{Chapter 14}
They were all back at work early the next morning, and Adam was stuck with riding drag again. He had a feeling that Mark suspected that he had something to do with the bluish-purple bruise on Alex Harrison’s jaw, and insisted on punishing him for it. As if eating dust all day wasn’t bad enough, he was stuck with working with Brant Alexander. The man hardly said a word, and his piercing eyes tended to hide what expressions would have spoken. He was a strange man, and one that Adam had learned not to trust. He kept his eye on Brant, and watched his every move. The way his eyes darted back and forth, the way he occasionally sneaked a glance at Adam, and the way his hands nervously twitched where they rested on the pommel of his saddle. Oh, yes. Every fiber of Brant Alexander screamed guilty. Whether the man was involved with Joel’s death or not, he had a nervous way that most criminals possessed.
The day passed with the same old routine of roping, pushing, and shoving the lazy cattle onward. Adam didn’t understand how they made twenty-five miles a day at the slow rate that the older cows were going. With each moment of eating dust and shoving cattle, Adam grew to hate the job of tail riding more and more. Making camp that night was stiff and uneasy, as all of the cowboys came to the realization that they were now in Indian country. Though this little strip of Oklahoma above Texas was neutral, the MC outfit still knew of the slight possibility of an encounter with the Choctaws
After supper that evening, the sun was just beginning to set at the sky was turning shades of pink, purple, and bright blue as a gentle breeze flowed through the barren land. Since crossing the Texas/Oklahoma state line, Adam had begun to miss Texas more than he did on his out-of-state trips while chasing those murderers.
He watched as Katie did her job of washing the dishes, carefully scrubbing each individual dish until it shone as much as tin could shine. Her blonde hair had been pulled back into a tight chignon, but a few curls had come loose here and there, giving her a worn look. She looked so tired already. She didn’t belong out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of dusty cowboys and cleaning up after them. She belonged back in Texas, matchmaking innocent, unsuspecting people and putting them together for all eternity. But she was stuck here doing the dishes alone.
Why does she have to do them alone?
Adam stood and walked over to where she knelt on the ground beside the washtub and knelt down next to her.
“Need some help?” he asked.
Katie looked at him strangely. “This is woman’s work, Adam.”
“No it’s not. I’ve been doing my own dishes for years now” Adam insisted.
Katie looked over at the campfire where the cowboys gathered. “What about them?”
Adam smiled as all the cowboys were caught up in a game of “kangaroo court”. “They won’t notice. Besides, what are they gonna do?”
“Make the rest of the drive horrible for you.”
Adam sighed, took a dishtowel from where it was draped over her shoulder, and made a funny face at her. “This is my ‘I don’t care’ face.”
Katie laughed and handed him a wet dish. “Have it your way. You’ve always been stubborn.”
“Thank you. I’ll agree that it’s one of my finer qualities” Adam smiled as he dried a dish.
“I never said it was a quality,” Katie reminded him.
“But you know it is.”
“To a certain extent.”
Adam smiled.
Katie blew a strand of hair out of her face and went about vigorously scrubbing a plate.
“Got something on your mind, Kate?” he asked before correcting himself. “Katie.”
Katie sighed. “Something’s going on, Adam” she said in a hushed voice.
Adam nodded. “I know. What do you got?”
“Mark’s been acting strange. I mean, he’s always a little grumpy and irritable, but he’s been like a blame grizzly lately. I’ve seen him having hushed and quiet conversations with a few of the men, including Brant Alexander,” Katie explained.
“Who are the others?” Adam wanted to know how many he should keep his eye on.
“Alex Harrison, Marshall Heath, and Joe Blake. Those three seem to be real chummy to me and look up to Brant. I think they’ve known each other for a while,” Katie explained.
Adam nodded. “Sounds about right.”
He’d had his suspicions about the three of those men. They had all been hired together, and each knew the other like the back of his hand. That could only mean two things. Either they were brothers with different last names, or they had an alliance of some sort. The latter seemed more believable.
Now the only question was what kind of alliance?
**********
Wade grinned as Slick was the defendant in their kangaroo court. In the game, a cowboy picked one of his fellow cowpokes and accused them of a crime. The judge and jury them decided if the defendant was guilty or not guilty, then his sentence should he be guilty. Toni was the judge, as usual, and he was stuck in the jury along with Erik and a few others.
