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Chapter One: Between Two Worlds.

Colorado Springs 1866

Lucas Cole leveled his rifle at the rattling bush. His proud brown mare held her ground by the river’s edge, but the homesteader’s heart pecked hard as a trapped bird in his chest. His neck stiffened. His arm tightened into a cramp. Sweat dripped from his brow and stung the eye where he drew a bead on the target.

 Luke’s mind jumped back east where he could wait for the glint of antlers. Indians and outlaws roamed the foothills. The right split decision could save your life. He considered himself more blessed than lucky so far. He took a deep breath and massaged the trigger. Then his eye unfolded on an Indian girl falling forward. He breathed a sigh.

 No telling how old she was, when you figured in the living and landscape she crawled out from. She could have been thirteen going on thirty. She found her feet and stood, ink black hair in her eyes. She must have never seen the rifle trained on her where the tufts of grass swirled along the bank.

 Luke lowered his rifle. She looked as if tortured by more than nature. Her deerskin clothing ripped and tattered, was almost unrecognizable as a dress. He kept an eye on the ridge behind her just in case it was a ploy to get him to drop his guard. Even if she had been banished, it would be the kind of trouble he couldn’t risk living between two worlds. With the town of silver creek in the valley below and scattered tribes in the mountains beyond, he’d managed an uneasy peace so far. He had a thought to pretend she was never there, turn back toward his cabin and scrub her from his mind.

When Luke turned, his mare pitched upward and neighed. She disagreed with his desire to bolt.  He took one last look from high on his horse with white capped peaks in front of him. There was no doubt she heard and saw him now. But she stumbled forward, as if pretending not to notice him.

 Luke turned his reins toward the girl and clicked his boots into the side of his horse. As he drew closer, his stomach churned. Her face baked from the sun made her skin dark as cinnamon. But it was her pleading eyes, like sapphires. It made him weak. Made his mind go off trail for a moment. How did an Indian get such blue eyes? They were a glassy blue born in the belly of a fire that made him wonder about her heritage. Half-breed. Maybe.

 Luke turned his horse toward the clearing in the creek and muddied the waters with her hoofs. One hand on the reins one hand on his repeating rifle, he didn’t see signs of anyone following the Indian girl through the valley. He looked back at her. She stumbled down his worn trail bordered by knotted trees toward the cabin.

Luke rode toward her, stopped several yards away. He noted her buckskin dress ripped with cuts on her legs, spots of blood mixed with mud. It was hard to tell if she’d been punished by her tribe or by the wilds of nature. Her spirited blue eyes locked on his.

Luke tried hand gestures at first. “You a runaway?”

She looked away, miles. She turned and stumbled on the path to his cabin, willing to walk until her legs caved. When Luke drew along beside her, she smelled like a wet dog. He stopped her beneath the shade of a Ponderosa pine. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out an apple, handing it to her. It broke her forward stare, gave her pause, as she took it with both hands and took a bite.

Luke knew if the town below caught wind of her, it would make his simple life twisted. The folks thought of him as some kind of Paul Revere who would warn them of Indians and outlaws.  

He strode alongside her. “Looks to be your going my way.” He leaned in toward her from his saddle. He reached out his hand. “Let me give you a ride.”

 She relented and let Luke lift her. She was light as a feathered pillow. She placed her hands around his stomach and leaned into the spine of his back. This shocked Luke’s senses, the softness of her face against him in contrast to sawgrass and thorns. It gave him a rush, reminding him he was a red-blooded man again. He hadn’t felt the touch of a woman in two years. He tried to snuff it from his mind and stay alert, as his horse strode toward the cabin.

She’d known English as a language. If only he could pull some out of her. He didn’t like sitting out in the open. He’d find out more about her when he got her to his cabin. It was too late for regrets, as she firmly pounced on his heart, with every joust she dug into his back, clamped down on his emotions. He wondered if she could feel his heartbeat hammering from between his shoulder blades.

 Sounds of the rushing creek swept along beside them in a valley full of hemlocks and elms. In the clearing was the cabin, every log placed by himself with the help of his horse and a winch. There were jagged cuts the color of pulp with holes filled by dried mud. It was a poor excuse for a homestead and looked more like a trapper's cabin. Buckskins dried on a post in the sun, an outhouse several feet away, and root cellar in the ground. “No place like home,” he said under his breath.

 Luke wondered what she thought of his abode. For all he knew, she’d probably slept under the stars her whole life. It needed a feminine touch. A remnant of smoke spilled from a clay chimney pipe. He had windows in his loft too, a view between worlds. “Don’t have all the creature comforts, but it’s a step up from a tent.”

Luke’s mind drummed in his head. He could make her a pallet in the root cellar for now, where the earth was cool, pleasant enough providing a snake didn’t bore a hole inside. He mostly didn’t care to sleep with one eye open in his own abode.
 

 Luke hopped off his mare and tethered her to the post by the door. His dog barked on the other side. When he opened the door a white and brown-haired spaniel jumped and did circles around the Indian girl. “That’s Sugar, she’s our welcoming committee. Looks like between Lucy my horse and Sugar, I got myself a slew of females.”

He looked at her, studied her gestures, and for now tried not to think of all the things that could go wrong as he offered for her to step inside his log cabin home. It was cautious hospitality. She took the core of her apple and fed it to Luke’s horse. She crouched down and petted the spaniel who licked her dirty sweat. She looked up at Luke as if she fought in her mind whether to stay or leave.

“Come inside for a spell. I won’t hurt you.” He tried to use hand signs to put her at ease. Dust mites circled in the sun from a kitchen window, as the pair stepped inside. A damp mustiness clung to Luke’s nose. He left the door open.

With arms folded, she inched forward and looked around.

Cole dove into her glassy blue eyes determined to get answers. “What’s your name? Cat got your tongue?”

She folded her arms and sat down on the mat by the door and looked down, either too stubborn to speak a language, or just maybe her tongue had been cut. Not something foreign to some tribes, as punishment to a squaw who talked out of place. He leaned in to check just to be sure. “Open your mouth.” He ordered.

The girl must have figured he wanted to examine her teeth. As he poked his finger inside and she promptly bit down. Luke tumbled backward when she let go, wincing in pain. She had a tongue and a strong pair of teeth too. He wanted to smack her, but then thought better of it. He’d never hit a girl before, no sense starting now.

Between shakes of his finger, he asked her, “What in the Sam Hill did you do that fer?” Still, he didn’t get a reply. She acted deaf and dumb, but he knew better. “You got a name? I know you aren’t deaf.”

 “Aiyana.”

Luke shook his head and his finger. “What does it mean? What tribe?” Luke was ready to bore down. “I need to know what I might be dealing with.”

She crossed her arms and clamped her mouth down like a steel trap.

“Okay, suit yourself. But I don’t need trouble. I got a mind to send you on your way with a sack. You know what that word means, don’t you?” Luke had a hand mirror on his kitchen table across the room. He fetched it, walked over to her and put the mirror to her defiant face. “That’s what trouble looks like.”

Aiyana frowned. She didn’t seem to appreciate her wild look. It scared her some. She crawled back into a corner where a shadow hung all day.

Cole sucked on his finger. “You think you can win my animals over like that, and then treat me like I’m the rude one?” He shook his throbbing finger and walked over toward the mantel where there was a picture of a young woman on it between red candles and a silver urn. He looked over the photo in a bronze frame against the backdrop of white jagged rocks beside a waterfall. He turned to see her watching him with her penetrating eyes.

 Cole gazed at the woman in the picture, blonde straw hair was how the one letter described her, brown eyes like dark caramel. The black and white photo couldn’t match the colorful description of her. She'd even sent a locket of her hair. He pinched it between his fingers. She looked beautiful with her ribbed, ribbon hat. Her smile was slight, light as the breeze he imagined from where it was taken in South Bend, Indiana. He breathed a sigh and put the picture back on the mantel with the locket of hair.

 Luke wondered what the lovely Ruth Thompson, his bride to be, would think of his new guest. He turned again to see Push-ta falling asleep, but he wasn’t about to poke her like a treed cat. He’d let her sink into it.

There was no point in him trying to explain to the Indian girl that he’d be expecting a mail order bride in a few weeks. And he still needed answers from her. He watched her eyes close. He slipped over toward her. Sugar looked up and wagged her tail. He put a finger to his lips.

Something glistened from her deerskin pouch, the only thing left on her that wasn’t shredded.  Luke leaned in close enough to test her sleep. His jaw dropped when he glimpsed what he thought was a golden cross necklace. He took his penknife and lifted it from her. He backed away, then went to the kitchen window and held it up into the light.

 The sun was melting over the mountains like spilled yoke. His head hurt from the storm in his mind. Laying his head down on the table, he clutched the cross until his eyes closed, and his world blackened.

When Luke opened his eyes, she stood in front of him and something in her Indian tongue he didn’t recognize. Aiyana pointed at the necklace in his hand.

Luke pushed his chair back, stood, and dangled the cross necklace in his hand. We need to talk about this. How you got this.”

Aiyana snatched it from his hand and held it with a fist. She backed away into the corner with Sugar wagging her tail beside her. She used her free hand to stroke Luke’s dog. Then she looked over at the mantel and seemed focused on the picture of the woman. He wasn’t about to explain to her what it meant to have a mail order bride on the way.

She plopped down cross-legged. Luke went over to a chest of clothes under the stairs and slid it open. The smell of talcum powder wafted through the air from trying to keep old clothes fresh.  “I have some clothes. It’s not much but it will help keep you warm at night. He’d already softened and intended for her to sleep on a pallet in front of the fire. He showed her a pair of wool pants and a thick cotton shirt.

Luke threw the clothes her way. She ducked, as the clothes fell on the hardwood where Sugar scampered away. “Put those on.” He motioned, as if he was putting his own pants on.

Aiyana snatched the clothes and stood with her back to him where she flipped off her tattered buckskin.  

 Luke panicked. He turned away.  He leaned over his kitchen basin and looked out the window. “Really, you should give a man a warning.” But he couldn’t unsee the scars from a whip to her back. Someone really did have a mind to punish her. She must have slipped away. Good for her. “Let me know when your done changing.” Then he recalled, she might not understand a word he said.

