Montana Sky

couldn’t be real, the way the colors and shapes, the size and scope all swept together.
    The peaks shot up against the sky, tumbled down to a wide, silvery canyon where a river ran blue and trees grew thick and green. Somewhere along the way, it seemed miles to Tess, the river took a curve and vanished into rock. But before it vanished it spewed white, crashed over rock, then settled to serene.
    A hawk circled in the distance, arching around and around that curving river, amid rugged rocks, under spearing silver peaks, above green trees.
    “Good fishing there.” Willa leaned on her saddle horn. “People come from all over hell and back to fly-fish in this river. Me, I’m not big on it, but it’s a sight to see. The way the lines dance and whip through the air, and land with barely a sound or a ripple. Farther down, around the curve, there’s some wild white water. People plunk themselves in rubber rafts and have a high old time riding it. I’ll stick with horses.”
    “Yeah.” But Tess wondered what it would be like. It surprised her that she wondered not in cool writer’s fashion but in hot, thrilling anticipation of what it would feel like to chase that river, to fly down it.
    “It’ll be here when we come back.” Willa turned her horse. “Montana’s funny that way. It mostly stays put. Come on, we’re falling behind.”
    “All right.” Tess carried that view with her, along with countless others, as they drove the herd on.
    The air cooled to a snap, and patches of snow appeared under the trees, around rocks. And still there were flowers, the sprawl of mountain clematis, the sassy purple of wild delphinium. A meadowlark sang a spring song.
    When they stopped to rest the horses and grab a quick lunch, jackets came out of saddlebags.
    “For Christ’s sake, don’t tie your horse.” With another roll of the eyes for the greenhorn, Willa took the reins from Tess, gave her mount an easy slap that sent it trotting away.
    “What the hell did you do?” Tess took two running steps before she realized the horse would outdistance her. “Now what am I supposed to do? Walk?”
    “Eat.” Willa shoved a sandwich in her face.
    “Oh, fine, just fine. I’ll have a little roast beef while my horse goes trotting back home.”
    “He’s not going far. You can’t go tying your horse up around here, then wandering off to sit under a tree and have your lunch.” Then she grinned as she spotted Ben riding up. “Hey, McKinnon, haven’t you got enough to do without looking for handouts?”
    “Thought there might be an extra sandwich.” He slid off his horse, gave it the same absent pat as Willa had given Tess’s. Speechless, Tess watched his mount mosey off.
    “What are you all crazy? There won’t be a horse left to ride at this rate.”
    Ben took the sandwich Tess held, bit into it, and winked at Willa. “She try to tie hers up?”
    “Yep. Tenderfoot.”
    “You don’t tie horses up in high country,” he said between bites. “Cats. Bears.”
    “What are you—cats?” Eyes popping, Tess spun around in a circle, trying to look everywhere at once. “You mean mountain lions? Bears?”
    “Predators.” Willa took what was left of the sandwichfrom Ben, finished it off. “A horse hasn’t got a chance if it’s tethered. How far back’s your herd, Ben?”
    “About a quarter mile.”
    “But—” Tess thought of her rifle that was still in her saddle holster. “What chance have we got?”
    “Oh, fair to middling,” Ben drawled, and Willa roared with laughter.
    “Lily’s probably got that coffee hot by now.”
    He tugged Willa’s hat over her eyes. “How do you think I found you, kid? I followed the scent.”
    Tess stood frozen to the spot as they wandered toward the little campfire where Lily heated the pot. At a faint rustle in the brush behind her she sprinted forward like a runner off the mark. “Wait. Wait for me.”
    “Your sister’s got a powerful love for coffee,” Ben commented as Tess barreled by.
    “You should have seen her face when I set her horse loose. It was worth bringing her along just for that.”
    “Everything all right otherwise?”
    “Quiet.” She slowed her pace. “Normal. Or as quiet and normal as you’d expect with wedding plans gearing up.”
    “I wouldn’t like to see anything spoil that.”
    “Nothing’s going to.” She stopped completely now, turned her back on the group by the fire so that she faced only Ben. “I talked to the police again,”