Life, Love and Longhorns (Heart of Texas Series - Book One)

by K. L. Hemley

  She made her way out of the wagon to where Jesse and some of the other cowboys were anxiously waiting for news. Mabel shook her head and couldn’t stop the tears falling again. Jesse pulled her to his chest and let her cry it out, stroking her hair.

  Everyone looked grim at the loss of the popular ranch hand. As the youngest member of the team, everyone had felt affection for the easy-going Ned and his loss was going to leave a massive hole in the team.

  That night, they gathered around the campfire to swap stories about Ned. Even Jesse, who hadn’t really known Ned before they set out on the drive, kept them entertained with stories about the conversations he’d had with the young man and the things he’d shared about the future.

  Nobody knew who Alice had been.

  The next morning, Ned’s body was wrapped tightly in his blanket and waterproof sleeping tarpaulin before a rope was tied around to keep it secure. They carried him up to the top of a hill overlooking the cattle trail, where a shallow grave had been dug. Everyone then went and found rocks to cover the body, leaving him safely hidden under a cairn of stone. Jesse mounted a stone he’d chipped ‘R.I.P’ into by Ned’s head and then Mabel stepped forward.

  “We’re gathered here to say goodbye to our friend and fellow cowboy Ned Connor. Ned was only eighteen, but he had packed a lot into his short life. He was a promising horseman, with a special skill with the animals. He was able to coax even the most stubborn of mules into doing what he wanted it to and he had an instinctive knack for herding the cattle. He would have been an asset to any ranch and I was lucky that he chose to work on mine. We’re all going to miss him deeply. Clearly the Lord needed him, which is why he chose Ned to join him in Heaven.”

  She opened up her well-thumbed Bible to a page she’d marked earlier for Ned’s funeral.

  “I’m going to read a passage from Romans, chapter six, verses three to nine. I think it’s appropriate.

  “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were, therefore, buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.”

  She paused to allow the words to sink in. “I’d like to say a short prayer for Ned.” The cowboys surrounding his grave all bowed their heads. “Oh Lord, please look after our good friend. He was a decent man, kind and good-natured and we know that you will have taken him into your care. Bless him, Oh Lord, and keep watch over him while he slumbers. Amen.”

  “Amen,” muttered the gathered crowd. One of the cowboys began to sing The Lord is My Shepherd and soon everyone joined him in the hymn as they said their goodbyes to their lost friend.

  “We will stay here for today,” announced Mabel. “As a mark of respect to Ned and in reflection of the fact that we all need time to think upon what’s happened. We’ll head out at first light tomorrow.”

  With that, she bowed her head so that no one would see her cry and hurried down the hill to seek out her horse, Pepper. She quickly found her and mounted her horse, urging her into a gallop so that she could get as far away from everyone as possible. Mabel needed some time to herself. She hated crying in front of others – she felt it made her look like a weak, feeble woman and undermined her authority with the men. Although she knew that nobody would think less of her under the circumstances, she felt the need to be by herself for a while to mourn the loss of her friend.

  At last, she pulled Pepper to a halt and looked back at where she’d come. She could see the hill where they’d buried Ned. She thought that he would have liked his final resting place, with its beautiful views across the plain, not far from where cattle regularly passed on their way from Texas to Kansas. It was a fitting spot for a cowboy.

  She could see someone riding out towards her and her heart sank. Her men would have known to leave her alone at a time like this, so for someone to be coming out to see her could only mean trouble.

  As the horse rider approached, she was able to make out that it was Jesse on the saddle. She wondered what he wanted and kicked Pepper into movement to meet up with him.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked when he pulled up alongside her. “Is everything all right with the cattle?”

  “Fine,” Jesse told her. “I just wanted to make sure that everything was all right with you.”

  Mabel sighed. “Everything’s just fine, Jesse. I simply wanted to be alone for a while.”

  “Oh.” There was an awkward pause. “Still, I don’t think you should be on your own right now,” Jesse told her. “I don’t like to think of you wallowing in self-pity.”

  “If I want to wallow, that’s entirely up to me,” Mabel said tartly. “However, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that I was doing nothing of the sort. I simply like to take some time out to myself every once in a while and my men know to respect that.” She gave him a pointed look, but either Jesse missed it or he was intentionally refusing to take the hint.

  “It was good of you to give the men the afternoon off,” he told her. “I think it’ll do morale the world of good to have a break.”

  “Everyone’s been through a lot recently,” Mabel replied. “It would be foolish of me to try to push on with everyone still trying to deal with what’s happened. That’s how mistakes happen and the last thing we need are any more of those.”

  “Everything that’s happened was completely out of your control,” Jesse said gently. “You can’t stop the lightning and crossing the river where we did was the right thing to do. Perhaps if Ned had been a little more experienced-”

  “Don’t you dare try to blame Ned for his death!” Mabel surprised herself with the vehemence in her voice. “We were all there. We all saw it. One minute everything was fine; the next his horse had fallen and taken Ned with him. There was nothing he could have done to save himself.”

  “Exactly.” Jesse smiled and Mabel realized that he’d just forced her to acknowledge what she’d been refusing to admit to herself. Ned’s death really wasn’t her fault and she didn’t need to beat herself up about it.

