The Taming (The Black Thunder Series)

by West, Cary

  “Whatever you say, Kate,” he said as he left to find help moving her belongings.

  Kate stormed along the path to the carriage house. She climbed the porch and went inside. All her things were in perfect order just as she left them. She saw several empty boxes along the wall.

  One by one she packed them, removing what was left of her life and placing them securely in each box. Next, she removed the pictures from the walls and stacked them by the front door.

  It was time to go home, back to Santa Cruz. If she was lucky, she would be able to get her old apartment back and her teaching position if it hadn’t already been filled. Tomorrow she would make the necessary calls.

  She finished in the living area and moved to the kitchen, packing up her dishes, glasses, silverware, and pots and pans. Dustin and two other ranch hands entered the carriage house as Kate walked back into the living area.

  “You want us to take them upstairs?” asked Dustin.

  “No,” she said. “Set them on the floor by the wall. I’m not staying.”

  “You’re leaving us?” he asked realizing the seriousness of the situation.

  “I’m moving back home,” said Kate in a strange resolving voice.

  Dustin nodded and set the boxes alongside the wall. They left and she resumed packing. For the next hour, the men went in and out stacking the boxes along the wall.

  Kate went upstairs to pack what was remaining. She found the box tucked away back in the closet. She pulled it out and sat on the bed. She opened it and retrieved the small teddy bear and her wedding picture. It seemed kind of silly to her for keeping them like secret treasure. They held no meaning to her now.

  She saw the bear Jack gave her on the bed. She would not make the same mistake twice. She picked up the box and went downstairs leaving the bear and all reminders of Jack behind.

  Kate walked back into the kitchen and hovered over the trash can. She flipped the box over, spilling its contents into the trash then she tied up the trash bag and threw it into the dumpster by the side of her house. She closed the lid and the final chapter of her past life.

  Jack was glad the day was over. He wiped his hands on his jeans after unloading the last of the supplies from his truck. His belly rumbled, reminding him he was overdue for dinner.

  He hadn’t meant to be late, but his afternoon altercation and workout with Kate set him behind schedule. She was probably mad that he didn’t call to let her know he was going to be late. A smile formed on his face picturing her all riled up.

  Jack walked through the front door and saw Dustin with several of his ranch hands descending the stairs with boxes in their hands.

  “Shit!” exclaimed Dustin when he saw his employer. They almost made it out unscathed considering this was their last load.

  “What are you doing?” Jack demanded as he approached the stairs.

  “We’re just doing what Kate told us to do,” his hand replied.

  “And what exactly did Kate tell you to do?” he asked as his eyes narrowed like green crystal glass.

  “She asked us to pack up her things and move them back to the carriage house,” said Dustin nervously.

  His words hit Jack square in the chest and almost knocked him back.

  “Since when do you take orders from Kate?” Jack hollered like a drill sergeant. “Put it back. Put every last box back!”

  “We can’t.” Dustin cowered and prayed he would not make him drop and do twenty. “This is the last of it.”

  “I said put every last fucking box back!” he yelled so loud the house shook. He pushed Dustin aside and took to the steps two at a time. “Kate!” he thundered up the stairs looking like he was ready to throttle her.

  “She’s not upstairs, Jack,” he said.

  “Where the hell is she then?” He turned and roared.

  “She’s at the carriage house packing up.” Dustin grew nervous again. “She’s leaving. She says she’s going back home.”

  “Like hell she is!”

  Jack barreled down the stairs and out the front door heading toward the carriage house. She wasn’t going anywhere if he had a say in it, and he always had a say. He was furious at her. Did she think he would let her leave? What got into her fool head to leave him and go back home? There was nothing for her there, but painful memories.

  This was her home now, here on the ranch, in his home, in his bed. What had changed between the times he left her sleeping until now?

  Jack had an unsettling feeling knowing he was the cause, but he forced it out of his head, tucking away his own hand in her irrational need to leave.

  He charged up the porch steps and barreled through the front door. “Kate!” he yelled. “Kate, where the hell are you?”

  She emerged from the kitchen. At once Jack was upon her, taking her by the arms.

  “What are you doing?” he hollered and almost shook her.

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” said Kate. “I’m leaving.”

  “You’re not leaving.” He shook his head violently. “I won’t let you!”

  “You can’t stop me,” she snapped.

  “Oh, but I can,” he growled tightening his fingers around her arms. “Remember, you belong to me.” He grabbed her hand and showed her the ring.

  “Well, not anymore.” She pulled the ring off her finger and threw it at him. “I belong to no man, and especially not to you.”

  Jack stepped back and picked up the ring. His heart felt a sharp pain, like a knife stabbing into its center. “Why, Kate?” he looked hurt, which made her angrier.

  “You tell me why, Jack?” she yelled at him. “Why did you do it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as if to play dumb.

  “Like hell you don’t,” she raged. “You knew how much I wanted that teaching position. Why would you go behind my back and tell Seymour not to give me the job?”

  Jack had no words of defense. He had done exactly what Kate accused him of. Why did he do it, knowing she would eventually find out? Perhaps he thought he could get away with it without her knowledge. He bowed his head as if ashamed.

