TOKEEN HILLS 145 Marvin Miller
Chapter 1
Wade, the youngest son of Jack and Olivia Haden, was a restless sort. Hot tempered and impatient, he ran away from home at eighteen and headed straight to Tennessee. He had heard all of the stories of his parents’ younger days there and wanted to see it for himself. He felt like there was nothing in Hazeldale, Texas for him and that he was certainly man enough to take care of himself.
After seeing the old home place, he traveled up to Memphis and got a job as a farrier, but shoeing horses was not Wade’s strong suit. He was an excellent horseman and soon found employment as a trainer with a man in Kentucky that raised racehorses. He was a good and faithful employee and ended up staying there for six years before heading back to Texas.
Now home from his travels and in the year of our Lord, 1900, twenty-five year old Wade Haden could not have been happier as he danced with Christine, his childhood sweetheart, at the Easter Festival Dance in the county seat town of Comanche. He had always been in love with her since their schooldays together. He was her protector until the day he left home and headed East. She was the only reason he ever came back to Hazeldale. Had it not been for her, he would have been in Arizona on some land that his previous employer had given him of a couple of years back.
Christine was curious about his absence. She had heard the rumors, but she wanted the truth. “So, Wade, what have you been doin’ all these years?” she asked to get the conversation going.
“Has been a long time, ain’t it?” he smiled as they continued to dance.
“I heard you got back to Hazeldale about a year ago,” she said.
“That I did. I’ve just been keepin’ myself busy,” he told her. “I didn’t feel much like getting’ out and socializin’.”
“Well, I’ve heard a lot about you while you were gone.”
“Like what?”
“Some people say you went back East to find your fame and fortune in horseracing,” she began to try to sort out the truth from the rumors.
He nodded and smiled, “I did race a few horses.”
“Some people say that you became an alcoholic,” she kept going.
“I did drink a little,” he grinned. “Can’t deny that.” He looked at her as if he were wishing that she would stop questioning him. The song they were dancing to ended, but he did not offer to escort her back to her seat. Instead, he looked off for a moment and waited for the band to start playing again. “Now, I’ve got a question for you,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Will you go to church with me tomorrow mornin’?” he asked.
I’d love to,” Christine smiled and then thought for a moment. “You’d better pick me up about nine ‘cause it takes about an hour or so to get there in a buggy.”
“I know,” Wade grinned. “Just gettin’ there is gonna be the best part.” They continued to dance making occasional eye contact and then they would shyly smile and look away.
A jealous Clint Osborne watched with the other onlookers. Clint and Wade had been childhood rivals. In fact, he played a role in Wade’s departure from the community. The Osborne family had settled in the Hazeldale area around fifteen years before. They were a money family from Mississippi. Clint’s grandfather had made a fortune on a cotton plantation back before the war and had owned thousands of acres and hundreds of slaves. The war had been hard on them, but they had managed to leave with more money than most people in Comanche County had ever heard of or even hoped to make in a lifetime. When they came to Hazeldale, Clint’s father bought up all of the country that was for sale and then some.
Clint always wanted to win Christine over, but never could. She had told him once that they could never be more than friends. He thought that she would come around eventually. Now, with Wade back in the picture, he could feel his chances diminish. Finally, he could not stand it any longer and walked over to where they were dancing. He patted Wade on the shoulder to cut in, but Wade ignored him and continued dancing with Christine. “I’m cuttin’ in,” he said loudly to Wade.
“Like hell you are,” Wade answered back.
“I ask to cut in and you’re supposed to let me,” Clint informed him.
Wade stopped dancing and turned around to face him, but never let go of Christine’s hand. “If you want to dance with the lady, I suggest that you wait your turn.”
Clint felt like hitting Wade right then and there, but he thought better of it. He just shook his head and quickly walked away. Wade watched him leave and then turned around smiling at Christine. “Damn, I’m glad he did that. I thought I was goin’ to have to fight him for a minute.”
“You can’t blame Clint, he’s had a crush on me for a long time,” Christine told him.
