Mounting his horse, he rode away. But this time, he traveled in a slow lope, his head hanging low.
Chapter 27
When she is absent,
I no more
Delight in all that pleased before.
—GEORGE LYTTELTON
Exhausted, having stopped only long enough to take drinks from the rivers and eat small portions of the food that she had prepared for her and Adam’s outing to Canyon de Chelley, Stephanie rode into the outskirts of Runner’s village.
After Runner had ridden away in a hard gallop, she had not seen him again. But that had not stopped her pursuit of him. Determined for him to hear her out, she had had only one destination in mind after leaving Adam back at Canyon de Chelley, Runner’s village. He should be there ahead of her and she would force him to listen, even if it was at gunpoint.
Her trembling fingers went to the derringer that was holstered at her waist. Yes, if Runner left her no other recourse than to draw the gun on him to force him to listen to her, so be it. She loved him. She could not lose him, especially since the loss would have been as a result of her brother’s cruel schemes.
Stephanie’s head drooped. After having only slept for a few moments when she had stopped to eat, she was finding it hard to stay awake, even though she could feel a silence falling on all sides of her as she worked her way through the village and past people who had left their hogans to stare at her.
She knew that she had to be a fretful sight to look at. She hadn’t had a bath in two days and her hair hung around her face in loose tangles. As she ran her tongue across her lips she could taste dust and the salt of sweat. She could even smell the perspiration that had dried on her blouse.
It was almost laughable that she could dare come to see Runner in such a shape, when what she wanted most was to impress upon him the fact that she knew that he loved her. She doubted that any man would give her a second glance today, much less confess his love for her.
But if Runner truly loved her, as he had told her more than once, he should be able to look past her appearance, and Adam’s lies, and grab her up into his arms and kiss her hurt away.
“Just a little farther,” she whispered to herself, as she glanced up and saw Runner’s hogan not all that far away.
Her gaze shifted and she felt a knot forming inside her stomach when Sage stepped from Pure Blossom’s hogan, Leonida at his side.
Through the haze of her weary eyes, Stephanie was close enough to tell that Leonida had been crying. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bloodshot.
A frightened tremor raced through Stephanie when she saw the rage in Sage’s eyes, and had to wonder at that. Did he hate her so much that the mere sight of her angered him?
Then her heart skipped a nervous beat. She turned her gaze back to Runner’s hogan. Surely he had arrived before her; he had told them everything.
She was now filled with fear, for who was to say what she had ridden into? Were they so angry at her they might even scalp her? Yet, why would Sage be angry? He hadn’t wanted Runner to marry her anyway.
No, it was something else.
After finally reaching Sage and Leonida, Stephanie drew a tight rein and slid clumsily from her saddle. She felt her knees buckling, and so reached for the saddle horn and pulled herself up, to her full height.
She leaned dizzily against the horse, then was seized by a shadow. Taking a large gulp of air, she fell to the ground in a dead faint.
“My Lord,” Leonida said, rushing from Sage’s side. She fell to her knees beside Stephanie and cradled her head on her lap. “Stephanie. Wake up, Stephanie. What’s wrong?”
She looked over Stephanie, wincing at the frightful state that she was in. It looked as though she had been to hell and back. Leonida could tell that something had driven Stephanie hard, and the reason why would remain a mystery to her.
Sage came toward Stephanie. He stared down at her for a moment, then sighed and grabbed her up into his arms and carried her into Runner’s hogan, the only available place to take her.
Leonida followed Sage into Runner’s hogan. It has been a day of days she fretted to herself. First Thunder Hawk springs a wife on his parents. Then Pure Blossom springs her own surprise on her parents. And now this? she despaired to herself. Although Stephanie was less than family, the fact that she had come to the Navaho in such dishevelment meant that this had been her destination.
Leonida knew what had drawn her there: Runner.
