[2016] Finding My Cowboy

by Christian Michael

  “I’ll pack it away for later. I’m sure he’ll be hungry in a little while.”

  “See to it that it’s not wasted, and I want dinner to be on the table by three this afternoon. I need to go into town and I want to eat first.”

  With that, Jasper put on his hat and strode out the door, letting the screen door hit on the doorframe behind him. Grace stood in the kitchen and watched him go, disbelief rendering her speechless.

  I swear, it’s like that man wanted a maid more than a wife, and he said he was going to love Sam like his own. I think he sees Sam as more of a bother than anything. Maybe this was all a big mistake.

  Maybe Sam’s right, and I should just take us back home where we belong.

  She sighed and shook her head, then scraped the rest of Sam’s breakfast in the pail for the pigs. Jasper didn’t need to know what she did with it, and he wouldn’t as Sam about it, either.

  He acts like Sam doesn’t even exist.

  Maybe that’s the problem…

  Chapter 6 – Fall Days

  “Sam, hurry up! You don’t want to be late for school on your first day!”

  Grace stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Sam to come out of his room. Their relationship was still strained at times, but Grace was determined to make the most of it, and Sam had resigned himself to his new situation.

  When he finally did appear and walked to the top of the stairs, she beamed up at him.

  “I say! You look as handsome as a peacock on his way to the fields!”

  She tousled his shaggy blonde hair when he reached the bottom of the stairs and kissed him on top of his head.

  “Ah Mama, I don’t want to go to school. Do I really have to?”

  “Yes, and you are going to love it. Here’s a pail with your lunch in it, and Jasper left a nickel for you to purchase a new tablet and chalk. Now hurry up so you aren’t late! Don’t play on your way there, you have a few miles to go. Hurry!”

  Grace pushed her son out the door, then watched him head up the lane. She was proud of him, and hoped that he would enjoy the first day of school. They had driven past the schoolhouse on their way into town, and Grace thought it looked perfect for Sam.

  It was close enough to town that there would be many of the children there, but it wasn’t so far that she or Jasper would have to go with him. If he stayed on the road as she told him to, it wouldn’t take him more than half an hour to get there.

  Maybe once he makes some friends here, then he’ll want to stay. After all, life on this ranch is quite different than what he was used to back in Boston, it’s a small wonder that he hasn’t been happy.

  That afternoon, Grace was in the chicken house collecting the eggs. There were more than two dozen hens, so there were more eggs than she knew what to do with. Jasper told her to clean and bundle the eggs so he could sell what they didn’t eat, but with all of the baking she did, it was hard to know how much they weren’t going to eat.

  “Jasper! Jasper!”

  She saw her husband walking out of the barn, and hurried over to meet him. It had been all day since she had seen him, and she hoped it would be a good time to connect.

  “Yes, Grace? What is it?”

  “I was just wondering what you were doing. Sam is still at school and will be for another hour or two… do you maybe want to take a walk with me?”

  Grace’s cheeks were flushed from her jogging to catch up with him, and her eyes held a playful sparkle. Jasper looked at her for a moment, then he looked at the barn and shook his head.

  “Can’t you see I’m busy? There is enough work to keep you and me busy well past the time Sam will come home, and with any luck he’ll be back in time to get his chores done before dinner.”

  Grace’s eyes fell, but she tried to sound optimistic.

  “Of course, Dear, how silly of me. I guess I just lost my head for a second, and acted like a giddy school girl myself. We must get this work done before it gets dark, the shorter days are going to be upon us before we know it!”

  She gathered her skirts up, and checked to make sure the eggs weren’t cracked, then she turned to head back to the house. Jasper stood where she had left him for a few more minutes and watched her walk to the house. He couldn’t help but take note of how pretty she was.

  For a brief moment, Jasper wondered what life would be like if they really were to act more like a family. It was hard for him, he had grown up an orphan himself, and was never close with anyone. When he was grown, he left the orphanage and worked until he could afford his own place.

  Now, he knew the value of working hard, and saw little worth in trivial time. Marriage was the joining of two forces for a common goal, not for silly fancies. But there were times when he saw Grace and he saw someone he could love. There were times when Sam came running up to them and he wondered what it would be like to view that boy as his son.

  The sound of the wind blowing leaves off the trees shook him back to reality, and Jasper turned to head back up to the barn. Time was of essence, and the seasons waited for no one. If he wanted to make sure everything was set for winter, he had to get it done now.

  Back in the house, Grace had turned to see if Jasper was still outside, and her heart pounded when she realized he had been watching her. There were times when she wondered if she was breaking through to him, and there were times when she thought she caught him staring at her.

  It had been a long time since she felt pretty. She spent her days caring for the house and for Sam, so the thought of Jasper finding her attractive made her heart skip a beat inside her chest. She lingered in the kitchen for a moment, thinking of what life could be like if she and Jasper really did fall in love, then she forced herself to snap back into the moment and start dinner.

  In Grace’s life, dreams were dreams and reality was reality. Some things were the way they were for a reason, and whatever the reason was for her to live the life she was living, she was going to live it the best she could.

