Samantha rode her horse into the barn and slid off of it's back. She groaned as she unhooked the saddle and pulled it off of her horse and laid it overthe saddle post some of the ranch hands had fixed up to lay the saddles up on. Samantha walked back over to her horse and laid her head against his mane. She finally let her tears fall.
"Your the only one I'll ever let see me cry, Ivory," Samantha whispered to her white horse that she had gotten for her fourteenth birthday. She was sixteen now and the horse hadbecome her best friend.
"Daddy just doesn't understand," Samantha continued, sobbing against the horses neck, "I just want to help. Sometimes I wish I just wasn't a girl at all. Then maybe daddy wouldn't get so upset and maybe Josh would let me do something on my own for once.
Samantha sighed and kissed the horse's neck softly before walking out of the barn and over to the house.
When she walked inside the house her mama was standing at the stove stirring a pot of beans that she was obviously making for supper that night. At the sound ofSamantha's footsteps her mom turned and looked at her, knowingly.
"Get into trouble again," Elizabeth Allen asked her daughter, not surprised at all that her daughter was home early. She glanced at her daughter's outfit. It disappointed her that her daughter just refused to act or dress like a lady. At the moment, Samantha was wearing a pair of tan, dusty britches and a white buttoned up shirt. Samantha's long, brown hair was flowing loosely down her back. Elizabeth sighed and looked away from her daughter.
"Samantha Allen, you look scandalous dressed like that," Elizabeth said, "you hardly look like a lady in those britches. Go put on a nice dress and wash up." Samantha walked upstairs after rolling her eyes and did what her mama had told her to. Well, she was about to anyway when she smiled to herself, pushed open her bedroom window and climbed down the oak tree that stood right outside her window. She jumped down to the ground and ran as hard as she could to the trees and brush a few yards behind her house. She kept running even when she got to the trees. She knew no one would see her now but she already hadher destination in mind and that was right where she was going. When she reached the edge of the cliff overlooking the river, her favorite bathing spot, she came to a sudden stop. Samantha smiled as she slipped out of her pants and her shirt and was left in her long underwear and white undershirt. She was minutes from diving in to the river when she heard the gun being cocked behind her. She started to turn around but was stopped by his voice.
"Miss Allen, I do have that right, don't I?" Chavez asked, his gun aimed carefully, not knowing yet if he could trust the girl. You never knew withpeople you had just met, well officially. Samantha considered going ahead and diving off the cliff but a part of her told her that if she did he might shoot and she would be dead.
"Good. Turn around," Chavez said in a controlling voice. Samantha slowly turned around and crossed her hands across her chest as she stared at the guy in front of her. He was older than her. Probably in his early twenties. He had long black that fell loosely down his back past his shoulders. His intense, black eyes stared down into her green eyes. Samantha glanced down at the gun that he held in his hand, pointed straight at her chest.
"You go back to your house, sneak in through that window you snuck out of and leave your daddy a little note," Chavez said, he leaned in close to her, so close that Samantha could smell the whiskey on his breath, "Tell him to meet us at Rock Cliffs in three days." Samantha stared at him in confusion.
"U-Us?" Samantha asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice but the smile on the man's face told her she hadn't done a very good job at it.
"Yes, Miss Allen, you and me," Chavez said, leaning away from her a little, "If you don't come back I'll have to comefind you and I'll make you sorry, you understand me?" Samantha looked up into his eyes and nodded. Chavez stepped aside.
"Good girl. Now pick up your clothes and get movin'. You better be back in an hour," Chavez said as the girl picked up her clothes and ran quickly from him, back toward the house she had snuck out of. Chavez kicked the rocks under his feet and cursed himself. That hadn't been his plan at all but when he had seen the girl out there about to dive in that water she had looked so beautiful. Something had just come over him. He had never intended to scare her. He just wanted to be close to her and he couldn't remember ever wanting anything so strongly. He smiled to himself and sat down on the edge of the cliff to wait for her. He'd just shake the feeling he got when he was near her and use her as bait. When her daddy showed up at the Cliffs he'd get his revenge and he'd let her go.