“Dat blame, it’s easy to see why,” Wade smiled at her. “I’d be mad too if I saw you dancin’ with someone else other than me.”
Christine blushed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “Silly!”
Edward Jordan, Christine’s father, had become a big man over the years and for every pound that he put on, he became a little more bitter about the events in his life. He was sitting on the front porch that Sunday morning when Wade came to call. He had known the Haden kids all of their lives and Wade was always his least favorite. “Just what the hell do you want here?” he asked as Wade pulled the buggy to a stop.
“Me and Christine are goin’ to church,” Wade answered cheerfully.
“I hope that you’ll consider makin’ this your last trip over here,” he said as he began rocking back and forth in the rocking chair.
“How come?” Wade asked as he got down from the buggy and started walking up to the porch.
“Your daddy is one of the finest men I ever knowed and I’ve knowed you boys all of ya’ll’s lives, and your brother is good boy, but you was always a restless kid with big ideas and none of ‘em ever amounted to anything. Now, here you are again after pullin’ that disappearin’ act. Hell, even your family didn’t know where you was.” He shook his head as if he were disgusted. “What I mean to say is that I don’t want you comin’ ‘round here to see my daughter.”
Wade nodded, but did not say anything. Thankfully, Christine opened the front door and smiled. “We’d better be on our way.”
Wade sighed his relief and offered her his arm as they walked to the buggy.
After the church service, Wade seemed to be in deep thought as he and Christine were riding along in silence. He was not being moody, he wanted to ask her something, but dreaded her reaction. “The preacher preached a good sermon today, don’t you think?” he asked to break the silence.
“He sure did,” Christine answered. “I didn’t know you were such a church orientated man, Wade. You sure wadn’t that way when we were kids.”
Wade nodded and thought for a moment. “There’s somethin’ I gotta ask you.”
“Go ahead, Wade”
“You gotta promise me that you ain’t gonna get mad if you don’t like what I’ve got to say,” he said nervously.
“I promise.”
“I was wonderin’ about askin’ you to marry me and I’m prayin’ that you’ll say yes.”
Much to his relief, Christine smiled and patted him on the arm. “You go ahead and continue prayin’, Wade; I’ll have to think about this for awhile.”
“What’s there to think about?” he asked quickly. While he was glad that she was not upset with him, he just had to know why she did not accept his proposal. “We’ve been in love since we were kids.”
“Well, that’s true, Wade, but I ain’t seen you in years and then you suddenly pop back into my life and want to pick right up where we left off just like nothing ever happened.
“I love you and you know that,” he told her somewhat embarrassed about having to voice his feelings for her. “I’ve got a brand new plan and I’m certain that we’ll be happy. I’ve got some land out in Arizona and I want us to move out there as soon as we get married.”
Christine looked over at him as if he had lost his mind. “How did you ever come to own land in Arizona?”
“The man I used to work for in Tennessee gave it to me for a job well done. A couple of horses that I trained won a few races and he was feelin’ generous I reckon. Heck, it ain’t like he was ever gonna use it.”
“Tell me some more about your adventures while you was gone all that time. All I know is a bunch of talk that the neighbors said about you and your family.”
“Well, dat blame, there ain’t much to talk about,” he said. “I just broke and trained a few horses.”
Christine smiled and shook her head. Getting information out of Wade Haden was like squeezing blood out of a turnip.
Chapter 2
James Logston was an old family friend of the Hadens and was standing out at his corral with Wade looking at the two horses that he had broken for him. “You did a plum good job. You must have a knack for breakin’ horses, Wade.”
“I didn’t charge you too much, did I?” Wade asked, he wanted to be fair.
“Hell, no! Five dollars a piece was a good price,” James said. “I’m just glad to get it done and you’re gonna need that money. I hear that you and Christine are gettin’ married.”
Wade blushed. “After the weddin’, me and her are gonna move out to Arizona.”
James nodded. “They tell me that the grass is so good out there in some places that it drags the bottom of your stirrups when you ride through it on a horse.”
