“I will like to see it,” Billie said. “You will be safer with a wall all around the house and barn.”
“We’ll take good care of Fluffy.”
“I know you will, chica.” Billie kissed her again and moved away.
Tree and Brownie shook her hand and wished her Godspeed. The Garza boys formed a row of handsome young men with sparkling brown eyes and bright smiles. “Adios, Señorita Morgan,” they repeated down the line. She laughed and waved at them as she turned to join Ned and her brother.
They mounted the horses, with Billie wearing her leather Comanche dress and high moccasins. Her few other possessions were tied behind the saddle. She reveled in the smooth trot of the dark Morgan horse Jud had brought for her.
A mile down the road, Jud rode close beside her. “What do you think of him?”
Billie grinned and patted the horse’s withers. “He is wonderful.”
“He can go like that all day,” Jud said. “We’ll stop to rest them and eat something in a couple of hours, though.”
“He rides like the horse they stole from me.” Billie frowned. “I cannot remember her name.”
Jud laughed. “You called her Velvet.”
Billie smiled in delight. “Yes! Yes, I did.”
She rode along savoring that memory and anticipating the reunion with the rest of her family.
They’d traveled less than an hour when they met the stagecoach, coming down from Fort Phantom Hill.
The driver pulled up in astonishment when he saw Ned.
“Bright,” Sam Tunney called from the box. “Where on earth have you been? We found your ranch station abandoned and a note on the barn door that said, ‘Driver didn’t return home last night—gone to look for him. Team in barn if Comanche haven’t been here.’ We thought you’d been ambushed and were lying somewhere without your scalp!”
Ned gritted his teeth and looked over at Billie. “Not quite that bad, Sam, but the Ursuline mission was attacked yesterday.”
“You’re joking. Anyone killed?”
“One Comanche, so far as we know, and the buffalo hunter, Isaac Trainer. But the sisters and their students are fine, and we’re fine. Glad we’re out of it.”
Sam eyed Billie and Jud. “Who you got here?”
“This is Miss Morgan and her brother, from down Victoria way. Miss Morgan was staying at the mission.”
“Aha.” Sam nodded knowingly. “Pleased to meet you, miss.” He lifted his hat to her and nodded to Jud. “Mr. Morgan.”
Billie wasn’t sure how to respond, but Ned gave her a reassuring smile.
“Sam and Henry are friends,” he said.
Billie nodded.
Sam looked over at the shotgun rider. “Well, me and Henry are tuckered out, doing the extra miles, but I guess we can make it to the fort. No point in having you take over out here.”
“I appreciate that,” Ned said. “I’m taking these folks back to the ranch. Tree and his boys and Brownie have gone to take the nuns and their students to Fort Chadbourne. They’ll stay there a few days until they’re sure things have calmed down, but we think the band of raiders that attacked them has gone home.”
“Glad to hear that. Well, we’d best move along.” Sam called to his team and flicked his whip near the wheelers’ flanks. He and Henry lifted their hats, and the stagecoach rolled off westward.
Billie was suddenly weary. Her eagerness to see Ned’s home was overshadowed by the desire to sleep through a full night without listening for hoofbeats or war cries.
They ate breakfast before dawn. Ned wasn’t much of a hand in the kitchen, but Jud and Billie pitched in, and they sat down to eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, coffee, and applesauce. After they finished, Jud picked up his and Billie’s bundles.
“I’ll come get you when I’ve got the horses saddled.” He headed out to the barn.
Ned and Billie sat in silence. The moment Ned dreaded had arrived, and his throat seemed paralyzed.
“Thank you for everything you have done for me,” Billie said softly.
Ned leaned across the table and took her hand. “Billie, I don’t want you to go, but I know you need to. Is it …” He cleared his throat. “Could I maybe ride down to Victoria and see you? After the holidays and the first of the year, maybe?”
Billie blinked at him with an expression of slight confusion.
“In a couple of moons,” Ned said.
“Two moons? Months on calendar?”
