Prairie Bride

IT TOOK MAYBE FOUR months to get there— week after week in the saddle with the dust in your eyes, the relentless bawl of the herd ringing in your ears. Two thousand head of cattle make a hell of a racket when they stampede. They rumble across the prairie like thunder chasing the lightning, the boys racing after them on horseback like a following wind. It’s all tough, but being the boss—that’s the hard part of these drives.

He dropped off the rise and saw a soddy and a fenced garden beside it. Smoke rose out the chimney from a cooking fire. A young woman came to the door. She looked tired, and he wondered if she had children. Then he noticed three fresh small graves beside her garden fence.

He dismounted and took off his hat for her. “My name is Lang Holder. I’m in charge of that herd going north just west of here. I took a ride out to see the country. You have a nice house.”

“Sit down on the bench. I am glad to talk to you. I have not seen another human in four weeks.” She took a seat beside him with her hands beside her legs along the wash worn dress. The look on her face said she was mesmerized, looking hard at his horse grazing through the bits and the rolling grass country like he wasn’t even there beside her.

“Did your children die of something?”

Two wooden nods were all she did. “I tried to die, but it didn’t kill me.”

“What did you have?”

She shook her head. “They were bad sick, and nothing helped them. I had some medicine that cured things. Didn’t work. I was worried. I was real sick. Had a bad fever. The little one, Janet, died first. Sam expired next, then my five-year-old boy, Ted, slipped away. Took me two days to dig their graves. I’m getting better, but I don’t know why.”

“God intended for you to live.”

She turned and frowned at his comment. “What makes you say that? What for?”

“To continue. Where’s your man?”

Tears streamed down her face, and she sobbed, “He’s dead, too.”

“How long ago?”

“The last man came to see me was a man he worked for. He told me that Paul died of a disease he explained that sounded like our later one. Paid me a little money. Said it was all he had and left me some food. Three days later the children were down sick.”

“That’s terrible. You think he brought the disease?”

“I don’t know. My kids started getting sick three days after he left.” She rocked on the bench on her hands and shook her head.

“What is your name?”

“Kendra Stone.”

“Lang’s mine.”

‘You have a wife?”

“No. My fiancée died two years ago in a buggy accident weeks before our wedding.

She reached over and clutched the top of his hand. “That was terrible.”

“I wondered why I wasn’t with her and killed too.”

She nodded.

“What will you do?”

“What can I do?”

“Start life over.”

She nodded numb like but never looked up.

Then she wet her lips. “I am sitting here in rags. I need a sponge bath, my hair washed, and to clear my head. You don’t have a wife, so I won’t be hurting your marriage or reputation if you would please a desperate woman.”

“What is that?”

“My husband had been away from me for months working on a job before he died. I am a woman. Dirty, and not too neat, perhaps, but if you forgive my boldness, could I be your bride today?”

“Kendra, would that help you?”

“I think so. Would you wait for me to do that? Clean up, I mean.”

“I could do it with you if you would let me and be honored.”

Her blue eyes looked into his face. “That would not turn you away.”

“No. We could do it together, and I won’t embarrass you.”

“I need to heat some water.”

With the water heating, she undressed in the shadowy house. “You aren’t embarrassed to see me naked, are you?”

“No, you look like an angel.”

“Hardly an angel.”

“You want to back out?”

“No, I would rather kiss you.” Her shoulders slumped down. She shook her head at him.

They kissed, and he held her bare shoulders. “Get your shoulders back. I think you once were a proud girl. Become one again.”

“It will be hard.”

“No, it will help your spirits.”

She straightened her shoulders, and he smiled. When the water was hot, he washed her back and then rinsed it. Her arms were next, and she took care of her under arms. When she started on her breasts, he took the rag away and washed them with care. Her shoulders were back, and she made a beautiful picture as he gently moved the rag over her. She pulled back, and he found the small stretch scars from her pregnancies. When he finished, she stood, and he continued. He noticed the change in her stance. This was no longer the haggard woman who met him at the door. She had a new look, and he liked it.

They washed her hair in yucca soap and worked to scrub it clean, then rinsed it with rainwater from a barrel. They dried it with flour sack towels, and then they kissed some more. She sat on his legs at ease. They took turns at brushing her hair and exchanging soft kisses with each other.

“I don’t know how to tell you, but you have kissed me more than he ever did in six years.”

“Really?” He could hardly believe her words.

She leaned her face on his shoulders. “He never was mean or cross with me. He just wasn’t a kisser.”

“Now we are close to finishing the first part. Do you have any doubts about the rest of our deal?”

“No. You’ve been very kind.” Time to kiss again.

“If we have a nice time, and we agree, I want you to go home to Texas with me and become my wife at the first preacher we can find.”

