For the Love of Suzanne (11 page)

“Never,” he hissed and stomped around
to the other side of the table again and sat down. He watched her cry
for a moment, breathing heavily. With another burst of anger, he
flung the heavy table onto her lap. He picked it up by the legs and
rammed it into her face, sending her to the floor again, not at all
bothered by the fact that she didn’t cry out this time or that
she was very still.

Without remorse, he pulled the door open and
grabbed the two sentries who were standing outside. “Get this
whore out of my sight,” he shouted and walked outside, slamming
the door.

The two men were shocked to find her beaten and
bloody and stood looking at her for a moment before releasing her
from the shackles.

“My God, he beat a woman,” one said
with wonder.

“Forget you ever saw this or you’ll
end up like Taylor,” the other warned gravely. “Let’s
get her back to the stockade.”

~~~

Suzanne was awakened when she felt cool water hit
her mouth and face. She opened her swollen black eyes as much as she
could and saw her two male cellmates at her side with wet rags trying
to clean her up and feed her water out of a cup.

She tried to sit up, but the pain in her face and
head sent her back down.

One held her head up with his hand and slowly fed
her water. “Easy there,” he said softly.

“Thank you,” she said barely above a
whisper.

“He had no right,” the other man said
with a twinge of anger in his voice. “She’s a woman.”

“He’s a sick son of a bitch,”
the man agreed. “If I ever get out of here, I’m going to
report him.”

“I’m not,” he said coldly. “I’m
going to kill him. It’s one thing to do this to a man. It’s
another thing to do it to a woman. I heard him yellin’ at her
and hittin’ her. He had no right. None at all.”

He nodded slowly as he looked down at the beaten
woman who was barely recognizable.

“And I hear she’s in a fragile state,”
he continued.

“I heard that, too.”

“She needs to see a doctor.”

“We’re the only doctors she’s
gonna see, Caleb,” he said sadly. “Nobody can help her
‘cept us so we’d better get to doctorin’ with what
we got.”

Suzanne grasped the man’s hand who was
giving her water. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Oh, you hush, ma’am,” he said
politely. “You need to rest.”

“I don’t know anything,” she
squeaked as tears fell. “Honest, I don’t.”

“I know,” he said compassionately. “We
heard Cody at the window last night and he didn’t tell you
nothin’.”

“He’s just helping me,” she
wept. “That’s all.”

Both men nodded understandingly and watched her
slip into an exhausted sleep.

“She needs a doctor.”

Caleb looked at his friend, the man who had been
giving her water, and nodded slowly as he looked at her. “She
does at that, Zack.”

It didn’t take long for Cody to get the
chief and the men organized for war. They did their rituals of
dancing and cleansing on the night he’d returned from the fort
as he looked on, never invited to participate even though he was one
of their fiercest warriors. To them, he was still a white man inside
an Indian body. His mother had been a traitor to their race; despite
his efforts to help them, he was still an outsider. He stayed close
to his lodge and did his own praying, giving special attention to
Suzanne who, for him, was the whole reason for this coup.

For them, it was a fight for freedom, pride and
their way of life. He knew they couldn’t hold on much longer
and were destined to end up on the reservations, despite what the
white man’s treaties said. The white man had broken all of the
treaties thus far and no Indian trusted them, including him. He was
being hunted by the cavalry and Addison Taylor had paid the ultimate
price for letting him into the fort and not arresting him. He wasn’t
sure exactly why he was being pursued, but he figured it had to do
with what was about to happen shortly.

He mentally laid out his plan. The attack was
going to happen under the cover of night with no moon. His first stop
would be the stockade where he would rescue Suzanne, kill her
cellmates, and tell everybody she was his slave. That would ensure
her safety, but he had to get there before anyone else. That was the
most important thing.

He knew the sentries would be playing their
nightly card games and wouldn’t see them coming. That, combined
with the moonless night, would give them the advantage. They would
enter quietly without their horses, which the women would be holding
away from the fort but close enough to where they would release them
when the attack started. All of the horses were trained to whistles,
which was something he’d come up with, and it hadn’t
taken the horses long to learn which whistle belonged to which man.

Cody had lied to the chief, saying that the white
men in the fort, namely Major Richards, were planning an attack on
the village and urged him to keep the fight away from the elders and
children.

As he prayed, he asked for forgiveness for putting
so many of his people at risk for the sake of one woman. He asked for
strength to defeat Major Richards and his army, who had them
outnumbered. He prayed for his people to win this battle with little
loss of life and even though he didn’t actually pray for this,
he wanted to exact his revenge on Richards for hanging Addison Taylor
and keeping Suzanne locked away like some animal. He hated the evil
man and hated his actions.

He crossed himself the way the nuns at the school
