It had been nearly three months since Hannibal Heyes and Lom Trevors had paid a visit to Great Falls, Montana to see Jed Curry. The summer had come and gone. Kid had sold his cattle and vacated the small ranch he had been renting to try his hand at the independent business of raising cattle, and he had now taken temporary residence at boarding house in town. What little he owned in the way of personal items, clothing and an assortment of sundries were easily stored in rental room, but ranch items such as tools, ladders, branding equipment, horse supplies, feed, as well as some furniture had been loaded into the buckboard and space was rented at the livery for storage. Kid had sold his horses, except the mustang that he had raised from a colt which also was housed at the livery.
Kid hoped to find and buy suitable acreage to return to the ranch business, but there was little in the way of real estate available in or around the Great Falls area.
It was Jessie Daniels that kept Kid from leaving Great Falls and returning to Wyoming to set down roots. Though they had decided to delay marriage indefinitely so Jessie could continue to teach at the School for the Deaf and the Blind, it was simply Jessie's job and the moral standards of the time that kept them from simply living together. Both had a health respect for religion, attended the Congregational Church every Sunday, and, with his outlaw days now behind him, Kid abided by the Ten Commandments.
But despite a sizable bank account from the sale of his cattle, Kid was growing concerned about the amount of money that was regularly dwindling from his pocket with no wage or supplemental income coming in, and was often quite focused on ways to minimize expenditures.
"I'm going to have to make a trip to Porterville," Kid told Jessie as they sat under the willow tree by the lake holding hands one Sunday afternoon in early September. "Snow will be here before you know it. If I don't leave soon, I'll be paying for that wagon space at the livery all winter and well into spring till the last of the snow melts. Lom says he has space for it in his barn and won't charge me a thing for it."
"How long will you be gone?" Jessie asked.
"Well, I could crate everything and ship it by train, but that's pretty expensive as compared to driving the wagon myself. If I drive it myself, I'm guessing two to three weeks to get there, maybe spend a couple of days with Heyes, then take the train back here so, at the most maybe a month."
Kid shifted himself on the blanket, laid down on his back, and rested his head in Jessie's lap. Jessie began playing with his blonde curls. She hated the thought of him being gone for a month and found herself already missing him.
"You're family travel much, Jessie?" Kid asked.
Jessie shook her head. "Except for boarding School in Missoula, I've never been out of Great Falls. My father came here from Idaho as a boy and his father owned a grain and feed store here that my father inherited. He met my mother when her family spent a winter here with a wagon train going to Oregon. She married my father and the rest of her family went on to Oregon in the spring. I've never even met any of my family on my mother's side."
"So you've got no family anywhere near here?"
"No. I have an older brother that lives in California. He moved out there when I was fifteen. He's come back for a visit twice since then."
"You sound like me, pretty much all alone in the world."
Jessie smiled. "You've got Heyes."
Kid laughed. "That's true. We're cousins, but it feels more like brothers. Spent most all our lives together."
"When he was here a few months ago I could tell how close the two of you are. Even with all these miles between you. The two of you should always hold on to that."
"Jessie, why don't you come with me?"
"What?"
Kid sat up, suddenly eager to convince her to travel with him to Porterville. "When Heyes was here we was busy taking care of that warrant. You didn't get the chance to really know him. Ah, you'd like Heyes, Jessie, and I know you made a good impression on him."
"How would that look, me riding off in a buckboard with you all the way to Wyoming?"
"I could rig the buckboard into a covered wagon, make a place for you to sleep. I could sleep outside under the wagon. It would be all proper," Kid replied.
"It might look proper, Jed, but it wouldn't be proper."
Kid took Jessie's hand. "It would be proper because I would see to it being proper. I promise you, Jessie, you'd be safe with me."
"It's all new territory to me. Finding my way around, Jed..."
"I'll show you. I'll help you."
"What about the cooking..."
"I can do that, too. I never did think it was safe for a woman to be cooking on a campfire, not with all them skirts and crinolines swishing around. I'm use to cooking over a campfire. Heyes and me did it all the time."
Kid could tell she was tempted, though she remained hesitant.
"Jessie, it would give us a chance to...to know what living together is gonna be like, learn each other's habits and particulars, in an honorable way, of course."
Jessie's expression was a half smile and a half frown as she reached out to touch Kid's cheek. He grasped her hand and guided her.
"Just like this, Jessie...I'll guide you," he said softly.
"I have school, Jed. I can't just up and leave."
