Disclaimer: I do not own The Young Riders - just borrowing them for a bit of fun!
September quickly became October. Gone were the warm, hazy days harking back to summer; October meant business, with sunny brisk days and cool nights. The leaves flamed in earnest now, reminding us that the season was short and we had a wedding just one week away.
Buck and I had it easier than most engaged couples, this was true - we weren't moving away to a different house or a new town. We were staying on in the station house, and we would be a family within the larger family. Buck would continue to help out around the station, caring for the horses and the buildings while I likewise helped Rachel. It wasn't exactly exciting work but I got a deep sense of satisfaction knowing I was caring for a family - our family. I finally had the stability I had longed for ever since I could remember. And once the ranch was established and we were breeding and training our own horses, I would be helping with that also.
Jimmy and Noah had returned from Big Sandy with a wedding present of an unusual sort: a mare and her yearling son. They were a gift from all of our Express brothers, who had thought long and hard to figure out exactly what Buck and I needed. Since we would be living in the station house, we wouldn't be needing housewares and such like most newlyweds. Instead, they had thought to pool their resources and get an investment for our future - all of our futures, really. The horses, to our delight, came from Tom Southem's stock, and as promised he wouldn't part with Twitch but he did sell us her older sister Storm, dappled iron-grey, and Snap, deep dappled-grey. Like Twitch and Blink they were smart, quick and dependable.
Buck and I were beyond thrilled - we already had sound breeding stock with which to start the ranch. Handsome was untested, true, but Emily reported that his temperament was pleasing for a stallion - inquisitive, friendly, and quiet. We knew that that most likely would change in spring when the mares began to come into season regularly, but for time being it was a blessing, not having to constantly worry about him. Buster was a huge help also; having been at Emily's the longest, the other horses looked to him as the herd boss. He fit right into the role of big brother and leader.
Rachel approached me and Buck one day, asking us who we'd invited to the wedding. We exchanged a startled glance: we'd only thought of our family at the station. Buck put into words what we were both thinking.
"Do you really think anyone would want to come?" he asked bluntly.
Rachel replied "You'd be surprised, Buck - more folks in this town respect you than you know. Why don't you ask around?"
So we did just that; when we were in Tompkins' store, we asked him - and he replied he wouldn't miss it for the world. Heartened by his warm response, we asked more people, and then more. Mrs. Carswell said both she and her husband would be there; Jerry the blacksmith; Barnett of course; and the list began to grow. No one had refused to come; I was glad we'd followed Rachel's advice. I was especially glad for Buck's sake, given the looks he had gotten when Camille had screamed at me in the street. I had been so afraid of backlash, of Buck being hurt yet again, but it appeared that someone or several someones had defended him.
I was very glad and very grateful to have such good friends and family.
Buck had our ceremonial garments in his trunk, which we moved into the house from the bunkhouse. Ike would wear his suit, string tie, and his burgundy bandana. Emily, I discovered, was busy making a deep-green calico dress - she said the wedding was the perfect reason to make something nice for herself. I couldn't have agreed with her more. She and Rachel were going to do my hair, putting it up and weaving through it a wreath of autumn wildflowers and berries. Emily's hair would be done the same way, I decided. I made a dress for myself also, the colour of autumn berries, to wear after the wedding at the dinner. We decided that since so many people from Rock Creek were coming to the wedding, we'd put on a big supper afterwards in the town hall. It was going to be so much fun, I just knew it.
The week before the wedding, my monthly returned; true, it was a sad reminder but it also meant a fresh start of sorts. Buck and I had agreed to spend the week apart, too, with me staying in the house while he once again slept in the bunkhouse. The fellas teased him good-naturedly - I heard Kid ask him if I'd had second thoughts and kicked him out. Noah wondered out loud how Buck could stand being separated from me, even for a few days. Buck was quick to reply.
"I hate this - but we've got the rest of our lives to make up for it."
Noah stayed quiet after that.
The night before the wedding, the fellas treated Buck to something called a "stag" - kind of a farewell to bachelorhood. They all camped out in the bunkhouse with a whole lot of food and, I thought, probably a bottle or two of whiskey. Tompkins and Barnett had been invited and Teaspoon bribed one of the other deputies to cover for him so he could pass on the wisdom he'd garnered over six marriages to Buck. I chuckled aloud at that, wondering how many times he could make Buck blush. It was probably a good indication of how things would go for Ike, too, if he ever got around to popping the question to Emily.
Rachel, Emily and I had our own little party of sorts in the kitchen of the house. They were, after all, the two women I was closest to in the world. I thought at first it was going to be a nice little glorified tea party, with us sitting around talking about what Buck and I should name our babies and trading recipes.
I really should've known better - this was Rachel and Emily, who knew all of my deepest darkest secrets. When Emily produced a bottle of wine and poured glasses for herself and me, I got a feeling of what our little party was really going to be like.
All things considered, it went rather well; the wine only made us giddy and inclined to talk way too much. But that was all right - if I couldn't do that once in my life with my best friends, well, then life wasn't worth much. Rachel, I discovered, was even more of a smoking hot pistol than any of us had guessed. She taught us how to dance like saloon girls, and soon had us kicking up our heels on the kitchen floor. This, of course, made us thirsty, so more wine was in order. I drank lots of water - nothing was going to spoil my wedding day - then she taught us bawdy songs, such as she'd learned while dealing poker hands on the big paddle-wheel boats. And soon we were absolutely roaring with laughter loud enough to rival the bunkhouse full of men. At one point, Teaspoon poked his head out the door and hollered that if we couldn't keep it down, he'd arrest us himself for disturbing the peace.
