Tyra's Gambler

by Velda Brotherton

  For a long while she didn’t say anything. Josh was right, but she couldn’t help worrying about Micah and Sam out in the wilds of New Mexico Territory.

  “I brought back a canteen to fill, just in case we need water before we get all the way back, seein’ as how we’ll have you two ladies along slowin’ us down.”

  She popped him on the shoulder with a fist. “Be careful there, Josh.”

  He studied her till she got plumb nervous, then said in a soft voice. “Do me a favor, Ty, would you? Look after my brother. He needs someone like you or he’s gonna get hurt bad. I think you know what I mean.”

  Something went through her like ice water. “I do know, but I’m afraid he doesn’t want me.”

  “Oh, believe me, he does. He loves you so much it scares him. You be good to him, he’ll treat you like a princess, believe me.”

  Josh’s plea frightened her in a way she didn’t understand. “Where are you going, Josh?”

  “Who, me?” He rose, stretched to his full height, and grinned down at her. “Nowhere, darlin’. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Before she could continue the conversation, he moved into the opposite corner and lay down. A strange silence closed around her. To be the only one awake gave her the oddest feeling, and she didn’t like it one bit.

  Riders approached on the ridge above. She shut her eyes and gnawed at her lip, hung on to Anastasia, afraid to breathe for fear of giving their hiding place away. The riders passed by without slowing, and still she didn’t move. Not for a long time.

  At last she huffed out a wispy, “Thank God.”

  “Hsst, not yet.” Zach squeezed her hand. “They might circle back. Just stay put.”

  She relaxed under his touch. He’d heard them, even asleep. Given their vantage point, if the riders did approach, it would have to be single file, and the three of them could pick them off one by one.

  Her stomach growled, and he rubbed a hand over it. His touch felt so good.

  “Maybe Josh can get us some more prairie chickens. Those bastards sure picked a sorry time to bust in on us. Just at dinner time.” Zach had not let go of her hand, and she liked the feel, like somehow he was reassuring her she was safe.

  “Think it would be safe to go down to the creek and get a drink?” She eyed the crystal water shimmering in the late afternoon sunlight.

  “Better wait a bit longer, make sure they don’t circle round and come back for another look.”

  Josh was right. She was immediately sorry she’d brought that up, because now all she could think of was the taste of cool water sliding down her throat.

  It seemed like hours later when Josh rose. “Stay here for a bit longer. I’ll go take a look, make sure it’s safe. If it is, we can hike over to the meadow and ride on off in that direction. That’ll put us miles from the trail by dark, should they decide to backtrack.”

  Sounded like Josh’d had a lot of experience in losing trackers. No sense in worrying that, though. Anastasia sat up, hugged her knees, and whimpered.

  “Shh, it’s okay.” They had to get her somewhere she would be safe. Taking her along on the trail would only slow them down, and they needed to get out of Texas soon. Wanted posters for Josh would be all over the state by now.

  Zach peered into the distance. “He’s coming. Get her on her feet. We have to go.”

  Cramped legs kept her from rising as fast as she would’ve liked. On top of that, the woman kicked up a fuss, pushing her hands away and saying, “No, no.” Her knees buckled, and Tyra almost went down supporting her.

  “Hush her up, can you? I’ll take her.” He swept the woman into his arms. Surprisingly, she didn’t protest, but lay her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. He followed Josh, and Tyra hurried to keep up.

  “You all right on that leg?”

  “Sure, it’s fine. Just sore. Let’s keep moving.”

  One thing was for sure, she’d had more excitement with Josh and Zach than on the entire trail ride with James Lee and Renner. Had it not been for her feelings for Zach, it would’ve been more than she wanted.

  In their trek upstream they reached shallow rapids, and Josh stopped, turned to Zach. “Give her to me ’fore you fall on your face.”

  Zach appeared relieved to do just that and stumbled over the slick rocks toward the woods on the other side. By the time they cleared the trees they must’ve walked a couple of miles, and he was dragging. Spotting the approaching humans, the horses raised their heads in unison and whickered.

