To Love an Outlaw (Into the West #1) (A Wattpad Reading List Choice)

Chapter 15

 

The rain kept pouring down in drenching sheets, sending a never-ending wall of water over Sonny and Callie as they attempted to figure out exactly where they were in relation to the ranch house. Looking waterlogged and small in the saddle, the widow nevertheless remained alert, suddenly pulling her horse up tight and pausing, jerking her head back and forth, eyes following the disappearing horizon. Callie could remember Papa riding their property line, checking fences several times a year. That particular chore always bothered Mama, because it meant Papa would stay away from the house overnight…

Where would he spend the night on those evenings? It had to be somewhere nearby…

 “What is it?” Sonny shouted at Callie, immediately noticing her attention wavering and nudging Chance closer to the widow. The horses collided, Chance snorting and rolling his eyes, diverting the gunfighter’s wet attention momentarily to bring his mount under control again. Another flash of lightning split the sky.

“A line shack! Papa built line shacks around our property to stay in when he mended fences!” Callie shouted over the wind. Their eyes met through the deluge, and then Sonny turned in the saddle rapidly, head craning right and left as he tried to check the murky horizon. Meanwhile, the mud beneath their horses’ hooves began sliding, the ground giving way under the continuously soggy onslaught. Callie’s horse lost its footing, slipping along with the dislodged earth. The widow cried out, yanking on her mount’s reins as they struggled to stay afoot.

 Whipping his head around at Callie’s cry, Sonny urged Second Chance up against the widow’s horse, grabbing her reins in one gloved hand of his own. Their combined control stopped the animal’s slide.

Barely able to see him now through the sheets of falling rain, Callie nevertheless mouthed a thank you towards the gunfighter that couldn’t possibly be heard over the wind and rain. Raising one hesitant hand while clutching the reins tightly, Callie pointed away from them and shouted, “That way! I think there’s one that way!” 

 Immediately Sonny nodded, following her lead without question as they went crosswise to the washing water. The gunslinger trusted the widow implicitly. If she believed a line shack sat along this strip of desert, he’d follow her unquestioningly.

 The torrent of rain began striking them sideways, piercing through clothing and cooling their skin with its humid wetness. An errant gust of wind kicked up, threatening to yank their hats right off their heads, forcing the couple to relinquish the leads with one hand just so they could anchor their headgear with the other. It was miserable.

  Just when Callie began to doubt her memory and sense of direction, when her teeth began chattering in the middle of a south Texas summer, a squat shape rose out of the murkiness to the left, becoming clearer the closer their horses carried them. It was indeed a line shack, complete with a dilapidated lean-to beside it, providing shelter for not only humans, but for animals as well.

 “Over there!” Callie shouted over her shoulder, kneeing her mount towards the refuge. Sensing safety, the animals picked up their pace, and soon were jostling each other beneath the covering. Immediately the widow slid out of the saddle, seeing Sonny do the same, tying Second Chance to the provided hitching rail securely and loosening the cinch around the horse’s middle. She did likewise. And then the couple stared at each other over their saddled mounts, witnessing water still pouring off each other’s hats and bodies. They both resembled drowned rats.

 With that thought fleeting through her mind, Callie hesitantly smiled at the gunfighter, who took off his soggy hat, tipping it to watch the water sluice over its brim and down to spatter on the dirt in the shelter, before replacing it on his head and returning her relieved grin.