Trail of Golden Dreams (24 page)

He went under and
battled to unlace her boots with his fingers.  Failing, he reached for the
knife he kept hidden under his pants leg. They stared at each other under water. 
He could tell she was about out of breath.  He was, too.  He slashed
at the boot strings with the knife, pulled the leather apart, yanked her ankle,
and her foot slipped out.  They kicked their way to the surface and clung
together as they were swept down the canyon on the rolling waves.

At a low spot,
Grey shoved her onto a flat rock then she pulled on his arms, helping him crawl
onto it, too.  They sprawled there for a while catching their
breath.  As quick as the flood rose, it receded just as fast.  When
her boot floated by, Grey stuck his hand in the water and retrieved it. 

“I’ll be
damned.”  He checked it over before handing it to her.  “You’ll need
new laces, but at least you won’t have to ride to Santa Fe in your stockings.”

Josie smiled, threw
her arms around his neck, and kissed his lips.  “That’s the second time
you’ve saved my life today.  What would I do without you?”

“Maybe you won’t
have to find out,” he panted.

Her eyebrow
arched, and she tossed him a puzzled look, but he had no more to say.  He
inhaled and exhaled deep breaths while watching her face transform to reveal a
myriad of emotions.  Finally, she ripped her gaze from him and eased her
sore foot into the waterlogged boot. “What do you think happened to Marshal
Kendall?  I thought they were gonna kill us,” she said, blankly.

Grey slicked back
his wet hair.  “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about him and that
tracker anymore.” She nodded.  It was clear she understood what he meant.

“Look, Grey! 
It’s your hat!”  She pointed to the black Stetson floating toward
them.  He leaned over and snatched it out of the water and plopped it on
his head.

“I guess you lost
yours,” he said.

“I don’t know why,
but I flung it over the saddle horn when I tied up Traveler and
Lightning.  Guess I wasn’t thinking clear.”  Her face suddenly
paled.  “Oh, Grey. The animals!”

He helped her
stand and then wrung water out of the tail of his shirt.  “Maybe they got
loose and made it to higher ground.”  He wanted to sound hopeful, but
didn’t have the energy to try.  The last thing he wanted right now was for
her to feel bad, but it’d always been difficult for him to pretend things were
good when they weren’t.  When the shooting had started, he’d told her to
go. Even in the heat of the action, he’d assumed she’d known that meant for her
to stay with their mounts.  Now the animals were probably drowned, and
everything each of them owned was gone.  But at least Josie was alive.

She closed her
eyes, and her lip quivered. 

“Don’t start
fretting yet,” he sighed.  “We don’t know they’re gone.  How good are
you at tying knots?”

“Not good,” she
admitted, sniffling.

“Well, there you
go.  Hopefully they broke free and ran for high ground, where they’re
probably waiting for us.  We’ll walk up and see if we can find them. 
The main thing is you’re safe.”  He could tell that made her feel somewhat
better.  She slipped her hand into his and they started climbing.

“Grey,” she
began.  “I need to tell you something.”  Their wet boots squeaked as
they tramped.

“What is it?” She
acted nervous, biting her lower lip.  “Tell it straight out, Josie.
 Whatever it is.”

“When Molly gave
me her mirror, she gave me something else, too.”

He stopped, still
breathing heavy. The weight of the world bore down on him. “What?  What’d
she give you?”

She gulped. 
“One hundred dollars cash money.  It was hidden in my saddlebags. 
It’s probably gone now, too.”  

Seeing she was on
the brink of crying, he put his hands on her shivering shoulders.  “Why
didn’t you tell me before, Josie?  Were you afraid I’d steal it from you?”

“No,” she answered
quickly.  Her head dropped.  “I…I just wanted some money of my own in
case you backed out on our deal once we found the gold.  I’m sorry,
Grey.  I should have trusted you enough to tell you.  I
do
trust you now.  I hope you believe me.”

He didn’t say
anything for a minute, and then gave her a weary smile.  “I believe you,
Josie.  And I don’t blame you for wanting to keep it a secret.  The
money was yours.  It’s a hard life out here.  We all have to do what
we can to survive.”

She stared
intently, like she expected him to say more.  He was grateful when she let
it be and started walking again.

