by Linda Bridey
“Why did you do it?” Eddie said as he looked into her pretty eyes. Why hadn’t he noticed before how attractive she was?
Suddenly all of the frustration she’d stored up over the time she’d spent pining for Eddie bubbled to the surface. “Because I think that someone would have to light a stick of dynamite under your ass to get you to see anything if it doesn’t have to do with horses or this ranch. You couldn’t see what was right in front of you the whole time! I’m not sayin’ what I did was right, but in a way, I don’t regret it because at least now you know I exist!” That said, she got up, straightened her skirt and walked proudly from his office.
Eddie sat still, disbelief freezing him in place. That she swore at him didn’t bother him overly much. No, it was very amusing, actually. She certainly had spirit to talk to him like that. Eddie chuckled and the more he thought about her statements, the funnier it became until he let out a full belly laugh. Throughout his day, he would laugh about it to himself.
Chapter Eight
“So do you have some information for me, deputy?” Joe asked as Rick came back into the house once Reckless had left. The mayor had just returned from town.
“Yeah. Let’s go to your office,” Rick said.
Joe nodded and led the way. He leaned his rear against his desk and asked, “What is it?” as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Reckless is tracking the person who came in that jimmied window in the hall,” Rick said. “He was able to determine that it was someone wearing moccasins.”
Joe stood up straight at that. “You mean one of the tribe?”
“We can’t be sure about that. It could be someone who bought moccasins from the tribe and wore them because they would be quiet on the wooden floors compared to our kinds of shoes,” Rick said.
“That would be smart of them, all right,” Joe said.
“It would explain how he’s able to move around in the house without being detected,” Rick said.
Joe’s jaw clenched. “That’s just great! Are you tellin’ me this guy could be creepin’ around here at any time of the day or night?”
“I’m afraid it’s possible. I’m going to take Reckless’ place tonight at the bar and have him and Jack hide out here to see if they can catch whoever might show up. They’ll know if they’re from his tribe. I’ve deputized Reckless. I also have another hunch I want to check out.”
“That’s a great idea. A very brave brave and a deputy,” Joe said with a smile. “I’m still not gonna sleep. I’ll be listening and wondering what’s going on.”
“Don’t interfere, Joe. No matter what, don’t get in the middle of things. Can you promise me that?” Rick asked.
“I’ll promise you this; I’ll stay out of it unless someone is in immediate danger. That’s gonna have to be good enough, Rick,” Joe said. His demeanor was devoid of humor.
Rick could tell he meant what he said. “Ok. That’ll do. I can’t blame you. Make sure all the doors and windows are locked except the one that was jimmied. That’ll force them to use the same entrance again, which will make it easy for Reckless and Jack to watch the place. The culprit will come back for those sacks.”
“Yeah, but the sacks are gone,” Joe said.
Rick pulled the two sacks from two different pockets and said, “These are filled with beads and some small rocks. They won’t know that though because I doubt they’ll take the time to look inside them. Whoever our thief is, they’re going to want to get in and out of here as quickly as they can.”
Joe blinked at Rick. “You really are sneaky. You’ve thought of everything. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
“That’s what us Mounties do, Joe.”
“Former Mountie,” Joe corrected with a smile.
“Ok. Former Mountie turned deputy,” Rick said.
“Why are you a former Mountie? What happened there?”
“I got kicked out for insubordination,” Rick told him.
Joe attempted to keep a straight face, but failed. “Does Mitch know this?”
“Yeah. He thought that was pretty funny, too. Well, I’m going to plant these,” he said and left Joe’s office.
*****
Over lunch, Deena talked to her father about their farm and their finances. Their monthly loan payment was due soon and with what Deena made and their meager profits, they would be able to make the payment for another month.
“I hate you havin’ to work, sweetheart,” Tom said to his daughter as they ate leftover meatloaf from the night before.
“Pa, we’ve talked about this. There’s no other way right now. We’ll be all right,” she said and took a sip of tea.
“Well, as soon as we start turning some real profits, you’re gonna quit and just work here at home,” Tom said.
It was a familiar phrase and Deena sighed. She didn’t have faith that the farm would ever turn real profits. Their soil wasn’t conducive to growing crops, it seemed, and the lack of rain didn’t help, either.
“I know, Pa. But until then, I’ll just keep doin’ what I’m doin’.”
Tom chuckled. “You need to find a fella to marry who would work the farm with us. Then you could stay home and make me some grandchildren.”
“Pa!” Deena objected. “I’m not some brood mare and I’m not gonna marry just so you can have free labor.”
Tom laughed. “Now don’t get riled up, sweetheart. I want you to love him and him to love you, but I’m just sayin’ it couldn’t hurt to have him want to help out around here.”
She swatted his arm. “You’re just tryin’ to get me to coax some fella into it. Admit it.”
“No, ma’am. I won’t admit to any such thing. You’d disown me if I did,” Tom said.
“That’s right.”
Tom finished his lunch and sighed. His silence as he looked around at the rundown barn and storage buildings spoke volumes to Deena. Her heart went out to her father again. She knew that he was frustrated by the lack of crops the past couple of years.
