Whisperer (11 page)

“And…”

Colt stopped
for a moment and thought it over. He got down off his horse to
check one of the hooves, straightened his saddle and got back on.
Jesse knew he was thinking it over. His horse flicked a few flies
off.

“I would say
‘when and where’.” Colt looked over at his brother. Jesse’s mouth
dropped open.

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I
love Mandy and would do anything for her. I know we haven’t known
each other very long, but I don’t think it takes that long to know…
And I do… She’s the one.” He exhaled slowly. “Yep, absolutely.”

Jesse was
astonished at his answer and said so. “I’m impressed, brother, and
incredibly happy for you. Does she feel the same way?”

“Yep.” He
grinned. “But back to you and Audrey. What would it take for you to
make up your mind? And what does Audrey say? Doesn’t she want to
get married?”

“Audrey’s
wonderful. I probably don’t deserve her. She doesn’t say anything
about marriage, but I know she wants to. I could kick myself for
not being able to give her what she wants, at least not right this
minute.” Jesse looked thoughtful. “But I want to get to the place
where I can ask her to marry me. How about you and Mandy?”

“I was thinking
of asking her when we got back to Donner Lake. Some time before a
nice, cozy fire wrapped up in a blanket. I wanted to talk to Mom
and Dad about it first, make sure they have no objections.”

“I can answer
that. They adore her. After she nearly creamed Jeanne in the movie
quote contest, Lily can’t stop talking about her.”

“Good, but I’m
still going to talk to them about her.”

They heard a
whistle from a half-mile out and saw their father and Jason riding
toward them. When they were close enough to speak to one another,
Sandy said, “What the hell are you guys doing out here?”

Jason added,
“We’ve been waiting for you to come back with the calf count. How
long does it take to count a couple of cows?”

Jesse looked
sheepishly at Colt. Busted. Sandy and Jason laughed.

“We’ve been
here a time or two ourselves, haven’t we, Jason?”

“Yep, talking
about the state of the world or women, right?”

Sandy grinned
at him. “My money’s on women.”

“Well, okay,
Dad, I’ve got you here. What do you think about Mandy?”

“Son, she’s
wonderful. Round her up, like I wish we could do with the cattle
sometime today. And Jesse, that goes for you too.” He turned his
Appaloosa around and rode off.

Jason winked at
them both, turned his horse and galloped after him.

“I guess that’s
my answer,” said Colt.

“Mine too.
Everyone’s tired of waiting for me…”

Colt smiled at
his brother, turned his horse and said over his shoulder, “How
about a double wedding, Jesse?” He laughed at Jesse’s surprised
face and wide-eyed expression, before galloping off towards the
house.

Jesse sat there
a minute thinking.
Not a bad idea…

Back in Soda
Springs, Colt was hard at work. The camp had one more horse for him
to train and she was tough… A particularly mean, older mustang that
apparently hadn’t made any friends with humans. She was surly and
bit at anyone getting close. The camp administrator was on the
verge of shipping the horse out, when Colt returned from Nevada and
said he wanted to look at her first.

He watched the
horse run wildly around the corral – all other horses had been
transferred to other corrals. Walking in, the horse saw him and
came over to bite him. Colt raised his arms up with one hand
holding on to a coiled rope, which kept the horse away. She fled
and ran around the corral again. He crouched down into a submissive
position to get a good look at the horse. When he did, the horse
stopped running, but stayed away. In fact, when she slowed down,
the horse seemed lame – she had a reluctant gait, like walking on
eggshells. While she was standing still, he observed the hooves
with a widened white line, called ‘seedy toe’. She could have
laminitis.

Colt left the
corral and called the vet to come have a look. He guessed that the
horse had been overfed on grain, a common cause and the vet would
need to look for abscesses. The farrier would need to be called in
as well, to do some corrective trimming and possibly make a
therapeutic shoe. He knew that it could be a chronic condition, and
if extreme, the horse might have to be put down. He sincerely hoped
it wouldn’t come to that and went to look for the camp
administrator in his office.

