William F. Cody, known to the world as "Buffalo Bill," gazed around the wooden table at the remaining members of his Pony Express family. Buck Cross was seated next to him, his lithe figure clothed in buckskin breeches, cotton shirt, black vest, and knee high moccasins. It was almost the exact costume he had worn during the time they rode together. His ebony hair was longer than when they had ridden for the express, but tied back at the nape of his neck with a piece of leather. The Kiowa's face was weathered from exposure to the sun and there was raw sorrow in his dark eyes.
Beside Buck sat the Kid. The Virginian's chestnut hair was sprinkled liberally with gray and his eyes were lined with a few more wrinkles. In their blue depths' he noted the same sorrow, he was feeling inside as well. His friend was wearing a blue cotton shirt, denims, and worn boots. There was not a more loyal friend or brother than the Kid. Cody could not ever recall a time when if he or another of their family members had needed help that the Kid was not the first one lined up to help. Even though they had not seen each other much over the past several years, the bond between them was just as strong and unbreakable as ever.
Beside the Kid sat the diminutive form of Louise, Kid's wife, and the only female rider ever employed by the Pony Express.
He smiled softly as he studied the woman who had long ago become the sister of his heart. The years since they had ridden together had been good ones to Lou. She had transformed from an awkward, boyish tomboy into a beautiful, graceful woman who carried herself with an elegance and confidence that could rival the finest of women. Her waist length, auburn hair was tied back with a ribbon, leaving only a few tendrils to frame her heart shaped face. Lou's slender, diminutive form had filled out nicely from carrying the passel of children she had given Kid.
Lou felt his gaze upon her form and lifted her chin up to meet his eyes across the table. Cody swallowed hard past the lump of emotion that formed in his throat as he took the unshed tears shining in the depths of her soft doe eyes. Somehow seeing the familiar sorrow standing raw and unhidden in the dark orbs made his own pain feel even harder to bear. She was one of the most extraordinarily strong women he had ever had the good fortune to meet, let alone call family, and seeing her in such obvious pain tore a knife through his heart.
He had faced many things over the years that would have buckled most men under, but somehow he always managed to pull himself together. Having to come back to the place in which his Pony Express family had been started and bury his surrogate father was something he did not think he would survive.
Teaspoon Hunter had come into his life at a time when he was just discovering who he was. The older man had taken him and the others under his tutelage and taught them how to be strong, honorable young men and woman respectively. If not for the grizzled ex-Texas Ranger, Cody knew that he would not be the man he was today.
How the lot of them was expected to go on without Teaspoon there to guide and support them, Cody did not know. Their PX family had already dwindled down to just the four of them. They had lost Ike McSwain, Buck's blood brother and their close friend, in the prime of his life. Noah Dixon was the next member of their family to go. The freed black rider had died in his arms and still to this day, he remembered the last words that Noah spoke to them on that day. Jesse James had left the day they buried Noah, and had met his death at the hands of a coward called Bob Ford. Jimmy Hickok had met a violent death as well, when a miscreant named Jack McCall snuck up on him while he was playing cards in a saloon, and shot him in the back. Rachel's death after a bout of pneumonia, had stunned them all, and it had left Teaspoon in a befuddled state for a spell, but he had finally come around and been back to his usual self.
Or so they had all believed. In retrospect, Cody realized that Teaspoon never really got over losing his wife. He had simply played the part that they all expected or needed him to do. None of them could have possibly known that the older man's heart had been split in two when he had lost Rachel, and slowly over the past couple of years, that split had grown into a wide chasm. The doc had said that Teaspoon had literally died of a broken heart, and none of them could dispute the man's diagnosis. Cody had always thought that Teaspoon was too stubborn to die, but he had been sorely mistaken.
His melancholy thoughts were leading him down a dark road that he did not want to go down. Teaspoon had always been so larger than life. He was a man you lived life to the fullest, and encouraged them all to do the same. He had been full of witty comments, sage advice, and supportive anecdotes that always seemed to make a man feel better about his life or the direction he was headed in, even if it was not always easy to decipher right away. Teaspoon was a hell of a man, and he would never forget the grizzled, ex-Texas Ranger, confidante, and surrogate father who so quickly had endeared himself to a bunch of orphans.
Cody stood up and raised his shot of whiskey into the air. He watched as one by one, Buck, Kid, and Lou rose from their places around the table and held up their own glasses. He cleared his throat as he tried to find just the right words to say in honor of the man who had meant so much to all of them.
"To Teaspoon Hunter, the best friend, confidante, and father that any of us were fortunate to have."
"To Teaspoon." Three voices repeated in harmony before downing their individual shots of whiskey.
There were more toasts given in honor of the man they all loved as the evening progressed. Colorful stories were shared by all four of the riders as they reminisced together about days long past, friends and loved ones who were no longer with them, especially one cantankerous old man who had taken them under his wing and taught them how to trust in one another, find confidence in themselves, and given them a family they had never had before.