After the Storm: Clean Historical Western Cowboy Romance Novel (Dawson Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  In Indian sign, he asked, “What are you doing here? Where did you get the uniform?”

  Hailey replied in kind. “From a dead soldier who did not need it anymore. I was a medicine driver (this was as close to ambulance as the Lakota language came at the time) and he was one of the men we were transporting. He looked close to my size and we were in a bad spot. I put it on and sent the other girl back with the men who had made it. Then I came to the front to fight.”

  “You should not have done that! Women are not allowed in combat!” he signed emphatically.

  Her eyes narrowed. “I know, and that is stupid. The Russians have women fighting for them, and some British women have joined other fighting forces, too. I am a good solider and I have counted much coup already.”

  “How long have you been out here?”

  “Two weeks,” she signed.

  He gritted his teeth. “You are not properly trained and someone will discover you.”

  She arched a brow at him. “I am as well trained as you were when you got here. From what I understand, many of our soldiers had to be retrained by the French because they were not combat ready. I need no such training. I am an excellent shot and I am as skilled at hand-to-hand combat as most of the men here. I have ways of hiding my identity and I cut my hair short.”

  Kyle shook his head a little as he remembered her thick, reddish-brown tresses. “I am taking you back to the rear. You are going to get yourself killed.”

  Her gray eyes turned lighter with anger. “Why? Because I am a woman? If you say that, I will hit you.”

  “You would really hit a superior officer?” he asked.

  “Yes. According to you, I am not a real soldier, so there would be nothing you could do about it,” she said. “You must make a decision. Either I am a soldier or I am not.”

  Kyle didn’t like being backed into a corner and he wasn’t going to let her do it to him. Out loud, he said, “You’re not. I’m taking you back.”

  “No!” she shouted. “You’re not!”

  Art had been watching them and he was confused. He could tell they’d been arguing in some sort of sign language, but he had no idea what they’d been saying.

  Kyle said, “Art, I’m going to swear you to secrecy. Hailey is—”

  Hailey slugged him hard and he fell back against the trench wall. “Shut up, Kyle!”

  Art grew even more confused. “Hey, knock that off. He might be your cousin, but he’s also your superior. You can’t go around hitting superior officers.”

  Kyle said, “You hit me like that again and I’ll hit back. Woman or no woman, Hailey.”

  Her fist clenched in rage. “Damn you!”

  Art looked between the two of them. “Woman?”

  Kyle said, “Yeah. Hailey’s a girl.”

  “I hope you’re kidding,” Art said. “Women ain’t allowed to fight.”

  She turned her angry gaze on him. “I’ll fight any man who challenges me. I’m a better soldier than half of the men out here. My grandfather is a Lakota chief and I’ve been trained by the men in our family since I was little. Give me a gun, bow and arrow, or a knife and I’ll show you just how lethal I am.”

  Art’s expression showed his surprise. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look like an Indian. You must be a half-breed. Me, too. What the heck are we gonna do with her?”

  “I’m taking her to the rear and they can get her back to the Red Cross. That’s how she got over here.” He gave her a hard look. “Was that your plan all along?” As long as he’d known Hailey, she’d been wild and fierce, not easily swayed from doing what she wanted. It wouldn’t surprise him if she’d been angry at not being able to enlist and had decided to sneak her way into the battle at the first chance she’d gotten.

  “No, but when I saw an opportunity, I took it,” she said. “This is where I want to be. Not back there with all of those silly women who constantly talk about this handsome soldier or that. This is where I can make a real difference. Not there.”

  She took off her helmet and wiped sweat from her brow. Kyle looked at her closely-shorn head and could have cried. Her wavy mane of deep auburn hair was gone, with only red-brown stubble adorning her head. Then she put the helmet back on, fastening it just as more cannon fire sounded.

  “You’re goin’ back,” Kyle shouted. “As soon as we move forward, I’m taking you to my lieutenant and he’ll see that you’re taken where you’re supposed to be. And if you fight me on this, I’ll just knock you out and carry you there. Understand? This isn’t like at home when you’re just sparring. This is life and death out here.”