Finding him,
Colt proceeded to explain the horse’s problems and what needed to
be done. The man was sympathetic.

“Thanks, Colt.
You saved us a ton of trouble. I’d like the vet to see him first
and then we’ll go from there. Can you stick around another week to
talk to the vet about possible training? I don’t know what your
schedule is, but if you can tackle this one last horse, I’d be
grateful.”

Colt knew his
schedule was clear for a few weeks, so he said he’d stick around
and see what he could do. He also didn’t want to leave Mandy. He
wanted to get things straight with her, before he made any other
work plans.

Glancing at the
time, he knew she’d be getting through soon and it was his turn to
cook. Oops… better buy groceries first…

In Mandy’s
office, her client Jimmy had been having a rough time. His parents
had come to visit, and afterwards, as Mandy had predicted, his
behavior changed for the worse. His language became obscene and he
refused to bathe. One night when she was gone to Naples, he had
tried to run away from the camp. Since the camp’s location was far
from main roads, Jimmy was easily spotted and picked up in Soda
Springs. They had to keep him in isolation for a few days because
he was picking fights on anybody and everybody. In other words, he
was out of control.

Out of
isolation now, Mandy was probing gently into the root causes of his
affliction. He had been diagnosed with a mental disorder and was
receiving medication for that. Today, in her office, was one of his
better days.

“How are you
today, Jimmy? Feeling better than yesterday?”

“A little bit.
Could we go for a walk?” Mandy hesitated.

“Let’s wait on
that, until you’re cleared by your doctor. He will be here
tomorrow, so maybe we can take one then. Will that be all
right?”

Jimmy shifted
nervously in his chair and nodded.

“What would you
like to talk about today?”

“I don’t like
being here.”

“We’ve talked
about this before, Jimmy. Why do you think you’re here?”

“My
behavior.”

“What’s wrong
with your behavior?”

“It isn’t
acceptable.”

“Wow. It’s good
that you recognize that yourself. What can you do to make it
acceptable?”

“I guess I
could shower and brush my teeth.”

“Good. Did you
do that today?”

“Yes.”

Mandy started
to say something else, when Jimmy suddenly turned to her.

“You want to
know what I feel like?” When she nodded, he continued. “Sometimes I
feel like one of those wild mustangs that the trainer is always
working with. I want to run and run, until I fall down. I want to
run far away where no one can find me. Is that too much to ask?”
His plaintive expression made her sad.

“No,” was all
she could say.

“Could we
please go for a walk?” he asked. Mandy didn’t hesitate this
time.

“Sure. I think
it would be okay. How about around the building a few times?”

“Great.” He
beamed like she had made his day. It sure didn’t take much. This
kid was really suffering. Walking around, he became happier,
especially when he was closer to the horses. Mandy didn’t see Colt
anywhere, but made a mental note to ask for permission to put Jimmy
on a horse soon. She had read studies where horses used in therapy
sessions could be successful. Horses seemed to have a healing
effect on children, in particular. They can give a person immediate
feedback about their actions and body language through ‘mirroring’.
A horse mirrors if a person is upset or nervous. Learning to read a
horse’s behavior can help with your own.

Mandy decided
to talk to the camp administrator as soon as possible. After
returning Jimmy to the recreation area, she checked in his office
and discovered he was gone for the day. She left a note for him and
then went home. She and Colt would be riding later, before
dinner.

The temperature
fell that night, so Colt made a roaring blaze in his fireplace to
keep them warm. After dinner, they had decided to snuggle up on his
sofa and watch a good movie. Of course…

“So what are we
watching tonight?” Colt brought in a soft blanket to wrap them up.
He was looking forward to it. Doing anything with his girl was
wonderful.

“For our
viewing pleasure, I got an old black and white – one of my
favorites. This one is ‘
It Happened One Night’,
starring
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. It won the Best Picture Oscar in
1934 and was directed by Frank Capra, a great American director.”
She put in the DVD and settled on the sofa curled up in his arms,
with the blanket on them both.

“Can you take
any more trivia?” she asked.

