“He’s beddin’ down with a white woman and it ain’t right,” Boris barked at his wife.
“They’re married, Boris. For heaven’s sake, let that poor man alone,” she scolded him angrily.
But Boris didn’t move away from the door and leaned into Cody, getting as close to his face as he could. “You sleep in the barn with all the other animals,” he snarled. “It ain’t fit for a white woman to bed down with no Injun.”
Cody met the man’s icy gaze with one of his own. “Fine. I just want my wife to get well again and we’ll be moving on.”
Wife? Suzanne thought hazily. Why would he call me his wife?
Marda grabbed Boris by the arm and dragged him away from the door. “You are terrible,” she said heatedly. “How dare you treat these people like this? His wife is sick and with child. Have you no compassion?”
He glowered at her. “You’re gettin’ on my nerves, woman,” he said impatiently.
“Hah,” she declared indignantly. “Don’t you ‘woman’ me, you old fool. Put some wood on the fire while I go get dressed, and Cody?”
He looked at her.
“You’re welcome to stay in the house. If anybody goes to sleep in the barn, it’s going to be that old coot,” she said fiercely, pointing at her husband.
Under different circumstances, Cody might have laughed at how the little woman pushed around the mountain man, but he was too tired and edgy to find humor in much of anything. He went back into the bedroom and closed the door. “I have to get out of here,” he said uneasily as he started to get dressed. “Boris can’t stand the sight of me.”
Suzanne started to get up as she looked around. “Where are my clothes?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed and began to pull his boots on. “No. You stay here. I’ll come back for you,” he said quietly.
“Again?” she asked in a trembling voice and grasped his arm. “Cody, no. We have to stay together.”
He could hear the fear in her voice and see it in her eyes. “I’ll be back for you. I promise.”
“When? Where will you go?”
He took her hand, seeing her eyes filling with tears. “Honey, you have to get well so I can take you back to where I found you. It’s a long, hard trip and you have to be in good health to make it. I’ll be back in two weeks to check on you. Try to understand,” he told her softly, caressing her slim fingers. “I’ll be around. I’m not going to leave you.”
“Take me with you,” she whispered. “Please. I can ride my own horse. I can keep up,” she begged.
He watched tears slip down her tanned cheeks and colossal guilt swept through him. He wanted to be with her and stay with her, but if he didn’t leave, either he or Boris would end up getting shot. He really hated to leave Marda a widow after all she’d done for them.
“That isn’t the problem, sweetheart. Not at all,” he said barely above a whisper. “You’re sick and you need to get well. It’s cold and snowing outside and you need to stay warm. I can’t provide you shelter like this,” he said sweeping his arm toward the room. “It would be caves and shelters I build out of tree boughs. It’s too cold for you, honey,” he told her consolingly, but could see he wasn’t reaching her.
He held her face in his hands and kissed her softly for a long moment. “I’ll be back,” he promised. “I will never leave you, Suzanne. You have touched me like no woman has before. I will be back.”
“Let me go with you,” she pleaded, gazing into his dark eyes. “I’ll do everything you tell me.”
“Sh-h,” he whispered and drew her against him. “No, honey. You need to stay here where it’s warm and there’s plenty of food. It’ll be okay. I’ll be back in two weeks.”
“No,” she whispered in his ear and kissed his neck. “Take me with you.”
“The weather is just too bad right now. Stay here, honey. I won’t worry so much if I know you’re safe.”
She drew away and looked at him. “Is it sex? I’ll have sex with you if that’s what you want.”
“As much as that appeals to me, it isn’t like that. It has nothing to do with it. I just want you to be warm, safe, and get well so we can get you back to where you need to be,” he reasoned and kissed her again.
He got off the bed and dug into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out his rosary. He straightened the dark wooden beads on it and handed it to her, the silver crucifix swinging as she took it.
She wept quietly as she looked at it. “You need this.”