had taught him and kissed the cross at the bottom of his prayer beads
that were wrapped around his hand before going inside to change out
of his white man’s clothes. He put on his dark colored pants,
and tied his hair back with a leather strip. He wore heavy moccasins
and painted his face black with a red stripe going down his forehead,
over his nose, past his lips and chin. He made horizontal stripes
across his bare chest of yellow, black and red. He stepped outside
and gave a whistle and waited for his horse to come to the lodge,
which he did quickly and stood before him.

Cody painted red and yellow stripes on the big
black stallion, then kissed him on the forehead and said a prayer for
him, too.

He strapped on his gun belt and made sure he had
ammunition, thinking of Suzanne and knowing he was going into this
for purely selfish reasons. He wanted a forbidden woman. Not only was
she white, she was married and carried her husband’s child.
He’d tried to forget her and let it go, but he just couldn’t.
He had promised to take her back to her husband and he intended to do
just that. But it didn’t change his feelings for her. He’d
never been in love and he wasn’t sure he was now, but she
haunted his every moment. Her smile, her tears, her touch, and even
her kiss had left a lasting impression on his mind that had permeated
his heart.

He thought of her lying so innocently in his arms
the one night they’d shared in the desert. She’d been so
soft and pliant and when he’d kissed her, she’d seemed a
little frightened and had responded hesitantly. It wasn’t like
any kiss he’d ever experienced with any other woman, but
considering he slept with prostitutes who were paid to kiss like they
were enjoying themselves, it was no wonder.

Lame Bird approached him as he stood outside his
small dwelling. “Are you ready to go?” she asked him
lightly.

He nodded. “Yes.”

She gave a slight nod toward the center of camp
where a group of men were gathered. “So are the others.”

He looked but said nothing, knowing he was going
to be on his own once in battle. They didn’t trust him and he
sure didn’t trust them.

“I need to be bold with you, Black Fox,”
she said quietly. “Before you go to fight this battle.”

He looked at her questioningly.

She met his dark eyes. “When you come back,
I want you to marry me,” she said quietly.

He didn’t laugh, smile, or react in any way.
He had no desire to hurt this woman. She had been kind to him for a
long time. Under different circumstances, he might considered it, but
with his feelings for Suzanne, he would be cheating Lame Bird out of
the love she deserved.

She smiled nervously. “I’ve been
taking care of you for a long time. Do you not think I would make you
a good wife?”

“You will make another man a fine wife, Lame
Bird. You’re beautiful, smart and give much. You will make any
man proud.”

“Except you,” she said sadly.

He slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry.
You are a good woman, Lame Bird and I am thankful for you and all
that you do for me, but I cannot marry you,” he said gently.

“You will be an old man without children,”
she said softly and walked toward the gathering in the center of the
camp.

He felt bad. He knew she was right, but he’d
never wanted to hurt her. Everything he’d told her was true,
but what he hadn’t told her was that his heart belonged to
another. All he cared about at this point was getting Suzanne back to
safety and back into his arms, even if it would be just for a little
while. He thought of the quote he’d learned while back at the
white man’s school, one he hadn’t thought of in years.

‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to
never have loved at all.
He struggled to remember who’d said it
for a moment, then snapped his fingers as it hit him. “Alfred
Lord Tennyson. That’s right,” he said with a small smile
of satisfaction that lasted only a moment.

In just a few hours, he was going to war.

Suzanne was very tired and now hungry. Neither she
nor the other prisoners had been fed since the night before and, with
Major Richards being so upset with her, she knew it would be a lot
longer before any of them ate.

She apologized to the men who told her it was all
right and not to worry while they encouraged her to rest.

It was dark now and she could hear the men roaming
the fort, laughing and talking. She could hear the lively piano
music, and the whoops and hollers from Annalee’s saloon as well
as boisterous laughter and clanging glasses. She lay on her bed with
the thin blanket around herself, shivering with the cold of the night
and keeping alert of the rats that were moving freely around the
damp, dark cell. It was so dark, she could barely see her hand in
front of her face.

Her body ached from the beatings that Major
Richards had so brutally inflicted on her, but she was more worried
about the welfare of her baby. She knew the importance of good
prenatal care to ensure the baby’s health and she’d had
none since her initial visit to the doctor to confirm her pregnancy.
How long ago had that been? She’d completely lost track of time,
but knew the baby was growing since her clothes were getting tighter.
She also knew she would be showing very soon. Then what would happen?

Cody was her only chance and she begged God to
bring him back safely so he could return her to where he’d
found her.

It was her baby’s only chance.

