Sapphic Cowboi (18 page)

Two of the letters were acknowledgements of
her own about possible future engagements, at this Ariana was
surprised but pleased for her too. She then thought what if Maggie
left the circus? The thought devastated her.

One letter was information about the delivery
of a black Quarterhorse that was due to arrive any day! “Maggie,
you can’t leave off business like this” Arianna scolded her.

Maggie nodded feeling terrible now that she
hadn’t managed to get the letters over to Peter’s to get them read
before this, but Ariana had promised to try and teach her to read!
That was exciting to Maggie.

Another letter inquired about purchasing a
horse of hers for riding on a place in Texas they had passed
through, Maggie only vaguely remembered the name of the town or of
the writer. Ariana helped her write letters in reply to the
business ones.

“
We will have to leave early
tomorrow if we want to make the late train” Maggie told
her.

“
You mean I can go with
you?” Ariana asked excitedly.

“
You don’t want to stay here
do you?” she asked in return feeling almost hurt at the
thought.

“
Oh no, I want to go with
you.” Then she thought “what if it rains?”

“
Then we get wet!” and
shared a laugh with her.

They did get wet, very wet. They had to stop
at Peter’s to tell him where they were going and ask that he check
in on the herd and milk the cow. With the rain and all they tried
to rush but it was a muddy mess and they couldn’t risk the legs on
the horses they were taking to ship. They ended up staying at an
abandoned farm still half a day away from Jackson. Dripping in the
clothes they had brought Maggie quickly got a fire going and
sizzling in the fireplace. She started to strip off and then
thought better of it as she got her spare clothes and changed in
the next room.

Ariana had thought she would see something
but Maggie had always been modest and she wasn’t surprised to see
her go into the next room. She herself changed out of the dungarees
and shirt she was wearing when she had the chance and into another
set she had brought along. Their clothes hung in front of the
fireplace with steam rising off of them as they dried. Maggie made
a quick stew of the food she had brought along.

“
This will warm our insides”
she told Ariana who felt shivery after riding in the rain all
day.

“
Is that the most miserable
ride you’ve ever had?” she asked as she chafed her arms to get
warmer.

Maggie shook her head “one year all the
two-year olds got out and we were looking for them for a few days,
it was cold, the storm was bad, and I got such a chill! Darned
horses didn’t want to be caught either! I’d have left them if they
weren’t so valuable” she joked. They both knew she wouldn’t have
left them she loved them too much!

They ate the stew when it was hot and Ariana
grateful clutched the metal cup they had brought to feel some of
its warmth. The hot broth going down her throat felt wonderful, she
was so cold! They finished the pot that Maggie had made and still
Ariana felt cold. She was shivering.

“
Are you okay?” Maggie had
noticed her shaking.

“
I’m so cold, I can’t seem
to get warm” she told her as her teeth started to chatter, she
gathered her wool blanket from where they had spread them out on
the floor and wrapped it around her and still she
shivered.

“
Sounds like you caught a
cold” Maggie told her wisely. She got up and adjusted the clothing
drying in front of the fire to give off more of the heat in the
cold little dilapidated farmhouse. She added a few more sticks to
the fire to keep it burning through the night and she took her own
blanket to wrap around Ariana.

“
No, what will you use”
Ariana protested.

“
Here” Maggie wrapped it
around both of them “we might as well share body heat; I hear
that’s the best thing for cold.”

Ariana would have protested more except the
thought of being that close to each other warmed her soul. She lay
down in front of the fire using her saddle for a pillow and Maggie
laid down on the far side away from the fire and put both blankets
on them, her own saddle a pillow. Ariana began to feel a lot better
and before she knew it, the warm fire, the warm stew, her own
fatigue and the beginning of the cold she was hatching all over
came her, and the fact that the one woman she wanted so desperately
was against her back warming her brought her so much comfort she
soon fell asleep.

