When she woke it was pouring rain outside the cave. Her destination was beyond the forest and she still has several days left to her journey; that is if this rain won’t clear up. She needs to catch up with the caravan heading east because Benton was with that caravan. After that fight…he just left. He hadn’t even left a note behind to say goodbye. She couldn’t let things end like this. They needed closure; she needed closure. She couldn’t even remember what their fight was about. She just knows she needs him and never wants to let him go again. He was her other half. There was nothing she could do but wait out the rain. She thinks to herself, What if the caravan is ahead of the rain getting farther and farther away while I shelter in place?”
“Damn storm.” She mutters under her breath. All this waiting was getting on her last nerve. She screams in anguish, “Just stop pouring down, now would ya?”
But that did nothing to make the storm stop, in fact she thinks it’s pouring down even harder now that she started screaming at the dark clouded sky.
“Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but will you please stop!?” She almost whispers with her face downcast to the cave’s floor; a tear slides off her cheek. She crumples to the floor and let the tears stream down her face like the rain outside. How could she have let this happen? Of course she understands that the rain wasn’t her fault but she had the strangest feeling that the fight was entirely her fault. As she thinks this her consciousness slips away into a dreamless sleep.
As she stirs awake, she feels the warmth of the sun on her face through the cave opening. She bolts up popping her eyes open, taking in the sun shining on her through the clouds. A smile spreads across her face.
“Benton, I’m coming…” She breathes out. She stands up and brushes off the dirt from the cave floor that is stuck to her dress. No time to eat. Who knows how far ahead the caravan was by now. Maybe they even kept going through the storm. “Come on, girl, let’s get going.” Makenna swings her leg on up over her chestnut mare, Missy. Benton had gotten her the horse for her birthday last fall. Before she fully gets up on the mare she urges the mare to race out of the cave down the trail with wagon ruts dug in the muddy road lined by a thick line of trees. MaKenna would chase Benton all the way to Boston if she has to and to be honest, if she made it to him before reaching Boston and he still has his heart set on returning to the East then she would marry him right then and there on the trail and continue on with him. She wasn’t going to let him get away this time. Back when they were teenagers, 14 and 16 she thinks, he left his family ranch to go live with his rich Aunt and Uncle in Boston and continue his education. It was his late grandfather’s wish that he become a doctor. He had promised her he would come back; and he did six years later. When he returned at the beginning of last summer almost a year ago it was like a dream come true for MaKenna.
After a few years she thought that he would forget about her especially as his letters started to become fewer and fewer. What she didn’t realize until he came back was that he was so busy trying to finish up and establish a practice under another doctor where he could get some real-world practice before starting off on his own back in his hometown because he wanted to get home as soon as possible. After a few months of getting reacquainted with each other he did ask her father to court her. And when he asked her, was on her birthday when he gave her the chestnut mare. She of course was absolutely thrilled, even without the horse, she would have said yes! And then came the fight. Honestly she can’t even remember how it got started but she doesn’t care anymore, all she knows is that she wants Benton, and she wants to marry him.
She can feel the warm sun beating down on her through the trees as she rode hard down the trail and was starting to become faint with hunger as the sun climbed to its highest peak among the ever darkening clouds. She stops at the side of the trail where she finds some wild blueberry bushes. She picks some and eats. As she sits eating she hears the whinny of a horse down the path. She pops a few berries in her mouth and drops the rest. Picking up the reins on her horse she walks down the trail until she can see that the forest comes to an end. She hears the other horse again. She continues to the edge of the forest and before her is the caravan, a mere quarter mile into the clearing. She gets up on the horse and rides the last quarter mile to the caravan as dark clouds start to roll over the sky faster covering their world in darkness.
As she arrives she hears a gun fire or maybe thunder. She freezes. No longer can she hear the other horse she had heard before. There was a crowd of people a few feet away, slowly dispersing back to their own wagons. As they clear the area she can see the horse she believes was the one she heard earlier, lying on the ground completely still. The owner of the horse turns around finally and sees her staring at the spectacle.
“Howdy, miss. I apologize for the noise; must have given you a fright. I’m Toby Jacobs, I’m leading this caravan back East. Are you from around these parts?”
“A few days ride from here. Back in Riverside Junction.”
“What are ya doing all the way out here by yerself, miss?” Toby Jacobs asks as the rain starts to spit down on them.
“Miss Ryder, and I am looking for a Mr. Benton Rivers; do you know him?
“Eye, that I do, Miss Ryder. He should be over on the other side of the camp. I’ll take ya to him.” She climbs down from the top of her mare and leads her with the reins as she follows Mr. Jacobs to Benton’s wagon. “So what made ya ride out this far by yerself to talk to Mr. Rivers?” Mr. Jacobs asks me.
“I, um, Mr. Rivers and I had an argument and then the next thing I knew he was gone and had left with the caravan. I wanted, no, I suppose I needed to find him and tell him, well…”
“It’s alright, miss. Those words yer trying so hard to say should be spoken to him first. I know how ya feel. Don’t you let him go now without tellin’ him how ya really feel, ya understand?” She simply nods. “There ya, go now, that’s his wagon right there.” He points to the wagon right in front of us. “Good luck, now!” Toby says to her as he turns to head back to take care of his horse.
“Thank you!” She calls after him. Now she turns to face the wagon that has been Benton’s get-away ticket. She slowly walks around to the front side of the wagon. When she reaches the corner she stops short, catching her breath as the rain picks up. She can hear him whistling as he tends to the fire trying to cook himself a lunch despite the rain. She takes a step around the corner and stops, barely breathing. Benton turns around and stops short when he sees MaKenna. She can’t tell from his facial expression whether he is happy to see her or not.
“I…” She can’t get the words out. They were stuck in her throat. What if he doesn’t care about her anymore? He just stares. “How could you just leave?” He takes a breath in response. “Well? Are ya gonna say something or not, because I rode all the way out here to talk with you.”
“What is there to say? You didn’t want to get married.” He states finally just staring at her with his hair starting to stick to his face.
“Now that is not what I said at all! I said I didn’t yet know if I was ready for that step, we had only been courting since mid-November. That’s only five and a half months! I never said I didn’t love you!” She cries out to him soaked with rain. He blinks at MaKenna for a moment and then takes a few steps closer to her.
“I laid my heart out, and all you said was you didn’t know what to say.”
“I know what I said, but I wasn’t expecting you to propose so soon! Benton, I love you! I want to spend the rest of my life with you! Why else would I come riding after you through storms by myself to catch up with you? Look at me, I’m drenched.” I breathe out to him. He closes the gap between them.
“I am only gonna ask you this one last time, Miss Ryder.” He says looking down at her with a smirk on his face. “Will you marry me, MaKenna Ryder?” She looks up into his chestnut eyes and smiles at him.
“Yes, I will!” She tells him as he lifts her up into his arms and kisses her; her hands on the side of his face. Breathing between kisses she tells him, “Of course, I’ll marry you!” And they spin around in the rain not caring if they get wet, as they are too consumed with knowing that they will be spending the rest of their lives together wherever they choose to live.
