Twenty-nine

“Jake, aren’t you cold?”

“No. And you look ridiculous.”

Randy stood near him, wearing a sheepskin jacket Jake had left at the line shack last winter. “Well, I am cold, and now I’m wrapped up in your arms.”

Jake looked her over and shook his head. “More like completely buried. That damn thing comes to your knees, and your hands have disappeared somewhere up under those sleeves.”

Randy stepped farther down the steps to the ground. Under the jacket, she wore a dress but no petticoats or camisole, and she wore leather button shoes. “Isn’t it beautiful? You can see for miles up here. That’s why I love it so much. It’s like this is our own special little world.”

Jake sipped on a cup of coffee. He sat in an old wooden chair on the sagging front porch of the sun-weathered line shack, wearing just his denim pants and a blue shirt.

“I know the homestead is out there somewhere to the east, but I can’t make it out,” Randy told him.

Jake rose and walked up behind her. He pointed. “It’s way out over there. If you study it for a minute, you’ll see it. That dark spot in the middle of open land is that island of pine trees beyond the outer corral.”

Randy squinted, trying to find the spot he was talking about. “Oh, my gosh! I think I see it!”

“It’s a good eight hours away, but that’s it.”

“How far do you think we’re seeing?”

“Well, the homestead is about fifteen miles, and we’re seeing well beyond that, so maybe thirty miles—maybe even more than that.”

Randy leaned her head against his chest. “That seems impossible. It’s all God’s country, isn’t it?”

“He made it all.”

Randy smiled. “Jake, let’s go for a walk.”

“Hell, there’s mountain lions and grizzlies and all kinds of creatures out there.”

“And they’re all afraid of you,” Randy teased. She met his gaze. “Do you realize that in all the years we’ve been married we’ve never just walked together? We’ve ridden together plenty of times, but not just gone for a simple walk.”

“That’s what old people do.”

“And what are we?”

Jake smiled. “Old people.”

“So let’s go for a walk.”

Jake just shook his head. “If that’s what you want. Let me get my rifle first. I’m not going for a walk in grizzly country without a gun. And in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t even have my boots on.” He walked on stockinged feet into the cabin and came back out wearing boots and a wool plaid shirt over his blue shirt. He checked his Winchester repeater for cartridges.

“No handguns?” Randy asked.

“Those six-shooters are fine for men, but a grizzly would just swallow the bullets and get madder.” Jake came down the steps and looked her over. “You really going to wear that thing?”

“The one I brought isn’t warm enough. It was so hot down at the homestead that I forgot how cold it can be up here in the mornings.”

“Well, just don’t trip over the damn thing and go rolling down the mountain.”

Randy laughed as Jake held his rifle in his right hand and put his free arm around her. He pointed with the rifle.

“Over to the left. We’ll walk in those pines. The road going back down to home is too steep. We’ll save all that dangerous slipping and sliding for when we head home.”

Randy leaned into him as they walked slowly into the nearby pine forest, the trees creating an almost soundless haven from the outside world. She breathed deeply of the rich scent. “Sometimes I never want to go home. If it weren’t for those beautiful grandchildren, I’d stay up here with you forever. I like having you all to myself.”

Jake squeezed her shoulders. “I don’t mind that myself.”

Their voices seemed lost and muffled against a bed of pine needles.

“Oh, look!” Randy left him and hurried over to pick some deep-blue wildflowers. “Jake, they’re so pretty.” She rose, sniffing them. “I hope Rodriguez is taking good care of all my roses.”

“He always does.” Jake studied her. Five days here together had been good for both of them. Randy looked healthier than she’d looked in a long time, and he loved how her hair shone thick and golden in the light of the sun that streamed through the pine branches. She spotted more flowers and ran over to pick them, having trouble keeping the sleeves of his jacket pushed far enough back. “Don’t go too far from me, Randy. Grizzlies are good at hiding and surprising you.” He studied the woods around them.

“I remember another encounter with a grizzly just about a year ago on our way to Denver,” Randy told him, “and I’ve never been so humiliated in my entire life!”

Jake laughed. “Oh, I remember that one, all right. That thing caught us in a very compromising position.”

Randy walked closer to him again. “Yes, well, you’ve always enjoyed my utter mortification, haven’t you? Thank God I had time to make myself presentable before Lloyd came charging up to see if we were okay.” She stood on her tiptoes for a kiss, and Jake obliged her. “And I will never let you drag me into the woods to get under my skirts again,” she chided, “not when we’re traveling with the entire family and half the J&L ranch hands.”

“We’ll see.”

“No, we won’t see, Mr. Harkner. You have embarrassed me one too many times.”

“You love it, especially the disrespectful stuff.”

“And you can be most disrespectful.”

“You don’t do too bad a job yourself,” Jake quipped. “I love it when you’re disrespectful.”

Randy laughed. “I’m sure you do.” She stopped and picked more flowers, and suddenly, Jake was beside her, pressing on her shoulder to stay down.

“Want some fresh venison?” he asked in a near whisper.

Randy looked into the direction where he was watching a large buck.

“Sure.”

Jake slowly raised his rifle, and Randy covered her ears.

