Montana Summer Ch. 14

Once they remounted, Bill warned, "Keep a weather eye out, especially when you're near the trees. If it was a bear killed that animal, he might not be too far away."

They got the herd moving on its way towards the ranch. They kept the pace slow as to make it easier for the two of them to handle the cattle. For the most part, Ryan and Bill rode behind the herd, and occasionally Ryan would take off after an animal that had decided to stop or go off in a separate direction.

---

Jessi hung up the phone. She looked at Becky. "I have to go downtown to give the police a statement about that creep last night."

Becky shivered at the thought of what could have happened to Jessi. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Yeah, that is if you don't mind."

The jovial mood that had prevailed for most of the evening had certainly been dampened by the man's attack on Jessi.

Jessi had been tempted to call home, but the hour had been late, and she had decided to wait until the morning.

Josh had brought the girls home and had slept on the sofa after they had sat up talking. Jessi was glad that Josh had stayed. It had made her feel safer, and she suspected that Becky was even happier. When Jessi had gone to bed, the two of them were sitting next to each other watching television.

As they drove to the police station, Jessi asked, "What time did you go to bed last night?"

"About two," Becky replied.

"So?" Jessi giggled as she tried to pry information from her friend.

"Nothing happened." Becky blushed. "Not that I didn't want anything to happen. We just sat there and talked for a while."

"What time did he leave?"

"He had to be at work by seven. He woke me up about six to say goodbye," Becky answered.

"Is he going to ask you out again?"

"I think so. He has to work the next couple of days. I think he said that he has next weekend off. Maybe when Ryan is here, we can all do something together."

"I don't know about that," Jessi joked. "I don't think I'm going to let him out of bed."

They waited in the lobby until a detective came and took them to an interview room. "I need you to write down everything that happened last night. I'll just be down the hall. Come and get me when you're done. I have some questions that I need to ask you. It won't take long."

He poked his head back in the door. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Becky shook her head and Jessi replied, "No, I think we're fine."

He nodded and closed, but did not latch the door and left Jessi to write out her statement. She wrote every little thing she could remember about what had happened at the dance, including the drink and that she had noticed what looked to be an oily film in the glass of Coke. When she was finished, she read it over and handed it to Becky.

"See if I left anything out." Jessi stretched her arms and watched as Becky read.

---

The weather was changing. When the dawn broke, the skies were clear and blue. As the morning had worn on, clouds began appearing. The breeze had picked up and had changed until it came out of the north-west. Ryan thought the breeze had a bite to it and, even though the sun was still shining, there didn't seem to be the warmth to it.

Bill had been watching the clouds as they formed and gathered over the mountains. He knew the smell and what the breeze meant. "Snow." He pointed to the clouds. "Feels and smells like there is snow in those clouds. We might get our first skiff of snow this afternoon or tonight."

Ryan looked at the clouds. They looked different than what he had become accustomed seeing. He thought they were lighter in color and seemed to have less definition than the summer and early autumn storms. "The wind certainly seems to have a nip to it."

"You can smell the first snow of the year," Bill said as he continued looking at the clouds. "It's hard to explain, but it just smells different."

Bernie kept an eye on the cattle. He was almost like a sheepdog watching the flock. When one of the steers decided to take a left turn from the herd, he began to change direction without any guidance from Ryan.

Looking to his left, Ryan spotted the steer making his way towards a patch of grass. "C'mon, Bernie."

In a matter of seconds, Bernie had caught up to the steer and blocked its path to the grass. It looked up and Ryan and made a bawling sound. "Yeah, I know its lunch time. I'm getting hungry, too. Now get along there."

Bernie moved closer to the two-year old steer and that was enough to get the steer moving back towards the herd. Once the animal had rejoined the group, Ryan dropped back to where Bill was.

Bill studied Ryan as he approached. "I've got a question for you."

Ryan could see the serious look in his uncle's face. "Okay."

"If the DNA tests come back the way you and Jessi suspect, what's next? Are you two planning on gettin' married?"

The question surprised Ryan. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "We've never really talked about it."

"Well, you had better promise me one thing." Bill was surprised. He had been sure that they had talked about it.

"What's that?" Ryan asked.

