Finding Promise Read online

  Chapter Three

  “Boss, that little gal hasn’t moved an inch,” Shorty informed Jake as he shoved a cup of steaming coffee at him. “I guess the Good Lord figures she needs sleep right now.”

  Jake wrapped his hands around the coffee. “Thanks, Shorty. I don’t know how you keep the fire going in this mess, but I sure do appreciate this hot coffee.”

  “It ain’t easy, but I’ve got a small fire going under the tent. Some men are sleeping under there, so get yourself inside that wagon so you can eat your food out of this blasted rain. It wouldn’t hurt you to get some dry clothes on. You’ve been soaked to the bone since daybreak.” He took the horse’s reins from Jake and pointed toward the cook wagon. “I’ll see to your horse.”

  Jake threw his saddlebag over his shoulder and accepted Shorty’s offer. “Thanks, Ma,” he teased. He was grateful to have the hot cup of coffee more than food. It was near midnight, and every muscle in his body told him he’d been in the saddle too long. He plopped some beans and corn bread on a plate and he crawled inside the wagon. Bless Shorty, he thought when he saw the second pallet the cook had prepared near the woman. He appreciated the gesture, though he wouldn’t have objected to sleeping on the dry wood floor.

  Setting his plate and coffee aside, he leaned over to look at the woman. Shorty was right; it didn’t look like she’d moved at all. After retrieving some dry clothes from his saddlebag, he tossed it in the corner with his slicker. Removing his holster, he placed it alongside his rifle, within easy reach. As he started unbuttoning his shirt, he felt the book he’d stashed inside earlier. Thankfully, it didn’t get wet, so he placed it on the pallet by the woman. Once he changed into dry clothes, he sat down and ate his dinner.

  Shorty stuck his head through the opening. “You want me to sit with her?”

  “No, I’ll stretch out in here for a while. It’s nice to be dry for a change.”

  Shorty held out the coffeepot. “Well, put that cup over here and I’ll warm it up.”

  Jake held his cup while Shorty filled it to the brim. “Tell Cole to wake me when he comes in and I’ll take the second watch.”

  “Will do, boss. She ain’t feverish, is she?”

  Leaning over, Jake placed the back of his hand on her forehead. “No, but I don’t understand why she hasn’t come around. That wound shouldn’t have caused this.”

  “I can’t figure it out. I checked her wound earlier and it looks fine, no infection.” Shorty ran a hand over his white whiskers. “I guess she could have hit her head when she was grazed, and that did the damage.”

  “She was on the ground, so that’s possible.”

  “Call me if you need anything, boss.”

  Jake leaned back, drank his coffee, and stared at the woman. He figured she had a right not to wake up; she’d probably been terrified if she’d seen everyone murdered. He wondered if she saw her husband being killed, or whether she had been shot first. He was of the opinion it would have been more merciful if she was shot first so she wouldn’t have to witness the atrocities committed by those killers.

  Closing his eyes, he listened to the steady rain beating on the canvas. It was a nice, comforting sound if you weren’t out in it. He pondered the woman’s situation. Maybe he should try to take her to Dodge City tomorrow to see a doctor instead of trailing the killers. Yet, he questioned if he should leave her alone in Dodge with no one to look after her. He worried someone might take advantage of a beautiful woman like her, especially in a place like Dodge City. He figured they could stay where they were for a day or two to see if she came around. Normally, he wasn’t an indecisive man, but he didn’t like any of the alternatives where she was concerned.

  Where were these people from, and where were they going? He opened his eyes and looked down at the leather-bound book beside her. Cole said they’d found several Bibles, but this wasn’t a Bible. Opening the book, he realized it was a journal, and the beautiful script told him it most likely belonged to a woman. While he wasn’t a man to snoop, he reasoned it might give him some insight to her identity. On the inside cover was one word. Promise. Puzzled, he glanced in her direction, wondering if that was her name. He started reading.

  Sleep is eluding me tonight. After much planning and waiting, we find ourselves on the eve of our grand adventure. As excited as I am, I can’t deny there are many things I will miss about home: the gentle breeze coming off the ocean, walking along the shore at dusk, and the sweet fragrance of the magnolias and oleanders. Of course I will miss our good friends, but most of all I will miss my daily visit to Mother and Father’s grave site. It has been a comfort to know they are there. I know they would understand my desire to be with family for a while, and I will not be gone forever.