It was hell for Maggie. Her back was cold but
her front very very warm. She wanted desperately to put her arm
around Ariana and hug her close. The warmth from Ariana’s body
caused odd sensations in her own. The smell from Ariana’s hair was
enticing. The smell from her body, while horsey, wasn’t all that
bad either and Maggie desperately wanted to nuzzle in and inhale
it. Instead she kept herself at a respectful inch from Ariana’s
sleeping body and tried to sleep that way. She failed.

When they woke in the morning Ariana was
amazingly better and the first to wake up. She found herself with
her arm across Maggie’s chest and Maggie’s own hand enticingly
close to her breast, her head on its side with her breath in
Ariana’s ear, warm and comforting. Ariana’s leg was thrown between
Maggie’s own. Ariana could feel the beat of Maggie’s heart under
her arm, sure and steady. She didn’t want to move an inch. She knew
the moment that Maggie woke up as she stiffened instantly. Ariana
just rolled over slightly as in sleep to remove her arm from the
position it had been in and her leg as well and to save Maggie from
any embarrassment.

“
You awake?” Maggie tried to
wake her moments later after she recovered from her
shock.

“
What? Oh, it’s morning”
Ariana stretched.

“
You feel better this
morning?” Maggie asked relieved that Ariana hadn’t realized their
intimate embrace.

“
Mmm much, I must have just
been worn out last night” Ariana confessed and sat up. She looked
around and mumbled “what’s for breakfast?”

Maggie looked at the tumbled hair that was
Ariana’s and grinned, her own she could finger comb. She got up and
stretched tightening her shirt against her chest and catching
Ariana’s full attention. She looked away before Maggie could see
her. “I’ll go saddle the horses and get them ready if you want to
put on some coffee and we will drink that and I have some jerky,
we’ll get a hot meal in town if that’s okay with you” she offered
as it was raining lightly.

“
I’ve got to use the
outhouse” Ariana said as she rose from the warm
blankets.

“
I wouldn’t use the
outhouse, if you can, go out back and just cover it up” Maggie
advised imaging how dilapidated the outhouse might be and not
wanting to fish Ariana out of that.

Maggie was amazingly fast as she saddled
Sampson and Satan, their chosen mounts and gathered the other
horses she was sending to their new owners. She had them tied off
and ready in front of the house and was ready to bring their gear
out to put on the saddles when Ariana had their ‘breakfast’ ready.
She burnt her tongue on the coffee but it tasted fine on this cold
and rainy morning. They packed away their now dry clothes and put
on their slickers that hadn’t kept out the driving rain of
yesterday. By the time everything was packed, the leftover coffee
was poured on the fire and the ashes checked they were ready to go!
Maggie mounted up and then waited for Ariana who packed the warm
coffee pot into her saddle bag and off they went, a little faster
today but still careful to avoid broken legs on the muddy
trail.

They got into town and Maggie headed for the
depot. The same agent who had helped her on her way to join the
circus all those months ago recognized her and helped her with the
paperwork. Ariana would have helped too but she saw how Maggie
managed without reading and writing, again too much trust in people
that might not deserve it. Fortunately this clerk seemed honest. He
also arranged for feed and drink for the horses they were
shipping.

“
Do you want to stay around
and see them off? You missed the 11 a.m. train but the 2 o’clock
one can take them out” he told her.

Maggie agreed to stay around, they had a hot
meal to get anyway and it was already after noon, it wouldn’t hurt
to make sure they got off all right.

Ariana saw when they went to eat how Maggie
managed that as well, she looked around at what others were eating,
asked about the specials, and chose accordingly. She didn’t even
glance at the menus or the prices. When the waitress came she told
the total and Maggie put down the appropriate money, apparently she
knew money. They shopped for a bit not really finding anything but
looking anyway to waste time. The stores had a lot more to offer
than Maggie’s small town but she didn’t need anything. All too soon
they heard the whistle of the train and walked rapidly back to the
depot to load the horses on the stock car. They were helped by
another clerk and the horses were settled before the train even
left the depot. This one had stalls for each piece of stock and
Maggie made sure of their comfort, deep beds of hay, and enough
room in their tie to lie down or eat but not so much that it would
tangle. The clerk assured her they would be watered and fed en
route to their destination in Arizona.

