by Janet Dailey
'I'd rather go home, Lije,' she assured him.
'I hope you won't be disappointed,' he said quietly. 'Don't conjure up images of an enormous house with plush furnishings. It's just a one-storey frame house that's seen better days. Some day I'll build a new home for you, but … '
Diana placed her hand on his mouth to hush his proud apologies. 'If you're there, it will seem like a palace to me.'
His arm circled her shoulders and pulled her closer against his chest while he drove with one hand on the wheel.
'With you, right now I feel like a king,' taking his attention from the four-lane highway long enough to give her a quick kiss. 'There are so many places I want to show you. Where I used to hunt when I was a kid. We'll sleep out under the stars sometimes, too, when it's warmer. I hope you grow to love the ranch as much as I do, Diana.'
'I will.'
When they turned west out of Socorro and left the Rio Grande Valley behind, the landscape began to change. The few towns they passed were minuscule compared to the metropolis of Dallas/Fort Worth where Diana had lived all her life. The mountains, too, seemed more rugged and forbidding even with their pine-covered slopes. Diana was beginning to realize what an alien world she was coming to live in.
She wouldn't let the distances daunt her, not even when Lije turned off the main road on to a dirt one and several miles later turned off of it on to a two-rutted track that led off into the mountains.
'This is the ranch,' he announced. His grey eyes left the land around them to look at his wife. There was so much pride and contentment in his gaze that Diana had to smile.
'It's like something out of a Western movie.'
There was not a cloud in the azure blue sky or a telltale mark of civilization to blot its horizon. Snowcapped mountain peaks sloped away to plateaux, mesas and rolling plains where patches of snow melted slowly in the shadowed areas of grass. The rutted track stretched endlessly into these hills without a sign of any buildings. The emptiness, isolation, the immense space all struck Diana simultaneously. Gone was the security of tall skyscrapers and crowds of people that had constituted her life. Lije had told her that his ranch was miles from anywhere, but the force of his statement didn't sink in until now.
At last they topped a rise and the buildings of the ranch were ahead of them. As they drew closer, Diana could see a weathered one-storey house standing away from the outbuildings. The fact that it had more windows than the others was the only difference between them. All the buildings were a dirty white, their paint chipped and peeling.
'The first trip into town I'll buy some paint,' Lije said grimly. 'I assure you the framework is sound and sturdy.'
'Don't do it for my sake,' Diana said quickly, glancing up to meet the masked expression on his face, wondering if her disappointment had shown on her face. 'If you need the money for something else, don't worry about making an impression on me.'
'The money will stretch to cover paint. Just because the ranch isn't as prosperous as it could be it's no sign that it can't look that way.' Lije smiled down at her, removing his arm from around her and gradually slowing the pick-up down to a halt near the first of the buildings. 'I'll put Buck away, then we'll go up to the house together.'
Diana slid out of the pick-up after Lije, following him to the rear where the horse trailer was hitched. This was a homecoming for her husband. She could tell it by the light glowing in his eyes when he looked at the corral and the horses inside. They were his. Everything on the place belonged to him and the pride of ownership was in his face. But Diana felt out of place, a stowaway who had no business here at all. She touched her gold wedding band to reassure herself. Lije had enough to worry about without bringing up her insecure feelings. She had always been able to adjust to anything. And now, as his wife, she had even more reason.
The breeze was cool, carrying the sting of biting cold from the mountain tops. Diana drew her blue corduroy parka closer around her neck as she followed Lije to the corral. While he was engaged in caring for the horse, she took the opportunity to study the ranchyard, determined to become familiar with everything. A movement was detected out of the corner of her eye and she turned to look. A man was walking out of a near building. He had jet black hair that hung over his forehead and his cheekbones were wide and prominent, setting off the deep-sunk dark eyes. He, too, had on a heavy parka jacket over faded blue levis. At first she thought he was of Mexican descent, but as he came closer Diana could tell he was an Indian.
'Lije?' Her voice raised with a trace of questioning fear. She glanced at her husband.
