Cowboy to the Rescue

by Louise M. Gouge

  He’d just replaced the canvas cover when Susanna approached and stared up at him with those pretty blue eyes. Without her coat, she appeared much thinner, the mark of most people who had crossed the prairies. This little gal could use a regular diet of steak and potatoes so she could put some meat on those bones.

  “Would it be rude of me to ask what’s in your wagon?”

  He couldn’t imagine thinking she was rude. Nor could he imagine denying her any request. He loosened the ropes but paused before lifting the canvas covering. “Can you keep a secret?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Her impish grin tickled his insides and made him chuckle. Whoa. He really needed to get a handle on these wayward feelings. “Well...” He drawled out the word. “I guess I’ll trust you, anyway.” He pulled the canvas back a few feet to reveal one of the four crates. “It’s a gift for my mother. My folks will be celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and the whole community plans to take part in the festivities.” Tucked around and between the crates were supplies that he’d bought to divert Mother’s attention from the real purpose of his trip. “If the Colonel has any say about it, it’ll be the biggest party ever given in the San Luis Valley.”

  Instead of being impressed, Susanna pursed her plump lips into a silly pout. “You’re giving her wooden boxes?” She slid him a sideways glance. “Now, you know I’m going to ask what’s inside them.”

  He laughed out loud. “All right, then, Miss Curious.” For the first time in his life, he understood how Samson must have felt when Delilah kept wheedling him to learn the secret of his strength. “It’s china. The Colonel had it imported from England.” Imagining the joy Mother would feel when she received it come July, Nate felt a kick of anticipation. “Wedgwood,” he added for effect, though why he was trying to impress Susanna, he didn’t know. “Of course, Mother thinks her present is the new addition to the house.”

  The wonderment brightening her pretty face gave him the answer, for he had a hard time tamping down the strong urge to give her whatever she wanted. What was wrong with him? They’d just met yesterday. He didn’t really know all that much about her. All he knew was that no other lady had ever affected him this way. Certainly not Maisie, who was more like a sister than someone he wanted to court. Not that he wanted to court Susanna, either. Until he settled some serious matters within himself, he couldn’t in good conscience court anyone.

  “Wedgwood china all the way from England.” She breathed out the words in an awe-filled tone, and her blue eyes rounded with unabashed curiosity. “How on earth did you get it here?”

  “Let me see, now. Across an ocean.” He held up his hands and ticked off on his fingers the legs of the journey this valuable cargo had taken. “Around through the Gulf, up the Mississippi, then the Missouri River to Westport, Kansas. A freight company hauled it over the Santa Fe Trail to Pueblo. They were accompanied by replacement soldiers headed to New Mexico, courtesy of the Colonel’s old army friends, so they arrived without incident.” He paused to take a breath and to consider whether or not to tell her everything. She probably didn’t need to know that the freight drivers had unloaded the cargo at the fort and had taken off for the gold fields outside Denver. Their desertion had meant the Colonel had to send Nate to bring the china home. It also heightened his father’s already deep hatred of prospectors.

  “And you met them in Pueblo.” Susanna grasped the important parts of the story, meaning he didn’t have to include the unpleasant side. “Well, Mr. Nate Northam, it remains to be seen whether your Colonel has that intimidating presence we spoke of last night, but I already like him for going to so much trouble to get his wife such a fine gift as this.” Her approving smile further melted Nate’s insides. “Tell me, how do you keep it from breaking?” She raised herself up on tiptoes and peered down into the wagon bed. “I see. The boxes are suspended on rope webbing.” She reached in and pressed down on the ropes, testing their flexibility. “That must keep them from bouncing around as the wagon goes over bumps.” She gave him another admiring glance. “Why, Mr. Northam, how extremely clever of you.”

  Nate lifted his chin and returned a playful smirk. “Clever indeed, if I do say so myself.” Even the Colonel had been impressed by his invention. In truth, he’d given a nod and a grunt, the nearest thing to praise he ever dished out to Nate.