“Keep it. It’s from me to you,” he told her softly and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
Before she could say anything more, he was gone. She struggled out of bed to stop him, but by the time she got to the front door, he was out of sight. “Cody,” she whimpered, holding his rosary in her hand. “Cody, please don’t go,” she wept and tried to follow him until Marda caught her around the waist and led her back inside.
“He said he will come back and he will. I don’t think he can leave you for long,” she said, patting her belly with a little smile. “Think of your child, Suzanne. Staying here is better for him than being out there in the cold and snow.”
She knew Marda was right and she knew Cody was right, but it didn’t ease her pain as she watched him leave on his big black horse.
Her heart broke. She had been left again by the only man she ever truly loved.
Chapter 30
Cody wandered around the woods, living off the small game he hunted and taking refuge in a shelter he’d made from pine and spruce boughs. It was still cold, but the storm had broken the day he’d left the Claybornes and the wind had died down substantially.
He missed Suzanne. He thought of her constantly and his heart ached. He would wait the two weeks he’d promised, but knew she wouldn’t be ready to travel then. It would be just a visit, but it would be worth it just to see her again.
On his eighth day in the wilderness, he decided he would go to the nearby town to see if he could find out anything about the raid at the fort that had been close to his village or the village itself. He needed to know if it was safe for him to get Suzanne out of the Claybornes and make their way back to the scene of her accident. He knew the other warriors had been in pursuit and hoped they would have given up by now. They were far away from the village but his people knew how to take care of themselves in the mountains. They did it during the hot summer months, but stayed away in the winter because of the intense cold, lack of food, and uncertainty of snowstorms.
He wasn’t sure exactly where the town was located, but five days later, he found it. He would be late in getting back to Suzanne, but figured this was pretty important. On his way out of the mountains, he’d gone by the Clayborne’s and had seen Boris outside chopping wood but no sign of Suzanne. He hoped she was okay and went on his way without being noticed.
~~~
Cody had changed into a trapper, trading his blue jeans for buckskins and his duster for a bearskin coat that he’d found in Boris’s barn, and pulled his hat down so it partially hid his face. He’d tied his hair back with a leather strip and tucked it under his hat, hoping the only thing that might raise suspicion would be the color of his skin, but so far, it hadn’t been an issue. He was riding down the street, passing others who were walking or riding and nobody seemed to notice him. It was good.
He’d never been here before so he took a little ride through the center of town, looking at all the establishments, spotting a hotel where he hoped to get a room and a bath, a livery where he would get Titan taken care of, a restaurant and a saloon, a dress shop and a general mercantile. He was hoping to get everything he wanted, but knew it was all contingent on whether they dealt with Indians.
He tethered Titan to the hitching post in front of the saloon and saw three other Indian men sitting outside on the boardwalk, passing a bottle of whiskey between them, speaking quietly and laughing. He thought it was sad that they had lost so much in the last few years…land, animals for food, their way of li
fe, and their pride. They’d had it all and now they had nothing. They’d lost their self-respect and their dignity and sat outside a saloon waiting for handouts.
It wasn’t just the way with these Indians but all Indians, including his own Chiricahua. It made him feel guilty to think he’d been instrumental in their adversities, but he’d been lied to by the government just like they had and had acted in good faith. That eased his conscience a little, but it still bothered him.
He didn’t acknowledge them as he went inside the warm, well-lit room where the piano music was loud and lively and people laughed, danced, and drank. There were soldiers in the room as well as a few other trappers and hunters while the saloon girls were busy serving drinks and keeping lonely men company with their gleeful laughs and unladylike behavior.
He made his way to the bar and stood beside a stinky, passed out old man who had his head and arms on the bar, snoring loudly. He looked at his heavily bearded face and could tell from his buckskins and coat made of buffalo hide that he was a trapper and hoped he was giving off the same façade.
“Can I buy you a drink, handsome?”
