For the Love of Suzanne (27 page)

“I would like very much to hear this rock
music, Suzanne,” he said somberly.

“I would like very much to show you
everything, Cody,” she said softly, turning to look at him and
ran her mitten over his cheek, inviting him to kiss her which he did,
slipping his tongue into her warm mouth. She slipped her hand behind
his neck and entwined her tongue with his, reveling in the fact that
the man was the most excellent kisser. “Come with me, Cody,”
she murmured against his lips, kissing him again.

“I want to,” he whispered to her. “But
I don’t know how. I don’t know how we’re going to
even get you back. And what if I did make it over? How would I
survive?”

“You would survive with me just like I’ve
survived with you. I would take care of you until you got used to
things,” she said quietly, gazing into his dark eyes.

“I don’t want you to take care of me.
If I were to come to your world, I would want to take care of you.
Forever. I would want to marry you.”

She shook her head. “No, you wouldn’t.
A man like you would have thousands of women beating his door down.
What would you want with someone like me?”

“I don’t want someone like you. I want
you
. I love you, Suzanne,” he exclaimed. “I don’t
think you want to believe that, but it’s true. I don’t
want any other woman.”

“Cody,” she said patiently. “I
don’t think you realize what you say sometimes.”

“Yes, I do. I know exactly what I say and I
mean exactly what I say. I’m a straight shooter, you know.”

She nodded, knowing that very well. “Sometimes
you can regret what you say and I think if you were to marry me, you
would regret the words, ‘
I do
’.”

“Why?” he asked with exasperation.
“What is so terrible about you? I don’t see it. Have we
not spent some real time together? Do you think I don’t know
you? Do you think you don’t know me? What, Suzanne?” he
demanded. “What am I missing?”

“Why are we even talking about this?”
she shot back. “We’re not even sure we can have a life
together.”

“We can,” he retorted hotly. “We
can if we try.”

“How? We don’t know how.”

“We’ll figure it out. There has to be
a way. Why would God put you in my life only to snatch you away?”
he countered.

“He put you in mine, too and so soon after
my husband died and I’m pregnant, too. What am I supposed to
think?”

“The same thing I do. That it’s meant
to be.”

“I wish it were, but what if it isn’t?”

“It has to be.”

Suddenly a shot rang out and a bullet ricocheted
off a nearby rock that was barely visible through the snow on the
ground, nearly hitting Titan who whinnied in fear and began to dance
around.

Without even thinking, Cody threw Suzanne to the
ground and followed her down, covering her protectively with his
body. “Oh my God,” he groaned as he buried his face in
his arm.

“What?” Suzanne whispered in fear as
she trembled under him. “Are you hurt?”

“No. The damn horses just ran away,”
he muttered.

She didn’t dare lift her head in fear that
she would be shot even if he was on top of her. “Somebody just
took a shot at us and you’re worried about the horses?”
she exclaimed in a low voice.

“Maybe I wouldn’t be if they weren’t
our only source of transportation and have all of our supplies,”
he hissed back at her as he scanned the trees, looking for whoever
had fired the shot and saw no sign of anyone. He was acutely aware
that there was no place to take cover in the clearing and the nearest
grove of trees was behind them and where the shot had come from. He
was afraid if he moved, one of them would be shot and he didn’t
want her hurt.

“Who shot at us?” she whispered
anxiously.

“I don’t know,” he murmured,
still looking around. “I need to get you out of the snow,”
he said quietly and moved off her. “Stay down,” he
whispered as he slowly rose to his feet, pulling one of his six
shooters from its holster, slowly pulling the hammer back as he did.
He stood aright, waiting for another shot to be fired and when none
came, he helped her to her feet. “Come on. I think the shooter
is still out there so stay in front of me,” he cautioned as he
moved her in front of his body.

She began to walk toward the trees in front of
them. “Why are they shooting at us?” she asked fearfully.

“I can only guess. It’s either because
of the cavalry being slaughtered by my people or because I’m an
Indian with a white woman.”

“I thought you said the cavalry had
retaliated.”

