Chapter 4

It was almost fully dark by the time AJ caught up with the wagon. As it turned out there was, indeed, another rivulet a little more than a mile from the corpse of the horse. A fire was already going and his stomach growled as he smelled food cooking. He realized he hadn't eaten all day. There was jerky in his saddle bags, but a hot meal would be much more welcome. He hoped it wasn't beans.

He decided to get the stink off of him before going into the camp, and altered his direction of travel to bypass the wagon and go directly to the creek. He had to go amongst the inevitable Cottonwood trees to get to the water, which was barely a trickle. Turning, he walked upstream toward the wagon, hoping to find a pool. His boots made almost no sound on the sandy bottom of the creek bed.

He was almost to the wagon when he found the pool, but was unprepared to find Arabella standing in it. The fire was behind her, and her silhouette was coal black, except around the edges where her pale skin glowed faintly orange in the firelight. Her long hair had been unbound and was hanging down as she bent over, scooping up handfuls of water.

It was the clear outline of her hanging breasts that made AJ realize she was naked. Their stark silhouette quivered and moved as she lifted handfuls of water to bathe them. He saw the outlines of stiffened nipples as he jerked to a stop. She was humming, which was probably why she hadn't heard his approach.

He stood, riveted to the spot as she continued to bathe. She stood back up, and the hanging breasts settled on her chest, sagging somewhat as her hands smoothed over her belly and thighs. He felt the tightening in his groin, but this time he didn't look away. He couldn't. He hadn't seen many paintings, and the ones he had seen, even in a saloon, couldn't hold a candle to what he was seeing now. Even though there was no detail, her form, outlined by firelight, made her seem like some magical creature, calling to the man in him.

He realized he was holding his breath, and let it out slowly. The last thing he wanted was to get caught intruding on her privacy. It wasn't because of any gentlemanly feelings now, though. He just didn't want her to run away. He wanted to keep watching her.

His horse ruined everything.

It had probably smelled him, having a keener nose than the humans in the area. It trotted toward him, splashing through the water and whinnying at its master.

Bella, startled by the big beast going past her, moved and saw AJ standing by the stream, not twenty feet away, as the fire illuminated his form. Her "Eeek" was accompanied by one arm covering breasts she didn't know were hidden in the dark, and the hand of the other arm going to her groin.

"I'm sorry!" blurted AJ. "I didn't know you were here." The horse butted his chest and almost knocked him down. "I was going to do the same thing."

Bella whirled and ran on bare feet that danced on small stones and sticks as she tried to get away. She yelped and stopped, lifting a foot, hopping on the other as she felt the injured one.

"Turn around!" she gasped.

AJ did so, finally paying some attention to his horse, which was obviously looking for something to eat. It was disgusted by the bones in his hand and snorted.

Hearing nothing, he stayed turned away for long minutes. Finally he peeked, only to find that the pool was deserted, and Bella was nowhere in sight. Sighing, he started stripping his own clothing off, piling his things on the sand beside the pool.

He didn't stand, like Bella had. He tried to immerse himself in the water, sitting. It came to his waist, and covered his legs. He washed over and over, even dunking his head, making sure that the stink of death was gone. Then he washed his clothes and the bones he'd brought with him.

It wasn't until he stood up to let the wind dry him, that he realized he had nothing to put on except what he'd taken off. On the trail it wouldn't have mattered. He'd have just walked naked back to camp, letting the air dry him, and put on clean clothes. He sighed. Getting the wet pants on was a lot of work. He left the shirt off and carried his boots in one hand, the bones and horseshoe in the other.

Bella was fussing over the cast iron pot sitting on the edge of the fire when he arrived at the campsite. She looked up. Even in the weak light of the fire he could see her blush.

"I'm really sorry," he said.

"You look a sight," she muttered. "I suppose you bathed in your clothes."

"No," he said, confused. "I just didn't have anything else to put on."

"Your planning skills leave somewhat to be desired," she said darkly. "Unless you planned on spying on me."

"How was I supposed to know you'd be there?" he asked.

"Why didn't you come straight to the wagon?" she shot back.

"Because I stank!" he barked. "I was trying to spare you the odor!"

"Well you certainly didn't spare me the embarrassment," she mumbled. "My own son saw me bare naked when I ran back to camp!"

"He's a lucky boy," said AJ, without thinking. He looked up into the dark branches of the trees above and groaned.

"You are impertinent!" she scolded.

"All right," he said. "I'm impertinent. I stumbled upon you bathing, and took advantage of you. You may horsewhip me in the morning. Right now, though, I'm starved, and that smells good." He looked around. "Where are the others?"

"I sent them to gather wood," she sniffed. "While I made myself decent."

"In the dark?" AJ looked around. "What if there are Indians about?"

