When we’d recovered, I crawled forward so I hovered o’er my precious boy, and I leaned down and kissed his forehead, what was slicked with a sheen of sweat and sparkling in the moonlight.
“I love you so much.You’re mine and I’m yours, and nobody’s ever gonna part us.”
His eyes opened and he gazed at me, lying there all wrecked and well-fucked.He quirked his lips into a lazy smile.
“Yes, sir, I am.And you’re mine.And I ain’t never leaving you.”
Chapter Four
A Slippery Slope
’Twas rough getting used to travel again, after spending so much time in one spot, but we managed.’Twas reminiscent of our previous journey, except we were leaving friends behind and moving toward people and a place we knew, rather than trying to reach a dot on a map.And we only needed to go about two hundred sixty miles instead of more than seven hundred.After that journey, this one seemed like a hop, skip and a jump once we got going.’Twould likely take less than a week, except for all the difficult terrain and having to skirt rougher, dangerous areas.If we could have gone in a straight line, we would have been there in three days.But we had to go around a couple of mountains, and that added time.
We were blessed with mild weather, except for one day of solid rain at the midpoint.Now that the skies had cleared, I hoped we’d get to the relative comfort of The Angel before they broke again, since ’twasn’t much fun wearing wet clothes.At least the days were warm.The nights were chilly and would get colder as we moved north.
We were on day five when I recognized some of the landmarks I’d used on the journey out from Telegraph Creek to Port Essington the past fall.
“Oscar, look!There’s the bent pine and the rock wall.Remember?”
His gaze followed to where I was pointing.
“Well, I don’t rightly, but I believe you do.”
“It’s where we had to turn that first time.It means we’re gettin’ close.”
“Good!”
Oscar had become progressively grumpier the farther we got from Port Essington and the comforts of home.No doubt he’d been so desperate on that first journey and simply happy to be with me and under my protection that he’d been a mite more thankful and able to tolerate being out in the wilderness.But now, he had good friends and a warm bed to recall when he was lying on the ground in our tent.I reckoned he was excited to see Miss June and the girls again, but we were both worried about Cal, and that didn’t help—only made us more anxious to get there.
“We’ll be there soon.Don’t worry.”
“I ain’t worried.I only wanna stop itchin’.”
The mosquitoes had been worse on this trip, since it was only the middle of June.I’d thought to bring some tonic from the general store, but we were getting low, and it didn’t solve the problem.So we were both covered in bites and using mud to stop the itch as much as possible.But we weren’t used to being so travel-dusty and dirty.The strain was starting to show.
“I know it.Me, too.”
“Do you think Miss June will have something we can put on our bites?”
“I bet she will.”
“Good!”he said, scratching at his neck.“I sure hope she can give us our own room and a cozy bed again.Honestly, Jimmy, ’tis the only thing keeping me goin’.”
I felt the same.I hoped that we’d find as much of a welcome and the same level of comfort at The Angel as we had when we’d arrived from the other direction.We had no reason to think we wouldn’t, but it had been a long time since we’d been there.And ’twouldn’t be the same without Cal.
We were heading down the low side of the last mountain we had to skirt around, and the terrain was rocky and strewn with gravel.I must have misjudged the steepness of the slope and thought Dixie could handle it.As soon as we started down and her hooves lost their purchase, I realized my mistake and let go of Poke’s lead so he wouldn’t be dragged down with us.I shouted at Oscar, hoping it wasn’t too late for him and Onyx.
Then we were sliding, Dixie and I, down a gravel slope and into the trees below.At least ’twasn’t a long enough fall to kill us, but even as I thought that, I slid off my saddle and landed hard, a sharp pain slicing through my side.But all I could think about was Dixie and Oscar and Onyx.
I shouted Dixie’s name, heard Oscar yelling mine and glanced back to see him and Onyx still on the ridge, thank God.Poke stood right on the ledge of broken dirt and gravel, his hooves braced firmly against the path, with his lead rope dangling.
I looked in the other direction and saw Dixie lying in the dirt, and my heart just about stopped.But then she made an angry grunting noise and hefted herself to her feet, shaking her head like she was humiliated, embarrassed and pissed the fuck off.She didn’t seem to be hurt otherwise.She wandered o’er to a patch of grass and started eating.
Thank fuck.
I laid my head back on the ground and gazed upward at the blue sky, thanking God as well, as a softer slide of gravel announced Oscar’s presence beside me.
“Jimmy!Oh, my God, Jimmy!”His voice held the same note of terror I remembered from the wolf attack, when Sprite had gone down and Oscar had prepared to go to his defense with nothing but his fists, before I’d hauled him up onto Dixie’s back with me.
