by Diana Palmer
“Work?” she stammered.
He nodded. “We felt guilty that we butchered one of his calves. We had come far and were very hungry. We will work to pay for the calf. We hear from the Mexican people that he is also fair,” he added surprisingly. “We know that he looks only at a man’s work. He does not consider himself better than men of other colors. This is very strange. We do not understand it. Your people have just fought a terrible war because you wanted to own other people who had dark skin. Yet Big John lives with these people. Even with the Mexicans. He treats them as family.”
“Yes,” she said. She slowly uncocked the shotgun and lowered it to her side. “That is true.”
The younger one smiled at her. “We know more about horses than even his vaquero, who knows much,” he said without conceit. “We will work hard. When we pay back the cost of the calf, he can pay us what he thinks is fair.”
She chuckled. “It’s not really a big cabin, and it has three families living in it,” she began.
They laughed. “We can make a teepee,” the older one said, his English only a little less accented than the younger one’s.
“I say,” she exclaimed, “can you teach me to shoot a bow?!”
The younger one threw back his head and laughed uproariously. “Even his woman is brave,” he told the older one. “Now do you believe me? This man is not as others with white skin.”
“I believe you.”
“Come along, then,” Ellen said, turning. “I’ll introduce you to…Luis! Put that gun down!” she exclaimed angrily when she saw the smaller man coming toward them with two pistols leveled. “These are our two new horse wranglers,” she began. She stopped. “What are your names?” she asked.
“I am called Thunder,” the young one said. “He is Red Wing.”
“I am Ellen Jacobs,” she said, “and that is Luis. Say hello, Luis.”
The Mexican lowered his pistols and reholstered them with a blank stare at Ellen.
“Say hello,” she repeated.
“Hello,” he obliged, and he nodded.
The Comanches nodded back. They rode up to the cabin and dismounted. The women in the cabin peered out nervously.
“Luis will show you where to put your horses,” Ellen told them. “We have a lean-to. Someday, we will have a barn!”
“Need bigger teepee first,” Red Wing murmured, eyeing the cabin. “Bad place to live. Can’t move house when floor get dirty.”
“Yes, well, it’s warm,” Ellen said helplessly.
The young Comanche, Thunder, turned to look at her. “You are brave,” he said with narrow light eyes. “Like my woman.”
“She doesn’t live with you?” she asked hesitantly.
He smiled gently. “She is stubborn, and wants to live in a cabin far away,” he replied. “But I will bring her back here one day.” He nodded and followed after Luis with his friend.
Juana and Mary came out of the cabin with worried expressions. “You going to let Indians live with us?” Juana exclaimed. “They kill us all!”
“No, they won’t,” Ellen assured them. “You’ll see. They’re going to be an asset!”
Chapter Five
THE COMANCHES DID KNOW more about horses than even Luis did, and they were handy around the place. They hunted game, taught Luis how to tan hides, and set about building a teepee out behind the cabin.
“Very nice,” Ellen remarked when it was finished. “It’s much roomier than the cabin.”
“Easy to keep clean,” Red Wing agreed. “Floor get dirty, move teepee.”
She laughed. He smiled, going off to help Thunder with a new corral Juan was building.
* * *
JOHN RODE BACK IN with Isaac and stopped short at the sight of a towering teepee next to the cabin he’d left two weeks earlier.
His hand went to his pistol as he thought of terrible possibilities that would explain its presence.
But Ellen came running out of the cabin, followed by Mary and Juana, laughing and waving.
John kicked his foot out of the stirrup of his new saddle and held his arm down to welcome Ellen as she leaped up into his arms. He kissed her hungrily, feeling as if he’d come home for the first time in his life.
He didn’t realize how long that kiss lasted until he felt eyes all around him. He lifted his head to find two tall Comanches standing shoulder to shoulder with Juan and the younger boys and girls of the group, along with Juana and Mary.
“Bad habit,” Thunder remarked disapprovingly.
“Bound to upset horse,” Red Wing agreed, nodding.
“What the hell…!” John exclaimed.
“They’re our new horse wranglers,” Ellen said quickly. “That’s Thunder, and that’s Red Wing.”
“They taught us how to make parfleche bags,” Juana’s eldest daughter exclaimed, showing one with beautiful beadwork.
“And how to make bows and arrows!” the next youngest of Isaac’s sons seconded, showing his.
“And quivers,” Luis said, resigned to being fired for what John would surely consider bad judgment in letting two Comanches near the women. He stood with his sombrero against his chest. “You may fire me if you wish.”
“If you fire me, I’m going with them,” Isaac’s second son replied, pointing toward the Indians.
John shook his head, laughing uproariously. “I expect there’ll be a lynch mob out here any day now,” he sighed.
Everybody grinned.
Ellen beamed up at him. “Well, they certainly do know how to train horses, John,” she said.
“Your woman meet us with loaded shotgun,” Red Wing informed him. “She has strong spirit.”
“And great heart,” Thunder added. “She says we can work for you. We stay?”
John sighed. “By all means. All we need now is an Eskimo,” he murmured to Ellen under his breath.
She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Babies would be nice,” she whispered.
He went scarlet, and everyone laughed.
