Cowgirl Up

by Ali Spooner

  “Coal,” Melissa cried out and ran across the room. She grabbed up the bottle of water, and placed the cool plastic against her skin as she cradled Coal’s head in her lap. “Coal, Coal, please wake up,” she pleaded.

  Coal felt the cool, strong hands on her face as they brushed the hair away from her eyes, and heard the urgency in her voice. It took her several attempts, but she was finally able to open her eyes and stare up at Melissa.

  “There you are,” Melissa said when she was able to hold her eyes open. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  She sat up. Her eyes returned to the pictures on the wall and she burst into tears. Melissa, bewildered by this behavior, pulled Coal into her arms and held her close as the sobs wracked her body. Her hand stroked across her hair as she whispered soothing words to her.

  When she could regain her composure, she pulled away from Melissa’s embrace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break down like that.”

  “It’s okay, but what happened?”

  Coal pointed at the pictures hanging on the wall. “I took those.”

  “The photographs from Afghanistan?” she asked.

  “Yes, the ones of Major Mitch and Tessa,” she said.

  “That was my husband,” Melissa said.

  “And my lover,” she answered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t make the connection of the Conway name.”

  “There’s no need to apologize. Come sit with me and we can talk,” Melissa said as she took her hand and guided her around to sit on the love seat.

  Coal rubbed her face with her left hand. “I should have known. He talked about Melissa all the time.”

  “So you served with Mitch?”

  “Yes, my unit was assigned to sniper protection for Mitch and his crew. I took that picture of him and Tessa about two months after we arrived.”

  “Tessa was your lover?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “We had been together for almost two years when we got called back up. She assisted Mitch with defusing the bombs.”

  “Where is she now?”

  Coal took a deep breath. “She’s buried at Arlington.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Melissa said.

  “She was with Mitch when a terrorist triggered a bomb they were working on, and they died together.”

  “Can you tell me what happened? I was only told he was killed in action.”

  Tears threatened to fall again.

  “I’m sorry, I have no right to ask you to relive that,” she said.

  “No, you have every right to know what happened that day,” she said. “I need something to drink though.”

  “Would you like water or something stronger?”

  “Something stronger,” she answered.

  Melissa walked over to the bar, poured two stiff shots of Gentleman Jack, and carried them back to the love seat. She handed Coal a glass and sat beside her.

  She took a sip of the strong liquor, and then ran her hand through her hair. “We were only two weeks from cycling out when we got a call. It was one of the hottest days we had, and it was barely eight in the morning.”

  Melissa shifted on the love seat and watched Coal as she struggled with her memories.

  “We geared up and headed for the small neighborhood where a reported car bomb would take out several housing units if it were activated.” She remembered the day all too well. How the sweat trickled down her back and face, and how it seemed to sizzle as it hit the dusty pavement. She and Tessa had spent most of the previous night making plans for a vacation once they cycled out, and then made love until late in the night. A smile played on her face for a brief moment, but quickly faded.

  Melissa sat and patiently waited for Coal to resume her story. She could see the reflection of happiness, and then pain as she remembered the day over a year ago.

  “It seemed like a routine call at first. A late-model sedan parked on the curb in front of a housing unit. The streets were vacant, and not even a breeze disturbed the heat waves as they danced across the pavement.”

  Melissa shifted, and Coal took another sip.

  “It was a Saturday morning and the streets should have been alive with families going to market, children playing soccer in the streets, women hanging out wash, but there was nothing, nothing at all until a small child began crying, and walking down the street.”

  “Where did he come from?”

  “I never knew. He was about four and crying at the top of his lungs as he walked toward the parked car. I yelled at one of the men closest to the child to secure him and find his family. The bomber used the child as a distraction. I looked up to a curtain-covered window in time to see him press a button to activate the bomb Mitch was hovering over.”

  She took another deep breath. “I pulled the trigger of my rifle a split second too late to stop him. Mitch must have heard the click of the remote detonation because he threw his body across the bomb to dampen its range. Shrapnel exploded into Tessa’s body, and the rest of the unit got showered with flying shrapnel fragments. I ran as hard as I could, but Mitch was instantly gone, and Tessa died in my arms waiting on a chopper to airlift her to the hospital.”

  Coal looked up to Melissa. “Mitch saved the rest of us from being killed or seriously injured when he sacrificed himself.” She looked at Melissa and found tears streaming down her face.

  “Thank you for giving me that information,” Melissa said. “I tried to get more details, but ran up against too much red tape to get a final answer.”

  “I’m sure it’s still classified information, but I don’t care. You have a right to know how bravely Mitch died.”

  “May I share something with you?” Melissa asked.

  “Yes, of course.”

  Melissa stood and walked over to a large rolltop desk and opened a drawer to pull out a stack of envelopes. These were her precious letters written by Mitch. She searched through several of them until she found the one she wanted and carried the back page to Coal. “This is part of the letter that came with that picture,” she said.