When they reached
the top, the horse and mule were nowhere in sight.  When her eyes began to
swell again, he reminded her, “Animals can be replaced, but not people. 
If you hadn’t disobeyed me, you might have drowned with them.  For once,
I’m thankful for your stubbornness.”

“What do we do
now?” she asked somberly.

“Walk down the
mountain and hope to God they show up.”

“What if they
don’t?”

He shook his head
and started the trek down ahead of her.  Sometimes silence was the best
answer.

* * * *

The wind howled
like wolves as they stumbled across the desert.  Josie was used to wind
storms, especially in the springtime, but this fierce cyclone was like nothing
she’d experienced before.  If they’d not been wearing scarves to keep the
sun from blistering their necks, sand would be filling their ears, noses and
mouths right now and suffocating them alive.  Her bandana was stretched
tight across her face, leaving only her eyes peeking out.  The brim of
Grey’s hat was on her head and tipped down to keep the blowing dirt from
stinging her.  He’d let her wear the Stetson once the wind had started,
and wrapped one of his extra shirts around his own head for protection from the
flying dirt.

There was no way
to communicate with him except for hand gestures, and even those were difficult
to see through the column of dust that whirled before them as thick as an adobe
wall. At times it was hard to see two feet in front of her, so she kept latched
onto Grey’s arm, afraid of falling behind and getting lost.  The only good
thing about the wind was that it had dried their wet clothes from the inside
out.

She sensed Grey’s
melancholia over the loss of the animals.  She suspected he was upset with
her for not staying with them and setting them free when the flood came. 
She didn’t blame him if he was, but was thankful he’d held his tongue and
hadn’t rubbed her stupidity in her face.  Every time she thought about
Traveler drowning, tears threatened to erupt.  Her dear, faithful
companion!  How could she have left him to fend for himself up on that
mountain?  She’d grown fond of Lightning, too. He was Grey’s best friend,
just as the mule was hers.  Though Grey had tried to make her feel better,
she knew it would be impossible to replace either of them.  Now they were
dead, because she hadn’t done as he’d told her and stayed with them.

In that moment,
though, all Josie had thought about was helping Grey defend what was rightfully
theirs.  She’d grown sick and tired of Marshal Kendall trailing
them—looking over her shoulder, afraid to sleep—all because the crooked lawman
wanted to get his filthy, greedy hands on their gold.  She’d only wanted
to help Grey end it once and for all.  But that decision had cost her
dearly.  His horse was gone, as was her mule, and everything they owned in
the world, including fine leather saddles and Molly’s one hundred dollars.

Would Grey ever
forgive her?  They’d just learned to trust each other, having been through
so much together already.  Had she ruined in one moment what had taken
days to build? She loved him, but did he feel the same way?  Could he love
her, when she’d lost everything that meant anything to him?  She clung to
his arm and struggled to breathe.  Her heart pounded with worry over what
the future held for her, and for them.

A tug came on her
sleeve.  Her eyes had been closed, and she’d been staggering beside him
like a blind man. When Grey grabbed her hand, she forced her eyes open and
squinted at something big looming in front of them.  At first, she thought
it was a mirage.  But when Grey pounded on the door with his fist, she
knew her imagination wasn’t running wild.  Her ears did not betray her. 
By some miracle, they’d found a building where they could get out of the wind
and hole up.  She gazed into the sky, and for a second, the dust
separated, and she glimpsed a large white cross shining like a beacon on the
roof. 

The door squeaked
when Grey pushed it open.  They tumbled inside. When he slammed the door
shut, the thunderous roar of the wind was silenced. She yanked down the
bandana, sprinkling dirt to the floor.  She stared at Grey.  With the
shirt unwound and his scarf off, a ring of dust rimmed his eyes like a raccoon.
He rubbed his knuckles across them and then sneezed.

Josie gazed
around.  Her ears still rang with the howls of the wind.  They stood
at the back of a small sanctuary.  Wooden benches six rows deep on two
sides were flanked by rough adobe walls, which were covered with wood-framed
paintings of saints.  Spanning the ceiling were peeled log vigas
embellished with intricately carved decorative ends. Reverently, she strolled
to the front and stood at the wood railings where parishioners knelt and prayed. 

