29 Wolf

I WAS CRYING my eyes out. So many tears I couldn’t even read the note in front of me.

Oh God, no! Please don’t let it be Jason!

“Demon Ramie. It is too late to help.” Miranda moaned.

Please tell me what it says. I can’t see through your tears. Please, Miranda!

“Theresa. White Horse. The army sent him away. Told him he had to go to the reservation. They no longer need Indian scouts. He came in the middle of the night and Theresa simply packed a sack and went with him. She says she is going with the man she loves and will bear him many children.”

I’m sorry, Miranda. It’s all for the best. Theresa and White Horse love each other. She is safe.

“So you say.”

Where is Katie?

“She went to open the store. I could not stop weeping.”

She listlessly boiled water and made tea to ease the soreness in her throat caused by crying. As we drank the weak tea, she stood and retrieved a large book from above the mantel. She opened it and prepared a fresh pen and ink.

What is that?

“It is the Bell family Bible.” Miranda opened the big book and I saw the words ‘Jonathon Bell m. Clara Adams, 1852. Daughter Theresa Ranae Bell b. 4 January 1852.’ Below was the date of Clara’s death. On the next page was Theresa’s name. Miranda wrote in neat script below her name, ‘m. the Cheyenne brave White Horse, 20 June 1872.’

And suddenly I knew.

The Bell Family Bible I had seen in my father’s hands. I’d read that script. This Bible had to go with Theresa Ranae.

We have to leave and catch her. Miranda, it is urgent. We must take Theresa the family Bible.

“Why? She left hours ago. I do not even know which direction she went. She obviously doesn’t care about a family Bible.”

Miranda ... What I hid from you ... What I couldn’t tell you was that Theresa and White Horse are my great-great-great-great-grandparents. That Bible has been handed down through the generations. She has to take it with her.

“You ask too much, Ramie. Even if we had a horse and wagon, we could never catch them.”

We can. I know where they will go before they move to the reservation. It is a place that has always been special in our family. It holds the spirits of all our ancestors. But we must get a horse and go now.

“I do not know how.”

Miranda! I have helped you whenever you’ve called on me. You’ve summoned me in times of distress. You left me in your body to find my way across Missouri. I have never asked one thing of you for my benefit. Please. I’m begging you now.

“My dear Friend Ramie. We must go tell Katie and then you must drive.”

Katie recognized me as soon as I walked into the store. Fortunately, there were no customers when she rushed to wrap her arms around me. After we had kissed, I explained what we had to do and promised that I would return to her. Katie closed the shop and ran to pack us food for our trip. I went to the livery stable located on the block behind our home.

Mr. Ingersoll at the livery was a wily character. He knew horseflesh and exactly how much he could get for a horse. But he had a reputation for good stock.

“I need a horse and saddle,” I said when we walked into the stable.

“Good day to you, Miss Lewis. A horse, you say?” he was quickly contemplating how much he could earn from us. “Well now, I’ve a nice gentle nag that I could part with, I suppose. Let me see.” I felt Miranda breathe a sigh of relief at the words ‘gentle nag.’

“That won’t do. I need a fast horse.”

“Miss Lewis, a horse is not fast if you cannot ride it.”

“Ah. You have one.”

“Well, yes. But he is scarcely broke and certainly not gentled.”

“Let me see.”

“Certainly, Miss Lewis, but he is breeding stock and I will not sell him cheaply.” He led me to the corral.

Unbelievable. Do animals have past lives? I swore I saw my own Pooky.

“He is a bit spirited. If you worked with him under my guidance for a few weeks he could be a good horse, but he is only three years old. I certainly cannot put a lady of your refinement on his back.”

“Pooky!” I called. The black stallion lifted his head at my voice. After a moment’s hesitation he began to amble toward me. “Fifty dollars and I want that old saddle and bridle with a clean blanket.”

“Why that horse, if you could ride it, would be worth a hundred dollars.”

“But you have already told me I cannot ride it, n’est-ce pas? Fifty dollars. Gold. Now.” When he saw the five gold eagles in my hand, Mr. Ingersoll decided to sell me a horse. He pointed me at the saddle and said he would write up a bill of sale.

Miranda was atwitter in the back of my head, but she was still strong from a rigorous physical life. I tossed the blanket on Pooky’s back as I continued to talk to him.

