I Should Have Been A Cowboy Pt. 02

"Yeah, probably wouldn't sell now but I do know that there is at least three people on Facebook and Snapchat that claim to be you and have long arguments on who is the real Missouri. Funny thing is not one of them actually states your real name. Either they don't know it or are keeping it quiet to prolong the mystery. Hell, all you need is a black mask and someone will start calling you the Lone Ranger."

"I would need silver bullets, too, I guess." Missouri touched his beard. "I guess I would also need to be clean shaven to be the good guy."

They both had a good chuckle. Soon the patrolman let Missouri get on down the hills as he then went back to his patrol. After telling his cohorts that he had spoken to Missouri the legend grew a little more.

A day later he was back on Circle Bar X land. He had decided. He would check to see if Bill needed a hand for the winter. If so, he would light and set where it was comfortable at night. His roping had improved as he had practiced on cows and steers that he had encountered during his travels. While he didn't believe he would yet be a top hand, he did have some of the skills needed. If Bill didn't want him back there were a few others, like Ronny Bentley on the Double B, who might need a hand for the winter.

There was little fanfare as he entered the ranch yard. He didn't come in on a high lope like the old Westerns and he figured someone had seen him before he rode in so he wasn't thinking he would surprise anyone. And he was correct, the Blaze's and Butch came out of the house as he pulled up.

"Howdy, Stranger. Bet you would like a good cup of coffee and a comfortable chair after your sojourn around the hills."

Missouri had to chuckle. "Yes, Sir, that would be good. Can I let my horses out in your corral?"

Bill had a broad grin on his face. "Well, now, I don't know about that. Are you still the same Missouri that rode away from here early summer?"

Connie gave her husband a little thump on the head. "Missouri, don't put up with any of his jokes. Ten thousand comedians out of work and look what I get stuck with. Come on in after you take care of your horses."

Bill and Butch kept chuckling as they helped Missouri pull the saddle and the panniers off the horses and give them a quick rub and some grain after putting them into the corral. Then they helped haul all of Missouri's possibles to the bunk house where Missouri was pleased to see he still had the same room. Hoss had moved on but there was a new young hand.

Butch made the introductions. "Missouri, this is Jesse. I call him Outlaw. He is still very wet behind the ears but we have hopes."

He turned to the very young looking hand. "Outlaw, this is Missouri. Yeah, the real deal legend."

Young Jesse was tongue tied to meet a legend so the handshake was tentative. Missouri just smiled at the youngster. Later Butch told him that Jesse claimed to be eighteen but Bill believed the lad was actually a sixteen year old runaway. He was checking with the sheriff's department about his suspicions.

Bill and Butch were going to keep the illusion about Outlaw's age going until they heard back from the sheriff. Connie was having the youngster come to supper each night in the ranch house.

This evening Connie invited Missouri and Butch over to the house for supper to celebrate the return of their friend. During the supper Missouri let them know the high points of his travels including overhearing his wife and her female lover in the café in Gordon. Bill and Butch both got a good chuckle out of Missouri's account of his run in with his former friend, Mark. Young Jesse just absorbed the accounts with a gaping mouth and wide open eyes.

Then, after a great filling meal, the others tried to outdo each other regaling the legend about the exploits including a much exaggerated tale about the medical helicopter. Bill took the floor for that one. "According to the latest story, which by the way is on the internet, you came over the last hill at a fast lope and jumped off your horse at the last moment and swept up Casey, the young paramedic, as she was swooning from relief at being rescued. You then build a cabin out of the sod to give her and her partner, Jane, protection from the horrendous tornado that was bearing down on the site before riding right into the teeth of the storm to affect their rescue. Somehow you covered the miles to the highway, climbed the cell phone tower and hacked the system to call for help. You used your high intensity flashlight to guide the helicopters to the site and then climbed down and led the others on the ground back to the site where you gently removed the pilot from the wreckage and led a prayer for him."