He had no idea if she had changed or not. So, he turned and peeked with one eye open. Push-ta tucked the shirt into her waistband. She looked as if his outfit might swallow her hole. Relief washed over him when she offered a faint smile. Then she spoke in her native tongue, it sounded like a thank you.

Luke persisted. “You came clear over the Rockies. Blackfoot or Crow?”

She pointed through the window. Said something foreign on her tongue.

“Crow.” She stuck out her elbows and made like a wounded bird. “Crow.”

She went and sat in a corner and looked as if she was deciding what to do. Luke couldn't tell if she might bolt. “I'm going to make dinner. As he set out a pan and lit the wood stove, he glimpsed at the woman on the mantel, as if he could talk to the picture of his bride to be. “Not sure how I can explain her to you. Since you don't rightly know me, except through letters. I swear, I didn't plan this.” Then Luke admitted to himself how lonely he must be for companionship when he talked to a picture.

Rattling pots and pans, Luke took out some salted venison. But before he cut some butter and cut the meat, he took a firestick across the stove and lit up some kindling where the logs were in place in the stove.

Luke turned it into a stew, where he cut open an onion, and peppers. “That's one thing about living' in the foothills, you got more of a chance for game. I often trade meat for vegetables in town.”

Luke stared into her eyes. “Am I the first white person you’ve laid eyes on?” A heavy silence fell between them. “You’ve never seen a town?” Luke already knew the answer.

Aiyana curled into the corner with Sugar next to her. As Luke pondered what to do, her head nodded, eyes closed. Sugar didn't mind sharing his floor pillow with her. He snuggled next to her, and only now and then left his nose to sniff the aroma of onion and deer venison stewing in a pot.

Luke made use of his hand made table straightway from white elm, a bleached but polished cut of logs. He was practicing again, trying turn his trapper cabin into a homestead home for someone miles away, who'd not set live eyes on him, his dog, or his cabin. If only Miss Thompson could see him now, what would she think of him with an Indian girl sleeping in a corner?

When the time came for him to wake Aiyana, Luke decided to use the other end of his straw broom. He wasn't about to wake up someone who could turn into a coiled snake. He poked her, and at first her blue eyes looked lost, like she forgot where she'd closed those eyes.

Luke didn't have the heart to tell her, she smelled. He figured after she had her belly full, she'd maybe want to leave. She didn't have to stay, and he wasn't sure why he expected it. He didn't want to care, although the sight of those lash marks made him concerned.  He gave her a portion of the stew, and gave her spoon where she sat hunched over, elbows on the table.

Luke bowed his head and said a silent prayer. With one eye on her and to his surprise, she bowed her head too with eyes closed. It only deepened the mystery of her, like the depth of a glacier lake. She took and broke the piece of bread and dipped it into her bowl of stew. As she ate, some of it slipped down the corner of her blistered lips. She wiped her face with her forearm.

Luke looked at her, astonished. Aiyana ate and slurped her food, and greedily so, before Luke hardly had a bite of his. He wasn't sure if she'd be presentable in town or anywhere but the wild. And then, He thought he saw her eyes moistening, glistening with tears. He knew then he had caught a glimpse of her soul, something deep, something powerful.

Luke tossed and turned over on his feather bed. From his perch in the loft, the moon shed a sliver of light through the window. He thrashed around in his bed until his mind caved into the darkness. Sleep came over him like the lid on a deep well.

Hours later...

There was a creak on the steps. A shadow formed on the stairs and moved toward Luke. His fingers curled around the revolver under his pillow. His heart hammered in his chest until it hurt. Aiyana!

Luke froze. He couldn't slip the gun toward her and shoot. His insides churned. Aiyana crawled into the bed and spooned with him. She breathed into his ear. "One day, they will find me. Then they will kill you."



*********

Morning light from the loft pricked Luke's eyes. He bolted upright. His hand gripped the revolver under his pillow. His other hand slipped over the bed, but she wasn't there!

Luke stumbled over the edge of the bed in his red long johns and stood over the railing, looking down where it appeared Aiyana was sound asleep. His dog rested her snout over Aiyana's ribs near the smoldering remnants of heat from the fireplace. "It was just a dream. One whale of a dream," he told himself.

Sugar wagged her tail in Aiyana's face, waking her. Without a word, she slipped outside with Luke's robe. Unsure where she'd go, Luke scaled down the stairs in his bare feet and only took enough time to find his bar of soap and gun belt. With the belt over his shoulder, he opened the door and watched her on the worn path between the Cyprus trees and craggy pines. She appeared to be headed toward the creek.


As Luke approached, Sugar barked and broke the silence between the pair. She discarded her robe and slipped into the stream, heading for the waterfall. It made Luke about as uncomfortable as sandpaper to his skin. He sat on the flat rock with soap in one hand and then set the holstered gun down.

Aiyana disappeared behind the falls. Luke respected her privacy, as he slipped into the icy waters, long johns and all. Dipping into the water, he rubbed himself down with the bar of soap, creating a healthy lather to skin and skivvies. His toes curled around the silt and sandy bottom where he sat with one eye on the valley. He needed to tamp down the feelings he was having toward the Indian girl.

Luke's eye caught a speck in the foothills from town. Two riders appeared on the horizon coming toward him. Lifting and stumbling, he raked his toes on some sharp rocks fighting to get to his gun on the boulder. As the pair of riders drew closer, he recognized them from town.

It's been a sleepy town, with a population of one hundred and forty-seven. It would be plus one, should they consider a misplaced Indian girl in their mists. How would the town handle an Indian girl? He figured some of the same emotions would run like a riptide through most folk, like it did him. They'd probably wonder if Indians were poised for an attack. There have been a few times Indians wandered into town looking to trade for food. But would Aiyana even want to be a part of this town?

While Luke had his hand on the revolver, he recognized the pair as Mr. and Mrs. Rayburn. It was too late to hide himself. At least his reddened face should match the cold, wet underwear stuck to his skin.

The pair rode toward him, dipping their heads under the branches that marked an entrance to the creek. "Here comes the gossip posse," he said to himself under his breath.

His heart skipped. He figured Aiyana watched from behind the falls, as the couple rode up to Luke.

"I... I wasn't expecting company so early." Luke ran his fingers through his knotted hair.


Mr. Rayburn tipped his head with a laughable smile. "Seems like we caught you without your pants. The Mrs. thought you'd be running low on some garden varieties since, well..." Mr. Rayburn looked over at his sorry excuse of a garden where his corn wilted and yellowed. "Since your garden, should we say is not too promising."

Sweat formed on Luke's brow, as he looked back toward the falls where Aiyana must have submerged herself to hide. Mrs. Rayburn turned red as a radish when Luke faced her. "Thanks, Ma'am."

She Looked at her husband, who shrugged his shoulders. She looked again, then cupped a gloved hand over her mouth and pointed toward the falls, as if about to let out a scream.


The young Indian stood behind the falls, crossing her arms over her breast. She disappeared again under the swirling pool.


"Land sakes!" cried Lilian Rayburn. "Indians!" Her horse raised up and kicked its front legs, as if to flee.


Luke put up his hands. "Hold on now, easy does it."

Mr. Rayburn stretched for his rifle. Luke held on to Lilian Rayburns horse. "Easy now. She was lost. I found her wandering the other day further down where the stream meanders. It was just an Indian girl who needed help."

"She spent the night with you?" Mrs. Rayburn's mouth gaped open.

"Just hospitality Ma'am. It was the Christian thing to do. Couldn't leave her where the wolves form a circle."

Mr. Rayburn took his hand off his rifle, reared his head back and laughed. "Well now, maybe she can teach you how to farm this rocky soil of yours, or help you dig out the rocks. Those squaws can be useful in more ways than one."

Mrs. Rayburn stiffened in her saddle. "You don't intend to keep her, do you?"

Luke boiled inside over their poor choice of words, as if she could be owned.

Mr. Rayburn smiled wide, but Lilian didn't seem to mind showing her change from shock to disdain.


Luke wrapped his gun belt around him with his shirt half-buttoned. "What was I supposed to do? I figured the Christian thing was to give her a meal and a place to spend the night. It's not what you think. I'm not shacking up with her."


Mrs. Rayburn's contorted face spoke in place of her words. She dipped to the side and pulled out her modest sack of vegetables, where she had some potatoes like rocks in the bottom and some carrots sticking out. She swung the sack over to Mr. Cole.


Mr. Rayburn spoke up. "Well, I suppose we ought to get back, and let you work out your situation with the squaw."


"Names Aiyana," Luke said.


Lillian pulled away on her horse but craned her neck back. "Mr. Cole, you should have brought her into town. We would have all done the Christian thing. Surely, we would not have turned her away without a meal and place to lay her head."


"Yes, Ma'am." Cole scratched his head and itched his nose, still leaking icy water from his short splash in the stream. But now his thoughts leaked. No way that Lilly gal would keep a lid on his Indian discovery. The Lord knows those town folks have been bored, ever since the mine played out months ago. Now they found themselves trying to figure out how to get a new spur from the railroad to cut that way.


Riding out, Mrs. Rayburn ducked beneath the arm of a pine tree. Bill Rayburn turned toward Luke and leaned down so only the men could hear themselves. "Say, I wouldn't mind having an Indian girl to help around our place neither. Don't fret yourself none, Luke." Then Bill rode off to catch up to his worried wife on the path between the trees.


Fretting was all Luke could do, as he turned to spot Aiyana hiding behind the falls. "It's okay!" he yelled. "It's safe to come out now." He turned away, so not to shame her. He hoped she understood his words, as he left for the cabin.

Luke fumed over town folk coming up uninvited. He preferred not being a conversation piece.

Chapter 3
Two Worlds Under one Sky

By forestport12

Luke left Aiyana alone to put her borrowed bathrobe on. She wouldn't have to hide behind the falls for anyone. He headed for the cabin, unable to figure out if he should make her go into town and find refuge. He simmered to the point of boiling over how the Rayburns labeled Aiyana, as if something less than human, as if anyone should own her. He wasn't so sure she wouldn't run off from modern life and back into the bushes.


