Montana Summer Ch. 11

Charlie was surprised, he didn't think anyone outside of himself and Ryan knew the secret of that little unnamed creek. He listened more intently as Milt continued with his story.

"On his second night up there, the day that he struck gold, that around sunset five mounted Lakota warriors in full war paint ran him off of the mountain. He claimed that they were ghost riders." Milt paused and looked straight into Charlie's face. "This is the first time I have ever told anyone what granddad told me. Is there any truth to his story? Are there ghosts up there on Baxter's?"

Charlie hesitated for a moment. "You've always been an honorable man. Do I have your word that what ever I say stays between you and me?"

"Absolutely."

Charlie looked around to make sure that no one was rubbernecking on their conversation. "The answer to your question is yes."

Milt felt his heart pound with excitement. "Do you think they had something to do with that fella that tried to shoot the McFayden kid?"

"Yes, it was them," Charlie replied.

"Any idea why?" Milt questioned.

"Yup." Charlie answered. "Ryan McFayden. There is something special about the boy. To me, as a Lakota, Ryan is a wakan wašicun. There is something that ties that boy to the Lakota. That night the Wanagi rode to his defense and killed the man that tried to do him some harm."

Milt felt a chill run down his back. "That's what we heard that night while we were at the campfire, isn't it?"

"I think so," Charlie agreed. "Since I have your promise that this is off the record. I'll tell you that Ryan said that he briefly saw them just before he was thrown from his horse."

Milt took a sip of his coffee and smiled. "He never told me that."

"Would you have?" Charlie asked.

"Nope." Milt shook his head. He thought for a moment and then asked, "Just for curiosity's sake, have you ever seen them?"

"Yup, several times now. All since Ryan came here. I had heard tales and rumors about them, but I had never seen them until this summer." Charlie thought for a moment. "A lot has happened since that boy came."

"Thanks for telling me, Charlie. I appreciate it. At least now I know not to go around the countryside searching for clues that don't exist." Milt felt better now. At least, to him, the mystery was solved and the case was closed.

"What will happen now?" Charlie asked.

"Officially, a murder case is never closed, it just goes cold. I will let this case go cold quietly. Some night just before I retire, the file will mysteriously disappear from the cabinet, along with the evidence," Milt explained.

Charlie nodded. "That's probably for the best."

"One more thing." Milt reached into his pocket and pulled a leather pouch out. "We found this in the dead fella's vehicle. I thought you might want to keep it."

Charlie opened the pouch and looked at the gold nuggets and then he looked at Milt. "I appreciate this. A lot of men wouldn't be so honorable."

"I don't need the money, and I sure as hell don't need the headache. Just knowing that the story my grandfather told was true, and that he wasn't the crazy old coot some people made him out to be, is more thanenough."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes each contemplating what had just occurred. They would be forever joined in a bond of secrecy.

"Care for another cup of coffee?" Milt asked.

---

"So did you spend the night in your new truck?" Jessi teased Ryan at breakfast.

Ryan grinned. "I thought about it."

"You better be careful, that mooch horse of yours might get jealous." She couldn't help but throw that one at Ryan. Jessi loved it when she could make Ryan blush and his cheeks were light red now.

Bill chuckled. "You leave the boy alone. He's a rancher and a cowboy—a rancher needs a good truck, and a cowboy needs a good horse. Now he's got one of each." He looked over a Jessi and asked, "Are you and Becky are heading up to Missoula tomorrow?"

"No." Jessi felt a little tinge of sadness when she thought about leaving Ryan. "Sunday morning."

"Are you coming home for the long weekend?" her father asked.

Jessi brightened. The next weekend was Labor Day. She and Becky would do everything they needed, buy books, attend the freshman orientation, and then head back home for the long weekend. "Yes, we were hoping to head back Thursday morning. Are we going to go spend it at up at the cabin?"

Bill mused for a moment and looked at his wife. "What do you think, old girl? Do you think we should spend next weekend at the cabin?"

Suzanne smiled at her husband. "I don't see why not. We've spent every Labor Day weekend up there for God knows how long." Then she added, "Old man."