Lije was just shutting the corral gate when she called to him. Following the direction of her gaze that she had returned to the Indian still walking closer, his firm stride quickly carried him past Diana towards the man. She braced herself, expecting to see Lije order the man off the property, then stared in stunned disbelief as he clasped the Indian's hand in both of his and shook it warmly. Lije's broad back blocked out the Indian's face, but the friendly tone of their voices reaffirmed the handshake.
'Diana, come here,' Lije called, a grin spreading across his face. She was glad of his arm around her waist when she reached his side. 'I want you to meet Jim Two Pony, my friend and my foreman.'
'How do you do?' Diana nodded nervously.
There was no welcoming light in the dark eyes that looked back at her, only taciturn reserve. The barest inclination of his head indicated that Jim Two Pony had heard her words before he turned back to Lije.
'It is good to have you back, Lije,' the man said in a bland but well-educated voice.
'I didn't expect you to be here at the house when we arrived,' Lije smiled, taking no notice of Jim's lack of attention to Diana. 'I thought I'd have to go into the mountains to find you.'
'The jeep broke down again. I was fixing it,' Jim replied. His mouth moved and the words came out, but there was never any discernible change in his expression.
'I'll take Diana up to the house, then I'll come down and give you a hand. It's good to be back, Jim.' Lije clasped the Indian's shoulder for a brief moment before he turned to Diana. 'I might as well start to work right away,' he said to her.
'Of course,' she agreed. She had to force herself to smile. If Jim Two Pony had wanted to make her feel more of an outsider, then he had succeeded.
'Hey, you're awfully quiet.' As they reached the house, Lije lifted her chin and warmed her lips with a kiss. 'I think it's time for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold.'
He opened the door leading into the house, then turned to Diana. The coldness that had begun to numb her swiftly fled away under the adoring look in his grey eyes.
'I love you, Lije,' she whispered fervently as he swept her up into his arms.
'You'd better, Mrs. Masters,' he grinned, walking through the door with Diana's arms firmly entwined around his neck.
She clung tightly to his hand as he set her feet down on the yellow linoleum floor of the kitchen. She glanced around at the old-fashioned white metal cabinets and the heavy porcelain sink. A square wooden table and chairs sat in the middle of the room. The white paint that covered them had turned a dingy yellow. Against the side wall was an electric stove of antique vintage. Faded curtains of drab yellow hung at the window above the sink and the one near the cabinets. The walls were covered with old-fashioned glaze paper with a nondescript design of yellow flowers.
'None of the house has a decorator's touch, but it's serviceable. It needs a woman's touch, Diana. Yours,' Lije told her with a loving glance at her silver-blonde head. 'Let me show you the rest of the house.'
The living room was roomy, but with the same austere look that would be expected with only masculine inhabitants. A fireplace was on the outside wall, its hearth blackened from its many fires. There was a little nook that had been intended as a formal dining area. Lije had installed a desk and office files to maintain the records for the ranch. A small bedroom was opposite the larger main bedroom. Both were sparsely furnished with little d
ecoration to relieve the effect of the heavy furniture. The bathroom was large, with an old bathtub that was supported by cast-iron legs.
Nothing in the house remotely resembled the bright and cheery apartment complete with all the modem conveniences that Diana had lived in these last few years. She tried hard not to let her dislike of the bare and drab house show. After all, it was Lije's home, and his running commentary revealed the warm and loving memories he associated with it. It wasn't his fault that he didn't see it with a stranger's eyes. Diana was the first one to agree that beautiful furnishings did not make a house into a home.
'I know you'll want to unpack and prowl around the house on your own,' said Lije, leading her again into the kitchen.
'Yes, I'd like that,' Diana agreed quietly. She walked to the window over the sink and gazed out. From there she could barely make out the figure of Jim Two Pony working in the shadow of one of the buildings. 'Why didn't you ever mention that Jim was an Indian?'
She heard his footsteps bringing him closer to her. 'I thought I had. Does it make any difference?'