  She blushed and looked away from him.

  “Now do you want me to leave you alone or do you want some company?” Jesse asked.

  Mabel surprised herself when she realized that she wanted Jesse to stay. “I don’t suppose it would do any harm to have you ride with me for a while,” she told him.

  As it turned out, they didn’t ride for long. Instead, they made their way to a nearby tree and dismounted, settling themselves comfortably in its shade.

  “Would you like some water?” Jesse offered, getting his canteen from the saddle. Mabel nodded and drank thirstily. She passed the canteen back to Jesse, who took a drink, as well.

  They sat for a while, enjoying the view. If Mabel closed her eyes, she could pretend that she was back home, before they’d set out on the drive and before Ned’s accident. Jesse might have helped her see that it wouldn’t have mattered who was leading the drive, things would have turned out the way they did, but that still couldn’t erase her sense of responsibility. She was the ranch owner, the boss. The buck stopped with her. Her men looked to her to lead the way and she had a duty to get them to Dodge City in one piece.

  “You can’t look after everyone,” Jesse said, reading her thoughts. “We’re grown men, you know. We are capable of taking care of ourselves.”

  “I know,” Mabel smiled ruefully. “I guess I’m always used to taking care of things. Even when I was little, I’d always find something to look after. I used to
drive my parents nuts by adopting the runt of the litter whenever there were baby animals about the place. I’d insist on nursing it to adulthood. I remember we had one calf that used to follow me everywhere. It was fine when she was still small, but I remember my mother shrieking because Delilah was in her kitchen and wouldn’t get out until I came for her.”

  Jesse laughed. “What happened to her?”

  “My dad sold her for meat,” replied Mabel, all matter of fact.

  “Weren’t you upset?”

  “Are you kidding? I bawled my eyes out when I realized what he’d done! Ma gave him such a scolding for taking her away without telling me – but I got a telling off too for treating dinner like it was one of the family. I never made that mistake again. I looked after plenty of other calves but I never let them build the same kind of bond.”

  “Speaking of calves,” said Jesse, “I’d say that there are a fair few cows about to drop.”

  “I agree,” nodded Mabel. “Which is good – the extra money we can make for them will make up some for the animals we had to slaughter. Ned was going to drive the wagon carrying them. I’ll appoint someone else to the job. We’re a man down, so everyone’s going to have to work that little bit harder to make up for it.”

  She was interrupted by an embarrassing rumble coming from her tummy.

  “Did you have breakfast this morning?” Jesse asked.

  Mabel shook her head. “I couldn’t face it,” she said. “Not with the funeral to come.”

  “Woman!” Jesse fetched some jerky from his saddlebag. “Here,” he told her. “Chew on that for the moment and we’ll get you back to Jonas. I bet he’ll have something to say about your skipping meals.”

  Jesse stood up and reached back to help Mabel stand. She stretched out, looking around her at the plains. “We’re not far off Indian Territory,” she remarked. “I hope we get across without any trouble.”

  “I’ll make sure the men are all armed, just in case,” Jesse said. “Keep your gun loaded and ready for the first sign of trouble. Better to shoot first and sort things out later. We don’t want to lose any more men and I certainly don’t want to lose any cattle.”

  Chapter Eight: Indian Territory

  The day spent resting after Ned’s funeral was just what everyone needed and when they hit the trail again, everyone felt ready to deal with the challenges of crossing the Indian territory. Mabel wanted nothing more than a quiet ride through the area, but she could tell that some of the cowboys were itching for a fight. She hoped they wouldn’t get their wish. She’d had enough of death for the time being.

  Things had been relatively quiet in the area for a while now. Most of the time, you paid a toll to the tribe and they let you pass, but there were still violent clashes at times.

  She was called to help with a couple of births over the next couple of days. As was customary, the calves were picked up and put on the calf wagon for the day’s drive. First, they were put into a sack with a clear marking so they knew which calf belonged to which mother so their scent didn’t get mixed up. Then, at night, they could be reunited with their mother for milk. Mabel much preferred this system to the old way, when calves were simply slaughtered on the trail because they were too slow to keep up with the drive. The wagon could hold anything up to forty calves meaning that they could see the herd increase in size by a fair number before they reached Dodge City.

  The first day in Indian territory was uneventful, but as they sat around the campfire, Joe, one of the cowboys decided to treat the others to the tail of when he’d encountered them on a previous drive.

  “We’d already had a rough ride,” he began, looking contemplatively into the flames as he recalled the journey. “We’d been hit by a bout of measles and almost everyone came down with it except me and George. We’d had it as babies, so we got to play doctor to our sick fellows. I spent my time running around making sure everyone was all right, cooking to keep the invalids well fed and branding cattle to make sure that none of our herd could be lost.

  “After we crossed the Red River, we were in Indian land. There was a great deal of talk about the Indians – two men had been killed by them not two weeks before we arrived and everyone was afraid of them. We were traveling with other herds, all sticking together for protection as we traveled through the Nation. The Chisholm Trail was one long line of cattle and you could barely tell where one herd ended and another began. I thanked my lucky stars I’d been able to brand as many of our animals as I had.