* * *
“I GOT ENOUGH FOR the steers to buy a new bull,” John told her. “Saddles for the horses we have, and four new horses,” he added. “They’re coming in with the rest of the drovers. I rode ahead to make sure you were all right.”
She cuddled close to him as they stood out behind the cabin in a rare moment alone. “We had no trouble at all. Well, except for the Comanches, but they turned out to be friends anyway.”
“You could have blown me over when I saw that teepee,” he confessed. “We’ve had some hard battles with Comanches in the past, over stolen livestock. And I know for a fact that two Comanches ate one of my calves…”
“They explained that,” she told him contentedly. “They were hungry, but they didn’t want to steal. They came here to work out the cost of the calf, and then to stay on, if you’ll keep them. I think they decided that it’s better to join a strong foe than oppose him. That was the reason they gave me, at least.”
“Well, I must admit, these two Comanches are unusual.”
“The younger one has light eyes.”
“I noticed.” He didn’t add what he was certain of—that these two Comanches were the fugitives that the deputy marshal in Sutherland Springs had been looking for. Fortunately for them, James Graham had headed up beyond San Antonio to pursue them, acting on what now seemed to be a very bad tip.
She lifted her head and looked up at him. “They rode up and just sat there. I loaded my shotgun and went out to see what they wanted.”
“You could have been killed,” he pointed out.
“It’s what you would have done, in my place,” she reminded him, smiling gently. “I’m not afraid of much. And I’ve learned from you that appearances can be deceptive.”
“You take chances.”
“So do you.”
He sighed. “You’re learning bad habits from me.”
She smiled and snuggled close. “Red Wing is going to make us a teepee of our own very soon.” She kissed
him, and was kissed back hungrily.
“Yesterday not be soon enough for that teepee,” came a droll accented voice from nearby.
Red Wing was on the receiving end of two pairs of glaring eyes. He shrugged and walked off noiselessly, chuckling to himself.
John laughed. “Amen,” he murmured.
“John, there’s just one other little thing,” Ellen murmured as she stood close to him.
“What now? You hired a gunslinger to feed the chickens?”
“I don’t know any gunslingers. Be serious.”
“All right. What?”
“My grandmother sent me a telegram. She’s coming out here to save me from a life of misery and poverty.”
He lifted his head. “Really!”
She drew in a soft breath. “I suppose she’ll faint dead away when she sees this place, but I’m not going to be dragged back East by her or an army. I belong here.”
“Yes, you do,” John replied. “Although you certainly deserve better than this, Ellen,” he said softly. He touched her disheveled hair. “I promise you, it’s only going to get better.”
She smiled. “I know that. We’re going to have an empire, all our own.”
“You bet we are.”
“Built with our own two hands,” she murmured, reaching up to kiss him, “and the help of our friends. All we need is each other.”
“Need teepee worse,” came Red Wing’s voice again.
“Listen here,” John began.
“Your horse got colic,” the elder of the Comanches stood his ground. “What you feed him?”
“He ate corn,” John said belligerently. “I gave him a feed bucket full!”
The older man scoffed. “No wonder he got colic. I fix.”
“Corn is good for horses, and I know what to do for colic!”
“Sure. Not feed horse corn. Feed him grass. We build teepee tomorrow.”
John still had his mouth open when the older man stalked off again.
“Indian ponies only eat grass,” Ellen informed him brightly. “They think grain is bad for horses.”
“You’ve learned a lot,” he remarked.
“More than you might realize,” she said dryly. She reached up to John’s ear. “These two Comanches are running from the army. But I don’t think they did anything bad, and I told Mr. Alton that I saw two Comanches heading north at a dead run. He told the…”
“…deputy marshal,” he finished for her, exasperated.
“When you get to know them, you’ll think they’re good people, too,” she assured him. “Besides, they’re teaching me things I can’t learn anywhere else. I can track a deer,” she counted off her new skills, “weave a mat, make a bed out of pine straw, do beadwork, shoot a bow and arrow, and tan a hide.”
“Good Lord, woman!” he exclaimed, impressed.
She grinned. “And I’m going to learn to hunt just as soon as you take me out with my shotgun.”
He sighed. This was going to become difficult if any of her people stopped by to check on her. He didn’t want to alienate them, but this couldn’t continue.
“Ellen, what do you think about schooling?” he asked gently.
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Well, do any of the children know how to read and write?”
She hadn’t considered that. “I haven’t asked, but I don’t expect they can. It was not legal for slaves to be taught such things, and I know that Juana can’t even read Spanish, although it is her native tongue.”
“The world we build will need educated people,” he said thoughtfully. “It must start with the children, with this new generation. Don’t you agree?”
“Yes,” she said, warming quickly to the idea. “Educated people will no longer have to work at menial jobs, where they are at the mercy of others.”
“That is exactly what I think. So, why don’t you start giving the children a little book learning, in the evenings, after supper?” he suggested.
She smiled brightly. “You know, that’s a very good idea. But, I have no experience as a teacher.”
“All you will need are some elementary books and determination,” he said. “I believe there is a retired schoolteacher in Victoria, living near the blacksmith. Shall I take you to see him?”
