Heart of a Captive Read online

  Heart of a Captive

  by Rita Hestand

  Heart of a Captive

  (Book Eight of Brides of the West Series)

  Rita Hestand

  Copyright 2015 by Rita Hestand

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN#9781310959295

  Smashwords Edition

  License Note

  This book Heart of a Captive is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebooks may not be resold or given away to other people. Please purchase an additional copy for each person you share with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it. or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

  Dedication

  Sometimes life throws us a curve we aren't expecting and interrupts our plans for the future. Brides in the West faced many unpleasantries, one of which was being captured by the Indians. Our lives are measured by our courage and convictions. And we find we can learn from every experience. God Bless

  Rita Hestand

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Rita's Other Books

  Central Texas

  1854

  Chapter One

  Cale recognized the evil force before him, his muscles tensed, his jaw firmed, his heart raced. Beads of sweat peppered his upper lip, as he firmed his lips together. His right hand itched at the top of his pistol, but he moved it slowly away. Control was what he needed. Until he could prove his suspicions about the man before him, he needed control.

  "Cale," the man sneered.

  "Dolby…" Cale acknowledged as his hand tightened on his reins.

  Dolby was a big man, with long curly blonde hair and penetrating black eyes. People said he was a breed, but there was no proof of it, and his blonde hair seemed to deny it. However, his cold bloodedness confirmed it. Cale needed no proof. He knew. The butchery Dolby had committed was enough proof for Cale.

  The man stared at him as he rode by. Black eyes followed him toward the General Store.

  Cale's fisted hand began to relax. Dolby needed killing, but not today.

  As a kid, he'd called Dolby out once before and nearly got arrested for making accusations and threats to the man. Since then he'd learned his lesson. He finally figured it out, he'd be the one going to jail, not Dolby.

  Dolby was a sore that wouldn't heal, but festered silently.

  Cale dismounted and went into the store, trying to ignore the jabs that Dolby sent with his eyes.

  "Cale, where have you been keeping yourself?" Mrs. Summers asked him as he came striding through her store. Immediately the tension drained away from his body. The lovely middle-aged woman touched her salt and pepper curls in the back of her head and straightened her dress. For her age she still had a fine figure. Cale shot her a shy smile.

  Cale glanced around the General Store for a moment, familiarizing himself with new displays such as pickle barrels that were nearly empty, and fresh tobacco shipped in from Tennessee and Kentucky. Cale had tried growing tobacco once, but the flea beetles got to it, and he was unsuccessful. He sniffed the aroma. He liked an occasional cigar. He smelled the fine aroma, and remembered how his daddy used to like to sit on the porch in the evening and draw on a fine cigar. That was long ago.

  "Fine Mrs. Summers." He sobered. "Been hard hit this year, need some seed, and some potatoes. Looks like I'm gonna have to do some trading with the Indians this year to make it through the winter. Can't wait too long either, or they'll be gone." Cale told the owner of the General Store.

  "That bad, huh?" She motioned him to the barrel of potatoes and he rummaged through until he had a few in his knapsack.

  "'Fraid so. Even my corn was pretty thin this year."

  "Yeah, most folks are having a hard time making it this year. We sure needed some rain. Too bad you aren't closer to the Guadeloupe River; you could fetch your own water."

  "Yeah, but even the River is down this year, I guess you already know that though."

  "Kyle Martin was remarking about that the other day. Said he's never seen it so low. Well, Good Lord willing, maybe next year will be better. It better be, or people will be moving away, I'm sure of that. Some just don't have the staying power like you Cale."

  "I guess water is like gold sometimes." Cale snickered.

  Mr. Summers hefted a barrel from the back room into the store, and glanced at Cale. "Where you been boy?"

  "Mostly hunting lately. My crops pretty well burnt up this year. No rain." Cale told him. "Got a little corn, a few vegetables from my home garden, and watermelons but that is all. Gonna lose money this year for sure. Good thing I saved the profits from last year. That first year of farming without my folks taught me most of what I needed to know about farming."

  Mr. Summers turned to glance at Cale and smiled.

  "You were wise to spend your money slowly, Cale. Some never do learn. Some years are good, some bad. But the Lord will provide." Mrs. Summers reminded him.

  Mr. Summers put the barrel down and turned to look at Cale again. He was a middle-aged man with bushy brows and a lean, kind face. His brown eyes pierced Cale with one glance. "Gonna trade with the Huaco Indians again?"

  "It looks like I'll have to." Cale nodded. "Old Iron Kettle is pretty good about trading with me. I'll see what I can do." Cale shook his hand and gave his short list to Mrs. Summers.

