Fawn’s smile is wide and sweet as she says, “Oh! Thank you so very much!” She then proceeds to drag Josh by the hand upstairs to the judge’s office with her.
Just inside the office, Josh is surprised by her reaching around him, closing the door and pressing her body against his, kissing him fiercely.
After several moments, Josh finally has enough wherewithal to understand what an opportunity they’ve been given. He gives Fawn a tight hug and says gently, “We DO need to talk, my love.”
She sighs and sticks out her lower lip in a pout that Josh finds absolutely adorable. So much so, in fact he has to think of something else, otherwise they won’t be able to attend to the task at hand.
He leads her by the hand over to a chair and they sit down. He holds her hand up to his lips and kisses it gently. “I love you. I want to be with you, but before you agree to be with me, you have to know who and what I really am.”
She takes a breath as if about to argue, but he holds up his hand. “You need to know the real me, else we won’t work. Please, let me tell you my story.”
She considers the request a moment, before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, then nodding.
Josh takes a couple of moments to gather his thoughts, making sure he knows how he’s going to say what he’s thinking. In Cheyenne, he begins by describing growing up with John and Liz in the orphanage. About how he found out who his real parents were and the orphanage being burned and pillaged.
Fawn sits there, listening to his story, hanging on his every word, not blinking, barely even breathing.
He goes on to describe the trip to Springfield and seeking revenge on the Red-Legs. About how he found his tribe and clan, only to find out that his parents had already died. About his role in the War Between the States, how he’d been one of the ones to help gather information that led to the burning of Lawrence Kansas. Then of his eventual banishment from the tribe.
He goes on to tell her of finding Red-Feather and Silver-Moon, then meeting Heart-of-Falcon and, how he’s certain his dreams were about Heart-of-Falcon. He tells her about courting the young Apache woman, about being injured, then riding back to the camp. About how he was the one tasked with making sure the report made its way to Gen. Sheridan. About how he started living a lie, the life of another man. About how he served with distinction at Fort Supply, then Fort Reno and retired from the Army to be a deputy marshal. And most importantly, about his conversion with his good friend, Cherokee, to Christianity.
Finally, he describes meeting back up with John and all their misadventures since. In particular, he describes Andy and his adoption of the young girl.
Fawn’s eyes cloud over as he describes the discovery of his young daughter. At first, he’s sure that finding out about her is going to be a deal breaker, but he holds nothing back. All the details he can think of he puts into his narrative. The only thing he doesn’t explain is the discovery that Deputy Blackwolf is Joey Brouwer. He feels bad about not telling her, but it’s not his secret to tell, though he resolves to tell Joey he loves the young Cheyenne and can’t lie to her if asked about the young deputy.
As he finishes, he sees that the clock says that it’s only one o’clock. He’s surprised that it’s taken him only an hour to tell his whole story, but still sits there, patiently awaiting his love’s response.
There’s a knock on the door and Sarah opens it and keeps her head behind it, asking, “May I come in?”
Josh smiles as he says, “Sure.”
She comes in bearing several plates with food and sets them down on the desk with a smirk. “Eat it before it gets cold.”
“Thank you, ma’am. We will,” Josh promises.
She nods and leaves as quickly as she came in.
He takes Fawn hand and leads her over to the desk. They both look at the scrumptious-smelling food. Josh takes Fawn in his arms and prays a blessing over the meal quietly.
Once they’re seated and eating, he looks seriously at the pensive, yet unbelievably beautiful young Cheyenne woman in front of him. “Are you going to say anything?” he demands, unable to stand the tension any longer.
She swallows hard, then stares down at her food, picking at a dinner roll. “You’ve seen so much pain. So much loss. It’s just a lot to take in. Hearing your story just makes me more certain that I DO love you.”
He beams at hearing her say that for the first time. Something in her voice worries him, however. “But?”
She finally looks up at him through tear-filled eyes. “But, knowing you now as I do, I know I am that much more unworthy of you.”
He takes her hands and gazes deeply into her eyes. “My love! That’s not true. It’s I that is unworthy of your attention!”
Slowly, almost as if steeling herself to put her hand into a fire, she takes a deep breath. “You’ve told me your story. Now, hear mine and know why I say that.”
She looks back down at her food, picking at it now, considering her words carefully. In Cheyenne, she says in a barely audible voice, “Just after I was born, I was promised in marriage to Running-Elk, the son of my father’s brother. I hardly remember him. He was several years older than I. He was killed by a cavalry raid during the Red-River war. My father was assigned to a different troop, but when the attack came, my family was blamed for leading them to the camp.
“My uncle and his entire family were murdered. He was an elder in the tribe. My father begged, so instead of being executed as traitors, we were instead banished from our nation.” Tears flow down her cheeks. “Even still, my father was allowed to continue to serve. My mother blamed the tribe for our banishment, so we stayed as close to the whites as we could the entire time I was growing up.” She wipes her cheeks clear of the tears.
