High Plains Heartbreak (Love On The High Plains Book 3)

by Simone Beaudelaire

  “You make it seem possible,” she said.

  “Give yourself time, Addie,” he urged. “You'll get through.”

  “I just feel so alone.” Her words caught on a whimper.

  “You're not alone,” he replied. “I'm here.” Now where did that come from? You barely know this girl. It would be a stretch even to call her a friend. And yet the words could not be unsaid, nor could the inexplicable connection between them be unfelt. Not sure what to do with himself, Jesse concentrated on the rocky majesty of the pine-scented foothills as they ascended to Addie's home.

  At last they arrived at the little house with its ramshackle barn tucked into the shelter of a crag. As they approached, Jesse noted a strange sensation in the air. It felt as though the meadow was holding its breath. The ground beside the stable had been stained red and a strange object lay in a patch of dry, brown grass. As they drew nearer, he saw it was a chicken's head.

  Addie slipped from Jesse's lap and ran towards the barn. It stood empty, the cow, mule and all the chickens vanished.

  She stood staring when the door to the house opened. Mr. Miller, the man who had purchased the property, stepped onto the porch, a shotgun cradled casually in his hands.

  “Y'all move on now,” he ordered. “This here is private property.”

  “But… but…” Addie spluttered.

  “You sold it to me fair and square. House, land, barn and all contents. Now git.”

  Addie shook her head, not as a denial, but as though in shock. “I know,” she said. “But I need my suitcase. Mr. Miller, you know my dresses won't fit any of your daughters. Can you just let me get it? You wouldn't send me away with nothing, would you?”

  “I don't much care what you do or don't have, half-breed,” the man said insolently. “But to show my Christian virtue…” He turned back into the house and a moment later flung a cheap leather case into the yard. The latch burst open, spilling bloomers and stockings across the grass.

  “You have one minute before I start shooting,” the man sneered. Addie raced to the case and stuffed all her clothing back inside before running to Mercury. Jesse hauled her onto the horse's back, suitcase and all. She settled it on her lap.

  “Now hold on, just a damned minute!” Jesse shouted sliding to the ground. “You bargained with Miss McCoy for her property, but my saddle didn't belong to her to begin with. You steal that, I'll have the law on you. It being in her barn doesn't make it yours.”

  Miller casually lifted the shotgun in Jesse's direction. “Get it, but you have thirty seconds to get the hell off my property.

  “Ride for the tree line, Addie,” Jesse instructed. “I'll meet you.”

  Addie grasped the reins with one hand and nudged Mercury with her heels. Though he danced and fussed at her unfamiliar weight, eventually he obeyed the request.

  Meanwhile, Jesse had already entered the barn and grabbed the saddle. Rather than returning to the clearing, where Miller still held the shotgun trained in his direction, he cut around behind the makeshift structure and ducked into the woods, pushing deep enough under the sheltering pines to become invisible. A loud blast sounded, and pellets pinged off the trees, zipping all around him, but none struck home. Jesse circled the property, keeping to the trees, searching for Addie while trying to avoid becoming visible from the house.

  A door slammed in the distance, showing that Miller had not intended murder, only a show of insolence, and Jesse relaxed.

  Uttering a sharp whistle, he called Mercury to him. The intrepid girl still clung like a limpet to his equine back.

  On seeing Jesse, she slid to the ground and threw herself at him. “Oh thank God!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his waist. “When I heard that shotgun blast, I thought the worst. Are you all right?”

  “I didn't get hit,” he replied. “No harm done. And you?”

  “He didn't shoot at me,” she replied. “I'm fine.”

  Jesse leaned into the embrace, savoring the warmth of Addie's curvy little body, inhaling the fragrance of her hair. Like summer flowers and fresh prairie wind. He touched his lips to the top of her head. She lifted her face to meet his eyes and he couldn't resist the temptation to kiss her warm, smooth forehead as well. Her lips, full and pink, called him like a siren, but he didn't dare. “We should go,” he said gruffly, breaking the spell. “I want to put some distance between us and this town before sunset, and we only have a couple of hours”

  Addie nodded while Jesse placed the saddle on Mercury's back. I'm not carrying this damned thing.

