Crow Creek Crossing (20 page)

“No, indeed,” Luck said. “I've received a higher callin'. I'm pastor of the Baptist church, and when I ain't busy doin' that, I've got a sawmill to run. So the job's open.” He studied Cole's face intently, hoping he would at least consider.

“I reckon not,” Cole said. “There's still one man I have to find before I'm done, and I ain't got any idea how long it's gonna take to run him to ground. I've got a room in the hotel for tonight, but I'll be leavin' here in the mornin'. I just came back to pick up my packhorse and buy some supplies.”

Had he been watching her, he would have seen an immediate look of disappointment on Mary Lou's face. “Where are you going?” she asked. “You said you didn't know which way Sanchez went.”

“I'm headin' up to the forks of the Laramie and North Laramie rivers,” he said. “There's a Crow village there, and that's where Harley's ridin' out the winter, so that's where I'm goin'.”

“I expect they'd rent you a room in the hotel for a
pretty good rate,” Leon said. “Then you wouldn't need to buy a whole bunch of supplies.”

“I won't have to pay any rent in Medicine Bear's village,” Cole said. “Harley and I can go huntin' for food in the mountains above the village. There ain't no homesteads to run the game off there.”

“Well, I reckon you know what you wanna do,” Luck said. “But you might want to think about the job a little more, and if we ain't got nobody come spring, we could talk about it then.”

“I 'preciate the offer,” Cole said. “But I don't hardly think I'll change my mind. I might not be back this way in the spring. I don't know where I'll be.”

Mary Lou kept an eye on the table, hoping Gordon and Leon would depart for home and leave Cole alone, but they remained at the table, drinking coffee and talking, until Cole had finished and left the dining room.

•   •   •

He woke from a sound sleep, not sure what had wakened him. He had no idea what time it was, but he was sure it was not time to get up. There was no light through the window in his room. Then he heard the sound that had caused him to stir, a gentle tapping on his door.

Who the hell?
he thought, expecting to find a drunken railroad man who forgot which room he was in. He didn't bother to pull his pants on, but he took the precaution to grab his Colt revolver when he got up and went to the door.

“You've got the wrong room,” he informed his visitor in a loud voice without unlocking the door.

He heard the tapping again, followed by her voice. “Cole, it's me, Mary Lou.”

Dumbfounded, he was still too sleepyheaded to think straight. “Mary Lou?” he stammered, but then fumbled with the key to unlock the door. He started to open it but remembered in time to say, “Wait just a minute while I pull my pants on.”

She couldn't resist reminding him, “I've seen you with them off before.” She waited just the same until he opened the door.

“What is it?” he asked when he let her in. “What's wrong?”

“There's nothing wrong,” she said. “I'm sorry for waking you up, but you said you were leaving in the morning, and I didn't get a chance to talk to you in the dining room.”

“What is it that you wanted to talk about?” he asked.

“Cole, why don't you forget about that man Sanchez? I heard you tell Gordon that he was gone and left no trail you could follow. Why don't you let that be the end of it? You can't spend the rest of your life chasing a ghost. If you do, then they will have succeeded in killing you as well as your wife. I'm sure Ann wouldn't want that for you.”

He listened to her plea patiently, but it was plain to see that he had charted a course from which there was no turning back. “I appreciate what you're tryin' to tell me, but I've got to see this thing through. I've come too close to quit now.”

She exhaled a weary sigh. “I expected you to feel that way,” she said. “And I apologize again for disturbing your sleep. But I heard you tell Gordon and Leon that you might not come back this way again.
So I wanted to tell you that, if you were undecided about it when spring comes, or whenever, you have people here who care what happens to you. Maggie and I took care of you when you were wounded.” She paused for a moment to decide if she should say all that was in her heart. Realizing that this might be the last chance she would have to say what she wanted him to know, she came out with it. “Damn it, Cole, I care about you. I mean, I care about what happens to you. I'm not saying I love you. I'm just saying it matters to me if you're safe or not.” She hesitated again, fearing that she had let her runaway mouth go too far. “God,” she exclaimed, “you must think I'm crazy. I shouldn't have come up here. I don't know what I was thinking.”