  "There aren't many of them left now. Heard they signed some kind of treaty with the army. They plan on moving them up to the Brazos. One thing about them though, they sure do know how to farm. I've been doing a little business with them myself; they got better vegetables than most of the farmers around here. Always wondered how they managed to do that, but I guess that's their secret, not mine." He hadn't meant to offend, and turned his head away when Cale shot him a quick frown.

  Cale walked around the store, admiring some of the goods displayed when he happened to see a drawing of a girl hanging on the wall post and stood to look at it for moment. "Who's this?"

  He wasn't aware of his thumb resting at her chin. He wasn't aware that he stared at the picture so long either.

  "That's Amelia Harrison." Mrs. Summers answered, her brow going up a bit.

  "What's her story?" Cale asked taking the picture down and looking into the woman's face that stared at him from the paper. There was something about her eyes, and the slight pout to her lips. She didn't look happy, that was it.

  Mrs. Summers shrugged. "We don't know the whole story. Some man came in a while back and hung it up. Looked like a city dude to me, the way h
e was dressed. Sure wasn't from around here. Said it was his betrothed. The Comanche captured her some time ago. Come from a very affluent family too. The story goes that her parents were killed at the time of her capture and that they were just waiting to declare her dead before the inheritance could be divided between the cousins. I don’t know why he bothered; he acted as though she were already dead. Maybe out of respect. He didn't really say. It confuses me why anyone would go to the trouble, if their heart isn't in it."

  "What do you mean? He don't want her back?"

  "I got a feeling he don't care one way or another."

  Cale stopped and stared at Mrs. Summers. "Now how do you know that? Did he say something to that affect?"

  "No, of course he didn't. And I'm not jumping to conclusions, Cale." She scolded lightly. "I'm not sure why I assumed that, but it could have been because he had another lady on his arm when he posted it." She shook her head at Cale and her brow rose a bit. "And that lady gushed at his every word. A lady who had her arm hooked in his all the time he was here. Anyone could tell what was on her mind, but the man…he was quiet like."

  "Another lady, huh? Sure sounds as though he has given up on this one, then. Although, as pretty as she is, why would any man give up." Cale agreed and went back to looking her supplies over. "I agree with you, it don't make much sense to court one and be engaged to another, now does it?"

  "I couldn't rightly say, but the way he acted, I think the man's given up on ever finding her. If he ever really looked."

  Cale stopped what he was doing and looked at Mrs. Summers. "What are you trying so hard not to say?"

  Mrs. Summers practically gushed with the gossip. "Well, when he hung the picture up, he looked at the lady on his arm and shrugged and said, 'Little good this will do.' It was as if he was doing it from a guilty conscious or something. You know, like he had to do it. Maybe I'm reading too much into it though. The girl on his arm seemed quite taken with him though. She barely noticed me all the while she was here. Pretty little blonde thing."

  "How long ago was this girl captured?" Cale asked, staring at the picture and feeling an immediate sympathy for the girl.

  Mrs. Summers loved repeating gossip more than anyone Cale knew, so he realized how much she enjoyed telling the story. "They took her about three or four years ago, he said. He'd about given up hope of ever finding her, but this was his last time to put that picture up. He said he put it up everywhere he traveled. The man said if he didn't find her soon, he'd have to declare her dead."

  "Why's that?"

  "I'm not sure, but I think so the inheritance could be rightfully distributed to the cousins. According to him, she only has two cousins left I think. There was no one to go after her at the time but him and one male cousin. The other cousin was female. She's got no kin left to speak of."

  "Sounds a bit like he was a lawyer, if he knew he had to declare her dead and all."

  "Might have been, he was a real dude, sharp dresser, right nice looking too. The kind women flock to."

  Still, Cale felt instantly sorry for the girl in the picture. No one even knew if she was alive or not. "That's a shame, nice looking woman." Cale said aloud and then looked around as though that had just slipped out.

  "It's time you were taking a wife, Cale." Mrs. Summers smiled at him, taking note of his interest in the picture.

  Cale shrugged, moving away from the picture and not wanting to give Mrs. Summers more to talk about. "Don't have time for courting, these days."

  "There have been plenty of the gals interested in you, and you know it. But I reckon you are a hard worker, Cale. You just need to take some time to tend to that." When she realized Cale wasn't interested in talking about girls, she changed her tact. "Don't you fret now. The Lord will bring rain, you wait and see. And it could be he'll bring you a woman too. After all, he works in mysterious ways, you know."

  "I’m a little on the plain side, Mrs. Summers, girls don't take to me right off and you know it. But, I hope you're right. And the only girls looking at me are the ones wanting to snatch up the land for their fathers, and you know it. Guess that's why I haven't been too anxious to court any." Cale grabbed the supplies, laid his money on the counter and glanced up at Mrs. Summers. "I hope your are right about the rain."

  He picked up his supplies and walked outside and up to his wagon.

