The Chocolate Palomino

Wade chuckled.

"Well, you say you got ten thousand, but I figure you'll just start digging somewhere and hoping some Federales come along and make us let you go. I know the Marshal in Laredo has four thousand waiting for us so I'll take the sure bet. As for the woman here, she's just my partner. She got shot and still put two bullets in Randolph and she deserves an equal share of the reward money.

"Now, I'm gonna take one handcuff off each of you and you're going to get on a horse and handcuff yourself to a ring on he saddle. Don't even think about doing anything else. If you do, you'll be going back to Laredo tied over your saddle instead of sitting on it."

Wade was taking it slow on the way back to Laredo because it was obvious Amanda was still in pain and also so he could keep an eye on the three Dolen brothers. Wade figured it was going to be four hours of listening to Avery's threats.

"Ain't no jail gonna hold us fer long, and when we git out, we'll hunt you and this bitch down and show ya what we do to bounty hunters. You, we'll just shoot in the knees and elbows first and watch you roll around screamin' for a while. Then, we'll prop you up and let you watch what we do to this woman. If you ain't stuck her yet, she'll git to feel a man in her for the first time. Once we all have a turn or two at her, we'll slit your throats and watch you bleed to death. We ain't gonna waste no time for no funeral either. We'll just leave you for the buzzards."

Similar threats went on and on until Wade finally turned to Avery and frowned.

"Avery, I'm gettin' mighty tired of all this. Threats work both ways you know. If I was like some bounty hunters, all four of you would be dead and tied over your saddles instead of just one. I don't believe in killin' any man who doesn't need killin' but all of you do, so don't push me.

"I'll tell you what. You keep your mouths shut until we get to Laredo and me and the woman won't shoot any of you. You keep talking though, and you're liable to find out what it feels like to have an ear shot off. Saw that many times in the war. They tell me it hurts like fire. Looks real bad when it heals too, just a hole in the side of your head and you can't hear much on that side. I'll just tell the Marshal in Laredo I was trying to shoot you in the head and missed. I doubt he'll ask too many questions since you four have killed a lot of people."

Four hours later, Wade and Amanda had led the Dolen brothers across the Rio Grand and up to the hitching rail in front of the Marshal's office. Wade went in to talk to the Marshal while Amanda waited outside and covered the Dolen brothers with her revolver.

A few minutes later, Wade and the Marshal walked up to look at the Dolen brothers. The Marshal looked at each one and then grinned at Wade.

"Well, you got 'em. You'd have saved me feedin' them until the circuit judge comes around next month if you'd shot all four, but we haven't had a hangin' in almost six months and that was just one horse thief. The people of Laredo will have a real sight when all three of them drop through the trap doors. As soon as I get them locked up, we'll walk over to the railroad station and get your reward money."

It was a little after one when Wade walked out of the rail station smiling. As he got on his horse, he smiled at Amanda.

"Never liked staying around when I've brought in a bounty. Once the Marshall has them in his jail, sometimes he changes his mind about the reward. Once we get a ways out of town, I need to check your bandage again. If it looks all right, we'll ride on to Angelo. We should make it in a couple hours and then we'll get you to a real doctor. After that, we'll get a couple hotel rooms and over supper, we'll talk about what comes next."

About an hour's ride out of Laredo, Wade saw a stand of trees beside a small creek and pointed to them.

"We'll stop there so I can check your bandage. The horses probably need a drink too."

Wade checked Amanda's wound and found the bleeding had stopped. The gouge in her side was still pretty red, but didn't show any sign of the white pus he'd seen oozing from men who had been shot in battle. The doctors thought pus was a sign the wound was healing, but in Wade's experience, those men usually died.

Wade tore a couple new strips from his already shredded shirt, made a pad from one and soaked it with tequila, and used the second to tie the pad in place. He pulled Amanda's shirt down then.

"I'm no doctor, but I saw a lot of wounded men during the war. Your wound looks better than most of what I saw. We do need to get you to a doctor though, so we'd best be getting along to Angelo."

Amanda shook her head.

"No. It hurts pretty bad and I can barely stay in my saddle as it is. I need to rest. Let's stay here at least for tonight. If I feel stronger tomorrow, we'll go to Angelo then."