  Josh set Anastasia on a fallen tree till Tyra climbed on Morgan, then boosted her up.

  “Help Zach, would you? He’s about to drop.”

  After Josh boosted his protesting brother onto his horse, he climbed into his own saddle.

  “Let’s ride north for a few hours, get as far away from this place as we can without running our horses into the ground. We could backtrack to the Western Trail and head for Dodge City, then go west from there, but that’s wide open country, and I’d rather stay in the wilderness a while longer.”

  Zach caught up with Josh, and they talked for a spell, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. He was unusually quiet when they moved out again, the men keeping her and her companion between them. With no sign they were being followed, they rode easy, the sun crossing above them and moving to their left in a cloudless sky. It melted into the horizon before Josh deemed it okay to stop for the night.

  “Just to be safe, we’ll not build a fire tonight.” Josh gave a protesting Zach a hand down, then reached for Anastasia. To Tyra’s surprise she fell into his arms. They were soon all bedded down, too tired to do anything else.

  The next thing Tyra knew, the sun awoke her, shining in her eyes. Zach sprawled so close to her she could have reached out and touched him. She lay there a moment taking a long look at his features in repose. He appeared much younger when he slept, a peacefulness replacing his earlier tense expression. The sun had darkened his skin from a honey tone to copper and streaked his hair that lay in a tumble over his forehead. She suppressed an urge to finger it back. Good thing she didn’t, for his eyes popped open, and he caught her staring at him, cocked an eyebrow, and smiled. Embarrassed, she turned away. Tried not to turn back when his movement brought a groan, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “Good morning,” he said, sitting with his knees pulled up.

  “Need a hand getting up, old man?”

  “Hey, I ain’t that old.”

  She shrugged and hopped upright in one swift move, showing off a bit, then stuck a hand down to him. “Next time try not to get shot, then.”

  He fanned away her offer and scrambled to his feet. All the running around the day before obviously had strengthened the leg rather than hurt it. She didn’t say anything but was pleased. Their situation could become dire fast

  “We have to get something to eat today.” Josh appeared from behind some bushes. “And fill our canteens, if we can find some water. Then Zach and I want to head home to New Mexico.”

  “What about Anastasia?” Tyra glanced at the woman who could not speak English and who feared almost everything.

  “There’s a Catholic convent not far from the border. The House of the Five Angels. She will be safe there. As for me, maybe I’ll be safe out there in the territory. Then I reckon you can be on your way wherever it is you want to go.”

  Disappointment darkened her mood. She would have been happy to ride along with them to their home, wherever that was, had they asked. With a curt nod, she turned away so he wouldn’t see how upset she was. More angry, if the truth were known. She’d helped them. How dare they dismiss her as if she were of no importance at all?

  Josh mounted up before she had the chance to say anything. “Going to see if I can roust us up some meat. You might open one of them tins of peaches. Then we’ll be on our way.”

  When she whirled, Zach stood right behind her, and she bumped into him. He took her elbows in both palms. “Whoa, there. What’s
wrong?”

  “Wrong? Why, what could be wrong? Nothing, that’s what.”

  “You look like you been bee stung. You okay?”

  “To tell you the truth, I am not okay. Josh just told me that—” Shots rang out, and she paused. “Well, it sounds like your brother has killed us our breakfast. Maybe we should get a fire started.” She stomped away from him and went in search of wood for the fire.

  Sometime later, Josh returned with a huge rabbit. “Sorry, folks, this jackrabbit is all the game I could find this morning. Probably be tough as leather unless it’s boiled all day, and we don’t have that kind of time.”

  Zach actually laughed. “Some hunter you are. At least the boys left us some of the canned goods.” He rustled about, pulled out a can of peaches, and sawed it open with his Barlow.

  “Let’s see you do better.”

  Though disappointed that they were leaving her, Tyra was happy to hear the two funning with each other. They kept it up the entire time it took to skin, gut, and skewer the jackrabbit over the fire, pretending to instruct one another on doing the job right.