“I see they gave you your balls back, fellow,” I said. He looked at me and snorted. “Of course, I’ll see that you get a chance to use them. You are a fine, handsome man and deserve to sire many foals.” I threw the saddle over his back. He side-stepped a little but I soothed him and pulled the cinch around his chest. “Now give us a blow there, boy,” I said soothingly as I lifted a knee to his chest. He blew the air out of his lungs scattering snot everywhere. Mr. Ingersoll returned with the slip of paper saying we owned the horse.

“Glory be,” he said looking over the job of cinching the saddle. I could tell he had planned to give me instructions on how to handle my horse. I took the paper and led Pooky out of the corral and across the plot between the livery and the back of Miranda’s store. There I tied him to the doorpost.

“This would be easier in our buckskins,” I told Katie as we came into the room.

Theresa wore them when she left. I will not wear trousers again.

“Yes, yes. I know. It would be much easier.”

“Husband Ramie, I brought the Henry and your gunbelt from the store.”

“You are a good wife, Katie,” I said lovingly. I kissed her thoroughly and wished I could stay to love her like she wanted. I strapped the gun around my waist

People will stare!

“We will only be in town a few minutes. And they already know you can use it.” I put the Henry in the scabbard and slung Katie’s carefully packed saddlebags over Pooky. I tied the blanket Katie handed me and started to mount.

I nearly fell on my ass.

I will not spread my legs around that animal. Demon Ramie, you must consider my reputation. I hope to come back here and marry!

“Jesus Christ, Miranda!”

Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.

“Right, right. Sidesaddle? Really? I’m going to have such a sore ass. And it’s your fault.”

I will bear my sorrows for the Lord.

“No more religion, Miranda! Let’s ride.”

I had to use the steps to get mounted, sitting awkwardly across the hard saddle. It was barely a strip of leather fastened to the wooden frame. Pooky danced around a bit while I got settled. That finally shut Miranda up and I managed to get control of things.

“Katie, my love, if Jason returns before I do, please tell him I have gone to the Medicine Bow Ridge due west of here. I would welcome his company.”

“Travel safely and swiftly, Husband Ramie,” Katie said. “Return to me, my love.”

Riding sidesaddle is not comfortable. And if you are doing it on a standard western saddle instead of one made to be ridden sidesaddle, it’s like putting your shoe on sideways. I finally managed to convince Miranda that she could sit facing forward instead of facing the side with her left foot in the stirrup and her right knee hooked behind the horn. At least this way we had some control.

I just knew where White Horse and Theresa would go before they headed for the reservation and Black Kettle’s Northern Cheyenne. I was headed to the same spot where the raven called me 150 years from now. It was where Theresa would one day bring Laramie back and she would meet Kyle Redtail.

Thirty miles, even on a strong horse like Pooky, is still a long day’s ride and it was fully dark as we ascended the ridge. I kept scanning the surrounding area for signs of a fire. We were getting tired and I was nodding off as Pooky continued to climb. I jerked awake to a lovely sensation. Someone was playing with my sweet spot and I had a little fantasy of Aubrey and me. Then I realized I wasn’t in control anymore and Miranda was diddling herself as we rode. And we were getting close. She had her eyes squeezed closed and I couldn’t see where we were. I tried to get control, but stopping a woman in the middle of an orgasm isn’t easy. Miranda cried out and I let the pleasure of her sensations wash over me.

Pooky sidestepped a little and Miranda lost her balance. Her eyes flew open and we were next to a rocky outcropping. Pooky had stepped aside to go around a huge boulder. I snatched at control of Miranda’s body as she was flailing and tried to dismount but her long skirts got tangled up in the horn and the stirrup and one hand was still inside her skirt. I fell from that big horse and there was nothing I could do about it. We hit the ground hard and my left foot twisted under me. I cried out with the pain.

“I knew it was a bad idea to come out here. I don’t even know where we are!” Miranda cried. “I can’t move my foot.”

Masturbating in the middle of the night while riding sidesaddle was the bad idea. Whatever possessed you?

“You went to sleep and were having such a lovely dream that I couldn’t help myself.”

So it’s my fault. Actually, I remembered snippets of that dream and it was a bit distracting.

I took back control and experimented with my left leg. There was no way I was going to stand up. My ass was sore from the long day in the saddle and it felt like I was bruised all across the inside of my right leg where I’d caught it on the horn and pommel. I managed to sit upright against the boulder. Pooky was a few yards away where he’d found a patch of grass to munch. I heard wolves howl off in the distance. They were on a hunt, but not a danger to us at the moment.