Chapter 24: The Riders Vote

The lodge was a long log hall behind the fairground road.

It had a bar at one end and a flag over the stage.

Thirty chairs stood in rows, and every one was filled.

I walked in at eight with Maggie in the sling and my father's jacket buttoned over both of us.

Rafe came in behind me with his hands in his pockets.

The talking stopped, one table at a time.

Boone stood at the front under the flag with a gavel in his hand.

A folder lay on the table in front of him.

He had shaved, and he was wearing a clean shirt, and he was smiling.

"Annie," he said. "I'm glad you came. It's only right you hear this."

"I came to hear it."

"Have a seat."

"I'll stand."

The vice president, at the side table, gave me a very small nod.

Boone cleared his throat and addressed the room.

"Brothers. Sisters. I called you here because a man in this club has been caught in an unforgivable thing."

He pointed the gavel at Rafe.

"Rafe Lanier took my wife into his house while she was seven months pregnant."

"He's raising my child under his roof. He has done ninety days in Dayton for assault."

A murmur went around the hall.

"I move that Lanier be banned from every Riders event."

"I move that Annie Gerrity Tarrant be recorded as a woman who broke her vows."

"A cheat," said somebody, and then looked down at his boots.

"I move it," Boone said. "Do I have a second?"

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