Another Chance (17 page)

Both Jordan
and Wolf were shaking their heads negatively.  Wolf was the one to
speak.  “I was plannin’ on puttin’ you on a plane to Idaho today, but if
we can get you settled with these people instead, that should work.  We
just can’t take a chance on Lambert seein’ you and connectin’ you with Jordan
or me.  He could use you to get to either one of us.”

Jordan
retrieved her phone and placed a call to Mac’s number.  She quickly
explained the situation and Mac assured her that both he and Mary would love to
have Feather stay with them.  Then he scolded her because she hadn’t told
him about Lambert having escaped from prison.

“I already
have one body guard, thanks to Sheriff John.  But I knew you would want to
help and this way we both benefit.  You’ll both love Feather.”

It was
settled.  Mary insisted that they all come to her house for breakfast and
bring all Feather’s stuff, including her horse.  It would make the transition
easier on Feather than if she just walked into a strange home with people she
didn’t know.

Breakfasts
went well and by the time the kitchen was cleaned up, Mary and Feather were
making plans to go riding later in the day.

Wolf warned
her that she couldn’t come to Jordan’s for any reason but he promised to call
her daily.

It wasn’t
until they were returning to her house that Jordan realized that now she no
longer had a chaperon.  She glanced at the man driving the truck. 
She wasn’t afraid that he would take advantage of her, but having other people
knowing there was someone else around had made her feel that her reputation
would remain intact.  While she was still looking at him, he turned his
head and glanced at her.  She blushed for having been caught
looking.  She was glad she had insisted that he drive when they got in her
truck to return to her place.

She looked
away.  “It was good that you let Feather keep your truck.  She’ll
enjoy being a little independent.”

He
nodded.  “I hope you remember when this is all over, that you didn’t buy
breakfast this mornin’.  You owe me a meal and I’ll be expectin’ to
collect it.”

She grinned at
him.  “It will be my pleasure. 
When this is all over
has such
an ominous sound, doesn’t it?”

His lips
lifted on one side into an almost smile.  “That’s the way life can be, but
we are both comin’ through this just fine.  Lambert is the one who
loses.  Remember that.”

The two of
them had done morning chores while Feather was packing, so when they arrived
back at the barn, Jordan retrieved Pride from her paddock and brought her into
the barn.  She spent some time grooming the filly and just admiring her
before returning her to the paddock.

Wolf had his
own horse saddled and when she had brought in one of the two colts she was
still committed to riding, he suggested that she show him some of the riding
places around the farm.  Jordan agreed and when she had the colt groomed
and ready she saw him approaching with her saddle and pads.  He placed
them easily on the horse’s broad back.

“I don’t know
which bridle you use,” he said, making sure that the saddle was sitting
straight and nothing was caught beneath it.  While he finished adjusting
the saddle, she ducked into the tack room and returned with the D-ring snaffle
that she usually used on the colts she was starting.

In just a
matter of minutes, the two of them mounted.  Jordan led the way up the
lane, past her house and through the open gate of the large empty pasture in
back.

“This is where
I’ll one day have my broodmares and foals,” she explained.  “I want to be
able to look out the back window and see them.”

Wolf
nodded.  “You might want to put up a run in shelter for them.  One
big enough that you can put hay under so they can enjoy it when it rains.”

Jordan smiled,
nodding.  He thought like she did.

“And a big
water trough kept full of water pumped up by a windmill.”  He added. 
“One you can swim in when it’s hot.”

Now Jordan
laughed.  “I probably won’t have that many mares.  Just four or five
really good mares.  A trough the size you’re thinking would get stagnant
in the summer heat.”

“Put in some
koi.  They’d keep it clean, but you could still swim in it.”  He
suggested.

Jordan
nodded.  “They might, but I just ride down to the river when I want to
swim.”

At the back of
the pasture they rode through another gate, Jordan opening and shutting it
without dismounting.  That was part of the training she did with all the
colts she rode.