She poured water into a basin and grabbed up a cloth and went to the bedside, where Sage was unfastening the two top buttons of Stephanie’s shirt, to make it easier for her to breathe.
Leonida sat down on the bed beside Stephanie. “I wonder where she’s been?” she said, gently washing Stephanie’s face. “It looks as though she may have traveled many miles. If I didn’t know better, I would think that she’s been without sleep and has scarcely eaten.” She glanced up at Sage. “What do you think, Sage? Don’t you find this all very peculiar? Stephanie doesn’t seem the sort to behave irrationally.”
“I am sure it has something to do with Runner,” Sage said, going to squat on his haunches beside the fireplace. He began placing wood on the grate, stacking it so that it would light easily once he set a match to it. “I only hope our son is all right. She could have been coming to us with news—”
“About Runner?” Leonida gasped out, finishing his sentence. She dropped the cloth into the water and went to Sage. She knelt down beside him and placed a hand on his cheek. “Darling, could she have been coming here to tell us that our son has met with a mishap? She didn’t get the chance to say anything before she fainted.” Leonida buried her face in her hands. “Oh, Lord, don’t let it be so,” she murmured. “If anything should happen to Runner. . . .”
“Mother? Father?” Runner said as he came into the hogan, as unkempt and as drawn as Stephanie had been before her collapse.
Leonida jumped to her feet and ran to Runner, embracing him tightly. “Thank the Lord,” she cried. “I thought something had happened to you.”
Runner was looking past her, over her shoulder. He stiffened when his gaze fell upon Stephanie. Although he was angry at her, and hurt by her deceits, an alarm seemed to sound inside him as he saw her lying there so still and pale. Her clothes and her hair looked as though they had gone through a fierce battle.
Yet he had to hold himself at bay. Adam’s words were running through his mind, over and over again. This woman was a liar. She was deceitful. She was a schemer. He could not allow himself to care about her at all.
Yet there she was. She had beaten him there, only because he had stopped long enough to commune with the Great Unseen Power before returning home. Otherwise, he had driven himself to get back to the sanctity of his hogan and the peace he found within its walls.
“What is she doing here?” he finally asked, easing from his mother’s arms.
“I’m not sure,” Leonida said, giving Sage a troubled look. He had not yet turned his face to Runner. He stared unblinkingly into the fire as it was taking hold, casting a golden, warm light on his handsome copper face.
“What has happened to her?” Runner asked, going to stand over Stephanie. His heart bled as he gazed down at her. Helpless and pitiful, she looked so innocent. No matter what he knew about her, it was hard not to bend to his knees and draw her next to him, to hold, to coddle.
But again Adam’s harsh words burned even more strongly in his mind and he only held himself stiffly over her.
Leonida came to Runner and slipped an arm through his. “She had just arrived, then fainted after she dismounted her horse,” she murmured. She looked up at Runner. “Darling, you look as though you may have traveled the same road as she. I haven’t seen you unshaven since you were a child. Are you aware of the stubble on your face? And your hair—it is windblown. And your clothes are filthy. Where have you been? Surely you weren’t gone this long looking for Thunder Hawk.”
“I have traveled as far as Canyon
de Chelley and back again,” Runner said in a dull, monotone voice. “That is also the path of Stephanie’s journey.”
Sage gave Runner a stiff look over his shoulder, then rose slowly to his feet. “She went with her camera to the sacred place of our ancestors?” he said, glowering down at Stephanie.
“Yes,” Runner said, nodding. “That is where I found her and Adam.”
“You ordered them away, my son?” Sage said, eyeing Runner speculatively.
“Yes.” Runner said. “I also broke Stephanie’s camera and the film plates.”
Sage smiled, well pleased. “You did well, my son,” he said, patting Runner’s back.
“Then this is why she came to our village?” Leonida said, bending to her knees beside Stephanie again, smoothing the cool, damp cloth across her brow. “Because she was angry with you? This was what was driving her so hard? I don’t understand. Surely she told you what she thought about what you did while you both were at the canyon. Why did she have to come here? To tell you again?”
