Never Make The Same Mistake Twice
Night had fallen, and everyone at the Sweetwater station was fast asleep, except for Buck Cross. He had waited until the other riders were fast asleep, before slipping out of the bunkhouse. His emotions were turbulent and his mind swirled with unwanted thoughts.
His dreams were haunted by her. Kathleen Devlin. The beautiful young woman he had met only days earlier, yet had fallen so fast for. His feelings for her has been strong and true, unfortunately hers weren't. She had only been using him.
Buck sank down into the grass and leaned against the back wall of the had played him for a fool and he had allowed it to happen. He had made the mistake of thinking that a white woman could ever be genuinely interested in him. He should have known better, but he hadn't. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
From now on he would be wary of any white woman approaching him or talking to him. He had been tricked once before by a white woman, as part of a ruse set in motion by the outlaw Nickerson's men, and had nearly died in a water tower because of it.
This time around he had suffered the humiliation of being tarred and feathered by some of Devlin's men. His anger over what had been done to him had led him to retaliate against the men responsible. Teaspoon hadn't been happy with him about his actions, yet understood his reasons for doing so. That had been a relief. He would have hated to have lost his job on top of everything else that had happened to him in the past few days.
He wanted to hate Kathleen for what she had done, but he couldn't. Hating her wouldn't change anything, except turn his heart hard. He was only too aware of what hate did to a person, and that wasn't him. He would however, learn from this hard lesson, and guard his heart better. He would also remember to think twice before allowing himself to fall for another white woman.