  “I know that!” Hailey shouted back. “But I can fight. I’ve done just fine the last couple of weeks.”

  Kyle moved closer to her. “Hailey, there’s another reason you can’t be out here. It’s a good thing you dropped down into our trench. A lot of these guys out here are missing women and some of them would take advantage of you if they found out you were a woman.”

  “Let them try and I’ll make them sorry.”

  “You won’t be able to fight off three or four of them,” Kyle said. “You’re going back.”

  Art said, “He’s right, miss. I’m sorry, but you better do as he says.”

  She gave them withering looks. “You can both go to hell.” She turned her back on them, stepping over to the small, wooden ladder and going up a step—just far enough to see out over the top of the trench. Things seemed to be quieting down.

  Suddenly the order came to move out and Hailey was off like a shot. Kyle swore a blue streak as he followed her. He caught up to her, tackling her. “Oh, no, you don’t. We don’t have time for this! Come with me now!”

  He hauled her up with him and she knew that it was useless to fight. He would surely tell someone to be on the lookout for her if she succeeded in escaping. Kyle forced her to run with him to where his superior, Lieutenant Asherman, stood.

  He saluted Asherman. “Sir, permission to speak?”

  “Go ahead, Dwyer,” Asherman said, wondering why Kyle had such a tight hold on the soldier with him.

  “This isn’t one of our men. She’s a woman and she needs to go back to the Red Cross. She was an ambulance driver and ran into some trouble. She put on a uniform to disguise herself. Take off your helmet,” he instructed Hailey.

  Hailey took it off and threw it angrily to the ground. “I thought you were my friend, Kyle.”

  “I am, but right now, I’m a soldier first and foremost and you being out there compromises us in a lot of ways. I’m sorry, Hailey, but this is for the best,” Kyle said.

  Asherman angrily asked, “How the hell did you get out onto the battlefield?”

  Hailey said, “It doesn’t matter. I’ll go back quietly, like the good little girl you want me to be, Kyle, but I’ll never forgive you for this. Never.”

  His eyes held true regret. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I really am.”

  Hailey strode away from them without saying anything and Kyle followed her. “Is that really how you wanna leave things between us, Hailey? I might die out here. I sure as heck don’t want us to be angry with each other the last time we see each other.”

  She turned around abruptly. “Then you shouldn’t have turned me in!”

  “I had to!”

  “Fine! Go back to fighting!” she said. “Be careful.” She hugged him. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, but I’m mad as hell at you. You’ll just have to accept that. May the Great Spirit keep you safe.”

  He hugged her back briefly. “You be careful, too. And try to behave, ok?”

  She pulled back from him. “I’ll behave as I want to. That’s the best I can do.”

  He laughed and shook his head before running off.

  Asherman came over to her. “You do realize you’re in a lot of trouble for impersonating a soldier, don’t you?”

  Hailey smiled at him. “I don’t care; I’m sure the press will love my story. How a girl slipped into battle? The
y’ll be really interested in that.”

  Asherman’s blue eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening an army officer?”

  “No. I’m just suggesting that you send me back to the Red Cross without punishment and I won’t tell anyone how I duped several officers and a lot of other men. I also won’t tell them that I killed twenty-one Germans while I was a soldier for the past two weeks,” she said. “And I certainly won’t tell them how I dragged one of our soldiers to safety after he was wounded.”

  Asherman was shocked. “You’re making that up.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m not gonna stand here trying to convince you, though. The Lakota don’t lie. We’re taught to always tell the truth.”

  “Funny. You don’t look Indian.”

  “I’m half Lakota.” Hailey didn’t feel like giving more explanation than that. “Well, I’m sure you have more important things to do than talk to me. Like telling our boys what you want them to do on this next offensive.”

  Asherman was sorely aggravated by her belligerent attitude, but he was also curious about her. “So you really fought for two weeks and killed twenty-one Germans?”

