by Zoe Matthews
“They’ll just be happy to have a meal,” he commented when Serena had brought up the subject.
The bedroll Paul had laid beside her for himself was empty and Serena assumed she would be asleep before he finally joined her, but soon she felt his presence in the dark.
“Serena?” Paul whispered to her, wondering if she was still awake. When Serena rolled over and lifted her head, Paul scooted closer and pulled her toward him. For the first time since she had married him, she felt secure and safe and instantly fell asleep in his arms.
CHAPTER 9
Over the next few days, Serena worked very hard, but she also thoroughly enjoyed being on the cattle drive and outdoors. She saw Paul much more than she expected. He made sure he joined her each night and he rode with her for a few hours each afternoon. Serena cherished the time she had with him and soon learned she was starting to care for him deeply.
There were always things to talk about. She told Paul more of her life at the orphanage, but avoided the reason she had been brought to the orphanage in the first place even though he asked a few times. Paul told many stories about his growing up years on the Big Spring Ranch. He seemed to have had an idyllic childhood to Serena.
When Paul talked about his brothers, Serena could tell that he was very close to them. When he spoke of Luke, she could feel his concern about how his brother had been handling his wife’s death. He seemed to be closer to Alex, which made sense to her when she found out they were only a few years apart.
As the days passed, three other ranchers joined their trek to Bozeman. There were now about 3000 cattle with many cowboys riding around the herd trying to keep them under control. The cattle moved slowly, grazing as they went and sometimes it was a huge effort to keep them moving. One of the ranchers also brought his wife and Serena was eager to meet the other woman until she learned that the woman was quite a bit older than she was and acted very standoffish. She had insisted that her husband provide her with a well-equipped wagon and a driver and she rarely left its shelter. Serena wondered why this woman even came on the trip until she learned that the rancher’s wife was looking forward to spending some time in Bozeman for a few days after the cattle were sent off to auction so she could do some shopping.
One late morning when they had been on the cattle drive for about five days, Serena left the safety of the camp to take care of her personal business. Afterwards, she decided to take a short walk and stretch her legs. She had spent the morning in the wagon and was feeling very antsy. She knew she had about an hour before she needed to help with the noon meal and she wanted to have some time to herself.
Inadvertently, she forgot about Paul’s instructions not to go off on her own. She did not lose sight of the chuck wagon and she could always hear the cows in the distance, so she was not concerned about getting lost. The terrain was starting to level out and become more flat from the mountain ranges they had passed through. She could see some gorgeous meadows with many wild flowers she had never seen spread throughout the grasses. She decided she would gather some flowers to put in a makeshift vase for the noon meal and bent to start picking some.
Suddenly she felt a presence behind and immediately felt a distinct feeling that she should not be where she was. She remembered too late she was not supposed to wander off alone. She slowly turned and saw that it was Judd.
“Well, look what we have here,” Judd drawled with a cruel look in his eyes. “Does Paul know where you are?”
Serena did not answer and started to walk quickly back to the chuck wagon, but Judd reached his hand out to stop her. “Since we are here all alone, let’s have some fun. Paul shouldn’t be able to have everything.” The cowboy pulled her to him and Serena screamed as she tried to push him away.
Judd covered her mouth with a dirty hand in an attempt to keep her quiet. “I bet what I can give you will be better than what Paul can do,” Judd said cruelly as he grasped her arms hard and bent his head. Serena could tell he was going to try to kiss her and she struggled even more to get away, screaming as she did so.
“Serena!” She heard a deep voice call in the distance and Judd stopped his advances and stepped back, growling in his throat. Serena watched nervously as she waited to see what he would do.
“Well, I guess I will have to let you go…. for now.” The cowboy slipped away as she turned and saw Curly running towards her.
“Was that Judd?” Curly demanded. “What did he want? Don’t you know you shouldn’t go off on your own?”
“Yes. I was just needing some time alone, but it won’t happen again,” Serena admitted.
“You stay away from him,” Curly said as he gently took her arm to lead her back to camp. “He’s a mean one. I think Paul would have gotten rid of him a few days ago, except he probably feels it would be better to keep an eye on him until we make it to Bozeman. He has been expecting trouble.”
“Please don’t tell Paul,” Serena pleaded. “I won’t wander like this again.”
“Paul needs to know and the other ranchers do, too,” Curly replied. “We think Judd has been causing other problems. Some of the other cowboys have had personal items that are missing. We think he almost caused a stampede yesterday, but luckily it was stopped quickly by some other men.”
“But…” Serena started to argue. She knew she would not allow herself to be put in a position where she was alone again. She desperately did not want to give Paul a reason to regret allowing her to come.
