In the quiet, while his wife slept, Garrison watered the horses in preparation of leaving. The animals' sleek muscles beneath his hands eased him as he checked for burrs, bugs, and saddle sores. Horses, he knew.
Wives, not so much.
The girl's chatter and songs had further brightened a fine morning. Then she'd provoked him with talk of sheep. One moment she would embrace him or ask what he wanted of her, docile as any wife could be. The next, she defied him, her flashing blue eyes warning that only a fool would expect compliance.
Worse than her caprices, though, were her expectations. Too often, when he caught her staring, her gaze implored him to say or do or be something he could not even comprehend, much less fulfill. Her unmet needs fit him as poorly as his childhood go-to-church clothes once had.
Married.
Again.
God help him.
If he could not please her, at least he could strive to protect her. He'd chosen this clearing near Ash Hollow's spring, which flowed from under a low arch of sandstone cave, in part for its strong defensible position. He would remain armed while he tried to understand the threat of some stranger in Illinois asking for his wife.
The girl claimed Callahan was a bounty hunter who had killed her friend in Dodge City. She also claimed to have traveled through time. The lawmen in Dodge had called her friend's death a suicide. The lawmen in Dodge were also Yankees who drank, gambled, and ran with low women.
Garrison looked forward to bringing the puzzle to his partner, Benjamin Cooper. He did not look forward to announcing his marriage. He disliked being the center of attention--even for something as admirable as securing a fine wife. But God had not tailored the world to the likes and dislikes of Jacob Garrison.
Impatient for the world he knew, he carried the canteens closer to the mouth of the spring and crouched to fill them with the last truly sweet water they would taste for some weeks. The northwest breeze persisted, whispering through the ash leaves, hinting more and more of evening storms. He and the girl should reach the marginal safety of the herd well before--
The girl woke suddenly, drawing his eye. She sat up with a fearful pinch to her brow. When her gaze found his, her concern visibly eased.
When her gaze found his, her concern visibly eased. Had she thought he would leave her, as she had earlier? Did she know him so little as that?
Her brown hair had fallen some since morning, its schoolgirl tail flopped across one shoulder. One cheek showed a pretty flush where she had rested it on her saddle. The top three buttons of her shirtwaist hung open, revealing the soft column of her throat. She did not fuss with her appearance overmuch, but Garrison could not remember ever seeing so pretty a girl, much less speaking to one or....
Then she smiled, like he was her Christmas present.
God help him.