Chapter 12
“The Sweat Lodge Treatment?” Lydia
asked, her brow crinkled in question.
“What’s that?”
“It’s where Teaspoon stuffs you in this
little room with no air to breath and starts a fire, then makes it steam by
pouring water over hot rocks, until you give in and tell him whatever it is he
wants ta know,” Jimmy explained with a shudder.
“It’s pure torture.”
“But, why?”
“You don’t know Kid near as well as you
think you do, if you gotta ask me that.
He’s stubborner than a goat.
‘Bout the only person I know that’s stubborner than him, is his wife! It may be torture, but this time I think
Teaspoon’s right. It’s the only way ta
get them two talkin’, thinkin’ ‘bout the other and not their own problems.”
Lydia nodded slowly, thinking about just
how Lu would refuse to ask for help, even when it was evident he needed it, the
hours he’d spend alone, ‘thinking things over’.
Yes, he was one of the most stubborn men she’d ever met in her
life. If his wife was even worse, she
wondered how they’d ever managed to get together in the first place.
“Lou wouldn’t let him get away with it,”
Jimmy said. “Leastwise, not most times.”
“What?”
Lydia asked, not following Jimmy’s train of thought.
“I could see ya tryin’ ta figure them
two out. It’s simple. When one got stubborn in a bad way, the other
one got stubborn in a good way. When one
went silent, the other’n start talkin’ up a storm. When one ran away, the other’d chase. Until, somehow, they’d suddenly switch
places.”
Jimmy paused a moment, filling his mouth
with a large forkful of Rachel’s apple pie.
He moaned in appreciation, closing his eyes to savor the flavor. He
hadn’t had anything this good in years, probably not since he’d ridden off to
war.
“Nice to see you enjoying my cooking.”
His eyes popped open in surprise as he
stared at Lydia. “Your… your
cookin’? I thought this was Rachel’s
pie.”
“No,” Lydia said, shaking her head with
a smile. “She had to leave early for
school this morning. So, I told her I’d
do the cooking today, to thank her for making room for all of us.”
Jimmy stared down at the pie on his
plate for a moment, before raising his eyes to meet Lydia’s again. “Have you done any thinkin’ on what yer gonna
do now?”
She sighed. “Yes.
And I still have no ideas. I
can’t do anything every other woman in this territory can already do for
herself.”
“Now there you’re wrong,” Jimmy said,
jumping to his feet. Reaching out he
grabbed her hand in his, the pie on his plate still in his other hand, and
began dragging her toward the door.
“Come on!”
“Where are you taking me?” she asked,
laughing at his boyish exuberance.
He flashed her a dimpled smile and said
mysteriously, “To see a man ‘bout a job!”
**********
“Hey, why so glum, you two?” Teresa
asked as she herded Mary Kate and Carl back into the bunkhouse. She shook her head as she thought about the
show her sister and brother-in-law had just put on. One would think they were still children
themselves, the way they’d been acting.
She was glad Teaspoon had stepped in and put a stop to their argument. But she was afraid he’d been a bit too late.
Mary Kate sniffed a bit, followed by a
muffled sob from Carl.
Yep, he’d been too late.
Teresa sat down on the first bunk she
came to, right by the door, and pulled the children down next to her, wrapping
one arm tightly around each one.
“What is it?” she asked tenderly.
“Is Lu really my Pa? Is he really the Kid?” Mary Kate asked quietly.
“And does that mean he cain’t never by
my real Pa?” Carl wailed.
Teresa sighed. It was as bad as she’d feared. Tightening her hug around the two children,
she took a moment to think before answering slowly.
“Well, there’s Pa’s and then there’s
Pa’s,” she said. “Some men can be a Pa
without ever lovin’ or carin’ fer their children. That’s what your Ma’s and my Pa was like,
Mary Kate. But then there’s men that can
love children that ain’t really theirs like they was their own. That’s what the Kid, uh… Lu, is like.”
She looked down at the children to see
if they were understanding what she was trying to say. Seeing that she at least had their full
attention, she continued. “Carl, hasn’t
the… er.. Lu always acted just like he was yer Pa born?”
