Authors: Al Lacy
Deena sniffed again. “You’re right, Mama. I simply must face the fact that I will never see my sweet sister again.”
Valerie and Deena finished their task, and Brian showed up just as the voice of the wagon master was heard, calling for everyone to get in the wagons.
Brian said, “Valerie, I’ll take Deena up on the driver’s seat with me. You’d better lie down on the cot.”
“Not right now, honey. Maybe later. I’d like to sit up front too.”
“Okay, but if you start getting tired, I’ll signal Mr. Corbin that we have to stop long enough for me to help you into the rear of the wagon so you can lie down on the cot. If we didn’t have so much stuff piled up behind the seat, you could crawl back without us having to stop. But that’s where you’re going if I see you getting tired.”
Valerie chuckled and gave him a military salute. “Yes, sir, General Parker, sir!”
Deena laughed.
Brian tweaked her nose. “It’s good to hear you laugh, sweet stuff. You look like you’ve been crying.”
Valerie nodded. “When Mr. Corbin mentioned in his story that Deena was facing the possibility that she may never see Donna again, it hit her afresh. I wish I could give her some hope in the matter, but I can’t. She told me the orphan train was going all the way to Los Angeles with many stops in between. It would be impossible to find Donna, no matter how hard we searched. There’s a lot of territory out there.”
Brian nodded and tweaked Deena’s nose again. “Lets get aboard.”
Brian helped both of them up onto the driver’s seat, putting Deena up first so she could sit between them. When he settled onto the seat beside Deena, placing his rifle on his lap, he picked up the reins. “Well, here we go.”
Deena looked at the rifle and nervously ran her tongue over her lips.
“Just in case those Comanches show up, honey. I want this gun where I can get a hold of it in a hurry.”
A moment later, Les Corbin was on his horse and calling for the wagons to move out.
As the train rolled along the vast rolling prairie, Deena looked up at Brian. “Mr. Corbin said that Comanche leader who took his people onto the reservation is named Quanah Parker. I don’t know much about Indians, Papa, but those I’ve studied about in school never had a white man’s last name. How come he has the same last name as you?”
“Well, I’ve done a little studying about him. His last name is Parker because he is a half-breed. You know what that is.”
“That’s when one parent is white and the other is Indian.”
“Correct. Quanah’s father was a Comanche, and his mother was a white woman named Cynthia Ann Parker. As a young girl, she was captured by the Comanches. They raised her, and she married a young chief named Peta Nocona. The Noconas were one of the main bands of Comanches. A year or so after they married, Cynthia Ann gave birth to their firstborn son. They named him Quanah, which means ‘fragrant’ in Comanche. He grew up and became a fearless warrior chief. It was the Texans who first began to call him Quanah Parker to mark him as a half-breed.”
“I see.”
Valerie looked past Deena at her husband. “I didn’t realize you knew all of this about that Indian.”
Brian chuckled. “I learned it when I checked out a book on the history of the American Indian from the library in Crown Point. I was especially interested in Quanah because his last name is the same as mine.”
“Interesting, to say the least.”
“I agree.”
They rode along in silence for a while, then Deena said, “Papa, Mama, with all that’s been going on, you haven’t told me where you are planning to go to make your new home. I know by listening to conversations among the people who walked past the
wagon while I was hiding under the cot, that most of them are going all the way to southern California. I’ve heard some say they are stopping in New Mexico or Arizona, though. Where are we going?”
Brian and Valerie exchanged smiling glances, and Valerie was about to tell her when suddenly they heard the whoops of wild Indians. Rifles began to fire from the wagons while Les Corbin shouted for the wagons to make a circle. The war-painted Comanches were galloping out of a nearby gully where they had been hiding.
Hurriedly, Brian handed Valerie the reins, telling her to follow the other wagons as they formed a circle. He shouldered his rifle and fired off a shot at a warrior who came riding close. The warrior let out a scream and fell from his horse, hitting the ground like a broken doll.
Deena clung to the seat with an icy coldness in her chest while her new father took a bead on another Indian and her new mother guided the wagon into the circle.
Men were firing their rifles while the women and the children were making their way into the back side of the wagons. It was bedlam outside the circle with Indians screeching, guns roaring like a string of firecrackers, and arrows hissing through the air.
