After fording the Arkansas, she reined up and hipped around. The buckskin heaved under her. She could barely make out the tops of a few of the buildings that were all that remained as proof of Manzanola’s existence. She moved her gaze eastward, imagining where Nate’s apple farm might be. She then looked in the direction she judged the cemetery to be, the one that held her father. She sighed heavily but refused to let the tears appear. She remained steadfast in her vow to never show those kinds of emotions ever again. She had to remain strong, stronger than she had ever been in her entire young life. She removed her newly acquired black, flat-brimmed hat and wiped her brow against the sleeve of her coat.
“You rest easy, Daddy,” she said above a quivering chin. “I know you wouldn’t approve of what I’m setting out to do.” She paused to collect herself before continuing, “But what you don’t realize is that they killed me, too, sure as shootin’. When they took you away from me, and then my...they took away everything that meant anything to me. So you just rest easy, Daddy. I’m meaning to avenge the both of us.”
She replaced the hat, patting it down firmly onto her head, and turned around to the front. She rubbed the gelding affectionately along his neck as she gazed out at what lay ahead. As best she had been able to find out, Juarez was somewhere down around El Paso, on the west edge of Texas, and that meant she had a long ride ahead of her.
“Well, big fella...you ready to do what needs doin’?”
He bobbed his head and pawed at the soft dirt.
“Good...because so’m I,” she said resolutely, and nudged him lightly with the heels of her boots.