Ask No Tomorrows (22 page)

“
You owe it to me, tell me why?” Sam insisted.

She firmed her
lips and met him face to face. “I know you are gonna think I’m
crazy, that I don’t know what I’m doing. But I do. For once. I’ve
thought this through. What I want with my life and what my father
wanted for me, are two different things. I don’t want to run a
ranch any longer. I don’t want to own all the territory between
here and New Mexico territory. I don’t want men chasin’ me for my
ranch, or my money. I want a life, I want a family,” she said
simply and turned away from him. “I want a man that loves me for
me.”

“
But you can have that and your ranch too!” Sam said adamantly.
“You don’t have to give it up.”

“
No, I can’t. I’ve tried that. When men come around me it’s
because they think they can either romance the ranch out from under
me or marry it. When I am at the ranch, I’m no more than a ranch
hand myself, doing my job every day. But I’ve come to the
conclusion that I am not a man, Sam. I no longer want that kind of
life. That’s a man’s kind of dream, not a woman’s. My father built
this but not me. My father earned this, not me. Now that I’ve seen
a little of the world, I want more for myself than a life that
promises nothing. I simply want love, that’s all, and kids,” Riley
admitted, no longer looking at him. “I want to build a family of my
own. And if I’m going to do that, I’ve got to learn how to be a
real lady.”

“
This is crazy, Riley.” Sam threw his coffee on the ground. It
soaked up fast. After a few minutes of reflecting on the things she
said he asked, “So, what are you gonna do?”

“
I’m going into town and to the bank, get my money, put the
ranch up for sale and have the lawyer handle the details for
me.”

Sam nodded.
“Yeah, and then what?”

“
I
don’t know. I haven’t got that far with my thinkin’ yet,” she
insisted. “But I can live on the money for a few years without
worryin’ over it.”

“
But you’re a rancher!”

“
No, I was a rancher. Now, I’m going to be a lady.” She smiled
brightly.

“
A
lady. A lady of what?”

“
Just a lady. Maybe I’ll find a husband.”

“
Then I guess this is goodbye, Riley, because you shore don’t
need me for this.” Sam shook his head with disgust.

“
You don’t want to come into town with me and help me pull off
the last charade?” Riley challenged.

Sam studied
her for a long moment. “All right, I’ll see it to the end, and then
I’m gone.”

“
Fair enough, let’s be on our way then,” she
exclaimed.

“
What about breakfast?” he asked.

“
I’m not hungry.” She smiled.

“
But…”

Chapter
Thirteen

Northwest of
Fort Worth they came upon a relay stage station and she bought
tickets to ride to Dallas, under the name of Ethan Morgan, and male
servant.

“
Hey, can my dog ride up there on the seat with you?” Sam asked
as the driver was loading the stage.

“
Sure, I guess. Is he friendly?” the man asked.

“‘
Bout as friendly as he can be…” Sam smiled.

Sam motioned
for Nodog who jumped up and onto the seat, then lay down and whined
as the driver took his place.

The driver
waved to Sam that they were set.

Riley would be
a man for the next few days and then this whole thing would come to
an end. The sadness of losing Sam was almost too much for her to
handle. But the reality made her face it. Sam wasn’t offering
marriage, or even his love.

However, she
squashed it to the back of her mind as her and Sam sat side by side
in the stagecoach.

The others
glanced at them but didn’t pay a lot of attention to them as they
boarded the stage.

“
This heat is stifling,” the woman declared as she produced a
hankie to hold over her nose.

“
It’ll be better once we get rolling. The air moving and
all.”

“
Then let’s pray it starts rolling soon.” She coughed and
looked at Riley.

Riley glanced
at them all, noting the gentleman on the other side of the woman
held a bag in his lap. And the husband looked irritated most of the
time. The woman was dressed with silks and petticoats and a hat
that seemed to aim straight for the gentleman on the end’s
forehead.

Riley almost
laughed as it poked the man.

Riley glanced
at Sam, who was by far the most handsome man in the
stagecoach.

In one breath
she wished she’d never met Sam, on another, she wished she was
smart enough to flirt her way back into his arms. But even she
realized it wouldn’t work until he came to terms with it, if he
came to terms with it.

The woman was
such a lady that Riley could do nothing more than stare the first
few miles. Her face was beautiful with full dark eyes, and hair,
with a touch of rouge and her lips a little brighter, her clothes
were from sent off stores, such as New York. She smelled of
flowers, and the lady’s gaze landed on Sam more than once, but she
avoided any contact with Riley for some reason.

Riley sighed
inwardly, the men eyed her with open curiosity.

“
Traveling far, sir?” one of them asked.

“
Not now, but we’ve come all the way from Boston. We’re almost
there now.” She barely smiled. Her mustache tickled her lip. She
wanted to rip it off, but knew that was no option. Why did men have
to grow such things on their lips and face?

“
And you, sir?” She returned her attention to the gentleman
sitting beside the lady.

“
Actually we are on business, but at least my wife got to
travel with me this time. She loves the big city of Dallas, says
it’s the only place that is decent in North Texas.” The gentleman
smiled at Riley. “And I reckon she’s right about that.”

The gentleman
on the right of the lady jumped into the conversation. “I’m a
liquor salesman and I travel all over the country. Texas is one of
my biggest clientele.”

Riley twitched
her mustache. “Guess that explains why we have so many saloons in
each town.”

The other man
laughed.

“
Actually, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana, not to mention the
gold mining towns of California have the most saloons, I believe. I
pride myself in carrying some of the best whiskey’s available;
Cactus Wine, being one of the most popular, a
mix of tequila and peyote tea. And
Mule Skinner, made with whiskey and blackberry liquor. Naturally, I
carry an assortment of Rye, and bourbons. Twenty years ago, I
carried little more than rotgut whiskeys. But times are improving.
Saloons are improving too.” He laughed. “Why, one fellow in Montana
sent all the way to the east for a mirror that covered one whole
wall.”

