Table Of ContentANNIE AND THE OUTLAW
Sharon Sala
Contents:
Prologue
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Epilogue
Prologue
^»
Kansas Territory—Mid-1800s
The noonday sun was at its zenith, beaming down with
relentless persistence upon the crowd gathered around, the
hanging tree at the edge of town. A gusty wind did its bit in
making what was left of Gabe Donner's last minutes on earth
miserable by blowing sand into his eyes and against his
cheeks, stinging his already bruised and battered face with a
rude reminder that sensations would soon be a thing of the
past.
"You cain't just hang him," a woman sobbed, and cradled
her belly, swollen to near bursting with an overdue baby. She
threw herself between the angry crowd and the man on the
horse who was about to be lynched. "He saved my life. If it
had'na been fer him, you people … you God-fearin', law-
abidin' citizens woulda run me down."
"Get back, Milly," a man shouted from the back of the
crowd. "He was part of the gang who robbed our bank. Just
because he couldn't bring himself to hurt you, don't change
the fact that his buddies have done gone and made off with
our life savings."
Gabe cursed and squinted his eyes. It was a hell of a day to
die. But he'd been heading toward this for most of his life,
and he knew it. Somewhere around the age of twelve he'd
taken a step in the wrong direction, and there'd been no one
in his life who'd cared to call him back.
The woman called Milly screamed as two men pulled her
out of the way. Gabe's gut kicked as the horse beneath him
danced sideways from the noise and shouts. The rough fiber
of the rope around his neck and hands ate into his skin like a
saw-toothed rasp. He winced, aware that losing a little skin
was nothing to what was about to transpire.
He stared down at the woman who'd uselessly pleaded his
cause and still could not believe he'd done what he had. One
minute he'd been riding out of town with the rest of the gang,
just ahead of a hail of gunfire, and the next thing he knew, he
found himself leaping from the horse and throwing himself
onto the ground, using his body as a shield between the
pregnant woman and the pounding hooves of the horses
ridden by the posse giving chase; He sighed and swallowed
another curse. Why the hell couldn't she have been home
having that baby?
"Gabe Donner … do you have anything to say for yourself?"
a man asked.
He grinned and shrugged as he looked down at the sobbing
woman. "Whatever you do, lady…don't name him after me."
In spite of his dusty, blood-stained clothing, a week's worth
of whiskers and a badly needed haircut, the smile
transformed his face. His handsome features and devastating
grin made her sob even harder. It seemed such a tragic waste
of manhood.
Wrenching free of the man beside her, she dashed forward.
Pressing a shaking hand on Gabe's leg, she felt the jerky
tremble of long thigh muscles under stress. "May God have
mercy on your soul," she whispered.
And in that moment Gabe felt one small ounce of his guilt
lifted and delivered. He winked.
Then, before the stunned assembly, he took away their
decision and some of their joy by doing the deed himself. He
kicked the horse, sharply jabbing his spurs into the animal's
sweaty flanks. The horse neighed wildly, rearing up on hind
legs in sudden objection to the pain, and then burst forward,
as if coming out of a starting gate.
A couple of curses and then a hush came over the crowd as
the man's long, lean body jerked in the dusty wind. One by
one they turned and walked away, suddenly shamed by their
kangaroo court and the ruthlessness of it all.
The sobbing woman was escorted back to her house, where
she fell into bed and promptly gave birth, as suddenly and
painfully as Gabe Donner had died.
And then there was nothing but the creak of the rope
against the tree limb as the solid weight of his body swung
back and forth … back and forth.
* * *
A loud roar filled Gabe's ears. Fire swept across his face, and
the smell of sulfur scalded the insides of his nostrils and
burned his eyelids. Confusion was uppermost within his
heat-fogged brain as he tried to decipher the words being
screamed at him in a virulent tone.
"You were mine!"
The air around Gabe reverberated from the sound of the
voice. He inhaled, then wished that he hadn't, as the sulfuric
steam once again scalded his throat and lungs. He stood his
ground, unable to move from the spot on which he'd landed.
