Catch a Shooting Star jd edit 03 12 2012 html (33 page)

He hunched down onto his knees and looked at her with a knowing gaze as he assured her, “Travis will do the same.  I know that because I have worked with him.  There have been times when we both knew that we couldn’t win, so we waited a day or two and then went back and took care of things.”

Savannah dipped her head, ashamed of the way she had acted before and for fearing that Travis would put himself in danger.  She nodded to Tito and accepted his assurances as she said, “Thank you, Tito.  I understand now.”

Tito looked at the open range that had swallowed up his friend and he asked, “You love him don’t you?”

Savannah moved her eyes to the direction that Tito’s eyes were fixed and she admitted hesitantly, “Yes.  Yes, I do.”

“It’s not something to be ashamed of, Savannah,” he told her with a smile. 

She stared at her hands as she stammered, “I can’t…”

“You can’t admit it to him,” he finished for her knowingly. 

Nodding and still staring at her hands, she said, “I can’t help it.  I hate this obsession that he has.”

“Well, don’t you have that same obsession?” Tito asked with his eyes alive with accusation.

“Yes, but it’s different.  All I want is to kill my husband and to get my son back.  I’m not interested in taking him back alive to stand trial.  I just want him dead.  And that can be accomplished by ambush or by bribing one of his men to do the job for me.”

“Going in blindly, like you think would be the best way to accomplish the task, is just plain foolish.  Travis and I are professionals who have learned how to strategize and stick to our plans, never deviating from them, and we have never had a bad outcome,” Tito explained to her with confidence.

“I know,” she admitted.  “But the fear of losing him just when I have realized that I love him…”

“You can’t think about that,” he said as he moved closer to her and curled an arm around her shoulder.  “What you have to think about is making him happy and making yourself happy.  You must cherish the time you have with him and not think about what you’d do without him.  When that time comes, you will find a way to survive.”

He took a long breath before he continued, “When he lost his wife, he lost his will to live.  But then, revenge took over and that is what has kept him going all this time.  And that revenge has brought him to you.  And your need for revenge has brought you to him.  There must be some unknown entity, call it God or call it Fate that has seen your future and has given you both the opportunity to find each other and to carry out your common goal.  And when this is all over, you can both start a new life.  A life filled with the love, and only that love, that will last forever.” 

Savannah marveled at this bear of a man and his insight.  Instantly, she liked him and knew why Travis liked him too.  It seemed as if the honesty and wisdom should be coming from someone else, for this man was tall and thickly built and his mannerism and language suggested that he was more of a lonely mountain man than a personable and friendly family man who understood the affairs of the heart.  His bushy gray beard and wiry mustache gave him the appearance of a vagrant instead of a Texas Ranger who’d swore his undying love for his country and who’d also swore to die for that very reason.

And though his clothes seemed a bit dusty and worn, they were decent dress for his profession considering he spent most of his time outdoors in the wilds of Texas.  The large barreled pistol that swung from his hip was as long as her leg and she believed that he knew how to handle it by the looks of him.

 As she continued assessing him, regurgitating and then reprocessing her first impression of him, he surprised her again by reaching into his shirt pocket.  He removed a small patch of cloth and touched it to his lips endearingly as if it held his life force.  Then he waved it in her direction and told her its significance, “She gave this to me the first time I left her behind to do my duty, right after we got married.  It’s a piece of her wedding dress that she cut up into pieces and when I come home, she gives me a fresh one.  As you can see, I haven’t been home in a while.  But it gives me a part of her to remind me to watch myself and to make sure that I make it back to her alive.  This little scrap of fabric and her love is what keeps me going.  And that, Baby Girl, is what commitment means to me, my commitment to my job and to my wife.  One motivates the other.” 

