The Ghost Riders Read online

  THE GHOST RIDERS

  James J. Griffin

  The Ghost Riders by James J. Griffin

  Copyright 2015 by James J. Griffin

  A Rough Edges Press Book

  www.roughedgespress.com

  Badge image courtesy of

  Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

  Cover Illustration: Gut Shot, Andy Thomas, Artist www.andythomas.com

  Copyright Andy Thomas, Used By Permission

  Cover Design by Livia Reasoner

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-1511424400

  ISBN-10: 1511424400

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  The Jim Blawcyzk Novels

  Death Rides the Rail

  Border Raiders

  Trail of the Renegade

  Ranger Justice

  Panhandle Raiders

  Ranger's Revenge

  Death Stalks the Rangers

  Bullet for a Ranger

  Renegade Ranger

  Fight for Freedom

  The Faith and the Rangers

  For All the Western Fictioneers,

  and Everyone Who is Keeping

  the Western Novel Alive.

  1

  “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

  With these few words during the Mass of their wedding, Father Augustus Clermont of St. Cecelia’s Church in San Leanna, Texas united young Texas Ranger Charles Edward Blawcyzk and Mary Jane Jarratt in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Julia Blawcyzk, Charlie’s mother, sighed as she thought back on the ceremony, and the reception which followed. Her husband, and Charlie’s father, Texas Ranger Lieutenant James Blawcyzk, had warned her while the plans were being made that Polish wedding receptions often ran for three days or longer.

  Julia had scoffed at that notion. She’d been proven wrong when, two days after Charlie and Mary Jane left for their wedding trip to Galveston, the party finally wound down. Three days of eating, drinking, and polkaing had left her exhausted, but happy. She hoped her son and his new bride were enjoying their honeymoon. Mary Jane had never seen the Gulf of Mexico. She had seemed almost as excited about that as her first night together with Charlie as man and wife.

  Julia was in Charlie’s bedroom, looking at his things. Memories came flooding back. She’d long since gotten used to often being alone, what with both Jim and Charlie gone for weeks at a time on assignments for the Rangers. Now, however, with Charlie about to start his new life, a feeling of loneliness swept over her. A tear trickled down her cheek as she held a tintype of Charlie at eight years old, with his first horse, Ted.

  Julia’s reverie was interrupted by the barking of an approaching dog. She hurried onto the porch to see Jim, and Charlie’s collie, Pal, heading toward the house. Jim was shirtless and drenched with sweat, his chaps slapping against his legs as he walked. Sweat stained his Stetson, and soaked the bandanna hanging limply around his neck. He was scratching the old saber scar which ran across his stomach. Pal bounded alongside him, barking furiously at something Jim held in his right hand.

  A delicious warmth suffused Julia as she watched her husband approach. Even after all these years of marriage, the sight of his body still filled her with desire. True, as was inevitable, Jim had aged some over the years. His face was bronzed and wrinkled from constant exposure to the harsh Texas sun and wind, and traces of gray were showing in the hair at his temples and around his ears. Still, that blonde hair was as thick and unruly as it ever was, and Jim’s eyes were still a deep crystalline blue. He hadn’t gained much weight with the passage of time, either. His belly was still flat, his waist and hips still slim.

  “Jim? Where’s your shirt?” she asked, when Jim reached the porch.

  “Ask your son’s dang dog,” Jim answered. He opened his hand to reveal a scrap of cloth. “This is what’s left of it. G’wan Pal, get on outta here!”

  He tossed the scrap into the yard. Pal grabbed it in his teeth and ran off, shaking the cloth and growling furiously.

  “I took off my shirt and tossed it over a branch while I was standin’ up a couple of fence posts that went down in the last storm,” Jim said. “Next thing I knew Pal had grabbed it and run off. By the time he was through runnin’ the brush and scrub, that shirt was torn to shreds. It was my favorite, too.”