"Can we take Becky up there?" Jessi asked her mother.

Suzanne chuckled. "I can't remember a Labor Day, well at least one in recent memory, that you haven't had Becky up there with you."

Bill rolled his eyes at his wife and turned his attention to Ryan. "Why don't you load that new truck of yours with firewood and haul a load to the cabin. Take the weed whacker with you and kind of spruce things up."

Ryan nodded as he finished his breakfast. "Sure, I'd like to see the cabin again. Sounds like a good way to spend the day."

Jessi flashed Ryan a quick grin and looked at her mother. "I'll go with Ryan and give him a hand. We can give the cabin a cleaning while we are up there."

"Strip those blankets off of that bed and bring them back, I need to wash them," Suzanne told her daughter.

Ryan leaned back in his chair feeling a little lazy now, he thought that the last two pancakes may have been unnecessary. "Well, I suppose I should go out there and load the truck with the firewood. "

Bill nodded. "Tomorrow we can install that gooseneck hitch in the back of the truck. We'll take some horses with us, it will be nice to go riding."

"That's a great idea, but what are we going to haul them in?" Ryan asked.

"Frank has a four horse trailer that we can borrow for the weekend." Bill replied. He thought for a moment and then he looked over at Ryan. "Why don't you call Charlie and see if he wants to haul his teepee up there, and bring Esther and the family with him?"

Suzanne cast her husband a dour look and then smiled. "I can see it's going to be one of those weekends."

Bill nodded. "Yeah, what the hell, we might as well make a big deal of it."

Ryan had the truck loaded with the weed-whackers, spare gas, and a load of firewood. He pulled up to the house as Jessi walked out of the door carrying a cooler. He helped her load it into back seat of the four-door truck. "What do you have in here?"

"Drinks and lunch. It's going to be a thirsty day up there."

"Nice truck, cowboy." Jessi grinned. "Now for sure you will have the girls in town chasing you."

"Yeah, yeah, so you say," Ryan quipped.

It was going to be a beautiful day, Ryan thought. He looked over at Jessi as he drove. "I'll miss you while you are gone."

"I'll miss you, too," Jessi replied. "I'll only be gone three days or so and then I'll be back for the weekend."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, that won't be so bad."

"Have you thought about what to say to mom and dad?" Jessi's tone turned serious.

Ryan shook his head. "I've wanted to say something to your dad since we got back, but I just don't know how to start it."

Jessi nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. I've tried to say something to mom too. I don't know what to do. I want to tell them, but I don't want to hurt them. I don't want a repeat of what happened after the rodeo."

"God, no!" Ryan shuddered at the thought. "Jessi, I can only see one possibility for us."

"What's that?" Jessi asked.

"A DNA test. We need to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt to ourselves first before we talk to your parents. What's the point of saying anything right now? What do we tell them? That the ghost of a Lakota warrior told us that we aren't related? They won't buy that story for a minute."

Jessi nodded as they turned off of the road and headed up the trail that led to the old cabin. "Yeah, you're right. Where do we go for a DNA test though?"

Ryan shook his head. "I don't know, Jessi. I would think we could go to a doctor, or maybe the University."

"Hmm." Jessi thought. "Well, I can check out the University, either when Becky and I are there this week, or after we go back for the fall semester."

Ryan loved the old cabin and where it sat. It seemed to bring him a sense of belonging. There was a sense of history here for Ryan. He thought about young William McFayden living up here. Spotted Owl would have been here at one time.

They climbed out of the truck and Ryan walked around to Jessi and wrapped his arms around her. "I love it up here."

Jessi hugged Ryan. "So do I. I think it's the most beautiful spot in the world."

"You won't get any argument from me." Ryan stared at the majestic beauty of the blue-grey granite mountains that served as a backdrop to the old homestead.

Jessi felt the sudden onset of tears. "Oh God, Ryan." She was too choked up to say anything more and instead she just held onto her cowboy, never wanting to let go of him.

When Jessi unlocked the cabin, the air was musty from the cabin being closed up. She left the door open, and then opened all of the windows. Ryan had pulled the truck around to the back of the cabin and was unloading the firewood. The thought of her and Ryan living up here together had a profound effect on her. She had fallen in love with him, but had never truly believed that there was a future for them together until this moment.

