by Lexi Sinner
“Yes, Grandfather.” The door was quickly opened as she spoke, and her grandfather quickly grabbed her and gave her a hug.
“What’s wrong, darlin’? Why are you making such a fuss in the middle o’ the night in your nightgown?” She looked down and realized that she was still in her pajamas, and blushed.
“S-sorry grandfather. I…..” How could she even begin to explain what was going on in her mind?
“Don’t just stand there, come on in.” She obediently walked inside, and heard the door close behind her. “Honey, its Adele. She looks awful shook up. “Her grandfather called out loudly, and there was a stirring in the other room. It seemed her grandmother was also awake and quickly came into the room, and gave her granddaughter a big hug.
“What’s wrong, honey? You look as white as a sheet. Come on, let me make you some hot tea.” They went into the kitchen, and sat her down at the table. After a few minutes, her grandmother poured her some hot tea, and sat down with her. Both of her grandparents looked concerned, but they waited for her to drink some before asking questions. It was her grandmother who finally spoke.
“Did something happen to your dad? Is that why you came here?”
“No Ma’am.”
Her grandmother looked confused, and asked, “Why are you here, dear? What’s wrong?”
Not sure what to say, Adele just started talking, trying to explain everything as fast as she could. “I….I left. I just….I don’t know what I was thinking, but I couldn’t be…traded for horses…..I don’t want to live with that man, and if I’m going to leave, I just wanted to be able to….to try to go somewhere else, somewhere far from him, where I never have to see him again. Somewhere that I can be free.” She looked at her grandmother, who was confused by the outburst.
“Calm down honey, and tell me nice and slow.” He grandmother considered about the outburst. “What do you mean, traded for horses?”
Over the next hour, her grandmother slowly worked the story out of her. She then looked to her husband, and frowned at him. “Can you believe this? I’ve told you for years that he was a horrible dad, but trying to trade his daughter like that?”
The grandfather nodded. “Horses are always useful though.”
The grandmother glared at him. “I don’t care, this young dear has been through enough.” She turned back to her granddaughter, who’s heart was pounding in her chest, scared of what was about to happen. She spoke softly to Adele, “What is it that you want to do, honey?”
There was no turning back now. This somehow gave her confidence to speak, though meekly. “I want to leave. I want to go somewhere he can never find me.” She stopped, and tried to bite her tongue, but couldn’t stop herself. “I never want to see him again.”
Her grandmother looked over at her husband, a worried look on her face. “Dear, we need to help her.”
“He’ll come here looking for her, ya’ll ought to know that. What do you expect me to do about it?”
“We can keep her safe here, let her find her own way.”
Her grandfather thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No, it ain’t right to lie to our boy about his daughter, and he’ll want her back. He’ll win out, eventually.”
“So what do you suggest that we do?”
Her grandfather thought for a moment. “Make me some coffee, let me think for a bit.” Her grandmother nodded, and made the drink for him. They sat around the table for a while, before he eventually admitted. “Things haven’t been easy round here for anyone. I can’t think of anyone who would be able to take her in.”
Her grandmother frowned at him, and then looked back at Adele. “What do you want to do, dear?’
Adele, who had calmed down some by this point, looked back at her. “I want to go far away, somewhere where I can’t be found.”
“Harold, what about that Franklin boy? Didn’t you say he was leaving town?”
Her grandfather nodded, slowly. “Ayup, he just got married and he’s going out to Oregon. His brother lives out that ways and going to put them up and help the new couple get some land to live on. Why?”
“Well, do you think maybe she can go with them? It will be a way for her to get away from her dad, and maybe live the life that she deserves.”
Her grandfather thought on this for a long time, and finished his coffee. “Well, I reckon if she wants to. They were askin’ me for some help before they went on the road. Maybe if we give them a little money for the trip, they’d be willin’ to look after her.”
Her grandmother looked back at Adele, and the few things she had with her. “What do you think dear? We’ve never liked the way your father has treated you, and if we can’t take care of, maybe we can give you a chance to find your own way.”
Adele looked at her grandparents, surprised and a little excited. She would have a chance to go out and see the west, like she had always dreamed. She felt bad that she was putting her grandparents out, but she didn’t know what to say. Finally, she started crying, and hugged her grandmother tightly, speaking into her chest, “Yes. Yes, please.”
From there, they talked about the details, and her grandfather got a little bit of money together. Adele already had all of her possessions, and her grandmother gave her the new dress she had made for her birthday. Knowing that time was short, Adele and her grandfather quickly set out to try to make the arrangements after she had said her goodbyes to her grandmother.
Franklin and his new wife were more than happy to have the extra company, and the money that they were given sealed the deal. They promised to let her live with them until she found herself a husband or her own place. The grandfather wished them the best, and after a few arrangements, they left later that night.
