Into the Wind_A Love Story

by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

  Her horse was almost buck jumping as it tried to get up the incline and finally, she couldn’t hold on anymore. On a particularly rough lunge, she tumbled off the side of the horse and hit the rocks and brush on the hillside with enough force to knock the wind from her lungs.

  Pain seared through her chest with that awful panic she’d only felt a time or two in her life from not being able to take a breath. Through the panic, the roar seemed to envelope her and she looked up and panicked even more. There was a frothing, swirling wall of chalky orange-brown mud and water raging down the canyon toward her. She glanced up in fear to see Lije fighting his horse’s head to come back toward her.

  Even without air, she tried to breathe out his name, “Lije! No! Run! Run!” If any sound was able to escape, she couldn’t hear it for the raging flood. Gasping to take a breath, she grabbed at her skirts with one hand and scrambled up the hill in front of her as best she could with the other, praying in her mind for all she was worth.

  The leading edge of the wall of water hit and muddy water and branches tore at her boots and caught at her petticoats and she scrambled harder, uncaring at the fabric ripping as she fought not to be pulled down the hill into the swirling, tumbling current that was rising rapidly. Lije reached her and sliding from his horse, grasped wildly at her shoulder. Gripping a handful of her dress, he literally dragged her up the hill through the gravel and brush, both of them slipping back down every few steps in the steep, treacherous terrain.

  She stumbled and went to her knees, the muddy water drenching her to the waist, and the dress at her shoulder tore as Lije tried to keep his grip to help her. Reaching down, he grabbed her dress at her back and half lifted her as he scrambled higher and higher. She was still struggling to get a breath and as she finally felt herself inhale fully, the pain of it brought tears to her eyes and it made her mad! She was not going to die in this muddy canyon today! And she surely wasn’t going to cause Lije to die either!

  Just when her sudden emotion gave her a new burst of determination, she felt rocks hitting her from above. She glanced up just in time to see a stone the size of a watermelon tumbling toward her from where their horses were lunging up the hill above them. Lije saw it too and jerked her out of the way with a mere second to spare as the boulder hit right where she had been standing.

  It bounced with a crack that sounded like a rifle shot even above the roar of the water and she felt herself scream as she redoubled her efforts to get up the hill, this time to the side of where the horses were climbing.

  On and on they scrambled. It was probably only minutes, but it felt like a desperate hour and then almost as suddenly as it had come thundering down the canyon, the roar began to subside. Beside her, she felt Lije take a huge gasping breath and then he stopped long enough to look back down to the bottom of the canyon and she heard him whisper, “Thank you, Lord.”

  Turning herself, she glanced back down at the muddy maelstrom that was indeed starting to recede back down the slope and she turned to Lije and felt him all but swallow her in a hug. They’d made it. She truly wasn’t going to die in this canyon this morning. Neither of them were.

  She buried her face in Lije’s chest and took in a huge deep breath that smelled of his wonderful scent of leather mixed with sage and lye soap. Once again, this big, gentle, hard working man had rescued her like a knight. He’d saved her life again. Sudden emotion made her start to cry. They were safe. And she loved this man holding her. Between sniffles, she gave a prayer of gratitude. They had been miraculously watched over just now.

  An hour later, they made it back to the ranch house, covered in mud, but unbelievably grateful just to be alive. As she tiredly slid from her exhausted mount, Lije literally picked her up and carried her into the house and helped her out of her torn and sodden dress. This time, she didn’t even argue when he tenderly helped her into a steaming bath in the big copper tub before going back out to care for their horses and check to make sure none of the other hands had been injured in the flooding.

  Later, as she was lying in their bed, exhausted from the ordeal, she gave a yawn and then held perfectly still, noticing a flutter of sensation deep in her belly. Their child. For the first time, she felt their baby within her! She could feel it! It was a mere hint of motion, but it was unmistakable. She could feel that little life. She wrapped a protective hand around the small rounding and yawned again and whispered another prayer of gratitude that they had been kept safe out there today.