“Just before the landrun, my father was helping to remove some squatters from some land, was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. The Army kicked him out immediately.”
Josh is amazed she’s able to recount all of this so clearly. Her voice has only broken a few times. He’s amazed at the level of fortitude she’s showing with telling her story.
She takes another deep breath. “The army sent him home with thirty dollars and a bottle of whiskey. From that point on, all he did was rage against the world and get drunk.
“We lived on the reservation, as close as we could to the white man’s town of Ft. Cobb, until about six months after the landrun. Major Arbuckle came through with his troop and told us we were squatting on lands that were claimed during the landrun. My father got mad and insisted we were still on tribal lands, but Arbuckle told my parents he would allow them to live on his lands as long as they agreed to let me clean his house for him.”
Josh reaches for her hand, to comfort her, but she pulls it away.
“That first week, he would come in, be pleasant, give me small compliments on the work I was doing, then just as quickly, leave. At the beginning of the second week, he came in, smelling of whiskey and beat me.” Now the tears are flowing, unchecked. She sobs. “He left me crying on the kitchen floor, laughing at my tears. I begged him to know what I’d done wrong and he laughed all the more.
“I went out to my parent’s tent later that night and told them what had happened. My father swore revenge as my mother got everything together.” She takes a deep breath and pauses a moment to allow her voice to gain strength. “Not very long after I got there, Arbuckle came down with his shotgun and killed my father.” Her voice cracks as she recalls the memory.
Josh is so angry, he’s trembling. He barely hears as she continues.
“I could hardly move, but he hit me again, then tied me up. He made me watch as he captured, tied up, then took his pleasure of my mother. He laughed mockingly as I cried out when he killed her.”
Josh’s teeth ache as he clenches his jaw tighter and tighter. She looks up and Josh sees the emotion in her eyes. It’s like staring at a tornado, knowing you’re about to die, but captivated by the stark beauty, anyway.
“I kept begging h
im why he was doing this and all he ever said to me was, ‘You Godless devils deserve more pain than this.’ He would laugh at me more when I struggled against his . . . attentions. Then, there was that day the lawman broke in, while the major was punishing me for an unintended slight.”
Josh is captivated that this beautiful soul hasn’t completely given up yet.
“When the sheriff caught Arbuckle doing what he was, he shot the animal without second thought. I was sure I was going to die.” She takes a shuddering breath to help steady herself. “He insisted I was going to be alright, but I couldn’t think. All I could see was the man that had been torturing me for months was dead. The sheriff said to Marshal Walters that he wouldn’t be able to take me in. His wife wouldn’t let him. Marshal Walters said that he had no use for a woman who was as . . . damaged as I was. They agreed to bring me up here and talk to the judge about it. To see what he could do.”
Josh is amazed at the callousness of his old friend, until he remembers Walters saying that sometimes you have to hide being humane by being brutal. Still, he’ll speak sharply with his old friend about that the next time he sees him.
She takes a sip of water and looks away again. “Judge Logan told me I had to swear not to tell anyone that wasn’t law, about what happened to me.”
Josh nods. “I can understand the reason he said that.”
She looks at him harshly. “Judge Logan has been more of a father to me than my own was!”
His emotions in a jumble, he tries to think quickly about how to respond. “I mean to say, what’s done is done. Arbuckle can’t hurt you anymore. That is, unless someone finds out your story and uses it against you and the judge, after all.”
She sets her jaw stubbornly. “Now, do you see why I say I’m unclean?”
He looks her dead in the eye. “You had no choice but to survive his attentions.”
“I could have died.”
He shakes his head. “No, then you would have never been able to accept the Gift of Grace and live in the love and light of God.”
She starts crying again, this time in earnest. Josh gets up from his chair and wraps his arms around her, cradling her head to his chest. “I love you. You’re not unworthy. You’ve just been through so much. You deserve to be held and loved your whole life. That animal needed to die. I just wish I were the one to do it.”
She continues to cry almost uncontrollably. Unable to think of anything else he can do, he goes down on to his knees to bring his face level with hers, wipes her tears and gently kisses her.
After just a moment, she responds, and her kiss turns fierce. The kiss lasts long enough, that both are gasping for breath at the end of it.
Josh looks her in the eye and trying to keep from being lost in their golden pools, says, “Can I? Can I hold you for the rest of my life?”
She looks at him with a curious expression, then her face takes on a shocked aspect as she understands his question. She gasps, “Marry me?” Her tone of horror breaks Josh’s heart. “NO! I can’t marry you! I’ve been defiled more times than I can count. I am unclean.”