“Well, I didn’t see no grass like that when I was out there,” Wade laughed. “But it is some pretty country. Hey, James, do you know anybody’s that’s got a good wagon for sale?”
“Come on in here and let me show you somethin’,” James grinned and started walking toward the barn. Wade followed him to the barn door and watched as James stepped inside and pulled a tarp off of a wagon. “I’m gonna give this to ya for a weddin’ present. Hell, me and the wife don’t need it. You and Christine take it and git on out there and live a good life together.”
“Thank you, James,” Wade smiled.
Clint Osborne rode his horse up to the modest Haden home and saw Wade out in the corral working with a horse. He rode on over to the pen where Wade stopped working with the animal and walked over to the gate to meet him.
“You may be wonderin’ what I’m doin’ here,” Clint said getting down from his horse and walking over to the gate. “I’ve got somethin’ to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m askin’ you to call the weddin’ off,” he said looking directly into Wade’s eyes. “Christine’s my girl. She has been for years until you showed back up. Now, I’m askin’ you not to marry her. Her feelings will be hurt at first, but that won’t be nothin’ compared to the life of misery that she’ll have with you.”
Wade shook his head and walked back to the horse that he had left in the middle of the corral. “I ain’t got time to listen to that kind of nonsense.”
Clint was steaming mad as Wade walked away. He opened the gate followed after him as he pulled his gun out of his coat pocket. “I said Christine belongs to me,” he shouted.
Wade refused to turn around to talk to him as he began petting the horse on the neck. “You talk about her like she was your dog or somethin’,” Wade told him. “Maybe you should go talk to her and quit wastin’ your time with me.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Clint told him. “I love her and she loves me!”
“If she’s in love with you, I wonder what she’s doin’ marryin’ me?” Wade asked calmly as he continued to pet the horse.
“Turn around and face me, you ignorant horse trader,” Clint shouted. “I can offer her a good life, what can you offer her?”
“The opportunity to get away from the likes of you,” Wade told him still petting the horse.
Clint lunged forward hitting Wade in the back of the head with his pistol knocking him unconscious. The horse spooked and ran around the pen looking for a way to escape. Clint stood there for a moment glaring at Wade wishing that he had the guts to go ahead and kill him. He kicked dirt in Wade’s face and then walked back to his horse to get on leaving him laying there unconscious.
He did so reluctantly, but at Christine’s insistence, Wade was eating dinner with her and her parents. Edward and Martha were less than enthusiastic about the upcoming wedding. “I had a talk with James today and he told me something that I sure didn’t want to hear,” Edward said to Wade.
“Well, James is a wealth of information,” Wade smiled while chewing.
“He told me about the wagon he gave you so you could go out to Arizona after the wedding and I just want you to know that you ain’t takin’ my baby out there!”
Martha started crying and turned to Christine. “We’ll never see you again if you go off out there!”
Wade thought he would keep a level head and try to calm everyone down as much as possible. “Well, it may not be for that long. Think of it as a long honeymoon,” he smiled.
“Honeymoon?” Martha snapped. “There wouldn’t be a honeymoon if I had my way ‘cause there wouldn’t be a wedding in the first place!”
“Mama, I thought we agreed that we wasn’t gonna fight over this anymore,” Christine said. “I’m old enough to do as I see fit.”
“Honey, do you know how far it is out there?” Edward asked his daughter.
“It’s about six hundred miles or so to where we’re goin’,” Wade gladly informed them with a pleasant smile although that did not help.
Edward looked over at Wade as if he thought he was crazy. “Boy, do you know how far that is in a wagon?”
Wade smiled at him. “Like I said, think of it as a long honeymoon.”
Edward just shook his head and Martha slammed her silverware down on the table. She stood up and started to leave, but stopped. “Of all the boys around here for you to marry, you have to pick a horse trader!”
Wade wondered what was so all fired wrong with being a horse trader. It seemed that everyone was throwing that in his face these days.
