Chapter Three

"Strangers riding in." Andrew called out the next morning as he sat on the porch eating an apple. Ian and Cav stepped out of the barn where they'd been feeding the animals and Jamison poked his head out of the house.

"Who the hell could that be?" Ian asked. Their mama was a nice lady but she had been a housewife, a homemaker, and she had rarely gotten to town seeing as how town was two hours away and therefore she didn't have many friends.

The preacher from the town church that Evelyn had attended several times a month had come and seen her a couple of times and so had several ladies but for the most part it had just been the brothers here taking care of her.

This buggy pulling up was unfamiliar. The man driving it appeared to be one of the shopkeepers from town, Mr Craft, who ran the gun shop. He was hanging half off of the cart in order to keep distance between himself the person riding next to him.

Despite the heat still in the September air, the passenger was completely covered by a thick fur blanket, from their head to their toe. None of their body was visible so it was impossible to tell if the passenger was man or woman. Young or old.

"Can we help you?" Jamison asked as he stepped off the porch and met the buggy in the yard.

"I was out here with those supplies the other day and your mama asked me to send Mary out this way." Mr. Craft replied.

"Mary?" Jamison asked, looking at the covered figure. The person pushed the cover back and sheer willpower kept Jamison from gaping. She was skinny and her face was a mess of wrinkles and sharp boned edges. Her hair was blond and laced with silver and it was a mess of wild, knotted tangles on her head. She had big blue eyes that were so light in color they were nearly translucent and seemed to be looking straight through him.

Her wrinkled hands were covered in large gaudy rings that would have her sinking straight to the bottom of the Cumberland River if the buggy had tipped while coming across.

"What in the world...." Andrew gasped, unable to hide his shock at her appearance. Jamison shot him a look and he snickered behind his apple and quickly slipped into the house.

"Hello, ma'am." Jamison said as he reached up for the woman's hand and it was cold as it wrapped around his and he helped her from the wagon. "Are you a friend of my mothers?"

Mary looked up at him and frowned as she shook her head. Jamison wondered why she didn't speak and Mr. Craft answered the unspoken question.

"Mary is a healer. She's very different from you and I and she doesn't speak much but she is damn good at healing."

"I think our mother is past healing." Cav said as he limped over. He didn't take kindly to this new breed of swindlers coming out of the woodwork. They claimed to work magic and took dying people's money only to have the dying people realize they really had no magic at all and they died penniless with their spirit broken.

"Shut-up, Cav. There could still be hope!" Ian countered as he walked up. Mary stared at all three boys for a long while, causing all of them to shift their feet and look at each other uncomfortably.

"I will go see her now." Mary said in a raspy voice and she shoved past the brothers leaving them gaping at her hunched back.

She entered the house and then suddenly Andrew came stumbling out the door, barely managing to catch himself on the post before he tumbled head first down the steps.

"Stay out!" Mary's raspy voice exclaimed just before the door slammed shut.

"I'll be on my way now." Mr. Craft stated, sounding relieved. "Mary said she's staying until your mama...." he stopped suddenly and cleared his throat.

"Thank-you." Ian said with a wave and they watched Mr. Craft ride away.

"I don't like her in there alone with mama. That woman seems more than a little crazy." Cav stated matter of factly.

"I lost my apple." Andrew complained and then he went to the crooked old tree at the edge of the house and grabbed a branch, swinging himself up and over it and dangling his feet as he sat and picked out a new apple. "Mama wants to be alone with her in there for a while. She told me so." he stated matter of factly.

"Nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs and wait till we're allowed back in, I reckon." Ian stated as he headed toward the river, gathering stones as he walked.

Cav glanced at Jamison and could tell that his brother was about to say something. Cav shook his head and quickly walked away before his brother had time to speak.

***

"Boys! Get on in here, your mama wants to talk to you!" Andrew slid from the tree he was hanging upside down in, Ian walked up from the river, Cav came from the barn and Jamison tossed his cigar down and stood from the rocking chair as Mary poked her head out the door of the house and called for them all.

As the brothers gathered into their mothers room the strong scent of incense filled their nostrils. Andrew coughed and covered his nose with his arm.

"I thought you said you were going to heal mama?" he asked Mary as the old woman shuffled into the room and lowered her tiny frame in a chair by the window. "This stuff is strong enough to smother a buffalo." he added and Cav silently agreed as his eyes began to water.

"Are you calling me a buffalo?" their mother's weak, tired voice asked from the bed. In unison the brothers turned to look at her. Each of them felt pain deep at the sight of her wasted body. Their beautiful mother was skin and bones. Her skin was a gray color and her breathing was shallow. Her blue eyes had lost their sparkle and it was clear that she was nearing death.

Andrew couldn't reply as a lump of emotion lodged in his throat and Cav, noting his younger brothers problem, quickly stepped forward and pulled off his own hat.

"Of course not, mama. You're still the most beautiful woman any of us have ever seen." The brothers all nodded in agreement and a smile appeared on Evelyn's drawn face.

