Sapphic Cowboi (19 page)

“
My this is cozy” Ariana
sighed blissfully as she took her first sip of the broth of the
stew and used her fork to spear a potato. It tasted
wonderful.

“
This isn’t too bad” Maggie
agreed, her own appetite strong after their long day slogging
through the mud.

“
Well hopefully it will stop
raining for a while when we get back home” Ariana
commented.

“
Its part of winter down
here” Maggie warned her. “Besides we need it for the
crops.”

“
We need sunshine too”
Ariana teased and they shared a laugh.

“
I need to use the privy”
Maggie got up and went out back.

Ariana thought she heard Maggie out front too
and was surprised when she came back in through the back door.
“Were you out front?” she asked wondering at the noise she had
heard.

Maggie shook her head as she frowned and
looked at the darkened windows. Dark came early in the winter and
they had stopped with enough time to get settled in this little out
of the way cabin. There hadn’t been time to look for a better site
and she wondered. She sat down near her friend and they started
chatting again. She put the pot on the side of the fire so it
wouldn’t scorch the remaining stew. “That’s breakfast” she told
Ariana who nodded. They both heard a branch break outside and the
horses did as well as their heads came up. Maggie looked but
couldn’t see anything from her seat on the floor out the open front
door. Instead she inched closer to her saddle bags and put her hand
inside. It was as she started to pull it out that they both heard a
footstep on the sill of the doorway and looked up.

“
Well, well, well, what have
we here” a man sneered as he looked at the camp the two women had
made. Another man came up behind him and looked over his shoulder
smiling in delight. They had watched the two women for a while and
smelled the tantalizing aroma of their stew pot. “Looks like we
have two ladies
alone
” he said drawing out the word alone to make it sound
ominous.

Maggie pulled her hand from her saddle bag
and put it under her dungarees. Ariana froze where she was sitting
realizing what a dangerous situation they were in. They were two
women alone, they were far from home, and these were desperate
times with many millions of people out of work. What they had here
was a fortune to some people and their lives not worth a hill of
beans. The horses, the saddles, their very lives were in
jeopardy.

“
Oh Sam, I think we found us
a birds nest” the second man said with a leer at Ariana.

“
Now what are you two
ladies” he stressed the word and made it sound insulting “doing
here all alone?”

“
We’re not alone” Maggie
said bravely.

“
Well we don’t see no men
folk nearby” the second one said as he looked around at the horses
and their gear, his nose quivered like a hound dogs at the smell
coming from the pot.

“
And you look as though you
got enough to share” the first one continued as he too glanced at
the pot and then at Ariana.

As they took steps into the cabin and the
light of the fire the two women could see how disheveled they were,
their clothes were ripped and old, they must have lived in them a
long time by the amount of dirt caked on them. Their faces were
grubby and hollow, they had a few teeth between them and these
fuzzy with decay, their eyes were darting everywhere, taking in
everything with delightful glee.

“
I don’t recall asking you”
Maggie said carefully and slowly so they would
understand.

Sampson snorted his dislike of the newcomers.
Maggie hadn’t tied him or Satan knowing she didn’t need to; only
the new Quarterhorse was tied to the corner of the logs. She was
pulling at her tie though as she didn’t like the smell of these
intruders either.

“
Now that isn’t real
friendly like” the first one said sparing her a glance and
realizing that despite the man’s clothing she was a
fe
-male. It was the other
one in dungarees and a button up shirt with the long black hair
that had caught their attention, now she was
all
woman.

“
It wasn’t meant to be, you
go on about your business” Maggie used a tone that Ariana had never
heard before.

“
You ain’t gonna share?” the
second one said stupidly.

Maggie shook her head “if you don’t leave
you’re gonna be sorry” she warned them both keeping them in her
eyesight but looking out of the corners due to the darkness of the
room. She could hear Sampson and how restless he was becoming. If
these two didn’t leave soon she wasn’t what they would have to
worry about.

“
What if we don’t want to
leave?” the first one asked. He smiled a cocky smile.