“Well … yes.” He chuckled. The nuns had done their work well in the short time they’d had. “If everything’s all right here and they can get another driver for a short while.”
She nodded. “I would like that. Jud said you could come if I wished it.”
“I talked to him a little more last night, and he said whenever you’re ready. Do you want to leave it that you’ll write and tell me when you want me to come?”
“No,” she said.
His heart plummeted. “No?”
“You come. One moon.”
That was better. He laughed and squeezed her hand. “I probably won’t be able to make it that soon. Billie, listen.” She sobered, and Ned said carefully, “Jud told me some things … things you’d told him. About …” He glanced at her and then away. “About your Comanche family.”
She sat very still.
“He was supposed to tell me, wasn’t he?”
For a moment, he thought she would burst into tears. Her face twitched. She pulled in a deep breath. “You know.”
“I do. At least, I think he told me everything. About … well, the baby and everything.”
“You still come?”
“Yes. I want to.”
She nodded, meeting his gaze. “I did not want to marry, but … I loved my baby.”
“Aw, Billie, I’m sure you did.”
A single tear trickled down her cheek. “But Peca … when he want me to marry again, I say no, I will not. Not again, not here, not this man. I cannot love him.”
Ned nodded, his heart aching for her sadness. “Billie,” he whispered, “do you think you could love me?”
She smiled, in spite of the tears glistening in her eyes. “Oh, yes. I love you.”
Ned got up and walked around the table. She put her hands in his, and he drew her into his arms. “Billie, I love you. I want you to have time with your family, but I will come to you. Soon.”
“Two moons,” she said, smiling.
Ned bent his head and kissed her. She responded with a warmth that solidified his hopes. The next two months would fly. While he drove the stagecoach he would think about how he could bring her back and where they could live. But now, all he could comprehend was Billie, in his arms, wanting a future with him.
EPILOGUE
Business and weather had delayed Ned. Tree had an unexpected spurt of freighting, and extra drivers were hard to come by. Heavy rains had bogged down both freight teams and stagecoaches. At last, in mid-February, Ned was able to get away for a few weeks, leaving Brownie to drive his mail route with Benito Garza riding shotgun.
For the first couple of days, Ned rode with his head down against the driving rain. At last the clouds broke and the rain stopped. He dismounted and rolled up his waterproof coat. The ranch outside Victoria drew him, and he rode on with a light heart.
Billie’s letters over the past three months had developed from short notes describing her joy at meeting her family and learning the Morgans’ everyday routines into longer, thoughtful missives that moved him to his core. Billie pondered her place in life, her relationship to God, and the proper way to deal with her past. Each letter also included questions about life at the stagecoach station and the mission, and a touching admission of her eagerness to see Ned again.
He cherished these letters and responded to each with a compilation of all the news he knew she longed to hear: The mission’s chapel roof was repaired, and Sister Adele had drawn plans for the addition they wanted built that summer. The nuns had their cow, and the kitte
ns had grown fat on the milk and were keeping the mice out of Sister Marie’s kitchen. Quinta had come home for three weeks at Christmas, and while she had reverted to wearing overalls and riding breakneck around the ranch with her brothers, she’d also organized the preparation of a huge Christmas dinner. Quinta had happily received her father’s gifts of feminine clothing and Ned’s of tooled leather boots. Benito was courting a girl whose family lived near Phantom Hill. Cat Thompson had taken supper with Ned at the fort and reported the recovery of a captive child—a boy who had spent six months with the Apache.
At last Ned would be with Billie again. In a letter from Jud he’d received detailed directions and reassurance of his welcome. He hurried Champ along past ranches and greening fields.
