Tame the Wild Wind

by Rosanne Bittner

  Inside, Sheriff Keller was being helped to his feet by Tod Harding. One whole side of Keller’s lip was badly swollen, and already his face was showing bruises. He wiped at a bleeding nose with his shirtsleeve.

  “Good job, Keller,” Harding told him. “You’ll be paid well, as will those men when they return and let me know he’s been hanged.”

  “The son of a bitch packs a punch,” Keller answered, putting a hand to his already-sore jaw. “I hope you know the trouble I could be in if people found out about this. I need their votes, you know.”

  “And you’ll get them. I backed you the first time. I’ll back you again, as long as you keep doing me favors. I’ll get you elected, and then I’ll be on my way to new horizons—establishing another business in the new railroad town of Sommers Station.”

  Keller shook his head. “Don’t forget the Sommers woman married this guy. She won’t exactly be wanting to think about anybody else, no matter how much you do for her town.”

  Harding chuckled. “She will when she realizes her wild Indian husband has run out on her. Men like that aren’t made for settling. I’ll convince her of that eventually. I’ll get rid of his horse, and there will be no trace of Gabriel Beaumont, also known as Tall Bear. The only thing Faith Beaumont needs to know is the man came here, sold some horses, and just kept on riding with the money. The pressures of civilization must have got to him.”

  Keller sat down behind his desk, wincing with pain. “You figuring on marrying her?”

  A sneer moved over Harding’s lips. “Knowing she’s been bedded by an Indian?” He shook his head. “My primary goal right now is to help her build that town of hers into something valuable. Then she’ll find out she’s going to have to pay a lot more than she thought for those railroad lots.” He shook his head. “You know, I just don’t get it. Why would a fine woman like that marry a half-breed? I was sure she’d wait to see what I had to offer.”

  Keller shrugged. “Some women like their men big and dark, and he’s not exactly ugly.”

  Anger glittered in Harding’s eyes. “If she’ll lie with that breed, she’ll lie with anybody…in time.” He took a deep breath as though to brush away the thought. “But whether she does or not is beside the point. I had her all set up to suck her into my plans for building Sommers Station. She’s so excited about it, she’ll be a great help. She just doesn’t know she’ll slowly lose control and eventually be forced to leave. Gabe Beaumont is a smart and skilled man. He just might have gotten in the way. Now I don’t have to worry about him, and being a woman deserted and badly hurt like that, Faith Beaumont will be like soft mud in my hands, to mold however I choose.” He tipped his hat to Keller. “I’ll be back with your money.”

  Keller nodded and watched him leave. “You pompous bastard,” he muttered. He hated Tod Harding, but the man paid well for favors, and a sheriff’s pay wasn’t much. A man needed a little extra to get by.

  “Daddy come.” Johnny stood outside the screen door, his brown eyes full of hope. Faith’s heart ached not just for herself, but for Johnny, who had become Gabe’s shadow, and who had waited faithfully for his new father for days now. She hoped he was right that it was Gabe who was coming, but deep inside a hopeless feeling had engulfed her. She walked outside, taking Johnny’s hand and waiting for the approaching rider. Henry Baker had also noticed and was walking toward her. Already Faith could see that the rider was Buck…coming back alone. When he came close enough to dismount, the look in his eyes only made her feel sicker inside.

  “Where daddy?” Johnny asked.

  Buck forced a smile for him. “Oh, he can’t come yet, son.” He glanced at Faith with a look that said, “I’m sorry.”

  “Johnny, go play with the kittens in the barn,” Faith told him. “But be careful with them. Don’t hold them too tight.”

  “Okay, Mommy.” The boy ran off, and Faith was grateful that a cat had strayed to the depot, probably from some settlement not far away, and had had kittens in the barn. It was a good diversion for Johnny. She faced Buck again. “What did you find out?”

  Henry had come closer, a plain, quiet man who had continued to work on the house he was building for Faith and Gabe.