She looked pained at him. “I’m certain you could find and marry a virgin bride.”

“I’ll say it again. If you liked the affair we have today, then wait for me. I will be back in two months from Abilene, and we’ll go to Texas. And then we’ll get married.”

She began to unbutton his shirt. He kissed her.

“Don’t say no more, or I’ll cry.”

He took the shirt off over his head and twisted to put it on her table.

“Let me take my gunbelt off.”

He rose, undid it, and hoped she didn’t see his hands shake when he hung it on a chair. While he stood, she undid his belt and then his fly.

She pulled on the sides of his legs, and the trousers fell to his knees.

“You made it hard to get my boots off.”

“I’m sorry.” She bent down and pulled the first one off, then the other and smiled standing before him, drawing off his pants.

He swept her up and took her to the bed.

“Let me down. I have a new sheet from my wedding day. I never used it.” She kissed him and whispered, “Thank you.”

He closed his eyes. Why did she worry so much about that? She broke away and ran to a trunk. Holding it up, she said, “Jerk that sheet off.”

He did, and she whipped out the fresh sheet, and he helped her. They met in the middle and crashed into one another. They kissed, aligning their bodies and soon were man and wife.

When it was over, the silence was long. He knew he must tell her.

“I want you to wait for me. Two months and I’ll be back here, and our honeymoon will really begin.”

They kissed, and he couldn’t get enough of her mouth. Finally, they parted, and she took a long minute to catch her breath.

“I will wait forever for you. I’m a mess, and I know you must get back to your herd.” Her knee on the bed, she chewed on her lip.

He waded across the cob mattress back to her.

“Oh, Lang, if you will have me, I will sure be your bride.” He fell to kissing her, and she hugged his head.

“I hope I didn’t shock you,” she said using her fingers to comb her hair from her face. “But you bring out a little devil in me.”

“Keep him. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Kendra, we will have the best life that you can imagine when we get home.”

“I will be clean and ready when you return.”

“It will be hard to part with you.”

“Whatever you like—we can do it any way. You are a neat gentle person.”

“I have fifty dollars for you. That should buy a wedding dress and food for while I am gone. Be very careful with it. I’ll hurry back here once my business is done.”

“Where do you live in Texas?”

“Kerrville. We will buy a ranch near there.”

He dressed and kissed her goodbye, put the money in her hand, and went for his horse. On the rise, he waved to her and then swung the horse around and raced away.

Back at the chuck wagon an hour later, he sat on a bench eating his evening meal after the men were through.

“You find anything today?”

“Yes,” he said between bites. “I found my wife.”

The crusty old man who served as cookie cleared his throat. “Where is she?’

“She’s fine over in her soddy.”

“You can’t leave her out there. There are Indians, hard cases, and rapists running all over this prairie. Go back and get her. I can clean up this male bunch, and I’ll make ’em piss further away. They’re just bashful boys that will honor her.”

“Jake—I—”

“Saddle a horse for her first light and bring her back. We won’t go over fifteen miles—more like twelve. We have a tent she can use.”

“I guess so. We can get her things coming back. I’d die if anyone hurt her while I was gone.”

“Do it first thing.”

“I will. I will.”

IN THE MORNING, HE picked a small tame horse out of the remuda. Jake found him a small saddle in the chuck wagon and two tow sacks for her things.

He used a big stout bay horse called Shivers and lead Shorty. He set out for her place. Meadowlarks rushed along his way. Some prairie chickens flushed, and a red tail hawk scolded him for invading their land. He topped the rise, and he saw her rush out the door and shade her eyes with her hands.

He dismounted on the fly and ran to hug her. He whirled her around in a circle. “I changed my mind. I’m taking you along. I can’t worry about you for two months. We can get some things now and the rest when we come back.”

She jumped up and down and kissed him. “Oh, Lang, I am so excited.”

He swept her up in his arms and carried her in the house. He stopped at the bed in the middle of the room. “We better be sure this is going to work.”

“I think we better, too.”

They drove the cattle to Abilene and sold them. He did well and sent his money back to San Antonio by Wells Fargo. He bought a buckboard, and they went back to her place and loaded all her things in the wagon.

At that point he told the hands going home to not run the horses and Jake’s mules to death. He’d see them in Kerrville at his father’s place and square up with them there. Him and Kendra were going to get married at Fort Worth, and they’d be along.

She stood on her toes and kissed each one of his crew on the cheek and thanked them. They blushed and thanked her, wishing her and him well.”

They had six children, and both lived to be ninety. Together they built a big Texas ranch kingdom, and folks still talk about the dedication they had for each other. Family members, who tried to trace her ancestry, never got beyond her wedding to Logan Stone in Missouri at age twenty. He was twenty-four. Her maiden name was never listed.