As he rode farther south, he began to pass large farms where dark-skinned workers were planting cotton. Slaves. Ned gazed at them with uneasiness in his heart. In her letters, Billie had told him more about the slaves kept by the Comanche or sold to the Comancheros. It didn’t matter to them what color skin the person had—whites, blacks, Mexicans, and Indians from other tribes all could be forced into slavery. Ned loathed the cruelty of it, and he couldn’t fathom how white farmers justified owning these people. But Texas had come into the Union as a slave state. He hadn’t seen much of it up where he and Tree had their ranch, but they’d heard of the unrest the issue brought to the entire nation. Ned didn’t like it, and was relieved that Billie reported the Morgans had only free workers on the Running M ranch.
On February twenty-second, he trotted under the gate to the ranch and up the lane toward the Morgan house. On either side were pastures and holding pens. A sizable herd of beef cattle grazed off to his right. Ahead sat a substantial, two-story house and large barn. In the corrals near the barn and the pasture beyond them, horses grazed or dozed. Colts ran about, nipping and chasing one another, kicking up their heels for sheer joy. Ned had never seen so many horses—and all of them looked like healthy, sturdy mounts, with sweet faces and well-muscled, compact bodies. He stopped his pinto and gazed at them before he rode on to the dooryard.
Was he out of his mind to ask Billie to leave all this? And would she be afraid living up north, closer to the Comanche lands? They raided everywhere, especially in summer, but Victoria seemed quite civilized now, and she’d have more people around her here. Would she agree to leave the family she’d just found so soon?
The barn door stood wide open, and a couple of men worked inside, so Ned rode up close and swung out of the saddle. It felt good to stand on solid ground. He let the pinto’s reins fall and stepped inside, pulling his gloves off.
Jud Morgan turned toward him and grinned.
“Ned! Glad to see you!” He clasped Ned’s hand. “This is Ricardo Estanza, one of my ranch hands. We’re just cleaning things out a bit and making plans for our spring roundup.”
Ned shook hands with Ricardo and chatted for a few minutes about cattle and the weather.
“I know you want to see Billie,” Jud said. “Let me take you inside. Ricardo, could you put Ned’s horse up, please?”
Ned retrieved his bundle of clothing and saddlebags and followed Jud to the house. They went in through the kitchen door. A lovely blonde woman wearing an overall apron stood at a work table cutting biscuits. She looked up and gave them a dazzling smile.
“You must be Ned.”
“This is my wife, Wande,” Jud said.
Beyond her, Billie whirled and met his eyes.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Morgan,” Ned said, but his gaze slid back to Billie—more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. She wore a bright red calico dress that suited her coloring, and her hair fell in glossy waves over her shoulders.
She came and held out her hands, her face slightly flushed and her blue eyes sparkling. “I am so glad you got here safely.”
Ned dropped his bundle and took both her hands in his. He wanted to draw her into an embrace, but that wouldn’t be proper. He blushed as he stammered a thank-you. “You look wonderful.”
“Doesn’t she?” Wande asked.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into fattening her up,” Jud said.
Wande’s mouth opened wide as if she was horrified at his remark. “Really, Jud, that is not the way to speak of a lady’s health.”
Jud laughed. “One thing about Billie, she knows when I’m teasing.”
She really did look healthy, not emaciated as she had in October. No sign remained of her injuries.
Wande laid a hand on Billie’s sleeve. “Why don’t you take Ned into the parlor? You know Ma is longing to meet him, and I think Marion is in there too.”
In a whirl, Ned was introduced to Billie’s mother, sister, nephews, and niece. He noticed a piano against one wall, and he had to ask.
“Billie, did you find that you could still play the piano?” An impish smile curved her lips. “You will see later.”
“All right.” She hadn’t mentioned it in her letters, and he sensed a surprise was in store.
“She picked it up again very quickly,” her mother said, “but then, it runs in the Morgan family, just like the penchant for raising horses.”
“And the flute?” Ned asked.
Mrs. Morgan smiled. “It was as if she’d never laid it down. Of course, she had her Comanche flute, though it’s not the same. I was astonished at how much she remembered. In only a few weeks, she was reading music.”
“It is another language,” Billie said.
Marion laughed. “Yes, we’ve decided you are very good at languages. She’s even picked up a smattering of German from Wande and my husband, Peter.”