Clutching the door to the cabin, he thought again about the gold necklace of a cross. It had a story to tell, and he didn't know how he could wrangle it out of her. He stepped inside sopping wet where a morning dampness of the cabin made him scurry across the floor. Luke ran a matchstick to a flame over the Dutch oven and then warmed his hands from his dip in the creek.

He knew he needed to get out of his skivvies. Putting his pot of coffee to boil, he then shifted over near the fireplace where he took an old blanket and hung it over a rope where he often hung clothes to dry near the fireplace.

Luke changed into his dungarees and a fresh shirt from his chest. The door squeaked open. He buttoned up his shirt, tucked it in, and then watched Aiyana make her entrance toward the kitchen table. His dog followed close behind. She fingered the cross necklace around her neck and proceeded to sit down on one of his stick chairs with the robe tied around her waist.

The aroma from the coffee filled the air between them. The coffee sizzled and popped, making Aiyana twinge. As Luke approached her, he couldn't help noticing a large tear in her left eye. It cascaded down her honey-colored complexion. Fingering the cross around her neck, she looked through the small window toward the mountains, as if her mind had left his cabin.

Luke approached her and slipped his coffee pot to a cold plate. He breathed in the aroma, settling his nerves, not wanting to come across as some kind of ruthless interrogator. Prayer crossed his mind. But then he thought about how unlike the congregation in town, he tended to come to God only when he needed a favor. He looked at his dog Sugar planted next to Aiyana. "Looks like you have a shadow to follow you wherever you go."

It broke her spell, as Aiyana looked up at Luke holding his coffee mug. She hadn't bothered to wipe the tear that left a streak down her face. Her vulnerable moment grabbed his heart, and it made her more strikingly beautiful! Her dark tangled hair was a mess, but it didn't diminish the sheen.

As he poured the days old coffee into his cup, he'd forgot to ask if she would like one. He pointed to his coffee in one hand and the metal pot in the other. He grunted, as he held them both up and looked at her with an invite to share it. Luke's mouth dried. A nervous sweat formed on his forehead.

"My father is chief of the Crow. My mother was taken by the Cheyenne, then traded to the Crow. She lost her father, mother, and little brother. Mother was adopted into the tribe. If not for them, my mother told me she would not have lasted the first winter with the savage tribe.

As Luke sat down, he nearly fell from his chair. "So, you can speak English. Why didn't you from the start?"

"My mother told me not to trust the white men any more than a red skin. She saw what French fur traders did to the squaws. She wanted me to leave. She helped me escape. She wanted me to find what was left of her family. She believes the bluecoats lost her trail, or had reason to believe she died."

Luke didn't have the heart to hurt her with his words anymore. If the truth be told, she was pricking his heart with every word she spoke. He wanted to prove her mother wrong. He wanted her to know he wasn't like other men who took advantage of a female.

It was like a dam in Aiyana's eyes had finally broken. Tears fell freely, finally letting go of her coiled emotions. "My mother's parents were missionaries. Trusting souls who thought they could preach to Cheyenne people. They left the safety of the Fort and ventured out to build a church and set out to convince the tribe of a savior who hung on a cross."

Aiyana passed the cross necklace toward Luke's hands where the steam from his coffee was between them. His calloused hands touched the necklace but reached for her hands, as she shook with emotion.

"It...it was my grandmother's," she said.

Luke drew in a deep breath and squeezed her hands. They were strikingly soft and tender considering her blistered and beaten appearance from the first day. "Who beat You?"

"Cheyenne found me. They claimed me for their tribe. I was told I needed to marry the son of Chief Running Bear. They would make peace with my Crow family and offer gifts. The first time I tried to escape, they beat me. His son was in love with me, but I needed to leave. I needed to tell someone about my mother. She wanted what family she had left to know she lived."

Luke held one hand and drank from his coffee mug. "Your mother taught you English."

"My mother was given her Bible from the tribe. She earnestly read it to me, and I learned the language. She told me as time went on, as the season came and went, she gained a great audience of children who would listen to her stories, even when they may not have understood."

"And this Cheyenne warrior. He looks for you?"

"He's crazy with love. He will cross many mountains to find me. He told me so when I tried to escape the first time."

Luke looked over at the mantel and swallowed a lump in his throat. He thought of his bride, Ruth Thompson. She'd be on the rail heading west. He was days away from traveling to Julesburg to fetch her.

The rest of the day Aiyana worked outside preparing deer hides for sale in town. Luke was impressed with her ability to work the hides to a soft velvet touch. He tended to his garden, which was an imminent disaster. With a boiling sun in a stark blue sky, Luke attempted to bring his squash and beats back to life with water buckets from the creek. Naked from the waist up, he managed a lather of sweat with a mind to sit beneath the shade of a pine tree.

When Aiyana was finished skinning the flesh from the hides, she stretched them out in the sun on posts Luke had originally set. She needed no instruction, and for most of the day there were hardly any words spoken. Once the sun melted into the mountains, Aiyana surprised Luke with a ladle to drink water from a bucket, and head found wild berries to share. Kneeling, they took a moment to look at each other with such mystery between them.

Aiyana served Luke, until her hands graced his lips. Her touch was again a jolt to his senses. She looked deep into his hazel eyes. "I prayed for God to save me. Do you believe we met for a reason?"

Luke knew her mother was raised under missionaries before captured by the Indians, but until now he wasn't sure she engaged prayer or took the view that their encounter was providential. "We are at crossroads here, that much I'm sure of."

The shadows toward evening encompassed the pair, as they retired toward the cabin. Inside Luke took a match to an oil lamp by the door. Aiyana carried some fresh logs for the rock fireplace. Luke dusted off an Indian blanket that he placed around her shoulders where she sat in front of the fire.

Coyotes howled in the distance, but there was a sense of calm inside the cabin, with Sugar, his faithful spaniel wedged between them. Aiyana and Luke traded stories while staring into the flaming tongue of the fire.

Chapter 4
Free Little Bird

By forestport12

Come daybreak in the foothills a mist consumed the pair of riders. Luke had placed Aiyana on his pack mule loaded with pelts and salted deer meat. He led with his brown mare ahead, until enough sun had burned off the mist and made the trail less treacherous.

On a ridge, Aiyana caught her first glimpse of town where she would reveal herself to the world and telegraph an uncle back east that his sister was alive and lived among the Mountain Crow people. Luke needed to exchange his pelts with the mercantile store in town. He also needed the telegraph office to find out for sure for sure if there was any word on his traveling bride to be who should be headed to Julesburg.

The pair waded through a shallow creek. Then shafts of light penetrated the trail flanked by Ponderosa Pine. The golden meadows opened toward town as if it made for a postcard. Luke looked over at Aiyana. She was one tough Indian maiden on a mission, and not just a survivor. He secretly pondered how their arrival would play out. She was free to do as she pleased, and he aimed to keep it that way.

Aiyana wore a hat that covered her dark hair. She looked a bit boyish, wearing pants and a shirt of his that made her look consumed by the attire. Truth was, Luke didn't mind her beauty being hidden from prying eyes in town.

As the pair rode into the edge of town folk filed outside. No doubt word spread like a wildfire that Luke had himself an Indian girl keeping him company. Aiyana played the part of a sheepish boy, causing Luke's constrained look to crack a smile on his weathered face.

Passing the livery and the blacksmith shop, one of the church ladies who held a broom sweeping the dust into the air, stopped long enough for the cloud to settle and give her a good gaze at the pair. Luke tipped his hat as they traded looks.

Luke looked sidelong at Aiyana whose eyes showed wonder at seeing a modern town for the first time. "Well now, it looks like they've been expecting us," Luke said. "News here travels faster than the wire."

The pair strode in toward the mercantile shop which doubled as a butcher shop too. Luke tethered the mule and then his brown mare to the hitching post. Aiyana dismounted after him. She helped him with the pack of pelts to take inside while Luke slung deer leg quarters over each shoulder and stepped toward the door. Aiyana followed but then stopped and gazed at the flowery calico dress fitted over a life-sized mannequin.

Luke halted at the door and turned. "Don't fret about her none." He looked at the mannequin. "She's not real. Just a dummy."

A bell on a door announced their arrival. Bethany Williams stepped around the corner and greeted Luke. "Great to see our mountain man has made his way down. And who might be your friend, Luke?"

Luke cleared his throat. "She's Aiyana. I...I found her..."

"So, I've heard." Beth swiped her hands over her white apron. "Pleased to meet you Aiyana. I'm Beth, and my husband, Travis is in the back butchering a cow. Please head straight away to him with those hind quarters there, Lucas. He'll be glad to see you. And here, let me have those pelts Miss...Aiyana. And don't fret here none. We don't all bite our visitors in this town."

Luke headed toward the back but turned almost ashamed for how Aiyana appeared to look, as if swallowed whole by those raggedy clothes. "Beth, it was all I had to give her."

"Well, we're going to have to fix that." Beth set the pelts down on an open table and hugged Aiyana, who didn't know how to react. "Welcome to our sleepy town."

After embracing Aiyana, her hat flipped, and her raven hair slipped to her shoulders.

"My goodness," said Beth, "It's true! The beauty of a woman is in her hair, and those eyes that shine a pearly blue."

Luke's fears were eased, as he made his way out into the back toward his butcher friend. Beth was a Godsend.

Bethany waltzed Aiyana around the shop where she stood and gazed at all the rolls of fabric. True to a woman of the day she pinched the differing fabrics, and Aiyana must have imagined what she could make with all the colors of a rainbow.

Bethany pulled a piece of hard candy from one of her jars on the counter and handed it to Aiyana. "Here, try this. To show her what to do with it, she herself put a piece of hard candy in her mouth.

At first Aiyana spat it out into her hand, then took it in her mouth, rolling it around on her tongue. That burst of flavor must have shocked her senses.

Bethany smiled and asked, "Can you tell me what your name means, dear?"

Aiyana spit the candy out and spoke for the first time. "It means Little Bird."

