Chapter 17
Grady couldn’t get Marta out of his mind.
He did leave for a mission that took him almost to the Canadian border.
He’d be gone for months…but he saw her face every night as he closed his eyes.
He did write her at least once a week. Because he was traveling so far, there was no way that he could receive any letters from her…
that was very hard for him. He felt like he was cut off from everyone he loved…
Marta, his family…he didn’t like that at all.
He loved being a U.S. Marshal, but now he was second guessing his choice to become one.
Tim didn’t recognize the moody grouchy man he had become.
He hadn’t lost his quick draw, or his ability to see everything they needed to see as they traveled farther and farther into the wilds of the forests in Montana and Canada…
but he wasn’t the pleasant partner he had had for the last six years.
They finally picked up the trail of the men they were sent to find…
they were able to find their campsite only because of Grady’s great tracking skills.
They found good places to get situated and called out to the five men to surrender…
they declined and started shooting. Grady and Tim shot back.
The entire shoot out took over twenty minutes because the men tried to get behind trees to keep from getting killed.
Grady was able to get three of the men, Tim got one, and the last man threw down his gun when he realized he was the only man left alive.
“Hell, who are you guys? We’ve been running forever to get away from you, but no matter what we did or where we went, we couldn’t shake you.
” Baker Lincoln told them as they searched him for any hidden weapons.
“Yeah, well you can thank Grady Harper for that. My partner don’t know the meaning of the word quit.
He learned how to track from a Navaho woman as he was growing up.
She also taught him to shoot with a gun, bow and arrow, fight with a knife and his feet.
You had no shot at all of outrunning us with him along.
” Tim told him and laughed at the look on his face.
“Just our luck that they set Harper on our tails.” Lincoln said and began cursing all over again.
He looked at the dead bodies of his fellow teammates.
They never had a chance. He didn’t think about all the banks they robbed, or men they had killed over the years.
They deserved to be locked up. He only thought about the man who had tracked them down and got them all killed.
Someday, sometime…he would break out of prison and get his revenge on this man, no matter where he was.
He made a vow to himself that he would track him down, just like he had tracked his gang down.
He didn’t give them any trouble as they threw the bodies over their horses and took them to the nearest large town to get them buried and get him turned in.
It happened to be Helena, the territorial capital of Montana.
He didn’t even get to see them buried or if they had a marker on their graves with their names on it.
He was tried and found guilty and sent to the Montana Territorial prison for the next thirty years, with no possibility of parole.
Baker didn’t say a word in his defense. He just wanted it over and done with.
He was also planning his escape and his revenge.
Grady and Tim took the first train out of Helena back to Denver.
They had been on the trail for over five months; it was the middle of July.
Grady knew that Marta would graduate in September…
two more months. What was he going to do when she did?
He thought all the way back to Denver. He wasn’t much of a traveling companion for Tim, but he was used to it by now.
Long about Kansas City, Tim broke the silence.
“Grady, I’ve enjoyed being your partner for the most part, but you have to come to terms with your feelings for Marta.
Even I know that you love that girl. She has you tied up in knots.
You can’t wait to see her again, and I don’t think you can go off and leave her for months on end.
I don’t know if you realize yet that you want to marry that girl or woman whatever you want to call her.
She wants to be a teacher, so be it. She can teach and you can get a job as a deputy or sheriff in a town and settle down and have little Harper’s.
I’m going to hate to lose you for a partner, but we both know that your mind hasn’t been on tracking down felons.
You did a great job getting the last group of men, but I know it was hell for you to be away from Marta for that long.
Just invite me to the wedding.” Tim told him and then looked to see if Grady was going to talk to him or slug him for his speech.
Grady was silent for a few minutes. Then he turned to Tim and smiled.
“Leave it to you to put everything in a nutshell. You’re right…
I do love Marta. I sure didn’t want to fall in love with her.
I didn’t want to fall in love with anybody for many years to come…
it just happened. The more I was with her, the worse it got.
Then, I had to leave her. It was like a punch in the gut.
Everywhere I went and saw anyone with hair as black as hers, it reminded me of her.
Going back home to see her and finding her gone was even worse.
How could she leave and not tell me where she was going?
It didn’t matter that I quit writing to her, it was my own fault, but that didn’t matter either.
I love being a marshal, but I fear that I love her more.
I guess I’m going to become a deputy or a sheriff in a small town wherever she gets a job as a teacher.
I hate leaving you without a partner, I’ve enjoyed being your partner, Tim.
I’m sorry for being a pain in the ass these last few months.
” Grady told him and they both grinned. Good friends can do that when they both know that they’re right.
“I suggest you send a telegram to that sheriff in Sheridan to see if he still wants to hire you as a deputy when we reach Denver. He did mention it when we arrived there when you were injured a year or so ago. The offer may still be there.” Tim told him, already missing him as his partner.