The boy nodded. “Yes’m.”
“Then I’d say that means he’s yer real
Pa, no matter what happens now. He may
not live with you and yer Ma no more, but that can’t change how he feels ‘bout
you or you ‘bout him.”
A slow smile began to relax the worry
tightened features of the boy. Teresa
then turned to Mary Kate, a much tougher nut to crack.
“And yes, Mary Kate, Lu is the Kid. He is yer born Pa.”
“Then how come he never come’d ta take
care of me, like other Pa’s? “ Mary Kate interrupted, the questions spilling
out of her one after the other without a breath in between. “How come he spent all his time raisin’ Carl
‘stead of me? Is it ‘cause I’m a
worthless girl?”
Teresa gasped at the girl’s
concerns. Where had she gotten such
ideas? Certainly not from Louise or
herself! Freeing her other arm from
around the now relaxed Carl, Teresa reached up to push a few curly brown locks
away from Mary Kate’s eyes.
“Oh, honey,” she whispered. “No!
That’s not the way it is at all.
Nobody’s explained anything to you, really, have they?” When she got her hands on her sister she was
going to strangle her for leaving her to do the dirty work. Sighing, she began to explain. “Lu is the Kid. That means yes, he’s yer Pa born. But he didn’t know that ‘til just a couple
days ago.”
“I don’t unnerstand,” Mary Kate said, a
wounded look in her large blue eyes.
“How could he not know I’m his?”
“You remember how yer Ma always told you
yer Pa died fightin’ in the war?” Teresa asked, waiting until Mary Kate nodded
slowly before continuing. “Well, she
didn’t tell him she was expectin’ you.
So, he left not even knowin’ you was on the way.”
Teresa held up a hand for silence as she
could see Mary Kate about to ask another question, one she didn’t have the
answer for.
“Anyway, when he went off ta war, Kid
got hurt, real bad.” Mary Kate gasped, a
hand flying to her mouth in shock.
Teresa nodded. “He’s alright
now. But, when he got hurt, he lost
his memory. So he didn’t even know ta come back to yer Ma
ta find out ‘bout you.”
“But, how come Ma always told me he was
dead?”
“Well, we don’t know all the story yet,
but apparently his commanding officer thought he’d been killed, not injured,
and wrote yer Ma sayin’ he was dead. And
this was all before you were even born.”
“If Lu’s her born Pa and my fer reals
Pa, does that mean we’re brother and sister?” Carl asked.
Teresa laughed, hugging both children to
her. “Why not?” she grinned at
them. “It’s as close to a normal
relationship as any of us in this crazy family have. Yes, yer brother and sister.”
The two kids looked at each other a
moment, before beginning to grin ecstatically.
“Maybe this’ll mean we can all live in
the same house.”
“And go to school together.”
“I’ll teach ya how ta fish!”
“And I can teach ya how ta shoot.”
Teresa smiled as the two children began
to plan out their lives together. It
always amazed her how resilient they could be.
Now that their worries had been laid to rest, they were back to their
normal, exuberant selves.
**********
“Where are you taking me James Butler
Hickok?” Lydia laughed as she stumbled
along after the tall gunslinger, struggling to match his long, hurried strides
down the boardwalk. So intent was she on
trying to move quickly, she didn’t notice he’d suddenly stopped and ran
straight into his back.
“Whoa!” he said, dancing in a circle to
keep from losing the pie on the plate in his free hand, but never letting go of
his grasp on her with his other hand, thus dragging her in a comical tangle
with him. “Phew!” He let out a sigh of relief as the slice of
pie finally gave up its bid for freedom and settled back onto the plate. Looking down at Lydia, who by now was wrapped
in his free arm tightly against his side, he grinned enthusiastically. “Here.
I’m takin’ ya here.” He pointed
at the plate glass window in front of them with his chin.
She turned her head to look. The sign read Jarvis’ Fine Dining and Baked Goods.
“What?”