“There were other things that were said besides talk of photography and cameras,” Runner said, walking away. He slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the floor. He grabbed up a towel and started toward the door. “I am going to the river. I plan to bathe and to shave. If she awakens, tell her to leave. I wish not to have council with her, ever again.”
Sage smiled and nodded.
Leonida frowned and watched Runner walk away.
Then Leonida looked over at Sage. “There is much here that has not yet been sorted out between this woman and our son,” she said.
The voices awakened Stephanie. She stirred and blinked her eyes, then rose up on an elbow and looked blankly around her. “Where am I?” she murmured, then jolted with alarm when Sage stepped into view.
Her gaze caught Leonida stooping over her, a cloth in her one hand, her eyes showing mixed emotions in their depths.
“How did I get here?” Stephanie said, looking guardedly from Leonida to Sage.
“You fainted,” Leonida said, dropping the cloth back in the basin. She moved to her feet and carried the basin outside. She stopped and took a nervous breath. She was torn with how to treat Stephanie, yet still wished for things to work out between Runner and Stephanie. She went back inside and knelt again at the bedside.
“I’m going to bring you some food, and then you will have the strength to leave,” she said. “And I believe you should, Stephanie. Runner is very angry at you. I doubt he would speak to you if you stayed.”
“Then he is here?” Stephanie said, easing her legs over the side of the bed. Weakness seized her. She fell back down on the bed, panting.
“I’ll be back soon with some stew,” Leonida said, then left.
Sage came and stood over Stephanie. “I want you to eat and then leave,” he flatly ordered. “You and your brother have brought my people only heartache. Especially my son, Runner. He allowed himself to fall in love with you. Now he must learn how to fall out of love, for you are not deserving of such a son as this.”
“Except for going to Canyon de Chelley, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Stephanie pleaded. “I am innocent of everything else that Adam told Runner about me. Adam is a liar. I despise him, Sage. Please believe me when I say that my intentions toward Runner and your people are pure. Please give me a chance to prove it?”
“My son does not get this angry at someone without good reason,” Sage said flatly. “So it is with him that you have your true argument.”
Stephanie felt completely drained as he walked away. When Leonida brought her a large bowl of mutton stew, she ate it ravenously and drank goat’s milk as fast as Leonida could refill the cup.
Her srrength having returned, her purpose revitalized, Stephanie left the bed.
Leonida stepped away from Stephanie, wanting so badly to tell her that she admired her for being so independent, but she kept her feelings to herself. The rift was between her son and this woman and no one else should interfere, especially not a mother.
“I want to thank you for your kindness,” Stephanie said softly. “And it has not been misplaced. I have been wronged by my brother. He lied to Runner. But I can’t go into it now. It’s complicated.”
Stephanie paused, then added, “But I do want you to know that I honestly love your son,” she said, her voice breaking. “I would never do anything to hurt him. I would especially not pretend that I have feelings for Runner to help Adam in his schemes. It’s not true. Now I have to convince Runner that it isn’t.”
“You will find Runner down by the river,” Leonida said. “He should be finished with his bath by now.”
She found herself sympathizing with Stephanie. Her instincts told her that the young woman had been duped by Adam.
Shameful, shameful Adam, Leonida thought sadly to herself. He had been such a sweet boy to have grown up into such a deceitful, shameful man.
Forgetting her filthy clothes and unpleasant odor, Stephanie gave Leonida a lingering hug, then fled from the hogan. As she stepped outside, she ran bodily into Runner.
When she gazed up at him and saw the utter contempt in his eyes, she felt as though she was being shredded into a million pieces by the sharpness of his gaze.
But that did not dissuade her from what she had to do. He had to understand. He had to believe her.
“Runner, please listen to reason,” she said, jumping with a start when he brushed past her and went inside his hogan.