Confounded and amazed, he could only gape at her, too surprised to know how to respond to her declaration or confession or whatever it was. So he just continued to stare at her, saying nothing, which didn't help matters as far as the foundering woman was concerned.

In the short time he had known her, she had always been confident and in control of the situation. Never before had he seen her as flustered as she was at this moment. The statements she had just made caught him completely off guard, without time to think about the meaning of them.

When he continued to simply stand there silent and stupefied, she said, “I feel like a damn fool. If you can, try to forget what I just blabbed like an idiot. Go back to bed, and when you wake up in the morning, just know that it was all a bad dream.” That said, she spun on her heel to
leave.

“Wait!” Cole blurted, finally realizing the significance of Mary Lou's baring of her soul. He caught her arm to stop her before she fled the room. Still not sure what he should say to her, since he had had no warning of the declaration she had just made, he stumbled in his response. “I'd be lyin' if I said I hadn't ever thought about you, but I never let those thoughts go very far before I reminded myself what I have sworn to do. And there wasn't any room for anything else in my brain. It's still that way. I've got to wipe the slate clean before I can even think about what's ahead after I'm done with Sanchez. It means a lot to me, what you came up here to tell me, and I ain't takin' it lightly.”

“I still feel like a damn fool,” she said. “I didn't mean to scare you off.” Trying to back out of the situation enough to save face, she repeated, “Like I said, I wasn't trying to say I loved you, or anything like that. I just wanted to let you know that I hoped you wouldn't go off and get yourself killed.” She stepped out into the hallway then. “Go on back to sleep, and when you get finished with the thing that's driving you, remember you've got a place to come back to, if you need one.” She didn't wait for his response but hurried away from his door, thoroughly disgusted with herself for exposing a weakness that she had always hidden from the men of Cheyenne.

“I'm beholden to ya,” he called after her, feeling equally the fool.

•   •   •

Sleep did not come easily after Mary Lou knocked on his door and set his mind into a whirlpool of confusion. Having been firm in his belief that there would always be only one woman in his life, he was seriously troubled by the thoughts that kept him from sleeping until the early-morning hours. No one could ever replace Ann in his heart. Of that he was certain. But was there room for another? At the moment, he didn't believe so, and when he finally left his bed at first light, he resolved himself to get his mind back on the business he was committed to. And the best place to heal himself and keep his mind and instincts sharp was with Harley and his Crow friends.

He paid Leon for his stable bill, then saddled Joe and loaded the buckskin with some supplies he had purchased when he returned to Cheyenne the day before. Ready to leave, he hesitated when a notion to visit the hotel dining room came to him. He wondered if Mary Lou saw him this morning, would she tell him to pretend last night had never happened? He decided that he'd better just get on Joe and ride on out of town. Most likely she'd prefer that he did that. He climbed up into the saddle, gave Leon a nod of farewell, and once again rode out the north road, leaving Cheyenne, and all that had happened there, behind him.

Standing at the window near the outside entrance to the hotel dining room, Mary Lou watched the lone rider sitting tall in the saddle as he headed for the north road out of town. She had told herself that if he was seriously interested in her, he would come by the dining room before he left. Since he had not, she assumed that she had made a complete fool of herself in confessing her interest in him.

Well, hell,
she thought,
I guess I can't compete with a dead woman. She'll only become more perfect in his memory as each year goes by
.

•   •   •

With a head full of conflicting thoughts, Cole rode back to Medicine Bear's village. He was resigned to heal and regain his strength, for he anticipated a long, hard journey before the cries from the grave could be stilled in his brain. He resolved to discard any random thoughts of Mary Lou Cagle that happened to invade his mind, and prepare himself to complete the vow he had made.