Missouri was flabbergasted. He then told them the true story. Hell, he didn't even know the paramedic's name and the pilot was still in the wreckage when he got back for his pack horse and supplies because the NTSB had radioed orders to the sheriff's department covering that area.

The stories went on and on. Sightings of Missouri and his variously colored horses included a huge area of the Sandhills from O'Neill to the east and as far west as Alliance. The internet also gave sightings as far north as Murdo in South Dakota and as far south as McCook in Nebraska. They all had a good laugh discussing the improbability of a man on horseback covering that much area in so few months. Yes, it was possible but so highly improbable as Missouri didn't have any particular need to speed on his travels.

Connie came and examined Missouri's face and scalp for injuries. When asked she related that he was reported to have many fights defending poor defenseless women and girls in every town that he had traveled to. Some of the accounts came from the supposed attackers and all accounts had Missouri handling his foes with ease, even the largest and most aggressive ones.

It was a great night with old friends and a new friend. Outlaw relaxed and started to give Missouri a little guff just like the others. Bill finally asked what Missouri had planned.

"Well, I hoped that you might have need for me to work this winter. I am through roaming for a while. If Megan shows up again I will sit and talk with her and let her know that we are through. She can have the house and half my money if she doesn't fight the divorce. If she wants to fight I will use my story to destroy her and her lovers. She has the choice."

Bill and Connie nodded. Bill spoke first. "Of course, you have a job here on the Circle Bar X. Everything is pretty much caught up except we need to haul the bales of hay back to the ranch house as feed this winter. With you here we will get that done quickly and then just keep watch over the cows until we need to bring them close."

Connie spoke next. "We have gained some popularity from your travels. Somehow it got out that the Circle Bar X was your starting point and it is now considered your home. We get a few visitors every week just checking to see if you had made it back yet. You have quite a fan club in these parts."

"If it is alright with you I would like to be out riding fence whenever any visitors stop by. I have no idea what I would even tell any fan of mine except to not believe everything they hear."

"We have gotten a couple of phone calls from that girl, Casey, and her friend, Jane. They wish to thank you personally for saving their lives. The emergency locator in the tail section failed to activate and was damaged in the fire. Who knows how long it would have been before they were found."

Bill paused. "So, will you meet with them if they show up? I don't know when that Jane person will be released from the hospital. Her injuries were pretty extensive according to the news reports."

Missouri nodded. "Yeah, I will meet with them. That Casey girl had it all under control when I arrived. She had Jane as comfortable as she could make her. She used my small tent to protect her some more and made them both a meal to tide them over until the cavalry showed up. By the time I got back they had been airlifted out and were probably at the hospital in North Platte or Kearney. I actually don't know where they were taken. The fire guys and EMTs at the scene weren't too sure."

That supper set the tone for Missouri's return to the ranch. He found that Bill had gone into Hyannis and had retrieved Missouri's pickup. It was being stored in one of the machine sheds. Missouri set it up to pull a used horse trailer that he purchased locally. If he needed to travel again he had the option of driving his faithful steeds with him to new areas that might just include Wyoming or North Dakota.

He drove to Alliance to replace his clothes as they were very worn from his travels. He used the old three inch brim hat and had reduced his full beard to a goatee with mustache. No one seemed to know who he was when he went to the various stores to make his purchases. That suited him fine.

True to his word, Bill sent Missouri out on horseback every time strangers showed up at the ranch. One of the questions he would ask any visitor was about recent sightings of Missouri. They would all have a chuckle as the supposed sightings continued even though Missouri had seldom left the ranch for weeks.

It was now late fall. The days were still warm but there was a definite chill in the air each night and there were frost warnings most days from the weather service. The last of the bales were moved from the hay fields to the various smaller holding pastures where the cows and bulls would winter. Fences were always on the list of things to do. Missouri would ride a horse to check his fences and spend a little time roping the fence posts for practice. He was improving all the time. He still carried his .45 on his hip just in case he came across an aggressive coyote or maybe an upset badger.