He looked at the voluptuous blond woman who was scantily dressed in a flashy green silk dress, black lace gloves and stockings, and high heeled black shoes. A matching green feather stuck out of her hair and she wore a green ribbon around her neck. She had pretty blue eyes and a very pretty face even if she did wear too much paint, but he wasn’t interested in what she was selling. But she might know something. “How about if I buy you one instead?” he suggested with a smile.
She smiled in return. “Thank you. That would be mighty nice of you, sir.”
He paid for a bottle of whiskey and got two glasses and led her to an empty table that needed to be cleared. He shoved the empty glasses off to the side and set the other two down.
“What’s your name?” she asked in a soft purr, watching him open the bottle with his teeth.
He’d never cared for the masquerade saloon girls put on when they were trying to get business. He found them to be phony both inside and out. He had taken more than a few up on their offers, but the results were always the same. He always felt cold and empty and like he’d had sex with a wild woman. It was okay, but now that he’d met Suzanne and knew he was in love, he wanted his next time to be with her.
“John,” he replied as he filled the glasses. “What’s yours?”
“Joanie,” she said with a smile and offered him her hand. “Glad to meet you, John.”
Instead of kissing it like she wanted him to, he shook it as he would shake any other stranger’s hand. “Glad to meet you, Joanie.”
She dropped her hand with a little pout, but quickly got over it. “Are you out trapping?” she asked conversationally.
He nodded. “Have you been here long?”
“About a year. Have you been trapping long?” she asked as she sipped the drink.
“Awhile now, yes. Have you heard of anything happening down south?” he asked casually.
“Nothing in the lines of trapping.”
He refilled her empty glass. “No Indian uprisings?”
She smiled. “Do you want to be a soldier?” she asked with a laugh.
He shook his head. “No. Just thinking about heading down that way. I just don’t want to get caught in any wars or anything.”
She thought for a moment. “Well, I did hear a little something about an uprising down there that wiped out every man at the fort, but that was a few months back.”
That long? He’d lost all track of time. “Hmm. Who was the man in charge?”
“Well, I did hear some soldiers talking about a Major Richards, but I can’t be sure he was the man in charge. I do know he was there, though. Murdered, too, in a most awful way. Those Indians can be a mean bunch,” she said with obvious distaste. If her voice didn’t reveal her contempt for them, the wrinkle of her nose did.
He nodded, knowing it was true. “Yes but they aren’t all that way,” he said quietly.
“I suppose not,” she conceded with a smile and leaned toward him with her chin resting in her hand. “Why all the interest?”
“Like I said, I’m thinking of heading down that way. Did the army catch the renegades who did it?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “They sure did. Burned their village to the ground and killed everyone in it.”
He thought of his good friend Lone Wolf who’d been very loyal to Chief Tall Deer, but only because he was the chief. He’d never taken part in any of the chief’s sadistic rituals with women and had never been mean with his own wife. He’d been born into the village where Cody had found himself as a child. Lone Wolf had taken a big chance on befriending him and Cody had never turned his back on him. They’d stayed together through white man’s school and had learned to hunt, trap, and track together. Even after Lone Wolf had married and become a father, they’d remained close. Now that he was gone, Cody had nothing left. He didn’t have a job anymore, his people were massacred and soon Suzanne would be gone from his life, too. He was alone.
He pushed the dismal thoughts out of his mind and tried to focus on Joanie and what she was telling him.
“Served the heathens right, you know. I mean, how dare they go into a fort at night and castrate those poor men and hang them up so they bleed to death,” she said with disgust.
He wanted to tell her that wasn’t true, but didn’t want to raise any suspicion. He wanted to be in and out of here in a day and didn’t want to get wrapped up with the law. “Is that what they did?” he asked curiously as he raised the glass to his lips but didn’t drink.
“That’s what I heard,” she said simply and tossed the drink down her throat. “Awful damn people those Indians are.”
He took a sip of the whiskey, really hating the taste of it and set it back down without agreeing or disagreeing. He yawned, covering his mouth politely with his hand. “Excuse me.”
