Mountain Woman Snake River Blizzard (16 page)

“I’ll bring our packs in and then go tend to the horses and mules,” Man said.  He made two trips, a pack in one hand and his saddlebag in the other.  He put them inside the enclosed porch
,
then
went back for the other pack and Kate’s saddlebags.

He grabbed the reins of
both horses
and led them inside the barn.  The mules followed and
immediately went to the feed trough
to wait
.  They both snorted
for Man to hurry with their fee
d.

He quickly unsaddled the horses and they followed him to their trough in their stalls.  He gave each a double ration of hay and extra oats.  He
did the same for the two mules.  T
hey had earned a good supper.

He examined the
finished
walkway to the house and was pleased at the job Roy and Dan had done.  He didn’t have to wade through the snow that was now well above his knees.

In the house, he
quickly removed his heavy coat and went to the fire.  Kate had it blazing and it was quickly warming the house.  Lucille sat at the table watchi
ng Kate as she worked putting their
supper
on
to cook.

He sat across from Lu
cille and smiled.  “I know you’
re glad to be home.  We’ll take you to your house
first thing in the
morning.”

“How can I ever thank you enough for coming to rescue me from those
….”
S
he paused in thought for a moment, selecting the right words to
descr
ibe Al and Bob. 
“T
hose
…
bastards.”

“We’ll get them,” Man said.  “It may take time, but as soon as somebody reports seeing them we’ll be on their trail again.”

“I hope you don’t bring them back,” she said softly.

At first, Man assumed she wanted revenge.  But from her flaming cheeks, he quickly surmised the true meaning behind her words. 
She didn’t want to appear in court and
have to
desc
ribe what they had done to her.

Kate brought three cups to the table and went ba
ck for the coffee pot.  She heard Lucille’s comment.  “We’
ll have to bring them in if they throw down their w
eapons,” sh
e said.  “But, that’s unlikely.  T
hey know they’
ll hang if we bring them back here for trial.  If they put up a fight, we’ll shoot to kill.”

Lucille offered a slight smile as she nodded and
took a sip of the hot coffee
.

They finished the coffee and Kate went to the cooking fire and brought a pot of hot stew to the table.  Man jumped up and went
for the plates and utensils while
Kate refilled
coffee cups.

They were all as hungry as the animals and there was no talk as they ate.
  A knock on the door brought
Kate and
Man out of their chair
s
in a flash
.  T
hey both had a Walker Colt in their hand.  Kate
went to the window
.

She
peeked
beyond the curtains
and said, “It’s
Cliff
.”

They holstered their weapons and Man opened the door.  “Come in out of the snow,” he said.

Cliff
came in and said hello to them as he almost ran past them and bent over Lucille and gathered her in his arms.  He searched for her lips and kissed her.  Her arms went around his neck and
Cliff
lifted her into his arms and held her as they
continued to kiss
.

Kate and Man were startled at the open display of affection and pretended to be busy to keep from staring, but it was a losing effort.
  Kate dusted the nearest table with her bare hand and Man examined the curtains as if he’d never noticed them before
and might decide to take up sewing as a hobby
.

Cliff
finally put
Lucille
back in the chair and knelt beside her to ex
amine at her hands
.   Kate had put heavy socks on her
feet
and
the
moccasins made of soft deerskin.

“
I’m so sorry I didn’t stop them,”
Cliff
said.  “
I was told you
had to crawl
on rocks to escape th
ose monsters
,” h
e said.  “
You could have frozen to death.
  I should have stopped them.
”

“
You couldn’t have,” Lucille assured him.  “I was worried about you and the boys.  Are they all right?”

Cliff laughed softly.  “They’re fine.  Just worried about you.
  We were all just so worried about you.
”

“I’ll be fine as soon as I’m home again.”

Kate and Man ambled back toward the table.

“Not that I’m not grateful to be here under your fine care,” Lucille added to the couple.

Kate waved off her concern.  “Of course you’re anxious to get home.  I would be, too.”

“I wouldn’t be here now, if not for these two,” Lucille told Cliff, tears coming to her eyes.  “I never knew what the word hero really meant before.  I do now.
  These two are genuine heroes.
”

Uncomfortable again, Kate went to tend to the dishes and Man went to help her, mumbling, “Just doing our job, ma’am,” as he went.