  “I have to say that I had no fear of the Indians. They were nothing more than pests as far as I was concerned. In fact, I’d have given anything to run into some on the warpath and show them who’s boss.

  “Well, I was to get my wish, because that night, we were set upon by a group of them. It was a terrible fight, neither side having the advantage over the other. In the end, we had to retreat, but not before we injured more than half their number. We certainly showed them that we were not to be messed with.

  “Still, we weren’t able to prevent them running off with a large chunk of our herd. Frank, the trail boss, wasn’t happy, I can tell you, but when we heard rumors of scalps being raised on large poles, we gave up on the notion of trying to recapture them and pressed on ahead, thankful that we still had the cattle we did.

  “If we get attacked, then we need to strike back hard and strike back fast. Don’t let them know what hit them! The sooner we get them Indians moved onto reservations and away from our cattle, the better.”

  There were mumbled agreements around the camp fire and Mabel shivered at the thought of being so close to such a terrible fight. She’d brought money with her to pay any tolls that might be necessary. She didn’t care about buying her way through Indian land if it meant no more blood would be spilled.

  She had a restless night, constantly thinking that she could hear the war cries of Indians in the night air, waking up with a jolt to find that things were serene and peaceful, the only noise the sound of cattle lowing.

  The next day, they met up with another herd making its way towards Kansas and they joined together for the journey, there being safety in numbers. Everyone was on edge as they rode, expecting Indians to leap out at them at any moment.

  The day passed without incident again and that night, Mabel found it easier to fall asleep. Perhaps things weren’t as bad as Joe painted them and the days of raids were long gone.

  However, she was proven wrong. Just before dawn, she was woken by the sound of gunfire. They were under attack!

  Mabel quickly ran to her horse, already saddled for just this kind of occasion, desperate to get the cattle under control before they stampeded off again. She was happy to leave the fighting to the men – her main concern was always the animals.

  She was surprised to find Jesse riding at her side, but there was no time to ask why he wasn’t fighting as they worked in harmony to bring the cattle into the tight circle necessary to keep losses to a minimum. By the time they had the cattle under control, the sounds of shooting had stopped. Joe came riding over to them.

  “It’s all right,” he said. “It looks as though it was a small group, probably looking to make a name for themselves back in the tribe by bringing back a few head of cattle. We haven’t suffered any casualties and if they got any animals, it would have been the slower, weaker ones.”

  “Glad to hear it,” said Mabel. “Quite frankly, I’d rather they take a few of our animals than lose any more of my men.”

  She stayed up with Jesse to make sure the cattle were safe, while a few of the cowboys went on the hunt for any strays. One of the cowboys had suffered a graze from an arrow, but it was a minor wound that Jonas was able to patch up easily. All in all, they’d been pretty lucky.

  As the sun rose, Jesse pointed out to her the approach of a team of Indians. They rode up boldly, raising hands in greeting. Mabel went to meet them, Jesse close by her side.

  “We’ve come for your toll payment,” announced one of the Indians withou
t preamble.

  “That’s rich,” scoffed Jesse. “Considering that your men have already stampeded our cattle and no doubt run off with a fair few head already, we’re not giving you anything.”

  “Wait a minute.” Mabel put out a hand and touched Jesse’s arm to calm him. “I’m sure we can come to some kind of an agreement.”

  “We are sorry for the trouble you had this morning,” said the Indian. “Some of our younger braves can be a little… hotheaded. They meant no harm.”

  Jesse snorted.

  “Well the reality is that they did cause us a great deal of harm,” Mabel pointed out. “I’m sure it was nothing to do with you, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve had to deal with nervous, stampeding cattle and my men are still rounding up all of my herd.”

  “We understand,” the Indian told her. “This is why we’re only asking for eight head.”

  At this, Jesse laughed out loud. “Only?? You’ve likely already had that many with what you stole from us in the night. We’ll give you one and that’s only as a courtesy.”

  “Do you want to be stampeded again?” asked the Indian.

  “Is that a threat?” replied Jesse menacingly, his hand moving to the gun at his hip.

  “Gentlemen!” broke in Mabel. “We can settle this in a civilized fashion without the need for all this bravado. We’ll give you three head on condition that you ensure that we have safe passage through the whole of your territory.”

  The Indian thought for a moment, then nodded. “We are agreed,” he told her.

  Mabel turned her horse round and went to fetch the cattle she’d promised the Indians.

  “Are you nuts?” exclaimed Jesse. “We shouldn’t be giving them a single head. If anything, they should be paying us.”

  “Look, I don’t have any time for your male macho nonsense,” said Mabel curtly. “We give them a few cattle, we don’t get any trouble and I just want to get to Dodge City now. Besides, I said I’d give them three head. I didn’t say that I’d give them three healthy head. There’s a couple of cows that I’ve had my eyes on for just this sort of occasion. They’re not going to get much eating from them. Let them try and steal my cattle and see what happens. And my way, not only do we suffer minimal losses, we’ve got protection from any further attacks. I can spare a couple of cows for that kind of peace of mind.”