by Linda Bridey
“All right. I won’t go on Saturdays then. I don’t know if they’ll want me to play with them all the time, anyway. Seth said that if Joe liked me enough, he might hire me to play with them, but I doubt that will happen.”
He grinned at her. “I wouldn’t be surprised, though. Joe has a habit of hiring people right away if he thinks they’re good. He does it before anyone else has the chance to snag them. It should be interesting.”
Zoe agreed. She began inquiring about his day, remembering her plans to surprise him the next day.
“It was pretty boring, actually. My job isn’t very exciting. It’s a good job, but not very eventful. Loading wagons, setting traps for mice, writing up invoices, and that kind of stuff. It gets busy, but it’s pretty much the same thing every day,” Will said with a frown.
“What would you rather be doing?”
“If I could turn my woodworking into a full-time business, I would,” Will said. “It may not be exciting to some people, but I like making things that other people will appreciate and use. I like making decorative things, too, but I especially like building furniture,” Will said.
“I’d love to see your work,” Zoe said.
He smiled at her. “You will.”
“Good.”
*****
Zoe laughed as Will told her over dessert how Tucker had once shoved a button up his nose so far that they couldn’t get it out.
“I guess he was about twelve or so. I was only six at the time, but I remember it. His buddy, Ray put him up to it. They used to do some pretty dumb stuff. Of course, Ray was a bad influence. Still is. Well, the wind-up was that they had to get Doc Turner to fish it out. Doc had a heck of time getting it because he was laughing so hard. He’d try to get it and get laughing and then have to calm down so he could try again.”
Zoe said, “I think I’ll call Tucker ‘Button Nose’ and see what he says.”
“Don’t you dare! He’ll come down on me like a ton of bricks,” Will said. His green eyes shone with laughter. “It’ll be hell working for him.”
Zoe laughed. “Ok. I won’t do that. Maybe.”
“I think you’ve got a little bit of the devil in you, too.”
“Maybe,” she said again.
He leaned forward towards her a little. “Are you trying to be mysterious?”
“Maybe.”
Will laughed. “How about a different word?”
“Perhaps. Possibly.”
“Smart ass,” Will said without thinking.
Zoe laughed harder. “You sound like my friend Camille. She’s always saying things like that to me.”
“Sorry about that. It comes from working around men all day. We talk pretty rough with each other. Things like that might slip out now and again, so I apologize in advance,” Will said.
“Think nothing of it,” Zoe said.
They finished their dinner and left the restaurant.
*****
Zoe was amazed at how well she and Will got along and how close she felt to him. As they rode home, Will kept watching her in the moonlight, and he thought she was a beautiful woman, even with her glasses. He felt fortunate that she had answered his ad. Reaching over, he took her hand and she smiled at him as she squeezed back.
“Are you happy to be here?” he asked.
“Yes. Are you happy I’m here?”
Will smiled. “Yes.”
Zoe looked away, unsure of what to say after that, so she looked at the stars. They were partially obscured by some clouds, and she hoped that it wouldn’t rain before they reached home. Will looked upwards, too and thought the same thing.
“Hopefully we won’t look like drowned rats by the time we get home,” he said. Clicking to the horse, he urged it into a faster gait.
It was just beginning to rain when they arrived back at Pricilla’s house. They ran up onto the porch just as the heavens opened delivering a deluge onto the town.
“Like we needed any more rain,” Will said. “That’s all we’ve had for the past week.”
“Hopefully this won’t last for long,” she said.
“Yeah.” He looked into her eyes and said, “I had a great time, Zoe.”
“Me, too.
Will moved closer to her and raised a hand to cup the back of her head. He shifted closer to her and Zoe’s eyes widened. He’s going to kiss me. I have no idea what to do. What did Camille say to do? I can’t remember. I’ve never been kissed. At least on the mouth. What do I do with my mouth? Zoe froze in fear and could do no more than stand there. Breathe. I have to breathe. Oh! Yes! Close my eyes. Camille said you’re supposed to close your eyes. But wait until he gets a little closer.
Will brushed his mouth against hers, and was happy when she didn’t pull away. He could tell she was scared, and he wanted to put her fears to rest. Will was gentle with Zoe, moving slowly and giving her a chance to get used to his touch.
Zoe relaxed slightly when she realized that kissing didn’t seem too complicated. Will pressed his mouth more firmly to hers and put an arm around her waist as he moved closer to her. She followed his lead and pressed back as she put her hands on his shoulders. They were strong under her hands, and she slid her arms around his neck when he urged her closer.
Will held her lightly yet firmly as they kissed. Something was wrong. It wasn’t that what she was doing was wrong. It just felt wrong. He kissed her a little harder and she yielded to him. It didn’t feel like kissing other women had. His heart didn’t speed up, his breathing didn’t become heavier, not even a little bit. And it didn’t seem like she was especially enjoying herself, either. Maybe that was just because she was inexperienced, but he doubted that was it.
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Will slowly ended the kiss and smiled at her. “I’ll see tomorrow night?”
She nodded and said, “Yes. Tomorrow. Have a good day at work. Get home out of the rain.”
