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.
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Song of Angels - Chapter 8

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

Mindy watched him walk off toward the outhouse. Now she knew where it was though she turned her attention back to the sunset. The half sphere of the sun moved quickly down behind the mountains in the distance. Nothing was in the sky but the clouds. No jet trails, planes or noise of the breeze, everything was a serene as if the earth were brand new. Big black birds, she thought might be ravens flapped across the sky and she could even hear the Whoosh of air with each flap of flight. My, Mindy thought to herself I do not believe I have ever heard the flap of a bird's wings before in my life.

Cyrus came back and set the chamber pot next to her while she stood.
“It is so peaceful here I have never been anywhere like it. So quiet.”

Cyrus said, “It’s why I never leave unless I have to the peace never goes away from this place. But I have to get dinner.”

He walked away from Mindy toward a small building she had not seen before, nothing more than a small shed just a bit taller than he. He went inside and she heard chopping. In about two minutes as the last gold of the sun dropped below the horizon, Cyrus came out of the little building with split wood logs under one arm and a great slab of meat held by his other hand. The clouds still glowed with the last rays of sun. The air became immeasurably colder as the darkness gathered. When he stood next to Mindy he said.

“You have never seen anything like this have you.”

“I am from Chicago and it is nothing like this. So pure.”

“If you could take the potty and open the door for me we could save some time as it will be real cold tonight with the clouds gone.”

“Yes.” Mindy said. She grabbed the handle of the pail and led the way to their house. She opened the door that was kept closed by a bar of wood on a peg through the door attached to another bar on the other side door and stepped inside out of Cyrus’s way. She closed the door behind him.

“We could use some more wood from the shed for the night if you could go get it.” Cyrus said.

“Yes. I’ll do it.” Mindy said.

“I’ll take care of this before you get back.” Cyrus said holding the meat up for inspection.

Mindy left the house walked around back and stepped in the footprints in the snow that Cyrus had left. His foot was much larger than hers. So she had no trouble walking in the snow. She entered the shed and was surprised by what she saw. A beef or an animal hung upside down from the center of the shed. A blanket covered it. She pulled back the blanket to look at the butchered beast. It was missing both forelegs and several large pieces of itself. She let the blanket fall. And said to herself, no need for a refrigerator.

Although the light outside the shed was still bright because of the reflection of the light on all the snow, inside the shed she could barely see. She found the wood as the temperature dropped and piled as much wood as she could into her arms before leaving. She was able to close the door with her toe.

The wood was heavy and awkward but she ran in Cyrus’s tracks as fast as she could back to the house. She stood in front of the door and called to Cyrus to open the door for her. He opened the door for her and she fled from the freezing night behind her.

“It is below freezing out there already.” Mindy said as she put the wood on top of the pile Cyrus had made near the potbelly.

“Yes.” Cyrus said, “And it will be a lot colder before the morning. No clouds in the sky.”

“I am so glad I am here with you. It is like a dream. Did you get the cattle back?”

“Yes. Most.”

“Did you see my jeep?” Mindy asked.

“No, the cattle weren’t off in the direction you said where your jeep was, more into the valley.” Cyrus said. Then continued, “The snow is real deep going up that side of the valley. The snow piles up on the rise from the wind. Most will melt tomorrow or at least some if we don’t get more snow. Besides I had to fix the corral where they broke out before I brought them back. That took half the day away.”

“How many cattle do you have?” Mindy asked, “And what kind are they?”

“White faced, Hereford cross, a mixed breed.” Cyrus stated then asked. “You know about cattle, Mindy?”

“Some, not much, when I was a girl we lived with my uncle on his dairy until I was ten, he had Holsteins. I know how to milk. I have churned homemade butter but my uncle and father handled the cows. That dairy was nothing like this. How many cattle do you have?”

“I have about 300 head, Mindy.” Cyrus said. “What a lovely name. I have been meaning to say that to you.”
“Thank you. Cyrus.” Mindy said then smiled.

Maybe he was so rugged, so strong, he was strong, so independent, that this all seemed natural to him. Like the cattle on the prairie, maybe this was how people lived out here. They came together and that was it. It was as natural as life had been and always been before the complexity of the world cruelly interrupted the way things had always been the way things should be.

“Mindy. I for one love you, you need to know that.” Cyrus spoke softly. “I will always cherish you from last night and ever fore ward from today. But you will be with child and so we need to talk.”

“Yes we need to talk.” Mindy said. “I never expected anything like this to happen to me. In this way, the way it has happened, I never thought anything like this would ever happen.”

“I know you were traveling through for some reason,” Cyrus said. “And you came here and stopped for the night, which is my great good fortune and I would like you to stay here and live with me. Get married. We will have to travel to Fillmore in the spring. Here, sit down in the chair.” Cyrus motioned with his hand to the chair next to the stove and Mindy went to take a seat.

He took a chair from the table turning the back toward her. Cyrus straddled the chair and grasped the back of the chair with his hands. He waited for Mindy to say something. Mindy sat looking at him; she was thinking. Then she said.

“Cyrus, you are the most impressive man, as raw a man as I have ever met. You left me breathless. I did not know what to do last night. When you were gone this morning I panicked, thought you had used and abandoned me.”

“I will never abandon you ever, except by death, of course.” Cyrus stated. Mindy laughed and put her hands to her mouth bending over in the chair. She giggled.

“I just don’t believe this at all. It is so good.”

“You will stay then, will you marry me?” Cyrus asked.

“I would immediately say yes to your proposal but there would be things I would have to do first, have to take care of first and you should know that I doubt I will get pregnant after only one night, though that could happen there is no doubt but it is not likely. It is too early in my time of the month.”

“I hope you do have my child as I have no heirs.” Cyrus said then asked, “What sorts of things do you have to take care of?”

“I would have to return to Illinois to get my things, notify my boss, my company where I work, see if they will let me keep my job as I move out here or I would have to give notice.” Cyrus interrupted her excitedly.

“You have a job, most women don’t work out here but on the ranch. What kind of job? Things in Illinois, family?”
“I sell pipe for Arden-Moore of Illinois.”

“You sell pipe?”

“Yes steel pipe, mostly though we have many other grades such as galvanized but I don’t want to tell you all about what I do for my work right now.”

“Of course, Miss Mindy.”

“I have an apartment and everything that goes with an apartment, all I have at the hotel in Salt Lake is my traveling things and sales literature. And I am paying for the room while I stay here.” Mindy said just realizing how expensive that might turn out to be. “Each day I stay here I won’t be able to receive a reimbursement from my company so I just realized that the expense of the hotel room is adding up quick.”

“Oh yes, that is something to seriously consider and act upon as soon as is possible.” Cyrus said. He paused and looked at Mindy a little strangely and then he asked her, "You came all alone, with no gun, knife, or even heavy clothes, weren't you afraid you might die or worse could happen to you?"

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