Boundless

Chapter 11

For the next few nights, I only got minutes of sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the men advancing towards us and felt the gun on the back of my head. When it was my turn to keep watch, I held the revolver close and started at even the smallest sound.

On the third day, Sam said something about it. “Rebecca, you’ve got to get some sleep, especially out here.”

I didn’t hear the rest because I had fallen asleep in the saddle. When I woke up, there was a city on the horizon.

“Dodge City,” Sam explained.

I had finally made it

Now it was only a matter of time before I got the money and went home.

As the city got bigger, I got more squeamish. I couldn’t believe it. We stopped in front of a General Store. “What are we doing here?”

“We need to eat somehow,” he offered his hand and helped me down from Lazarus.

I couldn’t stop looking at the buildings and the people bustling by. Jenny would never believe that I was there.

A large stable was directly in front of us. “We should probably sell the horses so we’ll have fresh ones for the ride back,” Sam said. “They won’t be of any use in town.”

I waited outside until Sam returned with the buyer.

Across the street was a mercantile.

I was following Sam into the store when someone shouted. “Sam? Sam!” A tall girl with dark brown hair stepped out of the crowd on the sidewalk.

“Evangeline?” Sam smiled.

"It’s been so long!” She threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her back. She turned a sparkling pair of green eyes on me  “Hello,” she smiled and extended her hand for me to shake. “Evangeline Murray.”

“Rebecca Colson.”

She looked me up and down. “You look like you’ve been through a heck of a time!”

I, too, looked down at my dress. Some of the seams had ripped from being in the saddle every day and one sleeve had a stain of something I didn’t recognize.

“It’s been difficult,” I agreed.

Why don’t you come to my rooms and clean up. Also,” she turned to Sam, “I need to talk to you.”

I was about to say ‘thank you but no’ but my general dirtiness said ‘yes’.

We followed her down one street then another and another before we finally reached a building in a more secluded part of town.

Evangeline jabbered the whole way. She asked Sam about his brothers and he didn’t take the same kind of offense when I asked; of course, I had goaded him into it. “Did you hear Bill escaped?” she asked.

Sam laughed. “Who hasn’t?”

Evangeline climbed two flights of stairs then showed us into a suite of two rooms.

Both rooms were covered with a light blue wallpaper with tiny white flowers on it. There were two chairs and a fainting couch sitting next to a window looking outside.

“You sit there,” Evangeline directed, “and I’ll get your bath ready.

I was going to object but she just shook her head and bustled off.

I sat on the couch and Sam sat in the chair. We stared at each other for a moment before I began examining my fingernails.   

I wanted to ask how he knew Evangeline but I didn’t want her to hear and I’d already poked around enough.