Brian fired off another shot, and while levering another cartridge into the chamber, looked over his shoulder to see Valerie on the ground, raising her arms to Deena. “That’s it, honey! Hurry! Get inside fast! Can you make it without me?”
“Yes! You keep shooting! Come on, Deena!”
Deena rose up on her feet and leaned down toward Valerie.
Abruptly, two Comanches galloped up close. One was shouldering a rifle, and the other was bringing a bow and arrow into play. Brian’s shot dropped the one with the rifle, and at the same instant the arrow from the other one hissed past him, followed by
the sound of the arrow striking flesh. Deena let out a high-pitched cry.
Brian quickly levered another cartridge into the chamber and fired, dropping the second Indian. He whipped around on the seat to see Deena fall into Valerie’s arms with the arrow protruding from her back.
Valerie gripped the limp form. “Deena-a-a-a! Brian, she’s hit!”
At the
K-Bar-M Ranch
near Wild Horse, Colorado, the family sat down for lunch.
Ken looked at the hot onion soup. “Mmm! Sure smells good, ladies.”
Molly grinned. “Donna made this soup all by herself.”
“Well, honey, if it’s as good as it smells, I’ll hire you as the chief soup maker around here!”
Everybody laughed, then Ken reached across the table and took their hands into his, “Let’s pray.”
Ken had hardly said the amen when suddenly Donna put her hands to her mouth, eyes wide. “Something’s wrong! I’m sure something’s wrong!”
Ken’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, Donna?”
Molly took hold of her arm. “You mean something’s wrong with Deena?”
“Yes! Terribly wrong! I know it! Oh, I’ve got to go to her!”
Brow still furrowed, Ken said, “Well, honey, we weren’t going to Salina till next week, but since you feel this strong about it, I’ll ride into town after lunch and make reservations for the next train east.”
Half an hour later, Molly and Donna stood on the front porch of the ranch house and watched Ken gallop away.
When horse and rider vanished from view, Molly said, “Well,
honey, let’s get the dishes done, then we’ll pack a couple small bags so we’ll be ready to go in case there’s an east-bound train coming through right away.”
Donna drew a shuddering breath. “I hope there is, Mama. I’ve got to get to Deena as soon as possible. Something is terribly wrong.”
Ken was back shortly and told Molly and Donna that he booked the three of them on a train that was scheduled to arrive in Wild Horse in three hours. It would have them to Salina by nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
In less than an hour, they were in the buckboard on their way to town.
Donna was seated between them, and Molly had an arm around her as she said, “Oh, Mama, Papa, I keep getting this horrible feeling! Whatever it is, it’s bad!”
At Wild Horse, Ken left his team and buckboard with the local livery stable, and the Talberts walked the short distance to the depot.
At nine o’clock the next morning, the train pulled into the Salina railroad station. As the Talbert family left the coach, carrying their small pieces of luggage, Ken said, “We’ll rent a horse and buggy at the nearest livery stable, and I’ll see if the stable people know the location of the Dexter farm.”
When they reached the street, Ken moved up to a hired buggy and said to the driver, “Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me where the nearest livery stable is? We need to rent a horse and buggy.”
“It’s the
only
livery stable in Salina, sir. ’Bout four blocks north. Only cost you fifty cents if I take you to it.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
While the buggy was rolling along Main Street, Donna’s hands were shaking. Molly took hold of them. “Just hold on, sweetheart. We’ll be there in a little while.”
Ken leaned up close to the driver. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the Ralph Dexter farm is, would you?”
The driver angled his face toward him while keeping an eye on the street. “No, sir. I think I’ve heard that name, but I have no idea where his farm might be. Charlie Dodd—that’s the owner of the livery stable—might know.”
“Fine. I’ll ask him. Thank you.”
When the buggy came to a halt in front of the livery stable, Ken helped the ladies out, then dropped a dollar into the driver’s hand. When they moved up to the office door, a silver-haired man was just coming out. He smiled. “May I help you, folks?”
“Are you Charlie Dodd?” inquired Ken.
“Sure am.”
“The buggy driver told me your name. We need to rent a horse and buggy.”
Charlie grinned. “Well, that’s what I’m here for.”
“He also said you might be able to tell me how to find the Ralph Dexter farm.”
“Oh, sure. North of town about six, seven miles. I’ll draw you a little map.”
