“Are you sure you want to go with me?” Matt asked. “I mean, when you think about it, the Home kept us warm in the winter, gave us a place to sleep, and provided meals.”
“Such as they were,” Tamara said.
“We are giving up a safe haven for the unknown,” Matt said.
“Who are you trying to talk out of going? Me or you?” Tamara asked.
“I don’t know,” Matt answered honestly. “Both of us, I guess.”
The moon was full and bright, and it lit the path for them. A cool night breeze caused Matt to shiver, though in truth he didn’t know if his trembling was entirely from the cold, or from nervousness over his uncertain future. He pulled the blanket around himself, then began walking.
The Home for Wayward Boys and Girls was three blocks from Muddy Creek and while that had not been a conscious goal, Matt quickly found himself on the bank of the creek, looking down at the water. That’s when he saw the boat.
“There,” he said excitedly, pointing to the boat. “That’s our way out of here!”
“We’re going to steal a boat?” Tamara asked.
“Nah, we’re not stealing it,” Matt said. “We’re just borrowing it. You keep a watch out while I untie it.”
Scrambling down the creek bank, Matt started untying the boat. That was when he heard the dogs barking.
“Tamara!” he called up the embankment. “Tamara, what is it?”
“Someone’s coming,” Tamara called down.
“Come on, hurry!”
“No!” Tamara said. You go ahead. I’ll lead them away from the water.”
“Tamara, no, come on!” Matt said. “Hurry, we have to go now!”
“You go on!” Tamara called.
Matt saw Tamara turn and run away from the top of the bank.
“Help!” Tamara called. “Help me!”
“What are you doing out here, girl?” a man’s voice asked.
“I don’t know,” Tamara answered. “I think I must have been walking in my sleep, I just woke up out here. I’m lost and frightened. Please, help me get back to the Home.”
By distracting the man, Tamara had given Matt the opportunity to get away and Matt took advantage of it. Wandering around in the mountains, he very nearly died of starvation and hypothermia until he was found, nearly frozen, by Smoke Jensen. Not yet widely known, Smoke was well on his way to becoming one of the West’s most enduring legends.
Smoke not only saved Matt’s life, he took in a boy with potential and began schooling him in such things as horsemanship, marksmanship with a rifle or handgun, the quick draw, how to fight with knife or fist, hunting, tracking, and how to survive in the woods, mountains, or desert.
But most of all, Smoke instilled in the boy the knowledge of right and wrong, a sense of justice and fair play, and an awareness of when to use his skills as a gunman—and when not to. Having started as a boy, Matt had graduated as a man who, like Smoke, was well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right.
It was six years after he and Tamara parted on the bank of that river before Matt saw her again.
“You don’t recognize me, do you, Matt?”
Matt stared at her. It couldn’t be. This woman looked ten to fifteen years older than he was, not a mere two years older.
“My God,” he said with an expulsion of breath. “Tamara?”
“I wondered when you were going to recognize me,” Tamara replied. “Have I changed that much? I recognized you right away.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that—well, I never expected to see you—here.”
“You mean you didn’t expect to see me whorin’,” Tamara replied.
Matt didn’t answer.
Tamara got out of bed and padded, naked, over to a chair where she had put her clothes the night before.
“What did you expect would happen to the girls at the Home?” she asked as she began dressing. “Mumford had us on the line by the time we were fifteen.” She looked up at him, and he saw tears sliding down her face. “I told you that. You do remember, don’t you, Matt, that I told you that?”
Matt nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I remember. I tried to take you with me.”
Tamara’s expression softened, and she nodded.
“I know you did, honey. But I guess it just wasn’t in the cards.”
“If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t think I would have gotten away that night,” Matt said. “You led them away from me and the boat.”
“I know I did. And don’t think that I didn’t think about it a lot of times. I thought sure you had died
