Two Broken Souls, Part Iii

...“Time was I wouldn’t care for your sad state, I’d have my fun and leave you to your plight, but four years in a cell changes a man, and I have set out to live my days right. “Been in nothing but trouble since fourteen, when the Reb’ Jayhawks done murdered my folks, I’ve robbed and I’ve rustled, shot a few men, lived a life like yours, robbed of all hope. “But sitting in jail gave me time to think, nothing I do will change my dark past. But I’ve got the present, and the future, and time to build me something that will last. “I can’t undo the hurt they put on you, and can’t say that farming will go all smooth, but there’s no reason you can’t start over, maybe together we’d make something good?” She laughed,”You would marry a soiled dove after half the world has laid down with me?” He shrugged,”No matter how many smell a rose Tte scent is forever soothing and sweet.” She said,”You think this is some dime novel… where you’d sweep me up and ‘fall in love?’” He said,”I’ve got no illusions, ma’am, but things worth having usually are tough.” She said,”And what sort of life could we expect? Folks hate rustlers, and scorn fancy girls.” Said Cole,”Can’t control what others might think, but that don’t mean there’s no good in the world.” She said,”And what would you tell our children when people cry out that there mom is a whore?” He said,”I’d make it clear to those who speak that such words will land them on the floor.” She shouted,”Don’t you see my soul in broken!” He nodded and said,”Well, here’s the thing, sometimes when two people find themselves broken each can fill in what the other is missing.” She laughed again, a bitter, beaten sound, said,”Can you not ride the hell out of here? A person should have some peace at the end and that’s impossible while you’re still near!” But Cole didn’t stray from her staggered trail and followed her until the dim of night, three days without food was taking its toll, she kept stumbling, could not stand up right. Finally she came up to a small rise and started talking to folks who weren’t there, then she collapsed and Cole dismounted, laid her out on the grass with great care. In he weakened state she couldn’t say no when he fed her pieces of his beef jerky, instinctively she swallowed the food, then went back to her feverish mumblings. Cole gathered bison chips, made a fire, covered the woman with his blanket to sleep, then ate himself, pulled down his hat for a few hours of tranquility... CONCLUDES IN PART IV