AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m aware you are a black man, kinda hard thing to hide. And there’s nothing I can do about that fact either. But we are both in a fix now. I reckon we are stuck with each other for a while…”
“No, ma’am.” Sam shook his head. “We ain’t stuck at all. You just need to get into the nearest town and tell the Sheriff what is going on at your place, that’s all. And I will be on my way; I’ll get me another horse and be on my way, you hear?”
Riley continued to doctor him as he sat facing her and he batted her hands away from him. She continued nonetheless.
“On your way, where?” Riley asked in a soft voice.
“Never you mind. Now you listen to me. You’ve had some troubles, but a Sheriff can straighten this out for you. You just gotta find one. They ain’t gonna be lookin’ for you as they think you are the one I buried. The one that got away thinks you’re dead. That’s in your favor. He’ll more than likely ride back to your ranch and tell them you are dead. That gives you an edge, at le
ast for a while. They ain’t gonna be out lookin’ for ya.”
“They think I’m the one you buried?” she began. “You’ve done me another favor, it would seem. So the way I see it, I owe you. You couldn’t get rid of me now, if you tried.”
“You don’t owe me, and what’s to understand, so they tried to run you off your own land. It’s still you’re land…But you gotta get it straight and fast, too.”
“They were gonna talk to my lawyer and get him to fix it so it wouldn’t be mine anymore,” Riley said. “They as much as said they think I’m crazy. Do you know how easy it is for a man to declare a woman crazy in this country? Others talk about me a lot because I don’t socialize like most of the women folk. I wear pants and work like a ranch hand. Women get very little respect in this part of the country if they work for a living.”
“But you’re not crazy, even I know that. And now is your time to prove it.” He barely breathed the words. “Still, you’re right, women ain’t got much more rights than blacks. And you’re right, I seen it happen once. Man was married, had an eye for her younger sister. He put his wife away in one of them prisons and he married her sister a year later. The woman never got free. She wasn’t crazy when he put her in there, but I reckon in time she might have gone plum nuts.”
She stared down at him, her hand stilling. “You think I’m crazy?”
“Well, from what I’ve seen, no. Except for comin’ back here, you sure ain’t usin’ your head. But all you gotta do is get to town and tell the Sheriff and your troubles are over. Just like I told you,” Sam explained. “They won’t be following you today.”
“You just don’t understand, no one would believe me, and would think me crazy for sayin’ it.” She turned away. “Around here, they’d be on Harry’s side.”
“Look, I don’t think you are crazy…ma’am,” Sam finally admitted. “Just mixed up is all. And it’s understandable seeing as how they are chasin’ you.”
She looked at him and a slow smile spread across her face. “Thanks! That means a lot to me that you don’t think I’m crazy. You’ve every reason to.”
“But stayin’ with me is crazy…” Sam remarked.
Chapter Four
“No…you’re wrong. It isn’t crazy at all. It’s self-survival. You’re a man, a man taught by the Shawnee, said so yourself. You know more than I do about how to survive. I’m a greenhorn when it comes to that. Stayin’ with you is a wise thing to do. Just face it Sam, I’m gonna stick close to you ‘til I’m sure I’m safe.” She smiled. “You and this here dog.”
Sam groaned. This would never do. How could he make her understand?
Fool woman. Black men didn’t take up with white women. Didn’t she have a lick of sense? Maybe she was crazy.
“Never did ask you, where you’re headed.” She put the aloe on the ground and smeared the last of it near his neck. After getting over the indignity of being half naked in front of her, he sighed and enjoyed the sweet touch of her healing hands.
“West…” Sam snapped.
“West, just West?” She twisted her head as she laid her hand still at his shoulder.
“That’s right.”
“Why? What’s out there, besides outlaws and Indians?”
“Why what?” Sam grunted as he tried to get to his feet and thought better of it.
“Why West?”
“Well, it ain’t your concern, but I kinda wanted to see what Arizona territory was like,” Sam answered, reaching for the shirt he’d laid in the dirt. “Heard they got some real pretty mountains. Texas don’t have any real mountains to speak of.”
Riley eyed him now. She watched his every move. She moved toward the fire now, tying up the plant she had gotten. “Arizona, huh? Lots of Apache in Arizona, I’ve heard tell. No trees out there according to a hand my father once hired. Nothing to see there but desert and mountains, just cactus and dust. Ever worked a ranch, Sam?”
“You sure do change the subject a lot.” He frowned at her and started to put the shirt on.