  Smiling, she stretched and turned on her side to ease some stiffness in her low back. She couldn’t wait to tell Lije about feeling the baby!

  As tired as he was from their gully washer ordeal, Lije still slept restlessly that nigh, because Brekka slept restlessly. She seemed to turn over much more than usual and made an occasional small sound in her sleep that sounded to him like she was in pain. It made him worry, even as he tried to let his own tired body rest. It had been far too rough and dangerous a day for a woman who was five months with child. And still, she had come through it all with the same spirit and courage she always displayed that he’d come to admire her so much for.

  As she turned again, he reached to cuddle her to him, then put a soothing hand over her and the baby. She seemed to relax like she always had when he held her. Snuggling her, he said a prayer of thanksgiving. How grateful he was for this beautiful, sweet woman.

  She had glowed last night as she’d told him about feeling the baby. He still marveled at the way his heart had turned over in his chest at the thought of their child quickening there within her. He pressed a tender kiss to her temple and breathed in her scent. Who would’ve ever thought life could be this sweet?

  The next morning, he was up and dressed and had eaten before Brekka even stirred. He put some breakfast on a plate and carried it into the bedroom for her and when she finally opened her eyes, he grinned down at her. “Good morning, beautiful.”

  Stretching, she took a deep breath and sighed, “Mmm. That smells heavenly. Did you cook it yourself? Or has Heidi already been here?”

  He sat down in the big overstuffed chair. “I cooked it, madam. I’m hoping to persuade you to stay in that bed and recuperate from our little adventure yesterday.”

  She raised a slender eyebrow. “Little adventure?” She sat up and placed a pillow behind her back against the headboard. “Heaven help us never to have any big adventures. That was more than enough adventure for me, thank you.”

  Arching her back, she stretched again and admitted, “I’m unduly stiff this morning.” She picked up a biscuit and put a small piece of it in her mouth. “You, on the other hand, look remarkably attractive for a man who saved a wife, two horses and yourself yesterday.”

  Lije nodded. “Uh huh. Does that mean you’ll stay in bed and rest? Or that you’re just acting obedient until I head outside?”

  Brekka considered that for a minute and then stretched her back again and said, “In truth, I think I’ll rest for a bit. Why would my back be stiff? You’d think it would be other parts that should hurt.”

  She actually stayed in bed for most of two days. She didn’t say anything to Lije, but she didn’t feel right and it worried her. Her low back ached, and there a spot of blood on her petticoats that frightened her immensely. But lying down seemed to help and on the third day, she felt better and got up to fix breakfast when Lije got up.

  She knew the men were getting ready to round up all the cattle and take them to the pastures up in the hills and that Lije could use all the help he could get. Apparently the early summer roundup was one of the biggest events in the whole valley. She also knew that Lije was interrupting his normal routine to stay near her to protect her. And while she appreciated it, she also felt guilty about it. The last thing she wanted to be was an anchor in their new marriage.

  To that end, she got up and put on one of her work dresses and went outside to work in her garden. She’d never done that kind of thing before coming here, but she knew from the amount of food she’d
seen them harvest last fall that their gardens were important to them, and Lije and Heidi were helping her learn. In addition, Lije could see her there as he worked around and could be assured that she was safe.

  After an hour and a half of turning the soil with a spade and then breaking up the clods and smoothing it, she took a long moment to lean on her shovel handle. Looking around the ranch, she took a deep breath and listened to the birds in the trees south of the house. The scent of the peach blossoms was gone, but there were other smells that reached her.

  How had she never noticed that dirt smelled wonderful? In all her nineteen years in Denmark she’d never even noticed. And the faint smell of livestock. Perhaps she was becoming maudlin, because certainly that smell shouldn’t appeal, but it had become dear to her. When they came home from town, as they entered Lauritzen’s Valley, the smell of the livestock greeted her and somehow, it was incredibly reassuring. Like Lije, she’d learned to truly love this ranch.

