AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hugs to all you wonderful readers!
Chapter 46 - A New Year Begins Badly at the Ranch
The day after Christmas…
On the day after Christmas, Sam stayed in her bed the entire day.
Nya knew the cause of her malaise, but Sam cautioned her not to breathe a word to Mr. Wu and Miss Gayle, especially since Chen and Jake were probably going to watch and see if Sam would reveal the atrocity committed against her yesterday. So Nya told the ranch owner and the housekeeper that Sam was depressed at being separated from Kai at Christmastime, and they believed what she said.
As Sam lay in the bed on her side, staring at the armoire along one bedroom wall, the awful memories of yesterday kept coming back.
Those hands...that mouth...the roughness...
And the scenario was slated to be repeated next Sunday.
As she lay there in despair, a remembrance of the legendary markswoman Bansha popped into her head. Not long before the septuagenarian had passed away, she had relayed to Sam the last words told to her by her husband Isaiah, before he had been taken away in the long-ago Snake Invasion:
Be a survivor so I can survive in your heart.
Those words had been the source of strength for Sam herself. When the kidnapper Morro had abandoned Kai in the desert and taken her to the Stone Mountains, she kept those words in mind as she had prepared to face life without her beloved cowboy, thinking she would never see him alive again.
Sam thought about Bansha. Bansha had lived a long life. She was a survivor. With no money or family to support her after the Snake Invasion, she lived by guts and grit, with a little help from her horse and her gun.
Her gun, which was now Sam's gun.
Which was sitting in a drawer of the armoire just a few feet away.
No.
She stopped herself from further exploration of the idea she just had.
Using it on Chen would be pointless, anyway. Jake would know who had shot him, and if word got out that I had killed him, Kai would no doubt end up a dead man, too.
A strange sensation in her abdomen interrupted Sam's thoughts. It wasn't a pain, and it wasn't her stomach growling with hunger - Nya had brought her some toast and tea a little while ago. It was more like a fluttering.
Suddenly it dawned on her…
The baby's moving around!
Her baby had finally grown large enough in her womb to make itself felt, and to Sam, who had once despaired of ever conceiving a child with her beloved husband Kai, the movement was a happy feeling, indeed.
The sweet reminder that a little one was dependent on her gave Sam the extra resolve she needed to go on and play the cards life had dealt her…
...though it wasn't going to be easy.
New Year's Day…
The early afternoon of Sunday, New Year's Day, found Sam once again seated next to Jake on a cutter as he signaled his horse to pull away from the front porch of the main house of Garmadon Ranch.
Like last week, as the Purple officer guided the cutter around the side of the house on the way to the tent-filled pasture, the two Australian Shepherd dogs - Blaze and Flash - furiously barked at them and mightily pulled on their ropes in an effort to follow the small sleigh.
"I have some news about the war," Jake informed his passenger as they rode toward her cottage in the woods. "The governor of Ninjago asked the United States government to provide assistance to the Yellow Army."
Sam looked at him for a second, but turned her eyes forward once again, saying nothing.
He continued. "If I were you, though, I wouldn't get my hopes up," he smirked. "The members of the U.S. Congress are divided over getting involved in the affairs of other countries, so there'll be plenty of debate before any decision is made."
"And even if they do finally decide to interfere in our war," he chuckled, "we Purples will have reached the outskirts of Sasnak City by that time, and the governor will be forced to surrender before any U.S. troops could arrive."
"You sound contemptuous of your home country," she finally commented.
Jake shrugged. "I suppose I am. I gave up my U.S. citizenship and became a Ninjagoan as soon as I joined the Purple cause. How soon after YOU arrived here did YOU become a Ninjagoan?"
"I never did apply for Ninjago citizenship," she admitted, remembering the picnic conversation last spring in which she and Miss Gayle and Brooke all pledged to become Ninjago citizens once the war was over. "I'm still a U.S. citizen."
Jake's lack of response caused Sam to look over at him. He looked pale.
Suddenly she felt her baby move in her womb and let out a small gasp of surprise, for she wasn't yet used to the fluttering sensation, and she placed her hand on her abdomen.
"What's the matter?" Jake demanded, seemingly a bit tense.
"Well," Sam slowly began, looking at her midsection, "not that you would care, but I am carrying Kai's child in my womb, and the baby will be born around the first of June."
A thought struck her. "I suppose that if I haven't become a Ninjagoan by then, the baby will hold U.S. citizenship, too," she mused.
If she had looked at Jake again, she would have seen his face grow even paler.
When they arrived at the Smith cottage, General Chen answered the door with a glass of whiskey in his hand. The aroma of alcohol surrounded him. He seemed agitated.
"Come in, dearie, come in," he waved Sam in with his free hand. "Why don't you go ahead and start making yourself comfortable by putting on that purple silk wrapper? It's on the hook in the bedroom where you left it last week."