“I heard yesterday, his last cook done
run off and got married. Rachel said
he’s been after her ta come work for him, but she’s happy teachin’. I was thinkin’ you could start yer own dress
shop, what with all that sewin’ and fancy needlework you do. But after tastin’ this, I figgered, why
wait?”
“A… a cook? They’d actually pay me ta cook?”
“And bake,” Jimmy added, grinning. “Don’t forget the bakin’.”
She stared up at him, her eyes rounded
in wonder and delight at the idea.
“Come on,” he said more softly,
realizing just how closely they were entwined and feeling a sudden need to
either get closer to her full, soft curves or put some distance between
them. “Let’s go talk to Harrison
Jarvis.”
She nodded and began to pull away from
him, slowly. He nearly groaned in
appreciation of the, most likely, unintentionally teasing brush of her body
against his. Stepping back, she
straightened her shoulders, pulled her bodice down in a businesslike fashion,
and taking a deep breath, moved briskly toward the front door.
He watched her go in growing
admiration. He’d always had a preference
for soft brown hair and big brown eyes, ever since… well…. But lately? Lately he couldn’t get a certain pair of
green eyes and head of long, silky black hair out of his mind.
Lydia poked her head back out the door
and looked at him. “Either get in here
or give me that pie,” she hissed. “I’ve
got a job to interview for.”
Grinning, he quickly followed her into
the dark, cool interior of the restaurant.
He had a feeling he’d follow her just about anywhere. He shook his head, wondering where that
notion came from.
**********
Teaspoon sat on the porch, watching the
evening sun slowly work its way toward the horizon. The supper dishes he’d set inside the sweat
lodge door had yet to reappear. And,
there’d been no sign of any progress toward communication between those
two. He was worried. If they didn’t
start talking soon, he’d have to try something else. But he wasn’t sure just what that something
else might be.
A pair of soft, slender hands slipped
over his shoulders, the fingers beginning to dig into the clenched muscles in a
beguiling manner. He groaned in
appreciation, leaning his head back against his wife’s chest.
“It’ll be alright,” she whispered. “You’ll see.
They just needed some time alone, away from the rest of us to work some
things out.”
“Did I?” he questioned. “Or did I make things worse by forcing them
ta somethin’ they wasn’t ready fer yet?”
“They love each other,” she smiled,
nestling her face next to his. “That’s a
mighty powerful force. It’ll guide them
in the right direction. Eventually.”
Reaching up, he patted her cheek, then
pulled away as he stood up. He slipped
one hand around his suspenders and tugged at it, sighing. “Might as well go collect the supper dishes.”
Teaspoon stepped off the porch wearily
and trudged toward the sweat lodge.
Polly watched her disheartened husband move away from her with a heavy
heart. She, too, worried that Lou and
Kid might let their stubborn natures overcome the love they so obviously felt
for each other. But, she couldn’t give
up hope. For Teaspoon’s sake, if not for
her own.
Teaspoon approached the sweat lodge with
trepidation. He was afraid of what he’d
find, or rather what he wouldn’t find when he got there. But, nearing the entrance, he slowed as the
sound of two voices, talking quietly wafted through the walls of the lodge to
his ears.
“Rather than pay me by the job, like
most marshals, Sam pays me a little less but keeps me on all the time,” came
Lou’s quiet voice. “Not that there’s
ever much time when I ain’t workin’ a case.”
“Tell me about Mary Kate,” he heard the
Kid plead. “It’s hard to believe I have
a little girl out there. I always wanted
children.”
Teaspoon stuffed a fist in his mouth to
keep from making any noise as he slowly snuck away, forgetting all about
collecting the supper dishes. Almost
dancing his way back to the porch, he joyfully announced, “It worked! They’re talkin’!”
Hopping up onto the porch like a man
half his age, he slipped his arm through Polly’s and began swinging her around,
singing as he moved. “They’re talkin’,
they’re talkin’! By jove, they’re
talkin’!”
Polly laughed at his excited reaction,
joining in his celebratory dance, happy to see the worry roll away from him so
quickly and easily. It really didn’t
take much to make her Teaspoon happy, just the happiness of his boys. And girl.
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