Chapter 27
Camped at the edge of the headwaters of the Middle Concho River, Ben sat atop his bedroll and scooped beans from his tin plate to his mouth.
A week in the saddle and nights spent beneath the open sky on hard ground.
Almost like being in the cavalry again. He’d have a few hours of rest before Eagle Ed would wake him for his turn at watch.
Smoke trickled up from the campfire, illuminating the scrub brush, mesquite, and juniper along the muddy riverbanks. On down the shore, where the land was flatter, the cattle stood in patches of prairie grass near the water.
Ben’s shoulders ached from lifting filled water barrels onto their wagon. According to Ed, they needed to fill every barrel, canteen, and jug to the brim. They’d allow the cattle to drink to their hearts’ content here before heading out tomorrow in the heat of the afternoon.
Plate in hand, Devon ambled over and sat down on a log across the fire. “I hope Ed knows what he’s doing. Eighty miles till the next watering hole?”
“If it was only Ed, I’d have more worries. But Goodnight is the one who scouted the trail and mapped it out.” Ben poked a piece of fatback on his plate.
“Goodnight’s a fine man.” Devon chomped on a biscuit. “I brushed elbows with him a time or two in the early days of the war when he was with the Frontier Regiment and I was a scout. But from what you say, even Goodnight’s not completed a drive on this trail before.”
“He’s up ahead of us, I reckon. So he must have made it through.” Ben swallowed another bite.
“If Goodnight can handle it, we can too. I’m just concerned about the cattle.” Devon glanced at the dark horizon toward limestone bluffs.
Ben finished off his beans. “I’m thankful to have yours and Mrs. Reynolds’s help. And your man Philip’s too.”
“Once Morning Fawn heard I was considering the adventure, she had no intention of being left behind.”
“She and Cora would get along mighty fine.”
Devon studied him a moment. “You and Miss Scott? More than a sister or friend? If you don’t mind me asking?”
Ben blew out a breath. His chest felt as if it’d explode if he didn’t say something to someone. “I have many hopes in that direction.”
Devon nodded. “I thought as much. Maybe that’s why God sent you to Texas.”
Had God sent him to Texas? Most likely. But how did his love for Cora fit with his promise to his father?
Would the Lord make a way for him to fulfill both commitments, or would he be forced to choose?
His throat constricted. And who knew if Cora would even have him.
Maybe her affection the last few days between the Comanche attack and his leaving to buy the widow’s cattle was nothing more than romanticized gratitude.
Devon cleared his throat.
Ben shook himself. Time to shift the topic of conversation. “It’s mighty fine you and your extended family were able to return to Texas and start a ranch.”
“Texas is in our hearts and our dreams.” Devon threw back his shoulders.
“Garret did more than his share in making the dream come true. That’s one of the reasons I’m helping with this drive.
My brother-in-law is very generous, but I want to raise more capital of my own.
I want to contribute to our joint funds, with cash, not just experience.
When the Lord blesses me and Morning Fawn with children, I want to provide for them properly.
” His voice dipped on the word children. The crinkles around his eyes deepened.
“I can understand that.” Ben dropped his gaze to the fire. How long had they been married? Two years, and no little one on the way? But they had years ahead of them.
Tree frogs trilled in the distance in between the grunting of the cattle. What was Cora doing this evening? Had his letter reached her yet? Hopefully, Mr. Franklin was doing his job and watching over the place at night.
Footsteps crunched on the gravel. Morning Fawn strode up, a gallon-size coffeepot in hand.
“Want a refill? This is all that’s left for the night.
” Buckskin leggings showed beneath her skirt hem which she’d shortened a couple inches above her ankles.
More of her Comanche past seemed to come out every day they were on the trail.
Ben extended his cup. “Thank you, kindly.”
The three of them sat and talked, finishing their meal.
Morning Fawn lifted her gaze to the sky and blew out a long, slow breath. “Tatsinuupi.”
“Excuse me?” Ben’s brow furrowed.
“Stars.” Her gaze drifted back to the earth, her voice wistful. “It’s the Comanche word for star.”
Ben fingered the rim of his cup. “If you don’t mind me asking, Mrs. Reynolds, how did you come to leave the Comanche?”
“My uncle paid my now-husband to kidnap me.” She elbowed Devon in the ribs.
“Ooww.” He dramatized a wince. “How else was I supposed to get me a wife?”
“You’re lucky I didn’t scalp you.”
“I figured I was safe. You wanted a husband with a full head of hair.” He bumped his shoulder to hers. But his smile faded. “Seriously, though, Ben, we tease each other now, but after I turned her over to LeBeau—”
“LeBeau?” Ben’s eyebrows quirked upward.
“My uncle, Mr. Robert LeBeau, is determined to rule every relative all the way out to his tenth cousins with an iron fist.” Morning Fawn scuffed her booted foot against the gravel.
“Thankfully, Mister Tall, Dark, and Handsome here realized the error of his ways, and came on a secret mission to rescue me. Thought he’d try rescuing the whole of Texas too. ”
Ben scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “Yeah, Garret told me about that. Mighty fine work.”
“Not as fine as it could have been.”
She scolded him. “Fine enough to get you thrown in jail with a noose waiting for you down the road.”
“But my angel, here, rescued me.”
“Not all by myself. I did have a little help from the Federal cavalry and the resistance group. But most of all from the Lord.” Her voice wobbled.
