Written for Steemit: A love story occurs during a time anomaly. A woman from today somehow steps into an anomaly and meets a cowboy asleep on his ranch, in his bed, in the 1850's. ©Jeff Kubitz 2016 - All Rights Reserved.

Song of Angels - Chapter 10

Mindy Woczlewski courtesy of Nastya Muratokova

Please read and vote for the previous chapters:

Song of Angels - Chapter 1

Song of Angels - Chapter 2

Song of Angels - Chapter 3

Song of Angels - Chapter 4

Song of Angels - Chapter 5

Song of Angels - Chapter 6

Song of Angels - Chapter 7

Song of Angels - Chapter 8

Song of Angels - Chapter 9

Cyrus and Mindy stepped out of the bedroom.

“Yes, as soon as is possible. Tomorrow hopefully or all my savings will be gone.”

“I do have a large amount of money that I saved from cattle sales over the years, quite a bit. I would cover the cost of the hotel for you.” Cyrus said. “I have more than enough for that, enough to move your things out here, too. I think. Enough for the train, certainly.”

“My things will not all fit in this house. Perhaps, I could leave most of them or give them away to family, or they could be stored somewhere.” Mindy mused. “I could take the jeep home.”

“All the way to Illinois?”

“Yes, I drove it out here remember?”

“That must be something. I want to see it? Can I ride in it with you?”

“Why yes, of course.” Mindy said. Cyrus seemed very strange about modern conveniences but then he had none here as she had seen. “But I want to know much more about you, Cyrus, before I have to leave like how old are you? You are older than me I know. Are you divorced? Last night I could tell that was not your first time.”

“Divorced? No. Don’t believe in it. I am most likely about 35 years old. My wife, Clara, passed in the birth of our first child about 15 years ago so I am a widower.”

“You are a widower, without any children? It saddens me you have suffered so. But you don’t know how old you are? What about your birth certificate?”

"What is a birth certificate?"

"A paper the Doctor gives to the parents when a child is born."

"I have never heard of one and I do not have one. There was no doctor there when I was born. That I know of. My parents died when I was young, very young. The Stafford’s took me in and I came out here with them. Clara Stafford was my wife, Merewether and Enid Stafford’s daughter. Clara and I settled this section. We had help from William, Bill, and Theodore, Ted, and their parents.”

“I am almost twenty-six. I see your house is raw, very manly still but no other women have come into your life, you have not met any other women? Was your grief so great?” Mindy added.

“No other women have wanted to come out here, the women I have met in Fillmore. The only other women that are out here are the Indians who have come here only twice and that was more than a decade ago. Then there is Senette, the Stafford’s other daughter who has said she would marry me, but she is only ten now. So, I do not take her very seriously. Yes, I was stricken by grief for a very long time. Work kept me from it. Eased the pain some. After the years went by, I thought there would never be anyone else. I became used to it.”

“Oh, I see.” Mindy fell silent. They both sat in silence for several minutes. Mindy broke the silence, “Where does the water come from, do you have a well? How big is a section of land?”

“There is a large spring fed pond out back from which the cattle drink. I break the ice in the winter. Which is not too often as, the water is warm for water from the ground.”

“Can you bathe in it, now?” Mindy asked. She would like to sit in a hot spring, that would be so special.

“It’s not that warm, but in the spring, summer, and fall it is more than comfortable. Though usually I pull the water into a trough. As for a section, it is 640 acres. There is no fence except for the corral, other than in winter, the cattle roam where they want. No one else is out here. I could own more land easy enough, I just saw no need for it. No heirs or anything. I was to give it to the Stafford’s though with Clara having been here.”

“Did Clara pass away here?” Mindy asked.

“No she was with her mother at her family home at the time.” Cyrus said. Then he continued, “I have not talked about that in a very long time to anyone. I still do not like to talk about Clara now. But what happened to her happens sometimes and nothing can be done about it.”

“Yes. It does happen. Nothing can be done when it does.” Mindy rose from the chair Cyrus had lowered his eyes and face. She put her hands on the side of his face and lifted his head. She kissed him. “We’ll you have me now Cyrus, though I have never lived in a place like this. I will tell you. This house is more different than anything I have ever lived in or seen in my life. I would want a more modern house, though I could wait some time if you show me how to live here. It is like the house of a pioneer.”

“Yes! Yippee!” Cyrus exclaimed. He wrapped his arms around Mindy and held her close; “It is time to build a much better house for you and me…though with all the expenses of you moving out here, it may take a number of cattle sales before we have enough for all the modern things.”

“Let’s eat some dinner.” Mindy said. “I am starved.”

“Yes, yes dear Mindy.” The joy in Cyrus’s voice was overwhelming and contagious. “We are going to have a feast tonight. A feast in celebration of our love and marriage to come.”

“Yes. A celebration and we’ll talk and get to know each other more and more.” Mindy thought she had slipped a knot even thinking about moving out to a place like this but Cyrus was so…he was Cyrus the man of her dreams if not in the house of her dreams, well that could change quickly enough.

“Yes. I want to get to know you so much more Mindy. And tonight, if possible- well, I desire,” Cyrus trailed off. Mindy knew what he meant. She felt it too. She was drawn toward Cyrus like the desert draws rain from the sky. She giggled,

“Yes, if I can I will always. Last night was more than I ever expected. Ever.”

