into the dusty streets. The sky was covered with dark clouds and the wind had picked up, as she walked into the stables, she found her horse, but the saddle was removed, and the stable boy was brushing the white mare.
"She’s not ready?" she questioned and cocked her brow as she looked over at the stable boy
"I’m sorry miss Lissybeth, but you should rent a room at the inn, a nasty storm is heading out this way, and I can’t let you go out there until its passed," Lissy sighed, this was definitely not going as planned, her mother would go stir crazy if she didn’t returned the same day, but then again, she could not control the weather. She turned and went back to the ins and rented a room for the night.
Lissy woke up with the first light, she yawned and stretched before she pulled on her dress, once again extremely happy she didn’t have to wear those idiotic corsets, getting dressed alone was no problem now, she enjoyed to be self dependent, she had not once missed her maid.
She looked herself up and down in the big mirror in her room and sighed, she grabbed the hairbrush that was placed next to the mirror, she pulled it through the knots in her wavy pale blond hair, when she couldn’t feel anymore knots she braided her hair loosely, she knew she should tie the braid up under her bonnet, but she hated to tie her hair up, if it was up to her she would let it hang loosely down her back, but it wasn’t proper for a young lady.
She brushed her slender hands over the wrinkled skirt on her dress, trying to straighten it out a little, but to no use, she would most definitely get an ears full when she returned home to the ranch, she could only imagine the level of hysteria her mother had reached by now. Her thoughts went to her daddy and brothers, poor souls, she better get a move on before their ears started to bleed.
She talked with the receptionist and he agreed to put the room on her daddy’s tab.
She made her way over to the stable and got her horse ready before she mounted it and took off. The town was nice, and she enjoyed coming there once in a while, but after a few hours around the gossip loving people who always where sucking up to her parents she was worn out. She rather spend her time out on the ranch breaking in the horses her brothers brought in.
As she reached the last hill that overlooked the ranch she stopped and took a breather, she let her light grey orbs glide over the peaceful landscape, the view was always so beautiful from up here, she could see for miles, but suddenly she realized something was very wrong, her stomach turned, she couldn’t spot any activity at the ranch, it was eerily quiet, she couldn’t spot any of the livestock or any of her family members. She pressed the heals to the horse’s flanks and drove her beloved mare into full speed down the hill, the dust was twirling behind her.
She came to an abrupt stop in front of the house, the doors where wide open, but not a sound, she jumped off her mare and tied her to the fence. Her knees felt shaky as she called out for her ma and pa, but no answer.
She pushed the door open as she slowly walked into the small house. The chairs around the dining table where scattered, one was broken, she bent over and picked up one of the chairs when the metallic smell of blood reached her nose, on shaking legs she walked further into the house where she spotted her daddy sitting completely still in his chair in front of the fireplace
"Daddy?" she whispered, still no answer so she rounded the chair and the sight of her daddy sitting in his chair, his body limp, his lips blue and a bullet hole right between his eyes made her eyes tear up, she whimpered and pushed the back of her hand against her lips, the tears now falling freely down her cheeks, she turned, she had to find the others, she pushed herself to walk into her parents’ bedroom. She slowly pushed the curtains separating their bedroom from the kitchen aside and peaked inside, there her mother was laying across the bed, her eyes wide open and a terrified look in her eyes, her nightgown teared open from the collar and all the way down, she walked closer and then she saw all the blood, her mother’s throat was cut and it looked like she was left to bleed out on the bed, she collapsed at her mother’s feet, her hands clutching the beddings in a tight grip as she was blinded by the tears.
She couldn’t breath, she pulled her knees up and buried her face in her hands.
"Who could do this to her family? Who could be so cruel?"
After a while she staggered back up at her feet and she walked out into the kitchen area, she placed the other chairs around the table and put the half-eaten bowls with stew in a stock and placed it in the washbasin. She whipped her hands on her skirt and walked out of the house.
She grabbed the rains of her mare and walked over to the stable where she pulled the doors open, there on the dusty floor one of her brother was laying with a rifle shot in his back, Lissy was in shock, she didn’t know what she was doing, her body was functioning but her mind was blank, she walked around the body of her dead brother and guided her mare into her box, she pulled the saddle off, before she walked out and found a bucket of water and some hay that she placed in her horses box.