  Chapter 7 – The Disappearance

  “I don’t care what it is! I’m not going!”

  Sam slammed the door to his room closed as hard as he could, rattling the entire upstairs of the house. Grace knocked on his door, then opened it. She found Sam lying on the bed, facing away from her.

  “Come on Sam… why don’t you want to go to school?”

  “I miss my friends, I miss my teacher, and I miss my real life.”

  Sam had tears in his eyes, but he brushed them away before Grace sat down.

  “You are going to make new friends here, Sam. It’s been less than a week of the new schoolyear. Surely going will make new friends.”

  “I’m not going, Ma! Please don’t make me.”

  Grace wanted to tell him he had to go, but something came over her. She didn’t know why, but she suddenly didn’t want to make him go anymore. One day every now and then wouldn’t hurt, and she knew he was still dealing with a lot.

  “Ok ok, you don’t have to go, but I do expect you to work on your studies.”

  Grace rose to leave, and she heard Sam mumble something to her as she did. She lingered a moment at the door of his room, then she sighed. There was nothing more she could do right now, so she closed the door behind her, and headed downstairs.

  “Dinner smells delicious.”

  Jasper sat down at the table and tucked his napkin into the front of his shirt. Grace smiled and replied she had made his favorite, then she headed upstairs to call Sam to dinner.

  “I thought he was in school?”

  Jasper looked up at her in surprise.

  “I let him have the day off. He’s been going through a lot lately, and I didn’t think it would hurt.”

  Grace headed upstairs and knocked on his door. There was no answer, so she knocked again. This time, she called his name, but there was still no answer. Grace opened the door.

  Empty.

  “Sam! Sam, where are you?”

  Grace ran downstairs, and called for Jasper.


  “Have you seen Sam? He’s not in his room. I swear that’s where he’s been all day!”

  Jasper followed her outdoors, and they both searched for Sam, calling his name and looking everywhere they could think of. After an hour of looking, Jasper called Grace and told her to meet him in the kitchen.

  Once inside, Grace broke down into tears.

  “Where did he go? What did he do? This is all my fault!”

  Jasper held her in his arms, and tried to soothe her.

  “Did he say anything about where he may have gone? Think hard. I had friends who would run away from the orphanage all the time when I was a boy, and they always said something about where they were going before they left, even if it was just in passing. Think!”

  Grace shook her head. Sam never said anything about where he was going, just that he didn’t like it here.

  “He was always saying how he missed his friends back in Boston. He didn’t want to come out here in the first place, and he seems to think that he’d be happy back there. He’s forgotten how miserable he was there, too!”

  Grace broke down and sobbed, trying to gain control of her voice so she could talk to Jasper.

  “I bet I know where he’s gone. If he wants to go home, you know that’s where he is going to go. You stay here. I can go a lot faster if I am by myself, and I know where to catch the stage.”

  “Do you think the driver would have allowed him on the stage?”

  Grace was shocked that a driver would allow a child to travel alone. Especially since that same driver was the one that had given them a ride out there to begin with.

  “The driver doesn’t care who is on the stage as long as they have a ticket. I know you were keeping your money in your tin box by your bed… if Sam knew it was there, he knew where to get the money for the ticket.”

  Grace’s eyes widened when she realized Jasper was right, and she ran to her room to see if the money was gone.

  It was.

  Her tin box was placed neatly on the shelf where it had always been, but the money inside was gone.

  “I told you that’s what he was going to do! Now let me think…”

  Jasper paced back and forth in the middle of the room.

  “If he left early this morning, he likely got on the stage that was headed for the Dakotas. That’s the earliest one to leave here, and if I leave now I can head them off before they leave that first stop.”

  Grace nodded, her forehead was tight with worry. Jasper ran over to her and kissed her on the forehead, then whispered that it was all going to be all right.

  “Don’t you worry, I am going to find him, and I will bring him home safe and sound!”

  Grace followed Jasper to the porch, and stood on the top of the three steps. She watched him run into the barn, then take off in a flash on his black stallion.

  “Please God let Jasper find Sam before anything happens to him, please!”

  Grace closed her eyes and prayed out loud, then opened them once more to see Jasper vanish into the distance.

  Chapter 8 – Happy at Last

  Sam sat on the edge of the bench at the post office. He couldn’t believe he had made it this far. In just a couple of hours he would be in the next post office, then in a couple of days he would be almost home.

  I hope Ma is going to be ok without me, but I suppose she has Jasper. She’ll be just fine.

  It seemed to Sam like it was taking an awfully long time for the stage to come. He had been sitting here almost an hour. The world seemed so large and unforgiving without his mother there, but the thought of going back didn’t seem too appealing.

  “I say sonny, aren’t you a bit young to be traveling alone?”

  An old man sat down next to him, and Sam felt shy. He shook his head, and told the man he was fine. The old timer didn’t seem deterred by Sam’s awkwardness, but continued to ramble on.

  “I was just like you when I was your age. Didn’t need nobody. My little brother drowned when he was just a boy, and it tore my parents apart. One day, my pa he up and left. Then, I did, too.”

  Sam fidgeted in his seat. He really didn’t want to hear the old man’s story, but the man continued.