  Everyone says I will miss the social life here, but Aunt Nettie assures me there are many parties and social events on the ranch. I dare not divulge the truth to my friends, but parties have never held much interest for me. I much prefer painting than attending socials. Part of my excitement about going West is the opportunity it affords me to paint new subjects. I simply cannot wait to paint the cowboys on Aunt Nettie’s ranch!

  I packed my large trunk days ago, and Matthew said it is so heavy that the animals may not be able to pull the wagon. Mr. Vincent told us to find a safe place for valuables and to keep such information private. Quite naturally, the ladies discussed their ideas on the perfect hiding places. Mr. Vincent said he had no difficulties when he made this trip before, and I pray we will have the same good fortune on this journey. God be with us.

  Assuming the book belonged to this woman, Jake was obviously reading her private thoughts. At least he had more information than before. She hailed from the coast, and she had painted the pictures he found in the trunk. Glancing down at the woman who could have penned these words, he found it surprising someone so beautiful would prefer painting to parties. His gaze returned to the open book and he stared at the one word . . . Promise. Is that her name? Wouldn’t that be a coincidence! He heard his brother’s voice in his mind. Colt always said there were no coincidences in life. He called them God-incidences. Jake couldn’t help himself from turning the page to the next entry.

  Before we left this morning, Charles Worthington arrived to plead with us not to leave. I must say, Matthew surprised me by agreeing with Charles. After months of preparations, I can hardly comprehend that he is questioning our decision. I am regretful that I hurt Charles, but I think this is the right decision. I told Matthew he could stay if he wanted, and I would write him upon my arrival, but he was adamantly opposed to that idea. Here we are on our way, and Matthew seems miserable. It is difficult for me to be excited while he is so unhappy.

  Closing the book, Jake fixed his eyes on her again. She looked so lovely lying there, reminding him of an angel with that mass of blond hair surrounding her like a golden halo. Did she actually think her husband would permit her to attempt such a journey without him? He’d heard about independent women, but surely no man would contemplate allowing his wife to go on such a dangerous journey alone. It was difficult for him to imagine that a man would even allow a woman who looked like her out of his sight. He surely wouldn’t. He wondered about Charles Worthington. Who was he and why had he tried to talk them out of their journey? Why didn’t her husband want to go West? He shook his head at himself; the U.S. Marshal in him was coming out. It was a hard habit to break. It frustrated him that he had no answers, and without them he couldn’t help her.

  Before he called it a night, he reached into his saddlebag for the cloth he needed to clean his firearms. It was a nightly ritual he enjoyed, since it generally calmed him down enough to do his best thinking. He also cleaned the pistol he’d found beneath the woman. Once that task was finished, he turned the woman on her side because she’d been in the same position for such a long time. After he felt her pulse to make sure it was still strong, he turned the lantern down and stretched out on the pallet. He fell asleep staring at her, questions spinning in his brain.
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  It was still dark outside when a loud crack of thunder woke him. He groaned, dreading another day of thunderstorms. His muscles still ached, but on the positive side, he did smell fresh coffee. He leaned over to check the woman again. Her breathing was steady, but she hadn’t moved, so he turned her again. It was time for him to relieve Cole, so he pulled on his boots, grabbed his gear, and jumped from the wagon. He’d taken only a few steps when Shorty met him with a cup of coffee. “Here you go, boss.”

  “Thanks. What time is it?”

  “It’s going on five o’clock,” Shorty answered.

  He didn’t feel like he’d slept that long. “Why didn’t anyone wake me for my watch?”

  “Cole said to let you sleep because you’d only had two hours of sleep in forty-eight. Cole and Rodriguez split your watch.”

  Jake didn’t know how Shorty kept track of everything, but he was thankful for the extra rest. He leaned against the wagon, drank his coffee, and looked at the lightning in the distance. “I sure wish this rain would let up for a few hours.”

  “I guess that little gal didn’t come around?”

  “Nope. I moved her a couple of times since she’d been on her back so long. I was thinking about taking her to Dodge and having a doctor look at her. What do you think?”

  “I’m not sure she should be moved right now.”