  “What should I do with my suitcase?” she asked.

  “Do you need the case?” he replied as he tightened the girth with practiced movements.

  “Not really, and as you saw, it's half-broken already. But what's inside…” she trailed off.

  “Yes?” Jesse looked up from his task and saw her holding what looked like a well-worn pair of bloomers. She slowly opened the folded fabric to reveal a glittering metallic pile. “My inheritance, and all the money for the sale of the property. Good thing Miller didn't go through my bag.”

  “No joke,” Jesse replied, eying the double handful of gold and gemstones, and the roll of paper money. “Jewelry?”

  “Yes,” she concurred. “Dad gave some of it to my mother, which was passed to me. The rest he gave me directly.”

  Jesse raised one eyebrow. “Help me empty out this saddle bag.”

  He opened the flap to reveal that the space inside was only partially filled. Working quickly they condensed the contents – some extra ammunition for the pistol that hung in Jesse's belt, two pairs of clean black socks, and a canteen – into the one that contained his own unmentionables and some travel food. Then they stuffed her clothing, with its concealed treasure, in the empty bag.

  “You ride,” Jesse said. “My legs are longer. We'll make better time that way.”

  Addie made a face but nodded. Stretching up to stick her boot into the stirrup, she swung herself onto Mercury's back. Though she didn't need the saddle, it clearly didn't bother her to use it.

  “Come on,” Jesse urged. “Let's get the hell out of here.”

  Addie gently kicked the horse into motion and the two of them lit out deeper into the sheltering trees, running parallel to the road, but remaining out of sight of it, lest one of the hostile inhabitants decided to cause new trouble.

  Chapter 4

  They traveled late into the evening. Once clear of the possible range of troublemakers from town, Addie slipped from Mercury's back and walked, allowing the horse to rest. What a nightmare. How could things have gone so horribly wrong, so fast? Addie had never realized just how deep everyone's resentment of her went. They'd tolerated her for her father's sake, but no more, she now knew. It hurt.

  “Addie?” Jesse asked, his voice hesitant.

  “Hmmm?” She turned to her companion, admiring his firm jaw, his bright blue eyes, his golden hair barely visible under the brim of his black hat.

  “What's it like to be…you know… Indian? I've always wondered. I've seen them, and we've never had any trouble, but I don't understand how they think.”

  Addie shrugged. “I don't exactly know. We lived a very isolated life when my mother was alive, so I think I learned a lot from her. But she died when I was eleven, and we moved to town, or rather near the town. And a white woman, the previous pastor's wife, looked after me while my father was away. I learned a lot from her too. It's hard to say what of my feelings and thoughts come from the Kiowa side of me. And I've never managed to communicate with any of my mother's relatives.”

  “Oh,” Jesse said, his face curving into lines of disappointment.

  “Besides,” she continued, “how can anyone explain what they are? It's like asking the water what it is to be wet, or the cloud to be billowy. I think these definitions come more from contrast with others. Without that, it just becomes who you are, what's normal for you. I can say that I have better control of my emotions than some white girls I've known, but
not all. I feel a kinship with nature, with the trees and the birds, but my father was much the same way, and his parents emigrated from Scotland just before he was born.”

  Jesse nodded. She could see he was truly taking in what she said, and she appreciated it. Far too many boys saw girls in general as little more than pretty dolls to set on a shelf and admire. Like Ed, until he found out… Shaking off the unpleasant memory, Addie turned her attention to their surroundings again. In order to spare Mercury having to climb all those rocky paths, they had decided to take the long way around, skirting the southern pass of the mountains and approaching Colorado Springs from the southwest, across the prairie.

  “Jesse,” Addie said a few minutes later, “It's getting dark. Shouldn't we make camp soon?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” he replied. “I've been trying to find a good place.”

