“I've got to go,” he said softly. “I've been in Howling Wolf long enough.”
Catherine searched his eyes for a moment then she nodded sadly. “For some reason, I thought you might say that today. I'm just thankful for the time we've had together.” She paused as her fingers played with the lapel of his jacket; then she asked, “Do you think you'll ever be back through this part of the country?”
Tucson shrugged. “There's no telling where I'll be from one day to the next. I could be back.” He kissed her again. “But don't wait for me,” he added. “Things should be getting better for you from now on.”
Catherine smiled. “I suppose that’s your intuition working again.”
“You could call it that,” Tucson said with a laugh. He released her, went back down the stairs then turned around. “Why don't you stay there on the stairs until I’m gone?” he suggested. “I'd like to remember you just as you are now.”
“Alright,” Catherine said, a single tear cutting a path down her cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
Tucson stepped through the back door and into the glaring sunlight. The stallion was already saddled, and it stood waiting in the coolness of the shed. Tucson paused to tighten the cinch strap then swung into the saddle.
The horse was rested and, despite the heat, eager to go.
“Okay, big fella,” Tucson said affectionately, as he guided the stallion out of the corral and closed the gate behind them. “We're on our way.”
About the Author
Richard Dawes was born and raised in California and now resides in a small town in Texas. After a tour of duty in the Marine Corps, he spent fifteen years in management in the Moving and Storage, Computer and Credit Union industries. He began writing short stories as a boy, and has written several historical novels. A long time student of Native American traditions, he includes positive references to those traditions throughout the Tucson Kid series. Other sub-themes explored in the series are authentic masculinity, relationships and power— what are they and how do they manifest.
Other books by the author at Melange
Storm Rider, a Tucson Kid Western
Death Song, a Tucson Kid Western
Blood Moon, a Tucson Kid Western
Gunman, a Tucson Kid Western
Lone Horseman, a Tucson Kid Western
Coming Soon! Another Tucson Kid Western
Chinatown, a Tucson Kid Western
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Lone Horseman
A Tucson Kid Western #5
by Richard Dawes
In Lone Horseman, a young woman, Nora Eddington, narrates the exciting saga of her meeting with the Tucson Kid on a cattle drive she was taking with her father from Nevada to Arizona. A band of outlaws want the herd, and they are willing to kill her father and his crew of drovers to get it. Nora's world is shattered when she passes through a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood as the Tucson Kid battles to protect her, her father and their herd.
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High Mesa
by Clifton Bush
Gordon Simpson had one ambition in life, and that was to pocket as many dollars as he could. He didn't count on a chance encounter with an old friend who would save his life, nor did he predict that he would run into a beautiful blonde with whom he would fall in love with.
Soon he began to rethink his life, to put behind what was and become someone better. That was until Dori was killed, and from then on he vowed his revenge. It was a long time since he had felt anger like this.
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War-Crossed Eyes
by Joseph Hirsch
It is less than a year before the bloodiest chapter in American History, the Civil War, commences in earnest. A Blackfoot Indian rides the prairie, looking for revenge on the society which has stolen his son from him. He is about to cross paths with a beautiful young woman whose disappearance will send ripples through the Western Frontier, conscripting mercenaries and mutineers into the hunt to bring the Indian to justice and the girl to safety. But nothing is easy in the Kansas-Nebraska territory and anyone brave or foolhardy enough to try their hand must first suffer the brutality of man and beast, which only grows in intensity the further west that a seeker might travel.
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