  Leaning over to crush a clod of dirt that refused to give in to the blade of her shovel, she felt that slight twinge in the small of her back again and straightened up. It was much warmer here than it had been in Denmark in early May, but she liked it. She rubbed across her forehead with the back of her arm and left her spade standing in the dirt. She wanted to help Lije here on the ranch, but that cramp in her back wasn’t right. She was going inside to lie down.

  Stopping for a long drink of water from the dipper on the porch, she let her eyes search across the valley up and down, and left and right, wondering where the Ute was. Satisfied that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she went inside. She could write her father and sister. She was saving the letters to give them when they got here in July, so it was almost like journaling to them, but she could do it lying on the settee. And maybe she’d work on the baby sleeper she had started. Then, if she felt okay, she’d get up and try to make some bread. She still couldn’t make it like Heidi could, but she was getting better.

  Lije was in the big field west of the barn with Lars, sorting cattle when he noticed Brekka heading into the house from the garden. Taking his hat from his head, he slapped it against his thigh to knock off the dust and mopped his face with the tail of his bandana. He should go check on her. She hadn’t acted very chipper since the gully washer three days ago. It was time for a bite to eat anyway. Walking his horse toward Lars, he scanned to ranch as had become his custom. Everything looked right, but he hesitated to be complacent. They needed to stay vigilant. He’d seen the way that Indian look at Brekka. He was never going to stop trying to take her as long as he had a breath left in his body.

  As Lije and Lars walked through the parlor on the way to the kitchen, Brekka was curled up on her side on the settee with her hands tucked under a cheek pinked by the morning sun, her closed eyelashes dark half moons against her skin. Fine tendrils of corn silk hair had escaped from the braid around her head and they glistened in the light coming in the front window.

  Lije stopped for a second, just to watch her. She must have felt his presence, because she opened her blue eyes and then gave him a slow smile. Lars chuckled as he continued on through the house, and said teasingly, “Dang, it’s too bad your sister is on the other side of the earth, Brekka.” To Lije he said, “I can see why you fell like a mighty oak, brother, but still. You’re like a new calf. You should at least try to hide your complete and total enslavement.”

  In response, Lije leaned to kiss Brekka softly on the temple, and followed Lars into the kitchen. “Enslavement?” He laughed. “If my life is enslavement, you should be praying night and morning for a slave mistress of your own. It beats the wadden’ out of coming home to an empty house and emptier bed. If I’d known how marvelous being married is, I’d have found her ten years ago.”

  Digging in Lije’s breadbox, Lars said, “Yeah. That is the kicker, isn’t it? Finding her. I’m starting to wonder if my wife was killed in the war in heaven. It’d be just my luck.”

  He sliced cold roast beef onto a plate. “Everyone doesn’t have their true love dumped into their lap like you did. You’ve become spoiled. Some of the rest of us have to actually work to earn our women.”

  Lije elbowed him and laughed, “Our story is your idea of true love being dumped in my lap? Horse feathers, Lars. I just hope and pray that your wife’s quest is not quite as harrowing as what poor Brekka had to go through to earn me.”

  At that, Lars let out a belly laugh. “To earn you, huh? More like the good Lord had to toughen her up enough to be able to survive you, you big lug.”

  “Yeah, well if Brekka had to be toughened to survive me, your wife is doomed. Maybe she took one glance at you in the pre-existence and headed for the hills.” He slathered butter on a slab of bread and meat. “She was probly screaming her fool head off as she ran. And by the way, Brekka’s sister is coming here in a couple of months. Not that it’ll do you any good. I’ve seen a daguerreotype of her. She’s nearly as lovely as Brekka and wouldn’t take a second look at a glorified cow puncher like you. Brekka says she’s ‘spirited’.”