She beamed. “Would you?”
“Indeed I would. We’ll go up there tomorrow,” he replied, watching her consider the idea. If nothing else, it would spare her the astonished surprise of her people if they ever came to visit and found Ellen in dungarees and muddy boots skinning out a deer.
He drove her to Victoria the next morning in the small, dilapidated buggy he’d managed to afford from his cattle sales, hitched to one of the good horses he’d also acquired. Fortunately it took to pulling a buggy right away. Some horses didn’t, and people died in accidents when they panicked and ran away.
The schoolteacher was long retired, but he taught Ellen the fundamentals she would need to educate small children. He also had a basic reader, a grammar book and a spelling book, which he gave to Ellen with his blessing. She clutched them like priceless treasure all the way back down the dusty road to the 3J Ranch.
“Do you think the Brown and the Rodriguez families will let me teach the children?” she wondered, a little worried after the fact. “They might not believe in education.”
“Luis and Isaac can’t even sign a paper,” he told her. “They have to make an ‘x’ on a piece of paper and have me witness it. If they ever leave the ranch, they need to know how to read and write so that nobody will take advantage of them.”
She looked at him with even more admiration than usual. He was very handsome to her, very capable and strong. She counted her blessings every single day that he’d thought her marriageable.
“You really care for them, don’t you?” she asked softly.
“When the Union Army came through Atlanta, they burned everything in sight,” he recalled, his face hardening. “Not just the big plantations where slaves were kept. They burned poor white people’s houses, because they thought we all had slaves down south.” He laughed coldly. “Sharecroppers don’t own anything. Even the house we lived in belonged to the plantation owner. They set it ablaze and my sister and mother were trapped inside. They burned to death while my other sister and I stood outside and watched.” He touched his lean cheek, where the old scars were still noticeable. “I tried to kill the cavalry officer responsible, but his men saved him. They gave me these,” he touched his cheek. “I never kept slaves. I hid Isaac and Mary in the root cellar when they ran away from the overseer. I couldn’t save their oldest son, but Mary was pregnant. She and Isaac saved me from the Union Army,” he said with a sigh. “They pleaded for my life. Shocked the cavalry into sparing me and my oldest sister. Isaac helped me bury my mother and my younger sister.” He looked down at her soft, compassionate expression. “My sister went to North Carolina to live with a cousin, but I wanted to go to my uncle in Texas. Isaac and Mary had no place else to go, so they traveled with me. They said they wanted to start over, but they didn’t fool me. They came with me to save me from the Union Army if I got in trouble. Those two never forget a debt. I owe them everything. My life. That’s why they’re partners with me.”
“And how did you meet Luis and Juana?” she asked.
“Luis was the only cowboy my uncle had who wasn’t robbing him blind. Luis told me what the others had done, and I fired the lot. I took care of my uncle, with their help, and rounded up stray calves to start my herd.” He chuckled. “The cabin was the only structure on the place. It got real crowded when Isaac and Mary moved in with me. Juana and Luis were going to live in the brush, but I insisted that we could all manage. We have. But it hasn’t been easy.”
“And now the Comanches are building teepees for us,” she told him. “They’ve been hunting constantly to get enough skins. We’re going to have privacy for the very first time. I mean…” She flushed at her own forwardness.
He reached for her small hand an
d held it tight. His eyes burned into hers. “I want nothing more in the world than to be alone with you, Camellia Ellen Jacobs,” he said huskily. “The finest thing I ever did in my life was have the good sense to marry you!”
“Do you really think so?” she asked happily. “I am no beauty…”
“You have a heart as big as all outdoors and the courage of a wolf. I wouldn’t trade you for a debutante.”
She beamed, leaning against his broad shoulder. “And I would not trade you for the grandest gentleman who ever lived. Although I expect you will make a fine gentleman, when we have made our fortune.”
He kissed her forehead tenderly. “You are my fortune,” he said huskily.
“You mean, because my father is giving us a railroad spur for a wedding present,” she said, confused.
He shook his head. “Because you are my most prized treasure,” he whispered, and bent to kiss her mouth tenderly.
She kissed him back, shyly. “I had never kissed anyone until you came along,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “You improve with practice!”
“John!” she chided.
He only laughed, letting her go to pay attention to the road. “We must get on down the road. It looks like rain.” He gave her a roguish glance. “We would not want you to tumble into a mud puddle, Mrs. Jacobs.”
“Are you ever going to forget that?” she moaned.
“In twenty years or so, perhaps,” he said. “But I cannot promise. That is one of my most delightful memories. You were so game, and Sir Sydney was such a boor!”
“Indeed he was. I hope he marries for money and discovers that she has none.”
“Evil girl,” he teased.
She laughed. “Well, you will never be able to accuse ME of marrying you for your money,” she said contentedly. “In twenty years or so,” she added, repeating his own phrase, “you will be exceedingly rich. I just know it.”
“I hope to break even, at least, and be able to pay my debts,” he said. “But I would love to have a ranch as big as a state, Ellen, and the money to breed fine cattle, and even fine horses.” He glanced at her. “Now that we have two extra horse wranglers, we can start building up our herd.”