Bella stood straight up, a look of horror on her face. "Indians!?"

"This has been their land for centuries," said AJ. "Sometimes they don't take kindly to the white man using it, and capturing prisoners is a rite of passage for their young men."

"You have to find them!" gasped Bella. She started screaming their names.

As it turned out, both teens were just outside the ring of firelight. Each had one stick in either hand. As they ran into the light it was obvious both were scared and had gone only far enough that their mother thought they were gone. It was also obvious that they had probably heard everything that had been spoken between the adults.

"I should get pa's gun," said Frank Jr., breathlessly.

"You don't need any guns," said AJ, sighing. "Indians don't go out in the dark. They're afraid of evil spirits."

"They don't? Then why did you scare me like that?" Bella's face twisted with her frown.

AJ thought about that for a minute. He had no idea why he'd brought Indians up. He'd known there was little danger. They hadn't seen any sign of Indians, and the red men steered clear of the Chisholm Trail, for the most part. Drovers had guns and weren't afraid to use them. Horsebound on a good cutting horse, a cowboy was easily as mobile as the native warriors were, and nothing beat a six shooter for close-in combat. The Indians knew all of that.

"I don't know," he finally admitted. "I guess I just wanted to get off the subject of getting caught seeing you... " He trailed off. Everyone present was thinking the word "naked." He might as well have just said it.

Things calmed down and the meal was served. It was, indeed, beans, but there was some dried meat mixed with it, and crackers. It filled the belly, which was the point.

When all had eaten, Becky was sent to clean the pot with sand and creek water. Bella stood, waiting for her to return, and took the girl and pot to the back of the wagon.

"The men sleep under the wagon," she said firmly.

The next morning, after a breakfast of more beans, this time mixed with rice, AJ cleaned the bare hoof of his horse and used Bella's hammer to nail his hard-won shoe onto his horse's hoof. The horse seemed to know all was well, and pranced a bit when it was let loose.

AJ wanted to ride, but thought it might be too soon. It was better that the horse had a day to walk normally, and let the leg rest.

On this day the women rode on the wagon, while AJ and Frank Jr. walked. Little had been said between Bella and AJ during the morning. There was still an air of tension between them.

As they walked, Frank Jr. was the one asking the questions this time. He wanted to know everything. He asked about cows, and what cowboys did, and about Indians and outlaws. He asked how many men AJ had killed, having no idea that AJ wasn't proud of what he'd done. To distract him, AJ started teaching him things about nature. The boy knew some things, but his education was woefully inadequate. He couldn't tell the difference between tracks and scratches in the dirt, and his judging of distance was seriously flawed.

At one point AJ walked over to the wagon and looked up at Bella.

"Where, exactly, are we going?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said stiffly.

"Then how will we know when we get there?" he asked.

"I don't know that either," she said, frowning.

"How long do you want me to stay with you?" he asked, expecting her to suggest that he ride off immediately.

The woman stared at him for a few seconds. Her children stared at her.

"Until we get there," she said.

It was later that day that AJ decided to try the horse out. He was tired of walking and the horse's gait seemed normal. There was no swelling on the ankle of the repaired hoof, or any of the muscles in the leg. The horse stood placidly as it was saddled and the bridle put on. As soon as AJ mounted, however, it jinked. AJ knew it would - it always did - and he swayed in the saddle expertly until the animal settled down. He didn't know it, but to the others, it looked like he had just ridden a bucking bronco, and they were impressed.

It was mid afternoon when, from his perch on top of the horse, AJ saw the first cow. It was merely a dark spot in the prairie grass at the edge of the trail, but it drew his attention. His horse, upon detecting the cow, began to herd it without any command. It was a little wild, but AJ drove it toward the wagon, thinking to just shoot it and butcher it for the meat. It tired of running and slowed to a walk, old habits coming back to it. Based on the brand, a lazy R that AJ had never seen before, he made the assumption that it had strayed from some herd being driven to the rail head.

Bella was delighted by the find, but not for the same reason AJ was.

"Milk!" she sighed. "At last we can have milk."

When AJ had seen the cow he hadn't paid any attention to the fact that it had an udder. Now that he did, though, it made him wonder. It wasn't odd that she was out here. Sometimes a cow or two ended up in a herd of steers being driven north. But a full udder meant there was a calf somewhere, and he hadn't seen that.

He went back out to look for the calf. The cow had probably laid down to have its calf and been left behind on the drive. That would account for it being a stray. Crisscrossing the tall grass he eventually found what was left of the calf. Probably a third of the bones were missing, but the pitifully small looking rib cage and a lot of hide was still left. It had been killed recently, which was why mamma was still hanging around. The predators had gone for the calf instead of a full grown and angry longhorn.

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