“Mrs. Bridger,“ Curly interrupted her. “A cowboy always watches out for the women. It is ingrained in them. It is an unpardonable sin to do what Judd was trying to do to you, especially to the boss’s wife.”
Serena finally nodded her head in agreement. She deeply regretted going off alone. She realized she needed to remember that her new life was different. She was not in Maple Grove anymore where she could go wherever she wished, whenever she wished, and never have to worry about her safety.
Serena knew that Paul had heard about what Judd had done because as soon as the noon meal was over, Paul led her away from the group to talk to her.
“Curly told me what Judd did and I am deeply sorry.” Paul looked at Serena and she could tell that he was blaming himself instead of her for going off on her own.
“I shouldn’t have left the camp like I did. It was my fault,” Serena admitted.
“No, you shouldn’t have gone off on your own, but it isn’t your fault.” Paul grasped her hand and they walked beside each other quietly for a while. Serena waited for his next words. She knew he would express regret in letting her come, but he surprised her.
“I can’t send Judd off. He will just cause more problems and I would rather have him close by so he can be watched. I will make sure a man is always with him, that he is not ever left alone. You shouldn’t have problems with him again, but please promise me you will not leave camp on your own.”
While Paul was talking, Serena thought she heard a faint cry in the distance. At first she ignored the sound, but it got louder until she couldn’t ignore it any more.
“Can you hear that?” She stopped Paul and stood to listen intently.
“Hear what?”
For a moment, Serena could hear nothing and she thought maybe she had been hearing things, but then she heard it again. It was louder this time and she could tell Paul had heard it, too.
“It’s probably an animal,” Paul said as he tried to explain the noise, but they both walked towards the sound that was coming from a clump of trees. What they found amazed both of them. It was a small child, dirty and missing a boot. It looked to be a little boy under two years of age. His face and arms were scratched and sunburned.
“Oh, come here,” Serena murmured as she scooped up the child. She cuddled the boy as Paul looked around as if trying to see where the boy’s family was.
“Do you think he might belong to one of the ranchers that have joined us?” Serena asked as the child cuddled against her.
“I don’t think so,�
� Paul shook his head. “I’ll ask around, but I don’t think anyone brought a child this small.”
“How did you get out here by yourself?” Serena asked the child even though she did not expect an answer. From what she could tell, the boy was not old enough to really talk. He had blonde curly hair that was too long, the ends touching below his shoulders. In fact, if he hadn’t been wearing pants and shirt that little boys wear, Serena would have thought he was a girl.
“What should we do with him?” she asked Paul.
“I will send some cowboys to ask around the ranches and farms close by. Maybe he wandered away from one of them. We’ll find his family and most likely he will be home for dinner.”
But that was not was what happened. By dinnertime, the men that had been sent out to the surrounding farms and ranches did not come back reporting a missing child. Serena suspected the boy had wandered quite a bit further than they had originally thought. It was finally decided that the only thing they could do was keep the boy with them and continue on their journey. Paul was going to keep an ear out for a family that might be missing a little boy, but in the meantime, they would care for him.
Serena took over the care of the boy. She gently gave him a bath and then some food. She wrapped him in one of Paul’s extra shirts while she washed his small pants and shirt. He had been found with only one small cowboy boot on, so Serena carried him around with her since he could not walk very well or safely on the ground barefoot. He cried when she left him alone for any length of time. It was obvious he was traumatized from whatever happened to him. It did not seem the boy was potty trained and so Serena cut up a thin blanket from her bedroll to be used as diapers. It only made a few, so she knew she would be washing diapers every day.
She tried to get the child to tell her his name, but he either refused to tell her or he could not. She finally decided to call him John just so he would have a name while in her care, although Paul was against giving him a name.
“You will just get more attached to him,” he argued with her. “He is not ours. I am sure we will find out who his family is eventually.”
“I understand that,” Serena had replied. “But we can’t keep calling him ‘the boy.’ Calling him John for the time being is not going to cause any harm.”
Paul just threw up his hands and walked away, as if realizing there was little he could do when his wife had made up her mind about something.
The next day, John started to talk to her, saying a few words at a time. He let her know he was hungry and wanted a biscuit. Later, he said “up” when he wanted her to hold him. Serena thought this was a good sign that the child was feeling more comfortable with her.
After the noon meal had been served and cleared up, Curly was getting things packed up and ready to move on when a couple cowboys came into camp carrying another man between them. The man seemed to be unconscious and was drooling profusely.
“Curly! “ One of the cowboys called urgently. “Sam here got tangled with a rattlesnake.”
Curly immediately directed the two cowboys to lay the unconscious man on some blankets in the chuck wagon. They were only a few days away from Bozeman by this time and so the wagon was not as full with food as it had been. There was plenty of room for the man in the wagon.
