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  The silence that followed was comfortable and in the Lakota tradition, it provided them both with the chance to think through what their next words would be.

  “Where do you want to live?” He asked.

  She shrugged. “I love the northwest country, but it’s not really safe for you up here. We need to go away,….far away.”

  He nodded in agreement. He hated the thought of leaving behind everything that they were familiar with but after thinking long and hard, he had come to accept that his safety was the same as her safety.

  “Pick a place. Not Texas. Not close to a reservation, but close to interstate highways. A place far from here. It will be better for us all.” He hadn’t verbalized it, but he worried about Clay, Sue and Feather if the gang he had infiltrated ever found they harbored him. He watched two of the yearlings bucking and kicking. “We need to go soon. It’s gettin’ too easy to make excuses to stay here.”

  She turned her brown eyes up to look at him. She recognized his sadness. “You know that filly I’ve been working with?”

  He nodded.

  “Clay has sold her. She’s going to be sent to a woman in Florida.”

  Feather knew that Wolf really liked the filly and if he were settled someplace already, he would have spoken to Clay about buying her.

  His head dropped and he pushed a clump of dirt around with the toe of his boot. Then he shrugged. “I hope the woman will appreciate what she’s gettin’. That filly is special.”

  Feather tilted her head so it rested against her brother’s arm. “Clay knows a man that knows the woman and Clay’s talked to her on the phone. He says his friend thinks a lot of the woman and Clay likes what he’s come to know about her. He thinks the filly and woman will work well together. The woman wants a horse to show.”

  Again Wolf nodded. “Good.”

  “Florida is far away from here. The town the woman lives in is a small town near two interstate highways. One north/south, the other east/west and there aren’t any reservations in north Florida. It could be a good place for us.” Feather lifted her head and found her brother’s cerulean eyes looking at her.

  “So you’ve already been thinkin’ about this?”

  She nodded. “When Sue told me where the filly would be sent, I looked it up in the travel Atlas. We could deliver the filly and check out the area at the same time.”

  He shrugged. “It could be a way to repay Clay and Sue for their kindness to us.”

  Feather nodded. “It’s getting chilly out here. I’m going inside.”

  He turned to watch her walk back to the house. Her stride was feminine and confident. He knew this was what Feather wanted to do. She wouldn’t have spoken about it if she hadn’t given it a lot of thought. The door closed behind her and he turned to watch the yearlings again. After a while, he too returned to the house. He would talk to Clay about the trip tomorrow.

  His near death experience was over and his health was renewed. He needed to get started on his new life. Feather had not spoken one word about all she had given up by dropping out of her previous life, but Wolf knew it hadn’t been an easy thing for her to do. They both needed to start living their new lives. Florida was as good as any place else, and it was far away from here.

  Chapter Nine

  Jordan stepped out of the shower and heard the phone ringing. She had learned long ago that shower time was also the time clients usually chose to call her, so she had made it a habit to take a cordless phone with her when she went in to the bathroom. Since she had learned of Lambert’s escape, it gave her an added feeling of safety.

  “Hello.” She said as she opened the line.

  “Good afternoon, Jordan. This is Clay Roberts and I have good news.”

  She smiled. “Great! Is my filly coming home?”

  “Yes. A couple of very good friends of mine is leaving with her tomorrow, mid-morning. Daniel and his sister are coming to your part of Florida. They have recently decided to move down there, or maybe South Georgia.”

  Jordan could hear the note of excitement in Clay’s voice as he talked.

  “What a coincidence. Is there anything I can do to help them when they get here?” She asked.

  “If you could make them a hotel reservation, it would help, and maybe let them keep their two horses with you until they can find a place.” Clay wondered silently how the people in her town would react to Indians. He knew there was still a good deal of racial prejudice in the South toward Blacks, just as there had always been in his own area toward Indians.

  “You might just help them learn a bit about what it’s like living there.” He figured he’d let the race thing resolve itself. He’d make sure the kids knew they were welcome back here in Idaho if things didn’t work out down there.

  “If it’s alright with you, I’ll give Daniel both your cell number and your house number. That way he can call you when he’s more certain when they will arrive.”

  “Of course! I can’t tell you how thankful I am. I can’t wait to actually put my hands on her.” Jordan was now wondering how long the trip would take. She knew that traveling time with livestock could be uncertain and, as usual, her excitement wouldn’t allow much rest until the horse arrived.

  When she broke the connection, she turned to look at Bhrandii, excitement bubbling in her voice as she spoke. “She will be here in a few days! It’s so hard to believe!”

  The dog wagged his tail and jumped around in a circle. Something had made Jordan happy and it made him happy too.

  As soon as she was dressed and had braided her long blond hair, Jordan called Mac. She knew he would be almost as excited about the fact that the filly was headed to Florida as she was.

  Mac had been up to Clay’s ranch several years ago. “It’ll take the better part of a week for them to get here, but at least you know she’s on the way.” He said. “Did Clay mention the name of the feller bringing her?”