To Wolf it
seemed strange to ride such flat land.  He and his horse were used to a
few steep inclines to traverse.  He was intrigued by the many oak trees
and the planted pines that they rode through.  He listened to the
different songs of the birds and several times surprised Jordan by mimicking
some of them with near perfection.  He was totally absorbed with his
surroundings and Jordan had a chance to study him without restraint.  She
continued to like what she saw.

She couldn’t
help herself.  He was a completely masculine man, with all the looks that
any man could wish for and as they rode, she felt she was seeing glimpses of
the eager little boy he had been while learning to appreciate his Indian
heritage from his grandfather.

After they
rode for about an hour, the woods became thicker and the land dropped
gradually.  Then there were some small sharp rolls of land that soon
brought them to the edge of a dark brown swirling river.

“This is the
Suwannee River, my swimming hole,” Jordan said as they rode down the steep
white sandy beach that quickly disappeared under the water.  Jordan’s
horse drank from the water and pawed at it loudly after he had quenched his
thirst.

“Why is it so
brown?”  Wolf asked.  His horse had stopped several yards short of
the edge and was eyeing it with suspicion.

“I understand
that’s caused by the tannin from the oak trees.”  She explained.

He looked at
her, his brows arched skeptically.  “Now, I think you’re taking advantage
of my ignorance.”

She
laughed.  “No, really.  Tannic acid from the roots of the trees and
probably from fallen leaves leach into the water, causing it to have that dark
color.  My dad said that Indians used it to help tan skins and such. 
I don’t know.”

“I feel like
my Indian education has let me down.  I’ve never heard of it.  In the
northwest, our rivers are almost clear.”  Wolf urged his horse forward,
but the young animal wanted no part of that dark swirling water.  He
snorted loudly, his feet dancing nervously.

“Unless you
want to swim, don’t go out too far.  The bottom drops off very sharply and
the sandy bottom is soft and shifty,” Jordan warned as Wolf’s horse edged
closer to the water’s edge.

After the
horse took a step or two toward the river, Wolf allowed him to stand and
look.  He used his strong connection with the animal to calm him and then
the horse walked a slow step at a time until he could reach out with his nose
and sniff the edge of the water.  At last satisfied that it was just
strangely dark water, he sipped in a few drops to taste.  Nodding his head
up and down to move the water around in his mouth, the horse then lifted his
head above his shoulders and raised his top lip, pulling the smell deep into
his sinus cavity.  Then he relaxed.

“Brother
thinks your river stinks,” Wolf said.

Jordan
laughed.  “Well, it’s still considered a pristine river.  There
aren’t many of them left in Florida.  Down south, he could really smell
some stinky water.”

“Is it always
so dark, or does the seasons affect it?”  He inquired.

Jordan
shrugged her shoulders.  “I think it’s always like this.  I’ve never
noticed any different color.  Now, if you drive a few miles south, you’ll
come to the Santa Fe River.  It’s almost clear.”  Again she shrugged
her shoulders.  “As far as I know they run through the same kinds of
trees.  Go figure that.  And if you visit the springs that empty into
either river, they are as clear as can be.”

As they rode,
Wolf asked questions about the plant and animal life that they encountered and
before he knew it, they had made a loop and were back at the gate to the brood
mare pasture.  Again, Jordan opened it and shut it without dismounting. 
She patted the colt’s neck as a reward for having done a good job.

During their
ride, Bhrandii had trotted along with them, sometimes in front, sometimes
following an interesting scent, then catching up a little further along the
trail.  Now he trotted ahead having left them before Jordan had closed the
gate.  As they approached the house, they heard him barking loudly, a
definite warning that someone was at the front of the house.

Jordan never
allowed her mounts to lope toward the barn, but decided that this might require
her to rescue someone, so she pressed her heels against his sides and the
responsive gelding broke into a lope.  Wolf and his horse pushed ahead and
passed through the open gate first, then dropped to a walk as he identified
Sheriff John’s four wheel drive SUV parked in front of the house. 
Bhrandii, with the ridge hair down the middle of his back raised, had treed the
sheriff inside and was making sure he stayed there.  The sheriff sat
inside his vehicle, watching them approach.

Stopping
beside the car, Jordan dismounted and spoke to her dog, who came to her side
and sat obediently.  Wolf stayed on his horse and as the sheriff got out
of the car, reached to take the reins of Jordan’s mount.

