Sapphic Cowboi (14 page)

Maggie grinned as she hugged her longtime
friend and neighbor. “Well Mama wanted an impressive name and Daddy
shortened it” she explained. Few people knew her real name and she
hadn’t minded that. “How are my babies?” she asked as she pulled
back from giving Peter a bear hug.

Ariana’s heart was suddenly in her throat.
Maggie had never said she had babies but the easy affection between
her and this ‘neighbor’ suddenly made her wonder if they were
actually married. But in all their friendly chats, Maggie had never
once mentioned being married.

“
Oh they miss you and this
fella too” he nudged Feathers with his knee who was standing on his
hind legs to get some attention from someone he knew
well.

Maggie stepped back from Peter’s embrace.
“This is my good friend Ariana; she performs with me and the
horses.”

“
How do ma’am” he said
politely, bowing slightly and putting his hand to his head to tug
at his forelock.

Ariana was amused, it was so ‘country’ and
yet so endearing. Peter was a strong built man, tall, and obviously
a farmer by the way he was dressed. Maggie had told her that he was
coming to see the circus as well as half the town had emptied from
the people she could see and recognize. They all knew her and
wanted to see their hometown girl and what she had done with her
horses.

“
I won’t keep you but I
wanted to say hello before half the town came over” he said with a
slight blushing grin.

“
Who’s watching my babies?”
she asked suspiciously in mock concern her hands on her
hips.

“
I got responsible adults
watching your place and mine!” he returned in equally mock concern
tones.

She laughed, she knew he
would have planned it out so he could see the carnival and circus
and return home the next day. This was the final day of the show,
she had seen the ‘town’ arrive en masse, country folks with their
eyes wide, and not much different to other dozens of shows and
towns they had done before. The only difference was these
were
her
people,
they knew
her
, had
come not just to see the show but to see
her
. Time and time again that last
day people greeted her by name and she introduced her friend
Ariana.

“
These are really nice
friends” Ariana commented wondering if Maggie would indeed come
back after her winter break from the circus. The thought of losing
her when she had only just found her caused her to have trouble
breathing.

“
They are, I didn’t realize
how much I appreciated them until I went away” Maggie said with a
grin. She waved at Mrs. Baxter who was waving madly at her. She had
been smiling a lot today, not only the people whom she knew and
loved were here but this would be her last show for a while and she
would be going
home
tomorrow. Her personal gear was packed and ready to go, she
had a lot more than the two bags and a saddle she had arrived with
and was grateful she had the horses to cart it home for her. The
ornaments, the gear, and the fencing would all go on with circus
without her. They had a couple more shows before they ended in
Florida for the season. They would do without the horse act that
had brought Maggie to them.

“
I’ll miss you” Ariana told
her quietly as they began to get ready for their final
performances. They had broken it up into three distinct acts. With
the addition of the Spanish dancer act they had to do quick changes
and a couple of the circus people were standing by with their other
costumes.

“
I’ll be back” Maggie
assured her smiling and reaching over impulsively she gave Ariana’s
hand a squeeze.

Ariana wanted more than that. She had never
allowed herself to act on her feelings. Others realized from the
longing looks she had thrown Maggie’s way but she was certain,
absolutely sure that Maggie had no idea of her feelings for her,
the affection for her, or the love. She didn’t want to destroy
their friendship and she would love from afar if that was all she
had, she couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Maggie again
though.

The townspeople who had come
up to Jackson for the circus and shows were awed to see
Maggie,
their
Maggie performing with her horses. At one time or another
everyone had seen her with her horses, but not like this, not with
feathers, and sparkles, her in a tuxedo and later slacks and a blue
button down blouse with a cummerbund making her waist look very
thin dancing with a lovely woman over, around, and on the backs of
her black beasts. They were awed, they were excited, and they
clapped appreciatively over and over during each of the three acts
with
their
Maggie
in them. It was a show worth seeing and all were glad that they
made the trip.

Maggie was laughing, catching her breath
before slipping into her tent to change and pack up the last time.
She had to see to her horses first though and the questions, the
endless questions that people asked after each show, wanting to
prolong the excitement, feel it all one more time, perhaps to touch
the pretty horses, talking with her and Ariana about it all. The
two of them shared more than one glance, for one it was about
gathering memories, possibly last memories, for the other it was
about sharing the excitement of a good show and enjoying the
possibilities that were out there for them.

It took hours to answer the questions, stow
all the accessories of the horses and brush them down before Maggie
had a chance to change into more casual attire and brush down her
own costumes, something she did meticulously each night since she
had been given them. Only after a couple of shows had passed would
she carefully wash them and hang them to dry. Fine clothing such as
the ones she wore in the show required better care than her casual
hard working clothes. She was meticulous in its care, part of her
job she felt.

“
I’m going to miss you!”
Ariana said as she watched Maggie saddle up Sampson and Ashes and
put her things on a couple of the others. She had a lot more she
had bet or bought than what she had brought with her.

Maggie looked at her and tried not to look
sad. Her first female friend and she would miss her desperately.
“I’ll be back for the next season” she assured her.

“
Yeah but that’s months
away, how about you write me where we are in Florida?” Ariana
suggested and saw the stricken look on Maggie’s face at the
question.

“
Um well, if I find the
time” Maggie hedged, not comfortable with a lie “I have to see
what’s going on at my farm and all.” She turned back to her gear
loading up the last of it as she tied the horses together for the
trip.