She turned and gaped, then flinched when he appeared at the door again and glared at her. “I do not want to listen to you, nor do I want to see you again,” he stated flatly. “Nothing you say will change my mind. Do not waste any more of my time.”
“Runner, please . . .” Stephanie said, extending begging hands toward him. “Adam lied. Why can’t you see that? He lied purposely to wrench us apart. And it worked. He wanted you to hate me. It’s obvious that you do.”
Tears fell from her eyes. “I shall always love you,” she said. He stood glaring at her as though she were nothing more than the lowliest of animals.
“Get on your horse and ride from my village,” Runner said between clenched teeth. “Never come again. And if Adam shows his face here again—”
“Stop! Stop!” Stephanie suddenly screamed. “I’ll leave. Just please quit being so angry. While you are this angry, you aren’t able to think clearly. You are wrong to hate me. After you sort through your feelings, and measure Adam’s words within your heart, you will know that you have been wrong to turn me away.”
She wiped tears from her eyes with the back of a hand. “I’ll be waiting, darling,” she murmured. “No matter how long it takes, I’ll be waiting for you.”
She turned quickly on her heel, went to her horse, and eased herself into the saddle. Without looking back, she rode from the village.
A bitterness rose into her mouth when she thought of Adam and what he had caused. She was not one who hated so easily, but at that moment, she hated her brother with a loathing that burned deep into the core of her being. Somehow, he had to pay for what he had done.
And she would find a way.
Chapter 28
Swift the weeks are on the wing;
Years are brief, and love a thing
Blooming, fading, like a flower.
—EDWARD ROWLAND SILL
Stephanie awakened with a start as her railroad car rocked on the tracks, shaking her awake. Rising to one elbow, she quickly realized that the trembling car had not been the cause of her awakening. It had been a loud blast that had preceded it. Even now she was hearing a low rumbling series of explosions.
“What on earth?” she whispered, rushing from her bed. When she got to the window, she could see a great reflection of fire in the sky not all that far away. “An explosion. Something has exploded.”
Mentally tracing the direction of the fire, and what lay in its wake, and quickly realizing that the railroad made a turn into Gallup at that exact spot, she stifled a gasp be
hind her hand.
The private spur. Someone had dynamited the private spur.
Or worse yet, it could be just beyond the private spur, where trains carrying passengers traveled. At present, the end of the regular line was Gallup.
A pounding on her door drew Stephanie’s eyes away from the fire. Knowing that Adam had probably also been awakened by the blast, and was there to make sure that she knew what had happened, she stiffened. No matter the cause for him to come to her private car this time of day, when dawn was just breaking over the horizon, he had some nerve. Because of him she may have lost the only man that she could ever love. And she had told him that she never wanted to see him again.
Sighing heavily, knowing that he would knock until he dropped if she didn’t go to the door, she swung it open. “Adam, I heard the explosion and saw the fire and I am leaving soon to see what caused it, and to see if anyone was hurt,” she said in a deliberate rush of words to be rid of him. “And I do plan to take my camera and equipment—that is, what is left of it, no thanks to you. My extra camera will have to do. Now leave me be, Adam. I don’t need you to escort me to the fire.”
With that, and before she gave him a chance to say anything to her, she slammed the door in his face. She knew that she had covered all that he would be asking about, so didn’t expect he would be troubling her again this morning. She had seen a sheepishness in his eyes and knew that he understood her feelings. She would never allow his boyish innocence to work with her again. She had learned long ago that it was all pretense and used only to cater to his own whims, not hers.
Although she was still numb from the long ride from Canyon de Chelley, and from Runner’s continued rejection of her, Stephanie quickly dressed in a fresh skirt and blouse and yanked on her boots. She took only a few strokes through her hair with her brush, then slapped the holstered derringer around her waist. Where there was an explosion, danger could be lurking. These sorts of explosions set off at railroads were usually deliberate.
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