Copyright 11/15 by Kirby's Cowgirl
No copyright infringement intended, to Craig Johnson or Netflix
Thanks to Mr. Johnson for creating this wonderful series, and Netflix for picking it up after A & E was stupid enough to cancel it
Auntie Em
Matthias pulled the patrol car over next to the disabled truck. "Since when can't you change a tire?" he called to his Aunt, who was sitting in the shade on a camp stool, holding her phone.
"Since the lug nuts appear to be rusted on!" she retorted, getting to her feet. "I can't get a cell signal either."
He picked up the lug wrench, and she shook her head at him. "Matty, just call me a tow truck. I don't want you hurting yourself."
The look he gave her would have vaporized anyone else, but then he saw what she meant. He couldn't budge the nuts either. "I should have some WD 40 in the trunk." He said.
She returned with the can and sprayed a liberal amount . "Matty, really, I know you have things to do -"
"To protect and to serve." He interrupted her, as he got the first nut loose.
"How did we ever get along without this stuff?" She had once given his Uncle a five gallon bucket of it for Christmas, and it was a family joke.
Matty pulled the flat off and replaced it with the spare. "What are you doing out this way, anyway?" he asked. He thought she wasn't going to answer him. "Got a boyfriend?" he teased. His Uncle had been dead for five long years, and he'd never even considered the possibility of her remarrying.
"The few men that are in my age range only want 25 year old runway models." She looked like she might start crying, and that was so unlike her, it angered him.
"Well they're idiots."
"Matty, are you sick?" she looked at him strangely. Most of the folks on the Rez had been appalled when his Uncle Robert had married a white woman, and twelve year old Matthias had tried to make her life hell. He had nicknamed her "Auntie Em", and she didn't know how many spankings he'd gotten from his father, Tommy, and her new husband. He had been a spoiled brat when she'd met him. He certainly hadn't liked that she was a better rider than he was, a good hand with livestock, and a competent markswoman.
When Matty was fifteen, his father had been killed trying to break up a knife fight in a bar. No one had ever thought that Matty might follow in his father's footsteps and be a tribal policeman. In fact Em had been worried for awhile that he might end up in prison.
"There's Lucian?" Matthias suggested.
"That old buzzard!" the fire in her eyes was back, and whatever was bothering her seemed forgotten. She swatted him.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked as he tossed the flat tire and tools in the bed of the pick up.
"I left the new Hector a donation."
"You did what?" he looked at her, instantly furious. "If anyone is bothering you, you tell me. If it's off the Rez, Walt Longmire will handle it." And then, he couldn't believe that he'd said it.
"Matty, honey!" she grabbed him and hugged him. "I left the person who's taken on Hector's job some gas money. I always helped Hector, why shouldn't I help him too?" The fact that she'd written the new Hector a note, was none of Matty's business. She'd been in the process of turning around to retrieve it when she'd noticed the flat. She had no business complaining about anything in her life. She was blessed, compared to many people on the Rez, and she knew it.
"Auntie Em!" he looked at her, speechless. His Aunt, pillar of the community that she was, had aided a known criminal. Hector had on occasion, done some things that had landed him prison time.
"There are too many gray areas in the law, Matty. Hector never did anything that didn't need doing. Our people, our people need him."
"Try and stay out of trouble, Auntie Em." He closed the truck door after her.
"Your Mom's worried about you." She said suddenly. "You should drop by some night and have dinner. You know she always makes enough food to feed an Army."
Matty knew just what she was worried about. She was afraid that since the casino had opened, and more and more people poured thru the county daily, that some party girl might decide it would be fun to tame a "red man."
"Your hair looks nice." He said, to change the subject. She had a new stylish cut. As long as he'd known her, she'd worn her hair in a single braid down her back, just the way his Mom did.
"Your Mom got the same cut." At the look on his face, she started laughing. "Ruby's granddaughter opened a new salon. We wanted to give her some business."
It took him a few minutes to remember that Ruby worked in the sheriff's office. She and his Mom and Em had been friends for years. "I'll try and get over to see Mom next week."
"Thanks for changing my tire, Matty. It was good to see you." She leaned thru the door, and hugged him.
"Take care of yourself, Auntie Em." He watched her drive away, noting that the worry was back in her face. Well, whatever was wrong, she wasn't going to talk to him about it.
Several evenings later ….
"Can I get you anything else, ma'am?" Cady asked the older lady. She had been sitting at a back table for almost an hour, playing with a cheeseburger. Viv, the other part time waitress, had already gone home.
"I'm sorry, honey." The woman said. "I've been taking up your table for too long." She suddenly seemed to realize that most of the bar had cleared out. Then she took another look. "Cady Longmire?"
Cady still didn't know who she was, but she knew she should have. "I'm sorry -" she started.
"You and Smokey were some of my star pupils." Her eyes twinkled.
"Aunt Emma." Cady leaned down and hugged her. "I never thought you would cut your hair! You look great!"