“
Drinking is a sin,” the lady gushed forth
with no approval and batting her eyes at Sam as though he were the
only real man in the stage.

“
I guess it can be, ma’am, but that’s sorta
up to the cowboy, ain’t it?” the salesman asked.

Everyone
hushed as the woman sent him a quick scowl.

“
So…are you from the deep south?” the lady
asked Riley, and stared at her long and hard.

Riley squirmed. “No ma’am, I’m from Texas. I never considered
Texas south really, but I guess it is. Sorta southwest.”

“
Really? I didn’t think many Texans had men
servants after the war,” she remarked. “Georgia, Mississippi maybe,
but not Texas.”

Riley glanced at Sam and smiled. “Sam is loyal and I didn’t
have the heart to run him off. He’s been a companion to me for
years now. He’s a free man, but he chooses to stay with
me.”

“
Is he educated?” the lady asked.

“
I’m alive ma’am, you can ask me.” Sam
smiled sagely. “The answer is no. I’m only educated in the ways of
the Indian, and mission people. I find my work as Mr. Morgan’s man
servant satisfying and comfortable for me. For what kind of work
would a black man get without proper education? Being a man servant
eludes me much opportunity to travel and see the world. And Mr.
Morgan and I get along well.”

“
Indians?” the woman screeched. “I haven’t
much knowledge of them, but I thought them savages.”

Sam
eyed the woman coldly. “At one time, I guess you could have said
that. But today the Indian is a farmer, a rancher, a hired hand,
much like other white folks. Most speak English well and dress like
the white man too. This country is full of every nationality known
to man, it would seem.”

The
woman twisted her head as though this was new information. Riley
smiled. “The word savages no longer fits the Indians, due in a
large degree because of the missions and schools.”

Sam cast Riley
a wry smile.

Once again the
lady hushed and Riley was glad, as she knew she had rubbed a raw
sore in Sam.

They were only
a few miles south of Dallas when shots were fired and Sam stuck his
head out the window to see what was going on.

“
Looks like a hold-up. Just be very quiet
and try not to panic or say too much,” Sam instructed everyone. “If
we behave they’ll only take our jewelry and things, not our
life.”

“
Our life? A hold-up?” the lady screeched.
“Well, can’t you do something? Stop them?” She glanced at her
husband who’d been silent almost the entire trip.

The
gentlemen pulled their pistols and Sam pulled Riley’s head down to
protect her.

Suddenly, a shot whizzed by and from the sound of it hit
Nodog. Sam gazed out the window once more.

Blood dripped from the driver’s seat.

“
I think they hit Nodog,” Sam
whispered.

Riley gasped. “Oh no…”

The two gents
fired out the window, the lady sank down beside Riley, holding her
hat in place at the same time.

“
Does this happen often?” the woman asked
Riley.

“
Only when they know there is money to be
had,” Sam answered her.

The driver
suddenly fell from his seat and they watched him being dragged for
several miles before the outlaws pulled the stage over.

The woman
screamed and Sam tried to put his hand over her mouth, but she
fought him.

The outlaws
were fast to pull the stage over and stop the horses. Dust flew and
for a few seconds no one could see what was going on. The outlaws
busied themselves for several minutes with the heavy strong box,
and were just as quick to unload the stage.

The lady
quivered, and raised her hands high above her head. Three men
surrounded them now, eyeing each of them with interest. Riley
stayed close to Sam. She knew he would know more what to do than
any of the others, and she was thankful he had come with her once
again.

“
Okay, unload that purse lady, and your
jewelry. You gents throw those guns down,” one of the robbers
instructed.

“
Did you see my dog?” Sam asked when he
realized Nodog was no longer on the seat.

“
What’s left of him.” One of the outlaws
laughed. “Yours?”

“
Yes.” Sam gritted his teeth as he
spoke.

“
Well lookie here, this one doesn’t even
have a gun. We got some real greenhornes this time.” One of the
outlaws laughed at Riley.

When all the valuables were collected, one of the outlaws
turned to the other. “What you wanta do with them?”

“
Take the coach, leave them afoot. Doesn’t
look like any of them can take care of themselves nor do us any
harm. It’ll still take them a day or day and a half to get to
Dallas. By then we’ll be long gone.”

The others
nodded.

Riley narrowed in on one of them as she recognized or thought
she recognized his spurs. But she knew letting them know about it,
could mean her life, so she stayed silent. The one with the bright
silver spurs looked like Harry. Could it be? Why would he involve
himself in a stagecoach robbery? He had her ranch, wasn’t that
enough?

“
Don’t you think we ought to tie them up at
least, stall them getting back even more?”

“
All right. Tie ‘em to those trees over
there,” the leader instructed. “From the looks of them, they are
gonna have a hard time just getting loose.”

Finally, with all of them tied to trees, the outlaws rode off,
shooting their guns in the air and laughing at them.

“
My God,” the woman yelled. “Help! Someone,
please help us!”

Sam waited
until they were gone a while before moving.

He
wiggled and moved about ‘til Riley figured out he was trying to
reach something out of the leg of his pants. He finally dug out a
knife and tried to get the knife in his hands. It took a lot of
twisting and turning before he could get the knife turned so he
could grab it with one hand. He had to kick the knife about to get
it in just the right place. He had to twist his body in a million
directions to get his hand around the knife well enough to control
where he was cutting. Sweat peppered his forehead, Riley watched in
fascination as the man she had come to trust was once again saving
her and the fellow passengers. The two other men sat very still as
though they’d lost all hope of getting loose.