  “I knew it was going to break my mother’s heart to leave her like that, but I didn’t care. I was only thinking about me. My pa was gone, my brother was gone. We were all meat to take care of ourselves. I never saw my ma again.”

  “Harold? Is that you! Come on then!”

  An old woman from across the way motioned to the old man, and he got up and shuffled away, still talking. Sam was left on the bench, alone with his thoughts once more, but now unable to shake what the man had said.

  What if I never see my mother again? What would that do to her? Well, maybe she should have thought of that before she dragged me all the way out here to begin with!

  But I don’t want to never see her again. I love her. I just…

  Sam couldn’t get the image he had of his mother out of his mind. All he could think of was her sobbing on his bed, wondering where he had gone and what had happened to him. Guilt was starting to cloud in his mind, and he couldn’t shake it.

  “What am I doing?”

  He spoke out loud, though there was no one to hear him. Then it hit him. How was he going to get home? There wasn’t any stage going back that way for another couple of days, and he had planned to sleep on the stage. He didn’t have enough money for a hotel, either.

  Suddenly, Sam thought he heard something. He held his breath so he could hear better, and waited.

  He heard it again.

  “Sam! Samuel! Where are you?”

  Someone was calling his name. Sam rose and looked back on the road. As far as he could tell, they voice was coming from that direction. Suddenly, Jasper appeared, running his horse up and over the hill.

  Sam walked out into the rode, uncertain as to whether or not it was really him.

  “Sam! There you are! Sam!”

  As soon as Jasper saw him, he dug his heels into the horse’s side and galloped him faster into town. The horse hadn’t even stopped before Jasper was off of him and embracing Sam in his arms.

  “Oh Sam! Sam! I thought I lost you. We thought we lost you. Sam!”

  Sam didn’t know what was happening to him. His mother hugged him a lot, but it had been so long since he had been hugged by his father, he almost forgot what it was like. Jasper’s hug was a lot like this father’s hug, and the feeling that came over him was too much to bear.

  Sam broke down right there in Jasper’s arms, sobbing and clinging to him.

  “I’m sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking! I’m sorry!”

  Sam’s voice was muffled in Jasper’s jacket, but Jasper shushed him.

  “Your mother and I were worried sick about you. She loves you, Sam, and so do I. I can’t lose you like this, I just can’t. Please come home with me?”

  Sam pulled back and looked at Jasper. His eyes were wide with wonder, and he searched Jasper’s face to see if he was serious.

  “Do you really mean it?”

  “I do, I love you like you are my own son.”

  Sam leaned in and Jasper picked him up he hugged him and set him on the horse, then climbed up into the saddle.

  “Let’s go home!”

  And they were off.

  “Hello to the house!”

  Jasper called before they were even to the gate. The two of them could see that Grace had a candle lit in the window, and shortly after he yelled, the door opened and Grace ran out. She ran through the gate and paused for a moment in the middle of the road, then she lifted her skirt to her knees and ran as fast as she could to meet them.

  “Mama! Mama!”

  Sam squirmed and Jasper let him off the horse, then he ran to his mother and was engulfed in her arms.

  “I’m sorry Mama, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  Sam cried as his mother held him close, and she soothed him.

  “All that matters is that you’re hom
e now.”

  Jasper came up and wrapped his arms around both of them.

  “Home at last! Now, we can officially call ourselves a family… that is… if you will have me?”

  He directed his question at Sam, who looked at him from Grace’s arms. He was silent for a second, then he nodded.

  “I guess so. You can be my Pa.”

  A smile spread across Jasper’s face and he tossed his hat in the air and whooped. Both Sam and Grace laughed, and Grace set Sam down.

  “Come on, you two… I think this calls for a celebration.”

  Sam placed one of his hands in Grace’s and the other in Jasper’s, and they walked to the house. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Sam felt happy.

  He had a family again.

  THE END.

  The Christmas Miracle

  Mail Order Bride

  CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

  Nov 16, 1886

  The loneliness was what pushed him to do it. He questioned whether it was worthwhile but could think of no reason not to. He had been on his own for a little over a year now and surely no one in town would look down on such a thing given his circumstances. There was little chance that anyone would find out so long as he did not tell a soul. So on a cold November afternoon Emit Townshend responded to an ad for a mail-order bride. The ad that Emmitt responded to was for a woman named Rachel Sutcliffe. What stood out to Emmitt in her ad was the phrase “looking for a man I’ve never met in a place I’ve never been.”

  Emmitt never had the desire to travel. The West was where he was born and surely where he would die. More than anything he wanted to be as content with a woman as he was with his surroundings. He had been in love before and hoped desperately that he could find love again.

  “This rain could turn to snow at any moment,” Emmitt said aloud as he gazed at the dampened fields beyond his front porch. “This has been the coldest November that I can ever remember. What about you Pally?” The old golden retriever that lay at his feet, whose collar bore the name Pally, did little to respond to Emmitt’s question. Pally rarely left Emmitt’s side since his wife, Margaret, passed away while giving birth. It was a difficult pregnancy leading and it came as quite a shock to Emmitt that the child, a girl, did not survive the birth either.