“Thanks for lunch, honey. I better get back at it. Kenny’s comin’ over again today,” Tom said as he got up.
“Oh. Good. He’s always a big help,” Deena said.
A horse came trotting down their drive and Deena was stunned to see Eddie on a pretty chestnut mare. He rode up to the house and dismounted.
“Good Lord,” Tom said. “Eddie Baxter. I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age. What brings you, son?”
Eddie shook hands with Tom and said, “Well, I’ve come to talk with your girl, if that’s all right?”
Tom knew Eddie to be a good man and an excellent horseman, but he was protective of his daughter. “Depends on what you want.”
Deena listened intently. She hadn’t gotten up from her rocking chair yet. She couldn’t believe that Eddie was really there. Why would he come there after the things she’d said to him?
“Why don’t we go over there so I can talk to you both about it?” Eddie suggested.
Tom nodded. “Ok.”
“Hi, Deena,” Eddie said. “Nice to see you again.”
Deena asked, “Is it?”
Eddie smiled a little at her prickly tone. “Yes, it is. I’ve come to offer you a job.”
“A job? I have a job,” Deena said.
“I know. This would only be for a couple hours a day, though. I was wondering if you’d help us out with Leo. He needs to be taught stable manners and we need to get him broken. That colt likes you and you’re the only one who can work with him. I’m sure you’re a good rider and what you don’t know, we can teach you,” Eddie explained.
Tom’s eyes narrowed. “When were you out there, Deena?”
“Today. I wanted to visit with Lacey and the kids a bit,” Deena lied.
Eddie’s eyes got a little bigger, but he didn’t contradict her.
“I walked through the barn to see the horses and Leo was on the crossties ready to be groomed.”
Tom chuckled. “You can’t keep her from grooming anything. She
even grooms the cows.”
Eddie smiled. “Is that so?”
Deena blushed a little.
Tom said, “So what kind of money are we talkin’?”
“Well, he’ll need to be worked with every day except Sunday, so I worked it out to eighteen dollars a week,” Eddie said.
Deena’s mouth dropped open. That was almost more money than she made in two weeks at the Grady House. “That much?”
Eddie nodded and said, “Yep. What you’re doin’ is something no one else can or wants to do and you deserve to be compensated accordingly.”
Deena couldn’t believe it. The job he offered her paid well enough that she could quit working at the Grady House if she wanted to.
“Pa, I would like to talk to Eddie alone,” she said, locking gazes with Eddie.
Tom frowned. “Why?”
“I have my reasons. I’m a grown woman, Pa, and I can make my own decisions. Please?” Deena said.
“All right. Good to see you, Eddie. Tell Joe I said hello,” Tom said.
Eddie nodded. “Will do, Tom. Take care.”
Tom walked away towards the barn.
Deena waited until her father was out of earshot before asking, “Why on earth would you want me to work for you after… everything?”
“Because Leo is a valuable horse, but he’s worthless if we can’t break him. I don’t wanna have to put a bullet in the brain of a twenty-thousand dollar horse because no one can work with him,” Eddie said. “It’s my job to make sure things like that don’t have to happen. So I have to put that before my personal feelings. If you can do the job, than that’s what I have to think about.”
Deena’s chin rose a little. “So it would be purely professional?”
“Yes. Is that a problem?” Eddie said. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to say yes or no to that.
“No. That’s fine by me,” Deena said. “I’ll take the job. No sense in the horse suffering or people getting hurt. I’ll wear jeans. Is that a problem?”
“Nope. Makes sense to wear them instead of a skirt,” Eddie said.
“Good. When do you want me to start?” Deena asked.
“Tomorrow?” Eddie asked. “I know it’s short notice, but I’d like to keep goin’ with it.”
“That’s fine. I can come in the morning since I don’t work at the restaurant until eleven,” she said.
Eddie was confused by her attitude, but he didn’t comment on it. “Ok. Come whatever time you want, but I want Joe to see it, so we’ll get him before you start.”
“Ok.”
Eddie watched tendrils of her honey-blonde hair blow around and had an urge to tuck them behind her ear. “See you in the mornin’.”
“Yep.”
She was starting to irk him. “Why do you act like I did somethin’ wrong?”
Deena said, “I’m not. I’m just being professional.”
“C’mon, Deena. You’re the one who did me wrong, not the other way around,” Eddie said.
“Yeah, I know. I apologized for that. I don’t know what else you want me to say about it. If this is gonna be a problem, then maybe I shouldn’t take this job,” Deena said.
Eddie’s frown turned into a scowl. He needed her, much as he hated to admit it. “No, it’s not gonna be a problem.” He turned and walked away from her.
Deena watched him mount his horse, taking note of the easy way he swung into the saddle and how broad his shoulders were. His unruly hair was ruffled by the wind. She longed to feel his strong arms around her. It had taken so much strength to not throw herself at him when he was standing so close.
She saw her pa coming back over to the house and knew he’d been watching from the barn. He wanted to know whether she’d taken the job or not.
As he approached, she said, “I start tomorrow, Pa.”
Tom smiled. “It’s good money, girl. You’d be a fool to turn it down. You just make sure there’s no funny business, what with all those men out there.”