  Buck sighed with disappointment. “I hate to say it, ma’am, but everything points to Gabe just ridin’ off. Only thing I could find out was he sold them horses at the livery for good money, and nobody saw him after that. He didn’t do no shoppin’, wasn’t seen in no taverns, nothin’. I checked with the sheriff, and he said seein’ as how he didn’t like no Indians in town, he’d have noticed him, but he says he never saw him. Only thing I can think is he sold them horses and then lit out.”

  Faith straightened more, trying to be strong. It was her biggest fear now realized, but she simply could not believe it would really happen. “Something is wrong, Buck. Something is terribly wrong. He wouldn’t do this to me.” She turned away, fighting tears. “He told me he wanted to surprise me with something. Maybe…maybe he had to go somewhere we don’t know about.”

  “Well…maybe. But he did say he’d only be gone the seven or eight days it takes to get to Cheyenne and come back. I don’t mean to try to make you feel bad, ma’am. I’m just tryin’ to make you see what could be the truth. Gabe is half-Indian, and livin’ the settled life, stayin’ in one place, it might have just got to be too much. There’s nothin’ but talk around here about this place growin’ to a town, and you’re havin’ that house built. He’s been feelin’ the pressure of providin’ for a family the white man’s way. So maybe—”

  “He would have told me if he had problems with that,” she interrupted.

  “Maybe. Then again, maybe he just didn’t know how to tell you. Maybe he just took the easy way. He don’t strike me as a man always able to speak his true feelin’s.”

  Faith turned and faced him, fire in her eyes. Henry Baker meekly looked away, saying nothing. “He loved me, Buck! He married me, the legal, white man’s way! He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t mean to live out our married life like a white man. And over there!” She pointed to the corral. “There are eleven horses left over there that he captured himself! Horses mean everything to an Indian! He wouldn’t leave without taking them with him! A lot of his gear is still here. His other Appaloosa is still here. He wouldn’t ride off and leave all that behind! Something has happened to him, Buck! You’ve got to find out what it is!”

  Buck removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Ma’am, I did everything I could, talked to just about everybody in town.”

  “Did you talk to Tod Harding?”

  “No, ma’am. He was out of town on business. The man who runs his lumber business there claims he’s been gone a couple of weeks, since before Gabe would have gone there.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. “Maybe he lied. Gabe didn’t trust Harding or that sheriff! They tried to make trouble for us when we went there two months ago. Did you check inside the jail? Look in the cells?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He wasn’t there. Sheriff Keller had a pretty swolled-up jaw, but he said he got it breakin’ up a bar fight a couple weeks ago. I checked the livery and all around town, but there was no sign of his horse anyplace either.”

  Faith grasped her stomach. Gabe’s baby was growing inside her. She should have told him. Maybe if she had told him, he would have had more incentive to come back. Stop it! she chided herself. Gabe had not left her. He wouldn’t do that! He loved her, and Johnny, too! He’d been so happy when he left, so eager to sell the horses and to surprise her with something. He wouldn’t do this. He just wouldn’t. Still, three weeks had gone by since he’d left.

  “You’ve got to go back, Buck. Chances are Keller’s swollen jaw is from a tangle with Gabe, but we’ll never know. This time check all the outer settlements. Check along the railroad. Go to the end of the track. Ask everyone you can if they’ve seen Gabe. He’s easy to describe. Not many men are built like him or look so Indian. People will know it if they
’ve seen him.” She wiped away another tear. “You rest tonight. I’ll make you a nice meal. Then I want you to leave in the morning and try again. I would go myself, but I have Johnny to look after, and I’m”—oh, the pain of it—“I’m carrying Gabe’s baby.”

  Buck closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m real sorry, ma’am, for what’s happened,” Henry said, pulling his hat a little farther down over his eyes. “I’ll get back to work on your house. I’m sure your husband will come back, and the house will be all ready when he does.”

  Henry walked off, and Faith turned around, crying quietly. Buck patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll go back and try again. I don’t mean to make you cry, ma’am, but I’ve lived out in this land for many years. I’ve seen just about everything there is to see, and men like Gabe…Well, I think he’s a good man, but that Indian spirit in him just might have took over.”

