Ask No Tomorrows

by Hestand, Rita

  Sam walked away from her, unable to look at her, unable to speak.

  Finally after a long silence he lay down his coffee cup and nodded. “I guess so, Riley…”

  She let out a breath. “Bring some firewood, I’ll make us some supper.”

  He left and she held her tears inside. She hadn’t contemplated saying goodbye to Sam, but she knew it was inevitable, especially since he couldn’t come to terms with it working between them. She understood why, but accepting it was hard. Still, she wanted to show him how much she’d grown through the experience.

  She fixed the evening meal when he brought back a wild turkey and made a spit over the fire for it. As they watched the bird cook, they stared into the fire, both with their own thoughts. “I’m really grateful for all you’ve done for me, Sam.”

  Sam nodded, but didn’t take his eyes from the fire. “Yeah.”

  “Where’d you find the bird?” Her voice trailed off as though her mind wasn’t on the bird.

  Sam shook himself a little and shifted off the log to the ground. “Down yonder ways.”

  “I’m hungry…”

  “It’ll be a while yet,” he cautioned as he fashioned the spit to cook it on.

  “So when I go into the bank, I tell them I’m Dr. Ethan Morgan and that I came to withdraw Riley Morgan’s account money. Then what?” Riley asked, trying to keep the conversation on business.

  Sam came out of his trance and put his hand over his eyes for a second. “I’m not at all sure that calling yourself a doctor is a good idea. You could be called upon to do something you couldn’t handle. Just call yourself Ethan Morgan and let it be. Once you get the money, you inform them you’ll be taking over the ranch, as you’re the next of kin and all.”

  “Won’t I have a hard time with that since I didn’t write a will?” she asked.

  “They’ll be investigating it, of course. But since you will be the only next of kin, there shouldn’t be much trouble. The real trouble is getting Harry and his men off the ranch. That’s where I come in,” Sam said.

  “You…what do you mean?”

  Sam looked at her, his gaze lingering on her. “Riley, if they don’t leave peacable, we’ll have to make them leave.”

  Riley’s eyes widened. “But you said you weren’t a gunmen.”

  “I’m not. But I sure know how to use a gun.”

  Riley gazed at him in shock. “No…when I get the deed and the money, then you will leave.”

  Sam stood up. “What are you talkin’ about, girl? If you couldn’t handle Harry before, what makes you so sure you can now? Once he figures out how you duped him, he’ll want your hide.”

  Riley stood up and walked to the edge of the camp. “It’s no longer your concern once the deed and money are handed over. I’ve got a plan, in my head. I’ll hire a new crew before I go out to the ranch, and they will stand behind me. And you and I will end when we come out of the bank.”

  Sam followed her, his eyes wide and blazing with anger. “Like hell it’s over. I haven’t come this far to see you shot down on your own property. No sir…we’ll finish it. Then I’ll ride west.”

  “Sam.” She looked straight at him, her tears about to fall. “You’ve made it clear to me. You don’t believe we could make it together, because you’re a black man, and I’m a white woman. Despite the fact that we got something powerful between us, you chose to ignore it. You kissed Mavis like you meant it, you kissed the whores like you meant it, and you kissed me like you meant it, but you didn’t. I understand that now. It’s just the way a man is. So you go on your way. You’ve chosen how you want it.”

  “Riley, you’re not lookin’ at this right. You got everything all messed up. How can I make you understand? You are gonna be a woman of means, a big time rancher. I’m just a cowboy. It’s not just the black and white, it’s a lot of things…”

  “My money, is that it? Money don’t mean nothin’ Sam when you are alone and scared out of your wits and need help. Neither does pride. My daddy told me a long time ago, it’s not just using a gun, or building an empire, it’s standing tall for what’s right that makes you a real man. It’s fighting for those needs that makes you a man. You don’t love me enough to fight for me, but I love you enough to let you go,” Riley cried out and turned away from him. “Go on west Sam, I don’t need you any longer.”

  “Riley!” Sam hollered, disbelieving.