He pulled in another breath while she waited for him to continue, “You see, she’s like you.  She’s no bigger than a flea but she’s mean as a wolf when she gets riled up and I know that she can take care of herself and the young’uns.  But still, I find myself wanting to protect her and my family and all the families that live out here in the open range.  If it wasn’t for me and Travis and men like us, this land would be overrun by banditos and Indians and a whole rotten mob of unruly, unlawful wretches that would take over the state and beyond.  So, it is our duty—no, it’s our privilege to clean up these desperados and make this a country where people can live peaceable and prosperous.”     

Savannah felt like breaching the distance between them and giving him a hug to thank him for conveying to her the reasons and inspiration for his continuing to pursue his profession and she knew that Travis shared that sentiment and that this man would do everything in his power to protect his friend and her newly found love.

As if reading her mind, he stepped closer to her and encircled her with his burly arms and said, “I love that boy as if he was my own son and I will lay down my life for him.  I know in my heart that he would do the same for me.”

Savannah lifted her head and looked into those silvery eyes that danced with concern and love for the man of whom he spoke and she smiled and admitted, “You’re right.  I’ve been too selfish and too unmoving when it comes to letting him do what I know he must do.  It’s just that I’ve never felt this way before and I am so afraid of losing him…”

“He’ll live.  He’ll fight ‘til the fightin’s done and then he’ll find you and then you both can get off your chest what’s been inside there and finally start livin’ your lives and stop killin’ your chance for happiness with your confounded pride.”

She lowered her eyes and whispered, “I hope you’re right.”

“Damn right I’m right,” Tito said with a nod and a squeeze of her shoulder and then he set her aside to peer into her eyes and express his thoughts, “I know that boy like I know myself.  I taught him everything he knows.  And if he gets himself killed today or any day, it’s because he let his guard down and that, Baby Girl, is something that neither of us will ever do.  So, you just keep in mind that he’s a tough, uncompromising and self-assured individual who knows how to take care of himself.”

“I will,” she said with a smile and then she touched his arm with her hand and said sincerely, “Thank you Tito.”

He smiled down at her, his burly, ruddy face reflecting the tenderness in his voice as he said, “My pleasure, Baby Girl.”

With that said, he left her to saddle his Buckskin stallion that seemed much bigger and broader than Travis’ Palomino.  She watched him lift the saddle without any effort whatsoever and then tighten the cinch with one quick flip of the wrist. Taking the pack horse’s lead into his large fist, he stepped back to his mount.  Then as he patted the horse on the neck, he turned to her for one more reassuring look before he mounted and guided the Buckskin onto the Palomino’s hoof prints.

Savannah sighed, half in happiness, half in despair at her new friend’s comments.  She knew that what he had said was true and that Travis was destined to come back to her, but deep inside, she still feared the opposite. 

Putting that notion out of her mind, she set about cutting the deer meat into thin strips that would dry in the sun while she waited for Tito to return for her that evening.  When that task was completed, time seemed to stand still, for all she had to do was watch the meat wither and shrink in the heat of the sun. 

Her mind conjured up situations where Travis would be hurt or killed and she quickly chased them away with the thought of his kisses, his caress, his lovemaking and that is what kept her going those long and lonely hours while she waited for Tito to return.

When he finally did, her heart jumped for joy, for his large figure looming in the distance somehow gave her the hope that she needed and she hurried to pack the now crispy meat into a bag and then scurried to her Appaloosa to saddle the mare.  And when Tito came into camp, she was ready to go.  She mounted the mare and spurred her into a walk as Tito turned his mount back in the direction from which he had come.

In a few hours, they came to the ridge and followed the path that lead to the crevasse where they would wait for Travis to return.  Tito dismounted and whistled to the pack horse that he had hobbled in a thicket and when the horse whinnied, he smiled to himself and then waved a hand at the camp that he had already set up as he told Savannah, “This is it.”