Josh looks at her and tries to show her all his love and lack of concern for her past in his look, but she’s so self-absorbed at the moment, she can’t see it.
Giving up trying to silently communicate to her, he says, “You know, that accepting the Gift of Grace means you’re a new person, right?” She nods. “You know that your sins have been forgiven by the love of the One True Christ, right?” She nods once again. “You can be reborn. You have yet to be baptized, don’t you?”
She searches his face, looking for some indication he’s lying. “I haven’t been baptized,” she says in an unsure tone.
“When you are, it symbolizes as you emerge from the water, your sins, your past, your being unclean gets washed away, making you reborn in the faith.”
She looks away, thinking. He lovingly strokes the side of her face. She places her hand over his, but doesn’t move his hand from her face, as he expected she might.
Finally, after several moments, she takes his hand off her face and kisses it gently. “I love you,” she whispers in Cheyenne.
He says quietly, “Baptism is a public way for you to declare your faith. I can talk to the preacher and you can be baptized at tonight’s service, if you want.”
She looks at him suspiciously. “Why are you pushing this so hard?”
He takes a deep breath. “Because I can see these feelings of guilt are doing nothing but hurting you. I don’t want you to hurt anymore. Ever.”
She looks him in the eye. “You DO love me, don’t you?”
He nods, keeping eye contact.
She nods. “Alright. I’ll get baptized. Tonight.”
He smiles widely. “Good! I’ll go get it set up for you, then.” He gets up quickly and grunts in pain from the sudden movement.
She gasps and stands. “Don’t do that! You’re gonna hurt yourself again!”
His grin is a little forced as he says, “A pain of love, my dear.” He turns and starts to leave, but stops, comes back to her and gives her a quick kiss. “I’ll be back in a little while. I promise.”
She grins. “Hurry back.”
He rushes downstairs, eager to embrace the love of his life as a sister in Christ.
Chapter 57
Five hours and an untold amount of frustration later, Fawn is kneeling in a washtub full of water, in front of a gathered throng.
The minister originally gave Josh serious grief when he’d mentioned baptizing Fawn. The minister called into question Fawn’s conversion, but finally acquiesced when Josh threatened to find another minister to do the service. Josh was dismayed to find out that the church has specific days they go to the river to hold their baptisms. When he explained the need, though, the minister agreed that today was the best day to perform the service. So, it was up to Josh to convince enough people from the church to come out. Then there was the fact he had to convince his brother and the rest of the crew from Denver, except Liz, to attend the ceremony. Admittedly, that was the easiest part of it all. Finally, he had to find someone that had a tub large enough to be able to fully immerse the beautiful Cheyenne woman in.
As the sun is setting on the horizon, Pastor Ben holds the service, describing what the public declaration of baptism is and what it means to those taking part, what their role in her declaration means.
Just as Pastor Ben is about to perform the baptism, however, Fawn motions to him and speaks quietly with him for several moments. He smiles widely and nods. “Marshal Jacobs, would you come here for a moment, please?”
Just a bit apprehensive, Josh steps out of the gathered crowd in front of Fawn and steps over to where the minister is. When he gets close enough, Pastor Ben steps aside and says quietly, “She asked for you to do it, not me.”
Josh gasps and, feeling humbled, steps up to the tub.
Pastor Ben steps forward and asks, “Fawn of the Morning Dew, do you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Do you repent of your crimes against God and beg his forgiveness?”
In a clear voice, she says, “I do.”
Josh places his arm behind her back and his opposite hand over her mouth and nose, as the pastor says, “I now baptize you in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.”
He makes sure to totally immerse her in the clear cool water of the tub for just a moment, before pulling her out, to the cheers of the gathered crowd.
He wraps his arms around her and says quietly in her ear, “Welcome to the family, my love.”
She leans in and answers, “Yes! Yes, with all my heart. God, yes! I WILL marry you!”
Also by Judge Rodriguez
Legends of the Landrun
The Marshal of Denver
Deputy at Large (Coming Soon)
Also by Alanna Rodriguez
Legends of the Landrun
The Marshal of Denver
Deputy at Large (Coming Soon)
About th
e Author
Judge Rodriguez was born and raised in Little Axe, Oklahoma. The son of U.S. Air Force Veterans, he followed the military legacy of his family and served his own tenure in the U.S.A.F.
Alanna Radle Rodriguez was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma. The great-great granddaughter of one of the first pioneers to settle in Indian Territory/Oklahoma, her roots run deep.
Judge and Alanna met in a reenactment group and have a combined forty-nine years of reenactment and living history experience. They both love the history of their home state, thoroughly enjoy doing research and relish working at the 1889 Territorial Schoolhouse in Edmond. They currently live near Edmond.
The Marshal of Denver is the first installment of a long line of co-authored books written together in the Legends of the Landrun Series.
Deputy at Large Page 39