  Nodog whined, standing between them.

  “Go on, Sam…get out of here,” Riley cried, not bothering to look at him any longer.

  “Miss Tilda told you I kissed her?”

  “Yes…and Nannette, and Mavis…I don’t need a hammer hitting me in the head to tell me you are just one of those men who kiss women, make them all starry-eyed and up and leave with no intention of doing the honorable thing.”

  “Honorable thing? I haven’t compromised you, Riley!” Sam shouted.

  “No…you just misled me…that’s all,” she chided.

  “Misled you? I’ve done everything to keep from misleading you.”

  Sam turned away, and slowly walked to his horse that was hobbled. He mounted and stared down at her. “Come on, Nodog…”

  But Nodog refused to budge either. “You too?” Sam frowned at his dog.

  “Goodbye Riley, and good luck…take care of Nodog,” Sam said lowly as he rode out of the camp.

  Riley couldn’t watch him ride away. But the tears fell one after another now and Nodog whined at her legs.

  Choking on her tears, she looked down at Nodog. “I don’t know where I got the guts to tell him goodbye. Now if he don’t come back…maybe I can get over him in a few years. Maybe…”

  ***

  Sam camped not far from her, angry that he couldn’t come to terms with his feelings for Riley he swore and bedded himself down without any supper.

  The fact that Nodog chose Riley instead of him hurt too and added to his loneliness.

  “How could Nodog do this to me?” he fumed as he dumped the last of his coffee and laid out his bedroll.

  “How could she…”

  He shook his head. “Fool woman, don’t she know by now how I feel about her? If she can’t tell how I feel by now, she’s blind as a bat.”

  Wrestling with his feelings, Sam tried to settle in for the night. He was almost asleep when a big storm blew in.

  The rain came hard and relentless. April always seemed full of storms in Texas.

  Sam got up.

  “Riley will be scared witless. I’ve got to go back and help her…” he exclaimed.

  Saddling his horse once more he rode back toward the camp where Riley was. But as he searched the area, he couldn’t find her. Where had she gone? He called out to her as he searched.

  And then he saw her, she had unhitched the horse, and climbed into the buggy, covered herself totally with a blanket and Nodog was laying at the head of the buggy.

  “Riley,” he called as he pulled himself up inside the buggy. Unfolding the blanket, he uncovered her so he could see her.

  “Sam…is that really you?” she cried out, reaching for him in the darkness.

  “Riley…” he cried and their lips met as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her into a sweet vortex.

  Sam knew heaven, for he had it in his arms. He knew he’d come home and he knew Riley was his for the moment at least.

  “Hold me Sam, hold me…” she cried as she kissed him back. “I’m so glad you’re back…”

  “I’ll hold you, Riley…all night long.” He sighed, pulling her into the cradle of his arms and sighing, he closed his eyes and they went to sleep.

  Nodog whined and wagged his tail.

  But the next morning, she was storming around the camp fire, not at all cuddling him.

  “Why’d you come back, Sam?” she bit her lip to ask.

  “Why? Because I knew you’d need me. The storm and all…” He gestured.

  “Well, I don’t need you…and the storm is over,” she cried aloud, her voi
ce faltering.

  He grabbed her by the arms and looked into her wide eyes. “What’s wrong with you, Riley?”

  She stomped her foot and moved away from him. “Nothin’.”

  “Good, ‘cause we got a job to do…” he insisted.

  “I been thinkin’ on that…” she began. “I’ve decided to sell the ranch.”

  “Sell?” He stormed at her.

  “Yes!”

  Sam cringed, trying to figure her out was like working some puzzle in his head.

  “How’d you come to that decision?” he barked at her.

  Riley poured herself a cup of coffee. “I want something more.”

  Sam shrugged his shoulders in exasperation. “After all this time, after all we’ve done, you’re just gonna throw it all away?”

  “No, I’m not throwing anything away. I’m going to sell the ranch,” she announced, sitting on the ground now. “You won’t stay and help me run it, and it’s too big a job for one person, especially a woman. And way too lonely.”

