No Place for a Lady (26 page)

Crystal looked up. "Curly became a good friend to me in a very
short time and treated me with such respect these past couple of
months. As the Scripture that I just read says, God cares for us
more than all of creation. I know his soul is resting in heaven,
though his body is here. I will miss him.. " She bent down to
place a handful of wild asters on the raw mound.

`All I can add to that is, amen:' Rusty placed his hat on his
head, signifying that the little ceremony was over.

The cowboys began to head toward the direction of camp,
talking in low voices. There would be no more work today, just
night watch to maintain order of the now-docile herd.

"Crystal, that was mighty thoughtful of you:" Rusty guided her
by the elbow toward camp.

"Oh, Rusty. What a terrible tragedy. Life can be so cruel:" Crystal
wiped her nose with her soggy hankie.

"Yes, it can. I'm glad Kate didn't have to see that tragedy. She
treated all the boys like her sons and hated to let any of them go
during the winter months. Many times she had no choice:"

"Well, one thing is certain. It makes us appreciate every day
that we are given, doesn't it?"

Sourdough and the others had been able to retrieve most of
what had been thrown from the wagon at the crossing in order
to lighten the load. As Crystal neared the chuck wagon, she saw
that Sourdough was already lighting the fires for supper. He was
very subdued compared to his normal cheerful self.

"Curly lost his life while saving mine:" Sourdough sighed.

"Don't blame yourself, Sourdough;' Crystal said softly. "You
would have done the same for him:"

"I'll see to it that the men are fed and the fire is warm tonight.
I owe that much to Curly."

Crystal reached out and patted the cookie's shoulder. They
were all hurting.

There was an evening chill after the sun slid behind the majestic
peaks that evening. Crystal drew her legs up close to her body and
pulled the quilt up to her chin. She gazed into the glowing embers
of the campfire and once again doubted whether she should even
be here in the first place. Thinking of Curly's death just naturally
brought to mind Aunt Kate and her parents.

Tears began to spill out of the corners of her eyes and slid down
her cheeks. She knew God cared that her heart was hurting, but
she felt the need of human contact. Someone who cared about
the pain she was feeling. She was plagued with so many doubts.
Doubts about her own future. Was she listening to God? Or was
she doing things Crystal's way? Maybe she should sell the ranch
to McBride and be done with it. But then what was she to do? If
she left now, she would be admitting defeat.

"Cris ... are you warm enough?" Luke whispered. He tenderly reached down and tucked the quilt tighter around Crystal's
shoulders. The use of a nickname was endearing to Crystal and
made her heart lurch.

"Sometimes the nights can get pretty cold, no matter what the
daytime temperature is;' he said. She knew he must have heard
her crying and was just trying to think of something to say to
comfort her.

Crystal sniffed and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand.
"I'm colder inside right now than outside."

"Know how you feel" Luke eased his body down and sat on
the ground next to Crystal.

"How could you? I've just lost my aunt and not long ago my
dear father;' Crystal blurted out, but she regretted saying it at
once. That wasn't nice, and you know it.

Luke ignored her outburst and continued, his brow deeply
furrowed. "Well, I lost my parents when I was young, but I still
remember the feeling, and Kate was always like a mother to me.
I loved her as if she was my mother. And now Curly. He was my
friend too. But that happens sometimes on the trail. It just couldn't
be helped. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe
I'm partly to blame. I should've watched out better for him"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that;' she said. She leaned back
and propped herself up on one elbow to stare into his eyes. "You
can't blame yourself. It was an awful accident. I guess you knew
him a lot longer and better than I did"

"Yes, I did, and he had a way of getting under your skin. Once
Curly and me were out hunting up strays, before the winter set
in and we were holed up in a line shack. It was one of those early
snowstorms that can come on you without much warning out
here. We spent several evenings cozying up to a nice fire, with
strong coffee and yarns for entertainment." He paused, giving her
a thoughtful look. "Aw ... I'm boring you."

"No, please tell me more." She snuggled further under the
quilt.

"Well;" he continued, "Curly told me about the time he was
out searching for strays, and when he reached the top of a ridge,
he looked down into the creek. He saw a beautiful young woman
bathing" Luke paused for impact. "He acted real quiet-like, so
as not to let on he was watching. He was afraid to take his eyes
off her because she was so beautiful. He wondered why she was
in these parts so far away from anywhere, cause he didn't ever
remember seeing her before. He had made up his mind that as
soon as she finished her bathing, he'd wait till she got dressed. Then he'd make himself known and go down to the stream to
introduce himself."