  “No,” she protested again. “I won’t believe that. He promised. He promised me this was what he wanted for the rest of his life.”

  Buck sighed and turned away. “I’ll go tend my horse and come back later.”

  She nodded, her back still to him. “Thank you, Buck, for going to look for him.”

  “It ain’t no bother. I liked the man a lot. Maybe you’re right. Maybe somethin’ happened we don’t know about. If you want, I’ll even go check at Robber’s Roost, Brown’s Park, some of the outlaw hangouts. Some of them men knew him. Maybe somebody there knows somethin’.”

  “Yes!” Faith turned, wiping at her eyes with her apron. “That’s a good idea. Check the whole territory of Wyoming if you have to!”

  Buck nodded, his heart aching for her. “I’ll do that, ma’am. If he’s to be found, I’ll find him. Hell, I’ll check at the forts, maybe ride to the Sioux reservations.”

  Faith brightened even more. “That’s a wonderful idea! If…if he did leave because of his Indian blood, he would probably go there. And if you find him, Buck, tell him I’m going to have a baby. He’ll come back if he knows that. Tell him…tell him I love him and want to be with him. Tell him I’d even leave Sommers Station and go live on the reservation if that is what it takes.”

  Buck ran a hand around the back of his neck. “I’ll tell him, ma’am.” He turned away, not sure if he should be worried about Gabe Beaumont or hate the man. If he discovered Gabe had simply run out on Faith, he’d be tempted to shoot him. One thing was sure, though. The woman sure as hell loved Gabe, and he ought to appreciate that. As much as she’d put into running Sommers Station, all her dreams about building a town here—yet she’d be willing to leave it all for Gabe Beaumont. That would be a great sacrifice for her, and right now he wasn’t sure Gabe Beaumont was worth it.

  Faith turned away and let the tears come, wanting to get them out before going to get Johnny for supper. Of all the things that had happened to her, all the things she had been through, nothing had hurt this much, and nothing had so sorely tested her faith in God and man.

  Gabe Beaumont had suddenly disappeared from her life, and she was alone again. It was as though something or someone did not want her to be happy. She told herself she must hang on. She must keep the faith, and trust in Gabe’s love.

  “He’ll be back,” she told herself. “Unless he’s—” No! He wasn’t dead. Not Gabe. He was strong, and his love for her would bring him through whatever had gone wrong. She had to believe that, or she wouldn’t want to go on living herself. She had to go on—for Johnny, for the new baby inside her. She would never stop believing that Gabe Beaumont would come back to her.

  Part Four

  Chapter Twenty-six

  1870…

  Bret Flowers climbed down from the train platform, smiling at what she saw on the sign over the depot, SOMMERS STATION. The station was apparently becoming a bustling new town, and she could see several new structures, including a livery, a supply store, a little building that simply read HOTEL, and a rooming house with a sign overhead that read “BEAUMONT’S—ROOMS FOR RENT.” The train station was also a new structure, and she was glad that it and the town were still named after Faith Sommers. She was anxious to see Faith again, and she called to Ben Carson to “Hurry up and get down here.”

  “You’re always in a hurry, woman,” Ben told her, disembarking with two of her bags. “I’ll get your trunk and our other bags and find someone to cart them for us. Do you see a hotel around?”

  “Well, there’s a sign over there, for one, but that rooming house there—” She pointed. “That looks like the old stage depot, doesn’t it? Looks like they’ve added on to it. I’ll bet Faith runs that place. Let’s check that out first. There’s a new house behind it. Maybe she lives there now.” She smiled, waving her arm in a sweeping motion. “Look at this, Ben! Do you think Faith is still here? Is this all due to her?”

  “It must be. The ad said to contact Faith Beaumont.”

  “Well, when we left her, her name was Faith Sommers. The girl must have married. I’m damn glad of that. She struggled on her own long enough.”

  “Let’s find her and tell her our plan.”

  “You go ahead with the bags. I’m going to walk over to the rooming house.” Bret strutted off, twirling her ruffled pink parasol that matched her ruffled pink dress. A few people gawked at her, but she was used to stares. She sauntered across the dusty street to the rooming house, stepping onto a new front porch, where potted plants sat on either side of the front door. Lace curtains hung at the oval glass in the door, and a wind chime tinkled when a gust of hot wind blew sand against Bret’s face.