  “Riley, I can’t stay.” Sam’s voice lowered. He hung his head. “Don’t you know what we would face?”

  “Fine, you’ve made your decision, I’ve made mine,” she announced.

  “Maybe I ought to leave, just get up and walk out, like you suggested. This don’t make no sense, Riley!” Sam fumed unable to see a reason for her new found attitude.

  “It makes perfect sense.” Riley barely glanced at his tirade.

  “You owe it to me, tell me why?” Sam insisted.

  She firmed her lips and met him face to face. “I know you are gonna think I’m crazy, that I don’t know what I’m doing. But I do. For once. I’ve thought this through. What I want with my life and what my father wanted for me, are two different things. I don’t want to run a ranch any longer. I don’t want to own all the territory between here and New Mexico territory. I don’t want men chasin’ me for my ranch, or my money. I want a life, I want a family,” she said simply and turned away from him. “I want a man that loves me for me.”

  “But you can have that and your ranch too!” Sam said adamantly. “You don’t have to give it up.”

  “No, I can’t. I’ve tried that. When men come around me it’s because they think they can either romance the ranch out from under me or marry it. When I am at the ranch, I’m no more than a ranch hand myself, doing my job every day. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not a man, Sam. I no longer want that kind of life. That’s a man’s kind of dream, not a woman’s. My father built this but not me. My father earned this, not me. Now that I’ve seen a little of the world, I want more for myself than a life that promises nothing. I simply want love, that’s all, and kids,” Riley admitted, no longer looking at him. “I want to build a family of my own. And if I’m going to do that, I’ve got to learn how to be a real lady.”

  “This is crazy, Riley.” Sam threw his coffee on the ground. It soaked up fast. After a few minutes of reflecting on the things she said he asked, “So, what are you gonna do?”

  “I’m going into town and to the bank, get my money, put the ranch up for sale and have the lawyer handle the details for me.”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, and then what?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t got that far with my thinkin’ yet,” she insisted. “But I can live on the money for a few years without worryin’ over it.”

  “But you’re a rancher!”

  “No, I was a rancher. Now, I’m going to be a lady.” She smiled brightly.

  “A lady. A lady of what?”

  “Just a lady. Maybe I’ll find a husband.”

  “Then I guess this is goodbye, Riley, because you shore don’t need me for this.” Sam shook his head with disgust.

  “You don’t want to come into town with me and help me pull off the last charade?” Riley challenged.

  Sam studied her for a long moment. “All right, I’ll see it to the end, and then I’m gone.”

  “Fair enough, let’s be on our way then,” she exclaimed.

  “What about breakfast?” he asked.

  “I’m not hungry.” She smiled.

  “But…”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Northwest of Fort Worth they came upon a relay stage station and she bought tickets to ride to Dallas, under the name of Ethan Morgan, and male servant.

  “Hey, can my dog ride up there on the seat with you?” Sam asked as the driver was loading the stage.

  “Sure, I guess. Is he friendly?” the man asked.

  “‘Bout as friendly as he can be…” Sam smiled.

  Sam motioned for Nodog who jumped up and onto the seat, then lay down and whined as the driver took his place.

  The driver waved to Sam that they were set.

  Riley would be a man for the next few days and then this whole thing would come to an end. The sadness of losing Sam was almost too much for her to handle. But the reality made her face it. Sam wasn’t offering marriage, or even his love.

  However, she squashed it to the back of her mind as her and Sam sat side by side in the stagecoach.

  The others glanced at them but didn’t pay a lot of attention to them as they boarded the stage.

  “This heat is stifling,” the woman declared as she produced a hankie to hold over her nose.

  “It’ll be better once we get rolling. The air moving and all.”

  “Then let’s pray it starts rolling soon.” She coughed and looked at Riley.

  Riley glanced at them all, noting the gentleman on the other side of the woman held a bag in his lap. And the husband looked irritated most of the time. The woman was dressed with silks and petticoats and a hat that seemed to aim straight for the gentleman on the end’s forehead.