Will smiled and waved as he ran down the steps and hopped in the buggy. Zoe stood on the porch for a few moments before going inside. The house was darkened because Pricilla and John would have gone to bed by then, she supposed. She carefully made her way in the dark up the stairs and went into her bedroom.
Lighting a lamp, she began dressing for bed as her mind turned over what had just happened. It was her first kiss and though she’d been scared at first, it had quickly become easier and by the time it was over, she’d begun to wonder what the big deal was about kissing. Everyone makes so much out of it, but I didn’t see anything so wonderful about it. Camille says that when she kisses Mort, she never wants to stop. Maybe I did something wrong, but Will seemed to like it. At least I think he did. Did he? I am hopelessly out of my depths with romantic things. Well, I’ll still surprise him at work tomorrow and see how he reacts.
Her decision made, Zoe lay down on her bed and tried to sleep. She ended up staring at the ceiling as rain drummed on the roof. She tried every position she could think of and she couldn’t fall asleep. Finally giving up, she decided to go downstairs and make some tea. It wasn’t until she got downstairs that she realized that she couldn’t make tea because the boiling kettle would wake the rest of the house.
Maybe some fresh air would help tire her out. She got her coat and boots from the hall closet and put them on. As quietly as she could, Zoe crept out the front door and sat on the swing. She swung around and put her feet up on the swing. The rain had tapered off and now the night was damp and quiet. The stars winked down from the sky where the clouds were beginning to disperse.
As she thought about the evening with Will, Zoe tried to figure out what had gone wrong. She hadn’t felt nervous. Maybe a little, but she certainly wasn’t terrified. They’d had a very good time and got along so well. On the way home, she’d wondered if he would kiss her and when she realized that he was going to, it had excited her, but the actual event had been a letdown.
A strange sound intruded upon her thoughts. It was a wet, sucking sound. Zoe began looking around to see what it was,
but didn’t see anything. It grew louder and louder. On the other side of the street, Zoe saw someone running in the direction of the house. Zoe would have gone quickly into the house but the runner was too fast and would have seen her if she’d stood up and made a mad dash. And even if she had made a mad dash, she most likely would have tripped and gone down. Not expecting anyone to be out and about at that time of night, she hadn’t thought much about coming outside in her nightgown with only her coat overtop it.
To her horror, the person crossed the street and seemed to be heading towards her. She tried to scramble off the swing and got her foot caught in the space between the seat and the arm. As a result, she fell halfway off the swing, landing on her face with her rear end in the air. Her glasses fell off and she couldn’t see where they’d gone.
She tried to free her foot and be as quiet as possible, but she wasn’t having any luck with either. Struggling harder, she felt her nightgown begin to creep up her legs. She stopped moving and was prepared to die, if not in the clutches of some deviant, than from sheer embarrassment.
Zoe decided her best option was to just remain as still as possible and wait until they went by before trying again to free herself. When she heard someone come up onto the porch, she let out a tiny squeak and closed her eyes. They’re going to kill me. I’m going to die on this porch, stuck in this swing. Imagine the article in the paper. Girl slain while stuck in swing. That’s what it will say. It was a tragedy. Girl only kissed once dies on the same night. People will say how sad it was and how it was such a shame that—
“Hold still and I will free your foot,” said a deep male voice.
Zoe squeaked again and then whispered, “Don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me, mister.”
Soft laughter met her ears as she felt her boot being unlaced and pulled from her foot. Cool air met her skin and made her shiver.
“Zoe, pull your foot through now.”
Something about the voice was familiar, but the blood was pounding in her head too loudly for her to be sure. Cautiously, she did as the voice had instructed her. Maybe it’s God talking to me. No, I don’t think God would help me with something like this. Suddenly she was picked up completely off her feet and sat on the swing like a mother picks up a child and sits them down. Zoe tried to focus on the person, but her vision was blurry.
“Here,” the voice said and pressed something into her hand.
She recognized the shape of her glasses and hurried to put them on so she could see who was going to kill her. She felt added weight descend on the swing and swung her head towards the person. Raven came into view and she sagged with relief.
“Thank God it’s you. You won’t kill me.”
Raven smiled and laughed. “No, I won’t kill you. Why are you out here?”
“I couldn’t sleep and I thought some fresh air might make me tired. I guess that was a bad idea.”
“Not so bad. It’s too bad you got your boot stuck, but fresh air is always a good idea.”
Zoe put her foot back in the boot and laced it up. “What are you doing out here?”
“I was on my way home and my horse hit a bad hole in the mud and is lame. I put it in the livery stable for the night.”
“Oh, that’s horrible. So you’re going to run all the way to your ranch? That’s really far,” she said. “Isn’t there somewhere you could stay in town overnight? Some friend’s house?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to wake them up. I have run much farther and in much worse weather, Zoe.”
“Oh. Yes. I suppose you have since you’re an Indian,” she said. “I mean, you could have run somewhere for something for some other reason than being an Indian, but since you are an Indian, I guess it would make sense for you to run since Indians are good at running long distances. I’m not good at running long distances. I’m not good at running period as you just found out.”
The swing began shaking, and she stopped talking. She looked over at Raven and saw that he was laughing silently.