  “You need some new ones anyway,” Julia answered. “You’re back earlier than I expected. It’s not quite suppertime yet. Why don’t you take a bath? By the time you’re finished, I’ll have everything on the table.”

  “Soon as I care for the horses,” Jim said. He gave Julia a quick kiss on the cheek, then headed for the corral. Pal came running back and followed Julia into the kitchen. She opened the oven, cut a piece off the roast, and gave it to him.

  “Thank you, Pal,” she said. “I never thought I’d be able to get Jim to toss out that raggedy old shirt.” Julia had tried several times to discard the faded, worn, stained, and much-patched garment, but somehow Jim always knew when she threw it in the trash, and retrieved it. He never gave her the opportunity to get rid of the shirt while he was away from home, either. Every time he left on an assignment, that old shirt was either on his back or tucked in his saddlebags. At long last, thanks to Charlie’s rambunctious collie, the shirt had met its demise.

  After feeding Sam, Sizzle, Ted, Splash, and Ben and Jerry, the draft horses, and making sure they had plenty of water for the night, Jim fed and watered the rest of the animals, the paint horses he and Julia raised and sold on their small ranch, the milk cow, and the chickens. The chores done, he headed for the house.

  ● ● ●

  Jim had come home from a Ranger patrol several months previously to find an addition built onto the back of his small ranch house. He pulled Sizzle to a halt as he stared at the new room. Behind him, Sam looked at the addition and snorted.

  “What the devil is that, boys?” he exclaimed to his horses. It didn’t take long for him to find out. Before his feet were even out of the stirrups, Julia was on the porch and pleading with him to hurry inside. She made him close his eyes until they were in the new room.

  “Now, Jim,” she said.

  Jim opened his eyes to see a full-sized clawfoot bathtub in the addition. Even more amazing, water was piped directly to the tub. A hole in the bottom was apparently a drain.

  “What?” was all he could say.

  “Isn’t it wonderful?” Julia said. “I’ve wanted something like this ever since our trip to Kansas City, and our hotel had tubs like this. I’ve saved every dime I could, until I had enough money to pay for it. There’s even a boiler outside which heats the water, so I don’t have to boil kettles on the stove, then haul them in here to fill the tub. And it drains, too. No more dumping water from a heavy tub. Do you like it? I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, you sure did,” Jim said.

  “You’re not mad, are you?”

  “Of course not,” Jim said. “It’s just a bit of a shock, seein’ somethin’ this fancy in my own house.”

  “But do you like it?”

  “I’ll have to try it first.”

  Jim did try the tub, and had to admit it was as luxurious as any tub he’d ever bathed in at a big city hotel. It didn’t take him long to wonder how he’d ever managed without one. Thanks to Julia’s wish and determination, the Blawcyzk house now had something most residences in Texas, even many of the finest, didn’t have… a full bathtub with hot and cold run
ning water. Jim looked forward to soaking in it every time he returned home.

  ● ● ●

  When Jim reached the house, he headed straight for the bathroom. Julia had already drawn his bath. The tub was filled to the brim with steaming hot water and bubbles… and wife.

  “I thought this was gonna be my bath,” he said. “And hot water? In this summer heat? I was thinkin’ of a cool bath.”

  “It is,” Julia answered. “There’s plenty of room in here for the both of us… as if you didn’t already know that.” She lifted her hand from under the suds and languorously patted the edge of the tub, then draped one leg over the side. “C’mon in and join me, cowboy. The water’s absolutely perfect. I promise you, it’s not too hot at all.”

  After several weeks on the trail, followed by Charlie and Mary Jane’s wedding, then days of working around the ranch, Jim didn’t need a second invitation. He practically ripped off his clothes to join Julia. He settled deep into the water, lying back against her.

  “Ahh… this is heaven,” he said, as Julia began to massage his neck. “Soakin’ in a nice, hot bath with an angel. Sure beats tryin’ to wash up in some cold, muddy creek.”