“If I must…”
Colt rolled his eyes.

“I heard that
Claudette Colbert had it in her contract that she could only be
filmed on her left side. Apparently, she felt that was her ‘good
side’.” Mandy laughed. “I can only imagine how difficult that made
the cinematographer’s job.”

Colt knew from
experience that she could go on like this for hours. She was a
movie encyclopedia. Sometimes he felt like playing along, but
tonight, he had something else on his mind. About halfway through
the movie, when Clark and Claudette knew they were falling for each
other, Colt muted the film. With that wonderful old black and white
movie flashing in the background, his scene began.

She turned to
look up at him. “Why’d you mute the movie?”

“I’d like to
talk. Is that okay?” He looked serious.

“Sure, anything
wrong?”

“Sweetheart,
everything is right. That’s why I need a question answered: Where
do you see this relationship going?”

“I can’t
believe you said that. It’s usually the girl who says it.” Mandy
smiled.

“You can say it
then, but I’d still like an answer.”

“Well…” she
began, while watching his handsome face. She reached up to touch
him. He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’m really not sure. What
did you have in mind?”

“Oh, no. No
throwing it back at me.”

“Wow…okay…” She
sat up by him on the couch and he put his arm around her.
“Ah…going…yes…”

“You don’t see
it going anywhere? Do you want it to stay like this?”

“Will I scare
you off if I tell you what I really feel? I thought guys didn’t
want to hear this.”

“I want to hear
it, because I want to tell you my feelings.”

She thought a
minute and looked deeply into his eyes. She put her one hand on his
chest and the other on his face. “Colt Johnson, I love you dearly
and have since we first met. I would like very much to be with you
forever and have your children.” Then she added, “Would you marry
me?”

Colt took her
hands and kissed them tenderly and grinned. “Likewise.” He
laughed.

“Oh, no. You
don’t get off that easily. I confessed, now it is your turn.”

She held her
breath. How had he turned the tables on her?

“Mandy Evans,
you are the light of my life and I love you very much. Would you
please marry me, live with me and have our children? I want you
with me through every up, down and sideways that this life will
deal us. What do you say? And this is from Colt Johnson’s heart –
no movie.”

Tears started
rolling down her cheeks and he wiped them away with a finger.
“Hmmm….?”

“Yes, yes,
absolutely. Always and forever…”

“So that’s a
yes, then…” He grinned at her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“You’re a
sneaky man, Colt. You maneuvered me into telling you what you
already knew.”

“Yes, but it’s
out in the open now. We need to make plans.”

“What kind of
plans?”

“Well, wedding
plans to start with. And then where we want to go after this. My
contract with the camp is up in another week and then I’m a free
agent. Jeanne tells me I have a two-week break before any more
training engagements. How long do you want to stay here?”

“Colt, I want
to be with you. Wherever you go is where I’m heading. But how would
I work? Should I stay with Jeanne and Sam while you are traveling
around? I can’t work if I’m not in one place. And I do want to work
– I love what I do.”

“Let’s back up
a minute. You agreed to marry me, right?” He smiled at her.

“Ah…
yes
…I thought that was a foregone conclusion. Anyone
with half a brain can see how much I love you…”

He fished a
small box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She gasped.

“You bought a
ring? When?”

“I hope you
like it. Mom helped me pick it out when we were in town one day.
She thought you might like it.” She opened it and he plucked the
square cut diamond ring out of the jewelry box, held her hand and
put the ring on her engagement ring finger. He kissed it.

Mandy was too
stunned to speak. “Ah….” She was overcome with emotion, so she just
lifted up her face to kiss him instead. The movie, long forgotten
now, kept playing as Colt and Mandy got up and headed back to his
bedroom. The ‘Mandy and Colt’ movie continued with soft and urgent
kisses, clothes on the floor and sweet love being made. Neither one
made any pretense of how they felt for one another -- It was not a
night to pretend. It was a night to be truthful and to begin
building a life together. And there, in a cabin by Donner Lake on a
chilly evening, another generation of Johnsons was being
created.