There was something very cold about his question. Diana turned around, staring up into the suddenly remote expression. She knew immediately that she had said the wrong thing.
'No, not at all.' She looked back at the window, her fingers clenching the cold porcelain sink. 'I just never knew any Indians before. He startled me.' She laughed a nervous tight laugh. Was she prejudiced because Jim Two Pony was an Indian? She didn't think so. Yet why had she assumed that Lije would throw him off the property? 'I felt awkward and uneasy.'
'Jim is a full-blooded Navajo. They're a very proud race. A stranger often receives the impression that he's being regarded with a bit of superiority by a Navajo,' Lije explained. 'They have a heart just like you and me, and they feel things just as intensely as we do. They just don't show it as readily.'
'The Navajos were a peaceful tribe, weren't they?'
'In some ways. But I think it was more a case of being realistic. The white man seemed to be without numbers. Fighting would have been futile if they wanted to preserve their race, so the Navajo chose to adapt before their tribe was reduced to the point that it would die. Don't let that mislead you into thinking they were not strong and powerful. The Apache, who were notorious warriors, raided other Indian tribes as well as white settlements, but they usually avoided attacking the Navajo. They knew the Navajo's retribution would be swift and sure.'
'You admire them, don't you?' Diana asked. Her back was still to him so he couldn't see her expression filled with love for this compassionate, understanding man she had married.
'Yes,' Lije said simply. 'Jim is my friend, the closest thing to a brother I'll ever have. I can't expect you to feel the same way I do towards him. But don't stereotype him as a worthless bum and look down on him as an object of pity.'
'I don't!' Diana whirled around sharply, stung by the cold, contemptuous anger in his voice. The beginnings of retaliatory anger rose in her only to be restrained quickly. 'Oh, darling, maybe at first I thought of him that way. But it was only from ignorance and never being exposed to Indians before. I honestly hold nothing against Jim. Wherever you are, I will be, and your friends are mine. Don't let's quarrel the first day in our new home.'
He studied her quietly for a minute before he drew her into his arms and held her close against his chest. 'Forgive me, Diana,' he murmured into her hair. 'It's just that I've seen the contempt that comes into some people's eyes when they see an Indian. I should have realized that you were too sensitive to be blinded by a man's race.'
'I'm human.' Diana tilted her head back to gaze up at him. 'Perhaps I was blinded for a moment, but only for a moment.'
Lije gave her a long, slow kiss that left her clinging to him weakly. 'I'll stay here all day if you keep reacting like that,' he teased.
She snuggled under his chin, enjoying the feeling of his warm body next to hers and the wayward movements of his hands on her body.
'Promises, promises, that's all I ever get,' she murmured, smiling up at the passionate gleam in his eyes.
'You just keep that thought in mind.' Lije touched the tip of her nose. 'And we'll find out how true that is tonight. Right now, Jim is probably wondering where I am.'
'He probably knows,' Diana laughed, moving out of her husband's arms. 'Now run along, so your poor little wife can get something down.'
'I have a half a mind to stay and teach you who gives the orders around here.' He reached over and swung her playfully back into his arms. 'But I'll save that for tonight, too.'
'Mmmm, I have a lot to look forward to tonight,' she murmured against his lips.
'You make it very hard for a man to leave.' This time it was Lije who set her away from him, then walked to the door.
'In case you get tied up with Jim all afternoon, what time is dinner?' Diana asked as he started out the door.
'With all the work I have to do tonight, you'd better make it early, around six,' he answered with a decided twinkle in his eye.
'Yes, Mr. Masters.' Diana dropped him a little curtsy to accompany her demure words. Lije was smiling as he walked out the door.
Unpacking didn't take long since most of her things were still in Dallas. Diana had written to Stella to send them on. Yet there had been something pleasant and intimate about rearranging the clothes in the chest of drawers to make room for hers. The act of putting her husband's clothes away made their marriage seem more real and not something that had happened in a dream. When she could find nothing else to do in the bedroom, she reluctantly went to the kitchen.
