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"Help me!" Trapper Dan screamed in a painful gurgle. He clutched at the trap. "Girl, come and help me! You're my wife! You can't leave me here sufferin' so!"
Shane bodily set Girl aside. "Don't go any closer to the cabin," he ordered. "Only I know where the traps are set."
He rushed to Melanie, his heart pounding. He searched over her frantically for a gun wound, then sighed with relief. She had not fallen from a wound. She had fainted!
Grabbing her up into his arms, Shane carried Melanie to where he had his horse reined. Girl followed him and knelt down beside him. "Let Girl help," she said.
Shane kissed Melanie's cheek, gave Girl a trusting look, then went back and stood over Trapper Dan. "You will die slowly," he said. "You will have time to remember all the settlers you killed the day my mother died. You will remember how Cedar Maid died, and why. You stole too much from me, trapper. Now you will pay!"
Sweat was pouring profusely from Trapper Dan's brow. His face was twisted grotesquely with pain as blood continued to flow from the jagged wounds of the trap. "Free me," he begged. "I will pay you well!"
"I do not need anything that belongs to you," Shane said. He glanced at the cabin. "But I have come to claim that which was my mother's. Trapper, you had better hope that I find it among your things or I will bring another trap and place your other leg in it. You think you are suffering now? Think of the suffering two traps will cause!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Trapper Dan said, breathing shallowly, already feeling lightheaded from loss of blood.
"You stole my mother's wedding ring the day she died," Shane accused him. "But of course you don't recall just one tiny ring. You stole many things that day!"
"A . . . ring . . . ?" Trapper Dan said, coughing. "A ring . . . ?"
"Yes, a ring."
"I have many rings."
Shane leaned over Trapper Dan and grabbed hold of his thick red hair. He gave it a hard yank. "Tell me where you keep them," he growled.
"Only if you promise to release me," Trapper Dan said, looking Shane squarely in the eye. "Release me. I'll tell you."
Shane raised a hand and slapped Trapper Dan across the face. "You are in no position to bargain," he shouted. "You are going to die, Trapper Dan!"
Trapper Dan closed his eyes. His head bobbed clumsily forward when Shane released his hair.
"I don't need you to tell me where the ring is," Shane said, moving around the other traps, then on into the cabin.
A vile stench, a mixture of dried urine and perspiration, made Shane's nostrils flare. The cabin was cluttered with all sorts of debris. The furniture consisted of a crude table and two chairs, a bed with yellowed, wrinkled blankets, and a storage cabinet.
Shane went to the cabinet and searched it first. He started throwing pans, books, papers, and jars from it. He looked inside boxes, finding odds and ends of all sorts. He went t
o the bed and dumped it
over, then stopped and stared down at a wooden box that had been hidden there.
Moving to rest on his haunches, Shane lifted the box and rested it on his knee. His fingers were trembling as he removed a pin that was holding the lid in place, then slowly raised the lid and peered down at an abundant assortment of ladies' and men's rings, brooches, diamond-encrusted combs, men's diamond stickpins, and necklaces of various gems.
Hatred swelled within Shane. No doubt every jewel had been taken from someone he had killed. Now Shane wondered if letting him die slowly within the jaws of the trap was a horrible enough death for him. Perhaps he should be scalped alive. Shane would gladly do the honors if it were not that he could not let Melanie witness the act.
"Melanie," he said, reminded that he had left her in a deep swoon. He must hurry and go to her. He had to reassure her that everything would be all right. Soon his vengeance would be complete.
One by one he sorted through the rings. He would know his mother's. When he was small, he had admired the ring. She had explained that it sealed the bond between her and his father. It was a symbol of their love. Often he had looked at the inscription on the inside of the ring. He hadn't been able to read it, but as he ran his finger over the inscription, his mother had told him that his father had engraved a message of love to her before he gave it to her on their wedding day. He could not recall the exact inscription, except that
his mother's and father's name were written there, also.
His heart raced when he picked up a gold wedding band. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers along the inside. A great warmth spread through him when he felt inscribed words etched into the gold. "Mama," he whispered. "Tell me about it, Mama. I want to hear it again."
His mind went back to the last day he had seen his mother. While traveling in the boat, she had removed her ring and entertained him by telling him about it again, and reading the inscription to him. If he thought hard enough, he could hear her soft, sweet voice even now. Tears sprang from his eyes and a deep sob tore from his throat. At this moment, he missed his mother more than ever. This ring brought her closer, as though she were there, embracing and comforting him.
Wiping a tear from his cheek, Shane placed the ring before his eyes and read the inscription. It read: "To Amy, my true love, forever and ever. Jared."
Shane brought the ring to his lips and kissed it, then clutched it hard within his hand as he rose to his feet. Leaving the cabin, he stopped and bent over Trapper Dan. "You sonofabitch," he hissed. "I found my mother's ring. Not only my mother's, but many more."
