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Chapter Ten

“ I have something for you,” Zeke told Blaze that evening as he held a small box out to him. “It’s a necklace. Bernadette would love it if you gave it to her.”

Blaze glanced his way as he was pinning up a target on one of the trees.

“I told you not to follow me here. I can’t have you knowing where the targets are.

That defeats the purpose of what I’m trying to do.

You’ve been making progress, but you still have more to do before you’re ready to help me with Lee and Wilson. ”

Zeke sighed. “Blaze, there are times when it’s alright to think about women. If you don’t do something for Bernadette, she’s going to think you don’t care about her.”

Blaze had no idea what Zeke was talking about. “I’m going to marry her. How can she not think I don’t care about her?”

“A woman needs more than to know you’re going to marry her. She needs to know you want to marry her.” Zeke paused. “You do want to marry Bernadette, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do. I promised Lucas I would give her my name and home. When I give my word, I do it.”

Zeke frowned. “That doesn’t sound like you love her. It sounds like you’re marrying her in order to honor your word to her brother.”

Blaze glanced at the targets he was holding.

The sun had just set. That didn’t give them much time to practice if they were going to get a good night’s sleep.

He did care about Bernadette. She was a pretty young woman with a sweet temperament.

He had no doubt she’d make a good wife. “Marriage is more than feelings, Zeke. It’s about two people working together against all odds while raising their children. ”

“That doesn’t sound romantic.”

“It’s not supposed to be romantic. I don’t know what your parents went through, Zeke, but mine had to struggle to make a living, and my pa gave up his life saving me and my ma.”

“Didn’t they love each other?”

“I’m sure they did in their own way.” When Zeke didn’t seem happy with the answer, Blaze continued, “Love isn’t the important thing. The important thing is the commitment you make to someone. That commitment is what gets you through good and bad times.”

Zeke didn’t seem any more satisfied with this explanation. “There ought to be something soft and warm you feel when you’re around Bernadette.” He put his hand over his heart. “Doesn’t your heart beat a little faster when she’s around, or don’t you feel like your stomach is doing a somersault?”

Blaze stared at the younger man in surprise. He had no idea what Zeke was talking about. “That’s the kind of thing you experience when a dangerous animal is hunting for you. I don’t feel any of that with Bernadette. I feel just fine with her.”

“But you should feel the fast heartbeat and fluttery stomach. That’s all a part of being in love with someone.”

Maybe it was for Zeke, but Zeke was young and inexperienced. He had much to learn about the world and how everything worked. Zeke hadn’t had to fight to survive. He’d been sheltered his entire life. It was why he wasn’t ready to face up against Lee and Wilson without a lot of training.

Blaze supposed he couldn’t be surprised that Zeke spoke about love in silly terms. Zeke probably looked at each new day with a sense of awe and wonder.

He probably looked at the evening and anticipated the peaceful dreams that came with sleep.

He didn’t worry about something sneaking up on him and hurting him or someone he cared about.

Blaze wouldn’t trade his experience for Zeke’s naivety, but he did envy the man’s optimism.

“Where I come from,” Blaze began in a soft voice, “the important thing is survival. If you had experienced the things I did, you would understand that me honoring my word means I care.”

“But you don’t spend any time with her,” Zeke protested, unwilling to give up the argument.

“After we’re married, I’ll have the rest of my life to spend time with her.

Right now, there are innocent people who need to be safe.

Lee and Wilson kill people, including women and children.

They don’t have any respect for human life.

You can’t expect me to turn my back on protecting those people just so I can take a stroll through town with Bernadette.

” When it looked like Zeke was going to argue, he added, “As I said, I will have plenty of time to be with her after all of this is said and done.” He took note of the lateness of the hour.

Great. Zeke had kept him here for a good fifteen minutes over this nonsense about feelings.

“Will you return to the spot where I left you? I need to put the rest of the targets up.”

Zeke released his breath and tucked the box into his pocket. “Alright.” He headed back to the spot where Blaze had told him to wait.

Relieved, Blaze put the next target up.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss all of the trees,” Gail said as the group made their way southwest on horseback.

“I didn’t realize how much they cooled things off.

” She lifted the hat from her head and wiped her forehead.

Her attention went to Blaze. “Is it always this hot in the desert?”

“It’s July,” he replied from where he rode next to Zeke. “It’s going to be so hot you’ll feel like you’re in a frying pan during the day. The nights cool down, though, so we’ll get relief then.”

Bernadette, who was next to Gail, didn’t bother to look over at Blaze.

They were three days past Prescott, and the days seemed to be getting hotter—and longer.

All she wanted was for this horrible ordeal to be over.

She had yet to talk to Lucas about possibly returning to Pennsylvania.

She’d had plenty of opportunity to ask if his offer was still available.