“I’ll put the
horses away.  You see what he needs.”

She passed the
reins up to him.  “Thanks.”  Then she walked over to the sheriff and
they exchanged a brief hug.

Wolf nodded a
greeting as he rode past his boss, ponying Jordan’s mount to the barn.

John Davis
watched the man ride past, one of his big arms draped across Jordan’s shoulders
affectionately.

“How’s your
body guard working out?  Minding his manners, I hope.”  He asked as
they walked up to the house.

“Of course he
is.  He’s been nothing less than a gentleman.”  She replied.

“Well, if he
knows what’s good for him, he’ll keep that up.  I didn’t put him out here
to take advantage of you.”

“Sheriff John,
I am not the helpless widow woman that you seem to think I am.  I can take
care of myself.  At least enough to keep a normal man in line.”

He dropped his
arm off her shoulder as they reached the porch, her ahead of him.  He
dropped into one of the rocking chairs after ascending the steps and sighed
deeply.  “I’ve always loved the view from this porch.”

Jordan faced
him leaning back against the porch rail in front of the chair next to
him.  “Now, is there news that I need to know?”

John Davis
shook his head negatively.  “Nope.  I was headed to the house and
just thought I’d stop by and check on you.  When you weren’t here, I
checked the barn and realized you’d gone riding.  I decided it would be
smart to wait in the truck.  I didn’t want to try to out run that
dog.”  He cast a suspicious glance at the big canine.

Jordan didn’t
say anything, still wondering why he had waited for her to return from her
ride.

After a minute
of silence he spoke again.  “I really just wanted to find out how this new
man is working out.  Maybe I should have picked one of my older men to do
this job.  I….uh….I don’t want to compromise your reputation, nor did I
want someone here that might take advantage of the situation.  You know
what I mean?”

Jordan
laughed.  “I promise that Deputy Cetan has not tried to take advantage of
me.  I admit I wasn’t real happy with this set up, but I’m starting to
trust him.  Just relax.  You’re doing all you can do and he isn‘t
interested in anything other than doing his job.”

Again, the
silence stretched between them, Sheriff John seriously doubting her last
statement, but remaining silent about it.  The silence between them wasn’t
an uncomfortable silence.  “You know, I sure do miss your parents.” 
He said after a minute.  “Your dad was a good man, and you look just like
your mother did when she was your age.  She was a beautiful woman.” 
Then he added.  “She was
always
a beautiful woman.”

Jordan laughed
and nodded.  Then she was struck with a sudden thought.  “Sheriff
John, did you have a crush on my mama?”

His face
turned crimson under his cowboy hat and a sad smile slowly spread across his
face.  “I guess I did.  Of course it could never have been more than
that,” he added quickly.  “I always had a lot of respect for both your
parents.  It was a bad day when they died.”

Jordan looked
at this man she had always known, in a different way.  “I guess I was so
absorbed in my own loss, I didn’t think how their deaths affected other
people.  I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much it hurt you.”

He looked up
at her and she caught the liquid glint of restrained tears.  “If I’m
sometimes a little fatherly toward you, just forgive me.  You’re all
that’s left of them and I just want to make sure that you’re safe and happy.”

She slipped
off the rail and bent over him, impulsively giving him a quick hug. 
“Thank you and I know that’s what they would both expect you to do.  I’ll
try not to be such a trial to you in the future.”

He had
welcomed her hug and now smiled up at her.  He hadn’t expected to reveal
his feelings for her mother and was glad that she wasn’t upset about it.

“Well, just
let me come up here every once in a while and enjoy the view from this porch
and we’ll call it even.”  He pushed out of the chair as Wolf approached
and walked up the steps.

The two men
shook hands.

“How’re you
doing, Daniel?”  John Davis asked his deputy.

“I’m settlin’
in.”  Wolf replied.  “But I do want to ask a favor of y’all,” he cut
his eyes to include Jordan.  “I’m Daniel Cetan on paper, but I really
prefer to be called Wolf.  That’s what my grandfather always called me and
anythin’ else just doesn’t sound right.”