Candles in brass
holders about five feet tall were lined up like soldiers behind the rails, and
a large communion cup sat on a small table covered with a woven cloth. 
Beyond on the far wall was the altar, tucked into a niche.  That wall was
covered, top to bottom, in patterned fabrics of gold, green and red. 
Surrounding the niche was a wide band of what looked like real gold. 
Inside the niche hung the carved figure of Jesus on the cross with his arms
outstretched and his hands and feet nailed.

Though she rarely
attended church, Josie had the overwhelming urge to drop to her knees and thank
God for showing them to this place.  She knelt at the railing, bowed her
head, and folded her hands and whispered a prayer.  “Thank you, Lord, for guiding
us to your church.  You must have known we’ve suffered greatly and we need
the rest.  Lord, please help Grey to forgive me for contributing to the
death of our beloved animals.  And, Lord, please watch over Traveler and
Lightning as they trot through the pearly gates.  They’re good boys, and
they deserved better than drowning.  Please show them kindness up there in
Heaven.  Amen.”

When she felt
Grey’s large hand on her shoulder, she wiped away a tear, turned and gazed up
at him.  He stuck his hands under her armpits and lifted her to her
feet.  His dark eyes showed the stress of weariness, but they were also
soft and kind when he said, “Josie, I forgive you.”

A dam of emotion
broke inside her.  Those four simple words meant more than anything she
could have heard at that moment, and that included God talking to her
himself.  She threw herself onto Grey and buried her head in his chest. He
wrapped her in his arms like a blanket, and her tears flowed freely.  When
there were no more tears left and her shoulders had stopped jiggling, he set
her back and kissed the tip of her nose.  He seemed too tired to do much
else, but she was grateful for that much.

“We can sleep here
tonight,” he told her, moving toward a bench.  “We’ll be warm and out of
the wind.  In the morning, we’ll start walking again.”  He sank onto
the bench, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

Josie cuddled next
to him.  “Grey, I’m so sorry.”

His eyes remained
shut.  “I told you, I forgive you.  Let’s not speak of it again.”

“Not just about
Lightning,” she continued. “I’m sorry about everything.  If my pa hadn’t
stolen your gold in the first place, you wouldn’t have had to track me
down.  Then, if I’d of just let you keep the map instead of stealing it
back from you that morning, you’d probably already have the nuggets.  You
wouldn’t be here right now, stuck in a windstorm with no horse and no
possessions.  You wouldn’t have been trailed by gunmen, forced to deliver
lambs, killed two men, got shot at, risked getting the fever, fixed a broken
wagon wheel, nearly drowned in a flash flood, or had to put up with that
redheaded whore.”  She added that last bit to see if he’d smile. 

He did.

His eyes opened,
and he took her chin in his hand.  “Josie, if I hadn’t gone through all
that, we wouldn’t have danced the waltz together.  And I wouldn’t be the
man I am today, sitting here with you in this pretty chapel.”  With that,
he slid his arm around her, and she grinned and snuggled into his shoulder.

* * * *

Sometime in the
night, they woke to a sound outside. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and massaged
the crick in her neck.  Grey was no longer beside her.  He was
walking toward the back of the church with his revolver drawn.  She crept
up behind him and cocked her derringer.  “What is it?” she asked.

“Shhh.”  He
put a finger to his lips.  “Someone’s out there.  I heard knocking on
the door.”

“Maybe it’s some
weary travelers, like us,” she whispered.  “Or the wind.”

“Stand off to the
side.”  He raised his gun, gently pushed her behind the door, and then
flung it open.  “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” he exclaimed, lowering
the gun and jamming it into his holster.  A deep laugh rumbled up from his
chest.

“Who’s there?” she
asked, peeking around the door and noticing the wind had died down.  When she
saw Traveler and Lightning standing outside pawing at the ground, she screamed,
ran through the doorway, and flung herself around her mule’s sturdy neck. 
“I don’t believe it!  They’re alive, Grey!  They’re alive!”

“They surely
are.”  He grinned and stroked his horse’s nose.  “Our saddles and
saddlebags are still intact, but I don’t see your hat.  It must be long
gone.”

Josie couldn’t
care less about her hat.  “God answered all my prayers,” she whispered,
kissing Traveler on the nose. “I wonder where they’ve been.”