It was then Aiyana's eyes focused on a parrot in a cage who seemed to be studying Aiyana from the corner. The bird flapped its wings on the pole and spoke. "Little bird...Little bird."

Aiyana laughed. She stalked over to the bird in a cage and spoke. "Free Little Bird. I'm a free Little Bird."

"Free bird...Free bird...Fly away...Fly away..."

Author Notes

When I go back and polish, I will be using a different name for the Indian maiden. If one looks up Aiyana, they may find it doesn't mean "Little Bird." But I have another name from the Crow era that will fit that I need to fetch. Also, as you may have guessed, this is not just a western, it's a love story.

Chapter 5
Live Wire

By forestport12

Lucas led Aiyana to the telegraph office in town. Most folks outside on the dusty streets stopped and gazed, as the pair approached the red lettered building of the Western Union. Aiyana stopped Luke and asked, "Is this the place that one speaks through a wire, and it travels across the open plains?"

Luke stopped at the front of the door where she seemed lost in his eyes. "Are you ready to send a message to the world?"

Aiyana nodded, as if unable to breathe or speak for the weight of a message about the fate of her mother's family hung like a millstone on her thin shoulders.

Luke held the clanging door open so Aiyana could pass inside under his arm.

A spectacled man with wild white hair looked down at the contraption that communicated with the outside world. Luke and Aiyana leaned over the railing meant to keep customers at a distance. The old man stopped looking at letters and let his glasses fall over the bridge of his nose. "Lucas Cole, I presume, and I think I have what you came here to find."

Holding the telegram in his hand, he hardly noticed Aiyana who kept her hair under the plainsman hat. He stood and studied the telegram in front of Luke's curious eyes.

"I can read it, Sam." Luke held out his hand.

"Yes, you can. Indeed, you can. Just needed some proofing." Sam handed Luke the letter with a wrinkled brow when eyes met the girl standing next to him. "Could this be the one I heard came down from the mountains?"

"She was among the Crow. Names Aiyana."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Luke busied himself reading the telegram. Sam smiled with a toothy grin. "She's getting off the train in Julesburg."

Luke paused. "Sam, would you mind if I read it myself."

Sam leaned on the banister and smiled at Aiyana. "No, I don't mind, Luke. But your bride to be is coming. And you might want to borrow a wagon in town, cause it's a good day's ride to Jules."

"Sam! Give me a moment to let it sink in." Luke slipped over to a bench against the back wall. "Don't have much time."

"That's what I've been trying to tell..." Luke interrupted Sam.

"Sam, take care of Aiyana. She's got a message that needs delivering."

Aiyana held out a note in her hand. "I have a message for an uncle."

Sam snatched the not from Aiyana. Luke sat on the bench with the telegram in his hand. His mind was lost in a whirlwind. How would he explain to his mail order bride that he found an Indian girl who needs him. And where would he keep her in the meantime?

"Okay, you want to tell me then." Sam sat, dipping his pen in the inkwell on his desk. "Now who needs to get this."

Luke intervened, "We're not sure how to get a hold of her uncle. His name is Henry Bragman, a senator from NY. We need you to get this to the authorities who can notify that Harriet Hartwell was taken by the Indians with no other known survivors. She lives among the Crow and Aiyana here is her daughter."

"I see," said Sam, as he looked at Aiyana with pity. "You poor thing."

"No one who knows the Great Spirit is poor," said Aiyana.

"What?" Sam gave Luke a quizzical look.

"You heard her right," said Luke, worried Sam looked down on her as a half-breed. "Indians have souls."

Aiyana fingered her cross necklace and looked at Luke. Sam craned his neck from the desk. "It may take time, several days even, before I get word from authorities and this uncle."

Sam scratched his head and busied himself at his desk. As the pair left out the door, one could hear the clickety click of the machine.

Luke looked at Aiyana. "You did good, Little Bird." When Luke said it for the first time, it made him want to hold her. His heart ached and his stomach churned over her plight.

Aiyana looked up at Luke with hunger in her eyes. Luke did his best to hide his concern for her and his beating heart that raced whenever she brushed against him. "I need to go to the stable and borrow a wagon and a team of horses. I'm going to Julesburg."

"You go to get a bride you never met. Such strange customs. Love cannot breathe or be born on a wire."

It startled and stopped Luke in his tracks for a moment, knowing she might be proven true. But then again Luke was a man who kept his word, even if he hated it. "I need you to stay in my cabin. You'll be safe there."

After Luke said it, he wasn't sure he could promise her that with thoughts of a Blackfoot Indian desperately searching for her. "Crazy in love with her," was what Aiyana said.

"You know how to shoot a rifle?" he asked, as they walked back toward the stable.

A heavy silence filled the space between them, but their eyes spoke plenty.

"I suppose I need to teach you how to shoot." Then Luke thought back to how he nearly shot her when she crashed through the bushes across the creek in the mountains. He thought about how life can turn on a moment with a stray word or a bullet.

Author Notes

Interesting reading on the Indians reaction to the telegraph wire. Obviously they thought of it negatively, but I even read where they would hear it generating a noise from the wire in remote places, and so I thought to call this, "Live Wire."

Chapter 6
Flash and Fire

By forestport12

Along the trail to the foothills toward the cabin, Luke found a half dozen discarded whiskey bottles. Aiyana, riding on the mule, craned her neck and watched Luke stuff used bottles into his saddlebag.

As Luke mounted, he nodded. "I'm going to teach you how to shoot my Spencer. I expect you to sleep with it over the next few days while I'm gone."

Aiyana said nothing, as Luke passed by her where the pair rallied over the next ridge.

Luke dismounted from his horse where a thin clear creek ran over gravel. With a few empty bottles dangling between his fingers, he tripped over the shallow water and arranged them for target practice on a boulder.

Aiyana dismounted and stood near Luke where he pulled his rifle from the sheath of his horse. Luke handed the rifle to her, and she held it to her breast with both hands. "Our people were given the powder gun by the army once when I was a child. We sided with the blue coats against Cheyenne and Blackfoot who took our land where the buffalo grazed. One soldier gazed at me and whispered to another blue coat, as if he understood I was not like the others."

"This is a repeater rifle." Luke took the rifle back and carefully demonstrated the actions taken. "You pull this lever back and a charge fills the hole, then cock the trigger on top, close one eye and squeeze with it tight against your shoulder." Luke playfully flipped the brim of her hat after his demonstration.

The pair walked over near the edge of the creek from where a row of empty bottles was arranged. He took aim, pulled back the lever and cocked the gun, shattering a whiskey bottle to bits.

"Okay," he said. "Your turn, Little Bird."

She took a deep breath of air, as she took the rifle with both hands. Luke leaned against her and adjusted it toward her shoulder. Then he held his arms around her with his chin coming to rest against her neck. His stomach churned, as he exhaled into her ear. He placed her right hand over the lever where her finger flirted with the trigger. "Now, close one eye like that, and then get the mark here in site, and now take your right thumb and pull back. That's it. Line it up on that point."

The rifle fired on a hair trigger as she raised it, missing the target and sending the plug into the empty echo of the canyon. She flopped backward into Cole's arms from the kick. He laughed with his arms wrapped around her. She fought to untangle herself, as she turned red faced. Stepping on her hat, she stood to her feet, clutching the rifle.

Aiyana placed the butt of the rifle firmly to her shoulder, pulled back the lever, and cocked the gun.

This time the sound reverberated from the rock and the bullet chipped a piece, causing an empty bottle to lift slightly. The next shot shattered one of the bottles. Aiyana turned to Luke with a smile on her face. "I'm no frail little bird."

Aiyana fired another round, shattering another glass bottle. Luke finished chewing on a piece of grass and smiled from ear to ear. "I'd say you can hold your own, and then some."

The pair rode further into the cedars along the marked trail toward the cabin. Stopping beneath the shadow of one such tree, Luke took to Aiyana's side and leaned in. "I'll do my best to get back in a few days. What's mine is yours."

Aiyana gazed into Luke's brown, gravy eyes with her vivid blues. "I will tend to your garden and keep your place till you return."

The pair parted ways. As Luke rode on down, he turned his horse and watched Aiyana disappear on the trail over the next ridge. His stomach roiled and turned inside. He hoped it wasn't a mistake leaving her there. All the way down and back toward town to fetch a wagon, he knew she was getting lodged in his heart and wasn't sure if he could get her out.

Luke needed to get to Julesburg to fetch a bride, come hell, high water, or an Indian maiden, he couldn't stand her up.

To be continued...

Chapter 7
Starry Night on a Broken Road

By forestport12

It was a strange sensation for Aiyana to be in a trapper's cabin alone as an Indian running from her past. From the loft on a feather bed, she looked through a window where stars shined like silver trinkets. Her sense of safety was furthered by a blanket of darkness in the cabin and Luke's dog Sugar, who slept with her in his bed. She'd also secured the loaded carbine beside her for good measure.

Thoughts of Blackfoot searching for Aiyana took over moments before she nodded toward sleep. She'd see images of them hiding by the trees with painted faces, circling the cabin. Then she turned her thoughts toward how the Great Spirit through his Son guided her to the cabin where Luke lived a solitary life. She breathed a soft sigh. Finally, she drifted off to sleep praying Luke would return safely from his trip.


@@


Luke found the trail over the rolling hills to Julesburg rutted and rough for his wagon. A summer drought had turned the trail into hard-packed layers. As he snapped the reins, he had his doubts he'd make it before dark closed in. The sunset splashed the mountains behind him with a purple haze.

Rather than take the risk of a broken wheel axle, he found a place beneath a mesquite tree where he tied down the wagon and grabbed a buffalo blanket. He pulled the saddle from his horse behind the wagon and shifted over where he built a small fire. The last thing he wanted was to have more time to think about his decision over an arranged marriage to a mail order bride from the east.

Darkness swallowed Luke whole, as he rested his head on the saddle and watched stars fill the sky. He wondered if Aiyana was okay and fretted over how Blackfoot might be on her trail. His mind spun on a reel with how he plucked her from the wilderness with all her scrapes and bruises. If something happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

A small breeze fanned the flames and the cold prairie air knifed through his flesh and cut to the bone. His lower back ached from the twisted trail, as he fished for a soft place on the grass. Luke looked over at his horse. "I've got to fetch me a bride, Lucy. Wish you could talk and tell me if I'm making the right move."