No matter how drab and dreary it looked, it was her kitchen now. She was in charge of the meals and the dishes and everything else. The sooner she became familiar with the location of things, the sooner it, too, would seem as if it belonged to her. Looking around at its worn furnishings, Diana realized that the only thing that would improve the kitchen's appearance was a complete remodelling. The money from Lije's rodeo winnings and the sale of the blood bay horse would certainly never stretch to cover such a luxury. She would just have to suffer with it the way it was.
Dinner was on the stove when Lije came in a little before six o'clock. Diana was setting the table with the ironstone plates from the cupboard. Lije planted a kiss on her cheek, then started into the other room to wash up.
'You only need two place settings,' he said.
'Isn't Jim eating with us?' Diana held the third plate in her hand.
'Not tonight.' Lije's voice carried from the small hallway. 'I think he figured we would want to be alone.'
'Is that what he said?' she asked.
'Not in so many words.'
Unbidden the thought sprung to mind that maybe Jim just didn't want to eat dinner with her, but she quickly banished it. Lije was undoubtedly right, and Jim was just trying to be thoughtful. Still, Diana had received the distinct impression that Jim didn't like her. It was a feeling that wasn't easy to shake. And despite Lije's earlier assumption that it had to do with the difference of their skin, Diana thought it was a case of individual likes and dislikes.
The first meal she had ever cooked for Lije was an unqualified success. He laughingly confided afterwards that he hadn't had the nerve to inquire about her cooking abilities.
'Well, for having such doubts about your wife,' Diana said with mock anger, 'you can help with the dishes!'
It was an idyllic evening, just the way Diana had always pictured it to be. Later, after Lije had good-naturedly helped with the dishes, they had gone into the living room where Lije built a fire in the darkened fireplace. The cheep flames had brought an added spark into the room, chasing away some of its gloom. They had sat on the camel-backed brown tweed sofa comfortably wrapped in each other's arms. From some distant place in the outdoors, a howling sound penetrated the walls of the house. Its wailing sound made Diana shudder and curl tighter against the broad chest.
'What was that? A wolf?' she asked, glancing at the windows that only reflected the
light from the room. 'Coyotes,' Lije answered grimly.
'They aren't dangerous, are they?' she breathed more confidently.
'They aren't unless you're a sheep or a lamb.' Lije moved restlessly, finally rising to poke the fire again. 'Are you worried about your flocks?'
'Yes,' Lije sighed heavily. 'We've lost more lambs than I'd like to count to coyotes.'
'Who takes care of your sheep?'
'I have a sheep-herder and his dogs with each flock. They travel around in a wagon quite similar in appearance in some ways to the Conestoga wagons that brought the settlers West.'
'Don't they protect the sheep from the coyotes?'
Another yelping howl drifted eerily into the room, answered by an echoing call. It was another vivid reminder that Diana's alien world was just outside, regardless of how content she had been in his arms.
'They do the best they can, but coyotes are very bold. Mountain lions flee to the mountains and the more remote regions when man moves on to the land. The coyote doesn't have that fear of man. He treats us with healthy respect, but he keeps hanging around and becoming more of a menace than a nuisance. Especially to ranchers.' Lije turned away from the fire to smile at Diana. 'Now how did we get on this subject?'
'The coyotes were howling outside.'
Lije walked back to the couch. 'It's time we forgot about what's outside,' he said huskily, bending over Diana and propelling her back against the cushions.
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Chapter Seven
DIANA felt Lije nuzzling her ear and she turned sleepily over for his kiss. Bright sunlight tried hard to penetrate her dosed eyelids. His mouth was warm and moist against hers.
'Good morning, sleeping beauty,' he whispered. 'It's time to get up.'
Diana moaned, slowly blinking her eyes while she focused on the man sitting beside her. He was wearing a plaid shirt of yellow and dark blue with a pair of worn levis. Then she noticed the cup of coffee in his hand.