~~~

Outside the fort, Chief Tall Deer had gathered the
warriors, including Cody, and surrounded the fort while some of the
women had stayed back with the horses. They’d made sure they
were out of harm’s way and the horses wouldn’t be heard.

Cody watched the men in the tower playing cards by
oil lamp. It was business as usual for them and they showed no sign
that they’d heard anything. He and four other warriors were
considered sharpshooters and were motioned by the chief to kill the
guards. They pulled arrows out of their quivers and loaded them onto
their bows, and, after careful aim, released them simultaneously,
successfully killing the four men without a sound.

They made their way inside the fort and saw there
was a sentry posted outside Major Richards’ private quarters,
dozing in a chair. The rest of the fort was quiet except for
Annalee’s and everybody in there was either drunk or indisposed
with one of her girls. The element of surprise was on their side.

He and the four other warriors made their way
around the tower which gave Cody a good look at the stockade. Once
again, there was a guard sitting outside dozing in the chair like
Richards’ guard was doing. Nothing seemed amiss.

He loaded another arrow and aimed at the sentry at
the door of the stockade. The man jerked a little when the arrow hit
him in the chest, but stayed in the semi-reclined position in the
chair.

Oblivious to what the others were doing, he ran
across the clearing and into the stockade, but he did hear the melee
start with men and women screaming as they ran for their lives. The
whoops and hollers from the other warriors briefly drew his
attention. He wanted to get Suzanne, but changed his mind, thinking
she would be safer where she was rather than trying to outrun the
warriors and cavalrymen. He ran back to Richards’ quarters and
flung the door open with his pistol drawn.

Richards looked up as he was awkwardly pulling on
his pants and didn’t say a word.

Cody dashed to him and held his gun under the
man’s chin. “You rotten son of a bitch,” he growled
between clenched teeth. “You hang an innocent man and imprison
an innocent woman and mistreat her and expect to walk away from it?”

“You won’t get away with this,”
he shouted frantically.

“And what are you going to do?” he
challenged him, pressing the gun further into his skin sneering at
him. “Your men will all be dead by morning and you’re too
much of a coward to kill me yourself,” he said angrily.

“Cody Black Fox,” he gasped in horror
when he realized who was speaking to him.

He moved the gun to his forehead. “Where are
the keys to the cell?” he demanded.

“I’m not going to tell you that,”
he said indignantly.

He pulled the hammer back. “You will if you
value your life,” he said lowly and rammed the barrel of the
gun into his forehead a little harder. “I could kill you right
now. God knows I want to, but let’s make this easy and tell me
where the damn keys are!”