  Jordan thought for a minute. “His first name is Daniel. I don’t remember him mentioning a last name. It seems he and his sister are moving here. Clay called him a good friend.”

  Jordan could almost see Mac shrug his shoulders. In the background she heard his wife, Mary talking. “Mary wants you to come eat supper with us tomorrow? It’ll give you something to do besides sit and wait.” He knew how impatient she had always been.

  Jordan smiled. Mary was a wonderful cook. Her kitchen was the center of life in that house. Now that their youngest son had moved out and the two daughters were married and living on the other side of town, Mary was finding it harder to cook for just two people than it had ever been to prepare a meal for five or six. “You tell Mary I will be overjoyed to eat with y’all tomorrow night. I love eating over there.”

  “She knows that. She loves having you over here. You are like one of the family, you know.”

  “Thanks.” Her throat tightened with emotion. “That’s really nice.” Mac and Mary were probably the closest she came to having family now. Them and Sheriff John. After David died and she chose to come back here to live, her in-laws didn’t seem interested in keeping in touch. It certainly hadn’t helped when she legally changed her name back to Lanier. She couldn’t help thinking that they blamed her for David’s death.

  She said her goodbye to Mac and hung the phone up.

  She didn’t really blame David’s family. She felt responsible herself. She had seen a psychiatrist for about nine months after she moved back to Florida. He had helped her understand that she had done nothing to encourage Lambert’s stalking of her and Lambert alone was responsible for David’s death. Still, there were times she felt so guilty for leaving him when she ran for help. Dr. Bagley had labeled it Survivor’s Guilt. He said that ninety percent of people who suffered a tragic loss under similar circumstances had episodes of Survivors Guilt. She should just reject it and find something else to occupy her mind and her time.

  She had followed his advice and amazingly, it had helped pull her out of the depression she had fallen in to.
It had also given her a reason to start her training barn and that had given her a means to begin to enjoy life again. Mac had recommended her as a trainer to a couple of people he knew and she had been busy ever since.

  She fed Bhrandii his supper and fixed herself a salad to eat while she watched her favorite television show. Twice she saw lights flash against her front window and knew by now, it was one of Sheriff John’s deputies checking things out from the highway. She also knew that the phone would ring in a few minutes and it would be John, personally, calling to make sure she was inside and locked up for the night. That was the closest he could come to getting her to agree to police protection. He had insisted that she promise to use the words hot weather when he called as long as things were normal, but the first time she didn’t say the two words, he would dispatch cars out to her house.

  Now when he called, she picked up the phone and as soon as she knew it was him, she said, “Hot weather.” They both chuckled and after telling him about her horse coming from Idaho, they said goodnight.

  Chapter Ten

  Ruby was so excited. She was just sure that Frankie’s bad mood would improve once they actually left on their honeymoon. He’d almost slapped her last night when she finally confessed to him that she had reservations about selling the house and moving to New York. It was something he’d been encouraging her to think about for several weeks. She had grown up in Tupelo and just couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but he had been pressuring her to get the house on the market before they left on their trip. She still didn’t understand why it couldn’t wait until they returned.

  Frankie was becoming more and more anxious to get on Jordan’s trail. He knew he would never be content until she was dead. His interest in her had changed drastically during the trial and had grown worse throughout the five years he’d been in prison. When he’d broken into her house that night, he’d been so in love with her that he couldn’t allow her to spend another night with that man she’d married. He knew in his heart that once he could get her away from David Larson, she would see how wrong she’d been to marry him and her gratitude to Frankie for rescuing her would become love.

  He’d almost been surprised when she had struggled with him after he broke in. Then Larson had attacked him. Of course, Frankie had been prepared for him, but he was surprised with the fierceness of the man. After all, he was just a school teacher. Then, as Frankie was getting the upper hand, he’d seen Jordan running and screaming almost at the neighbor’s back door. Old man Swartz had opened the door with a shotgun in his hand, so Frankie decided not to follow her. A little later, the police had picked him up. During the trial Jordan testified against him. With great dramatic tears falling from her puffy amber eyes, she claimed that she had only seen him at the feed store and had never had a personal conversation with him. She went on and on about how he’d harassed her and stalked her and how he had killed her husband.

  Frankie’s love was replaced with hate. She would suffer for the way she’d treated him. She just threw his love aside like it had been garbage. She was just like all the other deceitful women he’d ever known. He could never forgive her for that. She needed to die, just like they had, but death wasn’t enough for her. He would make her suffer. His need to find her grew stronger every day and he sometimes found it hard to concentrate on the things that were going on around him in the present.

  Ruby was making him crazy. She rattled to everyone she knew about the fantastic honeymoon her darling husband was taking her on. They were scheduled to leave in three days and he wanted the house up for sale before they left. He had already transferred all her money into an account that didn’t have her name on it and she didn’t have a clue. There was enough money to take care of him for years, he just thought selling the house would add a safety cushion and when the honeymoon was over, he would be the only one coming back anyway. Not that he actually planned to come back to Tupelo. That was why he wanted the house on the market before they left. If it was for sale and they planned to live in New York it wouldn’t arouse any suspicion when the real estate agent was asked to just transfer the funds into the new account, once Ruby’s house sold.

