Beyond The Horizon (45 page)

“How did you know where to find us?” Shannon asked Jumping Buffalo.

“Swift Blade told me about this valley many moons ago,” Jumping Buffalo said slowly. “I knew he would be here.”

“What will the rest of the Sioux nation do when winter comes and there isn’t enough to eat?” Shannon asked, wishing there was something she could do to help.

“Many will perish,” Jumping Buffalo said with stoic resignation. “I did not wish my wife to die.”

“According to Jumping Buffalo, Red Cloud is raiding again in retaliation for the broken treaty. He’s attacking wagon trains and stage coaches, and disrupting the westward progress of the railroad. Jumping Buffalo is tired of war. He desires peace for his family.”

“Then he and Sweet Grass must stay here,” Shannon insisted staunchly. “You said yourself you needed more help. They can live with us until a cabin is built for them.”

Blade smiled, knowing full well what his tenderhearted wife would say once she learned of Jumping Buffalo’s sad plight. “I hoped you’d feel that way. I’ve already offered him a home and work and he accepted.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

D
uring the next several days, Sweet Grass grew strong
enough to leave her bed for short periods of time. She was a shy, pretty woman who spoke little English but whose sweet, gentle nature quickly earned a place in Shannon’s heart. The two women soon found ways to communicate, and before long Sweet Grass was helping Shannon with the chores.

Blade took charge of Jumping Buffalo, acquainting him with ranch work. One day he took Jumping Buffalo to Cheyenne to attend a cattle auction. The moment they returned, Shannon knew it had been a mistake. Blade’s face was like a thundercloud. Bruises covered both men’s faces and Shannon wasn’t surprised to learn they had been in some kind of altercation. Blade told her about it later that night as they lay cuddled in bed.

“I should have known better than to take Jumping Buffalo with me to Cheyenne,” he said bitterly. “Indians aren’t welcome there these days.”

“I hoped all the prejudice against us would have died down by now.”

“Not with men like Ezra Samms stirring up tempers. He refused to serve Jumping Buffalo when he went to trade for supplies.”

“What happened?”

“I held Samms at bay while Jumping Buffalo gathered what he needed and left his trade goods,” Blade confided. “I thought nothing more of it until Samms and some of his friends confronted us as we left the auction.”

“How terrible,” Shannon gasped. “Did they hurt you badly?”

“A few bruises.” Blade grinned cheekily. “I’ve had worse. Jumping Buffalo and I managed to crack a few skulls in the melee. I’d say we gave as good as we got.”

“When will people realize men are men no matter what their race?”

“That sounds strange coming from a Southerner who kept slaves,” Blade teased. “What happened to that Yankee-hater who was shocked to find a halfbreed in charge of a wagon train?”

“She grew up,” Shannon replied thoughtfully. “She was rather shallow, wasn’t she? Until she learned to love a man who taught her to respect men for what they are, not who they are.”

“And I rewarded you by planting my seed inside your belly,” Blade returned, placing his hand on the gentle rise of her abdomen.

Shannon was five months into her pregnancy, and every day new changes were taking place in her body. Her breasts were exquisitely sensitive to Blade’s touch, and he was all too aware of it as his hand moved upwards to tease the swollen mounds and ripe, pouting nipples.

“Tell me if I’m hurting you, love,” Blade whispered against her lips.

Just then the babe made its presence known, kicking strongly against the wall of Shannon’s stomach. Blade felt it and inhaled sharply. “Our son is protesting, Little Firebird. Should I stop?”

“He’s protesting because you’re going too slowly,” Shannon answered saucily. “Oh Blade, you drive me wild with wanting.”

“Don’t ever change, my love. I always want you hot for me, just the way I am for you.”

Then he slid his mouth down her throat, lingering lovingly at each breast, over the quivering mound of her stomach. He nudged her legs and they parted eagerly as Blade found her with his mouth, loving her in the most intimate of ways.

