Mail Order Bride - Westward Justice: Historical Cowboy Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Book 6) (20 page)

              Sammi said, “Yeah, but your flaws have never gotten anyone severely injured, Jamie.  My shortcomings are dangerous.  I should have never come here.  I knew when I married Mitch I would end up screwing things up.  I’m better off alone.  That way I can’t hurt anyone, especially someone as good and special as Mitch.”

              Jamie said, “You made some mistakes, Sammi.  I won’t say you didn’t.  As far as Owl goes, he made the choice to go with you.  He didn’t have to go, Sammi.  You were prepared to go alone and knowing you, you would have.  Owl was a willing partner in your scheme and wanted to help out his friend.  He’s holding his own for the moment.”

              Sammi smiled.  “I’m glad.  I’m going to go see him tomorrow.  If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have known where they’d gone.  He tracked them. In the dark, no less.  I don’t know how he does it.  We went on foot so that they didn’t hear horses behind them and get spooked.  When those two guys came in behind me, you should have seen him, Jamie.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I thought I was a good fighter?  I can’t hold a candle to him.  Dean was right about that.”

              “I’ve seen a lot of Indian wrestling, so I know what you mean,” Jamie said.  “It’s pretty fantastic to watch.”

              “I’ll say.”  Sammi was quiet a moment and then said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Jamie.  I won’t make any decisions until Owl is better.  Or he dies.  I have to be prepared for that possibility.  I may not stay.”

              Jamie was surprised.  “You’re married, Sammi.  You can’t just run away.”

              “I’m not running away; I’m sparing people the danger of being friends with me,” Sammi said.

              “That’s ridiculous, Sammi.  Lacey and I have been your friends for how long now and you’ve never put us in danger.  Promise me you won’t do anything dumb,” Jamie said.

              Sammi’s gaze met Jamie’s green eyes and said, “I promise I won’t do anything dumb.  I appreciate you coming to check on me, but I’d really just like to be alone, Jamie.”

              Jamie said, “Are you sure?”

              “Yeah, I’m sure,” Sammi said.

              Jamie rose from the table, kissed Sammi and said, “You know where I am if you need me.”

Black Fox wasn’t the only Lakota man Dean started bossing around.  He employed several of the braves to help bring a water trough near the bunkhouse.  Dean felt that it was better to take it out of the pasture so they wouldn’t be bothered by curious cattle or horses.  Then they carried buckets of water from the stream to fill up the trough.

Owl was brought out of the bunkhouse and carefully placed in the trough.  They kept the water level low enough to avoid the knife wound.  As Owl’s family kept pouring cool water over his chest and bathing his face, Marcus checked his temperature regularly.  When he checked it shortly after midnight, he gave a shout of joy.

“It’s coming down!” he said and grabbed Dean in an impulsive hug.  “You’re a genius!”

Dean laughed.  “Just remember you said that the next time you go to call me stupid.”

With things secure in the jail, Mitch went home.  Jack was staying overnight with the prisoners.  Mitch had informed all of them that Jack had orders to shoot anyone who gave him any kind of trouble.  Jack was immensely proud that he had been entrusted with such a serious responsibility.

Seth felt uneasy about leaving Jack there, but knew that to argue with Mitch about it would embarrass his nephew and anger Mitch.  He bid the two men goodnight and went home to see how Owl was doing.

Mitch entered the house to find it darkened.  He ascended the stairs and went in their bedroom.  The bed was empty.  Where was Sammi?  Mitch began looking around and found her down the hall in the last bedroom.  She was curled up on her bedroll. 

“Sammi?  Why are you in here instead of in bed?” Mitch asked.

“I’m fine where I am,” she said.

Mitch said, “Come to bed, Sammi.  You don’t need to sleep on the floor.”

“I’d prefer not to,” she said civilly.

“Why not?”

Sammi said, “I just don’t want to be near you right now.”

Mitch felt stung.  “Sammi, I know I was hard on you earlier today—“

“Leave me alone!” she shouted.

“Fine,” Mitch ground out from between his clenched teeth.  He turned and left the room.

Sammi kept from sobbing, but tears trickled down her face to land on her bedroll.  She’d started putting her plan in motion.  Mitch didn’t deserve to be saddled with someone like her.  His sense of propriety and gentlemanly ways wouldn’t let him entertain the idea of divorce, but Sammi was willing to push his buttons long and hard enough to make him hate her.  Then he’d be ready to get rid of her in a hurry.

Mitch yawned as he sat at his desk the next morning.  He’d relieved Jack.  The young man had done a great job overnight and he’d asked Jack if he would work for him for at least a few more days.  Jack had enthusiastically agreed and left.  An hour later, Seth showed up with coffee from the Grady House.

“I thought you could use this,” Seth said.  “Jack said that last night went good.”

