Ask No Tomorrows

by Hestand, Rita

  Sam heard a shot and heard Nodog squeal for a moment, then silence. Had they killed his dog? They would be sorry, if they did, that much he promised. A man could shoot at him, but if he raised a gun to his horse or dog, Sam was ready to kill.

  Directly John stopped, got off his horse and came toward him. He spit his tobacco on the ground. Sam heard the sizzle of the tobacco. He held his breath and didn’t move. The best thing he could do now was play dead. John bent over him, but was satisfied he was either dead or close to it and remounted. “Guess that takes care of the girl and the stranger.”

  As he rode off, Sam drew a quick breath. He lay still ‘til he heard the horse ride off. He had to make sure the stranger was gone before he got up, if he could get up. Everyplace on him felt as though his skin had peeled off him. Maybe he’d just lay here a while and rest, his mind directed him as he felt himself surrounded in a darkness that wasn’t there.

  Two or three hours later, he cracked an eye as Nodog licked his face and whined. Pain registered all through Sam’s body, but he forced his mind not to think on it as he squinted to see. A horse was nearby and for a moment he was sure the cowboy had come back and wanted to reassure himself he was dead.

  But directly he heard someone move about and as he squinted once more to see, he recognized her. Riley Morgan had come back, and Nodog had been bandaged on the leg.

  She’d made a fire, gotten some water, and was trying her best to doctor him. He also saw Nodog panting heavily and laying on the ground with a bandage around one leg.

  When she went to take his shirt off, he came to with a swear on his breath. “Dammit woman, what are you doin’?” he protested hotly.

  “I’m tryin’ to heal you…” she whispered then continued to remove his shirt.

  Sam fought to keep his shirt on.

  “By takin’ my shirt off?” he yelled. “How bad is he?” Sam asked, staring at his dog.

  “Nicked him in the leg is all; he’ll heal just fine. But you sure are cut up. You hold still so I can doctor this.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Let’s not be so loud or proud at the moment. I don’t know if anyone is about. I waited ‘til I was sure he was gone before I came in and made camp. Looks like you killed that George, alright. I’m obliged for that,” she exclaimed as she gently pulled the shirt away from him and the blood and sweat made it want to stick in places and she had to peel it from his body like the outer layers of an onion. Her hands felt gentle against him and he moaned despite himself. No one this soft had ever touched him, he was sure. The touch of her soft hands on his naked chest was unbearably sweet and provocative at the same time.

  “Ain’t decent to strip me of my clothes,” Sam moaned.

  “Be quiet. I’m doctoring you and I can’t doctor you between your clothes. Your skin is torn and it’ll get infected if we don’t put something on it. Land sakes they tore you to shreds. I found some aloe growin’ out here, and I’ll doctor you with that. It heals the skin better than anything. You hold still and let me tend it,” she directed firmly. “I once healed a man with burns on his body and everyone was amazed, but it weren’t me, it was the aloe. It’s like magic. I stitched Nodog up and he’ll be fine. He didn’t whimper when I bandaged him.”

  “He don’t wear clothes either. Why did you come back?” he protested again. This time he couldn’t fight the sweet touch.

  “Had to. Told you I was raised that way. You don’t leave nobody a foot in these parts. Without food, water, gun nor horse you’d die,” she argued. “Even with Nodog, you couldn’t make it.”

  “That dog has saved me more times than I can count,” Sam protested. “Him and the horse are worth more than I got in my pockets…”

  “Well, I’m glad you appreciate your animals and you’re probably right about that. That’s in your favor. This time Nodog needed some help too. So be quiet and be still. He was a better patient than you are.”

  “Ain’t your concern…” Sam said in an almost sigh as her fingers spread the aloe against him. His whole body reacted to her touch and he couldn’t hide that fact either. “I’m a black man for God’s sake, what do you care if I die? Better me die than both of us.”

  “You’re just a man to me. The fact that you’re black don’t mean a thing. When you gonna realize the war is over. You are a free man. My Pa hired many a black hands to help with the ranch, never treated a one of them different. Besides, a man that’s all I see. Anyway, I could say the same about you givin’ me a horse and gun too. You didn’t have to do that. You could have just left me…you didn’t. I’m a white woman for God’s sake.”

