Shotgun Bride (Book Six of the Brides of the West) by Hestand Rita

Author:Hestand, Rita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, western, rita hestand, book six, brides of the west series, shotgun bride
Publisher: Rita Hestand

Chapter Twelve

Colorado was beautiful and the scenery kept it from being so tiresome. The mountains created a background, the clear blue of the sky, seemed somehow more attainable from here. As though one might reach up and touch the stars in the heavens.

Even Jimmy John and the boys seem to find it more interesting than other parts of the country they traveled, the wonder of the hills, the trees, the rocks and the mountains mesmerized them.

Susan had opened up now and was talking to Shannon, Jesse, and Darrel. The others she tried to ignore.

Since Darrel made his intentions clear, he tried to include Jesse and Shannon as they talked.

Shannon realized that what Jesse said was true. Darrel was no different from anyone else, he needed someone to make his life complete too. Susan might be that someone. It merely shocked her to realize that Jesse could see all of this, and she couldn't.

Although she didn't flirt with Darrel, Susan was open and trusting around him.

"Did you homestead in Wyoming?" Darrel asked her as she was sitting on a log and rocking her baby.

"No," She glanced up at him. "We were traveling through it. We'd been with a wagon train, but they left for California like all the other gold fevered people. We were going to Oregon. We never got that far. The Arapaho's and Cheyenne were trying to escape the confines of the Shoshone Reservation at that time. At least some of them. When they overtook our wagon, they killed my folks immediately. I was in the wagon with my little brother, he was sick. They took us both to their camp, but my brother soon died too. Then I knew I was all alone."

"You must have been terrified." Shannon shook her head.

"At first I was. At first they didn't treat me so well." She laid the baby down for a nap, and then turned to look at all of them once more. "The Cheyenne had captured me, and taken me to their camp, where I lived for a short while. But as time went on, and I realized I was going to be with them a long time, I decided to be more cooperative. I had seen what they did to the women who rebelled against them."

He stared at her now, smitten by her tale.

"I was traded to the Arapaho after a few months and from there my life was better. I had seen several things happen to the captives that were with me. Some they killed outright. Others they traded and some they simply made slaves of them. I don't think I saw a one go home. I did see some white men that came to the camp. I think they were fur traders for their horses were full of skins. I saw how they looked at us, I heard the ugly things they said. After a while, I decided I'd be better off with the Indians."

She glanced at him again to see if he was dismayed by her remark.

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