In early November the dreaded visitors showed up. Megan came with the Brooks to the Circle Bar X. For the first time since she had started her quest and the umpteenth time she had come to the ranch she was invited into the ranch house while Missouri was sent for. The Brooks were told very emphatically that they were not welcome and to stay in the car. They bristled up at that but Butch had a quiet word with them and suddenly they were not so belligerent. Butch told Bill later that he just informed them that there was a lot of empty space for a couple of lonely graves and that seemed to take the air out of their sails. He did bring each of them some water to keep themselves hydrated while Megan met with her estranged husband.

Connie introduced herself and Bill to Megan and had her sit at the dining room table with a glass of water. There was no attempt to converse with her further. As far as they were concerned Megan was the enemy of their employee and friend and didn't need to have any polite conversation come her way. Megan was forced to wait some thirty minutes before she heard footsteps coming from the kitchen area.

The man who appeared at the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room was a stranger. He seemed taller than her husband. His hair was definitely longer than Kelly always kept his. This man squinted as though he was used to gazing on very sunlit vistas. This man was wearing a black western hat with an eight inch brim to shade his eyes. The hat was pulled low on his forehead. This stranger also had a mustache and goatee where her husband was always clean shaven even if he had to shave two times a day to keep his face baby smooth for his wife.

This man barely nodded his head in acknowledgement of her presence. He placed a glass of water on the table then sat down across from her, leaned back on the sturdy dining room chair and crossed his legs. "Well, Megan, you have finally tracked me down. Just to let you know I have decided to not avoid you any longer so we can get this whole affair over and done with and you can get on with your life."

Megan didn't respond, she was still trying to reconcile this cowboy with her husband. His voice was familiar but nothing else really screamed out at her that this was Kelly, the man she had been married to for over six years.

Finally she extended a hand to Missouri. "Is it really you, Kelly?" He nodded. She looked around and saw Connie peeking around the corner. "Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Is this some kind of sick joke? I have been searching for my husband for months and you try to get some ranch hand to pose as Kelly Free! Do you take me for some kind of fool? Where is my husband?"

Connie just shook her head and pointed at Missouri. "That is the man who came to our ranch, broken and beaten. He told us his name but never used it again after that fateful day. This is Missouri, formerly known as Kelly Free. He has grown up and matured more than when you knew him. He has learned and accepted the change in his life. He is a better man than you deserve and you need to sit and talk and get both your lives straightened out so he can finish healing and you can move on."

"But this is a stranger. I know you don't like me but how could you do this to me? How do you explain that you say Kelly is here but then bring in this guy." She broke down and started to cry. "I need my husband. I need Kelly. Please bring him to me. I beg you to have some mercy. I have been looking for so long. Please, please, please." She buried her head in her hands on the table.

"Megan, listen to me. Oh, how do I say this? It is me, or it is I? Anyhow I am Kelly Free. I may not look like the man you knew but I am still your husband, at least for a little while longer. You decided to start a new relationship with Mary and Mark Brooks and thought I would accept it and maybe even join in. I was so surprised, upset and disappointed that I couldn't stand to stay there in Missouri so I drove here and got a job after my pickup broke down. I learned new things and I traveled some to find my way and now I am finally ready to confront you."

Megan shook her head. This man, this stranger with the hair on his face, wearing a black hat, browned from being outside, sounded like her Kelly but this man seemed taller, more mature, stronger in character, with a work hardened body. It couldn't be her Kelly, could it?

She looked around. Connie Blaze had come in and had sat down next to her and was holding her hand to comfort her and reassure her. Kelly went on and spoke of a few events that the two had shared prior to the infidelity. These events would not have been known to anyone else. Missouri took off his hat and laid it on the table.