And yet, she kept her mouth shut. If only she could figure out why.

Blaze pulled his horse to a stop, and the others followed suit. “There’s a watering hole over here. We’d be wise to take it. Fill up the additional canteens you have with you.”

He made it a habit of saying that every time they came to a place with water. Did he honestly think the group would forget to do that when the heat made them think of little else but water?

Bernadette pulled her horse up next to Lucas since he was the furthest away from Blaze.

Her hope was that Lucas would help her down this time, but Blaze hurried her way just as Lucas was done helping Gail.

She really needed to talk to Lucas. This couldn’t go on.

She couldn’t see herself marrying Blaze.

He was becoming more and more like Lucas was to her—a brother.

And what kind of woman wanted to have children with someone who reminded her of her brother?

Once Blaze helped her down, she retrieved her canteens then went to the watering hole where she filled them up. Gail was talking to Lucas. Zeke was reading one of those newspapers he’d purchased in Prescott. Blaze was making sure her horse was getting water.

Lucas was going to think she was making a mistake if she told him about her misgivings. Blaze was very attentive to her out here. Too bad he wasn’t attentive while they were in any of the towns they’d stayed in.

She shoved the thought aside and capped her canteens.

She waited until Blaze was finished taking care of her horse before hooking the canteens to her saddle.

Afterward, she peered around the steed and checked out where Zeke was sitting by the watering hole.

He really liked to read about the Red Ghost.

She left the horse and approached him. She told herself she was only intrigued by what he was reading.

She refused to consider any other motive than that for going over to him.

Besides, if someone were to ask, that’s exactly what she’d tell them.

She and Zeke had seen the play about the Red Ghost, and it did make her curious about what the newspapers had to say about the thing.

“Are you reading anything interesting?” she asked.

He looked up from the paper. “A man said he saw the Red Ghost a week ago. He said it stormed up to a group of cattle and killed some before heading south. It tried to kill one of the men, too, but the man managed to escape.” He pointed to the article.

“This happened at Granite Wash Pass. That just so happens to be where we’re heading. ”

Alright, she had come over here to inquire about the Red Ghost, but that didn’t mean she wanted to find out the thing was spotted in an area they were going. “Do we have to go that way?”

He nodded. “It’s a gap between two mountain ranges.

It’s the most direct way to get to Quartzsite.

” He showed her the article where a drawing had been made of a large four-legged beast that towered over a group of men and cattle.

The thing had glowing eyes and horns protruding from its head.

On top of it was a skeleton holding a sword.

“This is what the man said he saw. I don’t care what Blaze says. This thing’s a monster.”

Well, wasn’t that just great? The more he was telling her, the less she wanted to know. “How far are we from Granite Wash Pass?”

“If we continue to make good time, we’ll be there in three days.

” He took a deep breath and put his hand over his heart as if to steady himself.

“The thing is big and scary, but it’s not invincible.

Another article said someone shot it and saw blood come out of it.

If there’s blood, that means it’s vulnerable, and that means we have a chance.

We just have to be prepared for a confrontation with it.

” He gestured to his horse. “One of the newspapers in my satchel mentioned some of the things the Red Ghost is attracted to.”

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “You don’t want to attract this thing, do you?”

“Of course not. I was thinking that we could set some things down so it’ll want to go to it. Then we can sneak off around it.”

“I don’t know, Zeke. That sounds dangerous.”

“We don’t need to worry. We have Blaze with us. If anyone can face this thing and survive, it’s him.”

“But he doesn’t believe the Red Ghost is dangerous.”

Zeke shrugged. “He’ll have to believe it’s dangerous when he sees it.”

She hoped, for all of their sakes, that they didn’t have to ever see the thing, whether it was a real monster or some stray camel traveling through the area.

“I better get some water,” Zeke said as he folded the newspaper. “I don’t think Blaze will wait much longer.”

She glanced over at Blaze and saw that he was gesturing for Lucas and Gail to get on their horses.

She let out a sigh. The time she’d had to speak with Zeke hadn’t lasted as long as she wished.

She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d been hoping to get out of her time with him, but it really didn’t have anything to do with the Red Ghost. She especially hadn’t wanted to hear that the monster was three days’ journey away from them.

She supposed what she’d been hoping was to hear something along the lines of how beautiful the blue sky was…

how it made him think of that Bisbee turquoise teardrop gemstone…

and how that gemstone complemented her eyes.

She shook the thought off. She didn’t know where that thought came from.

She couldn’t expect him to keep talking about her in such poetic ways.

He wasn’t betrothed to her. It wasn’t his place.

He knew it. That’s why he wasn’t doing it.

But she wondered… If he were betrothed to her, would he spend his time telling her how beautiful she was instead of talking about the Red Ghost?