28

Sam’s hands gripped the saddle horn, his knuckles white. The sun glared in the cloudless expanse of sky that faded to white at the horizon. The horses had ceased their brisk pace and settled into a plodding walk. Sam swayed in the saddle, and his head jerked as if it sat on a malformed spring.

“We better rest pretty soon,” Jack said to Maria. “The horses are wore out, and I don’t think this old man’s gonna hold out much longer if we don’t get some water in him.”

“Who cares about him?”

“Your father does. He’s gonna want him alive so he can sign those papers.”

She sighed. “You’re right. Let’s head for those trees to our left. There should be water there.”

Jack spurred his gelding into a trot, pulling on the lead rope attached to Sam’s horse. After a short distance, the horses once again slowed to a walk, too fatigued to maintain a faster pace.

“Let the horse set the pace,” Maria said. “He’ll pick it up when he smells the water.”

Within a few hundred yards, Jack’s horse sniffed and raised his head, nostrils flaring. He walked faster but wouldn’t break into a full trot. The other horses followed his lead.

Trees lined both sides of a narrow brook. The sluggish water ran over rocks, and tree branches littered its bed.

Sam watched Jack help Maria dismount. For a moment they froze, Jack’s hands on her slim waist, her hands on his shoulders, their eyes locked. Maria slid from her saddle and leaned into Jack, their bodies in full contact as he lowered her to the ground. Sam remembered Ruth and their rides around the ranch. They would find a secluded spot, and Ruth would dismount and slide into his arms just as Maria had slid into Jack’s. They would spend several hours lying together.

Maria walked over to Sam, untied the rope around his wrists, and pushed him off the saddle. He landed with a loud thump on the soft ground. More pain. He stifled a moan.

Jack loosened the girths and led the horses to the water, where they drank with loud slurps. He filled the canteens upstream. Maria lay on her stomach on the bank of the brook and drank.

Sam croaked through parched lips, “I need . . . to drink.”

Maria sat up and sniffed. “So help yourself. Nobody’s stopping you.”

Sam rolled onto his stomach, but after several attempts to rise up on his elbows and push with his feet, he collapsed and coughed on a mouthful of dirt.

“You don’t have to be so mean to him.” Jack walked over to Sam and helped him drink from a canteen.

Maria stood and wiped the dust from her man’s shirt and trousers. Her shiny ebony hair cascaded to her shoulders, framing her face with its waves. Her green eyes flashed as she glared at Sam.

“You don’t know what my father suffered because of this man. He broke Papa’s spirit and sent him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit just so he could get him out of the way for that woman they both wanted to marry.”

Sam stirred and tried to shout for help but only managed a hoarse grunt.

“Aaahh.” Maria waved her hand in his direction. “He’s useless. Not even worth pitying. I’ll be glad to get rid of him when Papa’s done with him.”

She went over to the horses and removed some biscuits, cold bacon, and dried fruit from the saddlebags. She gave some to Jack.

“What about the old man?”

“You feed him. I don’t even want to go near him. He makes me sick.”

Jack helped Sam into a sitting position against a fallen tree and placed some of the food at his feet. Sam shoveled the food into his mouth. His stomach gnawed. His head throbbed, pounding like a hammer beating hot metal into his brain. He retched, and everything he’d eaten came back up. He turned his head just in time to avoid getting it on his clothes.

“Useless. Just like I told you. I’m going to go clean up. There’s a nice, deep spot upstream.”

She walked about fifty feet and stood at the edge of the stream. When he saw her remove her clothes, he looked at Jack, who seemed to think it a normal, everyday occurrence for his wife to strip naked before strangers.

Sam managed to lift the canteen to his lips. The water soothed his parched mouth and relieved the burning irritation in his throat.

“Has she no shame?” He couldn’t raise his voice above a hoarse whisper.

Jack shrugged. “It’s her way of saying she don’t care about you. You don’t even exist to her.”

Sam averted his eyes when she climbed out of the water. Jack stood between the two of them while she dressed. When she finished, Jack tended to the horses, tightened the girths, and topped off the canteens. When all was ready, Jack helped Sam onto his horse while Maria stood gazing off in the distance.

“Where are we going?” Sam asked.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” Maria snapped.