  “No more compliments for you.” She waggled a finger at him and clucked like a scolding schoolmarm. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

  “Ouch. Guess I’d better repent of my pride.” He shuddered comically. “We aren’t safely home yet, and I sure don’t want any destruction to fall on Mother’s china.”

  Sobering, she touched his hand, sending a pleasant spark up his arm. “I believe God cares about these things, Nate, so I’ll be praying all goes well for the rest of your journey.”

  That promise refocused his emotions, and he placed a hand over hers. “I’ll pray the same for you, Susanna. Seems to me you’ve already had enough things go wrong.”

  Her eyes brightened with moisture, and his heart warmed. He was doing the right thing to help her and her father, of that he felt certain.

  Within two hours, they met their first test of those prayers when they reached the banks of the Rio Grande. Alamosa lay just across the shallow but rapidly flowing river, causing a mixture of emotions in Nate’s chest. Soon he would have to say goodbye to Susanna and her father, but first they all had to get across the wide waters. Both would be challenges.

  “I don’t know, boss.” Zack gripped the reins to keep the restless horses from bolting into the water or shying away from it. “Looks like we might need help.”

  “Maybe.” Standing beside the prairie schooner, Nate surveyed the scene. “Let’s use all four horses to get this wagon across. Then we can bring them back across for mine.” He didn’t like the idea of leaving the china unguarded, even though the other wagon would be in view at all times. But they had no choice.

  “Can I help with anything?” Susanna poked her head through the front opening of the schooner and peered over Zack’s shoulder at Nate. Her gaze dropped to the river, and her eyes widened. “Oh, my. That must be the Rio Grande River. Not quite the Mississippi, but no easy crossing, I’d guess.”

  “No, ma’am. It’s a good forty feet across these days because of runoff from the mountains.” Nate hated to think of the punishing ride her father would have if they took the usual mode of getting to the other side. “How is Mr. Anders doing?”

  She disappeared behind the canvas for a moment, then reappeared. “He says not to mind him, just do whatever you have to do.” Her usually smooth forehead was creased with concern.

  “What do you think?” He could at least give her a chance to decide.

  “Do whatever you must.” A steely look narrowed her eyes and tightened her jaw. “That’s what our wagon master said more than once on the trip out here.”

  Her courage continued to impress him. Leaving her behind would be all the more difficult in a couple of hours. Maybe he could make it easier with more teasing. “By the way, it’s just Rio Grande.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Her cute little grin appeared.

  “You said Rio Grande River. That’s like saying Big River River.”

  She laughed in her musical, ladylike way. “Spanish, of course.”

  “Yep.” He could see her mood growing lighter. “And if you really want to get it right, it’s Rio Grande del Norte.” He used his best Spanish inflections, as Angela had taught him. “Great River of the North.”

  Susanna put the back of one hand against her forehead in a dramatic pose. “Mercy, mercy. How can little ol’ me evah learn all of that?” Her sweet drawl oozed over him like warm honey.

  “Poor little thing.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  Z
ack coughed softly, shaking Nate loose from his foolish teasing.

  “All right. Let’s get this done.”

  He drove his wagon into the shade of some cottonwoods, then unhitched the two horses and joined them to the team in front of the schooner. Like old friends glad to be together again, the horses nickered and tossed their heads as much as their harnesses permitted.

  Nate considered carrying Mr. Anders across the water on foot, but it wouldn’t do for the old man to get wet, even in this hot weather. Instead, he instructed Susanna to cushion her father as best she could, then brace him for the crossing.

  Taking the reins himself, with Zack beside him to help as needed, he circled the schooner around and away from the water to give the horses a running start. Then he slapped the reins and cried, “Hyah!”

  His team didn’t let him down. They gamely leaped into their harnesses, built up speed and plunged into the water, their momentum more than matching the current as they angled downriver to conquer the forty-foot expanse. The water covered the wagon’s axles but did not breach the box. With a final lunge, the lead horses emerged from the river, then the second pair, at last pulling the wagon onto dry, solid ground. All four animals shook their manes and whinnied almost as if they’d enjoyed the bath.

