She launched herself into Oscar’s arms.She hugged him with a ferocity that came from a desperate, lonely place.Then she ran to Onyx and threw herself around the horse’s neck.The mare snorted in surprise and sniffed Lizzie’s head, nosing at the strands of hair as if she were trying to figure out if she could eat them.
“Oh, Onis!I get to keep you!I get to keep you!I love you so much!”
Oscar walked over to them.He stared at the mare for a moment, then rubbed her whiskered chin and placed his lips against the white stripe on her broad face, as Onyx huffed a breath and pushed her head against him.Then Oscar stepped back and took a deep breath.
He went and untied the holster that held his revolver from the fancy saddle.He ran one hand reverently o’er the tooled seat of Onyx’s saddle, then brought the holster o’er to tie onto Dixie’s saddle, near where the rifle was affixed in its leather holder.
“All right, Jimmy.Let’s go.”His voice broke on those last words.
I tousled little Lizzie’s hair and kissed the top of her head, before mounting Dixie and holding my hand out for Oscar.I hauled him up behind me.He encircled me with his arms right away, and I reckoned he was doing his best to be strong.
’Twas nice to have him so close, and I squeezed his hand with mine to give him solace.The day was cool enough that riding together wouldn’t be uncomfortable, and Dixie could handle the extra load, especially since Oscar was a wisp of a fella.
“Bye, then,” I said, giving a wave to all the folks we’d come to love and respect o’er the past several weeks, then turned Dixie quick to get out of there before I lost my own composure.
“Bye!”Peter shouted, after we’d gone a few paces.“Don’t wait too long to come back, now!”he said, as Teddy yapped and growled.
Neither of us turned to look, but I raised my hand and gave Peter a backward wave as Oscar tightened his hold around my waist.
I didn’t know when or how, but we surely would be back one day.
* * * *
By the time we’d got away, the sun was well past its midpoint, and I figured we only had about six hours of travel left in the day.We were awful quiet for the first little while.I’d never ever needed or wanted to have children in my life, but I couldn’t deny that these three had burrowed their way into my heart, and I knew Oscar felt the same.
“Jimmy,” he said after a little while, “do you think ’twas a good thing I did, giving Onyx to Lizzie?”
I guided Dixie around an outcrop of rock as Oscar clutched my waist to keep steady.
“Oscar,” I said in a chiding tone, “I think ’twas the most generous and unselfish thing I ever saw anybody do.And I think that little girl will love you forever, and she’ll take mighty good care of that horse for you.I reckon you just changed her life.”
“Really?”
“I do.Truly.And I”—I cleared my throat and dropped a hand from the reins to cover Oscar’s—“I’m mighty proud of the man you’ve become, Oscar Yates.”
Oscar gave a sigh that sounded half like a sob, and I reckoned ’twas hitting him that he wouldn’t see Onyx again for a very long time, if ever.I continued speaking so he didn’t have to reply.
“I’d like to think I had a hand in it, but I reckon you’ve always been the kindest man I’ve ever been lucky enough to be with.This proves it.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.“I feel like—I’m gonna miss that horse, but I feel real good knowin’ I was able to do somethin’ big for someone.”
“Oh, Oscar,” I said, stopping Dixie and turning in the saddle to look at him.“You already did somethin’ big for lots of people, including me.But I know how much you love that horse and givin’ her away was the most amazing thing I seen anybody ever do.”
Oscar nodded against my back, rubbing his forehead against the leather of my jacket, and I got Dixie moving again.I figured Oscar needed to have a good cry, and sure enough, he shuddered and started to let those powerful emotions out in quiet, sniffly sobs.
I kept my hand o’er his and rubbed it, giving him the comfort that I could.And I kept talking, because I knew he was probably embarrassed about giving way to his intense feelings.
“Don’t you forget that I spent a lot of years surrounded by the most selfish, awful men, who did terrible things to people for the amusement of it.To see what I did—why, you’ve given me back the faith that people can be good, and generous, and kind, and that means a lot to me.You’ll never know how much.”
Oscar nodded against my back, gave a louder sob and tightened his hold, as if he needed to anchor himself in a world that seemed unsteady again.
And we rode out of Telegraph Creek under the intensity of the afternoon sun, making our way for home.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Port Essington
The weather turned out mostly fair for traveling, and we didn’t encounter any untoward incidents on our way back to Port Essington.The mosquitoes weren’t as bad, either, but we slathered ourselves with the marigold ointment anyway, to keep off the bugs that were around.