He sure hoped they didn’t stick him with a greenhorn to break in.
“That’s a good idea, but I think I’ll see if Marta has any idea of where she’s going to be teaching first. If she gets a job in Cheyenne or even in California, I’ll wait and try and get a deputy job there first.” Grady told him quietly.
“I’ll go where she goes. It would sure be nice if she got a job in Sheridan so I could be with our folks and my sister, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. ”
Neither one of them spoke for several minutes.
In fact, they fell asleep until they came to Denver.
They checked in and got their mail. Grady loved all the letters he got from Marta, and of course from back home.
He sat down and read them all before he took off to see her at the Teacher College Dorm.
He didn’t know if he would be able to hold back and not gather her to him and smother her in kisses.
Her letters had said the same about him from her.
He caught her going to the cafeteria again for dinner.
She all but ran into his arms. He got to hold her this time instead of just holding onto her hands.
He whispered into her ears, “I love you, Marta…I want to marry you and live the rest of my life with you. I’ll hand in my U.
S. Marshal’s badge and become a deputy or a sheriff in whatever town you start teaching in.
I just want to be able to kiss and make love to you every night for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”
Marta didn’t hesitate, she told him, “Yes, Grady, yes, I’ll marry you as soon as we can.
I love you so much. I’ve missed you so much.
Please don’t leave me again!” Then, she kissed him, breaking all rules.
She didn’t care, she just couldn’t help herself, and Grady kissed her back.
The kiss was electric and affected both of them.
Everyone in the commons was shocked, yet touched, too.
The woman at the reception table jumped up to separate the two people but stopped when Marta yelled to tell everyone. “He’s asked me to marry him! Grady and I are going to get married!”
“Congratulations to the both of you. I’ll overlook you kissing him in the commons and running to see him, but rules are rules.
Please separate.” The woman asked them with her eyes sparkling.
She also whispered, “You may kiss him one more time before he leaves, I’ll turn around so that I won’t see you. ”
Marta laughed, “Thank you!” Grady hugged her to him. She felt so good to be where she was supposed to be in his arms.
“Have you sent out resumes for being a teacher in any schools yet?” He asked her holding her hands like he was supposed to do.
“Yes and no. I only sent one to Sheridan, but Lynn and Darcy did, too. They’re seeing Brody and Carson, they come once a month to see them on the train.
I don’t know how many teachers the Sheridan school has or how big they are, do you?
” Marta asked him. She couldn’t believe that Grady had asked her to marry him.
All her dreams were coming true. She still had to tell him about giving birth to the twins that Kyra and Nimrod were raising as their own.
She didn’t believe in keeping secrets from her husband to be.
She hoped he wouldn’t mind and would still accept her as his wife.
“I don’t, but I’ll find out and get back to you by tomorrow when I come back to see you again.
I’ve already turned in my badge. I want to apply for a job as soon as I find out where you’ll be a teacher.
I’ll also go and look for a house for us to live in.
As soon as you graduate, we’ll be married and move in.
I have money saved from the wanted posters on the men Tim and I have captured and killed over the last few years.
We’ll be all set. I love you, Marta, I wish I could kiss you over and over again…
it’s sure hard not to pull you in my arms and do just that.
I loved reading all your letters.” He told her and rubbed his thumb over her palm.
It was like he was making love to her already. She was ready to fall into his arms.
“I liked hearing what you were doing as you traveled to Canada. I didn’t like hearing that you were tracking such dangerous criminals, but I did like getting your letters.
I about read them to the point of wearing them out.
I get letters from Kyra about the twins and what’s going on in Sheridan.
Marley’s triplets are walking now and getting into everything.
If anyone can handle them, she can.” Marta told him and squeezed his hand.
“I love you, Grady. I can’t wait to make love to you every night for the rest of our lives.
I think I want you to leave just so I can kiss you again… is that so wrong of me?”
“Hell, no!” Grady told her and pulled her to him and kissed her several times before he walked out the door.
He gave a salute to the woman at the receiving desk as he left.
He also threw a kiss to Marta as she stood there watching him leave.
Then, she ran to the cafeteria to tell Lynn and Darcy that Grady had asked her to marry him!
Grady sent a telegram to Marley asking her about the school in Sheridan and how many teachers they employed. He told her that he had asked Marta to marry him, and that if she got a job there, he was going to ask for a job as a deputy in Sheridan.
Marley sent one back while he was still in the telegraph office telling him that there were four teachers in the school and that they needed three for the coming school year, she was thrilled he was going to marry Marta, and that he had better get the job as deputy in Sheridan!
Grady stood there about as happy as a dog with two tails.