Melody's Next Christmas

by George H. McVey

  Tallis grinned. “Well okay then. Why don’t you go ahead and change and work on that and we’ll be out to watch and learn as soon as I explain to Sara.”

  Tallis stood and pulled her into his arms and kissed her. While the kiss was short and sweet, Melody had wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around his neck and force him to kiss her like he’d done last night. However she knew that this conversation needed to happen and that tomorrow several more would as well. She just prayed that his family would be on board with the complete plan Tallis had in mind. She also prayed that they’d accept his word as truth and be happy that he wanted to marry her and quickly.

  In her old canvas britches she’d brought from the past and a western style button shirt, Melody slipped on her boots by the front door and made her way over to the stables. She opened Diablo’s stall door and after patting him and giving him a couple of dried apple slices from the bag that hung at the stable door, she walked him out to the training ring and closed him in to let him run while she got everything else together. In the tack room she gathered her saddle bags. She kept them filled with things she might need for training. Then she grabbed a halter with a soft leather bit called a training bit instead of the more popular metal one. The leather bit was softer on an untrained or still training horse’s mouth and made it easy to teach the horse to respond quickly to even soft touches, as well as the added benefit of not desensitizing their delicate lips with hard, unyielding metal. She hung the halter off the horn of her saddle and grabbed a blanket from the clean stack, placing it on top of the seat so that she could scoop up the saddle and carry it all out to the fence in one trip. “Well now, ain’t you a welcome and pretty sight on a Sunday afternoon.”

  Melody turned at the sarcastic voice to see Brent Cole leaning up against the entrance way between the tack room and the main stable. He stepped inside, pulling the tack room closed behind him. “Where’s your shadow, pretty lady? I ain’t seen the boss man let you get two feet from him since you got here. Matter of fact, looked last night he got way closer than two feet, to my eyes.”

  The foreman walked up close, crowding her up against the saddle and gear. She refused to be intimidated and careful reached behind her to grasp the wooden cudgel she kept to strike angry horses on the muzzle with to teach them that anger caused pain. It would work on angry ranch foremen too, she was sure. “He and Sara had some things to talk about. He’s planning on meeting me in the training ring shortly.”

  Brent looked her up and down like he had that first day in the way that made her feel like he could see right through her clothes, making that filthy sensation crawl across her skin again. Then he looked in her eyes and moved right up against her, trapping her between his body and the wooden stand her saddle sat on. “I think you’re gonna be late. You see, I saw the way the two of you were carrying on in the main house last night. Saw that for all his high moral ideals about treating women like a gentleman here on the ranch, when he had you alone and in his arms it seemed like that rule didn’t apply. Now me, I figure if the boss man can take a taste or two, I should get my fair share also.” He grabbed her and yanked her hard against his body leaving no question about his intentions. Her hand came out of the saddle bag, cudgel swinging for his temple but his hand caught her wrist and pinned it to her side, squeezing till the wooden weapon dropped to the ground. “Now that ain’t nice, sweetheart. Here I am willing to play nice and you try to hurt me.” She opened her mouth to scream but his other hand quickly clamped across her mouth, effectively silencing her. He shook his head. “Ah, ah, ah! Don’t think you need to be trying that, miss high and mighty historical expert.”

  She opened her mouth and bit into his palm, causing him to jerk his hand away from her mouth but before she could draw in enough air to scream his other hand latched around her throat and squeezed, cutting off her air supply. “Stop fighting me darlin’ because I promise before we’re done you’re gonna enjoy our little training session. His other hand gripped the front of her pants and with a violent yank he tore the aged and weakened canvas so that the britches fell at his feet. He felt her start trying to fight in earnest and tighten his hold on her neck, cutting off all her oxygen. “Now then. I’ve heard some women love it when a man chokes ‘em. Reckon I’m gonna find out if yer one of them.”

