Sam wasn’t sure what he should do. On the surface, it was clear he should return to the wood pile until dinner was ready, but his instincts cried out for him to follow Kate into the house. He chose to follow his instincts.
Kate walked inside. She stood her rifle against the wall beside the door, stepped away from it a short step and stopped. She folded her arms. She took a deep breath. Her shoulders began to tremble, slightly at first, then with growing tremors that rippled throughout her body. A deep sob caught in her throat as she fought to stifle it.
Acting purely on instinct, Sam walked around in front of her. He stepped up to her and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. ‘You did good,’ he said.
She looked up into his eyes. What she saw there released the torrent of her emotions. She burst into tears and collapsed against his chest. Startled, he did the only thing he could think of doing. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to himself, holding her against the intensity of the emotions that wracked her body. Neither said anything. After a couple minutes, she wrapped her own arms around him, squeezing him to herself as if trying to pull his strength into the vast vacuum of helpless terror that yawned within her.
They stood that way for several minutes, as the trauma of the morning blended into the greater trauma of losing her husband, her fear for the future, her responsibility for a son, her need to be more than she could possibly be. It all poured out wordlessly in sobs and tears and shudders as he held her, willing his own strength to buoy her flagging, fractured spirit.
Slowly, then, she relaxed her grip around him. He responded by releasing her. She stepped back. She lifted her apron and mopped her face with it. ‘I’m … I’m sorry,’ she apologized. ‘I don’t usually fall apart like that.’
His response surprised her. ‘One of the toughest and fiercest fighters I ever knew was like that.’
Her eyes darted upward and locked on his gaze. ‘He was?’
‘Yup. He could stand alone against a regiment o’ the Mexican army, or a whole tribe of attackin’ warriors without flinching, and fight like a demon, till the battle was over. Then, when it was all over, he’d slip off by himself someplace and just plumb fall apart. There ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.’
Her eyes dropped toward the cabin’s floor. ‘I hate being that weak.’
‘That ain’t weak,’ he argued gently. ‘You are one tough lady. But don’t never be ashamed of bein’ a woman too.’
She looked back up at him, then seemed suddenly embarrassed. ‘I’ll go ahead and fix us some dinner.’
Taking his cue, Sam said, ‘I’ll work on the wood pile till you holler.’
He split a fair pile of kindling before she called him for dinner. She rang the triangular dinner bell that hung in the yard. Within minutes Billy galloped into the yard. ‘The horses ain’t gonna go anywhere for a while,’ Sam called to him. ‘Your ma’s got dinner ready.’
They ate a hearty and hasty noon meal, then returned to their tasks: Billy to watching the horses, Sam and Kate to the wood pile. By the time she quit to fix supper, they were both exhausted.
They had scarcely finished eating when they heard a horse approach. ‘Now what?’ Sam muttered, as he checked his gun.
Kate waited, preferring the light and Sam’s presence to meeting whomever approached in the dark alone.
‘Hello the house,’ a voice called.
Softly, Kate told Sam, ‘That sounds like Bobby Farmer.’
‘Who’s he?’
‘One of Spalding’s cowboys. He used to come by to help Ralph once in a while. I’ve never been very comfortable around him, but he’s never really bothered.’
‘Hello the house,’ the voice called again.
‘Is that you, Bobby?’
‘Yup. Sure is, Kate. Can I come in?’
‘Sure, come on in,’ she invited. ‘We’ve got some supper if you’re hungry.’
A young cowboy burst unsteadily through the door. He didn’t see either Sam or Billy, as Sam had herded the boy and himself back into the shadows cast by the kerosene lamp. ‘Aw, I ain’t really hungry,’ Bobby said, slurring his words ever so slightly. Sam clearly smelled the whiskey on his breath from across the room. Kate backed up a couple steps, startled by his obvious drunkenness.
‘Not for supper, anyway,’ Bobby went on. ‘A little dessert sure would be nice, though. You gotta be gettin’ pretty lonesome nights, what with Ralph gone and all.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Kate pretended.
‘Aw, sure you do, Kate. You gotta know I ain’t never been able to keep my eyes off o’ you. I didn’t never do nothin’, what with you bein’ married and all. But now that you’re just as single as me, I figured I’d just ride over here and cure your loneliness and mine too, for a while.’
Kate drew herself up to her full five foot six. ‘You can just figure differently, Bobby Farmer. You can just get on your horse and ride back where you belong.’
‘Aw, now, don’t go gettin’ all standoffish. I know you’ve been wantin’ me just as much as I been wantin’ you. There ain’t nothin’ standin’ in our way, now, Kate.’
As he spoke he strode forward and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms down and barring her from reaching her rifle. She struggled against him, but she couldn’t move from the iron grip of his arms around her. The smell of whiskey on his breath was overwhelming as he fumbled for her mouth to kiss her.
A rough hand on his shoulder spun him around unexpectedly. As he spun, an iron-hard fist slammed into his jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor. Kate stepped back, gasping, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.
Bobby scrambled to his feet just in time to be knocked flat by a left hook from Sam’s fist. He got to his feet more slowly. ‘Who’re you?’ he demanded.
‘I’m a friend of Kate’s, that ain’t about to let some two-bit drunken cowboy make a fool of himself with her. Now get out.’
‘What business have you got bein’ here?’ the cowboy demanded.
‘If it was any of your business, I’d tell you I’m just working for her for a few days. But since it isn’t any business of yours, I’ll tell you I’m Santa Claus. Now go get on your reindeer and beat it, or I’ll beat you.’
He looked confused, trying to make sense of the strange words. Then he clearly considered making a fight of it, but thought better of the idea. He stumbled for the door. As he started through it, he turned back to Sam. ‘Whoever you are, you better watch your back. You’re buttin’ in where you ain’t wanted.’
He slammed the door. In a few minutes they heard his horse gallop away.
‘Santa Claus?’ Kate demanded. ‘Santa Claus? You might at least have told him you were a hired bodyguard or something, so he’d think you’d still be here if he came back. And if you’re Santa Claus, why is he riding a reindeer?’
‘You will still be here, won’t you, Sam?’ Billy pleaded. ‘You ain’t gonna leave me and Ma here by ourselves, are you?’
Sam squirmed. ‘I’ll stay another day, Billy, and get a good pile of wood split up. But I’ve got those horses out there, and they don’t belong to me. If I don’t take them home, I won’t be any better than the guys that stole them in the first place.’
‘But me and Ma need you here,’ Billy insisted.
‘Your ma’s one tough lady, Billy. She can take care of herself, and you too. I helped her out a little tonight, but if I hadn’t been here, she’d have handled that cowboy. If she’d have needed help, I’m bettin’ you would have hit him over the head with that iron skillet on the stove. You’ll both be just fine.’
As he rolled into his blankets under the trees, along the creek, he felt like he was the biggest liar in Wyoming.