One loud shot. The deer collapsed. Jake kept the rifle steady. “Don’t get up yet,” he told Randy. “More than once I’ve had a deer suddenly bounce right back up and run off. I hate the thought of a wounded deer running around in pain.”

“Oh, but not a wounded man?”

“Hell no. I can think of a few I’d prefer were stumbling around the rest of their lives in great, unbearable pain.” Jake lowered the rifle and slowly rose, helping Randy to her feet.

“This has been so nice, Jake. It’s like we’re the only two people in the world when we’re up here. That’s why I want us to be buried up here.”

“Well, let’s hope that cabin has completely fallen in by then. In the meantime, we have a big family plus a lot of ranch hands to feed, and the meat in that big buck will help. Trouble is now, we have to get it home.”

“Then we’ll have to clean it ourselves and salt the meat down good.”

“It means leaving when we’re done. That carcass is going to be a big attraction to grizzlies and mountain lions until it’s rotted dry, and I’m not keeping you up here in that kind of situation.”

“Terrel and Cole are camped not that far away.”

“Same for them. They only have a tent, which is even more dangerous.”

“Jake!” Cole was somewhere in the distance yelling for him. “You all right?”

Jake turned and fired his rifle into the air, making Randy jump. “Over here!” He whistled a few times until Cole came riding toward them on his horse.

“You two okay?”

“Got a big buck. We’ve got to hog-tie it and drag it up to the cabin and clean it while it’s fresh. Randy will salt down the meat, and we’ll wrap it in a sheet or something. With plenty of salt, it should keep for the few hours it takes to get home.”

“Terrel and I can take it for you.”

“Doesn’t matter. The smell of that carcass is going to attract mountain lions and bears for miles around. Randy and I will have to go on home. That line shack is getting so sun rotted that a big grizzly could push the walls right in if it got mad enough.”

“Gotta agree with you there.”

“You and I both know how far a grizzly can go even if it’s wounded. I don’t want Randy in that kind of danger.” Jake set his rifle against a tree and surprised Randy when he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her onto Cole’s horse in front of him.

“Jake, what on earth—”

“Take her back to the cabin and come back here with a couple of good knives and a sheet,” he told Cole. “She looks pretty silly in that big jacket, doesn’t she?”

Cole moved an arm around her middle to hang on to her. “Pretty silly.” He turned his horse and headed for the line shack. “Shoot your gun twice more,” he yelled to Jake. “Terrel will know it’s a signal to come to the line shack.”

“Cole, I could have walked back,” Randy told the man.

“Not when there could be a grizzly around.” He charged his horse back to the cabin. “You go inside and stay there. Terrel will meet us here in a minute flat, and we’ll both go help Jake clean that buck. One of us will have to watch for anything that smells that blood.”

“But Jake is out there alone.”

“He’s not that far away, and he has a rifle. If any man can take care of himself, it’s Jake.”

“I suppose.”

Randy thought how Cole knew Jake just about as well as Jake knew Cole. The medium-built man had all the signs that he’d once been handsome, maybe even happy. Something had changed all that, maybe the same time he’d gotten that limp, and no one knew what it was. Most of the J&L cowboys kept their backgrounds quiet. They were a wild lot who didn’t always bathe and shave like they should, unless they were going into town to have a good time with whores. Yet Jake and Lloyd trusted every one of them, and so did she.

Cole dismounted and lifted her down. “Ma’am, all the men are glad to see you lookin’ so much happier,” he told her.

Randy clung to the flowers, suddenly self-conscious. They’d all been there that terrible day. They all knew. They’d all seen.

She turned toward the line shack. “Thank you, Cole. Come in, and I’ll find some knives and give you a sheet.” She hurried inside to quickly pull a sheet off the bed before he could come in and see the wild array of messy bedcovers. She and Jake had stayed here before, but this time…this time…it had never been more beautiful. Their lovemaking had seemed to somehow gone up a level, to something more meaningful than it had ever been before.

Cole came inside, and she handed him the sheet, then hurried over to a cabinet to find the sharpest knives she could.

A horse galloped up close to the cabin. “Cole!” Terrel shouted. “What’s wrong?”

Cole smiled and nodded to Randy as she handed him the knives. “You stay inside like I told you, ma’am. And you’d best pack up. We’ll have to hightail it home, because we’ll be grizzly bait the whole way.” He turned and walked out, explaining to Terrel about the deer.

The men rode off, and Randy was relieved that they would both be with Jake while he cleaned the buck. She hated the thought of leaving, but they had been here for five days, and everyone at home would be happy for the fresh venison. Besides that, she missed the grandchildren, especially the babies. It was time to go home.

Only what if this was the last time? A wave of despair suddenly swept over her, so much so that she gasped. She felt like crying. She told herself it was just that she was growing older, but she couldn’t help the awful thought that maybe she and Jake would never come back here. She walked to the bed, crawling onto it and curling up. She used Jake’s pillow because it smelled like him. She wrapped her arms around it and broke into tears, wondering if they would ever have another beautiful morning like this one had been—rising late, eating breakfast alone, drinking their coffee, and enjoying the morning air and the incredibly beautiful scenery outside, even walking together in the pines. It seemed that life moved past much too quickly. Things had never been better. The sad part was that it had taken so many years to reach this peace…if indeed they could hang on to moments like these and she could keep her husband close from now on.