"So do you, honey." Emma hugged her back, wondering why in the world that Matty couldn't find a nice girl like this to settle down with. And then she remembered that Cady's boyfriend had been killed. "I'm sorry about Branch." She said carefully.
Cady tried to shrug, but her eyes filled with tears. "We had broken up, but it still hurts. Thank you for the note you sent me."
Emma patted her hand. "I'm sorry, I just don't do funerals anymore. It's never going to quit hurting, but after awhile, you just start to remember the good things."
Cady sat down and wiped her eyes. "Are you still coaching the rodeo team?" she noticed Henry coming out of the kitchen, drying his hands on his apron.
"They decided they wanted someone younger who was still competing." She shrugged, but Cady knew her well enough to know that her feelings had been hurt over it. "I've got enough to do with the ranch as it is."
"You should hit up some jackpots and make them eat your dust." Cady declared. "I'll go with you."
Emma laughed. "Do you still ride?"
"Not so much anymore. I still have Smokey though. He's twenty seven, and there'll never be another horse like him."
"No, you two were special. It's like that sometimes."
"I can borrow a horse from Dad. And his trailer too, if you want?" Cady offered.
"Emma! I didn't recognize you without your braid." Henry said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Matty said the same thing, more or less." She reached and squeezed his hand. "It's good to see you, Standing Bear. You still make the best cheeseburgers in the county. And Hector made the best fry bread." A shadow crossed her face for just a minute.
"They replaced Emma as the rodeo coach." Cady turned to Henry. "Did you know that?"
"I thought it was your decision." Henry said, and then realized that it hadn't been.
"I told her we should go to some jackpots and let her win all their money."
"Do you have a competition horse now, Emma?" Henry asked. He knew she had many ranch horses, but a highly trained barrel horse was an entirely different kind of animal.
"I have three." Emma actually laughed. "I have to do something with my time. I compete against myself, and Rose and Ruby time me. Rose is a really good rider herself, but she never wanted to compete. We have a good time and then we go and eat pizza."
"I don't know who Rose is?" Cady said.
"Matthias's Mom."
"Matthias has a mother?"
Emma laughed. "He has improved a little with age, Cady, though he can still be difficult."
"I say all of you girls should go to the jackpot and clean them out." Henry declared. "Next Saturday night, what about it? Cady, I'll give you the evening off."
"I'm game. But I'll probably fall off and embarrass Emma."
After Henry had closed the bar, he went upstairs and sorted thru his latest batch of Hector letters. He had no idea that Hector had ever cooked for Emma, but suddenly it made sense. There had been times when he knew Hector was hurt and he would disappear for weeks at a time. He had to have been holed up at Emma's ranch. All of her ranch hands had been with her for over twenty years, and they were fiercely loyal to her. They would never have turned Hector in. Matthias would probably have blown a gasket if he had had any idea of what his Aunt had been up to.
He sighed and picked up a letter. He'd done what he could with the last batch. If Deana hadn't run off with his money, he could have helped a lot more people.
"Dear Hector,
My name is Linda Falling Rain and I'm sure you know my grandson, Charlie. My government money only goes so far, and he wants a new video game. He is such a good boy and doesn't ask for much. Could you loan me $49.95? I will pay you back, Hector, it's just that with all Charlie's hospital bills, there's not anything left over."
Linda Falling Rain was on social security, and fiercely independent. She would never ask for anything for herself, but Charlie was a different matter. Henry knew the child had a difficult time. Charlie's parents had been killed in an auto accident that left him a paraplegic in a wheelchair. For a child who had been active in sports and lived to be outdoors, it was a daunting blow.
Henry sighed. He would go back down to his office to his computer and order the game online. As soon as he read one more letter. He opened the next envelope, and a fifty dollar bill fell in his lap.
"Dear Hector,
Here's a little gas money to help you in all you do. Our people need you. You mean so much to so many who have no hope.
You have no idea how much I miss you. You were so easy to talk to, and I appreciated all our conversations and your wisdom. You were always so kind to me. Our chats over fry bread and coffee were the only thing that kept me going for awhile, and I think you knew that."
The letter had to be from Emma. She was the only person he knew that could afford to donate that kind of money. Henry sighed. Well, now he had the money to pay for Charlie's video game, without adding to his already overburdened credit card. Why hadn't he realized how lonely Emma was? He'd tasted Hector's fry bread, and he agreed that the man had a magic touch. Well, he would close the bar next Saturday afternoon, and make sure that the girls went to that barrel racing jackpot. What was Malachi going to do, fire him?
And he could take all of them out for pizza later. Matthias would probably blow up if he knew that Henry had taken his Aunt and his Mother out to dinner. It would be all over the Rez in an hour. Cell phones were almost as fast as drums.He could make sure that all the ladies had a nice time and got home safely, he reflected. He'd just drifted into a relationship with Deana, and that had cost him every penny that he had. He'd never even thought of Emma in that way. She was lonely. He was lonely. Scratching his head, he went back downstairs to order Charlie's video game.
