Braxton's Run: Cattle, Whiskey and Women

Chapter Twenty-One

"I start everday with a smile on my face and the feel of a kiss on my lips. When the world plays too rough, I can find a healing touch. Life's never been better than this. That's what I get for loving you. Heavens right here in my hands. A dream that is real and a heart that beats true, that's what I get for loving you. There was a time I walked outside the lines, I only thought of myself. Then you sat me down, turned my head around and now I put you before everyone else." Diamond Rio 'That's what I get for Loving You'

The next week passed smoothly and they covered a lot of ground. Laura rotated her time between riding horseback beside Braxton and bonding with Isabella. Laura had never taken the time to realize that a whore could be more than just a whore. Isabella was kind and warm and clearly had spent much of her life without the kind of friendships and relationships that Laura herself had taken for granted.

Laura was in the wagon with Isabella showing her some sketches for dresses that she had done one morning when they heard Skinny's voice outside.

"Braxton, we got a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Braxton asked with a hint of irritation. Laura knew he was under a lot of pressure to get this herd to Dodge in good time and good condition in order to prove something to his family and you could only cover so much ground a day if you wanted your herd to stay healthy. He'd been getting more and more irritable about little things slowing them down and they still had two more weeks of riding before they made Dodge.

"One of the cows is giving birth. She wandered away from the herd." Skinny replied. Laura heard Braxton growl.

"One of you men stay with her and once she has the calf and it's walking on its own then you catch back up with us at camp tonight." he replied.

"It's not that easy, boss." Skinny argued. "She's having trouble….." Braxton let out a sharp whistle and called the drive to a halt. Laura heard his horse coming to the back of the wagon and he looked through the opening at her and Isabella.

"I gotta ride out and check a cow that's in labor. You wanna come?" he asked and both woman nodded. Braxton pulled Laura onto his saddle and Skinny pulled Isabella's onto his and they set off across the hill covered plains.

Braxton saw the cow lying motionless on the ground and he saw Trace standing above her shaking his head and knew that something terrible had happened. Looks like they'd lost another one to add to the count.

"Oh that poor thing!" Isabella exclaimed as she and Laura jumped from their saddles. Suddenly a small but loud bleating started up and they saw the long grasses move. Braxton jumped down and walked over to Trace.

"She had the calf?" he whispered and Trace nodded.

"Look Braxton! The baby is alive!" Laura exclaimed with a happy smile. Braxton shook his head.

"Not for long, not without its mamma. The kindest thing we can do is shoot it right now."

"Somehow that doesn't sound kind at all." Isabella said quietly and Laura glared at him. She turned and walked over to the baby. It was tiny and brown and still covered in blood and afterbirth but Laura didn't care. She picked it up, though it struggled against her and knocked her in the head a couple times, and carried it over to Braxton who stood with his arms crossed over his chest and looked down his nose at her and the calf.

"You cannot kill this baby." Laura said as she sat the calf at her feet.

"It's not a baby, it's a cow." Braxton replied matter of factly. Trace, Isabella and Skinny recognized the dangerous situation that the two stubborn tempers could create and they all three took several steps back.