"Well, if you do decide to get married, you gotta promise me that you won't do something stupid like go to Vegas and elope."

Ryan shook his head. "I don't think that's something either of us would want."

Bill's smile returned. "Good! I've spent eighteen years raisin' that girl and by damn, when she gets married, I want to be the one to give her away."

Ryan hesitated but then he looked his uncle square in the eyes. "I know there's some question as to Jessi's..." He didn't want to say what he thought. "Well, anyway. To me, you are and will always be Jessi's one and only father. And, if and when we get married, I want you there to give her away to me. Any other way would be just plain wrong."

It warmed Bill's heart to hear Ryan's answer. "I've told you this before and I'll tell you again. If Jessi and you aren't related, I can't think of a better person to have as a son-in-law than you."

---

Detective Matthews was a squat plug of a man. Due to the grey hair that ringed his bald head, his nickname to his colleagues was Friar Tuck. That's exactly the thought that ran through Jessi and Becky's minds as he sat down.

He read through Jessi's statement carefully and then looked up. "Okay, that looks very good. According to the suspect, you asked to meet him by the bathrooms, and that you were planning on going home with him. Is there any truth to this statement?"

"Hell no!" Jessi exclaimed. A wave of revulsion passed over her.

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well." Detective Matthews wrote as he spoke.

"Have you ever met him anywhere before?"

Jessi shook her head. "No, I've never seen him before last night."

He looked at Jessi's statement again. "Other than the two dances, and then when he sat down at the table, you had no other contact with him?"

"No, none at all," Jessi answered.

"Did you invite him to sit down at the table?"

"No, he just sat down. He didn't even really ask, just sat down and said something about the chair not being taken." Jessi shivered. "He really gave me the creeps."

Detective Matthews nodded his head. "Yeah, he gives me the creeps, too."

Jessi looked at the detective. "He's not going to be let out of jail, is he?"

"No, I don't think you have to worry too much about that. He has outstanding warrants in Michigan and New Jersey."

Jessi let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that makes me feel better."

Detective Matthews smiled for the first time. "Well, when he gets released from the hospital, he will be arraigned here on assault and attempted sexual assault charges and then extradited back to Michigan or New Jersey. He won't be seeing the light of day for a long, long time."

After the girls left, Detective Matthews allowed himself to chuckle. 'That's one tough young lady,' he thought to himself. The man in the hospital was in a great deal of pain. According to the officer guarding the room, the man's scrotum had swelled up to the size a grapefruit due to his ruptured testicle.

---

As soon as Ryan and Bill had ridden up to the horse corral, the kitchen door flew open and Suzanne was flying towards them at a dead run.

"Something's up," Bill commented as he dismounted.

"I'll take care of the horses," Ryan volunteered as he took the reins to Bill's horse from his hand.

Bill nodded and headed towards his wife as Ryan led the horses in to the barn.

Bill could tell that his wife was crying as she neared. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Suzanne tried to catch her breath. "Jessi....she..."

Bill was immediately concerned. "What's going on with Jessi?"

Putting her hand to her chest, she calmed herself down. "Oh, God, Bill. Jessi called a while ago. She was attacked at a dance that she and Becky went to."

Visions of his daughter being attacked flew through Bill's mind. "Is she okay?" he asked anxiously.

Suzanne nodded. "Yes, she's fine. Nothing happened. A guy grabbed her and tried to force her to go with him and she—she did what you taught her to do."

Bill allowed himself a brief smile. "What about the guy that grabbed her? Where is he?"

"In jail. Well in the hospital right now, but as soon as he is released, they will take him to jail."

Bill looked towards the barn, and then back at his wife. "You go get a fresh pot of coffee on the go. I'll go tell Ryan."

Ryan raced to the house after getting the horses unsaddled and brushed down. He called Jessi's number in Missoula and Becky answered.

"Hi, Ryan." Becky greeted him.

"Is Jessi there?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, but she's in the shower right now," Becky replied.

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine." Becky chuckled. "She's doing a heck of lot better than that pervert, that's for sure."

"Huh?" Ryan was confused for a moment.

"Oh my God, she kneed him in the nuts so hard that he busted a ball." Becky had a hard time to keep from breaking out in peals of laughter.