The wedding day came at last and it wasn’t a minute too soon for Wade. He was tired of all of the negative reactions from his friends, neighbors and family. The sooner he could get to Arizona, the better. Even Jack and Olivia, his own parents seemed to be against him. They tried their best to talk some sense into their son, but failed.
The wedding was held at the Jordan home complete with a big barbeque and a dance. The band consisted of a guitar player, a fiddle player, a man playing spoons and a man blowing into a jug for bass. There were dozens of neighbors and well-wishers there; it was the event of the Hazeldale Community. Christine looked stunning in her homemade wedding dress as she danced with Wade while a jealous Clint watched on with the crowd.
Edward and Martha were standing on the porch watching the dance and admiring how beautiful their girl looked in her dress that Martha and some of the neighbor ladies had made for her. Mrs. Osborne, Clint’s Mother, saw them standing there and went over to join them. “This is a good little wedding that ya’ll put together on such short notice,” she smiled.
“Well, thank you,” Martha smiled back. “We didn’t have much to work with, but we made due.”
“You know, all this time I thought Christine would be marrying my Clint. Lord knows, that he’s been sweet on her for ages no matter how much I tried to persuade him otherwise,” Mrs. Osborne said and then shook her head. “Kids, they just won’t listen to reason, but I told him that perhaps Christine is more suited for this Wade fellow.”
Her remarks angered Martha who turned around to face her. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, nothing, dear,” Mrs. Osborne smiled.
“That’s good, because for a moment there I thought you were sayin’ that my Christine wasn’t good for your son, but in truth, I’ve always felt that Clint wasn’t good enough for my daughter no matter how much money his family has,” Martha said quickly and then walked away leaving Mrs. Osborne standing there with Edward who just shrugged his shoulders and walked off following her.
Clint walked over to Christine and Wade when the song they were dancing to ended. “May I dance with the bride?” he asked Wade.
“Don’t ask me, ask her,” Wade shrugged.
Clint turned to Christine and bowed slightly. “May I have this dance?”
Christine glanced over at Wade as if she wanted him to rescue her from this awkward situation, but he just smiled and winked at her before walking away. “Sure, Clint, I’ll dance with you.”
The band struck up another tune and Clint took her in his arms and began dancing. “I wish you all the happiness in the world,” he said.
“Well, thank you, Clint,” she smiled.
“You know, that wasn’t easy for me to say,” he told her. “I’m still not over the fact that you quit me for the likes of him.”
“Clint, he’s simply the man that I fell in love with.
“Are you saying that you didn’t love me?” he asked making Christine even more uncomfortable. “You told me that you did once.”
It’s a different kind of love, Clint. The kind of love I had for you was the kind a schoolgirl has,” she explained. “Please let’s don’t talk about this.”
Clint nodded his head in agreement and they continued on with the dance without saying another word.
Chapter 3
JULY, 1900
NEAR THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS
The sun was beating down relentlessly and the heat was unbearable for early afternoon. There was not a shade tree in sight in any direction. Christine was just not prepared for the summer heat and the days of little or no water. Trees were so scarce in this part of the country that she and Wade were using dried cow and horse droppings with what little dead brush they could find for their campfires at night.
She looked over at Wade who was riding his favorite horse named Blaze alongside of the wagon. “Do you call this a honeymoon, Wade? A honeymoon is one thing, but a trek across West Texas is another.”
“I estimate that we’ve traveled about three hundred and fifty miles so far,” Wade said ignoring her complaining.
“I know, I know, your goal is to travel about ten or twelve miles a day. We did the arithmetic yesterday,” she said slightly aggravated at him.
“I know the trip’s been hard, but you can’t say that you ain’t enjoyed it,” he smiled over at her. “We’re gonna remember these days and nights we’ve spent talkin’ and laughin’ for the rest of our lives.”
“That’s true,” Christine smiled. “I used to think that you were a man of few words, but now I know that you love to talk and tell stories from the past.”
