Separate Journey

Chapter 11

2nd Night

"We should be there tomorrow." Matt cast an accusing glance at the young man sitting off by himself. "Barring any more …accidents." He dug around in his saddlebag, producing a couple of cans. "Looks like it's beans for supper."

His daughter's grin was followed by an excitable utterance. "Cold beans, out of a can!?"

Calleigh's enthusiasm caused Matt to do a double take at his daughter. "How can you possibly be excited over cold canned beans?" He handed the prized food down to the girl, while he went in search of some firewood. "Would it disappoint you too much if we at least heated them up?"

"Is that the way you usually eat them?"

He thought about lying for a moment, but she was looking up at him with those innocent blue eyes. "No, I usually eat 'em cold. Straight out of the can."

"How about that…" Her words stopped, as she hurriedly dug through the saddlebags, "…I can make coffee and supper tonight!" Calleigh's slender shoulders slumped when her search was fruitless. "There's no opener in your bag."

Matt dropped the load of firewood and stepped over next to his daughter. He retrieved a knife from his saddlebag and picked up one of the cans. In a move that she would never have had the strength to duplicate; he punctured the tin and tore the lid open.

"That's amazing! Let me try." Calleigh reached for the knife.

"Nuh-uh." Matt swatted her hands away, as he reached for the other cans. "Those hands are for healing. I'm not going to watch you lose a couple of fingers." He pried open the next can. "I think there's one more can in the bag. I suppose we have to feed him." Calleigh quickly retrieved the last can and handed it to her dad.

Matt built the fire, still keeping a close eye on the prisoner. Escaping wasn't a concern. Steering clear of Boomer's 'help' was the thing he worried about. While he was working on the fire, Calleigh rummaged through her own saddlebag to find a couple more headache pills. She handed them to her dad when she went to make the coffee.

"Are these Mrs. Prudlin's?" He winked at his daughter, knowing she knew about the longtime family joke.

"After what you been through, I wouldn't have the heart to fool you." She handed him her canteen to wash down the pills. "The coffee will be ready in just a few minutes. Why don't you sit down and rest? I'll bring you a cup."

Matt followed the doctor's advice and settled down on the ground, leaning against his saddle. He watched his daughter coming toward him with two cups of coffee.

"So, Dad… You going to let Boomer eat with us?"

Blue eyes shifted under heavy lids toward the forlorn character sitting on the other side of the fire. Without a word, the lawman shoved a spoon into one of the cans and handed it to her. Sometimes the spoken word was just not necessary.

Calleigh took the can over to the boy. She squatted down beside him for a few minutes. Whatever she said, brightened the sullen face, leaving him as happy as if he actually had good sense.

She returned to Matt and settled down beside him. "Pass me a can of those beans." Impatient fingers waved toward the cans.

"What'd you say to him?" Dillon set his coffee on the ground to pick up the remaining cans and handed her the cold dinner. The beleaguered lawman settled back into a more comfortable position. He stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles.

As opposed to her dad, Calleigh crossed her short legs Indian style. "I told him if he behaved the rest of the way, you wouldn't ask Judge Brooker to hang him." She paused long enough to lick the juice from her chin.

Matt chewed on the mouthful of mushy beans while watching the petite redhead attack the tasteless fare with the same gusto as if it were fine cuisine. He held up the can, checking the label, then reached over, turning her can around. "You got the same thing I have?"

"Yeah." In a gesture that screamed anything but feminine, Calleigh drug the cuff of her sleeve across her mouth, wiping away the last remnants of 'dinner'. "Don't you just love this outdoor living? Cooper would be wild about this." Bright blue eyes full of excitement confronted him. "You need to take him camping."

He polished off the last of the beans and retrieved his coffee. "Why not Hadley? Don't you think she might follow in the footsteps of her big sister?"

Calleigh stood up, reaching for her dad's cup, then walked over to the fire for refills. "Nope. She's our Little Princess. Hadley will be the girly-girl that Kitty always wanted." She handed him the fresh brew before settling back down. "Their idea of camping will be sitting outside Jonas', waiting for him to open up, so they can be the very first to browse through the latest hats."

Matt had to chuckle. Kitty could—and would—rough it when need be; but she was, without a doubt, a girly-girl at heart. And oh, what a sweet girly-girl she could be, he mused silently.

That thought prompted a string of memories from their one and only 'vacation' camping trip: That seductive ice blue gown. Sucking that sweet, candied syrup from her fingers…

"Pleasant memories?"

Matt blinked hard, several times, trying to leave the blissful memories behind. Finally, matching blues eyes met, until one set turned away embarrassed. "Uh, just thinking about…about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Calleigh could take on such a patronizing tone for someone not even half his age. "Odd; it looked as though you were remembering something…pleasant." She kept her eyes on the black liquid swirling around in the bottom of her cup. "Maybe, another camping trip?"

Matt screwed up the edges of his mouth and began chewing on the corner of his bottom lip. His eyes were no longer shy, but dark with suspicion. After a long period of silence, he uttered a single word. "Festus!"

In that moment, the young redhead abandoned any signs of being a brilliant physician, as she fell back into a fit of giggling. "He might have mentioned the 'state' they found you in, up in those hills."

"Does anyone in this family know how to mind their own business? I'm gonna have Brooker hang both of them—Boomer and Festus!"

Calleigh wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes; her words took on a sympathetic and somewhat apologetic tone. "Don't blame him. I can be real inquisitive and… well, he's pretty easy to trick into giving up information." She took a sip of coffee, partially hiding behind the cup. "Kitty was pretty closed-mouthed about it. You, uh, want to talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to talk about it!" That voice could not be mistaken for any other than Marshal Dillon's. The tone had a finality to it, that told her to move on…and do it quickly.

She chose a safer topic. "What time do you think we'll get to Hays?"

"Should get to town about ten a.m."

"The trial starts at one."

"That should give me enough time to clean up and buy some new clothes." He couldn't help casting another quick glance at Boomer, before turning his attention back to his daughter. "Are you nervous about testifying?"

"No. I just wish I could have gotten ahold of that gun before Jenner was killed. He was a good man." She rose to her feet again, making one last trip to the fire, to fill both cups. It was odd how a person could develop feelings for someone they barely knew. Calleigh figured life was just a series of hearts touching hearts and this old man had secured a place within hers. She walked back over, handing Matt a last cup, before squatting down beside his saddlebags and reaching in.

"What are you digging around for?"

"Thought maybe you hid a piece of pie in here," she sighed.

"You don't get pie on the trail." He drawled sarcastically. "There's a couple of sticks of licorice that Cooper slipped in there for me."

His revelation came a little late, as she already had a brown stick poking out from soft, pink lips. The discovery must not have been completely satisfying, as she continued to dig.

"Hey…wuutsh thish?"

"Take the candy out of your mouth, so I can understand you." This was his adult child, he had to remind himself.

She slurped the sticky back and held up the treasure in question. "Where did you get these binoculars? I thought only the army had these."

"Oh, Kitty bought them for me. Special ordered from France. She thought they might come in handy."

The sun had already rested to the point that its brilliance was hidden in the shadows, making it hard to decipher anything through the magnifying lenses. "Well aren't you special." Despite the fact she couldn't make out much of anything, she continued to press the black tubes to her eyes, scanning the landscape. "She spoils you."

"As opposed to you?" He mumbled. Matt finished the last of his coffee. "We'd better get some sleep. Daybreak comes early." Calleigh pulled her pallet a little closer to her dad's and settled down for the night.

TBC