  Coal took the familiar army-issued stationery and held it in her hand while she read.

  I’m adding a picture I hope you will enjoy. In the picture is Tessa, a young, bright woman who is also a third-grade teacher in Dallas. She and her lover, another soldier, are so head over heels in love that it makes me smile and think of you when I see them together. Coal took the picture, so I will have to get another and send it soon so you can see Coal and Tessa together.

  A tear slid down her cheek as she reread the letter.

  “I never realized the Coal he referred to in his letter was a woman, and still didn’t make the connection when you showed up this week. The Ranger ink on your shoulder should have jogged my memory, but it didn’t.”

  “I guess it’s just a small world,” Coal said as she handed the letter back to Melissa.

  “Did you have the option of bringing Tessa back to Texas?”

  “No, her father is retired military and insisted she be interred at Arlington. I visit as often as I can, but DC is a long way from Texas.”

  Melissa’s heart ached with the pain in her voice. “Tessa will always be with you in your heart, so don’t feel like you need to stand vigil over a grave.”

  Coal nodded her head and took some comfort from Melissa’s words but felt mentally exhausted from the conversation. “If you don’t mind I’m going to pass on the movie and lay down for a bit.”

  “I don’t mind at all. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

  Coal stood to walk to her room. “I just wasn’t expecting this.”

  †

  Melissa watched her walk from the room and curled her legs beneath her as she sifted through the stack of letters from Mitch. She read several of the letters before the effects of the liquor made her sleepy, and she curled into a ball on the love seat and napped.

  †

  Coal had returned to her room, collapsed on the bed, and allowed her tears to flow freely until she cried herself to sleep. She slep
t for an hour then woke with a start from a dream. She was back in Afghanistan with Tessa and Mitch, reliving the terror of their deaths once more in her dream. Covered with a cold sweat she climbed from the bed and walked out to the back porch. Still frazzled from the dream, she decided to go for a walk to clear her head. The rain had stopped as she started across the yard at a brisk pace. She walked deep into a pasture they would be cutting in a few weeks for hay, and made her way to a grove of red oak trees. There were six trees in a crescent around a small lake and Coal found a bend of a low branch to sit. The quiet crept in around her as her mind relaxed among the ancient trees.

  The black stallion had watched as she walked across the pasture. With a burst of speed, he cleared the fence of the corral and followed the strange human until she reached the grove of trees. When she sat down on the branch, he stopped and watched her for several minutes before approaching.

  Coal reached into her pocket and pulled out her flute. She was playing it softly, staring across the lake, when she heard soft footprints approaching from behind her. She turned slowly to see the stallion standing five feet from her. “How did you get here?”

  He looked at her with his bright eyes and took another tentative step toward her. Coal turned to straddle the limb and watch his approach. She remained frozen as he closed the distance between them and lifted his head to nuzzle her hand. She allowed him to smell her hand then lifted it to stroke his face. “You are a handsome fellow,” she said as she stroked him softly.

  The young horse lowered his head, enjoying the attention he was receiving. Her grandfather, who was full-blooded Apache, had told her once that a warrior and his horse had a special bond. A successful pairing was one in which the horse and warrior chose each other. At this moment, she felt the young stallion was choosing her. “Will you accept me as your warrior?”

  The horse lifted his head several times, as if he was nodding yes in response to her question. She smiled and chuckled softly as she leaned back against the tree limb and resumed her playing. The horse began to graze and then walked down to the lake’s edge for a drink of water as her eyes followed his movements.

  The emotional exhaustion she had felt slowly slipped away. She found her body and mind relaxing. When her eyes grew heavy, she placed the flute in her breast pocket and allowed them to close. The horse continued to graze on the soft grass until the sun began to set.

  †

  Coal was purring softly in her sleep as the horse crept up to where she was sleeping and used his head to push her off the limb. She landed with a thud on the rain-softened ground and woke with a start. The horse stepped forward and lifted his head over the limb she had been resting on.

  “No, you didn’t just push me off that limb,” she said in surprise, but wearing a smile as she rubbed her hip.

  Coal looked around and saw the sun was quickly dropping from the sky and she could smell the smoke from a grill drifting across a breeze. “I guess you are telling me it’s time to start back home.” She turned and began the walk back toward the house. The horse fell in beside her. She placed a hand on his neck and walked across the pasture.

  †

  Melissa looked out at the window and smiled to see Coal and the black stallion walking across the pasture. She thought she had been dreaming when she heard hoofbeats running past the house earlier and now she knew differently. It seemed the horse and woman had bonded together over the afternoon. She smiled and turned away to walk into the kitchen to check the baked potatoes she had in the oven. Harley was cooking some steaks while Gene and Lucas worked on some veggies and a nice crisp salad. She could smell the mesquite chips he had placed on the coals as she pulled the potatoes out and placed them on a large cookie sheet.