“Aw, it just depends on who I’m talkin’ to,” he grinned and looked up in the sky where he saw a very small thunderhead. “I hope that cloud up there keeps on buildin’ and makes a shade for us. “Anything to get a little relief from this heat.”
Christine glanced up at the cloud for a moment, but was unimpressed. She immediately went back to searching the ground looking for dried cow droppings as she rode along on the wagon. She suddenly pulled the wagon to a stop. “There’s one, see it?” she asked Wade.
Wade nodded as he pulled up on the reins to stop Blaze and got down to pick it up. He pitched it up to Christine who caught it and placed it with the pile that she had been saving all day in the floor of the wagon. “Is that enough for a fire tonight?” he asked. Christine nodded yes. “I was hopin’ that there would be some trees up here the closer we get to these mountains.”
“Well, if you do see a tree, stop right there and let’s camp for the night,” she told him. “I’m so tired of bein’ out in this hot sun I could scream.”
Wade looked up and saw that the thundercloud had built even more. “It looks like we’re gonna get shaded by that cloud and I wouldn’t be surprised if we wadn’t in for a storm as fast as that thing is buildin, but hell, who am I kiddin’? We ain’t seen no rain since we left Hazeldale!”
They both heard the low rumble of distant thunder and laughed, but within a couple of hours, the cloud was no laughing matter, it had become a massive thunderstorm that had built to severe levels. There was a high wind blowing with loud cracking thunder and dangerous lightening bolts dancing from the cloud to the ground. The dark clouds had a green tint to them and Wade and Christine could hear a low rumbling noise coming from them. “That’s hail, we’d better look for some cover,” Christine shouted to be heard over the noise.
“Hell, there ain’t no cover,” Wade shouted back as he got off Blaze and tied him to the back of the wagon. He then rushed around and got on the wagon taking the reins from Christine. “Get back inside of the wagon if you’re scared.”
“It’s not that I’m scared, I just got enough sense to get in out of a storm!”
A loud crack of thunder overhead spooked the horses. Wade pulled back on the reins and talked to them trying to get them to settle down. The high winds suddenly stopped as did the thunder and lightening leaving only an eerie calmness and the low rumbling roar of the hail from the ominous dark green tinted clouds.
The hail started slowly at first with huge scattered stones about the size of oranges. Wade scrambled to unhook the team of horses from the wagon, which was no easy thing to do since some of the hail had hit them and they were spooked, but he managed to pull the hitch pin loose. The hail started to get heavier and the size of the stones increased to the size of grapefruit. The team of horses took off running with their harnesses on and Wade ran to the back of the wagon to untie Blaze.
The large hailstones were pounding the wagon and ripping through the canvass cover. Christine hurried out the back of the wagon and leaped underneath it for protection. Wade followed after her. Both of them had been hit by some hailstones, but neither one of them were seriously injured as they sat under the wagon holding each other.
Within a few minutes, the hail had stopped and the sun peeked out from behind the cloud. Wade and Christine crawled out from under the wagon to find the ground covered with the large hailstones, which was making a fog come up from the ice covered ground. “I guess we’d better go find them horses,” Wade told her while taking in the sight.
Christine was walking alone when she found the team of horses. They had been beaten to death by the hail. They were laying there with their harnesses on; the hail had literally beaten the hide off their bodies exposing meat and bones. She shook her head and hurried away from the gruesome sight.
The next morning at the campsite, Wade had packed a knapsack and was about ready to leave. “Are you sure you won’t come with me?” he asked waiting for her to shake her head no. “Damn, I hate to leave you out here all by yourself. I don’t even know where the nearest town is, but I gotta find one so I can buy us some new horses.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” she said forcing a smile. “Maybe you’ll have some luck and find ole Blaze along the way.”
Wade reached over and hugged her. “I’ll hurry back.”
“I know you will,” she said fighting back the tears. Wade continued holding her for a few moments and then suddenly pulled away. Christine stood there watching him walk away with tears rolling down her face.