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The next morning, the doctor in Angelo looked at Amanda's side, poked around a little and then smiled.

"Early in the war, I'd have sewed this shut, but later on, when we had too many casualties, we didn't have time. Those men healed just fine. This is starting to scab over already, so I'm gonna leave it be. Keep a bandage on it until it scabs over all the way. You'll have a scar, but you should be fine."

Wade got two hotel rooms in Angelo and then told Amanda he'd take their horses to the livery stable for a good feed. When he came back and knocked on her door, Amanda was dressed in the same dress she'd worn in San Pablo, only this time, the swell of her breasts was covered by a lace handkerchief and also by the long waves of red hair that she'd brushed down over her shoulders. When Wade raised his eyebrows, Amanda blushed.

"I hadn't worn a dress for a long time until we went to San Pablo. It felt good when I put on a dress there so I decided to be Amanda tonight. I hope you can't see the bandage."

Wade grinned.

"Well, I'm not really looking at where that bandage is and I don't expect any body else will be either. You make a lot better lookin' woman than you do a boy. Wanna go get something to eat?"

Wade thought Amanda seemed preoccupied when they ordered. She looked at the menu the waiter brought and then just said, "Whatever you have with chicken." Wade ordered a steak with fried potatoes, and when the waiter left, he asked Amanda what was on her mind. Amanda frowned.

"I've been thinking about what we should do next, and I have some questions. You don't really like being a bounty hunter, do you?"

Wade smiled.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you as much as said that when you told me why you started. You said you wanted to be a farmer and started bounty hunting to get enough money to buy a farm and some livestock. Isn't that what you really want to do?"

Wade didn't have to think about his answer.

"Yes, but up until now, I didn't have enough money. After this time, I do, but I kind of like the way we work together. I think we could make a lot more money if we keep going and I could buy a bigger farm. What do you think?"

Amanda looked down at the table.

"Thinking about that is all I've done since we left Laredo. We do work well together and we could probably do even better than we've done so far. The only problem I have with that is I'm tired of dressing up like a boy and riding all over the country chasing down men who don't want to be caught.

"That was exciting until San Pablo. San Pablo was pretty scary for me. If that man had been a better shot, he'd have killed me. That was the first time I wasn't in complete control of the situation, and I've been thinking it probably won't be the last if I keep doing what I'm doing.

"What I think I'd like is to be a woman again all the time, not just when I need to tempt a man into telling me what I want to know. I just don't know how to do that without a job to get money, and I don't know what kind of job that would be. Other than being a wife like my mother taught me to be, I don't know much about anything other than bounty hunting. I couldn't clerk in a store, and that's about the only job a woman can do except to sell herself. I'm not about to do that."

Wade smiled again.

"Well, you shouldn't have any problem finding a man who'll marry you, and he'll take care of you so you won't have to find a job."

Amanda looked up then.

"I know that, but it couldn't be just any man. I learned a lot about men when I was a spy and more when I started bounty hunting. A lot of men aren't really men. They're more like little boys who like going off on adventures. I'd need a man who would stay with me, and he'd have to be a real man, a man who's not afraid of anything and a man who would protect me when I need protecting."

Wade chuckled.

"You didn't seem to need protecting back on that hill where we caught the Connors Gang. As I remember, you told me you'd shoot me dead if I tried to do anything to you."

Amanda frowned.

"If I'm going to be a woman all the time, I can't very well strap on a revolver over my dress, now can I?"

Wade chuckled again.

"Well, you could. It would look odd, but I suppose you could. I'm sure there are men out there who are the type of man you'd be looking for. You just have to look until you find him."

Amanda looked down at the table again.

"I think I already have. I just don't know if he feels the same way about me as I feel about him."

"Then you need to go where he is and ask him so you'll know. Sometimes a man won't say anything until he knows how the woman feels about him."

Amanda looked up with a funny smile on her face.

"I already am where he is. I just need him to tell me how he feels about me."

It dawned on Wade what Amanda was saying then, and what she had said had changed everything about how he thought about her.

