Dominic picked Mirisa up and she made no attempt to help as she moaned. He laid her in the back of the wagon and touched her cheek which was also starting the bruise along with the black circle around her eye. It looked like someone pistol whipped her within an inch of her life. Garnett walked up and looked at her. “Did I do that when I threw her down?”
“No, she didn’t have these injuries when I left her. She was so frightened she may have done it herself trying to get out of the way of the bullets. You can teach a woman a lot of things but she will rarely lose that gripping fear.”
“James, do you want someone to ride behind the wagon?”
“No, just check on her occasionally to make sure she’s okay. I hope she’ll sleep most of the day.”
They determined, by the robbers clothing, that it was a small band of Confederate deserters. Seven had been killed, most of them trying to sneak in from the east while the two on the hill were trying to distract them. None of them looked a day over seventeen. They dug a large grave and buried them all together. James thought it was a shame because their families would never know their fate.
Garnett checked on Mirisa during the day but she continued to sleep peacefully. After lunch, James climbed in and rode with her for a while so he could watch her breathing but other than crying out in her sleep she didn’t move much. They finally camped for the night and James decided to check her injuries while she was still asleep. She opened her eyes and slowly brought him into focus.
“How are you feeling?”
“I don’t like being shot.” Her voice was very weak. He took out the canteen and gave her a drink of water laying her back down. Garnett came up and sat on the edge of the wagon. Mirisa reached out and held his hand but closed her eyes again. She thought she heard Dominic’s voice but it kept fading in and out.
“Do you want to try to get up?” Mirisa finally looked up at Dominic and he knew if she had any idea how bad she looked she would probably pass out again. She started to sit up and Dominic reached under her and steadied her as James held her arm. She sat for a moment and tried to get her balance when Meeks, Tom and Alexander walked up.
“Holy mother of all things sacred, you look like someone beat the damn tar out of you.” They all looked at Alexander like he was crazy. She slid forward and tried to stand on her feet but had to grab the wagon to steady herself.
“It hurts a lot. I don’t like riding with the Unit.”
James burst out laughing and she tried to hit him but couldn’t reach that far. She climbed back into the wagon and closed her eyes hoping everyone would just go away.
“I am afraid that her concussion is worse than I originally thought.”
When Dominic woke up the next morning she was gone. Everyone else was sleeping except Meeks who was sitting on the big rock with the rifle across his lap. He looked down at Dominic and pointed toward the creek.
“She said something about not being able to wait another minute and I didn’t think she wanted me to follow her.” Dominic walked through the trees and found her sitting in water up to her waist as her camisole stuck to every curve of her body.
“I hope you packed more clothes.”
“Of course I did.”
“How do you feel?”
“Better. I can at least walk without five men holding me up. Do I look as bad as I feel?”
“If you feel as bad as you look you must feel pretty bad.” Mirisa gave him a dirty look which hurt her head. “I’ll go get you another set of clothes. Don’t move or Meeks will get more than he bargained for when he climbed up on that rock.”
“Can you bring my soap?”
He brought back her saddle bags and helped her wash out the blood that had clotted in her hair. He pulled her up out of the water and took off her undergarment as she held onto his arm. Meeks decided that it was definitely time to get off the rock but it was difficult. She was nothing like the women they targeted but she was still very young. His eyes outlined the gentle curve of her back down to the well defined calf muscles and her perfect feet following the concave of her stomach to her perfectly formed small breasts up the hollow of her neck to her lips which always seemed to be inviting you. If he were a sculptor, Meeks knew he could mold her just from memory.
James was putting on coffee and asked Meeks where Dominic and Mirisa were and just nodded when Meeks said they were down at the creek. They came back into the camp and she looked a lot better though the bruises had become worse. James made her sit down as he examined her eyes. He started to cut off the bandage on her arm as she complained.
He told her she was a pitiable patient but when he touched her again she slapped his hand and he looked at her harshly.
“If you do not behave yourself, I will have Dominic hold your hands while I check your arm.” He continued to unwrap it. “How in the hell are you going to live in Texas if you act this way.”
“James, I’m allowed to whine.”
“And why is that.”
Dominic found it to be comical because you would think James and Mirisa were married.
“Because I’m a girl.”
“Funny, you don’t drink like one, you don’t shoot like one, you cuss and you cheat at cards so exactly why would I think you were a girl.” He looked up at her with his sternest look as he wrapped her arm.
“That’s too tight!”
“That’s too bad!” He put up the kit fixing her a cup of coffee.
“I want the canteen and I don’t want to live in Texas. I want to go home.”
“No whisky.”
“Meeks, do you have the canteen?”
“Don’t get me in the middle. I’ve already saved your life once.” Garnett walked up and handed it to her. She took a small sip and handed it back.
“Meeks, thank you for saving me.”
Meeks smiled. “Anytime.”
“Do you want breakfast?” James had breakfast on the fire.
“I want a biscuit.”