Wade had been gone for a few days and Christine was spending her time by trying to patch the holes that the hail had beaten in the wagon’s canvass cover. As she was working, a man on horseback and two covered wagons were slowly coming toward her and caught her eye. She knew that they must have seen her camp so she stood up, dusted off her clothes and straightened her hair.
After a few minutes, the man and the wagons were at the camp. “My name is Rodney Bloomfield from Kentucky,” the man introduced himself as he pulled his horse to a stop. The two boys driving the wagons stopped just behind him. All eyes were on Christine. “Where’s your man and horses?” he asked looking around the camp.
“We had a real bad hail and it killed our horses so he went off to find a town and buy us some more,” Christine explained.
Bloomfield nodded and looked back to the wagons to make sure everyone was there. “That’s my wife and kids. That boy drivin’ the wagon with his Mother is Eric. That’s Edward drivin’ the other one. That’s his sister Holly sittin’ up there with him. And that’s Donovan standin’ there by the wagon.”
“Well, I’m glad to meet all of you,” Christine smiled at them.
“My name is Rosanne,” the woman told her. “We’ve been over to Fort Stockton, I’ve got a brother in the army there and we swung by to see him since we’re on our way to California.”
“How long has your man been gone?” Bloomfield asked Christine.
“A week now.”
Bloomfield nodded and looked up at the sun. “It’s getting’ late,” he said. “If you don’t mind, we’ll camp here with you tonight and in the mornin’, me and the boys will go find your man.” He got down off his horse. “We can’t leave no woman out here unprotected. I’m sure your husband would feel the same way.”
Later that night, everyone was sitting around the campfire talking and laughing. “We’ve been travelin’ over six months now,” Rosanne told Christine.
“I’ll bet you’ll be glad to get to California,” Christine smiled.
“Oh, gosh, yes! It’ll seem like heaven not to have to live out of a wagon.”
Christine looked around at all of the children. “You sure have got some good lookin’ kids.”
“Thank you,” Rosanne said proudly. “I’ve been real lucky with all of my kids except for Carolyn. She died a couple of years back with the sleepin’ sickness.” She looked over at the wagon for a moment and then back to Christine. “We had her coffin dug up before we left and brought her along with us. I just couldn’t stand the thought of leavin’ her there in Kentucky knowin’ that we’d never go back there. We’ll bury her as soon as we get to California.”
Christine didn’t know what to say so she just nodded and stared into the campfire. It gave her the creeps knowing that there was a dead girl in one of those wooden boxes on their wagons.
Chapter 4
After finding Wade a couple of days later on his way back to Christine with fresh horses, the men decided that it would be a good idea if they traveled together through the rugged Davis mountains.
They journeyed for two days at the foot of the mountains looking for a trail up that would be suitable for the wagons. After deciding on one, Wade and Christine led the way with the Bloomfield wagons following after. As they neared the top of the mountain, there was a very steep incline. The horses simply could not pull the heavily loaded wagon to the top without help. Wade got down from the wagon and walked to the back where his new horse was tied. He petted him a few strokes before waving at the Bloomfields to come join him.
Bloomfield, his sons and Wade all got behind the wagon to push while Christine whipped the horses on. With the men pushing from the rear and the horses pulling from the front, they finally made it up the steep incline. Wade smiled at their accomplishment and wiped the sweat from his brow while Bloomfield bragged on how much help his boys were.
In like manner, they got the first of the two Bloomfield wagons up the hill. On the second, the horses were pulling their hardest while Rosanne whipped them on, but the animals just couldn’t pull the heavily loaded wagon. The wagon tongue broke quite suddenly, which caused the wagon to quickly roll backward. Rosanne, who had a firm hold on the reins, was pulled forward off the wagon to the ground behind the horses. The men behind the wagon could do nothing other than try to get out of the way of the runaway wagon as it rolled backward. Wade, Bloomfield, Eric and Edward managed to escape injury, but Donovan was not so lucky. The wagon had knocked him down and rolled over both of his legs going down the steep hill. It kept on going to the bottom where it crashed into a huge rock sending all of its cargo hurling into the air. The coffin with Carolyn’s body in it smashed into the ground and splintered into pieces spilling her corpse onto the ground.