  Julia’s hands drifted lower. When she tickled his ribs, Jim laughed uncontrollably. That was one of the big, rugged Ranger’s few weaknesses. He was extremely ticklish along his ribs. Once Julia started in on those, Jim soon was completely helpless.

  “Stop, Julia, please,” he pleaded.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “I’ll just have to do this.”

  Jim rolled onto his stomach, wrapped his arms around Julia, and together they both sank deeper into the tub. Jim crushed his lips to hers.

  “Oh, Jim!” she gasped, as they disappeared under the bubbles.

  2

  Charlie Blawcyzk was lying in his bed, in the suite he and his new bride, Mary Jane, had taken at the beachfront Galveston Island Hotel. Mary Jane was in the sitting room, composing a letter to her parents. When Charlie had pointed out to her they would most likely arrive back home before the letter even got there, she told him she wanted to describe the coast for her parents while she was right on the spot, not from memories several weeks old. It didn’t matter to her which got to San Leanna first.

  Charlie locked his hands behind his head and propped himself up on his pillow. He smiled to himself as he thought back on their arrival in Galveston, and the last few days. They’d left their wedding reception long before it was over, in order to catch their afternoon train from Austin to Galveston. By the time they reached their hotel, it was close to midnight.

  ● ● ●

  “Well, Charlie, here we are,” Mary Jane said, once the bellboy had deposited their luggage and left. “What do you think we should do next?”

  “I’m thinkin’ some shut-eye would feel good right about now,” Charlie answered. “It’s been a real long day, and I’m plumb tuckered out.”

  “What was that?” Mary Jane flashed him a look that could kill.

  “I’m only kiddin’, Mary Jane. I guess mebbe I should give you a kiss.”

  “That’s more like it. Here.” Mary Jane kissed him on the cheek, then the lips. “How’s that?”

  “It’s a start. But, where do we go from here?”

  “You mean you don’t know, Charlie?”

  “Well, I’ve got the general idea, but I’ve never actually done this before.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m deadly serious, Mary Jane. I’ve never been with a woman before.”

  “Even with all the saloons and gambling halls you’ve visited while riding for the Rangers? All the women you must have met in those places? And you never took a woman to bed, not even once?”

  “Nope. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted, more’n once, but I was raised to wait until I was married. My pa didn’t lay with a woman until he married my ma, and he taught me his values. Well, that and the Commandments. ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’, says the Lord. Then, once we were engaged, I never would have thought of bein’ unfaithful to you. You know that. So, I reckon this is new territory for both of us. But it should be a lotta fun figurin’ this out.”

  “I was hoping more along the lines of exciting,” Mary Jane said.

  “Should be that too.” Charlie wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, hard on the lips. He kept kissing, moving his lips down her neck, to her cleavage. Mary Jane responded by slipping her hand inside his shirt, to rub his chest, then his belly. She slipped her hand lower, feeling a response in his groin.

  “Um, Charlie,” she said. She pulled her hand from inside his pants.

  “Yes?” He nibbled at her left ear.

  “I think we should stop.”

  Charlie pulled back. “Huh?”

  Mary Jane laughed at the expression on his face, a combination of shock, disappointment, and frustration.

  “No, I don’t mean it that way, silly. Just for a minute. I believe this will work better if we take our clothes off.”

  “Y’know, I believe you’re right,” Charlie hastily stripped off his clothes. He sat on the edge of the bed, waiting in anticipation. Mary Jane deliberately took longer, peeling off one article at a time, until she finally stood before Charlie, completely undressed.

  “Now I’m ready, Charlie.”

  “Wait just a bit, Mary Jane. Now it’s my turn to say hold on a minute. I just want to look at you, for a little while.”