When Sweet Grass was well enough, she moved out of the house into the tipi Jumping Buffalo had erected on the bank of the stream a short distance from the house. Blade had offered to build them a cabin, but Jumping Buffalo declined, voicing his preference for the buffalo-hide tipi he was familiar with. A fiercely proud man, he had arrived at the ranch with all his worldly possessions strapped to the travois. His one concession to civilization was agreeing to share meals with Blade and Shannon. Since the two ranch hands, Milo Flenor and Slim Masters, often ate the evening meal with Blade and Shannon, Blade convinced Jumping Buffalo it was perfectly acceptable for him and Sweet Grass to do the same. It wasn’t too great a burden for Shannon to cook for six people, especially since Sweet Grass lent a hand. With Shannon’s blessing, Sweet Grass soon took over the cooking chores completely.

One night not long after Blade’s confrontation in town with Ezra Samms, unwelcome visitors arrived at Peaceful Valley. It was a Saturday night and both Milo and Slim had gone into town to drink and carouse, leaving the two couples behind to share the evening meal. The first hint of trouble came when the sound of pounding hooves interrupted their supper. Reacting instinctively, Blade grabbed his rifle and cautiously opened the front door. Jumping Buffalo stood at his side to lend his support while the two women peered over their shoulders.

“Who is it, Blade?” Shannon asked. A shiver of apprehension jolted down her spine. Why couldn’t people leave them in peace?

“Don’t know, it’s too dark.”

When the men reined in before the house, Shannon saw that they wore bandanas over the lower portion of their faces and wide-brimmed hats pulled low over their eyes. She counted five riders. Wildly fearful, she clutched Sweet Grass’s hand.

“What do you want?” Blade asked. His words were harsh with chill warning, his dark eyes boldly challenging.

“We come to give ya fair warnin’, Injun,” one of the men drawled. “Leave the area, ya ain’t welcome here.” His muffled voice sounded abrasive through the bandana covering his mouth. “We don’t need yer kind settlin’ around these parts. Afore long you’ll have yer whole dang tribe livin’ out here with ya. Next thing ya know yer Sioux relatives will be attackin’ Cheyenne.”

“This is my land,” Blade responded, yielding nothing. “I desire only to live here in peace with my family. I strongly urge that you leave before I’m forced to do something neither of us will like.”

“I wouldn’t do nothin’ rash, Injun,” the man advised ominously. “Wouldn’t want yer little woman to get in the way of stray bullets, her breedin’ and all, would ya?”

Blade’s jaw clenched with barely suppressed rage. It was one thing to threaten him, but when that threat included Shannon he saw red. “Shannon, take Sweet Grass inside,” he ordered tersely. His black eyes never wavered from the riders as he spoke.

Shannon’s heart quickened in terror. “Blade—”

“Do as I say!”

“Be careful.”

“Turn around and ride out of here,” Blade said with deadly purpose once Shannon and Sweet Grass had retreated inside the house.

“Heed my warnin’, Injun. Take yer squaw and yer heathen brother and get outta here if ya know what’s good fer ya.”

They turned as if to ride off and Blade heaved an inward sigh, thinking they had survived the worst of it. He was mistaken. The worst was yet to come. Whooping and hollering, two riders carrying torches burst forth from the trees behind the house. To Blade’s utter horror they tossed the torches at the house as they charged past. Then they joined the others in a wild exodus into the night. Whether or not they intended to burn the house down, Blade had no way of knowing. But it turned into a nightmare he wasn’t likely to forget soon.

One of the torches hit the wall and fell harmlessly to the ground, where it eventually burned itself out. The other, through either malicious intent or accident, found its way through the bedroom window, which had been opened to admit the mild night breeze. Within seconds the billowing curtains were afire. Minutes later, the whole room was ablaze. Blade and Jumping Buffalo did what they could to douse the inferno, but it soon became apparent that their meager efforts were doomed to failure. Carrying a trunk containing their clothes and what few valuables they possessed, they were forced to retreat, abandoning the house to the flames.