He arrived at the banks of the Laramie River late in the afternoon, crossed over to the other side, riding through the pony herd as he guided Joe toward the Crow village a few hundred yards beyond. Several young boys were watching the herd, and they shouted out greetings to him as he passed, calling him by his Crow name, White Wolf. As he rode into the circle of tipis, he was greeted warmly by each person he passed. It was a peaceful scene, and he could very well understand why it appealed to Harley. It was not hard to imagine that he might be drawn to a similar existence, were it not for the terrible responsibility he was bound by. He could not help comparing this peaceful Indian village with a life of planting crops and raising cattle and hogs, as he had planned when he journeyed west with his new bride. Looking back, he wondered if he would have been contented, even with Ann by his side.

It doesn't make much difference now,
he thought, for he was forced to play the hand fate had dealt him.

He found Harley sitting by a small fire outside Yellow Calf's tipi, busy mending a worn bridle. The
little man's face lit up at once upon seeing his young friend. “Well, I was wonderin' when you'd show up again, but I didn't expect to see you this soon.” He put his bridle aside and got to his feet. “What happened? Did you finally admit your wound ain't healed enough to go chasin' them damn killers in the middle of winter?”

Realizing then that he really did feel weary, Cole dismounted. “I won't have to chase Slade Corbett anymore,” he said.

“You got him?” Harley exclaimed, surprised.

“Yeah, I got him,” Cole replied calmly.

“Well, glory be,” Harley said. “I reckon you can take a little time to heal up now. You got Corbett. He was the big dog. Now you need to work on puttin' it all behind you.”

“There's still one more left,” Cole said stoically. “That's when I can put it all behind me.”

Disappointed to hear that from him, Harley tried to change his mind, knowing from the start that it was impossible.

“Damn, Cole,” Harley said. “You've settled with the main killer. Slade Corbett was the leader of that gang. That Mexican don't amount to much as long as you got Corbett and the rest of 'em. Let it go now. I wouldn't be surprised if he ain't halfway to Texas by now. He won't hardly come back to this territory again.” Cole didn't reply, responding only with a weary smile. Harley knew he was wasting words.

“You're right about one thing,” Cole admitted. “I'm feelin' plumb wore out. This winter weather makes everything hard work. If Yellow Calf and Medicine Bear don't mind, I figure on stayin' here till I get my
strength back. Then I'll feel like I've got half a chance against that savage.”

“That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say,” Harley said. “You know you're welcome here.”

Having heard Cole ride up outside her tipi, Moon Shadow came out in time to hear Harley's comment. “White Wolf,” she said in greeting, “Thunder Mouse right. You welcome here. I make you strong.”

Unable to suppress a grin upon hearing Harley referred to by his Crow name, Cole said, “Many thanks, Moon Shadow. I'm obliged, but I plan to earn my keep. I'll supply plenty of meat. I ain't plannin' on lyin' around the fire like ol' Thunder Mouse here.”

•   •   •

Despite a hard winter, his welcome in the Crow camp was evidently the correct treatment for Cole Bonner's physical condition, and a partial relief for the more serious mental wounds. As the weeks rolled by, he learned the ways of the Crow hunter and warrior: where to find the elk and the mule deer when they took shelter from the winter storms, as well as how to find the hiding places of the small critters when larger game was not abundant. It was a learning process that he readily appreciated.

Having thought he was a reasonably accomplished hunter before, he realized that his Crow hosts were far more advanced. Before the first months of early spring, however, he was confident that he was equal to the most skillful of the Indian hunters. This, coupled with his accuracy with his Henry rifle, gained him the admiration of the people of Medicine Bear's village.

No one felt more gratified by the transformation of
Cole than his friend Harley Branch. Watching the young man as he recovered from the wound in his side, and the enthusiasm he exhibited when learning the ways of the forest, Harley had hopes that Cole's relentless conscience would release him of the fateful vengeance he had sworn to fulfill. He was encouraged by the fact that Cole seldom mentioned the task that still lay before him, and hoped that maybe his young friend had decided to leave the ugly past behind.