“That’s what I was told, but some men
just like to kill for the thrill and think Indians have no souls,”
he said as he hurried her to the copse of trees.

That disturbed her. Of course everyone had a soul
even if some of them were black with anger and hate. She knew the
time she was in now had little or no respect for any culture that was
different and that Indians had been randomly hunted like animals.

They hadn’t gone far before another shot
rang out. Cody was quick and fired back in the direction from which
the shot had come, getting a glimpse of a man before he could hide
behind another tree. Boris? No. It couldn’t be. Why would he
follow them all this way?

She instinctively fell again only to have him pick
her up and set her back on her feet, keeping her in front of him.

As he was straightening, another shot came. He
shoved her back down into the snow and fell down on top of her again.
He raised his head, seeing how far it was to the trees and was
dismayed to see that they seemed to be no closer than before.

Another shot rang out and they both covered their
heads with their hands.

“We have to run for the trees,” he
whispered to her. “We’re just easy prey out here. Can you
make it?”

“I don’t think I have a choice if I
want to live.”

He admired her spunk. “I’ll drag you
if I have to.”

“This dress weighs me down,” she
explained lamely. “I can’t move like I should.”

“I understand. You just hang onto me.”

“Why are you doing this?” she
whispered. “Why don’t you just leave me here and save
yourself?”

“Why don’t I just cut off my arm?”
he countered. “It would be a lot easier. Come on now. We can do
this,” he said confidently.

“I’m scared,” she whimpered.

“I know. I am, too, but we can do this.
Remember to keep in front of me.”

“I don’t want you getting shot,”
she said worriedly. “Can’t we crawl?”

“We don’t know how deep the snow is.”

“I’m going to get you killed,”
she said fearfully as he moved off her.

“No, you won’t,” he said
confidently. “No honorable man would shoot another man in the
back. Come on.”

She didn’t move. “Who says he has any
honor? Can’t we crawl or even stay here?”

He knew she was scared and wanted to ease that.
Maybe if they were to play dead, whoever was shooting at them would
show himself just to check on the bodies; then Cody could get the
upper hand and kill him if he had to. “Okay. Here’s what
we’ll do. I’m going to stand up and the man is going to
take a shot at me. He’ll miss, but I’m going to fall like
he hit me. You can take it from there. I’ll play dead and when
he comes out, I’ll take care of it.”

“What if he doesn’t miss?”

“He hasn’t hit yet,” he
reasoned. “I want you to know that I’m going to kill him
if I have to,” he said seriously. “I don’t enjoy
killing people, but I will do it if it comes down to you, me or us.
Okay?”

“Please be careful,” she said with
fear in her voice.

“I will. I’m going to act like I’m
going to help you up, but I want you to stay down.”

“Okay,” she said nervously.

He kissed her on the cheek. “I love you,”
he murmured to her.

Her cheek was freezing as the snow packed it. “I
love you, too.”

He’d barely risen to his knees when another
shot rang out and a searing pain went through his arm, making him
cover it with his hand and fall down again.

She knew he wasn’t acting and bolted to her
knees in terror. “Oh my God!” she shrieked when she saw
blood seeping out between his fingers, staining the snow a brilliant
red. “Cody,” she panicked. “Oh, my God.”

“I got him, Pa,” a young voice cried
out excitedly from the trees.

“You sure did, son,” the father
congratulated.

“Let’s go see what he’s got,”
he said happily.

Cody heard them and reached for his gun. “Keep
grieving, honey. You’re doing good.”

“You’re hurt,” she whimpered
fearfully.

“It’s just a scratch. Keep grieving.”

Suzanne watched the boy run into the clearing,
whooping and hollering with happiness as his father trailed him at a
leisurely pace with a smile on his rugged face. She was appalled that
the boy wasn’t much older than ten or twelve years old. “He’s
just a little boy,” she said wondrously.

Cody didn’t look, but lay still, listening
to them approach as he breathed hard with the pain.

“This Injun here stole you, huh, ma’am?”
the boy called to her with obvious pride that he’d saved her.