“
As I said, you’re gonna be
sorry” and with that Maggie pulled her gun out and pointed at
them.

They both froze from where they had been
slowly edging forward trying to flank the girls, Maggie gestured
with her gun and cocked it at the same time and they moved
together.

“
Now, either you leave under
your own steam or I shoot you where you stand, who do you think the
sheriff is gonna believe in the morning when they find your
carcasses here?” she offered conversationally.

“
You might not get us both”
the first one said belligerently. Fear and anger mixed.

“
But I may get you both” she
correctly with a smile and something about her confidence scared
them both. “Furthermore, my horses here will trample your guts into
the mud” she added and then Sampson snorted his displeasure at the
smell these two radiated scaring them further.

“
We’d like to leave ma’am if
it’s okay with you” the first one had lost his belligerence and
tried to talk respectfully but his eyes darted between the gun and
the horses. The horses were nearly impossible to see in the dark
except for their rolling eyes that boded no good will.

“
I’d run if I were you and
not come back, if I see you on the road or anywhere I’m gonna shoot
to kill and ask questions later, you understand?” Maggie said in a
menacing voice.

They both nodded and began to turn slowly.
Satan took that moment to snort his own displeasure and they ran
like the devil was after them. Maggie wanted to laugh as she
watched them high stepping it until they disappeared into the
darkness. She released the cocked back gun and slowly lowered the
hammer before slipping on the safety and stuffing the gun in her
pants. She turned to the overly quiet Ariana.

“
Are you okay?” she asked
and received no reply. She shook her but Ariana was staring to
where the men had run away into the dark. Maggie glanced at the
horses who had relaxed and this told her more than any of her own
senses, the men were gone, for now.

“
Ariana” she shook her again
and tried to get her attention but she could see she was in shock,
her body frozen in place during the entire episode with the strange
men. She wasn’t sure what to do with her but they had to get out of
here, those men might come back, they might wait until they thought
the women were asleep or bring friends. Sampson and Satan would
guard them but it was too close of quarters and she didn’t want to
tempt them, anyone. She got up, Ariana still didn’t move. “Ariana!”
she said shaking her again but her head bobbled on its neck. There
was no hope for it and Maggie didn’t think twice, she slapped
Ariana across the face, hard.

Ariana blinked and saw Maggie looking at her
concerned. Her hand reached up and felt her throbbing cheek. “You
hit me” she said wonderingly.

Maggie was relieved, at least she was
talking. She had had visions of having to truss her up and get her
out of here. She wasn’t sure she might still have to. “I know and
I’m sorry but we have to go, we have to go now” she said with a
sense of urgency as she looked deep into Ariana’s wounded eyes.

“
Those men, those men meant
to…” Ariana began.

“
I know what they meant,
they would have eaten our food and gone after us but they are gone
now, we scared them away.”

“
We did?” Ariana said in
wonderment, her voice not sounding quite her own. Seeing them there
suddenly had frightened her into shock.

“
Yes, my gun and Sampson and
Satan, we scared them away but they may be back, c’mon we have to
pack up” Maggie tried to impart a sense of haste into
her.

Ariana was useless as Maggie packed
everything up and saddled Sampson and Satan again. The pot was
still warm and Maggie covered it before putting it in Ariana’s
saddlebag, the coffeepot too was a might to warm but she packed it
anyway. She helped Ariana on with her slicker but she was like a
child and not very helpful. Maggie had to help into the saddle as
she left the fire burning, hoping to let whoever was out there
think they were still there. Their gear was all on the horses and
she mounted up leading both the Quarterhorse and Ariana on Satan.
She had thought to tie Ariana to the saddle but didn’t want to
impede her if they had to make a run for it. She was behaving so
oddly. She set off slowly hoping to muffle the sounds of their
hooves until they got far enough away. The rain was still coming
down and she hated going in the dark but what choice did she
have.