Shannon watched in stunned disbelief as the house on which Blade had expended so much time and money was reduced to ashes. Nothing had been saved but a single trunk and a chair or two. The cookstove she was so proud of was now a melted mass of iron. Gone, all gone—everything they had worked so hard to achieve was destroyed in a single act of violence.

Shannon wept against Blade’s chest, the strength of his strong arms little consolation. If not for his pregnant wife, Blade would have ridden after the cowardly bastards who hid their faces behind bandanas. With Jumping Buffalo’s help, the night riders might not have gotten away so cleanly. Seven to one weren’t bad odds when pitted against warriors trained by the Sioux.

“Everything’s gone, Blade, everything,” Shannon said in sudden fury. “Damn them to hell! But they haven’t beaten us. They just think they have!”

Shannon didn’t realize it, but those were almost exactly the same words she had spoken when her family was forced to leave Twin Willows.

“We’ll build again, Little Firebird,” Blade promised, inspired by Shannon’s fire and spirit despite all she’d just lost.

“They’ll come back,” Shannon predicted, “but next time we’ll be ready for them.”

That night they slept in the bunkhouse, which miraculously was spared. Nor was Jumping Buffalo’s tipi destroyed. Blade felt certain the tipi wouldn’t have survived destruction if Jumping Buffalo hadn’t placed it in a spot neatly screened by thick foliage growing near the stream.

When Milo and Slim returned from town, they were shocked to learn what had taken place in their short absence. They knew when they hired on that Blade was a half-breed, and at first were hesitant about accepting employment. But since they both needed work, they decided to give it a try. It wasn’t long before they learned to respect and admire Blade as a man.

Since there was little they could do to restore the ranch house at the present time, Blade sent the two men out to move the cattle from the distant south pasture to a place where they could be more easily watched. Blade had spent nearly every cent he owned on livestock and the cabin, and he couldn’t afford to lose his cattle should the night riders decide to return.

Shannon and Blade were engaged in searching through the smoldering rubble of their home later that day when Milo and Slim rode in hell for leather.

“They’re gone, boss, every last one of ‘em!” Slim cried as he reined his horse to a skidding halt. “Me and Milo searched the entire south pasture with nary a trace of them cows anywhere. They were rustled, boss. Those men who came last night musta swung ‘round and driven off the herd.”

Blade, who rarely cursed, mouthed a string of oaths that turned the air blue. He left Jumping Buffalo to protect the women and rode out with the hands to find the cattle. He returned at dark, and Shannon could tell by the slump of his shoulders and the grim set to his mouth that their cows were truly gone. But it wasn’t until later, in the privacy of the bunkhouse, that Shannon learned of the disastrous decision concerning their future that Blade had been forced to make.

“You’re not going to like what I have to say, Little Firebird,” Blade began, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his lap.

“Then don’t say it,” Shannon returned, placing a finger against his lips.

Blade kissed her fingers one by one, but the determined look on his face told her he wouldn’t be deterred.

“You shouldn’t have married me, Shannon Branigan. I’m a selfish bastard for deliberately placing your life in danger. You’re going to Idaho.”

“Idaho? You’d move to Idaho?” Shannon asked, stunned. Wyoming was Blade’s home, and she was surprised that he would even suggest leaving. Blade was neither a quitter nor a man easily intimidated.

“No, my love,
you’re
going to Idaho. To join your family. I’m staying here.”

“What! You’re mad, I’ll do no such thing,” Shannon declared. Her chin was tilted just enough to emphasize the stubborn line of her fine jaw.

“I knew all along I was doing you a grave disservice by making you my wife. I assumed we could live in peace here in our valley, away from town and people who would hurt you. But I see now I was mistaken. You won’t be safe anyplace as long as you’re with me.”

“You’re sending me away?” An unladylike sound erupted from her lips as she swore in sudden panic. “What about our child? Do you care nothing for him?”

“It’s because I care too much that I’m sending you away. I can’t bear to see you hurt. Your family can protect you in Idaho. No one need know you are married to a half-breed.”

“You’ve lost your mind, Blade Stryker, along with the sense you were born with!” Shannon scolded hotly. “I never thought you were the kind to give up.”