She looked at him with genuine sorrow as tears
streamed down her face. “He’s my husband, you moron!”
she said hotly.

Cody looked up at her, almost smiling at the new
word. “Keep going, honey,” he whispered to her.

The boy appeared beside her breathlessly with
excitement written all over his rosy cheeks. “You looked like
you needed to be rescued.”

“I didn’t need to be rescued, you
idiot,” she said furiously. “He’s my husband.”

“What?” the man asked in astonishment
as he came up behind the boy. “You mean to tell me you married
an Injun?”

Cody pulled his gun from beside his leg and
pointed it at the man. “And she carries my child,” he
growled, gracefully rising to his feet, still holding the gun
steadily at the surprised man, “Give me your guns,” he
commanded coldly.

They both handed their pistols to him without
question, both still stunned that he was alive.

He slipped them into his spacious coat pockets,
and hauled Suzanne to her feet by the arm, glaring at the man and the
boy. “Don’t be shooting at people you don’t know. I
didn’t do anything to threaten you or harm you and you can show
me the same respect. Come on, honey,” he told Suzanne
patiently, tipping his hat mockingly at them and started to trudge a
path for her in the snow, heading for the trees.

Suzanne looked back to make sure the two didn’t
follow them and saw them walking the other way. She slipped her arm
around Cody’s waist, wanting to help him. She feared he was
injured worse than he was letting on.

Suzanne was worried about Cody. He wouldn’t
let her look at his wound, but it was bleeding through the sleeve of
his coat and matting the fur. He was showing signs of fatigue as he
shuffled through the deep snow, nearly falling more than once.

Cody whistled over and over for Titan as he tried
to track both horses and was disappointed that they had gone in
different directions. He knew which tracks were Titan's and followed
them, sure the horse would come back. He’d spent countless
hours training the horse with whistles, hand signals, and to remain
calm in battle, the latter being a work in progress. Despite his
tendency to panic at loud sounds, the horse was an excellent animal
and Cody thought very highly of him.

“Will he come?” Suzanne panted,
trying to keep up with Cody as he still maintained a brisk pace
despite the cold and his wound.

“Eventually,” he muttered and whistled
again as he scanned the horizon, looking for him. There was no sign
of him and, without the horse, there was no food or supplies.

He knew he could hunt something, but there was no
way to start a fire in the wet snow. He opted for nuts and berries,
showing her what to eat and what to leave. As they trudged forward,
he looked for a place to make a shelter for the night.

She was eating with him, picking berries of her
own, but they didn’t taste good. She was hungry and ate them
without complaint, still struggling to keep up with him.

He stopped abruptly and looked at her, finally
realizing that he was making her work too hard for her condition.
“I’m sorry. I’m wearing you out,” he said
sincerely.

She was thankful that they’d finally
stopped. “Can we rest for just a minute?” she asked as
she tried to catch her breath.

“Yes. I need to look for a place to bed down
for the night. It’s going to get very cold again,” he
murmured more to himself than to her and began to wander away.

She didn’t sit or rest and stepped in behind
him again.

He turned around. “You can rest,” he
said easily.

She looked up at him uncertainly. “I know,
but I’d rather stay with you if it’s okay.”

He led her to a boulder and sat her down on it and
went down on his heels in front of her, holding her by her shoulders.
“Honey, you are tired,” he said in a reasonable tone.
“Just sit here and rest. I won’t be far.”

He could see the shrouded fear in her eyes and
knew she didn’t want to be left alone and didn’t blame
her. It was cold, the forest was covered with snow and there were
wild animals around. Of course, she was frightened. Any normal person
would be.

He ran his gloved hand down her hair that Marda
had cut and gotten straightened out before leaning forward and
kissing her softly for a moment. “I’m not going to leave
you, honey,” he promised in her ear and kissed the side of her
head. “You’ll be fine right here.”

She clung to him loosely then let him go,
accepting the kiss to her cold cheek and watched him walk away, her
stomach knotted with trepidation. It was cold, he was injured and
wouldn’t let her help him, and they were both hungry and tired.
It seemed as if everything was working against them.