  “Maybe we should stay here for a day and give her a chance to heal. Jostling around in the wagon might make her worse,” Jake mused. “I could take her to Dodge tomorrow and have a doc look after her.”

  “Boss, you can’t leave that poor gal in that town with no family to look after her.”

  Shorty was voicing all the things Jake had considered. “I don’t see how we can take her with us. A drive is no place for a woman.”

  “That’s true enough. Some men think women are downright unlucky on a drive, but I still don’t think you should leave her alone in Dodge. That just ain’t right.”

  Jake couldn’t disagree, so he changed the subject. “There’s some clothes in that large trunk that look like they’ll fit her. They’ll need washing, but the least we can do is provide something decent for her to wear when she comes around.”

  Before Shorty could respond, another crack of thunder shook the earth and the downpour began. Jake handed Shorty his cup and took off to saddle his horse. He rode out to relieve Cole, and to tell the men they were going to stay put for the day. Jake instructed them to change watch every couple of hours, which lifted their spirits. Staying on a horse all day in the rain was something no cowboy enjoyed. They’d been pushing hard for weeks, and they deserved the rest.

  Before Cole rode back to camp, Jake discussed the situation with the woman. When Cole raised the same objections he’d heard from Shorty, he figured since they were all on the same page, he’d wait another day to see how she was before he made a decision to take her to Dodge.

  Chapter Four

  Jake stayed with the cattle all day so Cole could get some rest, but he left instructions with Shorty to have someone alert him if the woman awoke. No one on a cattle drive liked to stay in one place too long. It was best for the men and cattle to keep moving. Men got bored, especially in such inclement weather, and the cattle had to keep eating. As it was, they had been lucky to travel ten miles a day in the rain. Jake didn’t need more delays, but right now he didn’t have a choice.

  Once again, when he rode back to camp at dusk, he was drenched to the bone. After unsaddling Preacher, he dried him off, and found a nice dry spot for him under a canopy of trees. When he reached the cook’s wagon, Shorty was waiting for him. “Any change?”

  Shorty knew he was asking about the girl. “No change, but I moved her like you did. I think that is a good idea.” Shorty gave him a cup of coffee. “Boss, I got somethin’ to show you.” Jake followed Shorty to the wagon where the trunks were located. When Shorty opened the flap, Jake saw dresses hanging everywhere. There were even more than he’d first thought.

  Shorty held up a piece of clothing that resembled a pair of very small trousers with wide legs. “What in the devil is this?’

  “That’s what you wanted to show me?” Jake knew he sounded short-tempered, but after his day in the saddle in that downpour, he was exhausted. “Hell’s bells, I don’t know.”

  “Nope, that’s not what I wanted to show you. I was just wondering what it was since I ain’t never seen anything like it.” He put the unidentified item aside and picked up one of the dresses. “I was washin’ some of these dresses and those flimsy underthings women wear. I ain’t never seen anything so fine as her . . . you know . . . bloomers and such . . . but there sure ain’t much to ’em . . . sort of a waste of good money, if you ask me.”

  Jake sighed loudly, thinking he didn’t need Shorty to tell him how flimsy her undergarments were. He’d seen them on her firsthand, and that was a sight he was unlikely to forget anytime soon.

  Hearing Jake’s sigh, Shorty stopped rambling. “Anyways, I kept thinkin’ those dresses sure were heavy. Now I know there’s lots of cloth to the things, with these wide skirts and all, but it still didn’t feel right.” Shorty held a dress in the air and showed him how full the skirt was.

  “They could be heavy because they’re wet,” Jake said impatiently, wishing Shorty would get to the point so he could get into some dry clothes.

  Shorty snorted. “No, it ain’t that!” He shoved the hem of the dress at Jake. “Feel this.”

  Drawing his brows together in confusion, Jake did as Shorty instructed. He took the hem of the dress between his thumb and forefinger. He pulled the entire hem through his fingers, and his eyes widened at Shorty. “What the . . . ?”

  “That’s what I thought! So I opened the stitches in one of those dresses.” He reached inside the wagon and pulled out a can and pushed it into Jake’s hands. “This is what I found.”

  Jake was stunned speechless. The tin can was filled to the brim with gold coins.