"Mary here has been healing my soul, not my body. My body is tired of fighting and is too far gone." Andrew let out a choked sob as he fought valiantly to hold back his tears and instantly Cav went to him and wrapped his youngest brother in a hug.

"That's my Cav." Evelyn said proudly. "Always the caretaker. Always the settling down type that just wants a family to care for."

"Mama, don't." Cav warned as he pulled away from Andrew but kept his arm around the boys shoulders.

"I have some things I want to say before I die, are you truly going to deny me that one thing?" Evelyn asked and Cav sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"No, ma'am."

"Good. Now come closer." she ordered. Cav removed his arm from Andrew and walked to the bed. He dropped down to his knee and reached out for his mothers hand, clutching to the papery, cold skin as if it were his lifeline. "Now, Cav, I know how much you loved Leah and those babies. God knows we all loved them."

Murmurs of agreement filled the room.

"But, Cavanaugh, you have so much love still left to give inside of you. You were a wonderful husband and an amazing father and somewhere out there someone needs you, my son. Leah would not have wanted you to be alone and lonely for the rest of your life. Not when you are so good at being part of a family."

Cav wanted to fight the tears that gathered behind his eyes but he couldn't. Memories of his wife and his two precious children were too much for him to bear as he held his dying mothers hand.

He laid his forehead against her stomach and sobbed, suddenly forgetting he was supposed to be a strong twenty-eight year old man and turning back into a little boy. The last time he had allowed himself to cry had been as he had laid on his wife's grave just after burying her and their children three years before.

Suddenly Cav felt hands on his back and he glanced over his shoulder to see all three of his brothers standing behind him. He buried his face in his mothers stomach again and then took a deep breath, stopped the flow of tears and stood up, still holding her hand.

"What do you want me to do, mama?" he asked in a broken voice.

"Find someone to love, Cav. You're so good at loving." Cav knew it wouldn't happen but he nodded.

"I'll try my best, mama." She seemed satisfied by that answer and turned her gaze to Jamison.

"Come here, Jamison." she said. Cav released her hand and stepped back to make room for his older brother. Jamison stepped forward and took Evelyn's hand though he did not drop to his knee the way Cav had and Cav knew why. In Jamison's mind that would make him appear weak and that was something Jamison had never been able to let himself do.

"I'll be just fine, mama." Jamison said matter of factly. Evelyn shook her head.

"My strong one. My headstrong one." she said with a chuckle. "So proud. So strong. So brave. So steadfast. Never allowing himself to look weak or show that he cares. Never bending to anyone's will other than his own and bound and determined to live his life as solid as an oak tree and just as alone."

"Are you trying to insult me or make me feel better?" Jamison asked, trying to make light of her observations though they had struck awfully close to home.

"Neither. I'm simply pointing out what I see in my oldest son. I need a promise from you. A promise that you will tell those that you love what they mean to you. A promise that you will allow the soft side to show and stop taking for granted the good things in your life and using your job as an excuse to run away."

Jamison's mouth worked up and down several times but no sound came out. Did his mother know about Hallie? How would she? He cast a glance at the old, strange women by the window and frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking about, mama." he said as he turned his attention back to the bed. Evelyn nodded and her blue eyes looked deep into his.

"Yes you do." Then she looked at Ian and smiled and Jamison moved back to let him stand beside the bed and take Evelyn's hand. Ian sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed his mama's hair from her face.

"My outlaw." Evelyn said lovingly and Ian shook his head.

"I ain't an outlaw mama. I've been working at the sawmill....."

"Oh nonsense." Evelyn replied with a wave of her free hand as Cav and Jamison both snorted. Andrew was crying quietly in the corner, ashamed that he wasn't able to hide his emotions as well as his brothers. Even Cav was once again standing there stoically.

As if Cav could sense Andrews discomfort, he turned and looked at his youngest brother before crossing the room and once again hugging him tight.

Andrew forgot about the fact that he was now a grown man and let his brother hold him just the way he had when their papa had died when Andrew had been seven and Cav sixteen.

Ian looked down at his mama's face and smiled guiltily.

"I'm not technically an outlaw, mama." he reminded her and Jamison nodded.

"He's never been caught yet." he stated and Evelyn laughed lightly.

"You are so much like your father, Ian. He had that outlaw side to him as well. I tamed it of course."

"Yes ma'am." Ian replied feeling his chest get tight.

"He tended to want to live on the edge. Get what he wanted in less than honest ways and he didn't care who he hurt or let down in the process."

"I never wanted to let you down, mama." Ian promised, his voice breaking. Evelyn gave his hand a weak squeeze of reassurance.

"I know. What you need is someone to tame you and make you learn responsibility and right and wrong."

"I'll be a better man, mama. I promise." Ian said as he swiped at his wet right eye and Evelyn just nodded. She knew her son would forget all about his promise as soon as the opportunity for making easy money showed up but she still appreciated his promise and knew that right in this moment he meant it.

