Lorraine looked up at him. “Reward money? How much we talkin’ about?”
“Five thousand dollars. Split five ways, that’s one thousand dollars each.”
Lorraine whistled. “Wait a minute, there’s only four of you.”
“Five, countin’ you.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You mean I get part of the reward too?”
Ike smiled and nodded. “Sure. You deserve somethin’ for takin’ a shot in the side and dispatchin’ Manning. I still wish you’d have let me be the one to send him to Hell, though.”
Lorraine pointed a finger at Ike and tried to look ornery. “The only reason you’re standin’ here right now is ’cause I got the drop on Manning, so don’t you be gettin’ any ideas about my money. Usin’ it for this or that at our ranch. Why, I never did have extra to spend on anything, so I’m gonna have some fun with this jackpot. Think I’ll head on over to Margaret’s and buy a couple of those hats I never been able to afford before.” Lorraine sported a wide smile, then her face clouded over. She hesitated for a moment and looked up at Ike. “Do you think Rain Water will ever let Sue go?”
Her directness threw Ike off for a second, and his smile disappeared. “Don’t know why he would. He’s got her now and said he’s gonna keep her.”
“Could you ever visit her there?”
Ike looked down at the floor and scuffed a shoe. “No. If Rain Water ever saw me in his camp again, he’d kill me on sight. Or his braves would. Then Sue would die too.” He looked up and stared out the parlor window. “I’m goin’ ridin’ now.”
Ike eased Ally into a peaceful trot for several miles, then nudged her gently again. She broke into a gallop that ate up miles of the dormant South Park basin. After several hours of studying the landscape, he turned Ally back toward town. As he trotted toward Cottonwood, there was a glint off something in the distance, and he spied several riders coming down the mountainside to the west.
Eyesight had never been his strong suit, and Ike squinted at the small figures. The riders reached the bottom of the hill and stopped. After a moment, all but one rider turned and rode back up the mountain. A solitary figure trotted toward Cottonwood. Ike encouraged Ally forward on a course that would cross the rider’s path before either of them reached town. As the figure neared, Ike squinted harder, not believing what his mind told him. It was a woman. Why would a woman be riding out here all by herself? Then he almost fell off Ally. Can’t be.
Sue!
She was riding straight for town but then veered toward him as she got closer. Ike brought Ally to a halt, frozen in the saddle. When Sue reached him, she slowly dismounted. Ike stared down at her, wide-eyed and speechless. She reached both arms up, and he slid off Ally into a hard embrace with his sister. She couldn’t have escaped. How could she be here? She was thinner than ever as he held her, even through her winter coat. She groaned in his tight hug but smiled up at him.
“You’re awful skinny, and you look dog tired.”
Sue wiped a cloth across her face. “That’s the first words out of your mouth after you find me? You tell me how bad I look?” But she smiled up at her big brother. “I am dog tired, so you can just spend time fattenin’ me up again.” Her grin widened. “You must be wonderin’ how I got away.”
Ike just nodded and stood there wide-eyed.
“Rain Water freed me. That’s all there is to it.”
“Why would he do that? He said he was keeping you.”
“Kiska told me his wife convinced him that I was going to starve myself to death unless he let me go, and I would have.”
Ike shook his head. “Him lettin’ you go don’t make any sense. Rain Water seems like the type to let you die if you wanted to.”
“Rain Water always treated me with respect. He saved my life. Maybe he didn’t want me wasting it. I am beholden to him.”
They mounted up, and brother and sister rode in silence into Cottonwood. They reined their horses in at the boarding house. Ike helped Sue off her horse and said, “I’m beholden to him too.”
A word about the author…
Mike Torreano has a military background and is a student of history and the American West. He fell in love with Zane Grey’s novels about the Painted Desert in the fifth grade, when his teacher made her students read a book and write a report every week.
Mike recently had a short story set during the Yukon gold rush days published in an anthology, and he’s written for magazines and small newspapers. An experienced editor, he’s taught university English and journalism. He’s a member of Colorado Springs Fiction Writers, Pikes Peak Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. He brings his readers back in time with him as he recreates American life and times in the late nineteenth century.
miketorreano.com
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