When her horse were safely placed she grabbed a shovel and walked out into the field behind the house, she pushed the shovel into the dirt, picked it up and threw it at the side, she again shoved it down into the dirt and picked up another pile and threw it at the side.
She had no idea how long she had been digging, she must have kept at it for hours, she had not noticed that the sun was starting to set. She felt a pair of strong arms grab around her chest and pull her out of the hole, panic struck her, and she screamed and kicked and clawed her nails into the arms who were holding her. The people who had whipped out her entire family had returned to finish her off as well!
She was turned around, but she couldn’t focus on the face in front of her, she was so sure she was about to die. Lissy felt a callous hand being laid against her wet cheek
"Shhh Miss Lissybeth, its sheriff Grimes and deputy Jack, we are here to help you."
Lissy lifted her head and met the sheriff’s kind blue eyes, she slumped back onto the ground and whipped her eyes, the sheriff was on his knees in front of her and the deputy was standing behind him, alert and ready for anything.
The sheriff had curly brown hair that was pulled back, his face was covered in a thin layer of a three-day old beard, his face was covered in dust and grime.
Her eyes flickered from the sheriff to the deputy, he was lean, but had wide strong shoulders, brown hair tied in a ponytail under his hat, his chin was cleanshaven except a growing moustache. He had kind brown eyes, but she had heard that you should not let the softness in his brown eyes fool you, he was deadly with his colts in his hands and he was a mean poker player, never lost a game before he became the sheriff’s deputy and had started chasing the preachers daughter, miss Mary Agnes.
Lissybeth felt the sheriff’s hand on her shoulder and her grey orbs met his light blue.
"What happened here miss Lissybeth? Did you see who did this?" Lissy shook her head.
"Daddy sent me into town yesterday, but the weather got so bad so I couldn’t ride home, had to spend the night at the inn. When I got back, I was met by this massacre," she choked out, her voice shaky and full of sorrow.
"Why are you here sheriff?" Sherriff Grimes helped her up on her feet, he grabbed his hat from the ground and hit it against his thigh to get the dust off before he placed it back on his head.
"Deputy Jack came over the body of your brother on his way back to town, he fetched me and we came here to notify your parents," he turned to Jack.
"Go into town and get a carriage to take the bodies back to town, notify the preacher as well," Lissy’s grey eyes focused on the hole she had been digging, what had she been thinking, her family needed to be buried at the cemetery in town.
"I’ll get your horse ready miss, and take you into town, we can help you settle up in the hotel, you shouldn’t be alone right now, what you want to do with the ranch we can settle later."
Lissy could only nod and she followed the two men to the front of the house, she collapsed down onto the porch, her mind was in a daze but it didn’t take long before the sheriff came back with her horse, he helped her up and she guided her mare after the sherries horse.
No one had said a word on their ride into town, Lissy only lifted her gaze as they passed the big sign of the towns name.
"Black stone," she whispered to herself, the name had never made as much sense to her as in this moment, her soul felt black, and the town was surrounded by a stony hill. The stable boy greeted them and grabbed the rains of their horses, the sheriff guided her over to the hotel and explained her situation quietly to the hotel manager, who gasped, Lissy could feel the managers eyes burn into her back as she turned away from his prying eyes.
She couldn’t deal with the pity and the curiosity, she felt close to collapsing when the sheriff guided her up to one of the rooms and helped her down in one of the rocking chairs in the room.
"Please miss, try to get some rest, if you need anything, just tell the manager and he will fetch me or my deputy."
Lissy’s eyes was glued to the floor, but she managed to nod her head, she was too numb to voice any coherent response.
"I will send my wife over with some dresses, you two are about the same size," she felt him move closer to her chair and she felt his hand resting on her shoulder again.
"I will do what I can to find out what happened to your family and who did it."
Again, she just nodded. She heard the door click behind the sheriff as he left. What was she to do now? What would become of her? She had never felt so lonely and lost in her entire life. Her whole world had been wiped out in a blink of an eye.