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Missouri
“THIS IS MY LAST BOUNTY, you know.” Bob drew a long drink from the steaming tin cup. They had thought it wise to build a small campfire ringed heavily in rocks. Surrounded by nothing to burn, there wasn’t much chance of their meager campfire getting out of hand. Bob set his cup down. Katie refilled it at once with boiling coffee.
Bound, gagged, and still part drunk, Johnny slouched with his back turned, just at the edge of the fire’s glow.
Peter spoke first. “Last one? Why’s that Bob?”
Bob stared at Katie, a funny little smile on his lips. “What was that Peter?” he asked after a moment, his eyes still fixed on Katie. “Oh right, well, fact of the matter is, I said I’d be done after the Burrows boarded the train to justice.” Finally tearing his gaze from her, Bob retrieved the freshly refilled cup from beside the fire. “Many thanks, Miss Katie.”
Katie flushed from the direct attention as Bob drew another steaming sip off the top before continuing. “I was headed for Indian Territory to meet my brothers when I run smack into ole Johnny Tyler there.” Gesturing over to the sad excuse for a man, Bob grinned. “Reckon his bounty will pay me enough to at least get started out in Indian Territory.”
Peter nodded, but something soured in Katie’s stomach. To speak of a man’s life being worth the price of getting started didn’t sit well with her. Even if it is a creepy old goat like Johnny Tyler. “What did he do to earn a bounty on his head?” The words on her tongue made her shudder.
“Things that are proper to speak of in polite company,” Bob answered. “I can’t say for sure he’s worth more dead than alive, but we’ll soon see.”
“So I reckon,” Bob said, leaning back with this fingers laced behind his head. “I could see you folks on through to Springfield since I’m headed that way anyway. That is the next big town, you know.” He licked his lips absently. “And since you two can’t seem to steer clear of the outlaw element in this wild country, you could use me around for help.”
Katie hid a smile and adjusted her covering. “We’d be honored, wouldn’t we Peter.”
From the other side of the campfire, Peter grunted.
“So, what made you fellows decide to take shelter in Robber’s Roost?”
Katie cocked her head. “Robber’s Roost?”
“That cave. A notorious hideout for the bandits of the area. Legend says the caves go all the way back to Canadee and down deep in the earth.”
Katie adjusted her seat and stifled a yawn. “You certainly seem to know a lot about it, Mr. Dalton.”
Bob flashed a smile that made her heartbeat quicken. She dropped her gaze from his. “Never know when I might have to take cover in there someday, Miss Katie. Seems there’s a fine line in these wild parts, between the right side and the wrong side of the law.”
Katie puzzled over his words for a moment. Surely right is right and wrong is wrong, even out here?
Bob’s eyelids drooped. “Peter, would you mind sharing watch with me again tonight? I’m happy to share the bounty money from Mr. Tyler with you.”
Raising his steely stare, Peter nodded curtly. They’d come a long piece from Robber’s Roost already, but the threat of fire still hung thick in the air. Judging by the burned spots, the fire appeared to have jumped and skipped all over the woods. Katie shivered as she looked at the rest of the drought-thirsty trees and bushes that would feed a roaring fire, should one erupt.
Peter’s voice was gruff. “I’ll help stand watch, for the outlaw and the fire. But I won’t be needing any of the money that comes from it.” Standing up suddenly, Peter glanced from Bob to Katie and then back to Bob. “I’ll take first watch.”
“You’re the boss,” Bob said through a yawn. The firelight accented his freckles, making him seem even more boyish and mischievous than before. Tilting his hat over his eyes, he was no doubt asleep before Katie even stood up.
“Thank you, Peter.”
Wordlessly, Peter handed her a blanket from the wagon before disappearing into the woods.
***
NO SOONER HAD KATIE closed her eyes than the voice was there, invading her foggy, weighted dreams. “Get up Katie. Run!” A hard yank on her arm brought her fully awake. Opening her eyes, they immediately burned from the thick, pungent smoke.
Arms plucked her up and flung her into the buggy. Her voice sounded strange and foreign to her own ears, and her words came out in a screech. “What’s happening?”
“Hot spot flared up, as I figure it.”
Bob was on his horse bareback, with the bound and gagged outlaw flung over the flank like a sack of potatoes. Awkwardly, the young bounty hunter held his horse’s reins with one hand and the squirming outlaw Johnny Tyler with the other. “We’re gonna have to make a run for it,” he shouted over the din of the roaring inferno. “Fire’s got us surrounded!”
Katie glanced wildly around the campsite. Was this my fault? Did I put out the campfire? Remembering her actions over the course of the night, she exhaled when the realization came into focus in her sleep-heavy mind. It wasn’t my fault. I drowned the campfire in dirt.