  “You’re a jerk!” She said as mad tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I know I am,” he said seeing the pain he caused her. “Please Kate, don’t be mad at me.”

  “Mad at you? Mad at you-” She screeched and picked up a pillow from the couch and hit him with it. “This time you have gone too far.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he said raising his arm blocking her assault. “I just thought I was doing what was best for us.”

  “You weren’t thinking about us,” she hissed. “You were thinking about you and I am so sick and tired of your bullshit.”

  Jack stepped back when she struck him again.

  “You belong to me, baby,” she mimicked him to perfection as she continued to slam him with the pillow. “I can do whatever I want to you, baby - squirm under me, baby - cook my meals, clean my house, fight for me, baby.” She took a quick breath. “Why it’s enough to make me want to throw up!”

  “Okay, okay,” he yelled shielding himself from her attack. “I get it!” Kate hit him one last time and Jack fell onto the couch.

  “You don’t get anything,” she yelled pointing an accusing finger in his face. “I’m not your property, Jack. It should have been a mutual relationship. I’m tired of your insecurities, your irrational jealousies, and your insane need to control me.

  Why are you so damn intimidated by me being a teacher? Is it the fact that I’ll be away from you and not under your thumb? Or is it that you’re afraid I’ll get bored with you and your simple-minded cowboy mentality?”

  “Maybe it’s both,” he said honestly as he ran his hands through his hair.

  “Get a spine, Jack,” she shouted at him again. “If you’re afraid I’ll get bored then do something about it. Pick up the freaking newspaper or read a book, go back to school, do something constructive instead of destructive for a change.”


  Jack just sat there. He had nothing to say in his defense. She was right. She nailed it right on the head. He was afraid for all the reasons she gave. “I’ll change, Kate.” Jack finally spoke up.

  “I doubt that. People don’t change.”

  “I’m not most people,” he said as tears filled his eyes.

  She knew he wasn’t cut from the same mold as most, but it was too much to expect even for Jack.

  “Please Kate, give me the chance to prove it to you,” said Jack as his world was shattering around him. “I promise you I’ll make it right between us.”

  “You need to fix this, Jack,” she stated firmly.

  “I will. I promise,” he said as he stood from the couch and took the pillow from her hand. “Just don’t leave me.”

  “You’re going to get my job back because they were going to hire me before you stuck your nose in it.”

  “I will Kate,” he said as he saw her begin to settle down. “Are we okay?” He reached for her hand. “Are we okay?” he asked her again.

  “I honestly don’t know,” she sighed. All she knew was that she was exhausted.

  Jack held up her hand and went to put the ring back on her finger.

  “No,” she snapped and pulled her hand away. “I’ll never wear a ring from you again knowing what it means to you. I don’t belong to you. I belong to me.”

  “I’m not taking mine off,” said Jack feeling the pain again in his chest. “So don’t ask me to.”

  “I’m not asking you to,” she said, seeing his eyes fill up again with tears.

  “At least keep the ring with you.” He handed it to her but she shook her head no.

  “You keep it.” She pushed his hand away.

  “I’ll hold on to it ‘til you’re ready.” Jack tucked it in the pocket of his jeans.

  “I may never be ready.” She shook her head and waved him away.

  “Don’t say that, Kate,” He stated with panic rising again in his voice. “Don’t throw us away.”

  “I’m not the one who threw us away. You did that all on your own.”

  She was right and he knew it but he couldn’t let her go. She was his life, his world, and in a single act he destroyed both.

  “Please Kate, give me a second chance,” he was pleading now and it tore her heart apart.

  She couldn’t say no to Jack and his pleadings. She loved him but she was too tired to say yes. She needed time alone to think, to work out her thoughts and make a decision.

  “It’s late and I’m tired,” she said as she walked to the front door and opened it. “I think it’s best if you leave now.”

  “Kate, don’t do this to me.”

  “I didn’t do this. You did,” she reminded him again.

  “You’re punishing me,” he said as his heart broke into a million pieces.

  “You’re right, I am,” she said coldly. “It’s the only way you’ll learn.”

  Jack fell silent and walked out the door. He turned to give her once last look hoping she would change her mind. Instead, Kate did what she usually did when they were at this point. She slammed the door closed locking him out of her life.

  Jack walked back to the main house. He felt numb and his chest was so heavy that it hurt. He entered the foyer and smelled the aroma of dinner. He went into the kitchen and removed the roast from the oven. He placed it on the stove then retrieved a bottle of whisky along with a glass and headed into his office.

  He took a seat behind his desk, placing the glass and bottle on its wooden surface. He reached into his pocket and pulled out her ring. He played with it, circling it between his fingers, staring at the simple band.

  He made a promise to never hurt her and he had broken it by a stupid and selfish act. Broken it to the point he might never be able to mend. Kate said he needed to be punished in order to learn. The lesson was obvious. He was alone and without Kate. It was the lowest he ever felt, and he knew low.

  Jack placed the ring on the desk and lifted the bottle of whisky, pouring it into his glass. He set the bottle down and picked up the glass, swirling the dark liquid around. It had been his father’s downfall and Jack made a point never to find solace in it.