At first, when he didn't know she was a woman, Wade had admired the confidence and grit in one so young. Once he learned that she was a woman, he admired both even more. He also liked being with her because she looked at things differently than he did and approached the capture of a criminal in a different way. Wade usually used his size and strength to overpower a criminal. Amanda depended upon thinking instead of strength and upon sensing how someone would probably react to what she did.

Now, she was saying she wanted to just be a woman, and more than that, she wanted to be his woman. Such a thing had never entered his thoughts before, but now it did.

The life Wade really wanted was the quiet life of a farmer or rancher, a life governed by the seasons. Any woman he took as a wife would have to accept that life. He wasn't sure Amanda could do that, not after the life of excitement she'd already lived. She appeared to be saying she could, but was he really the man she wanted?

"You think I'm the man for you? Amanda, I'm just an ordinary man who went through a war and didn't have any other way to make a living than what I'm doing right now. You're a pretty woman and you're smart. You deserve someone who's a lot better man than I am."

Amanda smiled.

"I think you're more man than most I've met, and I trust you. Besides, what could I offer any man? I'm not an ordinary woman. I was a spy during the war and then dressed up as a boy and started hunting bounties. Now, I have a scar I'd have to explain and I couldn't explain it away. I'd have to tell the truth. That's not what most men would consider to be something they wanted in a wife.

"You said you like the way we work together as bounty hunters. Would it be different if we worked together on a farm except we probably wouldn't risk being killed every time we found the man we were looking for?"

Amanda's face turned from smiling to pleading.

"Look, Wade. After Kerrville you said we worked well together and asked me if I wanted to keep working with you. All I'm saying is I do, but not bounty hunting. What would you think about working together on a farm? If we use all our reward money, we could buy a pretty big farm."

Wade didn't answer right away. He was thinking about how that arrangement would work, or rather, how many ways there were that it wouldn't work. Finally, he looked at Amanda.

"Amanda, I couldn't have you just living in the same house with me. The first reason is I was taught that a man and a woman don't live together unless they're married. The second reason is if we're going to farm together, we'd have to visit a town at least once in a while. Some men in the town might excuse a man living with a woman who isn't his wife. None of the women would excuse you for being that woman. You'd be called...well, they wouldn't associate with you at all."

Amanda smiled a little then.

"So, if we got married we could farm together? I could do that. Could you?"

Wade scratched his head.

"Is that something you want? I thought women had to feel something for the man they married, like they loved him or something."

Amanda shook her head.

"My mother married my father because he treated her well and made her feel safe. That's the same way you treat me. She did care about him though she never told me she loved him. I'd expect most women feel the same way about their husbands, at first at least.

"You make me feel safe and you've always treated me like a lady, well, except when you thought I was a boy. That's as much as I think any woman has a right to expect. I'll keep your house and work along side of you. I don't think any man could expect more from his wife except for her to give him sons to help him farm. I could do that for you and maybe have a daughter or two to help me keep house."

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The pastor at The First Baptist Church in Angelo agreed to marry them. The ceremony was short and as soon as it was over, Wade and Amanda started north. Wade intended to settle near Kerrville. The area seemed to have plenty of water and although there were a lot of hills, there were also a lot of flatland areas that would be good for both farming and for raising cattle. Amanda had changed back into her boy clothes because it would be easier for Wade to keep checking her side.

That first night, Wade found a small grove of trees by a creek and asked Amanda if she was comfortable camping there. She smiled.

"I don't care where we camp. I just want to get off this horse and wash off the dirt, and then get something to eat. I'm starving."

Amanda slipped off the chocolate palomino, opened one of her saddlebags, and pulled out a towel and a cake of soap.

"You take care of the horses while I go wash. After that, I'll make us something to eat."

With that said, she walked toward the creek. Wade unsaddled the horses and hobbled them so they could graze. He was in the process of building a fire when Amanda walked back from the creek wearing just a shirt and with the towel around her shoulders.

Wade was adding some small sticks to the fire when Amanda walked up, and he forgot what he was doing until the flames licked his fingers. When he yelped and dropped the stick, Amanda giggled.

"I wondered what you'd do if I didn't dress all the way."

Wade smiled.