There was an SUV stopped, halfway off the road. Matthias pulled the patrol car over behind it, and turned his flashing lights on. He didn't recognize the vehicle. One hand on his gun, he approached.
"I'm sorry, officer." The woman rolled her window down. "Could you please call me a tow truck? I can't get a cell signal." Then she actually looked at him. "Matthias?" She hadn't seen him in - she couldn't remember when.
"Cady Longmire." He couldn't believe how good she looked. He hadn't seen her in a very long time, though they'd grown up and gone to school together. They just looked at each other for what seemed like minutes. Suddenly Matthias said, "Auntie Em couldn't get a signal out here last week either. Come sit in the patrol car with me until the tow truck gets here. I know you're cold."
He saw how she was shivering when she got out of her vehicle, and wordlessly handed her his jacket from the passenger side of his car. He waited until she was seated before he called for a tow truck.
"Thanks, Matty." She said, once the heat had kicked in. " I forgot how fast it gets cold out here. Dad would be really mad at me."
"What are you doing out this way?"
"I had an appointment with Mary Kill Dee, but when I got out to her place no one was there."
"Mary has been dead for three months." Matthias said, trying to keep the anger from his voice. Someone had tricked her into coming out here.
"Well I guess that's why she wasn't there then." Cady said, and then her voice broke. "I'm going to have to give Nighthorse his money back. I was so excited about being help to help the people. I've had one person approach me in six weeks, and that was an argument over water rights. No one trusts me because I'm white."
"The Boulins and the Red Wings have been fighting over water for half a century." Matthias said. "And I'm sorry. I trust you. But Malachi did a lot of damage to both our people. Don't give up."
They were quiet for awhile, then Cady said, "Do you remember when the Boulins stole the donkey from the church nativity scene?"
"I remember Lucian trying to pin it on me."
"He didn't?"
"He did." Matthias said, still angry. And then he thumped the dash with his hand. "I told Aunt Emma she should go out with him."
"That old buzzard! Matty, you didn't!"
"Not one of my finer moments. She's lonely." Matthias looked at her. "I hear that you girls cleaned up at the jackpot last weekend."
"Yeah." Cady grinned at him. "I can't believe that your Mom never competed. She's really good."
"Yeah, that seventy five dollars that she won really impressed her. I think she and Emma may start going every weekend."
"And that will really burn those girls that thought Emma was too old to teach them anything."
"Yeah." Matty grinned back at her. He had always thought that Cady had really pretty eyes. In fact, back in a different lifetime, he'd kissed her on a dare. She'd promptly busted his lip. She'd been braids and braces back then, and he'd been a snotty kid - he wondered if she'd slug him if he tried to kiss her now.
"What are the Boulins up to now, anyway?"
"Arlen's dead. Arlo drives one of Benson's tow trucks."
He saw the shadow cross her face. She did not want to get in the truck with Arlo. "Benson's got two women who work for him. If Arlo's working, I'll take you home."
"Thank you." Cady said, the relief on her face evident.
It was Arlo who got out of the tow truck, and Matthias put out a hand to stop Cady when she would have gone to meet him. "You leave the keys in it?"
She nodded. "I've got my purse. There's nothing else I need." She'd never been afraid of Arlen, but most of the girls steered clear of Arlo. He had a mean streak a mile wide.
"Thank you, Matthias." Cady said again, when he got back in the patrol car after Arlo had left with her car. "Have you had dinner?"
"What?"
"Dinner. The meal people eat, usually after sundown. You do eat, don't you?"
"Your Dad will blow up if anyone sees us together."
"My Dad will appreciate that you helped me when I was broken down in the middle of nowhere and were enough of a gentleman to not make me ride in the truck with Arlo." Cady shot back. "And I'm grown. I make my own decisions."
"I'd forgotten what a temper you have." Matthias said. "Where do you want to eat?"
"That pizza we had last weekend was really good." Then she looked at him. "Are you on duty? I didn't even think -"
"I'm off tonight." He hesitated. "Cady, I'll help you. You're a good lawyer, and Nighthorse was right. The people need you. One condition though." When she raised an eyebrow at him. "You check with Henry or me and make sure anyone who approaches you is legitimate."
"Matty -"
"This could have gotten really ugly tonight and you know it."
"I have a gun, and I will use it."
"Malachi still has a lot of influence on the Rez. I don't want you out here alone." When she started to protest, "I will tell your Dad."
Cady clamped her mouth shut and glared at him. He knew if she hadn't been trapped in the car with him that he would have gotten cussed out.
"It would kill Emma and Ruby if anything happened to you." It was true, both of them considered her a daughter. And it would really bother him too. He hadn't thought about Cady in years. What was wrong with him?
"I'm sorry, Matty." She looked as if she was going to start crying again. "You're right. I'm just tired."
He reached over and squeezed her hand, and she folded her fingers around his, and held on.
Nothing could ever come of him and Cady Longmire. Could it?