Ryan chuckled. "Good, it serves the asshole right."

"I'll have her call you when she gets out," Becky promised.

---

Charlie paused and watched the first snow flake of the winter begin to drop from the skies. It was still a little too warm for them to last more than a fraction of a second when they hit the ground. Once the sun had set and the temperature dropped, the snow might stick on the ground and last for a few hours in the morning.

He set another piece of wood on the chopping block and swung his splitting maul directly in the center. Walter had dropped off two more cords of wood during the afternoon, and Charlie had set right out to begin splitting the large pieces of wood into smaller pieces that would fit into his wood-burning stove.

The house was equipped with a propane furnace and hot water heater, but Charlie preferred the cozy feeling of a warm fire burning in his wood-burning stove, and he enjoyed chopping wood. It always made him feel productive and it gave him time alone with his thoughts. He enjoyed the fresh, clean smell of the pine as he split it.

No one ever seemed to bother him when he was chopping. He chuckled as he thought, 'Who's going to bother an old man with an axe?' Charlie was happy with the wood that his son had brought. It split cleanly and there weren't many times that he had to reverse the maul and drive it down hard on to the chopping block to break the wood apart. Not like last year's, a lot of it had been what Charlie called "twisty wood," where instead of running straight, the grain of the wood seem to spiral, making it difficult to split by hand.

Charlie's thoughts were still on the dream that he had a few nights ago while he and his wife had stayed in the tipis at the old McFayden cabin. He had seen death. The pale rider had been in his dream. Was it a foretelling of his own passing that he had witnessed, or was it someone else's?

His own death didn't concern him. What did concern him was that he had seen Mato, the great bear in the same dream riding on the backs of the Wakinyan. He had seen seven men making preparations for going to war, putting paint on their faces, careful to make sure each line, each color was perfect. He could hear them singing the war chants, extolling their prowess in battle. The powerful sound of the drums beating in a slow rhythmic cadence seemed to shake the earth. Dancers wearing cloaks and headpieces represented the spirit of Sungmanitu the wolf spirit,the spirit of war circled nearest the fire while the painted warriors dance in an outer circle. In their hands they carried their bows, lances, and war clubs.

Their faces wore the proud defiance of an as yet undefeated people. These were the men of the seven tribes, the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Oglala, Hunkpapi, Teton and Yankton. The wašicun, the white man, had named them the great Sioux nation.

"And death rode with them," Charlie whispered as he saw the pale rider riding in the midst of the warriors. Even though he was sweating under his sweater, he shivered as he felt a sudden chill pass through his body.

--- Ryan sat in the small cafeteria at the college. It was the gathering spot for students either waiting to go to class or those that had just finished a class. He was going over the notes that he had made regarding the upcoming paper that was due in two weeks. A familiar voice interrupted his concentration.

"Hi, Ryan."

He looked up and inwardly groaned. It was Laura. "Hey Laura, how's it going?"

She made a funny look with her face and shrugged her shoulders. "Could be better, and it could be worse."

Laura sat down and studied Ryan for a moment. "Are you trying to avoid me, Ryan?"

"No, I'm not trying to avoid you," Ryan answered, bending the truth slightly as to not hurt her feelings.

"So what's the matter then?"

Ryan shot her a confused look. "I don't think anything is the matter, at least nothing that I can think of."

"I sort of wondered. I don't think I could have dropped any more hints that I liked you without being about as subtle as a brick to the head." Laura's face had taken on a different look. There was a touch of sadness in it.

"You know it's not that, Laura. I think you know that I'm sort of going out with Jessi." Ryan stated. He wasn't quite how he should describe his relationship with Jess to her.

"Yeah, I kind of thought that. So there's no chance for me?" Laura hated that she had asked that. She already knew what the answer was and she felt pathetic for asking it.

She was grateful, that when Ryan answered, he at least tried to spare her feelings. "There is always a chance for everything, Laura, that's why people play the lottery, even though you have a better chance of being struck by a meteor. There is always the hope of hitting the jackpot."

"I suppose my chances with you are about the same as winning the lottery then?" Laura smiled.

Ryan smiled. "Yeah, I'd say that it's about even."