She smiled. “So polite,” she said in wonder. “You sure do talk smart for a trapper,” she observed.
He smiled with a little embarrassment. “My mother taught me well. I need to go get a room. I haven’t seen a bed or a bath in weeks.”
“The hotel is right across the street,” she pointed toward the door. “It isn’t fancy, but it’s clean and heated.”
He knew he looked Indian and wondered why she was being so nice or maybe she didn’t see it. Even with his hair tucked under his hat, he still had the look and she seemed oblivious to it. She’d probably had too much whiskey.
He handed her some money as he rose to his feet. “Thank you, Joanie.”
She took it with a smile. “I sure wouldn’t mind joining you,” she said suggestively.
He gave her an easy smile and a flirtatious wink. “Another time.”
She had enough grace to blush and hollered after him, “I’m going to hold you to that.”
He laughed a little and gave her a wave and headed out the door.
He got his bath and a bed and the information he’d needed, and would leave in the morning. He hoped Suzanne would understand his reason for being late. If it had been any other woman, he wouldn’t have cared what she thought, but Suzanne was different. So very different.
He laid in the clean bed with her on his mind. He wasn’t sure how he would react to her leaving him. She had touched his life like no other person ever had, but even if he did love her, he had to let her go. She was another man’s wife and she carried her husband’s child. The man had to be worried sick about her.
Besides, he’d promised her he would get her back to her world. He intended to do just that.
Chapter 31
Suzanne stayed with Marda as she recovered, trying to stay clear of Boris. With the help of Marda’s medicines, the warmth of the cabin and the nice bed, she was better in just a matter of a couple of weeks. The cough still lingered, but it was getting better with each passing day.
While she healed, she helped Marda as much as she could. She learned to make b
read by hand and churn butter which gave her a great appreciation for grocery stores. She’d taken that for granted until now, but didn’t mind the work so much. It kept her from worrying about Cody and the fact that her baby still hadn’t moved. She was afraid he was dead. After what she’d been through, it would be no wonder, but it still saddened her.
Another storm was brewing and she began to worry about Cody in earnest. He was already two weeks late and she was thinking the worst. She wondered if Boris had killed him. He was reckless with his guns and had it out for Cody, but she didn’t ask. Boris didn’t like her, either.
He trudged into the house with a skinned animal of some sort and snow pasted to his heavy buffalo coat and his tattered old hat. He tossed the carcass onto the counter. “Here ya go, Marda,” he said happily and gave his wife a friendly peck on the cheek.
She smiled. “Stop that, you old coot,” she teased.
He laughed and took off his coat and hat and sat down at the wooden table.
Suzanne stole a glance at him, wanting to ask if he’d seen Cody while he’d been hunting, but didn’t want to get the man riled up. Maybe she would go out tonight and see if she could find him herself. She was afraid he was in trouble and knew she couldn’t count on Boris to help her find him.
Marda began to prepare the fresh meat, something Suzanne had no stomach for, and talked to her husband casually. “Did you see Cody out there?” she asked, giving her shocked friend a comforting wink.
She gave her a smile of appreciation.
“Nope. Ain’t seen a sign of him since he left, but them damn Injuns have a way of keepin’ theirselves hid away, ya know,” he said roughly. “He’s around.”
“Is it very cold out?” Suzanne asked him quietly.
“Yep. The wind is already comin’ up and I ‘spect we’ll get us some more snow before too long.”
She held her fingers over her mouth with worry as she looked out the window. The wind was blowing and the snow was beginning to fall, and Cody was out there alone. Maybe he had frozen to death or been attacked by a wild animal. Or maybe he’d lied and ditched her and was glad to be rid of her. She knew she wasn’t an easy person. She’d been a problem to him from the minute they’d met. It was the way of the world. If you have a problem, get rid of it. Why would he be any different?
For the Love of Suzanne Page 16