The trip was expected to take about a month, and at first, Adele didn’t speak very much, and every time she heard a male voice, she jumped. The new couple let her have the time she needed to sort herself out. About a week after they left, she started to relax, and spend time with the new bride, Sarah. Adele helped her with the daily chores, and helped her to carry water and wash clothes and cook dinner whenever they stopped. Franklin very much enjoyed the food that Adele cooked, so she began to teach Sarah some of her recipes. At one point on the trip, after about 15 days, Adele realized that she had started to smile for no reason. She wouldn’t have said, if asked, that she was happy, but for the first time, she didn’t feel like she was a burden.
When it rained, she and Sarah would sit in the back of the wagon and talk about life, or books, or where they were headed. Adele started to experience some odd feelings that she wasn’t failure with, such as hope. She enjoyed being around the new couple, and Franklin was always kind to her. Sarah herself was only a year older then Adele, and told her many things about being newly married. She could only marvel at the difference between her and Sarah’s life.
It was about 24 days into the trip when disaster struck. For the past ten days, whenever they stopped in a town or an outpost, they were warned to be on the lookout for Indians. They were known to attack caravans, and the further west they went, and the further from the ‘civilized world’, the more often they would hear stories about it. Sometimes they would pass by broken or destroyed wagons, once or twice they had seen a group of wagons that had been burnt to the ground, but Franklin always assured that that Indians only attacked wagons after dark. He also carried a rifle with him, “Just in case” He said.
It was around 2 p.m. when the attack happened. Adele and Sarah were sitting in the back of the wagon, enjoying their conversations, when suddenly Franklin shouted out, “Injun riders! Get your head down, girls.”
He quickly stopped the wagon, and pulled out his rifle, and Adele heard a gunshot for the first time in her life. It sounded loud, like thunder, and in the distance, she could hear the sound of horses riding and getting closer.
“Damn, there’s so many of them!” Franklin shouted, and suddenly the thunder of the rifle was heard again. “What are they messing with us for?
”
Adele grabbed Sarah, and they buried their head in each other, both terrified and not sure what to do. They lay there, and when Sarah started to cry, Adele couldn’t help it and started to cry as well. The sound of thunder shot out again. “We’ve got to get out of here, hold on tight!” Franklin yelled, as he tried to spur on the horses. The wagon shot forth with a jerk, and they were moving faster than Adele had ever gone before, but she could still hear the sound of horses, and they were getting closer.
“Bloody Hell!” That was the last sound Adele heard, before the wagon started to loose balance and fell over on its side. She and Sarah were thrown from the ground, and she hit the top of the wagon. She lay there, stunned, and heard Sarah screaming near her. She tried to get up and see what was happening, but her head felt thick, her eyes were watering so much that she couldn’t see anything. She tried to get up and the carnage inside the wagon tripped her, causing her to fall out of the wagon.
She felt hands grabbing her by the hair and dragging her, she reached up to grab the hand, to stop the horrible agony in her head, but to no luck. She kicked her feet, trying to stand up, but nothing helped. After a moment, the hand let her go and she fell into the dirt. She looked over and saw Franklin, a tomahawk in his eyes. She screamed to him, but he wasn’t moving.
“Sarah!” She called out, terrified.
“Adele, run!” She looked for the voice and saw Sarah running for her life. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as she saw an Indian on a horse ride up behind her and hit her hard in the back with another tomahawk. Sarah seemed to jump in the air for a moment and then fell face down in the dirt, barely moving. Adele screamed, and looked around her, and saw that the Indians were going through the wagon, carrying everything that they could. She saw the one that had dragged her by her hair was still standing over her, looking down at her, an evil smile on his face. He was thumbing the blade of his knife, and Adele knew that she was about to die.
The Indian grabbed her by the hair and pulled up hard enough to expose her throat. Adele felt everything slow down, and she could taste the metal against her neck, and she silently prayed. That was when she heard thunder in the distance, and she found comfort in that. She was dying, but the world wasn’t, it would keep going, and while she rotted here, the rains would fall on her lifeless body. It was a small comfort, but comfort none the less.
When the hand holding her hair dropped her, she knew she was dead, and fell into the ground, not bothering to catch herself. She listened as the thunder drew closer, and heard sounds of confusion, and running away. She just lay there in the dirt, but tried to reach up, to touch her neck, to see if she could move, and if she was in one piece. When she felt no blood and no cut, she was thankful, and heard the sounds of horses getting further away, and the sound of thunder quickly coming closer.
She didn’t dare to lift her head, for fear that she was wrong, and it would fall off, but as the sound of thunder got closer, she realized that it sounded like the rifle Franklin had used, only not quite as loud and more of them. She heard horses now getting closer and she started to carefully lift herself off the ground, holding her neck close. She heard the sound of someone jumping off a horse and footsteps getting closer to her.
“Are you alive, ma’am?” She looked up, into the bluest eyes she had ever seen.