  She nodded. “What about that clearing up ahead?” she suggested. Before them the tilted trail leveled out into a small meadow, shaded on three sides by towering Ponderosa pines. The irregular circle of land lacked grass only in a small patch near the center. The burned out appearance of that patch suggested fires had been set there before.

  “I think this will do nicely,” Jesse replied. “Can you set up camp? I'll see if there are any rabbits around.”

  “Sure,” Addie replied. They had reached the clearing by this time and Jesse turned Mercury loose to graze. Addie was sure the horse wouldn't wander. He and Jesse were clearly quite close. She wondered if her unexpected champion even realized how unusual he was, to see animals as friends, not to mention girls. I wonder what makes him so open minded. How many men have I known who see everything as a tool to be exploited? I can't even count that high. But not Jesse. He's like Dad. He understands his place in the world, not as master, but as fellow creature, and works with what he sees.

  Murmuring to the gelding, she removed a roll of blankets from behind the saddle and set them in the grass nearby. The edge of the forest held an abundance of sticks and larger chunks of dry wood. She gathered them quickly and arranged them in the burned-out circle, noting with approval that someone had ringed it with small stones, creating an actual fire pit. She retrieved a box of matches from the saddlebag and lit a bed of dried pine needles and leaves underneath the conical arrangement of logs and kindling, and within minutes, a cheerful fire illuminated the growing twilight. Another search of their belongings revealed a small packet of salt. I hope he finds something good to eat. I'm starving.

  To pass the time, she arranged the blankets into two beds, one on either side of the fire. Both looked a bit thin for the cool of evening. With night, the temperature would surely drop further. She shivered at the thought.

  By the time Jesse emerged from the woods, a dead rabbit dangling limp from each hand, full dark had fallen. Worried there would be no dinner, Addie had unearthed some edible tubers – the slender white roots of cattails she'd found at the edge of a nearby pond – which had been tucked into the coals, and a double handful of tough and wizened blueberries. The sight of the plump hares made her mouth water. Carefully setting the berries on a large leave she'd uncovered, where they could wait until breakfast, she drew a knife from her boot and set to work skinning and gutting one of the animals.

  “I take it you approve,” Jesse joked.

  “Of course,” she replied. “Good thing you found them. Though squirrel would have worked just as well.”

  “I have a hard time eating that,” he admitted, as he stripped the skin off the second rabbit. “There really aren't any where I grew up, so the taste is… strange to me. I'll eat it in a pinch, but rabbit? We have those everywhere. It's a staple.”

  She smiled. Jesse could be a bit prissy at times. Good thing he's handsome to make up for it. And good thing he could clean a rabbit without a second thought.

  Soon the intoxicating aroma of roasting meat wafted through the clearing, making Addie's mouth water. To keep her hands busy, she prepared herself for bed, releasing her hair from its pins, brushing it out with her mother's abalone hairbrush, and braiding it up for the night. She glanced at Jesse, wanting to take off her petticoat, which was an absolute nuisance during the day, and impossible to sleep in. He raised one eyebrow, as though daring her. He made no move to look away. She regarded the woods. Cold and dark. Not a place a girl wanted to be all alone, even for absolute necessities. She had bloomers on. Meeting his gaze, she fumbled with the ties through the fabric of her skirt and, once they were released, slid the mass of white lace down to her ankles, kicking it away. Though Jesse didn't react one way or the other, she could have sworn his suntanned skin darkened a bit. She smirked, giving herself one point for bravado.

  “I imagine tomorrow you're going to wear the divided skirt,” he commented, waving a careless hand in the direction of her legs, now clad in unpleasantly clinging black fabric.

  “You got that right, pardner,” she drawled, affecting a Texas accent. He laughed. “Is that meat about ready?” she asked. “I'm starving.”

  Jesse lifted one sharpened stick out of the flames and poked at the meat. “A couple more minutes,” he replied. “What about those roots?”

  Using another stick, one she'd set aside just for this purpose, she poked at her discoveries and found them appropriately mushy. “I wish I had some butter,” she complained.

  “If milady is unhappy with the accommodations,” he replied, pretending to be a starchy waiter, “she can make her way to the luxury car.”