"Well, I don't usually see half-naked women walking around. Kinda takes a man's mind off what he's doing at the time."

Amanda smiled.

"Well, a man can see his wife without clothes, but you'll just have to get your mind back to what we're doing. I want to do what you're thinking about, but I don't think we should until I heal more."

Wade had to agree, but when he spread out their bedrolls, he put them together so Amanda was under the same blanket and beside him.

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Eight days later, Wade and Amanda rode into Kerrville, Texas. Wade's first stop was the Marshal's office because Marshal Evans was the only person in Kerrville he knew. As they rode through the main street, Wade and Amanda got a lot of staring looks, but Wade knew that was because Amanda was dressed in a dress but she was riding astride the chocolate palomino gelding. The dress was long enough to cover her legs, but her ankles showed.

When they stopped at the Marshal's office, Amanda said she'd wait with the horses, but Wade just smiled.

"We've been riding for eight days and I haven't been able to tell anybody about my new wife. I want to introduce you to Marshal Evans."

Amanda chuckled.

"Well, we're married, but you haven't made me your wife yet. Maybe you should wait before you tell people we're married. You might not like what you got."

Wade smiled.

"Nah, I know what I got. Come on, let's go."

Marshal Evans eyed them both when Wade and Amanda walked into his office. He recognized Wade but not Amanda.

"Mister Masterson, if I remember right, but I don't recollect this pretty lady. You come back to buy a place in Kerrville?"

Wade smiled.

"Marshal Evans, this is my wife, Amanda. I liked what I saw when I was here and decided this was the place for us. I sold everything down in San Antonio. Now all I need to find is a place to buy. You know of anybody wants to sell their farm?"

Marshall Evans smiled.

"If I was you, I'd go talk to Albert Tallows at the bank. When the Connors Gang robbed the bank, a lot of people lost everything they had. Most hung on but I know a few are having trouble. Albert will know if any of them are ready to sell.

"By the way, I heard the Connors gang was captured. Heard it was by two bounty hunters, a man and a boy. The boy was ridin' a really different horse, a chestnut with a white mane and tale. Sounds a lot like the horse I see tied up at the rail in front of my office. Heard from the Sheriff in Laredo the same two bounty hunters brought in the Dolen brothers. I don't suppose you'd know anything about that, would you?"

Wade shook his head.

"No Marshall, I don't, but I can see why you might think that because of how I wear my Colt. That horse is Amanda's and I raised him from a colt. He is pretty different though. Bred a chestnut mare to a buckskin stud and this is what we got. That mare was a really nice mare, easy to break and an easy keeper. That stud was all fire and mean as a snake. I was never able to break him to ride. Only kept him as a stud because he threw me some really nice cow ponies. Never expected to get something like Sheridan -- that's what we called him -- from that mare. He's as good a cow horse as they come, but gentle enough for a lady."

Wade grinned then.

"Besides, I don't think any body would mistake Amanda for a boy."

Marshall Evens was pretty sure Wade was lying. He'd developed the ability to figure out when a man was telling the truth or not when interrogating captured Confederate soldiers.

"Well, Mister Masterson, just so you know, folks in Kerrville don't take kindly to other folks bein' anything other than good neighbors. You cross that line, and I'll have to ask you to leave. We understand each other?"

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After talking with Albert Tallows, Wade learned of a hundred and twenty acres for sale by a man from Arkansas who had homesteaded the land and had been working the farm until he'd saved enough money to bring his wife and four children to Kerrville. He'd put all his money in the bank, and when it was robbed he'd lost all his savings. Wade rode out to the farm and thought it was just what he was looking for. It was about eighty acres in a wide valley nestled between two hills, both of which were included in the farm. About twenty acres of that eighty were planted in corn and the crop looked pretty good to Wade. About another ten acres was prairie grass that looked about ready to mow for hay.

A creek ran down one side of the flat area and about fifty yards from the house. The hills were covered with oaks, elms, hickory and pecan trees. Wade offered the man five dollars an acre and another two hundred for the house and everything in it, the barn, a milk cow, three beef cows and a bull, a wagon and a team, and an almost new John Deere plow and some other farm equipment.