  Mr. Summers came out to help him load it up. "Don't let Dora bother you. She's always trying to fix up the young ones around here. When the right one comes along, you'll know it well enough. And you're right about the girls and their fathers wanting to snatch up the land. You stand your ground about that, Cale. You've worked hard for what you have. Don't let some greedy rancher with a lovely daughter snatch you up."

  "Maybe that's why I haven't bothered with courting. I know most of the girls in this territory and I know what they are after. That's okay. Truly, it does get a little lonely out there. However, I just don't have time to devote to such things as courting. Maybe next year when my crop is better, I can do more socializing. But I'd kind of like to see a different crop of females." Cale explained as he heaved a sack of flour and coffee into the wagon. "That's a real pity about that girl, though. She sure is pretty."

  "It's especially sad that even if she did happen to survive, and someone found her, she'd have no kin to come home to. Last I heard, she'd been traded to another tribe. Least that's what that fella said. But it's been nearly four years now, not many a man would want her after so long with the Indians. At least no white men. The problem with being captured, even if she did survive, would the dude take her after living with them so long? Most folks can't cope with that. Especially affluent folks like that dude. I remember, Hattie Montgomery was taken a few years back, and when a scout found her and brought her back, her husband wouldn't have anything to do with her. He'd already convinced himself she was dead. She hung herself a week later. Damn shame. I always liked Hattie."

  "If she survived she's one strong lady. No doubt about that." Cale's frown widened. "Did the dude go after her at all?"

  "Said he did at first, but there just weren't any leads. He figured that bunch had moved so much he'd never catch up to them. One of her cousins was in the hunt, but he held out no hope of finding her alive. He said she wouldn't live with one of them redskins. But you know Cale, people don't know what they might do, if they were forced…now do they?"

  Cale bit his lip, and moved away. "You know, as a man, I'd say surviving is the most important thing, not who you lived with. I don't hold with blaming a woman for something like that, it's certainly not her fault she got caught."

  Mr. Summers glanced at him with interest. "I hope if she is alive, she finds a man like you, Cale. A man that can understand…"

  "I guess that puts me in a different category, don't it? Because I don't see as she had any choices." Cale shrugged and hefted a bag of flour and coffee into his wagon. "I'm gonna take a trip down to the Huaco's. See if I can do some trading before winter sets in."

  "I heard tell they are moving them up to Ft. Belknap area sometime before winter."

  "There are still some on the Guadeloupe, thought I'd ride down there with Hodge and see if we could do some good. I'm sure they will be traveling light when they leave. If not, it's gonna be a hard winter."

  "Might be a good idea. They might want to unload a few things before they head out. You might make out well, son."

  "I hope so." Cale turned to shake his hand. "With bad crops for the second year in a row, it's time I done something."

  "You might ask them if they've seen that girl."

  "Maybe…but she was captured by Comanche."

  "True, but they often trade off captives, if there is something they want bad enough, and since this drought, they just might trade her for food, and the Huaco's have good crops generally."

  Cale nodded, thinking on the girl for a moment and walked off. "Well, it's a shame…" Cale muttered under his breath. "She was a fine looking woman."

  "You'
ve said that a couple of times, Cale. That picture must have stirred something in you. I hope they find her, someday, before it's too late." Mr. Summers scratched his head and stared at Cale. "You're doing good Cale. Most young men your age don't have such a good start. Of course, most young men around here don't work as hard, either. And there's plenty of time left for you to find a woman. I wouldn't say this in front of Dora, she might get the big head, but a good woman is worth her weight in gold."

  Cale chuckled. "I'll remember that."

  "Heard anything from your brothers, yet?"

  "Nope, nothing yet. I check the mail every time I come to town, but there's nothing. Maybe that's a good sign, maybe they are too busy to write."

  "Maybe, but it's a dern shame…"

  "See ya Mr. Summers." Cale called over his shoulder.

  "Good luck to you…" Mr. Summers shook his head.

  "See you…"

  Cale thought about what Mr. Summers said, especially how a good woman was worth her weight in gold. Too bad, he didn't have time for women. It took hours of hard work to keep his sizable farm going. It was his family's farm. Since he was the only one in his family willing to work it, his dad left it to him. He had two brothers, one went to college back east, the other moved out to California to find gold. He hadn't heard from either of them since they left home. His sisters died when renegade outlaws burst in on them and his mother. He thought about his sisters and mother, and then shrugged the memories away.

  He was alone here with no family. It took a steady hand.

  He'd often wished at least one of his brothers might have taken a helping hand, but they sought riches elsewhere and he realized they had the wandering itch. That and they had to get away.

  However, Cale was a man of the soil; it was embedded deep in his soul. He loved the smell of the rich clean earth and loved watching things grow from many days hard work.