"Thanks for being honest with me. A lot of guys might have taken advantage of the situation." Laura was a bit envious of Jessi. "Well, I hope can we at least be friends?"

"I don't see why not." Ryan agreed.

Laura looked up and spotted Jim Oliver looking around for her. She looked at Ryan, and then at Jim. "Hell no," she said as she got up from the table. Laura knew that she couldn't have Ryan, but there had to be more out there than Jim Oliver. Dinner and a date to Jim meant a bag of ninety-nine cent tacos and a blowjob.

Ryan glanced at his watch and picked up his books. It was his last class of the afternoon. He smiled at that thought. It was also his last class of the week. He would be in Missoula this time tomorrow.

---

Jessi was a happy girl. Her guy was here. She had waited on pins and needles, watching the clock all day until she heard his truck pull into the driveway. After almost knocking Josh down, she had raced outside and threw her arms around him.

Ryan had laughed. "That's quite the greeting."

Jessi was so happy that she had tears streaming down here face. "I love you, cowboy, and I'm so happy that you are here."

He held her tightly in his arms, and he thought his face might break if he smiled any wider.

Jessi took Ryan, Becky and Josh to lab at the university where the graduate student that taught her biology class conducted his research. He was glad to see that Jessi had brought in a couple of more subjects willing to donate DNA samples.

Each of them had to fill out a detailed questionnaire that asked a great deal about their family heritage. Jessi had to leave the father's side of her family blank as she didn't know who her biological father was.

It came as no surprise to Jessi or Becky that Ryan and Josh seemed to genuinely like each other. Becky was especially happy to see them get along so well. By the time Josh and Becky left to go see a movie and go out for dinner, it seemed that Josh and Ryan had been friends for years.

Ryan was glad that Becky and Josh had gone out. He wanted to spend some time with just Jessi. It had seemed over the past month and a half that they hadn't had any time together.

"Well, here we are alone." Ryan said as he put his arms around Jessi. "Does this give you any ideas?"

Jessi smiled and kissed him softly on the lips. "All sorts of ideas." She pointed to the couch. "You just take a seat for minute and I'll be right back."

She giggled to herself as she headed to the bathroom and began to run water in the oversized tub. As the tub began to fill, she lit the two candles that sat on the tub and two more that were on the bathroom vanity. Jessi smiled as she turned the light off and surveyed the scene.

After reading the instructions on the bubble bath, she poured some of the scented liquid into the bath water and giggled as the thick foam began to spread across the surface. Jessi removed her clothes and paused to look at her naked reflection in the mirror.

As she slid into the tub she called out to Ryan, "Hey, cowboy, come on back here for a minute."

Ryan walked down the hallway to the bathroom. His eyes widened when he saw Jessi in the tub. A smile grew across his face.

"Wanna come in and play, cowboy?" Her voice sounded sultry and soft.

"Oh yeah! You know I do."

Ryan closed the door to the bathroom. The room was already getting steamy from the hot water filling the tub. He turned towards Jessi and unbuttoned his shirt. He undid his belt and then unzipped his fly.

Jessi was getting turned on by watching him removed his clothing. She licked her lips in anticipation as he removed his shirt and hung it on the door. When he slipped his jeans off, she could tell by the prominent bulge in his shorts that he was growing hard already.

Ryan slipped his thumbs into the elastic band on his shorts and pulled them down. His cock popped out and stuck straight out. He could feel her eyes on it and it only turned him on more.

Jessi smiled at his growing erection. "Come on in, cowboy. The water is great."

As he slid into the tub, he breathed in deeply. "Oh, that feels so good."

"Glad you like it." Jessi smiled at Ryan as he made himself comfortable. She could feel the familiar warming deep inside of her.

She slid her foot up between his legs until the sole was touching his erection. Gently, she began move her foot up and down on the bottom of his shaft.

"Mmmm," she purred. "It looks like someone is horny."

"You know I am," Ryan replied in a husky tone of voice.

"How does that feel?" Jessi smiled at Ryan as she continued the motion of her foot against his cock.

Ryan moaned softly. "It feels so good."

He began to slide his foot between her legs, and slowly moved it back and forth. Jessi opened her legs to allow his foot to touch her pussy. Ryan was enjoying the feeling of her foot rubbing up and down his stiff shaft.