Maggie hated to see any of her babies go but
it was business and these were fine pieces of stock, she couldn’t
keep them all even if she wanted to. Ariana sensed how she felt and
patted her shoulder consolingly. “C’mon, let’s head home” she
said.

As they mounted up another clerk came running
“Are you Miss O’Malley?” he nearly shouted.

Maggie pulled up from starting Sampson “I am”
she said surprised.

“
We have a delivery for you,
if you would just wait a moment” he told her
breathlessly.

Maggie nodded and the exchanged a look with
Ariana.

“
Maybe it’s the Quarterhorse
that man wrote you about” Ariana reminded her.

Maggie looked surprised but then wasn’t as
they came down the train from another stock car and brought the
most beautiful black Quarterhorse she had ever seen. She was a fine
boned animal, much finer than what Maggie bred but solid all the
same. She was a looker too by the way she pranced her way trying to
lead the clerk who was bringing her to Maggie.

“
Wow, look at him” Ariana
breathed.

“
Her” Maggie corrected
without even thinking twice.
She
was going to be a beautiful horse and have
beautiful babies.

“
Ma’am” the clerk offered
her the lead rope as the horse eyed her suspiciously and tried to
pull back from Sampson’s inquiring nose. Satan on her other side
made her just as skittish.

“
There now, there now”
Maggie soothed her holding out her hand and waiting. The horse,
while suspicious was also curious and put her nose out snuffling to
see if there was food or a treat being offered, instead she smelled
horse on the hand and Maggie turned her hand over to pet the muzzle
as she leaned far over Sampson. “There girl, we’re going to be
friends aren’t we” she said soothingly.

Ariana was amazed; she had such a way with
horses, animals, people even.

“
Ma’am you have to sign for
her” the clerk offered up a manifest which caused the horse to shy
and Maggie tightened the lead rope.

“
I’ll sign it” Ariana
offered but Maggie was already reaching for the clipboard. Ariana
watched as Maggie painfully signed her name. She wondered no more
about her reading and writing abilities, she could see why Maggie
had hid it in shame, that her father thought women shouldn’t know
these things was a crime.

“
Thanks, you saved me a long
trip” the clerk said with a smile.

“
Timing is everything”
Maggie joked with him as she handed back the clipboard and gathered
the reins on Sampson. “Ready?” she asked Ariana as she clucked to
Sampson and led the new horse.

The trip back didn’t seem to take as long but
the rain continued in a spritz with the clouds releasing more now
and then. They passed the farmhouse they had stayed at the previous
night and went on hoping to make it home that night. The muddy
roads though meant they were delayed and they found another cabin a
little off the road and brought the horses into it with them, there
was no sign of a stable or barn even existing on the site.

“
It’ll be crowded but warm”
Maggie assured her knowing the horse’s body heat would help a
lot.

Ariana was tired, the weather, the long trip,
it was all exhausting. She had recovered from the cold of the
previous night but was so fatigued she felt it differently than she
would have if she was fully rested. Maggie did most of the ‘chores’
getting the horses settled as Ariana tried to start a fire and
failed. Maggie got one going in minutes and made a stew again from
her mysterious saddle bags. She shaved in dry meat, added dried
vegetables, and with rainwater and a bit of flour soon had a
simmering concoction that smelled wonderfully. Ariana couldn’t wait
for her first cupful as she set out their blankets on the far side
of the fireplace, side by side but far from the horses that stood
patiently in what must have been the living space of the broken
down cabin. The roof was okay and only a few leaks let in rain but
Maggie put their slickers in a way to ward those off and it ran off
onto the floor. She put her saddle and Ariana’s as pillows once
again.