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"Yeah. He caught the consumption."
"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. How long were you two together?"
"I was ten when he found me, I guess about sixteen years. He died last winter."
"We scouted for the soldiers at Fort Abraham Lincoln and Fort Ellis, until he died. Then I kept on."
"I guess he was like a second parent to you, huh?" She asked.
"Yeah, he sure taught me a lot. I buried him on the edge of the Cheyenne River, that's where he asked me to."
"I remember he liked watching the River there. I liked him."
"Yeah, he was a good man. He liked you too. He told me many times before he died, he wished we'd have just taken you with us. He knew it was too late, but he still wished it so. He just figured a little girl had no business traipsing around the country with two men."
"I thought you said he didn't want you taking me out of there."
"He didn't at the first, but the last time we were here, and we stayed with you and the Cheyenne, he regretted not taking you with us. But after we left your camp, he'd often sit around the fire and tell me we should have. He knew you were better off with a tribe of Indians than two men wandering about the countryside. Wasn't a life for a girl. He couldn't offer you anything. We never officially had a home, except maybe the fort."
"You live at the fort now?" She glanced away.
"When I'm there, but I'm not there very often. I no sooner get back from one thing, and they have something else for me."
"Do you like scouting?"
"Sometimes, I get to see the country, meet some nice people. Meet some onry people too."
"And you never married, why?" She asked innocently.
"I don't know… "
"You kiss like you know how… had a lot of practice I guess." she smiled.
"You think so?" He grinned at her.
"Have you ever had a lady?"
He stared at her intently, "That's not a lady-like question to ask a man."
"I know that. But you're my friend and I feel like I can ask you anything." She stared into his eyes now.
He put his fingers on her cheek now and his thumb stroked her there. She stared with wonder.
"Let's just say I've been around the barn with a few unsavory kind of women… "
She frowned, he took his hand away. "Unsavory…. Am I unsavory?"
He reached to push a strand of her hair from her face, "No," he said softly. "You're not. But then, I haven't been around the barn with you, either."
She chuckled, nearly choking on her coffee.
"Then I guess you won't go behind the barn with me, will you?" she chuckled.
"Don't tempt me, Lucy. You're not the kind to go behind the barn with."
"I'm not?" She swallowed as he stared into her eyes and smiled.
"No," his grin suddenly faded. "You're the kind a man takes to his bed… " he said softly, his finger dotting her nose as he got up and moved away. "You're the kind a man marries… "