"Right up until the last moment, your soul was mine! And
then what did you do? You ruined it! It might have been
excusable if it had only been the woman … but no! You had to
go and save a baby! An unborn one, at that! They still belong
to Him!"
The hiss that accompanied the accusations sucked the air
from Gabe's body. He began to get the message. The voice
screamed and spat, shouting obscenities Gabe had never
imagined as he absorbed the implications of his situation.
I've done it now! I've gone and made the Devil mad! This is
too damned scary, even for me. From the way he's spitting
and cussing, it seems I don't even belong in Hell.
The voice seemed to filter through the skin over his bones,
insidious by its very nature, imbuing him with a sensation of
scorched flesh and degradation. Yet he saw nothing but the
constant swirling clouds of fire and steam. If he hadn't been
so stunned, he might have laughed. It seemed he was
doomed to mess up, even in death.
"Get out! Get out!" the Devil screamed, and Gabe's body
quivered from the onslaught of sound. "You don't belong
here. There's nothing I hate worse than a sanctimonious
sinner!"
And before Gabe could blink, the fire, the smoke, even the
voice, had disappeared, and he felt himself being tossed aside
as if he were so much garbage. It was as if he were left
hanging in a vacuum where no one and nothing existed—
except himself.
God! he thought, and with the thought came the being.
"Gabriel."
The voice was solace after sin. Grace after a lifetime of
gratuitous living, and Gabe shivered.
"I never thought we'd be having this conversation," God
said softly.
Gabe shivered. Neither had he.
"You surprised me, my son," God said. "You were one that I
thought I'd lost. But right at the last moment, when it
actually counted, you did something right."
If an immovable force hadn't been holding him up, Gabe
would already have fallen. He'd endured more than a human
could bear this day, and yet he was being forced to stand and
listen again to his sins and the lack of compassion with which
he'd lived his life.
"However, that in itself is not enough for all your
transgressions to be forgiven," He continued. "Remember, it
wasn't you who begged for mercy on your soul … it was the
woman."
Gabe's head dropped, his chin nearly touching his chest.
This is it, he thought I'm about to get the shaft here, too.
"No, Gabriel. Heaven does not give shafts … only second
chances."
Gabe's head jerked up, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled and
his mind absorbed the clear, pure sound of God's laughter.
He almost smiled. If he'd known God had a sense of humor,
he might have tried religion a long time ago.
As badly as Gabe wanted to, he could not speak. All he
could do was stand and listen to his fate being handed out.
"This is my command!" God said, his voice deepening with
a powerful force as the sentence He had decided to impose
was made clear to Gabe. "You will go back. Soul intact, flesh
and bones. To the human eye you will seem as all men. But
heed me, Gabriel!"
Gabe's body shook, and he blinked rapidly as a blinding
light sent him to his knees.
"If you can learn what it truly takes to get to Heaven, then
you will be granted entrance and eternal life."
Dear God … it will take two lifetimes to undo the damage
I've done, Gabe thought.
"So be it!" God commanded. "Then you shall have two
lifetimes. One hundred and fifty more years on earth to right
your wrongs. But … heed my warning!"
Gabe could not see, only hear and. feel, as the air around
his body vibrated once again. Yet this time it was as if the
motion came from a multitude of wings … as if all the angels
in Heaven had suddenly surrounded him and struck him
blind as God continued.
"Stray from my path … ignore the way of the righteous …
and you will be lost in Limbo, stranded between Heaven and
Hell for all eternity with nothing but your conscience for
company."
Suddenly all was silent. Gabe tried to stand, and then he
felt himself being hurtled backward.
* * *
The limb cracked, and Gabe's eyes opened just in time to see
the dry, dusty earth of Kansas rushing up to meet his face.
A horse's soft nicker of welcome was his only clue that he
hadn't imagined what had just transpired. This was real Gabe
Donnor had come back from the dead.