Luke turned to see if Crystal was still with him. "What happened? What in the world was she doing there alone?" she
asked.

"Well now, that's when the story gets good. The beautiful woman
dove into the deepest part of the stream. Curly waited with bated
breath for her to come up, which seemed a couple of minutes. Thinking she was in trouble, Curly started removing his boots and started
running down the ridge when all of a sudden she came up for air.
She slung her long hair around and dove in again. The last thing he
saw was a beautiful pair of fins where her feet should have been"

Crystal laughed long and hard. "Oh, my sides hurt now."

"Had you goin; didn't l?" Luke was laughing too. It made his
heart feel lighter to hear her laugh.

Crystal wiped the tears of laughter from her face with the edge
of her shirtsleeve. "You did. A mermaid? Luke, honestly, did you
make that up?"

"Heck no. That was Curly's story. When you spend a lot of
time riding line camp, a cowboy can envision almost anything"
He paused and looked into the campfire. "He was the best of this
bunch."

When Luke looked back at her, Crystal's eyes were big and
luminous from her tears, sparkling like jewels. He felt a pull in
the center of his chest. Once again he found himself wanting to
kiss the tears away, but instead he touched her on the arm.

"Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's a new day. Things always
look better in the daylight:" He started to stand up, but she reached
out her hand to touch his sleeve.

"Please ... could you just sit here with me a bit ... till I get
sleepy? Unless you have first watch?" she pleaded.

He paused, then sat back down a little closer to her. "Sure ...
I have the second watch"

Crystal looked over at him out of the corner of her eye. He
sat with his arms on his knees and rubbed his callused hands
together absentmindedly. Large but gentle hands. Long fingers
with nails in need of attention from days of grime and dirt. His
jeans so worn that they looked soft. His boots dusty, the heels
worn down, in bad need of replacing. Maybe I can do that for
him. He is my foreman, after all. Then she reminded herself that
he belonged to someone else. Still, she was lonely.

Maybe it was his manner and the softness of his calm and
reassuring voice, or his big hands pulling the quilt about her,
but she somehow felt momentarily at peace. Soon her eyes were
heavy. The wind skimmed the tops of the cottonwoods, touched
her face, and lulled her with its sighs into that space between
consciousness and sleep.

Luke was content to be near Crystal until it was almost time
for his watch. He lay back, propped himself up on his elbows,
and watched Crystal until her breathing was slow and even. He
wanted to hold her close like a little kitten.

He knew he should be sleeping instead of watching Crystal
sleep. She lay on her side with her hands tucked under her face
in sweet repose, while the wind lifted strands of her dark hair
across the soft curve of her cheek. What was he going to do?
He was drawn to her in a way that was new to him. Most of the
time, all they did was argue. But today was different. Maybe it was because of Curly's death, but they had come together in
their grief.

Luke had been quiet that evening. He hated losing Curly more
than he cared to admit. He hoped Crystal was right about him
being in heaven. She seemed awful sure about that.

Luke gazed at the stars twinkling in the spacious Colorado
sky. Never again would he be able to look at the stars without
thinking of Curly.

The sun was high in the crystal-blue sky as the outfitters traveled the trail carved years before by other brave souls seeking the gold of this magnificent mountain range. The view of
the valley that lay behind was so splendid with conifers as the
backdrop.

Now the cowboys concentrated on the task ahead. The creek
beds were not deep at this juncture but were brisk and cold, something that both the cows and cowboys alike enjoyed amid the
summer heat.

Crystal dismounted along with the rest of the cowboys, rolled
her sleeves back, and splashed the icy creek water on her face and
neck. She didn't know that a person could get so dry and dusty.
Now her hands, forearms, and face glowed with a rich tan from
the outdoors.

"Nothin' like cold water to refresh and cool you off on a day
like today," Rusty said. He unknotted his bandana and wiped his
face and beard.

"It's so invigorating;" Crystal agreed. Even though this didn't
compare to a real bath, it would have to do until they reached Denver. She intended to have a long soak in a real tub once they
arrived.

Luke left the grazing cattle in the meadow, reined Buck in next
to where Rebel was drinking from the creek, and dismounted.
Exposing his now-flattened black hair, he hung his hat on the
pommel of the saddle. He scooped cold water onto his suntanned
face and ignored the fact that it soaked his chambray shirt, which
stuck to his chest. Once he was refreshed, he turned to his compadres.