  “That’s different, you’re a woman,” he explained. “No man leaves a woman stranded.”

  “You didn’t have to bury that man neither, but you did. My Pa always taught me things about survival. He also taught me how to read a man,” she quipped. “He wanted me to know there was good ones and bad, and I had better learn to tell the difference. I’m pretty good at it now.”

  “Read a man?” His head turned slightly to look at her. “Then why didn’t you read your foreman?”

  Riley shot him a slight frown. “He was right under my nose, too close to be seen and detected. And…because I was too busy trying to run the ranch. I wasn’t looking at all the things he was doin’. You are right, I should have seen it comin’, and my dad would rise up from the grave to tell me so.”

  She had cleaned up and her skin looked pretty and pink. She was tolerable to look at. But he wouldn’t notice any more about her, he determined, especially since her hands felt like velvet on his skin. The less he had to do with this female, the better.

  “A decent man would do what you did: bury that fella and give me your horse. If you were of no character you wouldn’t have done that. You wouldn’t even think of doing that. So I came back for you. Figured we could travel by night and no one would see us.”

  “We…” Sam shook his head and turned over so he could face her. But he was unprepared for the angel of a woman who bent over him to nurse him. She still wasn’t beautiful, however, something so sweet and innocent poured out of her face that Sam couldn’t take his eyes from her. No woman had ever captured his attention for long, but there was something almost angelic about her. She had no earthly idea what she did to him with those soft hands, sweet smile and eyes of an angel. “Look, I appreciate your decency. I do. But you ain’t usin’ your head, girl. The war might be over, but a black man is still a black man, and bein’ with a white woman…well, it’s not gonna work. Not here in the south at least.”

  “Well, the way I see it, I ain’t gonna get nowhere out here by myself, and you ain’t gonna get nowhere without your horse. So we might as well stick together ‘til we can figure out what to do,” she insisted.

  “Ma’am.” Sam rose and sat in front of her, ignoring the pain, wanting to be gentle and yet firm with her. He shook his head. “We can’t ride together nowhere. First time somebody seen us together they’d hang me and shoot you.”

  “I’m aware you are a black man, kinda hard thing to hide. And there’s nothing I can do about that fact either. But we are both in a fix now. I reckon we are stuck with each other for a while…”

  “No, ma’am.” Sam shook his head. “We ain’t stuck at all. You just need to get into the nearest town and tell the Sheriff what is going on at your place, that’s all. And I will be on my way; I’ll get me another horse and be on my way, you hear?”

  Riley continued to doctor him as he sat facing her and he batted her hands away from him. She continued nonetheless.

  “On your way, where?” Riley asked in a soft voice.

  “Never you mind. Now you listen to me. You’ve had some troubles, but a Sheriff can straighten this out for you. You just gotta find one. They ain’t gonna be lookin’ for you as they think you are the one I buried. The one that got away thinks you’re dead. That’s in your favor. He’ll more than likely ride back to your ranch and tell them you are dead. That gives you an edge, at le
ast for a while. They ain’t gonna be out lookin’ for ya.”

  “They think I’m the one you buried?” she began. “You’ve done me another favor, it would seem. So the way I see it, I owe you. You couldn’t get rid of me now, if you tried.”

  “You don’t owe me, and what’s to understand, so they tried to run you off your own land. It’s still you’re land…But you gotta get it straight and fast, too.”

  “They were gonna talk to my lawyer and get him to fix it so it wouldn’t be mine anymore,” Riley said. “They as much as said they think I’m crazy. Do you know how easy it is for a man to declare a woman crazy in this country? Others talk about me a lot because I don’t socialize like most of the women folk. I wear pants and work like a ranch hand. Women get very little respect in this part of the country if they work for a living.”

