The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy

Chapter 19 - Monday Evening

Chapter 19 - Monday Evening

In a second-floor room of the Noscut Hotel, Sam sat in a chair next to the bed where Bansha lay sleeping. It was about sunset and she had just lit the room lamp, as the natural light was quickly fading.

Morro had stopped by the room a while ago. Just as was the case when he escorted her to the hotel, he had acted like his usual gruff, businesslike self. There was no trace of the awkwardness he displayed in the saloon room.

He had informed Sam that he was going to arrange for the hotel kitchen to deliver evening meals for Bansha, Kai, and herself to the room, and then he was going to the jail to pick up Kai and bring him back.

Of course, he had reminded her not to try any funny business like harming Bansha or attempting an escape. Archer was going to stand guard outside the room door.

Soon there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find a welcome sight. There stood Kai with that adorable lopsided grin, which grew wider upon seeing her. As Archer pointed his gun at Kai for what seemed like the millionth time, Morro used the handcuff key to unshackle him.

As Kai rubbed his wrists, Morro gave him a push into the room while looking beyond him to check on Bansha.

"I ordered soup for Bansha. I suppose you'll have to wake her up when it arrives," he said, closing the door on the captives.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, now that the scoundrel was gone.

"Howdy," Kai greeted her with twinkling eyes, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she murmured, just before his lips reacquainted themselves with hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and reveled in being enveloped by his warm embrace.

"Thanks for getting me out of the pokey," Kai smiled. "Morro said you were getting your dander up about me spending the night there again."

Sam smiled but didn't say anything. She wasn't ready to spoil their reunion with talk about Morro just yet.

Just then another knock on the door sounded. Supper had arrived.

Sam insisted that Kai eat his meal while it was still warm. She tended to Bansha, waking the elderly woman and propping her head up using both pillows of the double bed. He sat in the room chair, eating and watching while Sam sat on the empty half of the double bed, spooning soup into the frail septuagenarian's mouth.

Kai guessed that the practiced manner in which Sam cared for the woman was due to having cared for Mr. Borg in the same way in the last few months of his life.

Bansha eventually fell asleep again, and Sam could relax and eat her own supper. Kai felt bad that her meal was cold, so he felt that the least he could do was to give her the chair to sit in. He moved to sit on the floor with his back against a wall.

"Did you hear Morro's taking us to Qubla tomorrow?" Kai asked Sam as she dined. He kept his voice low so that Bansha would not be disturbed and so that Archer could not hear from outside the door.

"I did. I guess he wants to make sure the money actually arrives in his account."

"Unfortunately, going to Qubla puts us even farther away from Ninjago Town," Kai frowned.

Kai's concern disturbed her. "Well, do you think anyone from Ninjago Town is still looking for us?" she asked.

"Sheriff Lloyd may not have crossed the Territory line, 'cause he has no authority around here. But I know the Garmadon Ranch men have to be out there somewhere. That thunderstorm last night, plus Archer cutting the bridge, no doubt got them in a bad box, otherwise they would've showed up by now. I have to think they've been looking for another way to get to Noscut."

Though Sam had lived in Ninjago Town less than a week, she had already gotten the impression that the Garmadon Ranch folks were good, decent people who looked out for each other. Therefore, she wasn't surprised that Kai said his fellow ranch brothers would still be on the hunt for him.

"You know, I haven't had a chance to ask you about your life on Garmadon Ranch," Sam said. "How did you come to work there?"

"Well, I worked in a blacksmith shop originally, but I wasn't real happy there 'cause obviously it's a job where you work indoors most of the time. Then one day Mr. Wu came in, needing a new shoe for his horse. So my boss and I started working on that, and just then, someone ran in the shop to tell Mr. Wu that his cattle were stampeding. Since his horse had a bad shoe, I offered to take him on my horse. We rode and I helped round up the cattle and he thought I was a natural for ranch work, so he offered me a job, and I've been a Garmadon ranch hand since."

"How many other ranch hands are there?" Sam asked. "I met Jay at the saloon on Saturday, and then later, Zane..."

"That's right, and the black-haired one you saw but haven't yet officially met is named Cole. Sheriff Lloyd probably would be working on the ranch, too, instead of being a lawman, but his daddy - the founder of the ranch - was murdered, and Lloyd intends to one day find the evidence to pin it on Morro."

"Morro told me that today at the saloon. He said good luck with that," Sam recalled.

She put her empty plate down and sighed. "I can't wait until we're through with that man and we can go back to Ninjago Town."

"I can't, either," Kai agreed.

He had been waiting for Sam to put her plate down. Now that she had, he reached up and mischievously took her hand, pulling her out of the chair. She stifled a squeal as she landed on top on him.

He rolled her over so that she was on her back and he was now propped up on his elbow, looking down into her sparkling blue eyes.

"By the way, Bansha did your hair up nice this morning," he said, smiling as he stroked her cheek.

"I guess I never had a chance to look at it today," Sam realized.

"Well, trust me, it's nice. 'Cause with your hair up, I can do this." He lowered his head and began to plant kisses on her neck.

"Ka-a-ai, what are you doing?" she giggled as she looked at the ceiling.

"Nothing," he murmured as his lips explored the soft skin below her ear.

"You're tickling me," she laughed, squirming.

"What? I can't hear you," he teased in between kisses. He held her tight, partially to stop her wriggling, mostly because he loved her.

Unbeknownst to them, Bansha lay awake in the bed above them, smiling as she heard the banter between the young lovers.