  He may not have inherited his drinking, but the way he thought about and treated women were one and the same. Jack had no idea how to love a woman, but God he wanted to learn. Learn for Kate, to be a better man, to grow, to achieve more than what the sweat of his brow could accomplish.

  Jack made a promise to change, and he would be damned if he would ever break a promise to her again. Determination seared through his veins instead of the whisky, as he set the glass down, and picked up the ring. He knew what he had to do, and when he made up his mind to do something there wasn’t anything or anyone that could make him change it.

  At that moment, Jack was bound to get the ring back on her finger, but not because she belonged to him, but because his heart belonged to her.

  Twenty-Six

  Through the Eyes of a Child

  Kate stepped from the mouth of the canyon, feeling the wind striking her cheeks and blowing her blond strands like a circling dervish across her face. There was purpose in her steps, climbing through the foothills with its rocky terrain, and coming to the place of open space and air. She was searching for answers to the turmoil plaguing at her soul.

  She had moved here hoping to find her own voice again. She thought she found it with Jack but now she wasn’t so sure. She never realized how complicated betrayal could be.

  She experienced it once before being betrayed by the flesh, but betrayal of the soul was worse. It was deeper and the wound made her weary to the bone. How could she go on living without Jack, but on the other hand, how could she go on living with Jack if she couldn’t trust him with everything she held dear.

  His deceit was subtle, not tangible like before. Infidelity was a clear breakable line drawn between black and white, right and wrong, where Jack’s was grey. He’d crossed that line, but where that line started she didn’t know. She only knew till it was too late and her heart was sprawled out devastatingly across its broken floor. Her thoughts were interrupted with the buzzing hum of another presence and at once she realized she was no longer alone.

  She knew he would come. The hum turned to thunder crashing its energy through the wind and Kate looked up and saw the great black stallion coming towards her.

  With dignity and grace he moved through the wind, hooves barreling against the Nevada terrain kicking up dust beneath his feet and catching her scent. He slowed as he drew near, trotting as if he were royalty until he stood inches before her.

  Kate reached out her hand and he nudged it lifting it over his nose so she could caress his course fur between his eyes. He whinnied shaking his head up and down, a single hoof scratched playfully on the ground making her smile.

  “How do you instinctively know when I need you?” she whispered to Black Thunder laying her head against his long nose and stroking the side of his cheek. “Oh, I am most certainly experiencing the darkest night of my soul.” She started to weep. “Help me, please.”

  She looked up and saw a single tear fall from the animal’s eye and she wept harder. The steed drew back and bowed before her, lowering front hooves and nose to the ground. Kate trailed her fingers along his neck and back moving toward the animal’s side. She lifted herself over his large frame, resting her body against his back.

  She closed her eyes and connected to the stallion’s beating heart, listening to the rhythm settling against her chest. A peace washed over her and her spirit quieted. The hurt and pain seemed to vanish one heart beat at a time, and was replaced with understanding. Images began to flash through her mind. Whether they were real or not she didn’t know, but the truth captured in its essence was enlightening to her soul.

  Come on Dad, get up. Let me take you home, a child’s small voice whispered and she could see a sandy haired boy lifting a drunk father off the bar room floor while he batted his son away.


  The image faded and another appeared; the same boy now alone in the dark, huddled on a worn sofa with a coat around him instead of a nice warm blanket to shelter him from the cold. He was crying and scared, eyes darting around the darkened room afraid of every noise that whistled endlessly through the night air. No protection, no safety, throwing his coat over his eyes hiding from the sinister dark shadows and evil stares.

  Daylight appeared and she could see the dark circles under the boy’s eyes from lack of sleep. They’d been there for years and she wondered if the child ever slept at all. Then she saw the boy’s head resting on a school desk sleeping peacefully, taking comfort in the fact that he was not alone as the soothing sounds of adult teachers voices kept him in a lulled sense of restful sleep. There were other images too, ones that any boy shouldn’t see, women coming and going, soft moans and touching hands.

  “Oh, Jack,” she whispered against the soft horse’s mane.

  The images changed to the man and she saw him sitting at his desk, whisky bottle by his side. He was twirling a ring, her ring, between his fingers staring at it through blood shot eyes.

  Don’t leave me Kate, she heard his words echoing through her mind but what disturbed her more was his eyes and she suddenly realized they were red from grief stricken tears not whisky.

  The image zoomed larger on his haunting green eyes as if it wanted her to see a closer view. They were the same as the small boy’s. Every light burned bright in the room as if to ward off the sinister demons from years gone by. But they were still there and he was still trapped by them.

  It all suddenly became clear that this overbearing and seemingly arrogant man was nothing more than a shell with the little boy still locked inside. His intensity, his need to control, it was all connected to this single senseless emotion, fear.

  Light turned to black and the images faded from her mind. Quiet peace surrounded her, washing over her as if she were being cleansed. The weariness lifted and her strength returned, as did her hope.

  Black Thunder grew restless beneath her and she knew their time was coming to an end. She slid from the animal, planting her feet back on to the desert soil and watched as the great steed rose to all fours.