Donovan was laying on the ground screaming in agony with his broken legs. The men all rushed over to help him in any way they could. Rosanne hurried back to where the men had gathered around Donovan and knelt down beside him. She stoked his hair. “Don’t worry baby, Mama will make it better.”
She got up quickly and starting hurrying down the mountainside toward the wrecked wagon. She suddenly froze in her tracks when she saw Carolyn’s stiff, dried out corpse laying there on the ground. The girl had obviously been buried alive because of her dried, contorted face and in each hand were handfuls of her own hair that she had pulled from her head after she had been buried. “My God, what have we done?” Rosanne screamed in horror.
Everyone rushed down the hillside to the wreckage where Rosanne had fallen to her knees crying. “We buried my baby alive!” She turned to Bloomfield, “How could that be? The doctor said she was dead!” She looked over at Carolyn’s body. “Look at the hair in her hands! She must’ve woke up and realized that she had been buried alive!” She began weeping uncontrollably. Christine walked up behind her, knelt down and put her arms around her while Wade and the other men looked on.
“We need to bury her,” Wade said after a few moments.
His suggestion angered Rosanne who broke away from Christine, got to her feet and rushed over to Wade. “We didn’t dig up my baby and haul her all the way out here just to bury her in this Godforsaken land,” she told him angrily.
Wade looked at her and sighed. “Well, in that case, we need to fix her coffin so we can move on.”
Rosanne suddenly slapped him hard in the face glaring at him. “Mister, my dead daughter is layin’ there spilled out on the ground. My son is up the hill with two broken legs and all of my worldly possessions are scattered all over the side of this mountain. How dare you think about movin’ on!”
Wade stood there for a moment looking at her thinking that she was as crazy as a loon. He then turned to Bloomfield. “Get your boys to pick up a couple of good boards from that wagon so we can make some splints for Donovan.” He then turned and faced Rosanne. “He needs our help a lot more than that dead girl does.”
After several more days, they finally made it to Van Horn. After spending a couple of days there, Wade was ready to get on the trail again. Since the doctor thought that it was best that Donovan didn’t travel for a couple of weeks, the Bloomfields and Hadens parted company and that was just fine with Wade. He was ready to be rid of them.
Wade was in a jovial mood as he and Christine left Van Horn and began traveling through the open country again. He just couldn’t keep a smile off his face. “I’m glad we parted company with them Bloomfields. I kind of like travelin’ with you and you alone. Maybe you and me can lay out tonight and look at the stars.”
“It ain’t the stars you’re wantin’ to look at,” laughed Christine.
“Well, a little huggin’ and kissin’ would be nice. After all, I’m still a newly wed,” he grinned.
Christine playfully slapped him on the shoulder and giggled. “I’ll be takin’ notice of how you act the rest of this day before I go to makin’ promises.”
“You know I’ll be sweeter than rock candy.”
“Yes, I’m sure that you will.”
Chapter 5
APRIL, 1901
Wade and Christine lived in a small, one room adobe house on their ranch a few miles outside of Douglas Arizona. Wade had built a new barn complete with new corrals, which were full of horses. The horses were mustangs that he and his helper, a Mexican man named Juan had rounded up in the hills. He would break them to ride and sell them to anyone in search of a horse.
They had met Juan while still on their journey to the ranch. He had been bushwhacked by some Mexican bandits and left by the trail there. Christine had doctored his wounds and they had taken him to his home just on the other side of the border near Auga Prieta. Wade had hired him as his helper and Juan had proved himself not only as a good worker, but as valued friend as well.
Christine was in her ninth month of pregnancy and was due any day. Since the nearest doctor in nearby Douglas was rarely home and seldom sober, she knew that she would have to have this baby alone and she knew that Wade would be of little help.
Wade walked in the house while she was putting the finishing touches on supper and sat down at the table. “You look prettier everyday,” he smiled looking over at her.