“We could get a dog. I thought all cowboys had dogs.” Mindy said.

“I did have dog they are hard to keep if they won’t stay by.” Cyrus said.

“Why is that?” Mindy asked.

“Something will take them.” Cyrus said.

“Like what?”

“A mountain lion, badger, bear, wolf, coyote, ravens, many things out here.” Cyrus said.

“Oh,” Mindy stated, “We are really far out here aren’t we?”

“Except for this ranch and the Stafford place, it is wilderness for I don’t know how far, 50 miles to Fillmore for sure to the east.”

“The north, the south, the west?” Mindy asked.

“A long, long ways in those directions.” Cyrus said.

“We are really far out from anyplace aren’t we?” Mindy asked.

“We in no place at all and everywhere we want to be at the same time.” Cyrus said jokingly.

Mindy laughed as she cut the potatoes. She mused to herself that love had mad her crazy and then she said it to Cyrus.
“Cyrus, love has made me crazy. Made me want to stay. It is you Cyrus that I want and I know it. I still don’t believe I have not run away in fright at being out here. But with you I feel safe.”

“When I saw you I wondered.” Cyrus said. “Wondered how you came out here, to be here in front of me. I can’t get over that you are here, Mindy. I feel such joy.” Cyrus looked down at himself. “I feel something else too.” They both laughed and laughed.

“We have to eat first, Cyrus.”

“You will marry me, right?” Mindy asked.

“Yes. Most certainly.” Cyrus said as if the deal was done and that was the least thing on his marriage was done.

“You promise and swear you will,” Mindy asked. Mindy did not think of herself as spectacularly beautiful as Cyrus claimed. She knew she was not. Tall, yes and Blond, yes. She was no model or actress, or winner of a beauty contest in her own opinion and she thought everyone else’s. She was ten or twelve pounds overweight of what she thought she thought she should be.

“You don’t think I am too fat. That I am ugly?” Mindy looked him in the eye and waited for his response. Cyrus had encountered how women could be really strange sometimes but he did not want Mindy to leave. He did not want to be alone ever again. Could anyone blame him? As Mindy thought, Cyrus might be her one and only chance.

“What do you mean dear?” Cyrus asked somewhat perplexed.

“You are not kidding me because there is no one else around but you and I, are you?” Mindy asked suspiciously. The truth about Mindy was she was beautiful from the male point of view. She had been too busy in school and working to notice any advances from men who were serious about starting a relationship. And then she had been old fashioned. She wanted marriage before sex. But as Mindy looked at Cyrus, she realized that no one had told him no for a long time and no one had told him yes for a long time. He took what he wanted and he was so huge that, well. Here they were, together.
“If, you are going to marry me as you have promised, do you think I am beautiful”? Mindy quivered, waiting for Cyrus to speak. “Do you really think I am beautiful?”

Cyrus paused. He looked at Mindy while the steaks sizzled in the hot pan. Mindy was sure he would say that she was not,
“You dress much differently than any lady I have seen. We could buy you more fashionable clothes, or you could make them if you are able. Then the other women, when we go to Fillmore, won’t say anything about your not wearing a dress.”

“You don’t think I am a virgin because there wasn’t any blood in the bed. I checked. I thought there would be blood but there was not.”

“Oh there was blood on the sheets,” Cyrus said smiling. “The sheets were on the floor in a pile. Somehow we kicked them out of the bed. I folded them and put them under the bed before I left.” Mindy covered her face with her hands and laughed and laughed.

Cyrus realized that unaccustomed to women as he now was and the intimacies of courtship which had occurred so long ago in his near hermit style of life that he had lived for so long he had do this proper. He walked over to Mindy and knelt on one knee before here.

“I do apologize Mindy, I have forgotten how things should be done. I have no ring but Clara’s ring and I do not think I should give you her ring. I did not expect this at all.” Cyrus took her hands from her face and held them in his hands. He looked Mindy in the eyes.
“Mindy your eyes of blue green like water, and your hair so straight and strong, so full, your ample bosom and your lips made for kissing become me, no command me to humble myself before you and ask for your hand in marriage for as long as we are alive.”

Tears welled up in Mindy’s eyes and she started to cry. And Cyrus said,
“Mindy, will you honor me by taking my hand in marriage, though I have no ring to present to you at this time. Will you consider my humble request as serious and accept give me your permission to wed. Is there someone to whom I should approach to ask for your hand in marriage other than yourself?”

Mindy was so shaken she could barely speak. She could not see because of the tears in her eyes but she heard Cyrus’s words and she said,
“I will marry you Cyrus Weeks. I will be yours for all time.”

“You have given me the greatest joy a man can experience. What is your last name? And may I embrace you, Mindy?”

“Woczlewski and yes, yes, yes.” Mindy reached out to hold him and they kissed. They ate. They laughed. They cried. They shared the joy of prenuptial bliss throughout the night. A slumber of the world that rocked with the passion of the storm of the night before though no wind blew and no snow fell in the tranquility of an Eden few have ever known where coyotes yip, yip, yip somewhere in the snow covered desert.

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