  “I must say,” she joked back, “this train isn't quite what I had in mind.” Then, realizing maybe joking wasn't in the best taste, she made a face.

  “Addie,” Jessie said, “don't worry, honey. Your father would want you to laugh and be happy. He wouldn't want you to waste tears on some tough piece of shoe leather like him.” He imitated Clevis' accent perfectly, which drew a smile to her lips… and a tear to her eye.

  She drew out her knife again and slit the tubers open, sprinkling salt on their creamy interiors and laying the finally finished rabbit meat on top. The juices sank deliciously into the starch, making a much better meal than they'd expected, given how quickly they'd left town.

  They ate in silence. Addie's busy mind finally turned to thoughts of her father, and her loss. Her heart felt as though it were bleeding, and yet she couldn't help feeling comforted. It was as though everything was as it was supposed to be. As though her father were here, his arm around her shoulders, pointing to Jesse, his friend and protégé, whispering in her ear that here was a reliable, open-minded man who could appreciate her for who she was, not try to fit her into some mold of the perfect woman. Is this really why you asked him to bring me, Dad? Is there supposed to be something between us? I feel the draw, like I haven't in ages. But how can I know?

  And a whisper, like wind in the pines, seemed to answer, “Wait and trust. All will be right in the end. You'll never be alone.”

  Assured, Addie finished her meal and discarded the bits of gristle and the root peels in the woods, where she went, reluctantly, to tend to her personal needs. Then she returned to her pallet, cleaned her teeth with baking soda, and curled up on the blanket, her arm under her head. As she'd feared, the thin textile neither cushioned her from the rocky ground nor warmed her against the increasingly bitter cold. She squirmed and shivered before drifting into an unsettled sleep.

  As she floated between thoughts and dreams, the presence of her father seemed to grow in her mind until she could have sworn he stood in front of her.

  “Daddy?” she whispered.

  “I'm always with you, Addie,” the ghostly image replied. “I'll never leave you alone.”

  “I miss you, Daddy,” she replied, her voice catching.

  “I know, sweetie. I miss you too. I miss hugging you, and talking to you.”

  “Are you at peace?” she dared ask.

  The specter nodded. “It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm safe and fine. You're fine too. Stay close to Jesse. He'll take care of you.”

  “B
ut who'll take care of him?” she quipped, before realizing the irony of joking with the man she was supposed to be mourning.

  She needn't have worried. He threw back his head and roared. “You have him pegged, girly girl. You'll need to take care of him too. But between the two of you, you'll be all right. I can't come back again, Addie. Not like this. You can't see me anymore, but know I'm here. I'll always be right with you.”

  Addie's giggles abruptly turned to sobs. “Don't go, Daddy,” she begged. “I need you.”

  “I can't stay,” he replied, his hollow-sounding voice growing increasingly distant. “I love you, Addie. I always have. Be strong. I love you.”

  “Daddy!” she cried. “Daddy…”

  “Addie, Addie wake up,” a low-pitched voice sounded in her ear. She woke with a start to feel Jesse's hand wrapped around her shoulder. The cool night air turned the tears on her face icy and sent drafts of shivery night straight through her. Only where he touched her did she feel warm.

  “Jesse!” Addie sat bolt upright and threw herself into his arms.

  “Did you have a nightmare?” he asked. “You were crying out in your sleep.

  “Not a nightmare,” she mumbled in response. “Dad came to me to tell me goodbye.” She sobbed.

  He cradled her in his arms, rubbing her back. “I know, Addie. I know it hurts. I'm sorry, sweet girl.” Again he kissed the top of her head.

  “Don't leave me,” she begged. “I know it's improper, but I can't stand it. Don't leave me alone.”

  He didn't protest that his bed on the other side of the fire hardly made her 'alone.' He only rose, grasped his blanket, and carried it back to her. Arranging the one she was using into a pad for the two of them, he lay down beside her and pulled the second blanket over them both. With the front of his body pressed full length against her back, she at last felt warm. Warm and comfortable as though she were lying in a feather bed.