His faithful mare shook her head and whinnied over his words.

Luke covered his eyes with his hat and listened to the night breeze until he succumbed to a restless sleep.

###

A sliver of light appeared over the horizon when Luke stumbled to his feet near where the fire turned to ashes. He needed to get to Julesburg before the train pulled into the station. Ruth Thompson would be depending on him to be there. She wouldn't know a soul. She'd have no one, and as far as he could tell from her letters, her former husband broke his neck in an accident. She was a twenty-two-year-old grieving widow with no one to care for her back east.

As he worked the wagon down the rutted trail to Julesburg, he wondered if his bride had told him everything about her past. Then again, he never bothered to tell her about all the hardships she might endure living in a trapper's cabin. Why paint a bleak picture?

By the time he made the outskirts of Julesburg he could smell the fire and rot. If there was a hell on earth, this place was it, he thought to himself. He hoped to grab Ruth Thompson from the train station as he pulled the wagon through town to the depot.

Julesburg was a junction of sorts with a mix of army, Indians, outlaws. It was a sore thumb in the foothills. By the time he got near the train station, steam could be seen wafting from the locomotive as it rolled down the naked tracks toward town. Crowds gathered on a platform to greet someone they loved. Luke wasn't sure about love, or even how he'd act when he laid his eyes on Ruth Thompson for the first time in person.

He hitched his wagon and strode over to the train platform where he parted through the crowd. It was then Luke forgot to hold up a sign stating who he was. Then she appeared like the picture he kept on his mantel, only this one was in living color. She noticed him staring at her.

Luke's mouth gaped open. She was prettier than the black and white picture. Her blonde straw hair glistened in the sun, and a breeze made her fine hair swirl beneath her feathered hat She wore a sky-blue dress with white lace that accented her bright brown eyes. She smiled a dumbstruck look stepping on to the platform. Luke paused and pawed on his beard. His nervous habit.

A baggage handler found her one suitcase. As Ruth turned, a little girl with brown braided hair about the age of five stepped out from the train car and hugged her. "Momma."

Ruth held the girl with a worried look toward Luke.

Luke's eyes widened. His face stiffened. It wasn't what he expected. After exchanging letters, she had made no mention of a child! Ruth Thompson claimed to be all alone in the world! Luke huffed. He did an about face. He marched down the steps and toward his wagon without a word.

"Mr. Cole!" He heard her calling his name in the bustling, soiled street. "Mr. Cole! I can explain."

As far as Luke was concerned anyone who lived a lie was no one he cared to associate with. By the time he got to his horse and wagon, he simmered down enough to turn and watch her close in with the little girl in tow while dragging one bulky suitcase.

Luke tried not to say something he'd regret. "You led me to believe you had no child." The moment Luke said it, he could see the rejection in the doe eyes of the girl who clung to her mother. "I don't get it. It looks like you're running from something back east."

With tears in her eyes and almost out of breath, she halted in front of him. "Mr. Cole, I was afraid..."

"What are you running from? No one comes this far with a daughter and one suitcase, if they aren't leaving something behind that's trying to catch up to them. I never bargained for a bride with unseen baggage."

"I know. I know," she said. "My husband did pass in an untimely accident."

"What kind: a fall, horse kick him, what?"

Ruth covered her daughters' ears. "He came home drunk, breathing threats, beating me until I was black and blue. Then he wanted to have his way with me, Mr. Cole. That's when I gave the heel of my foot and broke his neck. Even back east men treat women like their property. I couldn't have gotten a fair trial."

Luke stood speechless. His mind waged a war inside him.

"They will hang me, and then my daughter will be an orphan. Please. Please. I'm begging you, take me far from here. I don't want to lose my child."

For a solitary man, Luke's life was seriously getting gummed up with all kinds of female problems. All he wanted when he moved west was a simple life. Then he noted the little girl seemed almost deathly scared of him. Tears stung his eyes. He got down on one knee, took his finger and wiped a fat tear from the little girl's cheek. "What's your name sweetie?"

"Anna."

"And how old might you be?"

"Five."

Luke plucked her from the ground and into his arms and held her tight. "Let's get you two out of this town. I reckon there will be time enough to sort this out on the way back to Silver Creek."

As Luke placed Ruth's daughter into the wagon and then gave her mother help aboard, Anna blurted. "Are you my new father?"

Luke wasn't sure how to answer Anna. He gave slack to the reins, wondering if a wanted poster of Ruth had made it out this far west. He wasn't about to stick around and find out. He needed to get back into the open prairie air where he could ask, no argue with God over how his life could get so complicated for having a soft heart.

Author Notes

One of my best friends actually married a British girl whose former husband was a drunkard and a wife beater. She managed to rear up and kick him like a mule so hard, he died. She was cleared of charges and free to marry my friend. Truth is stranger than fiction!

Chapter 8
Hard Road Soft Heart

By forestport12

There was a heavy air of silence on the buckboard of the wagon home. Anna, the little girl, was tucked between her mother and Luke. He had hard questions for Ruth, but every time words filled his thoughts, he held his tongue over her daughter's wide-eyed wonder on the open range.

The sky was a sea of blue with a morning sun on their backs. A flurry of yellow daises dotted the rustic landscape of rocks and rolling hills. If not for the riveting ride of the jutted trail, it would seem like a magical journey for the young daughter. Luke figured he'd wait until they made a bed beneath the stars before he'd quiz Ruth more. He could only imagine how little Anna must have harbored a Jaded view of the world after her mother fled the law when her husband died.

After several hours, Anna pointed to the snow-capped mountains like God's cathedrals spiraling into the heavens. She stood and pointed, "I see mountains, Momma! Look."

Ruth made her sit before she fell off the wagon. "Yes, and that is where Mr. Cole lives."

Luke grinned with his hands on the reins. "It's a might farther than it looks, but somewhere in there is the cabin."

Anna turned to Luke. "Momma said we would be safe in the mountains. She said no one can find us there."

Luke nodded, but he knew the town below his cabin, Silver Creek, and how they wag their tongues more than the telegraph wires sing. It seemed his simple life was getting more complicated by the hour. And then there was Aiyana the Indian maiden. Soon there will be more fugitives hiding from the world on his homestead.

As Luke plodded along on the trail, Anna nodded off and leaned her head into his ribs. One thing rested on his heart for sure. He didn't want to let this innocent child down, no matter what happened between him and Ruth. He didn't know if it was possible to work at loving someone. Somehow it didn't sit right with Luke anymore, having sent for a mail order bride.

By the time the sun splashed the mountains, he'd managed to get where a small creek trickled through the foothills. Jumping from the wagon, he spied a spring fed section of water near a grove of trees. It would be a good place to spend the night.

Luke stepped over to the wagon where Anna slept on her side from the long ordeal of a train ride and then the wagon trail. Ruth dutifully handed Luke some bladder skin pouches he had made himself. "It's getting dark. We'll settle in here for the night." Luke helped Ruth down from the wagon. "I've got some salted meat and beans to make a meal. Oats for breakfast too."

Ruth nodded. Together the pair made some pallets, and she hadn't bothered to wake Anna. They worked together to make a place for Anna to lay down near where you could hear the clear mountain water splash over rocks. The sky dimmed and revealed a clear sky marked by silvery stars.

Ruth excused herself and parted down near some gravel edge where she could freshen herself and sponged off with her hair pinned and a shirt tied to her mid drift. There in the twilight, she became a shadowy figure, a shapely one. Luke had to pry his eyes off her and turned his focus to Anna asleep in the buckboard.

Luke took and cradled Anna in his arms. Kneeling, he placed her on a soft pallet. Then he found some kindling and started a fire. As he looked for dead wood by the trees, Ruth appeared in the moonlight. "I made Anna a place by the fire and fixed her with a blanket to keep warm."

"Thanks so much." Ruth teased her hair. Luke figured her mind teased with thoughts on what to say. She had some serious explaining to do. Luke didn't like the idea of having to look over his shoulder on the way home.

After Luke gathered some broke branches for a robust fire, Ruth had already found some buffalo jerky. She handed a piece to Luke where he sat beside her while Anna slept.

Ruth's face glowed in the fire. She looked too soft and supple, not a woman prepared for a lawless homesteader's life. She turned her gaze from the fire. "I suppose I have some explaining to do."

Luke stirred the fire with a stick. "I reckon so. Try me."

"I want you to know, I'm thankful you didn't leave us stranded. I don't know what I would do if they took my child and put me behind bars. It makes my stomach churn with a foul taste."


Luke took a bite of his jerky. "Did you mean anything you said in those letters or was it all just a sack of lies."

"My correspondence with you, a chance at a new life for myself and my daughter was what gave me hope. I...I dreamed of being out here, a brand-new life. I...I fell in love with your eyes. Kind eyes. I knew I could trust you, a man of compassion. And now...now that I see your amber eyes, I have no doubt."

"This was more than I bargained for...not to mention looking over my shoulder. If they believe you murdered your husband back east, they won't just write you off."

Luke watched the lines of her forehead deepen in the firelight. "You believe they will come this far west?"

"Pinkerton detectives have been known to travel by horse or rail. They take pride to find someone all the way to hell if need be."

A heavy silence filled the air between them save for the snap and pop of the fire.

"Best we get some rest, Ma'am. We need to leave at the crack of dawn. Like I say, I make better time when I don't have to look over my shoulder. I'm not turning you in, but I'm not sure about our arrangement."

"I understand, Mr. Cole."

"Call me Luke. I think we can dispense with any formalities out here beneath this mighty big sky."

"I don't blame you, if you don't want this marriage. I don't blame you, if you don't trust me. You're a good man Luke Cole."

Luke pillared his head on a sack of oats and tipped his hat. "I wished people would stop thinking of me as some kind of angel. I didn't set out to fetch you because I needed a pair of wings. I do fine without them."