Ryan unloaded the firewood from the truck and then stacked it neatly in the lean-to that had been built to keep it free from snow. He paused after he had finished. The air up here smelled different. It was a clean, fresh smell, and the scent of pine seemed to float on the air. Ryan knew that this was the place he was supposed be. He knew that he would live up here. Ever since the first time his uncle had brought him here, he had been drawn to this place.

He unloaded the weed-whacker from the truck, filled it with fuel, and then started it. After a couple of hours of cutting, he thought that the area around the cabin was starting to look pretty good. Jessi stepped out of the door and waved Ryan over.

"Want some lunch?" Jessi asked.

"Yeah, I thought you'd never ask." Ryan walked into the cabin and looked at the progress Jessi had made. "Wow, it's looking great in here."

"Thanks." Jessi had put a red and white checked tablecloth on the small table and she had set out two old china plates and two glasses filled with lemonade. Lunch was left-over fried chicken from the night before with potato salad.

She pointed to the plates. "Dad found these under the floor boards in the bedroom a few years ago."

Ryan touched them, imagining his great-great-grandfather eating off of these plates. "Kind of a link to the past."

As they ate, Jessi looked out the window and stared at the view of the valley gracefully descending into the distance. "When I was a little girl, I used to pretend that this is where my husband would bring me to live." Jessi had tears in her eyes when she turned and looked at Ryan. "Would my cowboy bring me up here to live?"

Ryan stopped in mid-bite and set down the piece of chicken that he was holding. "I couldn't see living anywhere else with you. The first time your dad brought me up here, I knew this is where I wanted to live." Ryan paused for a moment. "No, it was different than that. I knew that this is where I would live. It's like I'm being pulled up here."

Jessi reached over and squeezed Ryan's hand. She had gone through crushes,\ and first loves in her life, but this was different, it was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was love, of that there was no doubt. If she would have been asked she would be unable to pinpoint the exact occasion that marked the beginning of her love for Ryan. She suspected that it was first moment she had laid eyes on him and the love just grew and grew.

With the conviction of a person stating an undeniable fact, Jessi looked at Ryan and said. "This will be our first home together."

Ryan simply nodded, fully accepting what Jessi had said. "Yes, it will."

They stared at each other. It was as if they had reached an epiphany at the same time. A warm glow descended over the both of them. Jessi was the first to talk, her voice soft and full of love. "Ryan, take me into the bedroom and make love to me."

Ryan stood up from the table and as Jessi stood, he swept her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. With the heel of his boot, he closed the door.

---

Jessi was still riding a high from the day at the cabin with Ryan. She was in the bathroom drying her hair when she heard her mother calling. "Jessi, phone!"

She walked into her bedroom and picked up the phone. "Thanks mom, I have it." She waited to hear the telltale click of the kitchen phone being hung up. "Hello?"

"Oh, Jessi!" It was Becky and she was sobbing.

"Becky! What's wrong?" Jessi's concern was immediate.

"Fuck, oh fuck, Jessi. I think I'm pregnant!" It sounded like Becky was almost hysterical.

"Oh, Becky." Jessi's mind raced as she tried to absorb what Becky had just said. "Tell me everything."

"My period is almost a month late. I bought one of those home pregnancy test kits from the drugstore. It came up positive. I'm so scared Jessi."

"Take a deep breath Becky. Who is the father, have you talked to him yet?" Jessi tried to ask a question that made at least some sense.

"No I haven't, not yet." Becky sobbed between the words.

"Why not?" asked Jessi.

Becky took a deep breath, and then responded. "Because Jessi, the only guy I have had sex with since my last period is Stan, my own brother."

---

Mountains have been known to inspire people. They dream and long for them. There is something soothing about seeing them rising from the ground reaching for the sky. A sense of permanence comes from them. People will come and go, but the mountains remain. The mountains in Montana are like this—their majesty and magic take hold of a man's spirit.

I would like to thank for Selenakittyn for editing and proofreading this story. I appreciate what she does for my work.