  “But you’re not crazy, even I know that. And now is your time to prove it.” He barely breathed the words. “Still, you’re right, women ain’t got much more rights than blacks. And you’re right, I seen it happen once. Man was married, had an eye for her younger sister. He put his wife away in one of them prisons and he married her sister a year later. The woman never got free. She wasn’t crazy when he put her in there, but I reckon in time she might have gone plum nuts.”

  She stared down at him, her hand stilling. “You think I’m crazy?”

  “Well, from what I’ve seen, no. Except for comin’ back here, you sure ain’t usin’ your head. But all you gotta do is get to town and tell the Sheriff and your troubles are over. Just like I told you,” Sam explained. “They won’t be following you today.”

  “You just don’t understand, no one would believe me, and would think me crazy for sayin’ it.” She turned away. “Around here, they’d be on Harry’s side.”

  “Look, I don’t think you are crazy…ma’am,” Sam finally admitted. “Just mixed up is all. And it’s understandable seeing as how they are chasin’ you.”

  She looked at him and a slow smile spread across her face. “Thanks! That means a lot to me that you don’t think I’m crazy. You’ve every reason to.”

  “But stayin’ with me is crazy…” Sam remarked.

  Chapter Four

  “No…you’re wrong. It isn’t crazy at all. It’s self-survival. You’re a man, a man taught by the Shawnee, said so yourself. You know more than I do about how to survive. I’m a greenhorn when it comes to that. Stayin’ with you is a wise thing to do. Just face it Sam, I’m gonna stick close to you ‘til I’m sure I’m safe.” She smiled. “You and this here dog.”

  Sam groaned. This would never do. How could he make her understand?

  Fool woman. Black men didn’t take up with white women. Didn’t she have a lick of sense? Maybe she was crazy.

  “Never did ask you, where you’re headed.” She put the aloe on the ground and smeared the last of it near his neck. After getting over the indignity of being half naked in front of her, he sighed and enjoyed the sweet touch of her healing hands.

  “West…” Sam snapped.

  “West, just West?” She twisted her head as she laid her hand still at his shoulder.

  “That’s right.”

  “Why? What’s out there, besides outlaws and Indians?”

  “Why what?” Sam grunted as he tried to get to his feet and thought better of it.

  “Why West?”

  “Well, it ain’t your concern, but I kinda wanted to see what Arizona territory was like,” Sam answered, reaching for the shirt he’d laid in the dirt. “Heard they got some real pretty mountains. Texas don’t have any real mountains to speak of.”

  Riley eyed him now. She watched his every move. She moved toward the fire now, tying up the plant she had gotten. “Arizona, huh? Lots of Apache in Arizona, I’ve heard tell. No trees out there according to a hand my father once hired. Nothing to see there but desert and mountains, just cactus and dust. Ever worked a ranch, Sam?”

  “You sure do change the subject a lot.” He frowned at her and started to put the shirt on.

  She pulled at the shirt. “Let the aloe sink in and do its work, then you can put the shirt on. If you put it on now, it’ll just stick. Besides, those sores need some air. And stop bein’ so shy, I seen a man’s chest before.”

  “Maybe, but not mine, you haven’t.”

  “Well.” She smiled shyly. “You’re right there, ain’t seen a chest that pretty in my life. So are you any good at ranchin’?” she asked.

  “Never did much except a little fence mendin’. I’m more a cattleman. And I ain’t pretty and don’t you be remarkin’ as such.”

  “Most white men have hair on their chest. You are slick as a whistle. The aloe won’t let you scar either, so you’ll stay pretty too. Cattle, huh? Well, I got plenty of beef. If you can get me back to my ranch, Sam, I’ll hire you as my foreman.” Riley smiled.

  “Oh you would, would you? That’s a pretty fool notion, you don’t even know if I’m any good,” Sam protested. “I might be the worst rancher you ever saw.”

  He chucked the shirt, but moved deliberately away from her. He looked at her up and down as though deciding about her. She sure was a little misfit, but those eyes belonged to an angel, he was sure. No one could have eyes like that and not have seen heaven itself.

  “I got a notion you’re good at a lot of things, Sam.” Riley laughed.

  Sam’s head shot up and he eyed her again. He spit on the ground as though that’s what he thought of her ranch.