“Shut up,” she said. “I just fell off a swing and thought I was going to be killed. My brain hasn’t recovered yet.”
The swing shook harder.
“The next time you fall off a swing and get stuck, I’ll remember how you laughed at me and I’ll laugh at you, too. It’s not my fault that you came running along and scared me. I didn’t know people would be up. I’m in my nightgown for crying out loud,” she said.
Raven bent over and the swing creaked as his weight shifted. It resumed shaking as his laughter continued.
She started to say more, but he clamped a large hand over her mouth and wouldn’t let go.
“Please be quiet a moment,” he said.
She nodded and he removed his hand.
He looked at her and smiled. “You’re funny.”
Zoe scowled at him and his keen night vision caught the change in her facial expression. He imagined that she was embarrassed over what had happened and sought to ease her discomfort.
“I did not say that was a bad thing,” Raven said. “What happened?”
She offered him a wry smile. “I didn’t think anyone would be around and so I didn’t think it would matter if I came out wearing my nightgown. So when you came running along, it surprised me and I didn’t want anyone to see me. I was trying to get back inside quickly and, well, you saw what happened. Why did you come over here?”
He nodded. “I see. I always look around town when I come through after work to make sure everything is ok. I saw you on the porch and wondered if something was wrong. I guess it was.” Raven smiled but didn’t mention that he had seen more than her nightgown. As he’d been untying her boot and getting her foot free, he’d gotten a nice glimpse of her legs. They were strong and shapely and he wondered what she did to keep them that way.
“You should go back inside,” he said as he looked down at her. He noticed that she was tall for a woman and that he didn’t have to tilt his head down as far to look into her eyes.
“You shouldn’t be running around in this weather. You’re soaked.” She took in his long, limp hair and wet buckskin coat. His pants were wet through and clung to his long legs. The moccasin boots he wore didn’t look too wet, but they were caked with mud from the street that was a quagmire at the moment.
He shrugged. “It is not so bad.”
She smiled. “So you’re a tough guy.”
“It’s the way we are raised. We have to be able to fight and hunt in any kind of weather. Our tribe depends on us to bring home food. Used to depend on us, anyway,” he said.
Zoe heard the sorrow in his voice and saw the humor leave his eyes. Instinctively she put her hand in his and said, “I’m so sorry, Raven. Sadie told me what happened. It’s awful.”
That she would offer him comfort and touch him when she barely knew him showed him that she had great compassion. He closed his hand around hers and smiled slightly. “Thank you. It has been hard, but at least I am allowed to go see them once a week. Others are not as fortunate. I wanted to go with them, but my father, who is the chief, ordered me to stay in Dawson. He wanted me to be free.”
She held his hand a little tighter and said, “I’m sure there are a lot of people who are very happy that you’re here instead of there. I mean, you’re a deputy, and you help keep the town safe. The same for the saloon. It also seems as if you’re fun to have around. Pricilla certainly likes you.”
Raven smiled. “Yes. If you handle her properly, she is very kind and sweet. She makes my father desserts for me to take to him. He has a big sweet tooth.”
“He sounds like an interesting person.”
“Yes. He is and also very wise,” Raven said. He gently squeezed her hand and then released it. He had enjoyed her touch, perhaps more than he should have. “You should go to bed, and I should go home and do the same.”
Zoe hated the thought of him running home in the cold while he was so wet. “Why don’t you just stay here? At least you’d be out of the cold.”
H
is eyes widened a little. “I can’t do that. Auntie would have a fit.”
“You could sleep on the sofa. Once she heard what happened, I’m sure she would understand,” Zoe said.
“You are very kind, but I do not think that’s a good idea,” Raven said. He stood and pulled her up with him. He turned her towards the door and said, “Go to bed, Zoe. Goodnight.”
“All right. Be careful going home,” she said.
“I will.” He jumped off the porch, landing lightly on his feet and jogged off.
Zoe watched him as far as she could see him and then sighed as she went back inside.
Chapter Six
At work the next day, Will tried to concentrate on what he was doing, but his thoughts kept drifting to the previous evening with Zoe. While he didn’t think physical attraction was the most important part of a relationship, he did think that there should be some kind of chemistry in that department. That hadn’t been the case with Zoe when he’d kissed her.
It had been a great evening, and Will found her very pretty. However, there was no real attraction to her. He’d mentioned it to Tucker, but his older brother hadn’t been much help. He’d told him to be patient, and that the attraction would perhaps come later. Sighing as he finished loading a wagon and waved goodbye to the farmer who’d bought the feed, Will entered the office to find Zoe standing at the counter.
“Hi,” he said with a smile. “This is a nice surprise.”
“That was the idea,” she said. “I thought we could have some lunch.” Zoe held up a picnic basket and smiled at him.
He grinned and said, “That would be great. Give me five minutes and I’ll be right with you.”
“Ok.” Zoe saw Will go into the back office and sit at a desk. The way his sandy hair fell over his brow made her smile. Then she turned to look out the window. People went back and forth on horseback or in wagons and buggies. Every so often a passersby walked past the mill, but foot traffic was light. She liked to watch the people and wonder who they were and where they were going.