  But Nate had felt every rock and tree branch submerged under the water’s surface; he’d heard every clatter of the contents of the prairie schooner, along with a yip or two from Susanna and her father. Now to go back and get his wagon. The prospect made his chest tighten with trepidation.

  He’d conveyed Mother’s china this far without mishap, but the Great River of the North might just put an end to that. He found it impossible to please the Colonel with his good, hard work, so there was no telling what his father would do if Nate let the china get damaged.

  Chapter Three

  Susanna’s pulse finally slowed enough for her to step down from the prairie schooner. Before climbing out, she checked on Daddy, only to find he’d fared better on the crossing than she had because of the thick padding Nate had put in his bed. Shaking out her wobbly legs, she approached Nate and Zack, who were unhitching the horses so they could go back across for Nate’s wagon.

  A sudden protectiveness for Mrs. Northam’s anniversary gift stirred within her. No matter that she’d never met the lady. If she’d reared this kind gentleman, Susanna already liked her.

  “Surely, you don’t plan to bring the china across the river that same way.” She posted her fists at her waist for emphasis. “Every plate and cup and bowl will be broken.” Maybe there was even some crystal glassware in the crates, and that most certainly would not survive no matter how well it was nestled into the straw packing.

  Nate shoved his hat back, revealing the tan line on his forehead and giving him a charmingly boyish appearance. He looked down his straight, narrow nose at her. “I suppose you think I haven’t thought of that.” His tone held a hint of annoyance, but his green eyes held their usual teasing glint. “You have a better idea, Miss Smarty?”

  “Humph.” She crossed her arms and tapped one foot on the ground. “As a matter of fact, I do.” Sliding her gaze northward along the river, she pointed toward the raised railroad trestle. “Have you ever heard of a little thing called a train?” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine why you didn’t just have the crates shipped that way over the mountains.”

  Now serious, Nate frowned. “The Colonel didn’t trust them to show due care, especially over La Veta Pass. Sometimes trains jump track or run into fallen trees.” His tone suggested he didn’t quite agree with his father. “He didn’t want to risk it.”

  At the mention of railroad tragedies, Susanna could think only of the stories she’d heard all her life. Sherman’s army destroyed the Confederacy’s entire rail line, digging up the tracks and wrapping them around trees, burning train stations and cutting telegraph wires. Maybe Colonel Northam participated in that same kind of destruction somewhere in the South. She shook off the memory and forced her thoughts to Mrs. Northam’s certain appreciation of her husband’s extraordinary gift. After all, Northern ladies hadn’t participated in the war, and surely nice things meant as much to them as they did to Southern ladies.

  “Maybe he wouldn’t mind just for the crossing?” She lifted her eyebrows with the question and smiled at Nate.

  He glanced between the bridge and her, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. This man liked her, she could tell. But she wouldn’t play with him, as she had some of the boys back home. Southern boys understood and even expected flirtation. Yankee boys might get the wrong idea if she behaved as she had back home, and so far their teasing had fallen short of real flirting.

  “I wouldn’t have you disobey your daddy, Nate, but isn’t the most important thing getting the china safely to your mother? That would honor both of them most of all, wouldn’t it?”

  He grinned in his boyish way. “Yes.” He eyed Zack. “Let’s unhitch Henry.” He nodded toward one of the lead horses. “I’ll ride up the tracks a ways and flag down the train to see if they’ll carry it over for us.”

  “It’ll cost you, boss.”

  Nate shrugged. “Broken china will cost me a lot more.”

  * * *

  The moment Nate rode away, Susanna heard her father’s faint call. Zack gave her a worried look as he helped her climb into the rear of the prairie schooner.

  “I’m sure he’s all right,” she whispered as she gave the cowboy a nod of appreciation. Then she ducked inside. “Yes, Daddy?” She knelt beside him and brushed the back of her hand over his cheek. “You’re hot. How do you feel?”