“Of course you do.” He pulled the big black pan off the hot rocks and took his knife separating one and handed her the biscuit. She smiled and thanked him before the nausea hit her and James made her lay back down. Dominic sat on the end of the wagon and lit a cigar knowing James was angry that Mirisa had been hurt but James didn’t know who to blame yet.
They crossed onto their land in the late afternoon and headed for the temporary camp. Each tent was set up on a wooden platform a foot off the ground. Dominic helped her down before putting their saddlebags inside one of the empty tents walking his horse over to the pen and took off his saddle and rubbed him down. Mirisa sat on the edge of the platform waiting for someone to tell her where she could lie down. She was fighting with nausea constantly and James made her eat soda crackers to help take the edge off.
Dominic was leaning up against the railing looking toward the tents. “Where’s Mirisa?”
“James decided she needed to lie down and put her in our tent since we haven’t unpacked the wagons yet.”
“What’s he doing telling her a bedtime story?”
“No, he’s talking to her about her brother.”
She slept while the wagons were unloaded. James went in to check on her. “How are you feeling?”
“Like you’re my father and I’m 12 years old.” James turned her arm checking for bleeding but it seemed to have clotted. The egg sized lump on her head had turned to an extremely dark purple but the outer edges were starting to get that ugly eggplant ring around it.
“Meeks said he would show you where you can take a bath and all that other stuff if you want to change before we eat.”
“No, I’ll wait. I’m really hungry but I don’t think it will stay down.”
“You haven’t eaten in days. I swear we’ll have to tie a rope around you to keep the wind from blowing you away.” She put her head up against his arm. They had such a great talk about her brother and she wondered how someone so sweet and compassionate wasn’t married. They frequently made her forget wh
o they really were though the other night was still playing over and over in her head. She didn't know how Meeks knew the man was there when she hadn't heard anything.
Mirisa woke up early, dressed in her warmest clothes and went out onto the back platform that connected all the tents. James had just put down a hot pot of coffee and several cups. She noticed that he had built a large open pit fire between the tents. She assumed since he was such an early riser that he would probably be making coffee every morning.
“Morning sunshine, how are you feeling?”
“And if I said horrible, what would you do?”
“Offer you a cup of coffee because everyone feels horrible before coffee.” He poured her a cup and she picked it up to warm her hands. The air had a definite chill to it but she had put on Dominic’s heavy shirt before coming out.
“Why aren’t you married?”
He sat down across from her and poured himself a cup of coffee. “I was but she didn’t want to wait for me so I wasn’t.”
“So now you just won’t even try?”
“No, I think I like life the way it is. But if you ever decide to leave Dominic I will reconsider.”
“I don’t think that will happen.” She turned to find Dominic standing behind her stretching. He reached over her and poured himself a cup as he kissed her on the top of the head. “Is anyone else up?” Dominic straddled the bench next to Mirisa.
“I am.” Garnett stepped up onto the deck and poured a cup of coffee and took a biscuit before sitting down. The last one to join them was Alexander.
“Alexander you are always the last one in formation.” Meeks threw him a cup and sat down next to Mirisa. “Which way do you want to ride this morning?” Meeks and Garnett knew the land like the back of their hands because they had been mapping it for months. Dominic got up and reached into the tent and brought out the rolled up maps placing them out on the table. Their efficiency amazed her but she thought their ability to think alike was really incredible and maybe that’s what happens when you serve together.
Mirisa decided while they were busy she would go down and talk to her horse since she hadn’t seen her in several days. She got up on the railing whistling for her horse. Mirisa wrapped her arms around her neck and talked to her. Mirisa took out a carrot to feed her before she took the brushes off the shelf and climbed into the pen to groom her. Mirisa couldn’t reach between her ears so she pulled herself up on the railing and finished brushing her.
“You know you are really strange.” Dominic was standing at the railing watching her
“Can I go with you?”
“Of course you can.”
She kissed him lightly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For last night, last year, your kisses, your beautiful eyes, and your constant attempt at patience and for last night.”
“You said that twice.”
“And that’s probably the only thing you heard isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He kissed her back. “Saddle up before the boys come down and do it for you.”
Mirisa climbed down, avoiding stepping in the piles of dung; she worked her way over to the lean to and pulled down her horse blanket. She held it by a corner and shook it. Dominic laughed so hard at her feeble attempt that he walked over took it and snapped it away from her before he handed it back. He started saddling his horse and was done before she even had the blanket on ‘correctly’. Dominic brought her saddle over and swung it up on the horse as Mirisa fastened it.
“You know the bridle goes on first?”
“She doesn’t like it so I don’t do it until last. I should just ride her like the Indians. She would probably like that a lot better.”
“Probably.” Everyone else was ready to ride and patiently waited for her to lead her horse out of the pen.
“Mirisa, you don’t have to talk to her and explain everything you are about to do when she knows the drill.” Mirisa looked up at Meeks and batted her eyes as she mounted her horse. “I honestly believe you are telling me off every time you do that.”
“Meeks, you are so astute.”
James shook his head realizing that it was the first non-verbal signal she had been using without any of them figuring it out.