  Frank had never been to New York and had no intentions of ever going there, but if suspicions ever came up about Ruby disappearing, his interest in New York would be a dead end for investigators to follow.

  They had traded her car for a shiny, white brand new SUV so they would have plenty of room while they traveled. He liked the four wheel drive capability. He knew he could take it through some pretty rough terrain and that just might become necessary.

  He was looking through the travel atlas while his mind wondered. Almost without thinking, he discovered his finger resting on Poplar Bluff. That was where he had known Jordan. That was where his search would start. He would spend a few days traveling, dump Ruby’s body somewhere, then head back to Poplar Bluff and begin his hunt.

  He didn’t want to dump Ruby anywhere near Mississippi. He looked at several pages, then smiled, the warmth of it not touching his chilling black eyes. He would take Ruby into the desert somewhere in the area near Amarillo. There was lots of desert around there and plenty of places that people just didn’t go. He could dig a shallow grave for her. With any luck at all, she would never be found.

  Ruby came into the room, having returned from taking some clothes to the dry cleaners.

  “I sure am glad you talked me into buying that SUV. It drives like a dream and I just love all the room in it,” she drawled, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. He caught her hand and pulled her down onto his lap.

  “I’ve talked you into a lot of things, Honey, and they’ve all turned out just fine. I don’t know why you haven’t learned to trust my judgment.” He held her close and nuzzled her neck.

  “Baby,” she scolded playfully. “You know that makes me giggle.”

  He raised his head and looked tenderly at her while one hand stroked her hair. “I love you. I don’t understand how you can make me feel so special when you really don’t trust me.” As he spoke, he withdrew his hands from her and she felt his playfulness withdraw as well.

  “You know how much I love you, Frankie! You’re my husband and I try to do everything to prove my love to you!” She leaned against him and circled his shoulders with her arms. “I didn’t even know what love was until you came into my life! You’ve taught me how to love. You’ve taught me how to be a woman.”

  “The most amazing woman I’ve ever known,” his voice was almost a whisper. “The woman I want to show to the whole world. I want to take you shopping on Madison Avenue. I want to dress you up and take you to Broadway shows where everyone will see us and know that we belong together. I want to look down from an apartment that we share, at the people walking along the streets of New York City and know that none of them are as lucky as I am. I want all the men to know that you married me and I’m the only one for you.”

  Now she was kissing his neck, pulling herself closer to him. “All that sounds so good. I love you so much.”

  He caught her hands with his and pushed her back forcing her out of his lap. When she was kneeling on the floor in front of him his voice sounded like velvet. “No you don’t. All you want is to live right here in this hick town and hob knob with these red necks that you grew up with. I had hoped that you could get beyond that, but I guess I was wrong.”

  Tears of panic welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. He was disappointed in her! He was beginning to regret marrying her. She struggled to lean closer to him again. “I do love you. I want us to travel and have fun together.”

  He held her at bay. “I don’t want to travel to get to New York! I want to live there and I just might do that! With you or without you!”

  He had pushed her back a second time onto the floor and when he finished talking he stood up and walked across the room toward the stairs. At the bottom of the stairwell he turned and looked back at her, his eyes cold and hard. “Don’t force me to do that.”


  Ruby stayed knelt there on the floor and sobbed for a long time, but finally she got up and went to the phone. It didn’t take long to make arrangements with a real estate agent, and then she went upstairs to the big room that she and Frankie shared.

  When she entered, he was standing with his back to the door looking out the window. He didn’t acknowledge her arrival and didn’t move as she slipped her arms around his waist and snuggled up against him.

  She could feel the stiffness in his body as he endured her advances. Finally she spoke. “The real estate woman will be out first thing in the morning to look the house and when she sees what a great house it is, I know she will sell it for a fortune.”

  Slowly Frankie turned around and wrapped his arms around her crushing her against him. “I’m so sorry for the things I said. I couldn’t live without you. You will love living in New York. I can’t wait for you to see it. It is so beautiful! The perfect place to showcase your delicate beauty.”

  Ruby smiled as her husband’s voice grew husky and his hands began to caress her body. He did love her and if selling this house made him happy, she couldn’t wait for it to sell. Frankie was all she needed in this life. They belonged together and nothing would stand between them again.

  She wanted him to be happy. He had suffered so much while they had him in prison. It was a wonder he had survived.

  When she verbalized her thoughts softly, he whispered that it was only her entering into his life that had made survival possible.

  Chapter Eleven

  Wolf’s sleep was restless. He had nightmares that the drug gang he had infiltrated had found Feather. He could see her tied in a chair with them standing around her, leering and threatening. When he woke up for the second time, drenched in sweat, he decided there was not much point in staying in bed. He dressed quietly and without waking anyone, made his way down to the barn.