  Unphased, Lars continued to build his sandwiches and said, “Probly translates as high and mighty and narrow between the eyes. Had a horse like that once. Spirited is just a slicked up way to say ornery. That thing liked to toss me near every morning, first thing. ‘Course if a woman was as fine looking as Brekka, a man could put up with a dose of most anything. Even spirited. And I may be a cow puncher, but . . .” He paused for effect then took a big bite and said around it, “I am the finest cow puncher in all the land.”

  Brekka walked into the kitchen as he said it. She came up to Lije and reached up to give him a small kiss, glanced over at Lars, smiled and said, “Kristina is far lovelier than I and . . . she always said she was going to marry ‘the finest cow puncher in all the land’. For the longest time, I didn’t believe her. Guess I was wrong, huh. And yes, she does like to toss suitors, now that I think of it. She thinks it’s a game. You have a little dab of pickle between your teeth, brother.”

  One morning a few weeks later, Lije and Brekka were just sitting down to breakfast when there came a strident knock at their door. It was one of the hands who had been on lookout the night before.

  As Lije opened the door to him, he didn’t wait to exchange pleasantries before he said, “You need to come see, Lije. Just as I was coming in this morning when Tyree came to spell me, we seen someone moving around up the valley near the upper ditch. We went to see about it and found that fancy eastern fella switching water around. He was diverting water into the ditch that waters that new field of spring wheat. We caught it just in time, but he still washed the northwest corner clean away. If we hadn’t caught it, that whole field woulda been lost. Tyree took him into town to Sheriff Olsen, but the sheriff said he wants you to come in and sign something for him.”

  Lije’s face hardened while Brekka was swept with a wave of guilt. Between being so ill, and then the Ute brave and Luther, she had brought so much trouble to Lauritzen Valley. Sadly, she said, “I’m so sorry, Lije, for all the trouble.”

  Shaking his head, Lije replied, “Luther’s choices are not your fault, Brek. You needn’t apologize. Put my food aside. I’ll eat it later. I’d best be getting into town right away.”

  She nodded and he kissed her goodbye, at which the ranch hand blushed and turned back from the porch.

  When Lije was gone, Brekka went back to her breakfast with a heavy heart. She’d hoped that Luther would leave them alone after them going to the judge in Fillmore. She’d be glad when her father finally got here from Denmark.

  Lije was gone all day, but there were a number of the ranch hands working around the home ranch while he was gone. Even that made Brekka feel guilty. She knew they had much to do between the cattle and the farming.

  When Lije finally made it home as the sun was sliding from the sky, he actually looked cheerful instead of worried, as he’d been when he left. He came into the house and called her name and said, “Come. I have a present fo
r you that will cheer you up.”

  Confused, Brekka followed him out the door and down the way to the barns where they kept the sheep and goats during the winter and early spring. They were mostly empty now, as the sheep and goats whose babies were a few weeks old had been moved to nearby pastures for the summer. As they entered one of the barns, Brekka could hear the bleating of a baby goat and laughed outright as Lije opened a pen door and a tiny gray baby goat that was only about ten inches tall tentatively stuck its little head out and bleated again.

  As she knelt down next to it, it came to her. Lije handed her one of the bottles they’d used to help the other newborn livestock a few weeks earlier and said, “She was born late, and now her mother won’t take care of her. Do you think you’re up to taking on another little project for a couple of weeks? She’s one of the miniature goats we got from a neighbor last fall.”

  The baby goat all but jumped onto Brekka’s lap and nosed hungrily at the bottle and Brekka laughed again as she said, “Of course I’m up to it. How much trouble can a tiny little beast like this be, anyway? Come here, darling. Let’s give you some supper, shall we? I think I’ll call you Hollyhock, after the flowers blooming near the barn door here.”

  It wasn’t but a day or two before they both realized that they had vastly underestimated exactly how much trouble Hollyhock could get into, indeed. She was small enough to step right through most of the fences on the ranch and nimble enough to literally climb many of them. That made keeping her where she was supposed to be quite a feat, and even the chickens and the cats tended to chase her. As often as not, when Brekka arrived to feed her four or five times a day, she was already out of the pen and running around the ranch yard.