“Thanks,” Mitch said as he took the coffee Seth handed him.  “Yeah, he did a great job.  He didn’t harass Billy, either, so you can stop worrying about that.  How’s Owl?”

Seth’s relief showed on his face.  “That’s good.  Is it ok if I sit there?” he asked as he motioned to Travis’ desk.

Mitch nodded.  “Maybe it seems silly that I don’t sit there, but I just can’t do it yet.  Travis was a mentor to me.  Almost like a father, really.  It’s still not real to me that he’s gone.”

Seth sat down and said, “Yeah.  I know what that’s like.  To answer your question, Owl’s doing better.  His fever broke.  He’s not out of the woods yet, but he’s still with us.  How’s Sammi?”

Mitch sighed.  “I don’t really know.”

“Why not?” Seth said as he arched and eyebrow at Mitch.

“She won’t talk to me,” Mitch said.

Seth said, “How come?”

“I pretty much raked her over the coals yesterday for disobeying me and undermining my authority.”

“Oh, boy.”

“She had it coming, Seth.  Since day one, she’s pushed the envelope with this kind of thing and I’ve been understanding about it,” Mitch said.  “She’s always trying to prove that she can do anything a man can do and I know there are reasons for that.  Things that happened to her.  But I just can’t have her doing this kind of stuff.  It ruins my credibility when people act like vigilantes.”

“I hear that.  I’ll admit that what she did was dangerous and foolish, but I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have done the same thing, Mitch,” Seth said.

“Yeah, but you’re a little more experienced with stuff like that,” Mitch replied.

“No, I’m not.  I’m a rancher and a cattle driver.  I’ve never tracked anyone down like she did.  I’ve never saved someone who was being held hostage in a bar, either,” Seth disagreed.

Mitch crossed his arms over his chest.  “Whose side are you on?”

“Why does everyone always ask me that when I’m tryin’ to be reasonable?” Seth said.  “I’m not on a side.  I’m trying to make you see something, Mitch.  You’re right to be mad at her and I know that you’re in a tough spot over it because you’re the sheriff and you’re her husband.  But are you mad at her for not listening to you or because she did a couple of things that you couldn’t?”

Mitch said, “I’m mad at her because if I hadn’t shown up when I did, she’d be dead and I’d have lost the woman I love, Seth.”

“Ah, now we’re getting’s somewhere, Sheriff.  Maddie gets mad at me when I do dangerous stuff, like jumping fences and whatnot, but it’s because she’s scared I’ll get hurt,” Seth said.  “Like right now, I’m not her favorite person because I’m working for you.  She’s afraid that I’m gonna get shot or something.”

Mitch blew out a breath.  “I’m sorry, Seth.  It’s just that I have a limited number of people to pull from who would be good at this.”

Seth laughed.  “Why would you think I’d be good at this?”

“You’re tough, you can shoot, think on your feet, and you’re strong,” Mitch said.

“Hmmm.  Seems like you pretty much described your wife,” Seth said with a smile.

Mitch banged his desk with a fist and then pointed at Seth.  “Have you ever been in danger of being raped, Seth?  Have you had to fight to prevent that from the time you were sixteen and it first happened to you?  Have you had to arm yourself and hide weapons all over your body to keep safe?”

Seth paled.  “You mean…”

“Yes.  That’s exactly what I mean.  There are at least seven weapons on her body almost all of the time, Seth.  When I got to that cabin, she was being held by two guys.  She got one of them with her hat pin, but it wasn’t a lethal blow.  Owl’s a talented fighter, and maybe between the two of them, they could have taken those guys, but what if they’d still stabbed Owl and he’d been out of the picture.  Do the math, Seth; there were four of them still standing.  Four men, one woman.”

Seth ran a hand through his hair.  As the husband of a woman who’d been physically assaulted, he knew some of what Mitch was dealing with.  He said a silent prayer of thanks that Maddie hadn’t had to endure anything like that.  His heart also went out to Sammi for the tragedies she’d been put through.

“Holy crap,” Seth said.

“Yeah.  So that’s why I’m so angry.  I never want anything like that happening to her again.  It’s like she just has to go looking for trouble.  I can’t trust her, Seth,” Mitch said.

“Why’s that?” Seth asked.

“She broke a very serious promise she made to me.  We had an agreement that the Watering Hole is her jurisdiction and anything outside of it, is mine.  She didn’t honor her end of the bargain.  I can’t babysit her. I need to know that she’s not going do stupid stuff and get herself killed while I’m working,” Mitch said.

Seth grunted and put his bad leg up on the desk and rubbed the thigh.  “Colder weather’s comin’ and this thing knows it.  At the risk of you punching me, I think I have the solution you’re lookin’ for.”

“What’s that?”

