One True Love by Lori Copeland

Author:Lori Copeland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“I can’t wait any longer.” Copper reached for the crutch.

“I’m going up there.”

Sadie laid a restraining hand on her arm. “Don’t do it.” The solemnity in her words stopped Copper from following her instinct.

“Sadie, something must be wrong or they would be back by now. How long does it take to announce our arrival?”

“Can’t say, but we wait until Redlin or Richardson signals us.”

More minutes ticked by, anxious minutes. Sadie kept a firm hold on Copper’s arm.

Finally, Richardson rode through the fort gate. As he drew closer, Copper distinguished his grave demeanor. Hope plummeted.

“Dr. Dyson must be gone,” Copper said in little more than a whisper.

“Now, now, you don’t know that,” Sadie cautioned. “Don’t be borrowing trouble. By the look on Richardson’s face, we may already have enough.”

Richardson rode straight to their wagon. Reining up, he nodded. “Miss Copper. Mrs. Fortright.”

Amid her chaotic thoughts Sadie’s married name registered. Copper didn’t think she’d ever heard it mentioned. She swallowed. “The doctor’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Ma’am, if you would, Josh wants me to bring you to the fort.”

Sadie started to drive the wagon forward, but Richardson stopped her. “Just Miss Wilson. Mrs. Fortright, Josh wants you to hold the wagons here. Circle them tight for the night.”

The woman nodded. “Shore will. What’s wrong?”

He touched the brim of his hat. “Circle ’em tight, Mrs. Fortright. And tell Mike to put on extra guards.”

Richardson reached over and helped Copper move off the wagon seat and straddle his horse behind the saddle. He was well into his fifties, but he still had the arm strength of a man much younger. He urged the stallion into a gallop. Copper held tightly to the assistant wagon master’s waist. Her ankle throbbed with each jolt, but the pain barely registered due to the multitude of questions that raced through her mind.

As the animal slowed and walked through the fort’s open double gates, she suddenly felt bile rise to the back of her throat. Practically nothing was standing, except for a portion of a building along the front wall. The barracks, the mess hall, even the hitching posts were only burned relics. Richardson removed his bandana and reached back to hand it to her. She clamped the cloth over her nose, despair engulfing her. Bodies were everywhere.

“Kiowa massacre. Look at the shields. They’re made of buffalo hides, and the weapons are bows and lances. His eyes scanned the scores of bodies wearing buckskin, with paint and feathers. There were more than a hundred soldiers and some civilians here. Not sure how many women and children. Can’t know if any patrols were out at the time. We can only pray that they were.” His eyes scanned the destruction. “Maybe we ought to thank the good Lord that none survived. It would take all a man possessed to come back to this.”

She stifled the instinct to rail at God for allowing this injustice, but only gratitude filled her heart. But for the small interruptions, the wagon train would have been here and met the same fate.

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