***
The cowboy stood over her, holding out his hand to her. She reached out slowly to take it, and blushed at the strong, calloused skin. He lifted her to her feet as though she weighed nothing, the movement surprising her, causing her to fall forward against his chest. He didn’t move at all as her weight fell against him, and when her head landed against his chest, she could feel his strength. She reached out and wrapped her arm around him, trying to balance herself, and pulled herself closer against him. He smelled musty and like dirt, as well as some other scent that she didn’t know, but made him smell wonderful. She stayed that way, until she felt his chest moving as he laughed deeply.
“You’re okay now, ma’am. Those injuns are only brave when they have the upper hand.” Looking around at the carnage that surrounded him, he shook his head. “we should probably get moving though, might not be too long before they come back to pillage what’s left, and they might have more numbers then what we saw here.”
Adele looked up at him, taking a step back, trying to understand what he said. Her eyes locked on his face, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. His long brown hair was wild, blowing in the wind, his face was dirty but handsome, and his bright blue eyes seemed to see everything. “But what about my friends? Can’t we bury them?” He looked at her, and she couldn’t meet his gaze, her face felt like it was on fire and that he could see straight through her, see everything that she had gone through, and why. This wasn’t the man she was had been dreaming of, he was far beyond all that she had ever dreamed. The heat grew from her face, filling her chest, and quickly going down through her body.
“Dessert will take care of them. Better to get what we can and get moving, so we don’t end up joining em face down in the dirt.” He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, but her knees suddenly gave out on her. He held her to keep her from falling, and laughed heartily. He could tell she was young, naïve, and obviously falling in love. He looked over at his partners, “Gather up what’s left, and put a saddle on that horse that’s left. I don’t want to be here come nightfall, and can’t have a lady walking.”
His friend laughed. “You know we ain’t got no sidesaddle for her.” They all laughed at that, and went to work, while he carried her over to a rock and sat her down. “We’re going to get moving soon, do you know how to ride a horse?” She shook her head no to him. “Alright, all you’ll need to do is sit down, put your feet in the stirrups, and hold on. I’ll guide your hose as we go, alright?”
She nodded, and he went to help his partners get everything they could from the wreckage. Best not to leave anything to the injuns, each bullet they have puts them in pointless danger. She watched them work, keeping her eyes on the leader. Actually, she couldn’t stop looking at him, his tan body, muscular arms, and the way he moved. He was a man who was strong and free, who had rushed in to save her. He had saved her life, and anything he asked, she would gladly give him.
The hot sun started to set by the time they were finishing up. The few things left undamaged was some food, the little water they had, and some clothes. They put the bodies in the remains of the caravan, and set it on fire, as they rode off. Better to leave nothing but ashes.
They rode in the setting light, with Adele’s horse being led by the handsome man she couldn’t take her eyes off of. The other two cowboys rode behind her, keeping their eyes open for any further trouble. Before long, the sun had set, and darkness fell on the land, and the temperature quickly dropped, leaving Adele slightly confused. The cooler air felt better on her body, but she felt a very warm pleasant sensation between her legs as the horse carried her, a very gentle back and forth from the saddle. She tried to ignore it, but the feeling continued building, and soon it was all she could think about. She found herself pushing down against the saddle as it rubbed against her, and a small moan escaped her lips.
The cowboy in front of her turned his head to look at her, and smiled at the look on her face. “You okay, ma’am?” She heard the two behind her laughing, but didn’t pay much attention to it.
“Yes. What is your name, sir?” She found it hard to catch her breath, and with the eyes of the rugged man on her, she felt herself blushing, as the movement of the horse continued to build something inside of her.
“I’m Alex, and the two behind you are Scott and Ben. Ben is the one that tries to be funny, Scott is the bigger one. Just don’t give much mind to what Ben says, and ignore Scott looking at you all the time. We’re about 30 minutes till camp, think you can manage on that horse till then?” He looked back again to see how she was doing.
“Y-yes, I think I can manage for that long.” She blushed
again until he turned his eyes back in front of him, the feeling of the saddle continuing to grow, as she held his name in her mind. Alex….mmmm. She kept her eyes glued to him but her mind was back to the sensations from the horse again.
“In 30 minutes, that saddle is going to be mighty polished.” She heard from behind her, and another voice laughing. That must be Ben, she thought to herself. The saddle kept pushing against her, and she squeezed her legs against the side of the horse, pushing down harder against it as she did.
She held tightly to the knob on the saddle, and closed her eyes, and bit her lower lip to stifle any sounds that might escape her. She scooted as far forward on the saddle as she could, and found that the saddle was suddenly pushing into another spot between her legs, and the warmth turned hot. In all the stories she had read about cowboys and living in the west, there had never been any details about how wonderful horse riding felt. The steady and strong motion of the beast below her continued to push against her, and she welcomed it more with each step on the path. Thirty minutes like this was welcome news to her.