Slowly she made their way to the road,
keeping to the shadows with their black horses and far enough from
the edge that no one could grab them from those same shadows. She
was relying on Sampson to sense someone in time to grab the gun she
kept near at hand. She kept glancing back at Ariana who rode
loosely and out of control in her saddle, but she was holding onto
the pommel so she wouldn’t fall out. She was worried about her as
she was led down the road.

She kept to a steady fast walk as much as she
could and by early morning went through town and was on her way to
the farm. They were cold, it was still raining, and Ariana was
still unresponsive when they got home. Maggie took care of the
horses first. She put the Quarterhorse in the barn and latched the
pen shut. The other two she rubbed down as best she could in the
dark of early morning and put in the dry barn as well. Feathers and
Fiona greeted them and snuffled at them searching for hands to pet
them but Maggie had no time for them and Ariana stood there numb.
Maggie led her like a child to the house with their saddlebags over
each shoulder.

In the kitchen she was able to turn on the
lights and see how pale Ariana was. Taking off her slicker she
could see she hadn’t worn it correctly and was wet again. Maggie
pulled the pot of stew out and turned on the stove. Slowly it began
to heat the stew; she kept it on low as she began to undress Ariana
like a child. She took off her own slicker, still fairly dry
underneath.

“
Ariana, we’re home now,
we’re home” she said repeatedly to try to get through to her. Her
dazed look frightened Maggie and she wasn’t sure she could slap her
again. Instead she pulled off both their boots and then Ariana’s
socks as well. She helped her through the house holding her hand
like a child to the bath and started to fill the tub with warm
water, as warm as her hand could touch as she turned to remove the
rest of Ariana’s clothing. She took the gun from her waist band and
put it on a top shelf out of sight. Slowly she stripped the woman
she loved taking off the dungarees, the button down shirt and still
no response from Ariana. She removed her underthings which were
cold and damp and led her to the filling tub. She got her to stand
in it, even sit, and still she didn’t react. Maggie was beginning
to become alarmed, she didn’t know what to do. She kept glancing
away from the naked body before her for modesty’s sake but was
drawn to it as well. She was so pale, so still, so in shock. Maggie
didn’t know what else to do for her. She stripped off her own
clothes and got in the tub behind Ariana to warm her with her body
heat. She turned off the overflowing water that was going down the
overflow with having two bodies in the tub; it was a tight fit
anyway.

She began to wash her with the hot water
using the wash cloth. She saw goose bumps appear on Ariana’s arms.
She gently began to cup her hands and pour water down her body
hoping for some reaction. Nothing. It felt wrong to be naked in the
tub with her and yet it felt right. Her body was warm from her
exertions and the water in the tub was hot, steam rose from it and
Maggie knew not all the heat was from that as she felt her body
becoming warm from within. She washed Ariana’s body lovingly and
her thick luxurious hair, running her hand through its wet length
like she had wanted to a hundred times before. She got it
thoroughly clean and still no reaction from Ariana. She quickly
washed herself and got up out of the tub to dry off and put on a
house robe. She pulled the plug on the tub noting the swathe of
hair between Ariana’s legs as she grabbed her hands and said
“Ariana, we’re done with the bath, come on, let’s get you out of
there.” Ariana didn’t resist but she didn’t really help either. She
was like a lost child as she looked out and did not see from those
beautiful eyes of hers. Maggie was worried as she dried her with a
towel and helped her into a robe.

She could smell the stew on the stove and
directed Ariana into the kitchen. She force fed her spoonful’s of
stew in between taking bites herself until they finished it. She
was exhausted and the sun was coming up. The rain clouds were
dissipating and it looked like it was going to be a glorious day.
All Maggie wanted to do was sleep. Wiping Ariana’s mouth like a
baby she cleaned up the kitchen and led her once again to the
master bedroom. Sitting her on the side she began to brush out the
tangles in her long beautiful hair. Not much different than
detangling her horses’ manes or tails except it was softer,
luxuriously softer, and infinitely better smelling. She brushed as
long as she could keep her eyes open, then wrapping it up into a
bun she put Ariana to bed and collapsed on the bed beside her
pulling up the bedspread for her blanket she held Ariana in her
arms as she fell to sleep.