Chapter 9
Dark Horizon

By forestport12

At the break of dawn, Luke and his companions followed the rutted trail toward the town of Silver Creek. He looked over at his bride-to-be and her daughter Anna, as they rocked back and forth on the trail, looking pale as sheets. "It's a mite like being seasick on dry land."

Ruth forced a smile but looked away. He thought she might puke, but she managed to hold it. She'd done her best impression so far not to appear brittle or frail for a homesteader's life or a fugitive wife. Little Anna rocked back and forth between them with a boiling sun on their backs.

Sinister clouds gathered over the mountains in the west when Luke first spotted the speck of his town on the horizon. At first the winds were a welcome relief with a drop in temperature. But as Luke marshalled the wagon across the foothills, windswept dirt and grass stung his face. Ruth did her best to shield Anna with her body. The Horses drawing the wagon pouted, but he kept them headlong into the bowels of a menacing storm.
,
Ruth raised her voice over the wind, "Are we going to make it there?"

Luke nodded her way. He knew they'd be stuck in town before he could get them safely to his cabin. "There's no place here to dig in. I need to get you two a room in town for the night!"

The rain formed like a dark curtain and then fell like pellets. Luke rode the horses hard as the wagon wheels sloshed through the muddy path. The faint light of oil lamps illumined the edge of town where Luke wrestled with the reins until he found the stable. A friend of his with a loping stride took the horse drawn carriage under the cover of the barn.

Ruth passed her daughter to Luke's waiting arms. Then she slipped from the wagon and stumbled into a pile of hay. He guided them over to the walkway where they could dodge the rain. After Luke helped the man secure the horses and wagon, he pulled his hat down and ran toward the shivering pair where a lamp illumined the only hotel above the saloon.

Soiled and soaked, Luke guided Ruth and Anna through the saloon doors and hurried them up the clacking stairs. Luke met the madam who ran the establishment. His stomach churned, having to dig into his pocket for coins for a room he hadn't expected to need where painted ladies passed through the hall. Ruth and Anna watched with stunned silence as one of the ladies took a drunken old miner by the hand and opened the door of a room beside them.

The Madam opened the door to Luke's room. "Don't worry yourself none, Luke, if you haven't tied the knot yet. I may have heard about your mail order bride, but I don't tell the town my business."

Luke's heart tightened under his soaked clothes. Luke pulled off his hat and let the water drip to his boots. "Appreciate it."

Ruth and Anna hurried inside. Luke followed and shut the door, muffling the loud noise of music and dancing below.

The dim lit room was spacious enough with a dresser and one large bed. Ruth found a towel and attempted to help undress and dry her daughter. Luke stood there with a blank stare, as if not sure what to say. Anna plopped on the bed while the mother pulled off her shoes. She turned to Luke. "I can make a pallet where you can sleep," said Ruth.

Luke turned toward the door. "It'll be all right. I...I can sleep on the hay in one of the stables. Then I will come fetch you two for the hike up the mountain."

Anna meekly turned her head. "Will you keep us safe?"

Luke smiled. "Yes, little darling. I'm going to take you and your mother to my hideaway come morning."

Ruth stood, pressing her hands against her cold wet dress. "Thanks for not leaving us when you had the chance."

"Get some rest. Don't fret yourself. No one, not even a Pinkerton would have followed us in this storm."

Luke closed the door behind him, trotted down the hall, and dashed down the stairs, dodging folks to get outside. The rain softened. As he walked past the jail house on his way toward the barn, his eye caught a wanted poster. It looked like the spitting image of Ruth Thompson.

Luke stiffened, then plucked the poster from the cork board as light rain dripped from the eves above. He stuffed the poster in his coat pocket, fingered his revolver to be sure it was handy. He looked both ways where darkness engulfed the street and headed back into the saloon.


&&&

There was a rap on the door. Ruth and Anna clutched each other in fear. "Who is it?" Ruth asked.

"I know you're in there, Missy, and I aim to get what I paid fer."

Then there was a scuffle at the door. Shadows turned beneath it. A soft knock. "Ruth, its me, Luke. Let me in."

Ruth rushed over and opened the door. She hugged him until a damp heat took hold.

"Throw me an extra blanket. Change of plans." Luke pulled out the poster that had her likeness on it and handed it to her. She stood by the window where there was some light and looked at the drawing of herself on the wet paper. She brought him a blanket and an extra pillow. Luke pulled out his revolver and curled up in front of the door.

As Luke drifted to sleep, his mind raced up the mountain toward the Indian, Aiyana. He wondered if she would be there. He did not know how to love someone, but it was looking like he'd be taken to task over her words about how no one should have a telegraph line to tell you who to love.

Chapter 10
Haven and a Home

By forestport12

After a sleepless night and under the cover of darkness, Luke guided Ruth and her daughter Anna out of town. Luke's horse found a way through a shroud of fog and the lingering scent of rain to the trailhead. Clouds broke, stars filled the sky, lending enough light to a harrowing climb.

When the sun broke like yoke over the prairie, it uncovered more of the trail and loose gravel in their wake. Tugging on the reins, he scolded the horse to keep going. Luke's female riders looked knotted with fear without a word between them.

The horse staggered and stumbled to a precipice. The pair craned their necks to see the valley where Silver Creek finally seemed harmless in the distance. Luke guided them and his horse through a spread of ponderosa pine on soft fallen needles until they reached a swollen creek where they breathed a collective sigh

The piney scent was welcomed, as Luke tied the horse to a branch and spied for a safe place to cross. He knew slick rocks and a fast current made for a treacherous stretch to cross the creek. Luke approached Ruth and Anna on the horse. "Once we're across, my cabin's just over the next ridge."

Ruth asked about the prospect someone would come and try to claim the reward for her capture. "Will someone come after us from town?" After she asked, she looked at her daughter Anna, as if she should have bitten her tongue.

Luke tried to assuage their fears. "I never showed anyone your picture. I figure no one knows what you look like in town. The preacher expected us to show ourselves and be married in town. They will wonder why I'm not showing you off sooner than later."

Ruth tucked her dress in, as Luke lifted her off the horse. Then he grabbed Anna. "She's light as a feather. Nothing venison stew won't cure." They made a bed of grass, as Luke walked up and down the creek. Anna appeared sleepy with the help of hypnotic flowing water.

It was a strange new world for Luke, who had been alone like a hermit than a homesteader. He'd never felt someone in his arms so small, delicate, and in need of his protection from the wolves of the world. Even if Luke had called off a mail order marriage, his heart for the innocent daughter melted like butter on a hot skillet.

Ruth Thompson took a deep breath. "It feels like we're in another world, far from trouble for now. If only it were true."

Ruth spread her dress out as she kneeled and took Anna in her arms. Luke laid down on his side on an elbow chewing on a blade of grass. "Most people venture this way, can't ever take it all in. There's something you should know."

Anna appeared to doze off. "I never took you for a man of secrets."

"I wouldn't call it that. I...I I'm not alone here. There's..."

The shrieking call of a bird broke the hypnotic sound of the rushing water.

Luke stood and squinted in the direction of the bird sound. He spied Aiyana under some thick branches near a boulder. With a rifle in one hand, she raised the other to signal. it was her call from across the water.

Ruth stood next to Luke. "This is what you tried to tell me. An Indian girl lives with you?"

Luke appeared sheepish. "It's not like you think. She's half Indian. Her mother was taken captive by Cheyenne. Like you, she had good reason to leave."

"I see. Was she attacked by someone?"

"She flees a brave who won't take no for a marriage. He's crazy in love." He stood and waved at Aiyana across the creek.

Ruth studied Luke's hazel eyes. "And you. Mr. Cole. You ever been love?"

Luke couldn't look Ruth in the eyes, seeing how he accepted the offer of marriage like it was a cold contract.

Ruth pressed. "I see how you look at her. I know the look of a man in love."

Luke turned away and shook his head, surprised at her boldness. Then he saw Aiyana holding a rope, signaling she would unfurl it across the river, so Luke could tie it to a tree.

"Several days ago, she wandered into my place, starved and beaten. I couldn't turn her away."

Ruth smiled. "Really? Can she survive in a white man's world?"

"I'd say not sell her short either way."

Aiyanna tossed the rope. Luke tied it to an elm. He motioned for Ruth to cross first. She gave him the child. Luke placed the child on the horse. As Ruth crossed over, she slipped on the hidden rocks while gripping the rope. It soaked her only dress. But Aiyanna grabbed her hand and helped her fall to the bank.

Luke led Anna on with one hand on the reins and one hand on the taut rope, crossing to the other side. They all pressed on until smoke rose from the cabin in a clearing where the sun beamed on a garden patch in a clearing. Luke's dog, Sugar greeted them with excitement, jumping and then circling around the horse barking all the way to the cabin door.

"Mama, is this our new home?" Anna said so excitedly, as the dog danced around the horse and a couple free range chickens crossed the path to the door. Ruth, who held her daughter on Luke's horse, looked at him for approval.

"This will be your home if you want it to be little Miss Anna." But what gnawed at him was what to do if a bounty hunter came calling.

Ayanna held the reins and led the guest to the cabin door. Luke locked eyes on Aiyana as Ruth dismounted and then grabbed her daughter from the horse and went inside.

He looked over at his Indian maiden with the blazing blue eyes that set his heart on fire, wishing he could talk to her in secret and tell her there would be no wedding to Ruth, since she came on false pretenses. But words between them would have to wait, even when His heart beat inside like a base drum.

Author Notes

Been awhile since my last post...hoping to get going again...No illness...Just busy but blessed!

Chapter 11
Laughter Before the Storm

By forestport12

As Luke entered the cabin, his nose met the smell of oven baked cinnamon buns. A bouquet of wildflowers was in a vase over the fireplace mantel next to the lone picture of his mail order bride. Ayanna led the mother and daughter inside where Ruth could go to the only back room with a door and change into dry clothes.

Luke looked over at Ayanna with a wide grin. It was the first time his frontier cabin had a woman's touch. She had fixed her deerskin dress, and to Luke she appeared as a dutiful Indian maiden and not the starving girl who stumbled into his homestead. His thoughts turned to how and when he could break the news to Ayanna that the mail order marriage was called off, because Ruth was not honest about her circumstances.