“I wish you would just tell me what’s on your mind instead of beatin’ around the bush tellin’ me how pretty I am when I know that I’m fat and ugly,” she said sitting the stew that she had been cooking down on the table and sat down with him.
Wade thought for a moment and sighed. “Juan says he knows where’s a good heard of mustangs are in those mountains just west of here,” he said expecting to be griped at.
“And how long do you figure it will take you to herd them up?” she asked dipping some of the stew out on her plate.
“A couple of weeks,” he shrugged and then reached over putting his hand on hers. “We sure do need the money and these horses will bring ten dollars a head if they’re broke to ride. I’m just afraid of leavin’ you here all alone bein’ pregnant and all.”
“Go ahead and go,” Christine said quickly.
“You know what would make me feel a whole lot better?” Wade asked trying to be an understanding soul. He waited for Christine to shake her head no. “If you would let Juan’s wife, Nina, come over here and sit with you. Juan said that she’d be willin’ to do it.”
Her eyes were angry as she glanced over at him and pulled her hand away from his. “Sounds like you and Juan had this all worked out before you even brought it up to me. Hell, does it make a damned bit of difference to you that Nina can’t speak a word of English?” She quickly got up from the table and rushed outside on the porch. Wade followed her and walking up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t mind if she comes over here and stays,” she said wiping the tears from her eyes.
Christine knew that childbirth was hard, but she wasn’t prepared for how painful it was. She was lying on the bed in labor while Nina was sitting there stroking her hair and talking to her softly in Spanish. Or was she praying? Every contraction made her cry out in pain.
“Tell me the truth, have you ever delivered a baby before?” she asked Nina who didn’t understand a word she said, but she smiled reassuringly and continued to stroke her hair trying to comfort her. Christine did seem to be comforted, but suddenly cried out in pain. “Damn you, Wade Haden, for bringin’ me to this Godforsaken country and impregnatin’ me!”
Nina was sitting out on the porch alone when she saw Juan and Wade coming with a herd of mustangs. She stood up and watched them as they herded the horses toward the barn and into the corral. Christine stepped out on the porch with her baby son, Arlo, and while the men were finishing up penning the horses, Nina walked out toward the barn to speak with Juan who smiled and turned to Wade. “She says that you have a son,” he smiled.
Wade took off running to the house and saw Christine standing there with his new baby boy. “You wasn’t here for the birth of your son so I named him for you,” Christine told him as he reached the porch. She turned the baby so Wade could see his face. “Arlo, this is your daddy,” she smiled proudly. “He thinks it’s more important to go off and chase wild horses than stayin’ here with us so you might as well get used to that.”
Jeff stepped up on the porch smiling and hugged them. “Well, I’ve got to make a livin’ for my wife and son.” He looked at Christine. “What kind of name is Arlo?”
“It’s the name of my grandfather on my Mama’s side and I’ll thank you to respect that,” Christine answered.
“Yes, ma’am, I will,” laughed Wade.
Chapter 6
BISBEE, ARIZONA
After selling several horses, Wade was sitting in a saloon having a drink with his feet propped up on a table wearing his new clothes and admiring his new handcrafted silver spurs with gold hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades on the heelpiece of them. The shank was made like a woman’s leg wearing a silk stocking and the rows were pointed and sharp. He felt rich sitting there and figured that he would have another drink or two before heading back home to Christine and the baby. Little did he know that his Uncle Buddy just walked in the saloon and saw him sitting there.
Wade had met Uncle Buddy back a few years before when he was in Tennessee. Buddy was living in Memphis with his aunt in the poor part of town. Wade had gone there in search of discovering some of his family roots.
As it turned out, Buddy was nothing more than a thief and wanted to be a train robber. He was in trouble with the law and was hiding there to avoid capture. He later followed Wade out to Arizona and decided to stay there when Wade went back to Texas. “Hey, Wade, I ain’t seen you in a coon’s age,” Buddy smiled walking over to the table and sitting down with him.