  “If I wasn’t so blamed hungry, we’d just forget this and be on our way.” Josh sawed away at the tough flesh.

  Going all serious, Zach glanced around. “Maybe we ought to. I got me a bad feeling. You didn’t see anyone out there, did you?”

  “No, not a soul. Don’t be such a nervous Nellie. That posse is long gone. They got no idea at all where we’re at.”

  About that time Anastasia screamed, and Tyra whirled to see a big man dragging her out of her bedroll. He had sneaked right up on them without making a sound. It was as if they couldn’t escape trouble. She yanked her Colt from its holster and fired several shots, missing on purpose rather than take a chance on hitting the struggling captive. The gunfire at least got the giant’s attention, but he kept hold of Anastasia with one hand while drawing his six-gun with the other. Josh tackled Tyra, so his shots went over their heads.

  “I’m just about fed up with this.” Josh scrambled to his feet, made a dash for the couple, and brought down the big man. They rolled around and around, punching, kicking, and shouting at each other. Tyra protected the precious peaches from harm, setting them back under a tree on a flat rock.

  Zach joined the brawl, and finally the two brothers subdued the man, who muttered something in the same language Anastasia had spoken earlier.

  “What the hell?” Josh said sitting on him.

  The woman stood over the two of them, hands on her hips, obviously telling the man off, though Tyra couldn’t understand a word she said.

  “Wait a minute. You two…” He pointed from one to the other. “…know each other?”

  “She is my woman, my wife to be. I bring her here from Mother Russia to have my children and keep my bed warm, and what does she do? She runs off with what you call—outlaws.” He shrugged. “First chance, she runs without I can show her I will be good to her.”

  The woman continued to holler at him.

  Tyra took Anastasia’s arm and signaled her to be quiet. “I think they took her,” she told the angry giant.

  “Then why she angry at me?”

  The woman stomped a foot and yelled some more.

  “Would you try telling her to shut up?” Josh and Zach said in unison. “Maybe we can get this settled.”

  The brothers crawled off the man, and he climbed to his feet, dusted his trousers, said something in Russian to Anastasia. She shook her head and closed her mouth.

  “Now ask her who those men were and why she was running from them. They had her hands tied behind her back.”

  The giant shook his head, dark hair blowing in the wind. “This I did not know.” He turned to the woman and asked her something in Russian. She replied, and he glanced at the three of them. “She says she did not run, they took her when she went to get water at the river. I track them for a long ways, then see you come up from the river, so I follow along. I am much confused to see her with you.” He gestured toward them.

  “Well, if you don’t mind, would you apologize to this lady so she’ll stop screaming at you? And ask her if she wants to go home with you. We got no place to take her, and we have to be on our way before…”

  The man nodded, stuck out his hand. “I am Ivan Bondarenko. I hired those men to find her. I left her at the Catholic mission so I could find a place for us. We want to settle on a farm. Raise potatoes and cabbage and the like. The nuns tell me she runs away. I did not think nuns would lie.”

  “Well, then you don’t know many nuns, mister.” Tyra marched right up to him, shook her finger under his nose.

  He regarded her with a smile. “Are you going to eat that animal you have on the fire? I would like a bite or two. Then I will be glad to take her with me…if she will come.”

  Within a few minutes all had gathered around the fire to divide up the tough meat and talk about how Ivan and Anastasia had emigrated to Texas.

  “I come here some time ago, by ship, then railroad, then in wagon. I send back for her, and while wait I build her a house. There.” He gestured toward the southeast and smiled, transforming his grim features like sun shining through clouds. “Since we fight. She wants this, I want that. She hates house, hates me. So this why I think she run away. Now she is telling me she is sorry and will go home with me.”

  Anastasia watched him closely, a surly frown on her face. When he finished, she began another diatribe in Russian. Tyra glanced around. Everyone was busy chewing the tough jackrabbit meat and doing their best to ignore this woman’s shrill voice. No one but Ivan had any idea what she was saying, but she kept gesturing toward Josh.

  She drew a breath, and Zach jumped into the conversation. “Tell you what, Ivan. Far as we’re concerned, you can have her. We don’t want her.”