  “Damn wind,” she mumbled as she knocked. “It never stops blowing up here.” Through the lace curtains she saw the shadow of a very large woman coming to the door, and when the door opened, a hefty, stern-faced woman looked her over with obvious disapproval of her dress.

  “Yes?”

  “I am looking for Faith Sommers. I believe her name is Faith Beaumont now. Does she still live around here?”

  The woman looked her over again. “Faith lives in za house back of zis one,” she replied with a strong German accent. “I am Maude Grummond. My husband makes and repairs boots and shoes. I run this place for Faith. You come here to start a business, too?”

  Bret forced back an urge to laugh. “You might say that. I’m really not sure yet. Actually, I’ve known Faith a long time. I just want to see her, see how she is doing.”

  “Not so goot since zat no-goot husband of hers deserted her, but she’s a strong lady. Folks in zis town admire her a lot. She is fair to us on renting our lots, does good with za rooming house here. She is the kind that just keeps on going, you know?”

  Bret remembered well. “Yes. I could see that for the short time I knew her. Thank you.” She turned. “Oh, and do you have a vacant room to rent?”

  Maude frowned, still obviously doubtful of Bret’s respectability. “Zere is one available—but only if Faith approves. I vill hold za room. Just come back after you talk to Faith.”

  “Sure. And if a man comes here looking for me with a wagon full of baggage, tell him to leave mine and go on over to the hotel and find a room for himself.” She twirled the parasol and smiled. “Thank you.” She left, full of wonder over the woman’s comments. A no-good husband who had lit out on Faith? Why would any man not appreciate a woman like her enough to stay with her? Poor Faith! She’d been through so much. Now apparently some man had deserted her.

  The sound of pounding hammers filled the air as she walked to the new house behind the rooming house. Sommers Station was definitely growing, and each gust of wind carried with it the smell of fresh lumber. Beyond town she could see a few small homes. The train at the depot belched out several short whistles, signaling it was preparing to depart again. All sights and sounds that spoke of a growing new town.

  Faith’s house was painted white with blue shutters and trim, and flowers bloomed around the porch. A little bit of scrubby grass served as a small lawn, already drying up for lack of rain. Apparently the flowers were kept watered, sin
ce they looked as though they were doing well. She went to the screened door and knocked, noticing that the inner door was open. A handsome little boy with big brown eyes and curly brown hair came running down the hallway, and he pushed open the screen door.

  “Hi!” he said, putting on a charming, dimpled smile.

  “Hello! Don’t tell me! Are you Johnny?”

  He nodded his head. “I’m five!”

  “My, oh my! Let’s see…it’s 1870. Why, yes, you are five! I can’t believe it’s been that long since I saw you being born!”

  “You saw me borned?”

  “I sure did. Where’s your mommy?”

  “She’s in the bedroom. She’s feeding my little brother. His name is Alex.”

  A little brother! Her husband not only had run out on her, but he’d left her with a new baby! Poor Faith sure didn’t have much luck with husbands. The first one drowned, and now this one left her.

  “Who is it, Johnny?”

  The boy ran back down the hall and into a room. “It’s a pretty lady.”

  Bret stepped inside. “Faith? It’s Bret Flowers.”

  “Bret! Oh, just a minute.”

  Bret waited, walking a little farther to gaze into a small but tidy parlor on her right. The room had a small fireplace, a couple of love seats, a rocker, and two fancy oil lamps. A small round table sat between the two facing love seats, and the lamps were on tables at one end of each seat. Lace curtains hung at the window, and a couple of Oriental rugs were scattered on the polished wood floor. She could see the end of the hallway and what looked like a kitchen, for she spotted a porcelain cookstove and a table and chairs. To her left was a room that looked like an office, with shelves of books and a desk that had papers scattered over it. Two more doors beyond these were most likely bedrooms, but she didn’t want to appear too snoopy.