  Charlie ran his gaze over his wife. He’d seen paintings of nude females, of course, but this was the first time he’d seen an actual, flesh and blood woman standing in front of him, completely naked. He took in the shape of her body, the light brown hair lying softly on her shoulders and falling to her full, round breasts, the curve of her hips, her long, shapely legs. For her part, Mary Jane looked him up and down, his broad chest, with its thin covering of blonde hair, his flat belly and slim hips, and the obvious signs in his groin that he was ready to make love to her, to take her, fully and completely, as his wife.

  “That’s long enough, Charlie.” She pushed him gently back on the mattress, lay on top of him, and molded her body to his.

  ● ● ●

  “Mary Jane, how long are you gonna be writin’ that letter?” Charlie called. His reflections on their wedding night had him ready to make love again.

  “I won’t be much longer, Charlie. Just a few more pages.”

  Charlie sighed. His mind drifted once more. The last few days, of course, hadn’t been all one session of lovemaking after another. Mary Jane had insisted on shopping, naturally. She had been thrilled at her first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico. They’d gone for several longs walks on the sand, just holding hands, not kissing in public, of course. Even for a newlywed husband and wife, that would be improper. Charlie was amused by the bathing suits worn by visitors to the beach. The women were completely covered, except for their feet. Their outfits had voluminous skirts, and even their heads were covered with large, wide-brimmed hats. The men were also completely covered, except for their lower arms, and their legs halfway below the knees.

  “Dunno how they can swim at all, all wrapped up like that,” Charlie said. “I’d sink like a rock if I tried swimmin’ in one of those get-ups.”

  “Especially if you were wearing one of the ladies’ suits,” Mary Jane said, with a giggle. “You’d look pretty funny, too. And it would be pretty hard to explain to your Ranger partners.”

  “You know what I mean, Mary Jane,” Charlie answered. “Heck, back home all we do is strip off all our clothes and jump in the creek.”

  “Charlie!” Mary Jane said, pretending to be shocked.

  “Hey, don’t play the innocent young thing with me,” Charlie said. “I know some of you gals do the same, when us men aren’t around.”

  “And sometimes when you are, too!”

  “Mary Jane!” Now it was Charlie’s turn to be shocked.

  “Well, when we get back home you and I can go swimming together, if you�
�d like, Charlie.”

  “What do you mean, if I’d like?”

  “I thought that was what you’d say. But if you really want to take a swim here in Galveston, I understand there are beaches, separated for men and boys, women and girls. You could find one of those and go there. From what I have heard, just like at home, you don’t need to wear anything at all.”

  “You really think I want to leave you and spend an afternoon on the beach with a bunch of men, rather’n with you, Mary Jane? Forget it. In fact, let’s head back to our room.”

  “Charlie! It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

  “I know.” Charlie grinned wickedly. “There’s no law says we have to wait until after dark to make love.”

  ● ● ●

  Charlie’s reverie was interrupted when Mary Jane returned to the bedroom.

  “I’ve finished my letter, Charlie,” she said. “We can mail it in the morning.”

  “About time,” Charlie grumbled. “I’ve been waitin’ for you.”

  “I can see that,” Mary Jane said. “Do you ever intend to put your clothes back on?”

  “Not as long as I’m in this bed, and you’re here with me.” He sat up, took her by the wrist, and pulled her to him.

  ● ● ●

  After their lovemaking session, they lay side by side.

  “Charlie,” Mary Jane said. “What’s going to happen when we get back home?”

  “We’ll probably make love a lot,” Charlie answered. “At least, I sure hope we will.”

  “Charlie, I’m being serious. How soon do you think you’ll have to leave?”

  “With the Rangers, you can never be certain,” Charlie answered. He shrugged. “But it’ll most likely be pretty quick. Not long after we’re back in San Leanna.”

  “So you’ll be on the trail, heading to who knows where, chasing outlaws, and I’ll be back at work in my family’s store, worried about you.”

  “You know what I do, Mary Jane. We had this talk before we got married. I’m a Texas Ranger, and always will be.”