  Melody wanted to fight. She wanted to get away from this brute of a man who was about to steal the most precious gift she had to give Tallis on their wedding night; but with every second her strength seeped away along with the greying of her vision as her lack of air stole all her resistance. Then as the grey started to creep in threatening to send her into oblivion, color slammed into her all at once.

  Tallis was calmly explaining to his sister everything his Calling had revealed to him about Melody and where and when she was from. He told her what he thought he’d figured out about Reverend Johnson and the rules of the contract that kept them all from asking Melody right out if he was correct. He had just started to share what both he and Melody had figured out from the sermon passage that morning when a true Ryder Calling yanked him to his feet.

  This wasn’t the refined pay attention this is important tug he normally felt. No this was a full on -danger was close at hand and he needed to act to stop it- Calling like those he’d always heard about Nugget Nate and Nathan having. He was moving before he even realized it as the sensation tightened and with certainty he could understand he knew he need to get to the stables and now. As he began to move quickly in that direction he called over his shoulder to Sara. “Call 911, Sara, we need the sheriff and EMTs and we need them quick.”

  Sara didn’t argue or ask a single question, just punched in the numbers on her cell phone as he flew out the kitchen door running full out for the stable and his future wife. She was in danger and need him now! He didn’t know how he knew but he knew and as he tore into the building he saw that the tack room door was shut. He knew she was in there as sure as he knew his name and he also knew she wasn’t alone before he heard the voice of his foreman, Brent Cole. As he opened the door, Cole was standing in front of Melody, one hand wrapped around her throat as her face turned blue from lack of air, the other hand undoing his own pants. It was his words that spun Tallis’ vision beyond normal in an angry red film that covered everything. “Now then. I’ve heard some women love it when a man chokes ‘em. Reckon I’m gonna find out if yer one of them.”

  With a growl equal to that grizzly bear that earned Nugget Nate his mountain name, Tallis launched himself across the room, his own hand latching on to the back of Cole’s shirt and tossing the man backwards away from Melody and hard into the wall beside the door. The foreman’s eyes widened for a second and then his hands came up as Tallis stormed toward him again. “Now boss, this ain’t what it looks like. Me and Miss Hughes was just having a spot of fun…”

  Tallis right fist connected with the man’s face, quickly followed by his left sinking into the cowboy’s solar plexus. As the man bent at the pain in his core, Tallis’ strong left hand came up and with a loud cracking sound connected with the slime’s jaw, dropping the man like a two hundred pound bag of potatoes as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

  Tallis turned at a sound in the doorway to see Sara about to race into the room. “Sara, stop right there. Did you call 911?”

  “Yes, Tall, the sheriff and an ambulance are on their way.” As if to highlight his sister’s words, Tallis caught the first faint but growing sounds of sirens heading their way. “Good, take a picture of Melody, please.”

  He heard the click of the phone’s camera shutter and he turned to Melody. “Are you okay, love?”

  She stood and started shaking. Tallis was beside her in a minute. “Sara, can you from there zoom in close enough to get a picture of the bruises forming on her neck?”

  Sara nodded. “Melody love, lift your head so she can get a good picture.” There was another click and then Tallis was wrapping the horse blanket around the most important woman in his life. “Ar
e you okay, love? I know he hurt your throat, are you hurt anywhere else?”

  She shook her head and in a very scratchy voice. “No, you got here before he could do what he’d planned. Tallis, I just want to go and get some britches please, he tore mine.”

  Tallis pulled her into his arms “I know love, but you can’t not yet. We need to wait for the Sheriff, she needs to see the scene as it is and take our statements first.” He looked at Melody. “Get a picture of her pants, Sara; make sure you can see the torn edges, please.”

  His sister’s phone clicked again and then they heard the siren that had been growing louder go silent as the sheriff’s car slid to a stop in front of the stable. “Show her back here, Sara.”

  His sister nodded and walked away. Melody looked up at him. “Why do I need to talk to the sheriff, Tallis?”

