Gather The Children (Chronicles of the Maca Book 2) Read Online Free

mither. Nigh seven years hence, Mrs. Anna Lawrence did me the honor of becoming my wife and counselor.”
    Lorenz felt the sickness rise inside. His ma was married to this lout. Gawd. He looked at MacDonald and knew that within hours he would have the shit beat out of him or worse. No, mustn't think about worse. He had to get away, but to run now was stupid. All he could do was glare at the man and wish him dead.
    The voice continued, low words rumbling out of the deep chest. “We have a wee lassie, but nay a laddie. There twas one, but he died within a few minutes of birthing. Yere mither has claimed all these years that ye, Margareatha, and Daniel still lived.” He paused to give Lorenz a chance to speak and when no words came, he continued.
    “From now on, ye twill call me Mr. MacDonald, and ye twill answer aye, sir, and nay, sir, to my questions. The same holds for when ye speak with Mr. Rolfe or any other man back there.”
    “Why?” demanded Lorenz.
    MacDonald leaned backward and smiled down. “Because tis one of my rules and ye twill nay disgrace me or yere mither with yere tongue.”
    “What the hell does she have to do with my talkin'?”
    “Dear Gar, where have ye been? Did yere sister nay teach ye about civilized behavior?”
    The boy looked at him and grinned a quick, sardonic slash. If his ma was like that, it was his ticket out. MacDonald wouldn't dare take him home. “Ah weren't with Rity the whole time. Zale's Comancheros picked me up, and ah lived with them for years. Ah ran away when ah wuz old enough. Y'all cain't take someone like me back. Ma don't want me anyhow. She wants Daniel.”
    “Ye twere with Zale?” MacDonald was surprised. “What of yere sister? Did they have her too?”
    “Naw, some Injun horse came through where we wuz hidin' in the cornfield. Rity always could ride anythin'. Still can. She got on and rode to O'Neal's place for help.”
    “Damn!” MacDonald exploded, and he eyed the youth in front of him. Which question should he ask first and would he receive an honest response? “Why did they let a wee laddie like ye live? Ye twere nay of any use to them.”
    “Zale's woman found me. She'd just lost a kid and needed someone to suckle. Zale let her keep me.”
    “And what happened to Margareatha?”
    “She got to O'Neal's okay, but the bastard locked her up and then sent her to some Catholic nunnery down in San Antonio.”
    “So, O'Neal twas lying. I kenned I should have gone with Rolfe and Kasper.” MacDonald clenched his fists. “Damn, all these years wasted.”
    “Huh?”
    “Yere Uncle Kasper and Mr. Rolfe went twice to O'Neal's place trying to find ye and Margareatha. O'Neal insisted that the Indians had taken yere elder brither, yere mither, and young Augustuv and that ye and yere sister twere dead. He claimed to have heard rumors that yere fither had arranged for the attack. He showed them the two graves that supposedly held the dead from the attack.” explained MacDonald.
    “It did nay make sense to Rolfe and me. Yere fither had red hair. The Comanche twill avoid a man or woman with red hair. Either he did deal with the Comanche or he ran.”
    MacDonald looked at Lorenz. “Since ye twere with Zale, did ye kill the O'Neal living in Wooden?”
    “Naw, I wanted to, but he had me chained up 'cause he and his brother figured out who I was when ah went there looking for ma. Red had followed me from Carson City and made him let me loose, and Red said he wuz taking me back to Rity, but he got drunk one night, and I gave him the slip.” Lorenz finished the tale without telling why O'Neal drank too much.
    To MacDonald it was an amazement what the lad could tell and what he must have omitted from the telling. “Where twas he takin' ye?”
    “Back to Rity in Carson City.”
    “How did she get there from San Antonio?”
    “Red helped her run away from the nunnery. She wound up in Tucson running a bakery.” Lorenz figured he'd better leave out the before part