Devon exhaled. His eyes glowed with more than the campfire. “The Lord made a way where there was no way. He worked through Morning Fawn’s courage and love to make it happen.” He beamed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Ben drank in the sight before him. That’s the kind of relationship he wanted with Cora. Head over heels in love, able to laugh and kid and be at ease with each other and stand by each other no matter what. And most of all, a relationship with the Lord at the center, their love for Him coming first.
He dropped his gaze to his boots. “I admire the two of you. You’ve made good work of your marriage.”
Devon gazed at him. “We’ll pray for you and Miss Scott.”
“Miss Scott?” Morning Fawn’s eyes widened. “The older sister of the boy Little Star is smitten with? I thought something would come of you working hard to help her with her brother’s ranch.”
Devon nudged her with his shoulder. “You’re embarrassing the man.”
“No. I must hear this.” She leaned forward. “So you two are courting?”
“Yes.” Ben shrugged, but he couldn’t contain his grin.
“I knew something had changed with you from the time we met you in Weatherford to when you showed up at our place.”
Ben half chuckled. “Well, I got walloped by a Comanche a few weeks ago, and my face still tells the tale. Thankfully, I still have my scalp.”
“But that’s not the difference I’m talking about.”
“What is it, then?”
“Your whole demeanor has changed.” She fingered the end of her hair. “I wager you’re in love and have reason to believe it’s reciprocated.”
Was it reciprocated? If only Cora was sitting beside him tonight by the fire, beneath the stars. A hollowness enveloped his chest. He should have found a way to bring Cora and Charlie with him.
Devon placed a finger to her lips. “Give the man his privacy.”
Morning Fawn grabbed his finger and kissed it. “No more questions, just a statement.” Her voice lilted. “I’d love to plan a wedding.”
His and Cora’s wedding? Ben’s brain stuttered. He chuckled. “There’s a little matter of courting first. And a mountain-size bit of convincing that I need to do on my part.”
“I’m sure she’ll come to see your charms in no time at all.”
He could only wish. “Before we go too far down that road, I wanted to ask about LeBeau. I recognize the name. There’s a Dr. Arthur LeBeau—”
“Arthur LeBeau?” Morning Fawn straightened. Her eyes widened. “That’s my cousin. Where did you run across him at?”
“Weatherford.” Ben brushed off his hands. “He’s headquartered in Dallas, but he comes to Parker County one week a month to fill in until the town finds a new doctor. But more importantly, the man”—the words slipped around the boulder in his throat—“has taken a keen interest in Miss Scott.”
Morning Fawn lifted her chin. “I haven’t seen him since childhood, but I’ve heard enough about his actions to know he’s not a man of honor, at least not in my definition of the word.
I had a friend, a slave at my uncle’s place.
Arthur kept asking his father to send her to him in the army as his cook.
But it wasn’t her cooking he was interested in, if you get my meaning. ”
A chill swept over Ben. “I get your meaning.”
“I had no idea my cousin was anywhere near here.”
“From what I’ve heard, he has some land in Parker County that he hopes to turn into a ranch.”
“Land?” Morning Fawn leapt off the log. “I bet that’s my family’s land.” She turned to Devon. “Land that I almost traded my freedom for.”
Devon took her hand and tugged her down to sit.
“You were never really going to go along with your uncle’s scheme.
” He intertwined his fingers with hers and turned to Ben.
“Morning Fawn and Mrs. Ramsey’s parents acquired a large plot of land in the northern part of the county, near the Trinity River, back in the 1850s before they were killed in the Comanche raid.
Mr. Robert LeBeau tried to bribe my wife with it. ”
“It was my parents’ land.” Morning Fawn’s voice firmed like oak. “My sister and I have a right to it.”
Devon stretched back and ran his fingers through his thick waves of hair.
“That may be, but until we get Federal troops in this area of Texas, the local courts aren’t going to side in favor of a woman married to an ex-Yankee cavalry officer, especially one originally from Texas who acted as a spy and saboteur against the Confederacy.
If anything, your cousin’s presence could pose a potential threat. ”
Ben frowned. “What kind of threat?”
Morning Fawn puffed her cheeks. “We don’t expect a warm welcome from any devoted Rebs who recognize us.”
“We figured the frontier is fairly safe. That we’re not likely to run into any who recognize my face, and I don’t advertise my name around Weatherford.
Garret signs the accounts and handles any business transactions.
” He interlaced his fingers with Morning Fawn’s.
“I made the front page of the papers back in January 1864. Branded as a wanted man and a traitor to the cause.”
“And yet you came back to Texas?” Ben cocked his eyebrows.
“We’re not going to allow anyone to keep us out of Texas.” Devon threw back his shoulders. “This is our home.”
“The East is entirely too citified.” Morning Fawn turned up her nose. “Besides, we wanted to partner with my sister and Mr. Ramsey.”
Ben lifted his head. “I won’t make any mention of you to LeBeau.
But when I return to Weatherford, I’m going to rid that man of any notion he has of courting Miss Scott.
” His hand curled into a fist. “And if you ever need any help defending yourselves against him or anyone else, you just let me know. Your whole family has been more than kind to me.”
Driving the cattle to market would take weeks more. Time for that weasel of a doctor to make inroads with Cora. Dear Lord, don’t let it be so. Please guard her heart till I return.