Little girl Anna took a shine to Sugar the birddog and sat beside the fireplace where they kept each other company. Sugar licked Anna's sweaty face, filling the light moment with laughs and giggles.

Ayanna stood over a pot of fresh coffee until it hissed from the heat and the aroma caught Luke's nose. He looked over at Ayanna and then the little girl. "You've turned this place into a home filled cooking and laughter."

Ayanna turned to Luke, "You like a woman's touch?"

Luke shied from an answer. He feared she'd see a nervous flush on his face, despite the beard. He rubbed his face. "I like what you did. The garden outside looks good too. You've been busy, but I have to tell you..."

The door unlatched from the bedroom below where Ruth appeared in one of Luke's trousers and wearing his flannel shirt. She went over to her daughter and warmed her hands by the fire. "Had I missed all the laughter?"

Ayanna reached for a ceramic cup and poured Luke's coffee. He breathed it in and sighed. He decided he'd speak to Ayanna outside come morning.

"What's in the big pot?" asked Luke.

"Rabbit stew. I set a snare by the garden."

"For someone who lived among the Crow, you know how to turn a cabin into a home."

"Were not savages. Many have come to Christ because of my mother who was taken when she was young."

"I'd love to meet your mother one day. Considering what she went through, she must be an amazing woman."

"She taught me more than the white man's English. She taught me Bible verses and songs when the men would hunt, and the women did chores. In case you wondered, I have my mother's eyes."

Ruth approached the kitchen. "What can I do to help?"

Ayanna turned toward the hanging cabinets. "You may help me set the table."

"You did an amazing job." Ruth looked at Ayanna. "How did you know we were on our way?"

"I crossed the river earlier in the day and spied you with Luke's scope on the ridge."

Ruth hugged Ayanna as Luke looked on. His mind was in a vice over exactly what to say to Ayanna. She must have assumed we were married. The people town would be wondering why the pair hadn't tied the knot.

"Anna!" Ruth called out to her daughter. "Supper."

Anna darted toward the table where everyone sat down. Luke reached for biscuit, but Ayanna slapped his hands. She folded her hands as if to pray and nodded. "We will wait for you to pray." She looked directly at him.

Luke's eyes fixed on Anna who reached over and held his hand, as he prayed. "Lord, I haven't been talking to you out loud like maybe I should. But thanks for bringing us haven and providing this here meal, and such lovely company to have in my life. I reckon we have got some catching up to do. I just don't want you to get the impression I might only call when I need a favor. Amen."

Little Anna chimed in, "Amen!"

Luke choked with emotion. Let go a smile. But he knew the town would be restless and rumors spread like wildfire. And then there was the matter of Ruth being a fugitive from the law.

Author Notes

Over time, I realized Ayanna, the Indian girl and the little girl daughter of Ruth, her name being Anna will make the interaction confusing between the Indian and daughter unless I change it. Luke a lone homesteader sworn to a marriage Ayanna, the Indian maiden whose mother was kidnapped when only a teen and raised by Crow Ruth Thompson, the mail order bride. Anna, Ruth's little girl

Chapter 12
Days of Grace

By forestport12

There were summery sunny days and cool starry nights on the mountain homestead. It was becoming easier for Lucas to imagine his place was insulated from the world and those who would cause trouble. He hoped to shield Ruth and her daughter from what was inevitable, for a time, if not a season.

Anna Beth grew fond of following Ayanna the Indian girl into the garden where she dug with her for carrots and potatoes. The mother, Ruth, slept in every day while the pair found gardening to be a bonding experience.

Luke watched Anna Beth and Ayanna from the lone kitchen window. Pressure to converse alone with Ayanna threatened to burst from inside him. He inhaled the aroma of fresh coffee in his cup, awakening his senses. He placed the cup down on the counter and quietly walked over, snatching his hat by the door. He carefully unlatched the door so not to wake Ruth asleep in the private room once meant to be shared as his bride. He paused and wondered what dream owned her sleep.

Walking outside, Luke tucked the brim of his hat and squinted in the sun to see Ayanna and Anna Beth venturing over to the creek to wash off the vegetables and clean their hands. As Luke walked the worn path between the garden and creek, he watched them dangling their bare feet in the water sharing secrets. He stopped for a moment to admire how at home the little tyke Anna Beth seemed to be. He wondered what would happen if she and her mother attempted a perilous journey west over the mountains to escape the law. It bothered him how desperate and dangerous it would be, especially when winter treads early among the high peaks.

Anna Beth hugged Ayanna around her neck and whispered something in her ear. Luke felt flushed in the face, as if he'd intruded on their privacy. But the urge to speak to Ayanna couldn't contain itself any longer. He stepped toward them as Anna Beth wandered near the tamed falls where she put her hands out and let the water shower her with pearly beads of spray.

Cole tripped over himself to get to Ayanna on the flat rock. "Little Bird," as he affectionally called her. "You must wonder if there's word back east from your uncle on the news your mother lives among the mountain Crow. It will certainly be big news back east, the kind they write books about."

"I'm not so sure I belong in a white world. The more I see, I know they are not all like you. You have been my bridge between two worlds."

Luke wasn't sure how to respond. He feared she could see through him into his heart. "Anna Beth has taken a shine to you. What did she say to you just a moment ago?"

"She..."

"I mean, if it's a secret, you don't..."

"She asked me," Tears welled in Ayanna's eyes. "She asked me if it might be okay to call you Papa."

It made Luke step back and almost slip on the rocks protruding from the water.

"She needs a home."

"You must have figured out I called the marriage off." He looked over at Anna Beth playing in the spray from the falls. "Ruth won't be able to stay here long with her daughter, once they figure out, she matches the wanted poster."

Ayanna looked at Luke with her blazing blue eyes. Honor does not always treat love the same."

Luke's tongue stifled his words for a moment. "Ruth sought a means to escape when she killed her husband in self-defense. She hadn't told me about a daughter neither."

Ayanna turned away and looked toward Anna Beth who was chasing a tadpole in the water's edge. "I know what its like to be her, someone who doesn't belong."

Her words stabbed Luke's heart. "You think I should handle it differently?" He wished he could read her heart.

"Best not to make promises you can't keep to Anna Beth or yourself."

"I reckon your no accident coming into my life. There must be a reason God brought us together."

Again, Luke hoped for a spark in her eyes, a clue that she cared about him as much as he cared for her.

She turned and studied his hazel eyes, reflecting in the sun. "I will pray the great Spirit through Jesus gives you wisdom. A man who prays for wisdom, the Lord blesses."

Luke's heart thumped hard in his chest. "I thought maybe it was God's way of showing me that a marriage should be for love and not convenience. I've been a loner my whole life. I...I thought loving another woman was a weakness I couldn't afford in my way of life."

Luke wanted to tell her more. He wanted to tell Ayanna that she taught him how to love, how to be vulnerable.

Then Anna Beth splashed them both before more words could pass between the pair.

Anna Beth smiled. "I very much like it here."

Luke took Anna Beth by the hand. Sugar, his dog barked and circled them. Ayanna Placed the rinsed vegetables into a burlap sack, threw it over her shoulder, followed the pair. Luke tossed over in his mind, wondering when grace ends and the long arm of the law comes calling.

Chapter 13
The Hunter

By forestport12

Luke slipped from the cabin at the break of dawn with his Spencer rifle in hand. A glossy dew spread across the golden mountain meadow before him. Threading tufts of wet grass, he glimpsed a doe along a cluster of birch trees. Taking a knee, he put the rifle to his shoulder. He thumbed the hammer and fingered his trigger when a fawn sprang from her bedding and flanked the mother.

Luke dropped his aim, breathed a sigh, and looked for an invisible God somewhere beyond the blue heaven. "Not today, Lord."

His eyes spun back to the mother and fawn. Alerted from his sudden movement, the pair disappeared into the depth of forest. He fell on both knees, soaking in the marshy tuft of ground and quietly asked himself, "Are you trying to tell me something Lord?" His thoughts became snared over Ruth and her daughter.

Returning down the worn path where his cabin could be seen, he noted how the garden flourished under Ayanna's green thumb. Even the corn came back to life and stood shoulder high as he passed by. She was everything a homestead man could ask for. Besides being a good homemaker, she proved herself as a skilled hunter and trapper. He admired the beauty of her true grit, her Azure eyes, and the glistening bronzed skin of her father, a chief of the mountain Crow.

She exited the root cellar in her Indian dress made from deerskin. His heart knotted as she passed along beyond the cornrows on the Creekside. He figured she'd find the falls for a private shower.

Luke focused ahead on the cabin where smoke billowed from the clay pipe on such a cold, crisp morning. He longed to warm himself with the stone fireplace inside. He glanced backward one last time and caught the image of a rider creating waves on the glistening grass.

Luke ripped the scope from his satchel and trained his eye on the stranger. The man's hat covered a nest of hair, and his coat flopped to his knees. It appeared; he too saw the smoke rising from the cabin. His words tasted bitter on the tongue when he spoke to himself. "Bounty hunter."

Luke scrambled toward the door where his horse was tethered to the porch post. He crashed inside, as if the place were ablaze.

Ruth stood at the table under a cloud of flour. Some found her pinned hair, while her daughter had a pinch of it on her nose. It appeared they'd been horsing around while Ruth was teaching Anna how to knead dough and make pies.

Luke bounded toward them. "Sorry to interrupt ladies. I need you and Anna to get on my horse like we practiced. Quick as a lick."

Ruth's smile disappeared. She grabbed Anna's hand, as they raced toward the unlatched door. Outside, Luke passed Anna to her mother. "Remember stay in the cave among the crop of rocks until one of us comes calling."

Ruth said nothing, but the fear etched her face. Luke smacked the horse, sending the pair around the cabin and crossing over the headwaters of the creek to cover the tracks and hide beyond boulders.

With the rifle slung over his shoulder, he waited and watched as the rider appeared on the path.

As Luke lowered his gun, the rider halted and turned his horse. "No need to raise your rifle, I'm not here to quarrel."