“I accuse Slick of using too much hair grease” his brother, Slim, accused.
“Slick, you come and park your carcass up here” Toni motioned to where an empty barrel from the chuck wagon was placed where the defendant should sit.
Slick sat in front of the group of cowboys and sighed.
The jury conversed, and Wade spoke up.
“The jury finds Slick guilty of using too much hair grease in the first degree,” he said.
Toni pounded her makeshift desk of a plank across her lap with a stick with a can strapped to it. “The jury has announced their verdict, so I will not pronounce your sentence. I sentence you to…” Toni thought a moment.
Wade watched as she eyes the dominant steer, Hondo, where he was tied a few feet away in a little roundpen.
“I sentence you to riding Hondo for ten seconds” she smiled.
“Ten?” Slick looked unbelieving.
“If he wasn’t castrated, I would bump it down to eight, but he’s pretty laid-back,” Toni said.
Slick sighed.
The group of cowboys gathered around the roundpen and watched as Slick prepared to ride the steer. The tension built as Slick gave attention to every detail. When he finally did mount, it was slow and unrushed.
“Quit playin’ with him!” Toni complained.
The steer started bucking.
One.
Two.
Slick was thrown different ways, but stayed glued to his saddle.
Three.
Four.
Five.
The cowboys cheered him on, all except for Brant Alexander. The man had been moping for two days, and no one knew why. Wade shook his head.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
The last two seconds were the longest.
Nine.
Slick came loose and was thrown just as the stopwatch clicked over to ten.
A round of cheers and clapping for the triumphant criminal sounded throughout camp. Slick grinned and put his hands up in victory.
Wade thought of the thrill that Aubrey would have got over the ordeal. She would have cheered Slick on just like the cowboys and then giggle when he succeeded. She always got into bull rides.
How he missed that little sweetheart of a wife he had.
**********
Children. Running. Everywhere.
Aubrey resisted a sigh as Jay and Sandy came running into the house tracking in dirt all over her freshly scrubbed floor. Instead, she reached for a broom and sent the children back outside with an apple split in half for a snack. She had become used to the unending chatter and squeals that the children created day and night. She could hear them talking through a knothole in the wall that separated their rooms, but was usually either too tired or too teary-eyed to care. A stray tear from missing her husband wasn’t uncommon since the two week mark had passed. Her heart ached for him, to know that he was safe. She missed their nightly talks, his comforting touch, and his kiss before they drifted off to sleep. Aubrey found that she couldn’t sleep without her good night kiss. Part of her felt childish, and part of her felt madly in love. Yet no emotion could explain how heartsick she felt.
Bring him home safe to me, Lord. I beg you. Please.
**********
Two weeks into the cattle drive, and Katie felt the most ugly she had in a long while. Her fingernails were chipped and harbored dirt up under them, her face was badly sunburned and her arms sported a fairly deep tan. Calluses had formed where she had gripped the reins to the team pulling the chuck wagon for hours on end. Baby Justin cried nonstop some days and she felt herself going crazy. Worse than any of that, she couldn’t sleep at night so dark circles had formed under her eyes. He reason to why she couldn’t sleep was simple. Her mind wouldn’t shut up. It was so muddled and confused that she didn’t even know the thoughts she was thinking until they had come and gone. Another reason for her sleep deprivation was her mounting admiration for Adam Sterling. He never gave up, no matter how bad of a cowboy he was. He stuck in the saddle by day and kept a close eye of his suspects at night. Neither of them had voiced their suspicions about a few of the cowboys, not even to Toni. Adam kept his eyes straight forward, keeping them on the mark they were all pressing for. He helped her count the days until they got to Grayson City and deposited their burden of cattle to receive a burden of cash.
They were still in Oklahoma and in danger of coming across some of the Choctaw Indians. Katie kept a keen eye on her surroundings and watched for any strange movement. One day, her watching paid off.
“Do you see that?” She asked Mark as she pointed to a rise where one lone Indian sat atop his horse.
Her heart beat against her chest as she imagined all the things that one Indian could accomplish. She had never encountered an Indian, but she had heard the stories told about the things they did to terrorize the white man in some places. Her imagination ran wild.
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