Savannah stepped from her stirrup and dusted off her skirt as she walked over to the circle of rocks that he had gathered and placed around a mound of wood for the night’s fire.  Realizing that Tito had even brought out the pans and coffee pot, she knew that there was nothing for her to do but wait until dinner time when she would busy herself with preparing a meal for them.  And as the sun slipped behind the ridge, the air became cool and poignant with the scents that brought back memories of her life at Casa de Flores.

She shivered and shrugged away the fear that suddenly rose in her.  Tito hurried to light the fire, thinking that her reaction was due to the brisk night air.  Warmed by the flames, she settled in to making dinner while Tito announced that he would scout around the area to make sure they were alone. 

When he returned, they ate in silence except for when Tito interjected, “I had found a small pool where you can wash your clothes.”  After she smiled at him, he added, “I’ll give you some privacy if you want to—umm—bathe.”

He walked away from the light of the fire and found a boulder just a few hundred yards away and leaned on it while he waited in the darkness.  When the dark figure of a man stepped from the shadows, Tito whispered for him to be quiet so that the woman could not hear their conversation.  Then he asked of the man, “Did you keep an eye on Corbett?”

The stranger nodded and whispered in a gruff voice as if the act of talking quietly was painful, “He’s on his way back right now.”

Tito nodded in approval and then said, “That means we gotta go over the plan and then split up before he gets here.  You know where to meet me?”

“Yup,” the stranger whispered.  “That little cantina at the edge of town.”

The stranger stepped away from Tito and craned his head around the boulder to get a better look at the woman who sat beside the fire and said, “Nice filly you’ve got yerself over there.”

Tito growled at the man and pulled him back to face him scolding, “Keep your mind out of your pants and on the job ahead.  That girl’s off limits for the likes of you.”  Then, satisfied that he had the man’s attention, he asked, “You got some men together?”

A nod told him that the stranger had done his job.  He began filling a cigarette paper with tobacco before he ordered, “Well, then, Martinez, get back to town and wait for me.  Can you tell time?”

The man nodded as Tito dug into his pants pocket for a watch, which he handed to the man as he said, “Have your men in position at eight o’clock sharp.  I’ll meet you there.  Now get on back before you’re missed.”

The other man waved a hand behind him as he disappeared into the darkness once again.  Then, he rode up to the top of the ridge and took his hat off so that he could peer over the edge without being noticed.  His smile broadened when he saw the sight that he sought.  Down below him was the woman that he had seen as he’d rode toward the camp and she was alone near the stream.  He knew that she probably belonged to Tito and that the man would just as soon rip him from buckle to brim as to shoot him dead in his boots if he caught him trying to get near her.  But there wasn’t any harm in taking a nice long look at her.

He crawled to his feet and then down the ledge that circled the little pool where she was bending over scrubbing a skirt.  She stood up and swiveled around to slap the soaked garment against a large rock.  Then she stretched, placing her hands at the small of her back.  A hand flittered up and tugged at the combs that bound her hair, and in an instant, it was unfurled into a cascade of glistening blackness that danced against her rounded hips.

Martinez licked his lips while he watched her hands drift toward the buttons of her blouse.  In seconds, the cotton fabric was parted to reveal the cool linen of her chemise.   The blouse was shrugged from her slender shoulders and tossed toward a bush where it floated in a snowy ripple before it attached itself to the prickly branches of a juniper bush.  She shimmied out of her skirt then with a flick of her wrist, it joined the blouse on the bush.  Martinez moaned under his breath when she began pulling at the tiny buttons of her chemise.  He swore silently when she stepped into the cool water before completely undressing.  After watching her twirl around in that ever-loving pool, he could take no more.  He rose to his feet, intent upon risking his life just to have her for a moment of unabashed passion, whether she wanted it or not.  To hell with Tito Sanders and his superiority, he thought as he began his descent toward her.  This woman was worth losing his job and the pay that came with it.  Hell, she was worth taking his last breath if that meant having a taste of her.  She was worth her weight in gold and he was about to strike it rich!