  Ivan held up a hand to Anastasia, translated Zach’s words. Then to them, “I tell her she will go home with me. I will do all the things she says. To keep the peace.”

  “Sounds like a fine idea to me.” Zach nodded in affirmation.

  Anastasia leaped to her feet and threw her arms around Josh, said something to Ivan.

  Zach laughed. “Looks like she’s taken a shine to you, brother. I’d say congratulations are in order.”

  “The hell you say.” Josh pried at the woman’s arms, but she was strong and determined and began to kiss him on the cheeks and mouth. “Would someone do something?” he shouted.

  “I would, but I don’t want to get hurt.” Zach laughed and clutched his stomach. “Looks like you’re engaged.”

  Ivan dropped the rabbit leg and rose to his impressive height. “Enough,” he shouted, followed by several words in Russian, then he grabbed her shoulders and lifted her away from the hapless Josh.

  The last Tyra saw of them, Anastasia was tucked under Ivan’s arm, feet kicking, mouth yelling, while he stomped off. Hopefully he would tie the woman up until she came to her senses. It was one time she couldn’t bring herself to come to the aid of a woman in distress. Poor Ivan would all too soon be the one with trouble.

  Zach and Tyra continued to laugh at Josh, who was so embarrassed his face turned red. They finished the rabbit, tossed the bones into the woods, and covered the campfire coals before Tyra remembered the can of peaches. She fetched it, and they shared the sweet, dripping fruit, and drank the juice.

  “Sure you don’t want to chase off and rescue that lovely Anastasia, brother?” Zach saddled up and dodged when Josh picked up a stick and threw it at him.

  “For a tiny woman, she sure was one noisy lady. Maybe she’s just what you need, Josh. Keep you in line.” Tyra grinned and mounted up.

  “The two of you can make jokes all you want. We’d better hope those two are going in the opposite direction, ’cause if I see her coming again, I swear to God I’ll hightail it and leave you to handle her.”

  “It ain’t me she loves, brother. Let’s ride.” Zach laughed some more.

  The sound of their laughter relieved some of the te
nsion Tyra felt over being chased by lawmen and outlaws. She was happy to head out, but surprised when Zach led them north. As long as they did not run her off she would stick with them. There really was no place for her to go.

  Sometime later, when they stopped at a fast-moving clear creek to fill their canteens, she asked about it. “Where are we going?”

  Zach squatted next to her and took a long drink. “We’re heading for the Marcy Trail. Josh and I talked about it, and we want to go home to New Mexico for a while. Maybe no one will follow us there. You coming along?”

  She studied him for a long quiet moment, thought of lying with him and his gentle touch, the kindness in his eyes. “You asking?”

  “Sounds like it to me. I don’t want you to be caught up in this mess, though. You could go back to James Lee. Marry the man, have a nice home on that ranch of his. Sticking with us will be dangerous, and I’m not leaving Josh again.”

  A breeze kicked up, blew a lock of hair across her face. She brushed it back. “That what you want me to do?”

  He rose, gazed down at her. “Tyra, let’s not dance around about this. Honest, you come along, I’ll do my best to keep trouble away. I think Josh is innocent of what they accused him of. But I can’t promise you it will be a bed of roses.”

  She stood, stepped close to him, put a hand on his chest. “Answer me one question.”

  He nodded. Wrapped his hand around hers.

  “The other night, when we, uh, almost made love. Was that real for you?”

  Instead of replying, he tilted her chin so she was looking up at him. “Honey, that was me making love to you, and yes it was real. No almost about it.” He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. So soft, so sweet, she shivered from head to toe.

  He stepped back. “And next time it sure won’t be almost. Now, it’s time we lit out. You coming or not?”

  “I’m coming.”

  The idea of going into the wild unknown of New Mexico Territory frightened her just a bit, but she shook away the uneasiness. After all, she had traveled a year to come to this unknown country, then left the flat prairies of Kansas for this sprawling land Americans called Texas. A place that went on and on forever. So what could be so different about this?