Paul ran up to check on the situation and shook his head in despair at what he saw. This had happened to another man a few years ago and the man had not made it.
“What can I do to help?” Serena asked Paul.
“I’ll take the boy with me on my horse for awhile. Why don’t you help Curly care for Sam?” Paul plucked John out of her arms and swung onto his horse, holding onto the child securely. Serena was ready to protest, but it was obvious the boy had been on a horse before since he did not show fear and actually laughed aloud, bouncing his little body up and down shouting, “Go, go.”
Paul tipped his hat with his hand toward Serena and with a concerned look at Sam, but with a twinkle in his eyes when he looked at Serena, and he rode off with the boy in front of him in his arms.
“Tell me what I can do to help,” Serena told Curly and soon was obeying his orders to make strips of bandages and have them ready when he needed them. She made sure Curly had clean water when he needed it. She watched as he quickly took a pocketknife and sterilized it with a lit match. He then made a slit in the man’s arm between the two bites where he had been bitten and started to suck out the poison, spitting it in a metal bowl as he did so, and Serena cringed as the sight. She knew what Curly was doing was the best thing to do to get rid of the poison. She had heard that this was the best thing to do for a snakebite, but it wasn’t pleasant to watch. She noticed that Sam had hardly moved when Curly cut him and she felt her heart stop beating for a moment as she realized it would be a miracle if the large man recovered.
Soon Curly had gotten rid of all the poison that he could and he washed and bandaged the wound. He did his best to get Sam to drink some water and then left the wagon shaking his head.
“Will he make it?” Serena asked although she was afraid of the answer.
“Don’t know,” Curly shook his head. “I’ve seen worse. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“When will we know?” Serena questioned.
“Morning,” Curly answered and walked away to get a shovel to bury the bloody bandages and mess he had made.
Serena sat next to Sam through the rest of the afternoon and only left to help with the evening meal. Paul kept John with him until bedtime and the boy seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting from the other cowboys. By this time, everyone had heard about John, and some of them stopped by to give the child food or some other present. By the time it was dark, John had been given a carved horse out of wood a man had quickly made and a ball someone had brought.
One man had given Serena a set of small cowboy boots. “I got these for my son, but John probably needs them more right now,” the man explained when Serena asked where they had come from. Evidently, the man had ordered them from a boot maker in a nearby town and had picked them up a few days before. Serena sincerely thanked him and promised to return them if she was able to.
That night John slept between them and Serena tried to not let herself think what it would be like if the boy really was theirs. She had started to love the sweet little boy. Even though she knew that logically they would likely find his family, deep inside she was starting to think about what they would do if they could not find his parents. She knew she would want to keep him and raise him as her own.
She had overheard some of the men speculate that if they could not find the boy’s family, that Paul would likely drop the child off at a Children’s Home in Bozeman. Serena knew she would never allow that to happen. No child should have to grow up in an orphanage. All children should have a family to love and care for them.
The last few days of the cattle drive went by smoothly. Miraculously, Sam recovered from his snakebite and a few days later, although he was still weak, he was able to get back on his horse to finish the duties he had been hired to do. She had not seen Judd again since Paul would not allow him to eat in camp when she was near. Paul sent Judd’s meals with some of the other cowboys to be eaten away from the others. John continued to follow her around, although he spent some time each day with Paul on his horse.
The day before they were due to arrive in Bozeman, a group of Indians entered the camp during breakfast. They seemed to be friendly, although Serena could not tell for sure since she had never seen these type of Indians before. They entered the camp quietly and when Paul saw them, he immediately instructed Serena to get in the chuck wagon with John until they were gone. He seemed relieved when Serena did not argue and did as he asked.
While she was in the wagon with John, she played little finger games with the child to keep him quiet. She tried to listen to what was going on outside, but could not hear much. She could hear Paul’s voice every once in a while, along with Curly’s, but she could not hear what was being said. Af
ter what seemed to be a long time, but it was only about 30 minutes, Paul stuck his head in the opening of the chuck wagon and pulled John out.
“They’re gone. You can come out now.” Paul helped her out of the wagon and set John on the ground.
“What happened?” Serena asked.
“Nothing. Most Indians are friendly nowadays. I gave them a cow and they gladly left.”
“You just gave them a cow?” Serena questioned, surprised that he would choose to do that when it meant he would not get money on the sale of that cow.
“Keeps the peace,” Paul explained. “I would rather do that than have them steal one.”
CHAPTER 10
When they finally arrived in Bozeman, Paul gave Serena some money and told her to find a nearby hotel. He would stay with the cattle one more night and then they would stay in Bozeman for a few days finalizing the sell of the cattle and purchasing some much-needed supplies that they could not get in Pine Valley. He told her they would be heading back to the ranch in two days.