  Riley almost laughed as it poked the man.

  Riley glanced at Sam, who was by far the most handsome man in the stagecoach.

  In one breath she wished she’d never met Sam, on another, she wished she was smart enough to flirt her way back into his arms. But even she realized it wouldn’t work until he came to terms with it, if he came to terms with it.

  The woman was such a lady that Riley could do nothing more than stare the first few miles. Her face was beautiful with full dark eyes, and hair, with a touch of rouge and her lips a little brighter, her clothes were from sent off stores, such as New York. She smelled of flowers, and the lady’s gaze landed on Sam more than once, but she avoided any contact with Riley for some reason.

  Riley sighed inwardly, the men eyed her with open curiosity.

  “Traveling far, sir?” one of them asked.

  “Not now, but we’ve come all the way from Boston. We’re almost there now.” She barely smiled. Her mustache tickled her lip. She wanted to rip it off, but knew that was no option. Why did men have to grow such things on their lips and face?

  “And you, sir?” She returned her attention to the gentleman sitting beside the lady.

  “Actually we are on business, but at least my wife got to travel with me this time. She loves the big city of Dallas, says it’s the only place that is decent in North Texas.” The gentleman smiled at Riley. “And I reckon she’s right about that.”

  The gentleman on the right of the lady jumped into the conversation. “I’m a liquor salesman and I travel all over the country. Texas is one of my biggest clientele.”

  Riley twitched her mustache. “Guess that explains why we have so many saloons in each town.”

  The other man laughed.

  “Actually, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana, not to mention the gold mining towns of California have the most saloons, I believe. I pride myself in carrying some of the best whiskey’s available; Cactus Wine, being one of the most popular, a mix of tequila and peyote tea. And Mule Skinner, made with whiskey and blackberry liquor. Naturally, I carry an assortment of Rye, and bourbons. Twenty years ago, I carried little more than rotgut whiskeys. But times are improving. Saloons are improving too.” He laughed. “Why, one fellow in Montana sent all the way to the east for a mirror that
covered one whole wall.”

  “Drinking is a sin,” the lady gushed forth with no approval and batting her eyes at Sam as though he were the only real man in the stage.

  “I guess it can be, ma’am, but that’s sorta up to the cowboy, ain’t it?” the salesman asked.

  Everyone hushed as the woman sent him a quick scowl.

  “So…are you from the deep south?” the lady asked Riley, and stared at her long and hard.

  Riley squirmed. “No ma’am, I’m from Texas. I never considered Texas south really, but I guess it is. Sorta southwest.”

  “Really? I didn’t think many Texans had men servants after the war,” she remarked. “Georgia, Mississippi maybe, but not Texas.”

  Riley glanced at Sam and smiled. “Sam is loyal and I didn’t have the heart to run him off. He’s been a companion to me for years now. He’s a free man, but he chooses to stay with me.”

  “Is he educated?” the lady asked.

  “I’m alive ma’am, you can ask me.” Sam smiled sagely. “The answer is no. I’m only educated in the ways of the Indian, and mission people. I find my work as Mr. Morgan’s man servant satisfying and comfortable for me. For what kind of work would a black man get without proper education? Being a man servant eludes me much opportunity to travel and see the world. And Mr. Morgan and I get along well.”

  “Indians?” the woman screeched. “I haven’t much knowledge of them, but I thought them savages.”

  Sam eyed the woman coldly. “At one time, I guess you could have said that. But today the Indian is a farmer, a rancher, a hired hand, much like other white folks. Most speak English well and dress like the white man too. This country is full of every nationality known to man, it would seem.”

  The woman twisted her head as though this was new information. Riley smiled. “The word savages no longer fits the Indians, due in a large degree because of the missions and schools.”

  Sam cast Riley a wry smile.

  Once again the lady hushed and Riley was glad, as she knew she had rubbed a raw sore in Sam.