Ariana wasn’t sure what that
meant ‘if she had the time?’ but it bothered her. They were close,
perhaps not in the way that Ariana wanted it but they
were
close of that she
was certain. She didn’t want to dwell on it though or leave off
angry when Maggie was just going.

Maggie initiated a hug
goodbye and Ariana was surprised at that but welcomed it, perhaps
hugging Maggie back a little bit harder than she had expected but
it was heartfelt. She
would
miss her, she already dreamed of her.

Others stopped to say goodbye, Perry got
another hug, others handshakes and nice words. Maggie mounted up
and headed out nodding to Carlton and stopping so Cecil could give
her the last pay she had coming from last night’s show. “See you
next spring” as he assured her with a smile, in the pay envelope
was next year’s contract and he added “send me the signed
contract.” Maggie nodded in answer as she rode away with waves
behind her and good wishes.

“
That’s a good kid” Carl
clapped his hand on his son’s shoulder pleased with the act he had
brought in.

“
Yes she is a good kid”
Cecil agreed looking thoughtfully at the figure of Ariana following
along on the other side of the tents to get a last glimpse of
Maggie as she left.

Others from town were traveling along the
same roads as Maggie so she didn’t travel alone. They welcomed her
back and talked to her about the show they had seen and what a fine
job she had done. Children were admiring and talking about being
like her when they grew up and she got several offers to help with
her horses when she got home, the children she welcomed as she felt
that in the next generation many would lose the hands on horses
with the coming of cars and trucks and trains. She rode along in
silence unless someone addressed her as her thoughts about her
circus family and particularly Ariana drifted through her mind.
Riding was a great time to think and muss over her dreams and
aspirations. She loved Ariana; she knew that, she also knew the
attraction went beyond the friendship they had developed. It had
taken her depression and subsequent ‘baptism’ in the Pacific for
her to realize it was not to be. Women didn’t love other women; she
wasn’t going to have that happily ever after with another woman. It
didn’t work like that in this day and age and she didn’t even know
what women did with other women. She just knew she liked being with
Ariana, she dreamed of kissing her, but beyond that she didn’t know
and would never know. She looked forward to seeing her again in the
spring when the show circuit started again. She had panicked at the
thought of writing her as she didn’t wish to reveal she didn’t know
how to write beyond her name, she couldn’t read either and she was
ashamed of this.

Her thoughts were very
similar to Ariana’s as she helped pack up the circus for another
trip to another town all heading back to Florida for the season.
She wasn’t enthusiastic but did her share since she wasn’t helping
Maggie with her horses. She did however drive the wagon that had
Maggie’s gear to the train and make sure it all got stored properly
for next season. She lovingly packed the trunks away in the box car
as she carried the memories of the last months in her mind.
Maggie
would
be
back, she had promised.

Maggie made it back in one
day, perhaps because she was rushing and perhaps it was that the
horses all increased their pace when they realized they were in
familiar territory and heading
home.
It helped to be on the main
road and not the back roads that wound around the hills.
Home
, such a lovely word.
The sound of greetings from the horses that were left on the farm
were welcomes to both woman and beast. Filly, the mate of Feathers
greeted them with welcome barks. She couldn’t release her horse’s
quick enough from their small burdens before they yanked against
their ropes to go out into
their
fields, greet
their
friends, who stuck their heads
out of the barn and whinnied in joy. Maggie got all of her horses
out there, releasing the ones from the barn, one at a time as she
greeted them until her entire herd except for a few that were still
over at Peters was out in the fields. A lot of horsey greeting was
going on, pecking orders re-established, even her stallion Perseus
had to dominate the field and show off that he was king, and he was
king from what she could see of the horses she had left behind, she
had new foals to get to know and she wondered at the horses that
were missing and over at Peter’s. She wondered if there were more
foals or something was wrong, she was certain he would have told
her up at the circus if something was amiss. She hadn’t been around
these new foals from birth and for the first time in all her years
on the farm she didn’t regret it, living and working with the
circus had taught her a lot and provided them with necessary
cash.

She was over at Peter’s the next morning,
early but he laughed having known she wouldn’t wait long to see
what he was holding at her place. He had three mares with four
foals waiting for her, the last, twins was almost unheard of and
dangerous for a mare to have, they or the foals had been known to
die but these two weren’t foundering; they were mischievous and
full of themselves, definitely part of her herd of showoff’s.

“
Oh Peter, thank you” she
said heartfelt as she gathered the two foals into her arms under
the suspiciously watchful eyes of the mare. The mare knew
her
Maggie but it had
been awhile since she had seen her and these were her babies
too.

“
Yes, it scared me when I
realized there were two, you’d have skinned me alive if something
happened to them” he joked and then wondered how far off he really
was from the idea.

“
I can’t thank you enough
for what you’ve done” she said as she watched them cavort off with
their mother.

“
Well, as we agreed I took
some of your crops in trade, you’re gonna have to get a hustle on
though if you’re gonna get replanted for next season” he told
her.

With Filly helping her gather the mothers and
their foals and riding Perseus to show him she was still the boss
she had her hands full getting them home. She kept them in a
separate pen until the other sniffed everyone over through the
fencing and decided they were part of the herd. She looked proudly
at what she had created, what her father before her had created,
what her grandfather has started. She had seen other horses, many
other horses on their travels. She had seen what they called
Arabians and liked the pureness and the abilities of them, she had
seen some Thoroughbreds and some Quarterhorses, in fact, she was
trading one of her mares for a black Quarterhorse mare she wanted,
to introduce that line to her herd. She felt the combination of
what her father and grandfather had bred, what she had bred, and
introducing this to her line would create better horses.