"You could request a leave. Tell them it's a family matter."
"A family matter?"
Kid took Jessie's hands in his own. "Jessie, we might not be married in the eyes of God yet, but I still consider you my own. That makes Heyes almost a brother to you."
Jessie laughed at Kid's logic. "I thought you said Heyes was the one with the silver tongue?"
"Does that mean you'll do it? You'll go with me?"
"There's a Board meeting on Tuesday. I'll request a leave, and I'm doing that... because I consider you my own, too."
Kid shifted to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. "You won't be sorry, Jessie. I promise."
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Wednesday morning Jessie told Kid that the School Board had approved her month long leave, so for the next three days, Kid spent every waking hour at the livery, rigging a canvas covering, carefully packing, stowing, and securing the things he planned to take to Lom for storage, checking and double checking everything, making minor repairs to the buckboard, securing barrels of water and feed, and most importantly, creating a comfortable space in the wagon with a straw mattress and plenty of blankets and quilts for Jessie's comfort, and coating the exterior of the wagon with a paraffin mixture to waterproof the exterior.
Saturday morning, just as the first hints of dawn were edging up over the horizon, Kid pulled the wagon up to the School for the Deaf and the Blind. He walked up to the door and rang the bell. The door was immediately opened as Jessie was waiting, her bags sitting just inside the foyer.
"Let me get these loaded and I'll come back for you," Kid said in a voice just above a whisper so as not to waken anyone. He carried the bags out to the wagon and loaded them inside. Then he returned and wrapped an arm around Jessie's waist.
"Ready for your first big travel adventure?" he asked as he led her down the walk and helped her onto the seat. Then Kid walked around the wagon and climbed into the driver's seat. He reached down to the floor near Jessie's feet and pulled up a blanket to cover her legs.
"It's a bit cold this early so I thought this might help keep you warm," he said, then flicked the reins and the wagon gave a jolt and they headed down the street and out of town.
"You excited?" Jed asked.
"Very much, but I have to admit Jed, I'm also a little scared."
"I guess every new adventure is a little scary, but there's really nothing to be scared about, darlin."
Jessie took a deep breath, then wrapped both her arms around Jed's arm. "I guess I just have to trust you on that."
By mid morning, the temperature had warmed enough that Jessie had discarded both the blanket and the wool cape she had worn that morning. She now rode with one hand on the side of the seat and the other holding on to the back of the seat.
"It's safe to let go if you're a mind to. I won't let you fall out of the wagon," he assured her.
Jessie smiled and timidly released her grip on the side of the wagon. "How far do you expect to go in a day?"
"We'll take it a little slow so as not to wear the mules out," Kid replied, although his real reason was to not overtire Jessie. "I expect forty miles a day."
"I told you I have never really been out of Big Falls Jed, so I want you to describe things to me. You're the eyes for both of us, you know."
"Well, right now it's pretty flat land. There's mountains in the distance but we won't be reaching them for a day, maybe two. There's some woods about a mile to your right, but everything else is pretty flat. There ain't a cloud in the sky."
"I wonder if this is what it was like for my mother when she came here by wagon train."
Kid smiled. "Might easier today than it was back then. We've got good roads to travel the whole way. Your Ma and her family made their own path as they traveled, so they was lucky to go twenty or thirty miles in a day. Being as we're traveling on a road, we likely won't go more than fifty miles between towns. We can restock supplies, get ourselves hotel rooms, hot baths, eat in some café most every day if we've a mind to. "Your Ma's family went days, maybe even weeks before coming to any sort of civilization, and even then it was more likely to be a fort or supply camp rather than a town. And coming home we'll be traveling by train. That wasn't an option then cause there weren't no trains back then, not in the west anyways."
"Must have been awfully difficult."
Kid nodded. It sometimes didn't occur to him that Jessie couldn't see him. "Course they was use to a harder way of living."
Early in the afternoon, Kid pulled the wagon slightly off the road and brought the mules to a stop.
"What are we stopping for?"
"I packed us a lunch and there's some bushes nearby in case you need...a bit of privacy."
Jessie smiled. "I am hungry and... a bit of privacy would be welcome."
Kid wrapped the reins around the wagon brake and climbed down. "I'll walk you over to the bushes, then come back and get a blanket spread out and the lunch basket ready. You just give a holler when you want me to come fetch you."
A few minutes later they were sitting on the blanket, enjoying the lunch Kid had packed.