It was so hard to accept but this man was her husband. He looked like something out of the old West. She looked to see if he had a six-gun on his hip. Nope, but there was a semi-automatic pistol there. Kelly noticed where she was looking. He carefully pulled the gun from its holster and placed it on the table past his hat. "I am sorry that you don't feel safe at the moment. I carry the gun to shoot at coyotes and the occasional rattlesnake when I am riding. It feels so natural to wear it now that I don't really pay attention and take it off when I don't need it."

"But why did you leave me? I love you."

"I left because it was obvious I was not enough for you. You broke the vows we stated to each other before God, our friends and our relatives. You took other lovers without discussing it with me. By doing so you stomped on my heart, my feelings and my desire to stay married to you. You showed the maximum disrespect to me and to our marriage. I had to leave to get my head around all of it. I finally have come to terms with how you treated me."

"But, it was just Mary and Mark, our friends. We were just expanding our relationship with them. Sharing our bodies made us all closer."

"Maybe you felt that way. I felt betrayed, angered, and sick to my stomach to come home unexpectedly and find you all having sex in my house let alone my bedroom. I had to leave before I did something to humiliate me or something that would have caused great and lasting harm to you and your fuck buddies."

"What do you mean by 'humiliate yourself'?"

"When I was standing in that doorway, watching you suck and fuck each other I couldn't decide if I should fall to the floor and curl up like a baby and bawl my eyes out, or if I should run to the bathroom to puke my guts out and then cry like a baby, or whether I should just come in and beat you all to death for what you did to me and our marriage. When you got off the bed and came to me with Mary's slime on your face and Mark's slime running down your leg I was so repulsed that the only way to keep from shoving you away was to leave immediately so I did so."

He stopped to look at the expression on her face. She seemed to still be in denial at how much she had hurt him. He continued. "I drove around the city for hours before finding myself headed west. I finally decided that as long as I was moving I didn't have to decide on what to do with you. When I became stranded here in Hyannis I was forced to accept the reality of what you had done. Our marriage was over at that time. There is no coming back from that level of lies and disrespect. I still wasn't ready to confront you so I accepted a job here at the Circle Bar X. These people didn't have to accept me, yet they did. They didn't have to extend their hospitality to a stranger, yet they did. I knew nothing of how to be a ranch hand but they took me in, cared for me, and taught me how to work hard. And the whole time they never once showed me any disrespect or ridicule concerning my personal life."

Connie sat and nodded at Missouri's statements. They had done all of that and more, some of which Missouri might not ever know. He had no idea how many times Bill or Butch were just a few miles away from wherever Missouri had stopped to camp. They were always ready to assist him should he need it.

And they were proud that he had not needed them, not one time in all the months he traveled. He had matured into the type of hero that Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour or so many others wrote about. He had become "a man to ride the river with". He was accepted wherever he went. He was one of them, a Sandhiller. He would stand tall wherever he might now travel, around the country or back to the city.

She gave a thought about his old boss, what was his name again? Jerry or Terry or something like that? She would bet that his former boss would hesitate to criticize Missouri now. He now had the countenance, the self assurance, and the backbone to stare down any opponent and be able to back it up with physical action if necessary.

For some reason Megan still seemed to be in denial of Kelly's presence after being apart for so long. She sat and shook her head. This couldn't be happening to her. All these months she labored under the delusion that Kelly was hurting but would race back into her arms when they finally met. He loved her and needed her in his life. This was the delusion she had built in her mind over the months. She still also felt that Kelly would embrace her preferred lifestyle and she and Mary would fuck him almost to death before Mark would suck him erect again so they could all start over. She just needed to get Kelly in a bed and all would be good again.

Kelly saw by her expression that she was still committed to the course of action she had started last spring in Missouri. He shook his head. He had no idea how to get her to finally understand that her dreams were now a nightmare for him. There would be no reconciliation.

He tried again. "Megan, now that you believe that I am Kelly, let us get down to business. When you get home you will be served with divorce papers. Please just sign them and let the divorce happen. I have been generous. You need to read the papers to see the settlement that I am offering is fair. You can then openly make a life with the Brooks."