  “Because love, what Brent did is a crime here. It’s called sexual assault and it will put him in jail. With the bruises forming, she may make it violent sexual assault or add a charge of attempted murder but either way he’s never going to be able to hurt you or any woman again.”

  Then the sheriff walked in, took one look at the scene in front of her, as Brent Cole started to groan and come around. Without a word she rolled him over and yanked his hands behind his back, slapping cuffs on his wrists. “Well, Mr. Cole, seems like you didn’t listen to me again.”

  Tallis’ attention snapped to the officer’s face. “You’ve had other run-ins with Brent, Sheriff?”

  The woman nodded. “A few, Mr. Ryder. I’m assuming since this half-dressed young lady is clinging to you like your all that’s keeping her sane, that Cole and not you is the one who did that to her throat and clothes?”

  “Yeah, I got her just before something worse happened.”

  “Good. Miss, I’m Sheriff Becky Kinkade, can I get your name please?”

  “Melody Hughes.”

  The sheriff gave a weak smile. “I’d say I was happy to meet you but that might seem strange in this situation.”

  Tallis saw the smile that flashed across Melody’s face and knew that’s why the Sheriff had said what she had.

  “I have paramedics on the way, they should be here soon. Besides the obvious damage to your throat, are you hurt anywhere else?”

  Melody shook her head. “No, Tallis got here before anything else could happen.”

  “That’s good, now are you sure? Did he hit you or grab you someplace else?

  She held up her right hand and they could see the bruise forming around it as well. “I tried to hit him with my training cudgel and he caught my arm and forced my hand to open by squeezing my wrist, but that’s all.”

  “Do you mind if I take a picture of your wrist, Miss Hughes?”

  Melody shook her head and the sheriff pulled out her phone and snapped a couple of pictures. “I hate to ask but I need to get some of your neck and your state of undress without the blanket.”

  Tallis spoke up. “Sara got some of those before you got here.”

  “Good, I’ll just have her send them to me and save us that step. Can you walk me through what happened, Miss Hughes?”

  Melody began to describe the incident and as she talked Tallis got angry at Brent Cole all over again. He moved to pummel the man again when he interrupted by yelling, “She’s lying. I didn’t do anything she didn’t ask for.”

  Kinkade stopped and yanked Cole up on his feet by the cuffs. “I’m not talking to you. Matter of fact, until I’m ready to talk to you, I think the back of my car is a good place for you.”

  She hauled him off and shut him in the back of the car. “Sorry about that,” she said on her return. “Go ahead and finish telling me what happened, Miss Hughes.”

  Melody continued until she got to where her vision started to grey out. “Then the next thing I know, Tallis is hitting him.”

  The sheriff looked at him. “When did you know something was wrong?”

  “Officially, not until I entered the stable. I saw the door to the tack room was shut and we never shut it.”

  The sheriff looked at him, “Officially? You trying to say this is one of those cases where a Ryder knew something was wrong when they shouldn’t have known?”

  “Becky, you know about our gift. I remember you had that case with Hannah a few years back.”

  She nodded. “Yep, and a few run-ins with your brother, too. So you came into the stable and saw that the tack room door was shut; then what?”

  “I approached the door and heard Cole’s voice, it sounded angry so I opened the door to see him fumbling with his pants opening while holding Miss Hughes by the throat with his other. Her face was turning blue and he said he’d heard some women like being choked and he guessed they were going to find out if she was one. I crossed the room and yanked him away from Miss Hughes.”

  “Uh huh and when did you beat the stuffing out of him?”

  “When he opened his mouth to tell me it wasn’t what it looked like. He indicated that he and Melody were having some fun.”

  “Why’d you beat him after that, Mr. Ryder?”

  Because, sheriff, just the day before I caught him and a couple of the hands talking disrespectfully about Miss Hughes and I informed them that no female on this ranch was to be harassed, mistreated or assaulted. His claim that this was consensual fun when it obviously wasn’t made me a bit angry.”