"We'll be passing through Stanford in a couple of hours...I was thinking we could stay in a town every couple or three night, but Jessie, anytime you would prefer staying in a town, in a hotel rather than sleeping out in the open, you just say so. I want you to enjoy this trip, not be wary of it."
"I'm already feeling much more comfortable about it," she said. "Of course once I've been sitting on that hard buckboard for a couple of days, I might be singing a different tune."
Kid laughed. "It's a bit like riding a horse. The first time you do it for any length of time, well you're walking a might bowlegged the next day. But you gradually get use to it."
When they were finished with lunch, Kid packed everything up and stowed it in the wagon and folded the blanket and laid it on the seat like a cushion. Then he returned to Jessie and helped her back into the wagon seat. He noticed her smile as he climbed into the driver's seat.
"Ah, you noticed," he said with a smile. "That blanket can do more than just keep you warm."
Jessie laughed. "It makes a fine cushion, Jed."
Jed flicked the reins. "Come on," he encouraged the mules.
"We're about to pass through Stanford," Jed said a couple of hours later.
"It sounds busy."
"Well, it's Saturday. Most towns are busy on a Saturday. Looks like a nice little place, maybe half a dozen side streets off this main road. The Judith Valley is just outside of town. The Indians in these parts are the Nez Pierce. They're known as a peaceable Nation, friendly to white men, though I think by now most of em have crossed the Medicine line into Canada."
"What's the Medicine Line?" Jessie asked.
"It's really just the border into Canada, but the Indians think it's big medicine cause the soldiers don't cross that line in pursuit of the Indians. You see, Indians don't have the white man's concept of land ownership. They believe the land belongs to everybody, so borders don't mean nothing to the Indians. But the U.S and Canada Border means as much to the soldiers as the U.S. and Mexico Border does. Those are lines the soldiers don't cross."
"How do you know so much about all this? I mean, I know about the borders, but I've never heard of the Medicine Line before."
"I guess it comes from my outlaw and amnesty days. Traveling around a lot like we done, well, it's important to know as much as you can about the areas you're in. Sometimes knowing such things could save your life. Like knowing tomorrow we'll be passing though Lewistown and maybe cross the Musselshell."
"The Musselshell?"
"It's a tributary river that leads into the Missouri. A mountain man or say an outlaw could put out cords of wood and the boat captains would leave gold coins for payment. It was a way to get a little money for food and such if you had none."
"Being an outlaw isn't the glamorous life described in books, is it?"
Kid sighed heavily. "It's a hard life, that's for sure."
Kid spied an area ahead that would make for a good camp sight for the night.
"If you're ready, I see a place to make camp about a half a mile up ahead," he told her.
"I'm ready," she replied.
Kid pulled the buckboard off the road and through some open field to a wooded patch of land with a central clearing. There, he helped Jessie out of the wagon and walked her over to a spot that had obviously been used as a fire pit and had several large logs around it for sitting.
"I'm going to set you down here while I get the things we'll be needing out of the wagon. Then I'll go find us a couple of rabbits for supper. I promise, I won't let you out of my sight when I do that."
Jessie nodded, but felt a little uneasy at the thought of being left alone in the wilderness.
But an hour later, Kid had a warm fire burning and two rabbits roasting while a kettle of coffee heated in the coals. He sat next to Jessie with his arm around her waist as they waited for the food to cook. Jessie leaned her head comfortably against Kid's shoulder, feeling very secure and protected.
"I'm glad you talked me in to this," she said softly, bringing a smile to Kid's face.
"Me, too."
The sound of a wolf baying in the distance brought her suddenly sitting up straight.
"Was that a wolf?"
"There's wolves most everywhere in the wilds. He won't bother us. Where we're done eating, I'll move the bones and scraps far away from camp. The fire will keep em away, too. I've heard there are white wolves in this area. I've never seen a white wolf," he explained calmly.
Jessie settled herself back into the comfort of Kid's arm and again rested her head on his shoulder. "I forget how comfortable you are out here."
Kid gave her a gentle squeeze. "I've spent as much time sleeping outdoors as I have in," he replied.
"So it doesn't scare you to be sleeping out under the wagon tonight?"
"No darlin, it doesn't scare me."
After diner, Kid gathered up all the food scraps and disposed of them well away from the campsite.
"Now I'll walk you over to some bushes and …."
"And just turn your back. Don't go walking away," she said nervously.
"Alright," he promised. "Then I'll get you up into the wagon so you can get all settled. In the morning we'll have breakfast early, then be on our way."