When he returned to the Elk and told Sara and the men what had happened, he’d just tell them the facts and let them make their own judgements. If his father had been a religious man, he might have placed more credence in the sheriff’s heavenly theory. But his mother had been a regular churchgoer, so maybe she had been the one to throw that bolt from the clouds.
Jake shook his head and snickered. Now he was getting silly. He couldn’t imagine his sweet mother grabbing a shaft of flaming lightning and hurling it down at Woman’s Breast. His father, on the other hand, seemed to have his own lightning bolts every time he glared at his son.
They were within twenty miles of the Elk when Jake asked, “Arv, did you ever hear anything about that highwayman I shot when I first began the search for my father?”
“Oh, that feller. Yeah, I heard about him. Doc Summers told me about him after he fixed him up. I reckon he wasn’t about to stick around and wait for you to come back, so he was gone the next day. He musta headed south, but I don’t think he had much in the way of supplies when he left. He’s probably already in Meagher County by now.”
“I imagine he’s looking for somebody else to rob, so maybe you’ll hear more about him when he fails again.”
“With that arm, if he tries to take advantage of anyone, it’ll be the last time.”
Jake didn’t reply as he was focused on the road ahead. In another couple of hours, he should see the ranch house and maybe Sara would be waiting on the porch. It wasn’t likely as he knew he’d only been gone for two full days, but it was a pleasant notion.
_____
Sara had returned to her rocking chair without her book because she didn’t want to just turn the pages. She watched the western horizon most of the time but would occasionally look east and south in case Kay or one of her brothers decided to visit. She briefly thought about riding into town today to see her family, but she decided she’d wait until Jake returned. Of course, then she would be occupied with other, more pleasant undertakings.
She was about to head back into the house to start cooking her supper when the low summer sun almost prevented her from seeing the small dots on the edge of her vision. If she hadn’t been concentrating on the distant end of the roadway, she would have missed it. Sara put the edge of her hand to her forehead to block out the sun as she stared to the west.
She continued to watch the specks hoping that her mind wasn’t creating an illusion simply because she wanted to see Jake so badly.
For almost two minutes, Sara watched and hoped. Then she identified two riders trailing another horse. Jake and the sheriff hadn’t taken a packhorse with them, but maybe they were bringing back Dave Forrest’s body. But then she remembered that Dave had two horses, so it still wasn’t right. It could be just two men riding from Fort Shaw, so Sara tried to restrain her excitement. If Jake had taken Mars, she’d at least be able to identify the tall gelding. But in the glare, she couldn’t see the tan color of the sorrel that Bill Jackson had selected for him.
“Damned sun!” she exclaimed under her breath.
As the two riders drew closer, Sara was engaged in an internal skirmish between her logical mind and her hopeful heart. Her mind told her that it was too soon for Jake and the sheriff to return and that the riders had the wrong number of horses. But her heart was screaming that it was Jake.
She was about to curse that bright ball of light again when she saw one of the men take off his hat and wave it high over his head. She laughed and waved back. While she couldn’t see him clearly with the sun at his back, that same bright light made her white blouse practically incandescent.
_____
Jake and the sheriff had been riding alongside the southern border of the Elk for thirty minutes when he spotted the roofs of the two barns and a minute later, he picked up the tops of the lower buildings. He’d spotted Sara soon after but knew that it would be almost impossible for her to see them with the sun at their backs. So, he had waited until he was sure she could see him before waving his hat over his head.
Jake pulled his light gray Stetson back on then turned to the sheriff and said, “I think my wife is waiting on the porch.”
Arv laughed then replied, “Either that or you need to have a serious talk with one of your ranch hands.”
Jake snickered as he focused on the ranch house but as anxious as he was to reach Sara, he didn’t ask the gray gelding to gallop to the ranch house. While he wasn’t happy with the horse’s uncomfortable gait, he wasn’t about to drive him to exhaustion after the long, hard ride. He’d asked the horse to carry him more than eighty miles in about fourteen hours. He deserved some measure of respect.
Arv then said, “I’m just going to keep riding, Jake. My old bones need a rest.”
“No offense, Arv, but I wasn’t about to ask you to come the house. I don’t think Sara would be pleased with me if I brought a guest.”
The sheriff chuckled as they approached the long access road then waved as Jake turned left toward the ranch house.
Jake felt his heart pounding in concert with the gelding’s hoofbeats as he rode the last eight hundred yards.
Sara thought about rushing from the porch to meet Jake on the ground but decided to