“Pa, Lacey’s around them all the time and nothin’s ever happened. I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s only a couple of hours a day.”
“I know, but still…”
“I’m goin’ to do some dusting, Pa,” she said, which put an end to the conversation. She loved her father, but she was getting too old for him to be hovering over her like he sometimes did.
That was another reason Scotty had probably broken up with her. Tom had always had to know where they were going and what they were doing and what time she’d be home. At twenty-six, Deena felt that she could decide those things for herself.
Once in the house, Deena smiled and did a funny little dance. Not only was she going to be paid very well, she would be able to be around Eddie more often. Joe’s advice about her wearing Eddie down came back to her and she intended to do just that.
Chapter Nine
Reckless thought about what a strange day he was having. He’d been deputized by the man he’d recently found out was his uncle, suspected that one of his own tribe might be involved in robberies, and was now running through the woods carrying a young ferret. He grinned as he followed the trail left behind by whoever had gone in and out of that window.
The trail had been well-covered, but Reckless wasn’t the tribe’s best tracker for no reason. He was a good hunter, but not the best in the tribe. He was a good archer and a formidable fighter, but tracking was his specialty. Where others might only see a bent blade of grass, Reckless could see that someone had passed that way. While others might go too fast in trying to follow a trail, Reckless had patience and used not only sight, but smell to track.
He tracked the person to the place he and Brook lived part-time; the site where Jack and Sparrow’s old house had stood. His wife was not at home, which meant she’d gone to camp that day and he would find her there. This was good because he didn’t want her to be alone so close to giving birth to their baby.
Reckless’ disappointment grew as he saw that the trail met up with the one he and Brook used to go to camp. Reckless slowed down even more and carefully scanned the area on either side of the path to make sure that no one had left the trail. They hadn’t.
As he let out a bird call near camp and was answered by the sentry, Reckless’ heart dropped as he realized that whoever had been in Joe’s house did indeed come from his tribe. The Lakota were not thieves, at least not of their own people or their friends and family. That someone he knew was stealing from his friends and one of his bosses greatly disturbed Reckless. As he started coming in contact with tribe members, Reckless hid those feelings and put on one of the smiles people expected from him. It wouldn’t do for anything about him to seem out of the ordinary.
He found his wife in their tipi and kissed her. “Hau, wife.”
“Han, husband,” she said in return. “What is that?”
Reckless looked down at Bonnie and said, “This is Bonnie, one of Rick’s ferrets.”
Brook had no fear of her and took her from Reckless. “She is soft and friendly. Why do you have her?”
In sign, Reckless said, “I am using her to help find who has been stealing from Joe. Unfortunately, I think that it is one of our tribe members.”
Brook’s blue eyes widened several degrees. She handed the ferret back and signed, “Are you sure? One of us?”
Reckless nodded. Out loud he said, “I am going to show her to some of the children. I’m sure they will enjoy her and she likes to play.”
“All right. Have fun.”
He kissed her again, caressed her large waist a few moments and then left their tipi. As he strolled through the camp, he kept an eye on Bonnie to see if she picked up on anything. Suddenly, she started scenting the air and tried to get away from Reckless. He let her go and ran after her as she raced along one of the paths through the tipis.
She wove in between people and Reckless followed. The people he passed in either direction didn’t question what he was doing. They were too used to his erratic behavior and merely chuckled and
smiled as they watched him chasing some strange animal through the camp.
Reckless caught up to Bonnie when she stopped and stood up on her back legs. Then she seemed to find what she was after and took off again. She circled back around again and Reckless thought that she had lost the scent. He needn’t have worried, however, because the next instant, she scurried around another tipi and headed back in the other direction at high speed.
Reckless followed again and then overshot her as she suddenly stopped at his parents’ tipi. She started grunting and trying to get inside it. Reckless waited to see if she would go running off again, but she became very agitated and scratched at the hide wall. Reckless was very confused as he scratched on the tipi flap.
“Come,” he heard his father say.
Reckless entered the tipi and greeted his parents and his eighteen-year-old sister, Minx. Bonnie became wild and slipped through Reckless’ fingers. She scooted over to Minx and hopped up into her lap, grunting all the while. Reckless’ shock couldn’t have been more profound. My sister? No, that cannot be right. The ferret must be wrong.
He smiled at them and sat down as if he’d come for a visit.
“What is that?” his father asked as he eyed Bonnie.
“This is a ferret,” Reckless said. “Rick raises them and I thought the children would enjoy seeing her.”
Minx smiled and pet Bonnie, who was still grunting. “She is pretty.”
Bonnie started scampering across the tipi, rooting around and grunting. Reckless laughed as if she was being silly, but he knew that the ferret was looking for something specific and that it was close by. Bonnie darted in and around all kinds of things, including the underneath of Minx’s sleeping robes.
Reckless heard her scratching around and then Bonnie came out rear end first with something shiny in her mouth. Minx gasped and jumped towards the ferret, but Reckless’ hand clamped down on her arm with agonizing force. Minx cried out in pain and surprise.
“Reckless! What are you doing to your sister?” He Who Runs demanded.