Sam knew that the silk garment of was high quality, having seen similar items in the fine department stores back in Tonbos, but last week it had not smelled fresh, and she guessed it had been worn by other "female companions" and had not been laundered in a while.
After she reluctantly entered the cottage and disappeared into the bedroom, Jake leaned toward his superior and quietly said, "Sir, there's some information you should know."
Chen waved him off. "Not now, Clouse!" He reached into his uniform pocket and yanked out a folded piece of paper, quickly shoving it in Jake's hand.
"Clouse, deliver this to Colonel Parker. The fool still thinks 200 cannons are enough for the spring campaign. Here are his official orders to obtain more artillery, and also how the additions will be used, and when they'll be needed."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar. "Then come back and smoke this while I'm playing with your beautiful blonde friend. She's a fun toy!" he grinned.
"Sir, she's the one who I have information about," Jake asserted. "She's a United States citizen!"
Chen's eyes widened. "Clouse! Why didn't you tell me this before? If word gets out that we've been holding a United States citizen against her will, that could sway the U.S. Congress to ally with the Yellows!"
"I didn't know before. She just told me on the way here," Jake insisted. "And not only that...she's carrying a child!"
"Egads!" the general exclaimed before gulping more whiskey. He wiped his chin with his sleeve, then tapped his cheek in thought. "Hmm...well, what we can do is get her to switch her citizenship as soon as possible. Clouse, first thing tomorrow, I want you to locate the nearest King's magistrate and arrange for him to come to the ranch. It's important to take her U.S. citizenship out of the equation. In the meantime, deliver that note to Colonel Parker."
He closed the door after Clouse and chugged down the rest of his drink. Hearing noises coming from the bedroom, confirming for him that Sam was changing into the silk wrapper, he smiled and walked over to the small table by the fireplace to fill the wine glasses.
Chen filled one glass and then remembered that Sam had refused a glass of wine last week.
He turned to look at the bedroom door, wine bottle in hand. "Dearie, would you like me to pour some wine for you?" he called out.
At that point Sam timidly appeared in the doorway, clad in the purple wrapper. The thin clingy fabric left little to the imagination.
"Oooh, I like what I see," Chen commented as he ogled her. He set down the wine bottle and walked over to where she stood. Placing his hands on her hips and aiming his lips for her neck, he mumbled, "Perhaps we'll skip the drinks and get right to business..."
Sam squeezed her eyes shut as his slimy mouth explored the area below her ear. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigar smoke. His roving hands slid along the silky fabric from her hips toward the small of her back.
Please, please, please let this afternoon be over with as soon as possible! she prayed.
Neither of them noticed right away, but soon the sounds in the front yard got their attention.
The increasingly loud sound of barking dogs. And the sound of Jake yelling.
"What the -" Chen uttered as he let go of Sam and rushed to the window. She followed.
In the front yard, Jake faced a dog who appeared to have separated him from his gun and was now fiercely standing over it, guarding the weapon with snarls and growls and seemingly daring the officer to retrieve it.
Flash!
A second canine ran up to the front door at full speed, slamming its body with force against the oak portal, but not hard enough to stop it from energetically pawing the wood and barking frantically.
Blaze!
The dogs must have gotten free of their ropes and followed us here, Sam realized, like they were trying to rescue me!
Chen briskly strode over to where he had left his holster. "I'm going to teach those mutts a lesson," he grumbled as he pulled out his gun.
"NOOO! You can't do that!" Sam wailed as she rushed over to him and grabbed his arm.
"Let go!' he commanded, breaking free of her grasp.
But she grabbed his arm again, pulling the gun in a down-pointing position. "I won't let you hurt those dogs!" she cried.
"I said to LET GO!" Chen yelled, struggling to be free of her grasp.
The gun discharged.
Sam finally let go of his arm.
However, Chen's jaw dropped as, within seconds, Sam sank to her knees, and then fell all the way to the floor with a moan, and then passed out.
A dark stain on the purple wrapper appeared, in the area of her thigh, and it grew ominously bigger.
Jake burst into the cottage. "Those dogs finally ran into the woods when they heard the shot. What happ-" He stopped when he saw Sam on the ground.
"She grabbed my arm as I was holding the gun and it went off," Chen explained, visibly shaken.
Beads of sweat appeared on the general's forehead. "Go fetch one of the doctors, Clouse, and a nurse, too," he commanded, kneeling down to remove the belt of Sam's wrapper in order to tie it around her leg as a tourniquet. "But don't explain too much until you're on your way back here," he admonished.
He paused to look up at Jake. "If word gets out that a United States citizen was shot while in the custody of the Purple Army - a pregnant woman, no less - that would surely convince the United States Congress to quickly decide to help the Yellows at a time when we're not ready to strike Sasnak City."
The general turned his attention back to applying the tourniquet to the unconscious Sam. "And, Clouse, think of something to tell her people back at the main house..."
"...because she won't be going back there for a while."