“Surrounded?” Peter called back. “Not possible, Bob.”
Glancing around wildly, Katie’s stomach soured as she watched the animals that wouldn’t normally have been seen together in the wild take refuge behind each other in their modest camp. Skunks and a mountain lion. Foxes and a small black bear. Mice of all sorts and even a handful of snakes, the likes of which Katie had never seen before. A singed coyote took shelter behind a very nervous Sookie. Katie gulped.
Johnny Tyler had somehow managed to loosen his gag. “It’s my boys! They’re gonna set me free by fire,” he hollered, his voice maniacal. “They set this fire, you fools!”
“Oh shut up,” Bob shouted back, giving him a shake. “You work alone, you big lug. Everybody knows that.”
Peter snapped the reins over Sookie’s back. “Let’s go!” Raring, the black mare dashed ahead. Katie could make out Bob’s voice back behind them somewhere, calling and yelling, but she couldn’t quite piece together the words. Just as the ravenous orange flames came into sight, Sookie stopped. Flinging her large black head, she dug in her hooves and refused to move any further toward the roaring inferno.
Shoving the reins into Katie’s sweaty palms, Peter had to shout to be heard. “Here, drive.” Bounding off the seat, he ripped off his shirt in one fluid motion. “She’s spooked at the wildfire!”
Despite the adrenaline that surged through her veins, Katie looked at Peter, at Sookie, then back at Peter. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of his chiseled back and arms. Farm work had sculpted every muscle to perfection and, as he flung his shirt over Sookie’s eyes, Katie was powerless to stop her eyes from roaming over the man who could have been her husband by now, if not for this harebrained Texas journey idea.
Forgive those thoughts, God, Katie prayed. Then, laughing at the inappropriateness of the entire situation, she tried to focus her attention on driving the buggy.
Suddenly, everything jerked beneath her. We’re going through the fire? As absurd as it was, Katie had simply been willing to ride beside Peter wherever he saw fit to take her. However now that she was alone in the buggy, everything seemed wrong. An ocean of fear swirled over her as the fire roared and crackled all around. Squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could manage, Katie bit her tongue so she wouldn’t scream.
The stifling heat threatened to melt her skin, her hair, her everything as they drove through the dancing flame. Too scared to call out for fear of sucking in the suffocating fire, Katie’s mind clung to Peter. No matter how much she hurt on the buggy seat, he was more exposed than she. Please God, let him be alright. Let my Peter be alright. Let us all be alright...
Almost as quickly as it began, it was over. The intense burning was gone and the coolness of the night’s air kissed her sizzling skin. Thank you, God. We made it through! Flinging off her singed covering, she called out in a raspy voice. “Peter?”
Silence, set against the backdrop of the retreating fire, met her ears.
Hopping out of the buggy, Katie saw that Sookie had made it, too. “Oh Sookie, where’s Peter?” she cried, dashing to the heaving side of the faithful mare. “I have to tell him—”
“Tell him what?” asked a voice from the other side of the skittish black horse.
Bending, Katie found Peter. Thank you, God. Squatted down, he was busily tending the burns on Sookie’s ankles. He’d already pulled what was left of his shirt, the light blue one she’d made him, into strips and was tying it around the raw-looking injuries. Surprisingly, Sookie was letting him.
“She never has let anyone touch her feet, has she,” Katie murmured, almost in passing.
Peter brushed his forearm across his brow. “No, she’s always been notoriously hostile when it comes to her hooves.”
Katie rubbed her hands over Sookie’s singed coat, pinching out any glowing orange ends of horsehair. Cooing softly, Sookie seemed to understand that everything was going to be alright now.
Peter stood and patted Sookie gently on the rump. “I told you I couldn’t let anything happen to the woman I love.” With a wink that bespoke of a secret shared just between the two of them, he disappeared behind the mare again.
“Peter, I have to tell you that I—”
“Shush Katie. Nothing like that until after the journey’s over, alright?” Peter knotted the last bandage and stood up.
Katie stood motionless, powerless to stop her eyes from roving over the shapely, exposed torso of the man who’d saved her life. Again.
“Well, she’s finally at a loss for words,” Peter joked.
Katie furrowed her brow. “Peter, how did we make it through that fire without burning up? It felt like my skin was melting right off. And if I was burning on the inside of the buggy, you on the outside had to be—” Her words trailed off into the night.
“So what you’re asking is, how come I’m not burnt to a crisp?” His lips teased upward into a flirty smile.
Katie, however, was in no mood to flirt. “Was it a miracle, Peter? Did God see us through that fire?”
Peter shrugged. “Of course. His hand has been on everything we’ve encountered this trip. But as for how we got through, I saw a break in the flames.”
Katie exhaled the breath she didn’t know she had been holding.