Less than an hour later, the Talberts turned off the road on to the Dexter place and headed down the lane toward the house.
Donna Talbert gripped her mother’s hand. “Oh, we’re almost to Deena. My heart feels like it’s going to flutter right through the wall of my chest.”
Ken smiled at her. “Just hang on, sweet stuff. You’re about to hold that precious sister of yours in your arms.”
Drawing to a halt at the front porch, Ken stepped out, and helped Molly and Donna from the buggy. They walked up the porch steps together, noticing that the front door was standing open behind the screen door.
Ken knocked on the door, and instantly, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming that way. Seconds later, a big, muscular man appeared. He looked through the screen at Donna and his face went purple with rage. He flung the screen door open. “Oh, so you’ve come crawling back, eh? And who are these people?”
Donna knew something indeed was wrong. She looked at her parents to see their reaction to the big man’s nasty attitude. They seemed as shocked as she was. “I’m not Deena, Mr. Dexter. I’m her twin, Donna. Remember? Wh-where is my s-sister?”
Ralph looked at her in mute shock.
Aware of Donna’s distress, Ken’s fatherly protectiveness took over.
He stepped closer, pushing Donna behind him. “Mr. Dexter, my wife and I have adopted Donna. We brought her here to see her twin sister. Where is sh—”
“Deena!” came a shrill female voice as Norma drew up, looking past Ken at the girl.
Donna moved up beside Ken. “I’m not Deena, Mrs. Dexter. I’m her twin sister, Donna. You saw me at the depot the day you chose Deena.”
A stunned Norma could only stand there, eyes bulging, mouth open.
Ken squared his shoulders. “Our name is Talbert. My name is Ken, and my wife’s name is Molly. We chose Donna at the depot in Wild Horse, Colorado, and we’ve adopted her. We have a ranch near there. Donna has missed her twin something awful, and she has sensed that Deena is in some kind of trouble. We
brought Donna here so she could see her. Do I understand by your words, Mr. Dexter, that Deena has left you?”
Ralph found his voice. “Uh … well, Deena had been missing her twin. She was very unhappy in our home. It seems the change was too much for her, coming from life in the big city to this farm. It became so difficult for her that she ran away. The town marshal and his deputies formed search teams from among the townsmen and tried to find her, but were unsuccessful. She is no doubt gone for good and won’t be back.”
Donna’s heart sank, and her shoulders drooped.
Molly put an arm around her, noting the profound look of sadness on the face of Ralph Dexter’s wife. A closer look showed her what appeared to be faded purple bruises on the woman’s face. Fearful of what Deena may have been forced to endure and not wanting Donna to become aware of this, Molly placed a hand on her husband’s arm. “Ken, I think it’s time to go. Since these people have no idea where Deena is, nothing more can be done here.”
Ken nodded. “Mr. and Mrs. Dexter, may I leave you our address, so if Deena should surprise you and return, she could write to Donna?”
Ralph set his jaw. “You can leave it, but Deena isn’t coming back.”
As the Talberts were driving back toward Salina, Donna sobbed as if her heart would break in pieces. “I’ll never see Deena again! Oh, what has happened to her? Whatever it is, it’s got to be dreadful. I know it! I know it!”
Molly held her in her arms. “I’m so sorry we weren’t able to find Deena, honey, but maybe what you’re feeling isn’t as bad as it seems.”
“It’s bad, Mama! Deena needs me, and I can’t get to her! Oh, this is awful!” The sobs grew heavier. “I should have come sooner, while she was still here! She needed me! Oh-h-h! I’ll never see her again!”
Ken put the reins in his left hand and took hold of Donna’s hand with his right. “Sweetheart, we came as soon as we could. I know it looks hopeless now, but we have a big, powerful God, and there are no impossibilities with Him.”
“That’s right, Donna,” said Molly. “God knows where Deena is. We’ll pray that He will bring you and Deena together in His own way and His own time.”
Donna ran her gaze between her parents. “I’ll pray that way every day of my life until the Lord brings Deena back to me.”
At the Marvin Dalby home east of Los Angeles, Teddy Hansen, Jerry Varnell, and Clint Albright were superbly happy with their foster parents. Marvin and Doris had given each of them his own room in the spacious house, and the boys loved their school.