“Hire her as a deputy,” Seth said and held up a hand when Mitch would have argued.  “Look at the benefits.  She’d be with you while you guys were working, so you’d know she was safe.  You could train her properly.  She’d have to listen to you or she’d be out of a job.  Not only all of that, you’d have one hell of a deputy who can actually do the job.  Just some stuff to think about.  That’s all I’ll say on the matter, Mitch.”

The office door opened and both men were surprised to see Joe Dwyer come in.  “Howdy, fellas.  I’m back from the dead,” he said and sat down in an extra chair.

Mitch eyed his pale face and weak smile.  “Are you sure you should be up and around?”

“I don’t have a choice,” Joe said.  “We need to call a special council meeting.”

“Why?” Mitch said.

Joe’s stomach rumbled and he groaned.  “Because we need a mayor since we don’t have one right now and I’ll be happy to do it now instead of waiting for the regular election.  It’s not like it’s that far away anyhow.  As it stands, I am unopposed.  Oh, and you’ll need to get Dean in on this since I’ll be appointing him to the council.”

Seth said, “I’ll have to see if he’s still helping with Owl, but I’ll go get him.”

Joe said, “Don’t worry about it.  I’ll send Eddie.  We need you here to help get the word out.  Especially because Black Fox said that they would vote and I want to give any of his tribe the chance to vote if they want.  I know it may not be the best time, but I promised him that they’d have their say and I won’t go back on that.”  He clutched his stomach and groaned again.  “Did you fellas know that one of the side effects of laudanum poisoning is constipation?  Not fun.”

Mitch and Seth laughed and set about gathering the town.

Mitch went home to let Sammi know what was happening, but she wasn’t there.  There was a knife holding a note to the newel post, though.  He smiled.  Ever since the night they’d become engaged, they’d started leaving messages for each other there.  It said that she’d gone to see Owl.  Mitch sighed and left the house again.

Sammi saw several Lakota men and a couple of children gathered around what Jamie had told her had been the bunkhouse where she and Luke had stayed until their house had been built.  She was afraid to go near because she wasn’t sure how she would be received by Owl’s family.  Jamie saw Sammi and went to her friend.

“Hi, honey,” she said.

“Hi.  How is he?” Sammi asked.

“A little better.  He had a high fever, but it broke.  I had the same thing happen to me when I was shot.  Marcus said there’s a big risk of infection with wounds like that,” Jamie replied.

“I’m glad it broke,” Sammi said.

“You should go see him,” Jamie said.  “I don’t know if he’s awake, but I’m sure he’d like to see you if he is.”

Sammi shook her head.  “No.  That’s ok.”

Jamie said, “I’ll go with you.  C’mon.”

“They must hate me,” Sammi said as she let Jamie pull her along.

“No, they don’t.  You’ll see,” Jamie said.

Raven ran over to Jamie.  “Hi, Jamie,” he said.

“Hi, Raven.  How are you?” Jamie asked.

“Good.  Who’s this?” he asked and pointed at Sammi.

Sammi was surprised at how good his English was.

Jamie smiled and said, “This is Warrior Woman, your Uncle Owl’s friend.”

Raven’s dark eyes grew bigger.  He turned and ran towards the group of Lakota.  He tugged on one man’s hand and then chattered something at him in Lakota.  The man looked at Sammi when Raven pointed at her.  The man responded to the boy and then began walking towards Sammi.

Jamie said, “That’s He Who Runs.”

“Owl’s older brother,” Sammi said.

“Yeah.”

He Who Runs gave Jamie a small smile and then gazed down at Sammi.  “You are Sammi?”

“Yes,” Sammi said.

He Who Runs held out his hand to Sammi.  She was surprised by the friendly greeting.  Sammi grasped arms with him and smiled.  When she went to release him, he held on.  “So you are the one who calls me He Who’s Slow, huh?”

Sammi was mortified.  “Uh, well, I,” she sputtered.

He Who Runs laughed at her expression and Sammi was greatly relieved.  “It is a good joke,” he said and let her go. 

“How is he?” Sammi said.

“Come and see,” He Who Runs said.  He walked to the bunkhouse with her.  “I see why Owl likes you so much.  You are a beautiful woman.”

“Thanks,” Sammi said.  “He’s a great guy and a good friend.  I’m so sorry, He Who Runs.  It’s my fault that he got hurt.”

He Who Runs stopped and put a hand on her shoulder.  “Why would you think that?  Were you the one who stuck a knife in his back?”

“No, but—“

“Owl knew what he was doing.  He went with you because he considered an honor to fight alongside a friend.  A, um, another warrior.  Do not let your heart be filled with guilt, sister.  Enough of that.  Come now,” he said.

Sammi followed without another word.  He Who Runs preceded her into the bunkhouse.  He said something to Black Fox who looked at Sammi.  The chief came to her and held out his arm.

“Hello, Warrior Woman.  It is nice to meet you,” he said with a kind smile.