"Are you lost?"

"No sir. Don't think so. Name's Mackey. You might say I'm an arm of the law."

"What brings you to my place?" Luke was annoyed with how the morning sun blurred his vision. He stepped off the porch.

Mackey pulled a crumpled poster from his shirt pocket and leaned toward Luke with it. "I don't reckon you've seen this lady. She travels with a kid."

Cradling his rifle, Luke stepped over and took the wanted poster from his gloved hand. He shook his head. "Haven't seen this woman."

The man smiled revealing crooked teeth. "That town is sure one rumor fest. Whole place is a buzz over a mail order bride they hope to get a look at."

"That so. I have no need for one. That agreement was null and void. Not that it's any of your business."

"Just wonderin' if they might be one and the same."

Ayanna appeared from the creek. Sugar surfaced with her and growled at the intruder.

Mackey looked over at Ayanna and the dog barring his teeth. "Looks like you have all the woman you need. Good day, Ma'am."

He tipped his hat and turned his reins toward the meadow. Luke wasn't sure he'd give up that easy, but he hoped seeing Ayanna threw him off his game."

For good measure, Ayanna drew close to Luke and leaned her head on his shoulder. It sent familiar tremors through him. She breathed on his neck and smelled of lilacs from the field.

Luke looked into her azure eyes. "A tracker like him doesn't fall back so easy. He'll be watching and act like a hungry bear circling back."

Her eyes reflected the dew. "And you don't think, I convinced him that we are one."

Luke's jaw went slack. His heart hammered inside. He wanted to kiss her until the noise of a rifle shot echoed in the canyon.

Chapter 14
Sounds of Silence

By forestport12

Ruth listened from within the mouth of the cave, where horse and daughter hid from the bounty hunter. A steady drip reverberated from roofs cave into a glassy puddle. It was a maddening sound while waiting in silence. Then a gunshot caught her by surprise and caused her heart to lurch. It was impossible to know the distance it covered.

Anna Beth hugged her mother in the cool, dampness. Ruth placed her finger on her mouth as a sign to be still without noise. She closed her eyes and held her daughter tight, whispering in her ear. "I'm sorry. So sorry you must suffer for my sins."

Little Anna studied the glistening tears in mother's eyes. She made a sign, pointing a finger at her heart, and then holding it out for her mother. She played along, as if to catch Anna Beth's beating heart.

As Luke's horse lapped at the puddle of water in the cave, mother and daughter held each other tighter to keep from shivering. Ruth's eyes fixed on the opening mouth of the cave where she waited for what seemed like hours.

The shadow of a man loomed over the cave. The defining features of a man's hat and beard formed. Dirt and gravel spilled along the edge. Ruth held her breath.

Luke appeared before the pair. A gasp turned into a sigh. Anna Beth stumbled on the slippery rocks, falling into his arms.

Anna Beth hugged Luke. In turn, he placed her on the horse. Luke waved for Ruth to join them. She grabbed his hand while his free hand tugged on the reins.

Breaking into the sunlight and sounds of silence, Ruth found the nerve to ask about the gunshot. "Heard a shot. Was it the headhunter?"

As Luke led mother daughter down a worn path, he replied. "He's likely killed a pheasant in the field, or some bird to make himself a dinner, then wait us out."

Luke helped Ruth on the horse with Anna Beth. She thought to herself that all roads lead nowhere. The law will not relent and the bounty on her head will not waiver. "Is it safe to go back?"

"For now. Ayanna has grit enough to create a false trail for him to follow."

"I owe you both our lives."

"No woman or daughter should have to be on the run when it was self-defense."

"I can't go back. My daughter would have no one to care for her. You've become her family."

As Anna Beth pressed her peach face against her mother's back, she blurted. "Can you be my Daddy?"

Her words skinned his heart. He tried to speak but choked on his own words.

As the cabin came into view, Ruth filled the weighted silence with her words. "Will you show us the way through the mountain pass west?


Luke knew it would be suicide without a guide and supplies. Ruth craned her neck to see some peaks capped with snow.



Ruth spoke from the hole in her heart. "I need to just turn myself in. It won't stop with a price on my head."

Luke led them on his horse through an opening in the brush. "You have your daughter to think about."

They remained silent the rest of the way. Ruth considered what would happen to her child without a relative to raise her back east. For the first time her mind nursed the idea of leaving her daughter behind, so she'd have a life without looking over her shoulder.

Luke walked his horse across the shallows of the creek with Ruth and Beth holding on. After crossing, Luke signaled for them to wait. He pulled his holstered colt and edged around the cabin. Then he nodded to Ruth who held the reins forward.

Inside the cabin, Luke latched the door. Ruth immediately went into the kitchen where she took a match and scraped it along the Dutch oven lighting it. She turned toward Luke, as if to ask whether she should send an unwanted smoke signal through the spout.

Luke nodded an attempt to assuage her fears. A fire was started in the oven.

Luke spoke to Anna Beth. "How bout you and me gather some split wood before darkness settles in?"

Anna's eyes lit at the idea. She bounded over to Luke. "Where's Ayanna?"

"Not to worry sweet pea, she'll be along shortly." Satisfied, she followed Luke to fetch wood near the porch.

Darkness loomed from the surrounding tall trees. What was left of the sunlight glazed over the open air and garden. If Luke was worried about Ayanna, he didn't show it.

Anna Beth held out her arms, taking several split logs. Luke took his own share. Together they retreated into the fragile safety of the cabin. As Ruth was making supper, she looked at them. Her own thoughts about the cabin and darkness surrounding them, made her feel more vulnerable than ever.

As far as Ruth knew, danger lurked. And the longer it took for Ayanna to return, the more she fought the urge to ask Luke to look for her.

As Ruth turned back to stir a pot of stew, there was a rap on the door. Luke had only just latched the door. He turned toward the door with pistol in hand.

Author Notes

Sorry it took so long to post. My real life gets in the way. My alter ego as a writer needs to push through. Please don't give up on me, and I won't forget about you.

Chapter 15
Trading Women

By forestport12

Who would throw stones at his door? Luke knew the difference between a knock and a whack.

Holding the pistol above his head, he crept toward the door. He pulled the slat back and snuck a look outside. Darkness defeated the remaining light. He focused on the tree line, waiting for someone to step beneath the starlit clearing.

Luke looked back at Ruth and her daughter in the kitchen, where the mother stood, holding her daughter's shoulders.

Luke swallowed a lump in his throat, slid the bar from the door, and slipped outside. The sound of crickets filled the air and fireflies lit the sky.

Holding the revolver above his shoulder, Luke called out her name. "Ayanna! I got no time for games. Show yourself."

Ayanna stumbled out into the clearing beneath the starry sky. Luke fastened his eyes on her enough to see the rope tied around her waist. And someone held the other end from the trees.

Luke heard a voice calling from darkness. "Hey Luke, I reckon I have something of value. How about we make a trade? Give me the gale you got inside, and I give you back your squaw!"

Luke was at a loss for words. His stomach soured over Ayanna. Somehow, the bounty hunter outflanked her as she tried to lead him away into the canyon.

"What you say, Luke? I'm only going to bring her to the authorities and collect my reward. I won't tell the marshal in town; you've been harboring a fugitive. You got my word!"

Luke approached Ayanna yards away. "It takes a real man to tie up a woman!"

Luke edged closer, waiting to fire toward the sound of his voice.

"Don't try to be clever. My old Henry is leveled on your pretty, little maiden. And Mr. she's one fiery feline. She bit a piece of my ear! She needs to be tamed."

It was like stabbing Luke's heart with a hot poker. He seethed with anger. "You best be careful, or I'll deliver your dead carcass on my pack mule in town."

"Seems you should be the one who's careful. Best call this one soon, before I raise the stakes. My trigger fingers got an itch."

Luke heard the door behind him open and shut. He turned to see Ruth running toward him with a lantern in one hand and pulling on her dress with the other.

Breathing heavy and barely able to talk, she whispered in his ear. "I'm going with him. After you collect Ayanna, you best pick up the trail and shoot him dead. Promise you'll come for me. Promise."

"No, Ruth. Don't." He could see the glistening tears in her brown doe eyes. Luke nodded.

She walked away from him with the lamplight toward Ayanna. "Don't be such a stubborn mule."

"I swear people might think we are hitched."

Luke knew the hunter had the drop on him. He could easily level his rifle on him from the pitch dark. Whatever Luke did would be a literal shot in the dark.

Ruth held the lantern at shoulder level next to Ayanna. With her free hand, she revealed a knife hidden in her dress. Cutting the rope, she freed her. After exchanging a few words, Ruth gave her the light. Then she stepped toward the bounty hunter into the darkness of her personal abyss.

Ayanna stumbled toward Luke. With the light beaming over her, Luke could tell, she'd been battered and bruised. His heart pecked like a trapped bird. "What did he do? What did he do to you? When I catch him, I'll make him pay."

Ayanna reassured Luke. "He tried to have his way with me, but when he leaned over to kiss me, that's when I bit off a piece of his ear."

Luke simmered down some. He wanted to go after him now, but he knew the man would have to camp before he'd make it into town. It would be too treacherous scaling down the mountain, even with a firelight.

The door slapped open. Anna Beth ran toward the pair. "Where's my mother? Momma!"

Ayanna was forced to snatch her and hold her tight. The girl clinched her fist and fought Ayanna back to the cabin, while Luke led with the lantern.

"Don't cry child," said Ayanna. "Luke will find her."

Anna Beth kicked and clawed all the way back to the cabin until she wore herself out. From the porch, Luke asked. "Mind telling me what words you shared?"

Ayanna looked into Luke's eyes, her face a mix of mud and blood. Then she sat Anna Beth down and covered her ears. "If you can't save her, I should stay with you to raise her daughter."

There was an air of silence between them. Luke was at a loss for words.

"She also said, if anyone deserves to marry you it should be me. She said, "'We were meant for each other."'

Author Notes

I'm working on my western and family thriller, but I faced the reality I'm not gifted enough or disciplined enough to write in two genres with both speed and depth.

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