“He is watching over us, Katie. No doubt about it. That break—” Peter gestured toward the burnt blackness. “There was no reason in the world it should have been there. God gave us a path, but left it up to us to find.”
Before she could open her mouth to answer, Bob galloped up. His blue eyes, no longer dancing, were wide. “Did you see him? Did he come this way?”
“Who?” Katie asked. Her eyes flickered to the rump of his horse, which was now empty. Icy fingers of dread squeezed her throat. “Where’s Johnny?” she squeaked.
Bob’s voice came out too high-pitched to be normal. “That sapsucker wasn’t lyin’! He does have boys, and they did set that fire.” He glanced wildly from Peter to Katie. “They runned right up and snatched him off my horse! Gave ‘er a swat and sent me into the flames.”
Peter’s voice was strong, like a wise, old, gnarled oak. “We’d better put as much distance between them and us as possible then.” Walking around Sookie, Peter offered his arm to Katie. After helping her into the buggy, he spoke again. “Johnny knew which way we were headed, didn’t he, since it was all the talk around the campfire just a few hours ago.”
Bob hung his head, the weight of his possibly deadly error hanging thick in the air.
“We were headed to Springfield. I say the safest bet is to keep on that way.”
Bob looked up. “But they may be waiting up ahead to ambush us.”
Peter snapped the reins and Sookie, still a bit skittish, started off at a spooky trot. Bob kept up beside them, glancing over first one shoulder, then the other.
“Johnny Tyler’s a coward,” Peter attested. “I’ve bested him once; Katie’s bested him once. He knows you want the money on his head. He’ll go the direct opposite way from us, I reckon.”
Katie scooted closer to her protector.
“We’ll go until we reach water or a town, and there we will make camp. We could all use a rest.” He flashed another knowing grin to Katie. Her stomach immediately turned up in knots. Oh, Peter let me tell you that I love you.
“Sounds like a plan,” Bob called, glancing over his shoulder again. “Certainly would feel safer if I hadn’t lost my gun back there somewhere.”
Peter ignored him and stared softly at Katie. “Your hair looks beautiful falling around your shoulders like that, Katie girl.”
She wound her hands together in her lap, at a loss for words for the second time that day.
Delighting in her sudden shyness, Peter nudged her with his elbow. “What possessed you to take off your covering?”
“It was full of holes from the fire burning through,” she stammered. Content to keep her mouth shut, she stared straight ahead. Still though, she admired Peter through new eyes by way of frequent sideways glances.
***
“LOOKS TO BE AS GOOD a place as any to camp,” Bob called from behind them. The lights of Springfield glittered just up ahead under the dark sky.
“Why not just get a hotel room in Springfield?” Katie’s voice dropped with sleep.
Peter pushed a lock of chestnut-colored hair back behind her ear. “That costs cash money, and I’m assuming Mr. Dalton has about as much as we do, now. Which isn’t much.” He reined Sookie to a stop. “Looks good to me too, Bob,” Peter agreed. Still, the sly little smile appeared on his lips whenever he caught Katie’s glance, which was often. A shared secret alright. A shared secret of love.
“I’ll take first shift this time,” Bob offered. “Last time you went on watch, we got caught in a forest fire.” The younger man offered a familiar nod to Peter, who laughed.
“That is true.”
Bob helped Katie pull a ratty quilt from the back of the buggy. Miraculously, it has managed to survive the fire, along with another of his shirts and the rest of the goods they’d packed. “I’ll wake you in an hour. Katie, you rest assured Ole Bob ain’t gonna let nothing get us.”
Ignoring him, Katie spread out the quilt for Peter and offered him his fresh shirt before producing another quilt for herself.
“You take the buggy seat, Katie,” Peter whispered as he accepted the articles. As he took them, their hands brushed. Peter let his linger there, his skin touching hers, a moment before flinging the quilt about his shoulders.
“Okay,” Katie whispered, losing herself for a moment in the touch. Peter tucked her in tightly on the buggy seat. With another heart-stopping wink, he retreated to his own pallet by the wobbly front wheel. Covering himself with the quilt, he tucked the fresh shirt under his head for a pillow. Before Katie could start a prayer of gratitude and thanks, sleep turned her eyelids to stone.
***
KATIE DIPPED HER FEET in the river, letting the icy water swirl over her toes and splash against her ankles. She was supposed to be milking the cow, but the barn was stifling in the muggy summer heat and the river proved to be much too inviting.
“Sister,” Annie admonished from behind her. “How could you sneak off to our spot and not invite me along?” Kicking off her black shoes, Annie rushed to join her.
Katie grinned and hugged her sister. “You were churning butter and I know how much you hate to be interrupted.”
