The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 4: Monday in Late August

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

In Chapter 4, the focus switches from the black-haired cowboy to the cowboy who wears a red kerchief...

Chapter 4 - Monday in Late August

A gentle morning rain pattered on the roof of a cottage in a secluded corner of Garmadon Ranch, but the two occupants of the residence - a brown-haired cowboy and his brand new wife - were oblivious to the weather that was occurring on the day after their wedding.

Samantha was still peacefully sleeping, so she was oblivious to everything. She lay on her back with her head resting against the chest of her new husband. Kai was awake and lying on his side, his attention solely focused on the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty whose waist he was encircling with his arm.

Kai smiled as he propped himself up on his elbow to gaze at her. Exactly three weeks ago, during their imprisonment in a dirty jail cell in Skeleton Territory, he had awakened next to Sam and wished that her title was Mrs. Kai Smith. That wish was now reality.

Sam began to stir. Her eyelids fluttered open. At first, a confused look appeared in her eyes as she momentarily struggled to remember where she was. Her surroundings were indeed unfamiliar to her - she had arrived at her brand new residence just last night, after the sun went down, so she had not yet seen the new home in the daylight.

But the scent of the fresh new wood of their newly built cottage, the feel of the comfortable bed, and the warmth of her man lying next to her quickly refreshed her memory.

Sam looked up into the twinkling brown eyes of the handsome cowboy. "Good morning," she drowsily greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning to you, Mrs. Smith," Kai replied, grinning. "How was your sleep?"

"Fine," she cheerily answered, her eyes still half closed. "And how was yours?"

"Good," he murmured, lowering his head to give her a kiss.

The patter of the rain on the roof caught their attention. They turned their eyes toward the window and could see the raindrops fall against the dark background of the trunks of the trees that surrounded their dwelling.

"If I didn't have the day off, I'd be soaked by now," Kai commented. Mr. Wu had given Kai and Jay the day off today, in recognition of the magnitude of the life commitment they had made to their women yesterday. Tomorrow, however, the ranch owner expected his two newly married employees to show up at the bunkhouse in the morning, bright and early. Here in western Ninjago, a land not quite fully tamed by civilization, you had to work in order to survive.

"What time is the supper tonight?" Kai asked his bride. Tonight they had been invited to the main house of Garmadon Ranch for an informal supper with Mr. Wu and the other ranch residents. After supper, they would open the thoughtful gifts that wedding guests had left yesterday for them as well as for Jay and Nya.

Sam recalled what the housekeeper had told her. "Miss Gayle said to be there at five o'clock."

"Oh, good, we can sleep till four." Kai lay back on the bed, folding the arm that was farthest from Sam behind his head. He slid the arm closest to Sam under her neck and embraced her shoulders and prepared to go back to sleep.

Sam decided she wanted to face him as she fell back asleep, so she rolled on her side. This small simple act would ordinarily pose no problem, but Sam had severely injured the skin on her lower back less than three weeks ago, and though the wounds were healing nicely, they were still bothersome. Sam tried not to grimace from the discomfort her injuries gave her as she turned her body. She drew her arm across the virile chest of her new husband to help pull herself toward him and nestle herself under his arm.

"Comfortable now?" he asked, patting her arm as he rested his cheek against her tousled blond tresses and closed his eyes.

Sam sighed. "Mmm-hmm." She closed her eyes, too.

She tried to go back to sleep, but she realized that Kai was still patting her arm, but in a rhythmic pattern to some song.

"What are you doing?" she asked, keeping her eyes closed.

"Oh, sorry," he said, stopping. "That song from yesterday, the one that Cole played on the harmonica, is still playing in my head."

Sam smiled, opening her eyes. "That was a good one. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole barbecue. Weddings are fun." She gave her husband a little squeeze.

"Maybe there can be another barbecue if Cole and Brooke get hitched," Kai commented.

Sam knew that Brooke was sweet on the black-haired cowboy, for Brooke had personally told her so last week.

"Does Cole like Brooke?" Sam asked. She wanted to find out what insight Kai had on the relationship between the saloon girl and the tall ranch hand who wore a black kerchief.

Kai began rhythmically patting her arm again. "Yep, he likes her. Ever since she gave him that cake at the funeral meal, he's been acting all loco. And there was this jeweled ladies' hairpin he won at our gentlemen's night poker game that he said he was going to give her."

"Oh, the hairpin." She remembered that, while dancing with Zane yesterday, she had seen Cole give something to Brooke, and Zane had guessed it was the hairpin.

Sam's thoughts drifted to Zane. "Has Zane ever said he liked a certain girl?" she asked Kai. Sam had arrived in Ninjago Town only a month ago, so she was not yet caught up on the past histories of the cowboys.

"Maybe one or two," Kai remembered. "But the type of girl he'd probably be happiest with doesn't really exist around here. He'd probably like a girl who's interesting in doing some traveling around the world and seeing different cultures and the like. Most girls around here don't care about going any farther than Sasnak City!" he chuckled.

Sam thought about an old friend of hers from her girlhood, Mary Adams. Mary had been the adventurous one in their social circle, and she had talked of traveling to various places when they grew up. Sam hadn't had any communication with Mary in recent years, but maybe, for Zane's sake, she'd write a letter to Mary and see what her old friend was up to.

Sam realized that Kai had resumed his patting. "You have that song in your head again," she informed him.

"I reckon I do," he chuckled, but this time he did not stop.

Sam raised her head to look at him. He was smiling with his eyes closed.

"We've talked about Cole and we've talked about Zane," he said, finally opening his eyes to look back at her. "What do you suppose Jay and Nya are doing right now?"

Kai laughed as Sam blushed at the possibilities.

"Well, what do you think they're doing right now?" she sputtered, turning the question back on him.

A mischievous twinkle appeared in his soft brown eyes. "They could be doing this," he replied as he raised his head, giving her a quick kiss and making her smile.

"Or they could be doing this," he continued, tenderly cupping her cheek with his hand. His lips touched hers once again, this time exploring them for a full minute.

Kai detected a hint of her exhilarating strawberry fragrance, which had fueled his longing for her last night. Once again, it began to cast its spell on him.

"Or..." he murmured, his eyes locking with Sam's into a steady gaze as he guided her to rest on her back, gently so as not to aggravate her injuries. "We could do this..."

The rain continued to patter on the roof for the entire day.