To Have and to Hold (Cactus Creek Cowboys) by Leigh Greenwood Page B

added.
    “There are few roads, and distances frequently make the use of a wagon unlikely,” Colby explained. “Walking isn’t a consideration.”
    “Will you teach me to ride?” Ben asked.
    “You already know how to ride,” his father said.
    “A mule that wouldn’t go faster than a walk,” Ben said scornfully. “I want to gallop like Naomi did.”
    “You’ll have to wait a little longer,” Colby said. “We’re approaching the Cimarron River. We’ll stop to eat and fill up the water barrels.”
    But when they reached the river, it was dry.
    ***
    “Are we going to have to dig for water every time?” Norman asked Colby.
    Colby wondered why the man had the gall to use the term we when he had yet to pick up a shovel. “Much of the river bed is made up of sand or gravel, which allows the water to run below the surface. There’s a bend up ahead that’s usually a torrent of rushing water with green, grassy glades. We shouldn’t have any trouble after that. We’re likely to run into more water than we want in the form of storms.”
    “I thought we were done with that.”
    “You’re never done with storms on the plains. A northerner can blow through and drop the temperature thirty degrees in less than ten minutes. On occasion, it can turn into a blizzard.”
    He could tell from Norman’s expression that he didn’t want to believe him, but Colby didn’t care.
    “Have we dug enough?” Reece Hill and his brother had been willing volunteers.
    Colby looked at the several pits, some as deep as a man. “That’s more than enough. Get something to eat and rest. We’ll fill the barrels when it’s time to leave.”
    ***
    After the midday meal, Naomi had insisted on riding with him when he went in search of a camping spot for the night. Consider it my second riding lesson she had said. She didn’t need lessons, just a few tips and some experience.
    Naomi shielded her eyes and looked up at the cloudless sky. “If every day was like this, I could understand why people might want to live here, but what would they use to build houses? There are no trees.”
    The weather had turned cool after a heavy rain the night before. A strong breeze and warm sunshine had dried the grass and turned the colors vibrant.
    “Prairie fires kill off most of the trees, but there are enough to build sod houses.”
    “You mean people build houses of dirt?”
    Colby laughed at Naomi’s look of astonishment. “It’s not as bad as you think. You’ll see large homes built of adobe in Santa Fe.”
    “What’s adobe?”
    “Dried clay. And don’t make another face. The bricks people use back east are nothing more than baked clay. For that matter, so are the dishes on your table.”
    Colby didn’t know when he’d had a more enjoyable afternoon. Naomi was like a child who absorbed everything new with a look of wonder and amazement. Instead of being bored, he found himself looking at his familiar world with the eyes of someone who’d never seen anything like it. It must be as strange for Naomi as it had been for him to find himself fighting a war in Virginia, a state with deep forests and rivers that never ran dry.
    Naomi gave him a questioning look. “You have a way of making everything seem ordinary, uninterestingly familiar, even dull. Why?”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    They were walking side by side, leading their horses. Naomi bent down to pluck a small blue flower that was nearly hidden in the tall grass. She brought it to her nose, but apparently it had no fragrance. “You don’t seem to get excited by anything. Or like anything. Or even want anything. It’s like you’re here, but you could be anywhere else just as easily.”
    Colby was pleased Naomi seemed to have gotten over her fear that he was a danger to her, but he wasn’t comfortable with this examination of his character, especially when she appeared to find it lacking depth. “Why would you say that?”
    “It’s not a criticism.”
    It felt like