  As they entered the backyard, the young horse took off at a gallop, easily clearing the corral fence to join the rest of the herd. Coal shook her head at his mischievous behavior, and looked up to see Harley and several of the other men shaking their heads with laughter.

  “I guess that answers how he got out to follow me,” she said to Harley.

  “I’ve heard of guard dogs, but I’ve never met anyone who has a guard horse,” he teased.

  “I was all peaceful, enjoying a nap on this nice afternoon when he pushed me off the branch I was napping on,” she said.

  Harley closed the lid on the grill. “I guess he kind of likes you then,” he said with a grin. “How do you like your steak?”

  “Medium rare please, they smell terrific by the way.”

  “The boys are finishing off the inside stuff, and Melissa is baking potatoes. Would you go see if she needs any help?”

  “Sure thing,” she said and slipped inside the back door. She walked to the kitchen and found Melissa placing the last of the potatoes on a cookie sheet.

  “Just in time to carry these out to the bunkhouse for me,” she said when she looked up and saw Coal entering. “I noticed you had some company on your walk,” she added.

  She grinned up at her. “That young black stallion jumped the corral fence and followed me out to the lake, and that little bugger knocked me off a branch when I was taking a nap.”

  Melissa broke out in laughter. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Nope, and I swear if a horse could smile, he was smiling at me after he did it.”

  “That is too funny.”

  “My grandfather told me when I was a kid that a horse and his warrior had a special bond, and I think today that young stallion and I bonded.”

  “He sounds like he was a wise man. The rest of the crew has their work horses already.” She lifted the potatoes and handed them to her. “I’m sure if you ask, Stan would let you take that stud for yours, if you can train him.”

  “I would really like that, and I do feel we have a special connection,” she said as they walked toward the front door.

  “Let’s make it happen then,” Melissa said as she held the door open for Coal.

  Chapter Four

  After a filling meal, she and Melissa walked back to the house to retire for the evening. As they stepped onto the porch, Melissa turned to her. “I’m not sure if I told you, but we will be having company join us in the house tomorrow.”

  “Do I need to move out to the bunkhouse?” she asked.

  “No, we have plenty of room in the house. My baby sister is coming for a visit and will be spending a month or two with us.”

  “That’s going to be very nice.”

  “Just so you know,” Melissa said, “Mary Leah is a cancer survivor.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that she had cancer.”

  “Me too. She had a double mastectomy and just finished her chemotherapy treatments last month, so her hair is just now starting to come back in.”

  “Some fresh country air will do her soul good,” Coal said.

  “It is very therapeutic for healing, isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is,” Coal said with a smile. “I look forward to meeting her.”

  “There’s something else you need to be aware of,” Melissa said. “Last week her lover of five years left her. Said she couldn’t help but be repulsed by Mary Leah’s scars.”

  “What an asshole,” she said without thinking. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t judge.”

  Melissa broke out in laughter. “I never liked the bitch anyhow,” she said as she opened the door for her.

  †

  The next morning she felt something cold on her hand, and when she chose to ignore it in her slumber, a warm tongue licked across her palm. Her eyes shot open and she found soft brown eyes staring at her.

  “Well, hello there,” she said as she reached out to scratch behind the dog’s ears. “Where did you come from?” she asked the black and gray cattle dog that was wiggling with excitement beside her bed. She propped up on her elbow and continued to stroke the dog.

  “Callie, where did you get off to?” a woman asked and then stopped in her tracks outside Coal’s bedroom door.

  Coal smiled up to the woma
n from her bed.

  “I am so sorry,” the woman said, looking away from her.

  “No problem, I seem to have animal magnetism,” she said with a warm smile. “You must be Mary Leah.”

  “Yes, I am, so you must be Coal.”

  “The one and only,” she said as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “And this adorable creature must be Callie.”

  Callie’s ears perked up when she heard her name and felt it was an invitation to jump into Coal’s lap, and cover her face with wet kisses. “Bashful, isn’t she?” she asked with a chuckle.

  “Callie, down,” Mary Leah said. “I’m sorry she’s normally not that affectionate with people she’s just met.”

  “She’s okay,” Coal said. “She’s a beautiful heeler.”

  “You know the breed then?”

  “They are the best breed a rancher could ask for,” she said. “They are excellent workers, and very loyal animals.”

  “That they are,” Mary Leah said. “May I at least offer you some coffee since she woke you? Melissa isn’t awake yet so I let myself in.”

  “Sure, give me a minute to get dressed, and I’ll meet you on the porch. I take a sugar and a little cream, please.”

  Mary Leah looked back at her and saw that she was wearing a tank top and green shorts. She smiled and blushed when their eyes met, “Come on, Callie,” she said and turned away.

  Coal dressed quickly and quietly walked through the house to the front porch. “Hello again,” she said as she took the cup of coffee Mary Leah offered. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. I couldn’t sleep last night so I decided to drive. I just didn’t realize how early I would arrive.”

  “I know Melissa will be glad to see you,” Coal said as she took a spot on the swing.