  Sam studied her for a long moment, wishing more personal things didn’t come to mind with that statement. But Riley was a force to be dealt with, and Sam wasn’t sure how to handle her. “That ain’t a very lady-like thing to say.”

  “I’m not trying very hard to be a lady.” Riley stared back. “You’ll get used to it, Sam; I speak my mind most of the time. I been raised like that.”

  “Look, helpin’ you Riley would be like askin’ for trouble. Now…I appreciate the fact that you are healin’ me, and that you came back because of me, but I can make out just fine alone. Better in fact, without you. And you…well, it’s safe now to go into a town and tell the Sheriff or Marshall what’s happened. They think you’re dead. They aren’t gonna be lookin’ for you. All you gotta do is get to town. You’re a woman, they’d believe you,” Sam said as she put the plant down, gathered some dirt around it and packed it into a small knapsack. She tied it with ribbon and stuffed it into his saddle bags.

  “Yeah, I’m a woman.” She turned around to look at him once again. “But that doesn’t mean much. The closest thing to a Sheriff in these parts is Tom Snider. He works out of the Marshall’s office from Waco; him and Waco Smith with the rangers keeps tabs on things in the area, but we don’t have a Sheriff within’ a hundred miles of us. Harry and Tom are thick as thieves. Harry’s already got him thinkin’ I don’t know anything about ranchin’,” Riley said, her brow rising with each word. “They made a real point of laughing at me the last time I was around them. So much so I couldn’t stomach them.”

  “Do you?” Sam asked.

  “Do I what?”

  “Know anything about ranchin’?” Sam asked, staring at her. The more he looked at her, the more he liked looking. He had to find something to keep his mind off her.

  “‘Course I do. I’ve been at it all my life. My daddy raised a son, not a lady. Can’t you tell?” She paused as though reflecting on it. “With Ma gone he didn’t need a lady. He taught me all there was to know about ranchin’. But Harry’s made remarks around Tom, and Tom believin’ every word too. He’s been slowly turnin’ him away from thinkin’ I can run the place. I can see all this now. It’s been building for some time. I put no stock in Harry’s ramblings before, but now I can see what it was about, I realize that I was foolish. I guess Harry had it all figured out, after my Pa died. Yeah, I can see that now. Don’t know what took me so long to figure this all out. It took him a while to plant all these wild ideas about me. How he knew more about what to do with the herd, and how to
make the ranch make money. That all I was good for is the book work. It’s the one thing Harry couldn’t do. Now that it’s too late to do any good. Daddy warned me about men before he died. Said there would be men who’d want to marry me just to get the land. And others who’d try to steal it out from under me. He was right. I just wasn’t lookin’ in the right places, is all.”

  Sam shook his head. “It’s still legally yours, by your father’s will, isn’t that correct?”

  “Yeah…sure.”

  “Legally they can’t touch you,” Sam said. “They’d have to kill you or have you declared unable to take care of yourself. You look capable to me.”

  She sighed heavily, rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Only I’m supposed to be a little bit dead, according to you. Easy enough done, Sam. How do you know so much about the law?” Riley asked.

  “I don’t really. But I know enough, I studied a little while I lived on the reservation. Chase Rivers had me checkin’ out legal rights for the tribe a time or two when they went to Washington about the land rights and the reservations.”

  “Why you?” she asked, turning her attention on him.

  “Why me what?”

  “Why did they choose you to check it out?”

  He hesitated then firmed his lips and stared at her. “‘Cause I learned to read the Law books. I was taught in the mission by a Catholic priest how to read Latin. I wanted to talk to the Indians and Mexicans at the mission, make friends, figured if I learned more about their language they’d talk to me. I learned Latin and they did.”

  “Were you able to help the Indians?”

  “For the time being, we did.” Sam nodded. “‘Course they made new laws, and changed the treaties a time or two. It seemed like every time they had a law that would help the Indians, they soon had another that would put him in his place.” Sam checked the cinches on his horse as he hung the shovel around the saddle horn.

  “Must have been exciting living with them.”