"You have the potential to be just like your father. Hardworking and stern and yet with a light carefree side that shows up when it suits you." Evelyn said as she patted his hand. Her eyes were getting heavy now and the brothers could tell she was tired.

Evelyn knew that if she fell asleep there was a very good chance she would never wake up and she still had one more son to talk to. She turned her head and saw her Andrew sobbing into Cav's chest as Cav stood there and patted his back soothingly.

Evelyn knew that Andrew had resented Cav for leaving and starting his own life when Andrew had been young. Andrew had looked up to and worshipped his brother and losing him had been hard on the boy but it looked like they would be just fine.

Evelyn wished she could say the same for Cav and Jamison or for Jamison and Ian but there was only so much a mother could do with grown, headstrong sons.

"Andrew." she called out and the boy all but ran to her side. He began adjusting her blanket and then picking at the strings on it, unable to hold still.

"What do you need, mama?" he asked as he fidgeted from foot to foot.

"Sit down, Andrew." she said calmly and he did as she said yet his knees continued to bounce. "My sweet, sweet boy. You will never fully know the ray of sunshine that you brought into mine and your fathers lives. So full of energy, so vibrant, so happy. Never angry, never pouting and always on the go. It was so hard to watch that energy cause you to struggle through school and now through life..."

"I'm fine, mama." Andrew replied, his voice raspy from tears, which he was quickly trying to dry with his sleeve.

"You are on a destructive path, son. Gambling, drinking, women...." Andrew threw a accusatory glance at all his brothers, sure that one of them had told their mama and she laughed lightly. "Don't look at them. A mother knows these things, Andrew."

"I'm sorry, mama. I try, I really do but I just can't seem to do anything right. It's like there's always something moving inside my head and I can't...."

"I know." Evelyn said as she laid a comforting hand on his cheek. "What you need is a good girl to center you and help you focus. She will make you feel at peace and you'll no longer need the alcohol and the gambling. Or the whores."

"Yes'm." Andrew said as he lowered his head in shame. No woman in her right mind would ever saddle herself down with him. Sure they found him charming for a while and he seemed to keep them pretty satisfied in bed but they soon realized that he had a problem and grew irritated.

"Never be ashamed of who you are, Andrew."

"Yes'm."

Evelyn glanced around the room at all her boys and smiled at each of them in turn.

"My boys. I love each and every one of you and I only want what's best for you. I want to know that you'll be okay even without me here. Don't hate one another for things done in the past because the past cannot be changed." At this statement she looked straight at Cav. "You are brothers and you love each other and that is all that matters."

"Yes ma'am." they all mumbled in turn. Evelyn smiled sleepily.

"Now I'm going to get some rest." The brothers all left the room, quickly, knowing they had just had their final words with their mother.

"Mary, you promise me that my boys will be okay?" Evelyn asked the old woman by the window and she nodded.

"Of course I do. I will send all of them to a place where they will find whatever it is they are needing and learn what they need to learn and when they come back they will be the men you always hoped they would become."

"Thank you, Mary." Evelyn said and then her eyes slipped closed and she drifted off into sleep finally certain that somehow everything would be okay without her.

***

"Where the hell are you going, Cav?" Jamison demanded a couple of hours later as Cav walked out of the barn with his saddled horse. Cav didn't respond as he climbed up onto the horses back.

"You're leaving?" Ian exclaimed as he looked up from the gun he was cleaning on the porch swing.

"Yeah."

"Mama ain't gone yet and you're choosing now to ride off?" Jamison asked incredulously.

"She saw me. I saw her. That's good enough." Cav replied. "I've buried too many people I love, I'm not gonna bury my mama." Jamison shook his head and stormed off behind the house and Ian pointed toward the path that led into the woods and to a ramshackle cabin the brothers had used a hideout when they'd been younger.

"You need to at least say goodbye to Andrew before you go." Cav nodded and headed off down the path on his horse.

"Andrew." he called out as he neared and then he damn near crapped himself when Andrew jumped out of the tree from a branch above him and landed on his feet less than a yard away.

"Where you going?" Andrew asked accusingly.

"I'm headin' on. I'm needed back out at the ranch and I'd like to get there before the snow starts flying too heavy." Andrew nodded and picked up a stick, tossing it from one hand to the other.

"It was good to see you again, Cav. I had missed you."

"I missed you too, Andrew."

"I kinda wish you could stay around a little longer." Cav sighed and rubbed the back of his neck but before he could respond Mary's voice filled the air.

"You boys need to come on back now! Your mama has passed on."

"Not mama...." Andrew said as pain etched his features and he buried his face in his hands. Cav slid down from his horse and patted his brothers back.

"We better get back now." he said gently. His own heart was breaking but Cav was good at being strong for those he loved. Being a husband and a father had taught him how to do that well. He had wanted to be out of here before their mama died. He hadn't wanted to see her in death or lay her in that cold ground but there wasn't anything he could do about that now.

"What are we gonna do without our mama?" Andrew asked as a tear slipped down his cheek.

"I don't know." was the only honest reply that Cav could think of to give him.