  “Don’t worry about me, sweet pea.” A glint in his eye contradicted the set of his jaw. “While Northam’s gone, you walk on up to that hotel and give that note to the desk clerk.”

  “What? Now?” She retrieved the envelope from beneath her tattered bedding. “Daddy, please tell me what this is all about.”

  “Now, daughter, you’ve never been one to question me.” He fumed briefly. “Oh, very well. I’m not partial to being laid up in some hotel in a tent city where no one knows or cares about us. I want that proprietor to turn us away. Then Northam won’t have any choice but to take us on to his place.” He coughed, then held his ribs and groaned with pain. When he recovered, he gave her an apologetic grimace. “Out here in this wild country, it’s hard for a man to be so helpless he can’t even take care of his own daughter. I trust Northam. He’ll do the right thing by us, he and his family.”

  Susanna studied him for several moments. He’d slept fitfully last night, and no doubt the river crossing had been hard on him. Maybe he wasn’t in his right mind. But that didn’t give her an excuse for disobeying him. Still, he had never asked her to do anything this close to lying in all her born days. Unless she counted his changing their last name and pretending to be poor. She still hadn’t reconciled herself to those ideas.

  “Will you go?” He tried to sit up. “If you won’t, I will.”

  “Shh.” She gently pushed him back down. “You rest, dearest. I’ll do as you asked.” Her stomach tightening, she climbed out of the wagon and tied on her bonnet. “Zack, please tell Mr. Northam I’ll be on up the road arranging tea and sandwiches for all of us.” At least that part wouldn’t be a lie.

  * * *

  Nate emerged from the hotel scratching his head over the manager’s refusal to take in Mr. Anders. He thought everybody out here in the West knew that when decent folks suffered terrible losses, other good men needed to help them out. But Nate’s offer of up-front payment and his promise to return in a day or two to check on them were rebuffed. Even mentioning his father had no effect because the man was new to the area and didn’t know the Colonel’s position in their burgeoning community to the west.

  Granted, the one-story wooden hotel wasn’t much to look at, but it was serviceable. New in late May when Nate and Zack had c
ome through the tent city of Alamosa on their way to Pueblo, it already had a well-worn appearance. Like the other premade wooden structures lining the main street, the six-or seven-room establishment had been transported by train one room at a time and set up in haste. No doubt something more substantial would soon be needed to house the many travelers riding the newly laid Denver and Rio Grande railroad line, which would soon extend both south and west.

  Nate glanced across the dusty, rutted street and snorted in disgust. Of course, they’d brought in a building for a saloon to keep the railroad workers happy. There would be none of that over in his as-yet-unnamed community. The Colonel always made it clear up front to everyone who came to his settlement that no liquor would ever be allowed there. Apparently, the founders of Alamosa didn’t feel the same way. Even now in midmorning, several disreputable-looking men loitered outside the swinging doors, their posture indicating they’d already had a few drinks. Nate couldn’t help but think Mr. Anders and Susanna would have been better off in Fort Garland, Buffalo Soldiers notwithstanding. But he couldn’t take them back there now.

  Nor could he put off delivering the bad news about the hotel to Mr. Anders. Peering into the back of the prairie schooner, he waited until his eyes adjusted to the dimness before speaking.

  “Everything all right, Nate?” the old man croaked.

  “Yes, sir. No, sir. I mean—” He couldn’t manage to say the words. “Is Susanna back from getting her tea?” Foolish question. Obviously, she wasn’t in the wagon. “Maybe I’d better go check on her.”

  “You do that, son.” Mr. Anders lay back with a groan.

  His belly twisting, Nate turned back to the hotel just as Susanna came up the street carrying a tray laden with a teapot and sandwiches.

  “I finally found some refreshments at a cute little tent café down the road.” She tilted her head prettily in that direction. “I brought enough for everybody.” She held the tray out to Zack, who was eyeing the food like a hungry bear. “Help yourself.”