Annie rolled her eyes. “I love the river more.” Her sister, as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside, glanced over her shoulder. “Uh oh, we’re caught. Here comes Ma.”
“Katie,” Katherine Knepp called from across the meadow. “Katie .... Katie... Katie...”
Someone shook her shoulder. “Katie, hey Katie. Wake up.” Opening her eyes, the lovely dream fizzled and left her heart heavy. Her mother’s musical voice turned into that of Bob Dalton. Katie scowled. “What is it?”
“Sun’s almost up. Katie, I have to talk to you.” Bob squatted on his heels and rubbed his hands together. He was fully dressed for the day, as though he’d been awake for some time, and looked rather anxious.
Katie rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, struggling to make her world not only come into focus, but for it to make sense as well. “You leaving, Bob?”
“Oh Katie,” he said, looking at her more intently than she felt was necessary. The horrible taste in her mouth made her cover her face with her hand before she spoke.
“What, Bob?”
The young bounty hunter smiled. “You remind me of everything pure and good in this world Katie Knepp—heck, you are everything pure and good.”
Katie listened to his whispers, not comprehending.
“I’ve been watching you sleep.”
Uneasiness quaked in her stomach beneath his intense stare.
“You’re everything I’m not, Katie. You’re also everything I want out of life.”
Katie stole a glance at Peter, sleeping soundly under the same quilt his mother gave him the day he came to live with the Amish.
“Come with me, Katie. Let Peter go on with his life. Come with me and let’s live a life of adventure. Live it out together.”
She hesitated, shifting her weight on the seat. “Bob, I—”
Obviously sensing her impending refusal, he reached forward and clasped her hands in his. Bob Dalton’s blue eyes were wide as he searched her face. “Me and my brothers can track down the bandits with our security firm and you can save their souls with that quiet, gentle way of yours.” He looked pointedly toward the horizon. It was just beginning to turn a hazy gray. “Let’s go, Katie. The time is now. Come with me. Marry me.”
“A life of adventure,” she began carefully, “is something I already have planned with Peter.”
Bob’s face registered disappointment, but only for a moment. “Can you honestly tell me you love him and not me?”
Katie nodded.
His hard-lined mouth softened into a defeated smile as Bob lifted Katie’s hands to his lips. “Can’t blame a feller for tryin’. Good luck in Texas, Katie Knepp.” Brushing the tops of her hands with a dry kiss, Bob tipped his hat again. Silent, he swung onto the back of his horse and disappeared into the fast encroaching dawn.
Stepping from her nest in the buggy, Katie walked to the edge of camp. Her arms hugged tightly to her chest to guard against the morning’s chill; she watched him go until he was a just a far-off speck. “Goodbye, Bob Dalton. May God go with you,” she whispered.
Turning back toward camp, she walked back to where Peter lay sleeping. I could have gone with Bob and Peter wouldn’t have known for hours, she thought. She watched as Peter’s back moved with each of his deep, rhythmic breaths. Glancing at the horizon, Bob’s figure was gone. Who could have even considered such a thing?
Carefully so as not to wake him, Katie lay down next to Peter. Propping her head upon her hand, she snaked her other arm across his still bare chest and squeezed lightly. “Since you are asleep, I expect my saying this doesn’t count. But I have to say it. I love you, Peter. I always have, even through my most stubborn moments, I have loved you. I know God made my match when He made you. I love you.” She moved her face closer until her lips brushed his skin. “I love you, Peter. I love you! I will marry you. Someday.”
Before she could even hope for a response from her sleeping beau, a bobcat dashed into camp. “Well, good morning cat,” Katie said, shocked at the feline’s bold entrance.
At the sound of her voice, the bobcat jerked its fluffy head toward her, as though noticing her for the first time.
“Good morning,” she said again, studying the small wild animal. Something about it didn’t look quite right. In the eyes, it looked everywhere but at her. It seemed jittery, on edge, and long strands of drool slimed at the corners of its mouth.
“Good morning,” Peter said, turning over heavily. “What have we here?”
“A bobcat.”
Peter’s sleepy smile sobered. “A bobcat?”
Katie nodded toward the animal that just stood there, staring at the pair of them.
Peter rose slowly. “I take that to mean it’s time to go. Here, let me help you into the buggy.”
The cat simply stood, staring at them as they clambered into the buggy. Carefully, as though it were sporting a righteous headache, the cat started after them. When they slowed, it slowed. When they sped up, the bobcat sped up. “Isn’t that strange,” Katie mused, craning her neck out the buggy’s window.
Peter nodded as he drove Sookie down the Missouri trail.
Funny, Katie thought as they rode along in comfortable silence. Peter didn’t even ask about Bob. She opened her mouth to make mention of his leaving but closed it again on second thought.
