Lakota Honor by Flannery Kat

Author:Flannery, Kat [Flannery, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Imajin Books
Published: 2013-05-29T18:00:00+00:00

Nora stood at the graveside while two men lowered her father into the ground. He'd been gone two days, but to her it felt more like an hour. The pain still raw, she brought the white handkerchief to her face and blotted her eyes. Jed purchased the wooden casket and she was grateful for the help. She couldn't afford it and without Pa's income, there would be no money now.

She scanned the faces gathered around, a handful of people had come to see Jack Rushton buried. Aside from Doctor Spencer and the sheriff, she didn't know any of them. They resembled gamblers, unwashed clothes hung from their skeletal frames. She figured they knew her father from the saloon. Her stomach spun. She thought he'd drink himself to death, but she'd been wrong.

She hung her head. He'd died from a wound she couldn't heal. A horrifying moment she wished over and over to have back. She'd have done things differently, given him whiskey so he couldn't fight her, or tried harder to save him. A tear slipped down her face. I should've tried harder.

The sheriff stood off to the side, still embarrassed he'd been drinking the night Pa was killed. He assured her that he was searching for the killer and wouldn't give up until justice was served. Nora wondered if the killer was among them now.

It could be any one of the people mulling about the open grave site. She took a second look at them. They fidgeted, stepped from one foot to the other and their bloodshot eyes focused on the ground. They were itching to drink. She doubted any of them could aim a gun, much less pull the trigger and kill someone. All they cared about was where they'd get the next drink.

She blew a shaky breath and clutched the handkerchief. Her hands still tender, she loosened her grip on the cloth. Two men shovelled dirt over the coffin. The scrape, scrape of the shovels and the silence after they dropped it down the hole, she'd never forget.

Oh, how she wanted to be told it was all a misunderstanding. None of it happened. Pa hadn't died and she wasn't alone. She thought of Otakatay. She didn't know why he'd come the night Pa died, but she was glad, his presence offered comfort.

Had he heard the shot? Did he see her trying to save him? He'd been there afterward. A steady hand to help her when she'd burned herself. She remembered very little of that night, but she'd never forget the concern in his eyes as he smoothed the salve over her throbbing hands.

The shovels pounded on the hill packing the dirt over where her father was buried. He was gone. Her chest tightened. A mound of soil and a small wooden cross were all that was left of Jack Rushton. She blinked back tears and blew a kiss toward the ground. Goodbye, Pa. I love you.

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