  “Each coin was stitched in place so they didn’t move around.” Shorty pointed to all of the dresses hanging in the wagon. “Every one of these dresses has the same thing at the bottom. Boss, this is a whole lot of money,” he whispered.

  Jake recalled the dress he’d stripped from her earlier. This explained why the darn thing was so heavy. With that added weight, he was surprised she could walk. He picked up a coin off the top. It was a twenty-dollar double eagle. “All of these came out of one dress?”

  Shorty nodded his head. “There were seventy-two of those double eagles in that one dress, boss.”

  “How many dresses?”

  “Twenty in that trunk. And those dresses were made in Paris, France. But there are more dresses in the wagon that weren’t in the trunk. Those dresses are larger and not as fine a cloth, so I don’t think they belonged to that gal. Coins are sewn in them too, but not as many, and not gold eagles.”

  Jake figured those dresses belonged to the other women they’d buried. If twenty of those dresses held the same amount of gold eagles, that was, as Shorty stated, a whole lot of money. He figured this explained what the killers were looking for. Money was a powerful incentive for those men to slaughter all those people. Nothing else made sense because they’d left all the other items behind. They probably hightailed it out of there when they saw Indians, or they knew the cattle drive was not far behind.

  “That’s not all.” Shorty reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather pouch. He opened the pouch and poured the contents into his palm.

  Jake gaped at Shorty’s work-worn palm. Several pieces of fine jewelry, sparkling like stars on a clear night, covered Shorty’s hand. Many pieces held large stones, and Jake figured they were diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.

  “The pouch was sewn into one of her dress pockets. What do you make of this?”

  Jake shook his head. “I don’t know what to think. But keep this to yourself; we don’t need anyone else knowing about this, or the money. If we get to a town, I don’t want the men talking out
of turn if they get liquored up.” Jake trusted Shorty to stay quiet, but when men started drinking they often got loose tongues without meaning any harm. “Leave the money in the other dresses.” He figured he’d never seen such a crafty hiding place for valuables, which was confirmed by the fact that the killers hadn’t figured it out, if that was what they were after.

  “Yessir, this could be too much of a temptation for some men. You said them low-down dirty skunks were looking for something in particular. Well, I reckon somehow they knew those folks was carrying a lot of money.”

  “Yeah, judging by the destruction, I had a feeling they knew what they wanted.” Jake pointed to the can filled with coins. “It makes sense, now that you found this.”

  “Since those polecats didn’t get what they wanted, you know what that means.”

  Jake knew exactly what that meant. “They’ll be back if they know she’s not dead. If they came back after we left last night, they probably counted those graves and know one person is missing.”

  “Boss, knowing what we do now, you just can’t take that gal to Dodge and leave her alone.”

  “No, I can’t do that now that I know what they are after. She would never be safe.” Jake had fifteen men on this cattle drive, and he needed to make sure they knew what was going on so they couldn’t be bushwhacked. He’d tell Cole to inform the men out on watch, and he’d tell the men at camp before he got some rest.

  Once the men were told to be on alert for the killers, Jake decided to go check on the woman. While he was out on the range he’d started thinking of her as Promise. When he climbed inside the wagon the first thing he noticed was how good it smelled. Shorty had put the bars of soap and her perfume in the wagon. Kneeling down beside her, he examined her face closely. She looked less pale than she did last night, but that in itself wasn’t encouraging because she was deathly still. Shorty had changed her bandage again, but Jake peeked at the wound anyway. It looked like Shorty had also combed her long, blond hair. “Is your name Promise?” He felt the pulse at her neck and thought it stronger than before. He pulled his pallet closer, and after he took off his holster he stretched out beside her and started talking. “I’m from a town called Promise. It’s in Wyoming, and that’s where we are taking the cattle. My brothers and I own a ranch there.” He turned to face her to see if she reacted in any way while he was talking. “I sure would like to know where you were going so we could help you get there safe and sound. I found your book, and I hope you don’t mind me reading what you wrote. I’m not a man to read a person’s private thoughts, but I was hoping it might tell me where you were headed. You must be from back East, or maybe the South near the coast somewhere. It’s mighty brave of you to come all this way.” Mentioning her book gave him an idea. Perhaps if she heard her own words she might come around. He picked up her book and read the third entry aloud.