  “I don’t know why you should be so surprised that a woman can do that. The Russians have a lot of women fighting for them. If they can do it, so can I,” Hailey said. “Look, am I going back or not?”

  Asherman said, “Just sit over there for now. I’ll get Corporal Gaines to take you to the rear.”

  Hailey went over to where he’d indicated and sat down on the ground cross-legged. Asherman looked at her for a few moments before going to talk to his corporal.

  Kyle smiled as he remembered Hailey telling him and Art about what had happened after he’d left her with Asherman. The woman was a firecracker and TNT combined. He wasn’t the only one thinking about the strong-willed Hailey; his friend, Art Perrone, one of the few people who knew about Hailey’s short career as a soldier, stood at the ship’s railing, his mind drifting into the recent past.

  December 20, 1918,

  After receiving a stern reprimand from her superior, Hailey had been reassigned as an ambulance driver. Hailey drove wounded soldiers back from the front, humming as she pulled in to the unloading zone and cut the engine. It had finally sunk in to many that the fighting was really over after so many months at war.

  She helped transfer patients to the hospital, joking with the five men, who thankfully weren’t severely wounded. Only one of them had a gunshot wound to the leg. The others had broken bones.

  One of them, a spunky nineteen-year-old, asked, “So where are you from, beautiful?”

  “You can call me Dwyer and I’m from Montana,” she said, grinning.

  “Ok, Dwyer, I’m from California, but I could be persuaded to move to Montana.” His blue eyes twinkled as he hobbled along on a pair of makeshift crutches.

  She laughed. “Wow. Willing to move to see a redheaded Indian, huh?”

  “Indian?” he asked. “You ain’t no Indian.”

  “I sure am. Half Lakota,” she said. “Still want to move to Montana?”

  Revealing her lineage was usually an effective way to ward off unwanted advances because of the prejudice that existed towards Indians, even the ones serving in the war.

  The young man wasn’t sure what to say.

  Hailey patted him on the shoulder. “That’s ok, soldier. Have a nice life. Glad you made it.”

  Smiling to herself, she went back to her ambulance to clean the back just in case she got sent out again.

  “Mmm mmm. There’s that fierce warrior woman,” said a male voice.

  Turning around, she saw Art coming towards her. She couldn’t hold back a grin. “Hey! You made it! Glad to see you. Are you hurt?”

  “Shot in the foot,” he said, smiling as he limped. “No, I didn’t shoot myself, either. It’ll be better before I’m married. So I see they didn’t send you home or throw you in the hoosegow.”

  “Nah. I had ‘em by the balls since I threatened to tell every newspaper about my story. Besides, they needed me. I convinced them to let me drive ambulance in exchange for my silence.”

  “That’s good. Am I keepin’ you?” he asked.

  “Nope. I can talk while I clean,” she said, gathering up her supplies. “Where’s your partner in crime?”

  “Your cousin? Around here somewhere. He came with me to get stitched up from some shrapnel.” Seeing the instant concern on her face, he said, “He’s ok. They got it out and it didn’t hit anything vital. It was mainly on his back. He’ll have some scars, but that’ll give him something to talk about.”

  Hailey laughed. “He doesn’t need any help in that department.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” Art agreed. “So when you’re done here, can a soldier buy you a cup of coffee?”

  She smiled. “Why, Art, are you asking me on a date?”

  His dark eyes gleamed with amusement. “And what if I was?”

  “I don’t know. They say war romances don’t work out,” she joked, climbing up into the back of the ambulance to start wiping it out.

  He chuckled as he moved closer so they could still talk. “Who said anything about romance? I’m just talking about a cup of coffee.”

  “Well, first it’s a cup of coffee and the next thing you know, you’re getting married.”

  Art laughed. “Boy, you sure are in a hurry, girl.”

  “Actually, marriage isn’t on my dance card,” Hailey said, ringing out her rag. “So where’s home for you?”