An image flashed through Ned’s mind of Billie, sought after and much respected as a translator of fine literature into other languages. Perhaps people would ask her to lecture on linguistics—or music or—
He looked at her, slightly troubled by his thoughts. It had never occurred to him, but Billie had such an engaging personality, people would flock to hear her speak about her experiences. How could he ask her to go back up north and be the wife of a stagecoach driver?
While Ned was upstairs settling in, Billie headed back to the kitchen.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Wande shoved her back out into the next room. “You are done working for tonight. Marion and Ma will help me finish getting supper ready.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Marion said from behind her. “Peter will be here soon to eat supper with us. We’ll call you when it’s time.”
“Take Ned out and show him around the place,” her mother suggested.
Ned appeared at the top of the stairs, and Billie smiled at him, feeling a bit shy. “I am supposed to show you … I’m not sure what.”
He laughed. “I’d love to see it.”
She threw on a shawl and took him out to the barn. They found Ned’s horse contentedly stabled and eating hay. Jud joined them as they walked around the corrals, explaining to Ned some of the finer points of breeding Morgans.
After fifteen minutes, he went off to help Ricardo. Ned walked slowly along the rail fence with Billie.
“Ma said she would call us when Pastor Bader gets here. He’s Marion’s husband. When he comes, we will eat together.”
“Your family’s terrific,” Ned said. “I can see that they love you very much.”
“Yes. This time with them has been a blessing—one of those gifts God gives us.”
Ned nodded, remembering their broken conversation about “Amazing Grace” back at the Ursuline mission. “I’m very happy for you. I can’t believe all of this is happening, and I’m finally here with you.”
“I know. It has been wonderful to be here these past few months, but all the time I was waiting—waiting for you.” She lowered her head and focused on the ground. Ned here beside her—the reality she’d waited for so long almost took her breath away. Every anxiety she’d had over the past few months slipped away. Ned hadn’t forgotten her or tired of her—silly notions, those. Over the winter there
had been no more Comanche raids along the stagecoach route. He had come through the season in good health, and he’d made the long journey safely. Ned was here—the answer to a thousand earnest prayers.
He stopped walking and snaked his arm around her. “Billie, I love you.”
Her heart swelled with contentment, and she smiled up at him. “This is what I have wished for.”
He squeezed her gently then let go of her and leaned on the top rail of the fence. “I never saw horses like these. There’s not a sorry nag in the bunch.”
“That is true.” She stood beside him in silence. What had caused this sudden change of mood and topic? The last rays of sun tinged the sky orange and pink as they watched the horses.
“I can’t imagine you’d ever want to leave this place,” Ned said at last. “It’s so beautiful here, and your family loves you so much.”
“I feel safe,” she said. “But …”
Ned straightened and looked at her somber face. “But what?”
“But I love you, and I want to …” He waited.
She glanced up at him then looked away, afraid she had been too bold.
“Please say it, Billie. Do you want to be with me? Would you marry me and come back to the ranch?”
The blazing colors seemed to leap from the sky to her heart. “Yes. Oh, yes, Ned.”
He engulfed her in his arms, and she held on to him.
“I love you,” he said. “I’d marry you tomorrow, or next week, or I’ll come back again in the summer if you want.”
“Will we live in the ranch house with Señor Garza and his children?”
“We could build a house of our own if you wanted. That might be better. We could stay with Tree’s family until it’s built. Or I could go home and build it first.” He kissed her, and she knew she didn’t want to wait. She wouldn’t insist on a perfect house. She’d lived in a tepee for years, and she could adapt to nearly anything, so long as she was with Ned.
“I think maybe tomorrow is too soon,” she whispered, “but next week … Hmm.”
Ned drew back and studied her face. “Really?”
“I think my mother will insist on at least that long. The Morgans are big on celebrating properly. There will be baking and cleaning and sewing. Maybe even two weeks. Were you going to stay that long?”
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