  “Again. Why? Also, how did you know he wasn’t telling you the truth? That this wasn’t just a bit of fun?”

  Tallis sighed. “I know you need an answer besides my family’s gift. How about this, if you’d have seen Melody’s face, the color, the fear and the look of defeat coupled with his tone of voice to her, you’d have known too.”

  “All right, that will do. Now I need to go listen to Cole lie through his teeth. The ambulance is a minute away, I need them to check Miss Hughes over, and if she’s pressing charges, I’ll need her to go with them to the hospital and have a full assault kit done.”

  “What do you mean, if I press charges?”

  The sheriff sighed. “Miss Hughes, you were the one who was attacked. It’s your decision to make if you want him jailed and tried for his crime.”

  “You said this wasn’t the first time you’ve had to deal with Mr. Cole. Has he done this before?”

  The woman nodded. “Several times; two of them were complete rape but none of the women would press charges and I couldn’t hold him without their willingness to testify.”

  “I’ll do what I need to so that he can’t do this again to someone else.”

  The officer smiled. “Good for you, honey. Thank you. Now go see the EMT’s and I’ll have Miss Ryder bring you some pants. I’ll talk to you again at the hospital and get you to write your statement out for me and I’ll give you a restraining order against Mr. Cole. He’s going to jail but I figure the judge will set bail tomorrow and like always, he’ll find a way to pay it.”

  Tallis grunted. “Well you can inform Mr. Cole that he is no longer employed at the RHR and if he sets foot on Ryder property again he’ll be considered a trespasser and treated accordingly. He can call and let me know where to have his personal effects and final pay sent.”

  “I’ll tell him and I’ll need your written statement, too.”

  “I’ll be following Melody to the hospital, you can get mine there as well.’

  Alright then, I’ll see you at the hospital.”

  The hospital was an experience for Melody. Never had she seen such drastic changes than in medicine. The doctor who was treating her and everyone else in the emergency department was not only a woman but what her pa would have called a darkie. Tallis whispered quickly to her that dark skinned people were typically called African Americans nowadays.

  It was just surprising how much things had changed. The staff was kind and compassionate but the exam was very personal and Tallis left Sara in the exam room with her and went to wait out front. More pictures were taken and Sheriff Kinkade did indeed showed up and asked her to write dow
n her statement. It was the first time that the paperwork and identification card from Reverend Johnson had been used and she was worried that it would lead to them realizing her secret.

  Word was getting around the emergency department that, first of all, she was Tallis Ryder’s sweetheart and that they’d mentioned to Pastor Henderson that morning they would be talking to him about marriage soon. Which of course led every jealous woman in the department to come by to look at the woman who’d captured the elusive Tallis Ryder. Melody and Sara had a good laugh at that as it was obvious that Tallis was uncomfortable with all the female attention.

  The second thing was that Melody was there for assault and that Brent Cole was the attacker. That didn’t bring people by but it did set tongues wagging. Several of the women who had been attacked by him before had been treated by some of the staff in the hospital and they were all praying that Melody would be the one strong enough to stand up and press charges. What none of the staff remembered was that their newest nursing student from the high school had been one of the young women attacked and raped by Brent. She overheard that the woman in exam room five had been Brent’s latest victim and guilt started eating at her soul.

  Melody was just waiting for discharge orders. This humiliating and frightening day was over. The one bright spot was that Tallis had rescued her. Not only had he rescued her he hadn’t accused her of being the reason that Mr. Cole had attacked her. Back where she had come from, if a young woman had been attacked like that, first off her reputation would have been destroyed and secondly everyone would have accused her of having done something to invite the man’s attention. Here they kept asking if she was okay and praising her for being willing to press legal charges against him. Which was another one of those changes that she had been surprised about. What Brent had done in her time would have been wrong but he wouldn’t have been heading to jail for it.

  As she was putting her clothing back on a young woman rushed into her room with tears running down her face. “Are you her?”