  “Well, see, there’s this little place in Montana called Dawson and that’s where I aim to go. Your bonehead cousin is dragging me home with him. Says he has a job for me.”

  “No kidding? Sounds like something he’d do.”

  “I did pull his bacon out of the fire, so he owes me,” Art said. “Or so he says. I didn’t bother correctin’ him. He’s been after me about it, but I didn’t take him seriously at first. After the last letter I got from Mama, I made sure he meant it. Things in Louisiana aren’t any good right now—not for my kind, anyhow. He said Dawson’s a little different that way, so I thought why not give it a try. Can’t be any worse than home.”

  “Just prepare yourself for his family. They’re great folks and very respected, but they’re rambunctious and they argue a lot, which is funny most of the time.”

  “That’s what he said. So how about that cup of coffee?” Art asked.

  “I thought I talked you out of that?” she teased.

  “No, ma’am. You tried to talk me out of it, but I don’t give up easy.”

  “I do like that in a man. Ok. One cup of coffee after I see Kyle,” she said.

  He smiled. “I’ll wait and take you to him. He’ll be happy to see you.”

  The Present

  Art chuckled to himself as he remembered how the three of them had celebrated Christmas together along with some of the other soldiers and a few of the nurses. He’d noticed that Hailey hadn’t been very chummy with the nurses and had remembered her remark about how silly she found some of them to be.

  However, she’d fit in well with the soldiers, drinking, playing cards, and telling some raunchy jokes. The fellas had been enthralled by Hailey, who was beautiful despite her short, reddish hair. Art felt the stirrings of desire as he thought about her delicate ears and full, sensual mouth and how soft it had been when he’d kissed her at midnight on New Year’s Eve at the impromptu dance at the hospital.

  It had just been a friendly kiss and he wasn’t the only man Hailey had kissed that night. They had been quick pecks of celebration, but he’d noticed the way some of the men had looked at her and he hadn’t been able to blame them. After all, hadn’t he noticed her beauty? The jealousy he’d seen on some of the nurses and nurses’ aides’ faces had been funny, too. Hailey didn’t mind ruffling feathers no matter whose feathers they were.

  A week later, he’d gotten to see her fighting skills when she’d taken down a solider who’d dared to put his hands on her rear end. By the time she’d been d
one with him, he’d lain on the ground, groaning in pain.

  She’d looked around at the crowd gathered around. “Let that be a lesson to anyone else who wants to try getting fresh like that.” Her gray eyes had flashed fire as she’d left the area and Art swore he’d lost his heart to her right then.

  Kyle appeared at his side, snapping his mind back to the present.

  “Some of the fellas are putting together a card game. You want in?” Kyle asked.

  It would be a good way to pass the time, Art mused. He was as anxious as the rest of the men to get back to America. “Sure. Why not?”

  He followed Kyle below decks, but his mind was still on the Lakota bravette with the auburn hair.

  Chapter Three

  Renee went to Elliot’s after her lunch with Tim to pick up her material and a few things for supper. She hummed as she put this and that in her basket.

  “Hello, Renee.”

  Renee stopped, turning around at the deep, male voice behind her. She almost dropped her basket when she recognized Brody Benson. “H-hello,” she stammered.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  “Fine and you?”

  “Good, thanks. You have a lot of stuff there. Do you need help carrying it?”

  “That would be great. Thank you so much,” she said, handing him some of the material.

  “What are you doing with all of this material?” he asked.

  She told him about her project for the hospital patients.

  “That’s really nice of you,” he said. “Not a lot of people would think of doing something like that.”

  “Well, I hope someone might do something like that for me if I were sick,” she said. She heard Tim’s advice in her mind and stopped walking down the aisle. “Brody, are you interested in me? It seems as though you are, but you never ask me out. Am I imagining things?”

  Brody blushed slightly and his blue eyes left hers for a moment. “No, you’re not imagining things. I am interested, but … I don’t quite know how to say this.”