“Hold on,” Cliff said, stopping Man.  “What are your plans?  Are you going after them again?  They have to be caught.”  His face turned a deep shade of red.  “They have to pay.
  If you don’
t go after them, I’ll do it myself!
”

Man turned back to deal with the man, understanding his anger. 
But he couldn’t have inexperienced locals running off blindly in search of revenge.  He held up a calming hand. 
“We’ll get them.  But we
have
no choice but wait until they’
re spotted.  We know they moved on after Lucille
escaped.  I’m sure t
hey have
a destination
in mind, but w
ith
snow
falling, their tracks
have been
long
lost. 
Even in this weather, they’ve had
time
to make distance
.
  As soon as we get word, we’ll go after them.
”

Cliff
let out a breath and nodded.  He
ben
t over Lucille and spoke softly.
“Do you want to stay here for the night or go with me?  I can come back tomorrow morning and take you home.”

She reached for
Cliff
’s hand.  “I’m ready to go home
.”

Kate went for a
spare coat
and handed it to her. 
“You can return the clothing when you have time to buy more.”
  She
turned to speak to
Cliff
. 
“
Al and Bob took everything from h
er home.  She’ll need clothing
from shoes to coat.”

“That’
s not a problem,” he said.  “
I own a mercantile. 
I’ll see to it tomorrow.”

Man and Kate watched
Cliff
carry her out to his buggy.  Kate ran and took her a blanket. 
Cliff
helped
her wrap it around Lucille
and
he
kissed her forehead in the process.

Kate
went back to where Man waited and reach
ed for his hand.  “I think she’
s in good hands for a
chang
e,” she said.  “Like me.”

It had been a trying week and
the next morning,
Man and Kate were late risers. 
Man woke
first, slipped from under the blankets and bearskin, went to the fireplace,
and built a fire.  He had it blazing
when he heard Kate behind him.  She circled him with her arms and kissed the back of his neck.  “It’s nice
to get up and find
a warm house.
”

“My pleasure,” he said
, turning to wrap her in his arms.  He wanted to take her back to bed, but released her with a grumble instead.  “I’d
better
go feed the
animals and see how much
snow has
accumulated.”

He
looked out the window and saw snow still fell steadily.  He
pulled on heavier clothing and his sheepskin coat
.  The moment he stepped out
the back door under the walkway to the
barn, Arabian and Red Bird saw him and began to nicker.  They wanted their breakfast.  He walked under the
covered passage and saw the s
now had drifted at least six fee
t deep on the north side.  Building the covered walkway
had been a good
idea.  Otherwise
,
he
’d have been
fighting
his way through waist-
deep snow.

Red Bird was the first to greet him wi
th a nudge to hurry with his fee
d.  Arabian was waiting impatiently and let it be known he was hungry by stomping his hooves.  The two mules were standing with their heads over the fence watching.  Man worked as fast as he could giving them hay and oats.

He was on the way ba
ck to the house when he saw Roy and Dan
riding their mule toward him.  He waited for them to ri
de into the barn and dismount.

“How’s your mom this morning?”

“Better,” Roy said.  “Still resting.  O
ne of Mom’s church-lady friends
, Mrs.
Saunders
, has been keeping an eye on us.
  She came over this morning and said she’d stay and
take care of
Mom.”

“Glad to hear it,” Man said.  “Give your mule some oats and hay and we’ll go inside
for some breakfast
.”

“We done et,”
Roy
said, “
but we’d be glad for a cup of coffee.”

He waited and the three walked to the house.  As soon as he opened the door, he said, “Kate, Roy and Da
n are here.”

She
came out of the kitchen and he could smell coffee and food cooking. 
“How’s your mom this morning?”
she immediately asked.

“
Better,” Roy said, glancing toward the kitchen.
 
“
Mr. Landers came ov
er first thing and brought a sack
of coffee beans, but we didn’t get none of it.”

“Mrs.
Saunders
says coffee’
ll stunt our growth
,” Dan grumbled.  “Be glad when Mom’s well again.”

Chuckling, Kate led
the boys to the
table
and gave them each a cup of coffee. 
She put hers and Man’s on the other side of the table.
  “Mr. Landers is sure being attentive.”

“Yeah, he wants to marry Mom,” Roy said.  “
He said if she ever got back home he wasn’t going to be so shy anymore.”

After the display they’d witnessed the night before, they knew Cliff was keeping his word. 
Kate sent Man
an amused
glance and returned to the kitchen to finish making breakfast.

“Well, boy
s
,” Man said.  “I don’t know what you can do
around here
today,
in this weather.  The snow is too deep to build fence.”

“We
didn
’t want to sit all day at home,” Dan said, being uncharacteristically chatty this morning.  “Watching Mom and Mr. Landers making doe eyes and Mrs. Saunders bossing us around
like we don’
t
have any
sense of our own
.”

“
We planned on working in the barn,
” Roy said.  “We can do
some cleaning
and work
on the
inside of the
enclosed porch
like Miss
Kate wants.”

“Wh
ile we have time,” Man said, “I
have something to discuss with you.  We mentioned this to your mother and she was happy with the idea, but we want to run it by you for your thoughts.”