They rode north from the camp along the creek, crossed over the shallow feeder creek and rode hard through the upper valley. Mirisa was kept in the center of the pack just because they didn’t know if she was ready to ride hard. She didn’t seem to have any problems keeping up and was handling her horse a lot better than the first time she went on a ride with them. The northern border was very hilly before it sloped down into a flat valley that had numerous tributaries running off the river becoming rocky before it opened up into a beautiful pastureland. They finally stopped for a break and took out the maps and made notes on them.
Mirisa mounted her horse and started to climb a hill slowly. Dominic shouted for her. She stopped and turned in her saddle to look at him. “Don’t get out of sight.” She nodded and continued up the hill. When she was at the top, she dismounted with her back to them and her horse lazily grazing next to her. She slowly turned to the south and spotted what appeared to be a structure near the river before she spotted the strange animals grazing on the west side of the river.
“What the hell is she doing?” They rolled up the map and slid it in the saddle bag and mounted their horses. Dominic kicked his horse enough that he knew to climb the hill and he crested it next to her. There was a lush valley on the other side of the river that was filled with about fifty head of bison and to the south was a large herd of longhorn cattle. The river was wide but shallow for about half a mile in either direction.
“What are they?”
“Bison and the others down that way are long horn cattle.”
“They seemed to be very large.”
“Yes, and they are dangerous if spooked. The buffalo are just massive creatures that can crush you but the longhorn is dangerous because they use their horns as they stampede.”
“Do we own this hill? It would be a beautiful place to build a house.” She got back on her horse and they joined the others. They finally turned south along the river until they reached the building she saw from the hill.
Dominic looked at the groundwork as the men were standing the beams for the inside walls. “This wasn’t on the map. What are you building?”
Meeks dismounted. “Garnett and I got tired of sleeping in the tents so we decided to build our own bunkhouse.”
James and Alexander stepped up on the flooring and started to inspect the construction. “Meeks, do you have plans?”
“More or less. It will be mostly wood with adobe walls which will keep it warmer in winter and cooler in summer.”
Mirisa walked over to the foundation and James jumped down and picked her up sitting her on the edge of the floor. James jumped back up and walked over putting his hand on her forehead as he squatted down talking to Mirisa. Her complexion was pale and she looked weak. James told Dominic he was taking her back to the tents and they could head to the southern part of the ranch but Dominic told him they would all head to the camp.
As Mirisa was dismounting her arm started throbbing so she took off her jacket and her sleeve was soaked in blood. She was pulling the cloth away from her arm when James saw it.
“Damn it, what have you done.” He took his knife out and cut the sleeve away. She was speechless because really she could have just rolled it up. “Why don’t you have a bandage around it?” Mirisa didn’t say anything and by that time everyone was watching. “Don’t you ever do what you are told? I swear you are going to be the death of me.” James ripped the sleeve in lengths and wrapped it around her arm to stop the bleeding.
“James, don’t swear at me.” Her feet were planted defiantly which Dominic found interesting since Mirisa had never shown signs of ever being angry with anyone other than him.
“I will swear at you whenever I want!” James was yelling at this point. She pulle
d her arm away from him and turned walking away.
“Mirisa.” Dominic called her and she swirled. If looks could have killed, they would have all dropped dead. “Your horse?” She walked back to Dominic, took the reins and put her horse in the pen taking off the saddle and bridle. Mirisa stormed back to her tent without saying a word.
“Well, that is definitely a side we have never seen before.” Meeks was sitting on the railing lighting his cigar. James gave him a dirty look and followed her. “Dominic, I thought you were married to her?” He grinned as Garnett watched to see his reaction.
“Well, you know I didn’t piss her off so I don’t see why I should be the one to get hit.” Dominic leaned up against the pen watching the tent. James finally came back to the pen and asked for the whisky.
“Well, I believe tonight is going to be a great night for cards.” Garnett pushed away from the pen. “James do you think Mirisa would like to join us?”
“You know Garnett just go ahead and push my buttons. You guys are a bad example and you know it.” They all laughed.
Dominic smiled. “Did you get a bandage on her without getting hit?”
“Yes, but I had to apologize ten ways to Sunday before she would even let me touch her.” He bit off the end of his cigar, spit it out and reached over to Alexander to use his to light it. “Are you sure she’s not pregnant because she has been moody as hell lately.”
“I have no idea why don’t you ask her?”
“I don’t think so.” James took a swig and handed Meeks the canteen. “I think I’ll stay with her while you look at the rest of the ranch.”
Meeks jumped down from the railing. “Wouldn’t that be a husband’s duty?”
“Dominic has no bedside manner and at the moment I don’t really care what the ranch looks like but I would appreciate your hiring more men to finish the house so I can get her out of the tent.”
“James, she’s not going to be here long enough…”
“Dominic, since money isn’t an issue with any of us and since we spend more on whisky and questionable women, I believe any argument you may have will not hold water.”
The Visitor_Texas 1863_1869 Page 8