Of course, this only made us laugh harder. And louder.
The wine finished, Emily produced another bottle. I smiled, holding out my glass; when her own glass had been filled and Rachel had a fresh cup of tea, she proposed a toast to bride and groom.
"To Running Buck and Louise: may your corral be full of horses and your house full of children!" she proclaimed. We agreed enthusiastically and drank heartily.
Truthfully, we were exhausted from the dancing followed by the singing. That's when Rachel suggested that a nice, quiet game was in order. Emily and I agreed to something she'd learned as a girl called Truth or Dare. "Since I suggested it, I'll go first, all right?" she asked, and we agreed.
"The bride-to-be gets to go first" she announced happily; Emily giggled and I groaned "Oh Lord - I sure am glad the fellas ain't here."
"So, Lou - do you want truth or dare?" Rachel queried with a sweet smile.
"Ummm..." I looked at Emily; she shrugged her shoulders. "I'll take - truth."
"All right - Lou, who was the first boy to ever kiss you?" Rachel asked with a big grin.
I laughed out loud. "His name was Tommy Turcotte, and we were both in the orphanage in St. Joe's. We were ten years old, and on my birthday he gave me a flower, kissed me real quick-like on the lips, and ran away. " I giggled. "That was my first kiss."
"Awww...that's so sweet" the others laughed. I sat up straight.
"I get to go now, right?" I asked Rachel, and she nodded, smiling. "Emily - truth or dare?"
"Oh-oh" she muttered, and Rachel laughed behind her hand. "Truth?" she suggested tentatively, and I chuckled.
"Emily: what is one thing about you that no one else knows except for Ike?"
She muttered an expletive under her breath, sat up, and looked me straight in the eye. "No one except for Ike knows that I have freckles on both of my breasts."
Rachel and I burst into hearty laughter; after a moment, a red-faced Emily joined us. "That's so embarrassing!" she gasped, wiping her eyes. When she had regained control of her laughter, she turned to Rachel. I don't mind saying I was looking forward to this. "All right, Rachel Dunne: truth or dare?" Emily demanded, smiling.
Rachel looked from me to Emily and said "I think I'd better take the dare!"
"Make it a good one" I whispered to Emily.
"Rachel: I dare you to sneak over to the bunkhouse, eavesdrop on the fellas for one whole minute, and come back and tell us what you overheard."
Rachel was definitely up for the challenge. She scooted across the path, tiptoed up the bunkhouse steps as quiet as Buck could've, and stationed her ear on level with the keyhole. We timed her, and signalled to her when the minute was up. She ran across the path and burst through the door like a hunted animal.
"Well?" we demanded.
"They're talking about us" she laughed.
"What - about us?" we asked breathlessly.
"Oh my Lord" she laughed. "Promise not to get mad?" We nodded impatiently.
"Emily, Ike says you've got the best - um, caboose. No, he said that! They had to translate out loud for Barnett and Tompkins!"
Emily looked both pleased and fit to be tied.
"Lou - Buck says you've got the best - you know," she gestured, "breasts."
"Why would he say that?" I asked, puzzled. "I've hardly got any."
"He says more than a handful's a waste, honey" she concluded.
I smiled, blushing. "And what about you?" I demanded.
"Teaspoon says I'm the - how did he put it? - the curviest." Rachel chuckled. "It could be worse!"
Oh, it could have been.
"All right, Louise - my turn again. Truth or dare?" Rachel asked with a giggle.
"I think I'll take dare this time" I said. "I can't take truth twice in a row, can I?" Rachel shook her head no.
"Louise soon-to-be-Cross: I dare you to go out on the porch right now and shout out loud that you love Buck!" Rachel said.
"You're sure that's all you want me to do?" I asked innocently. Emily, sensing something was up, leaned forward expectantly.
"That's it, Lou" Rachel said, bemused.
"Okay" I said cheerfully. I got to my feet, swaying just the tiniest bit, opened the kitchen door, and stood on the top porch step. Checking to see that the others had followed, I took a deep, deep breath. And promptly burst out laughing. I held onto the porch railing and laughed some more, then filled my lungs again. And burst out laughing again.
"Lou, are you gonna do this?" Emily asked, laughing.
"Okay...okay. Third time's the charm" I giggled. I took a deep breath, held onto the railing for dear life, and shouted at the top of my lungs.
"I love you, Running Buck Cross! I love you, Buck, and I cain't wait ta marry you tomorrow! Hell, let's get married right now - what d'you say? You up for it, Buck? Why, you're always up - "
Rachel and Emily dragged me inside before I let the world know he was always up for it whenever I was feeling frisky.
"Louise McLeod!' Rachel gasped out, laughing and crying. "What on earth - ?"
Emily collapsed into a chair and snorted, her eyes streaming. I landed in a chair - barely - and took a swig of wine from the bottle. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at my two friends.
"What?" I asked innocently. They roared.
"Okay, okay. It's my turn." I set my elbows on the table and fixed Emily with an eagle eye. Only, there were now two of her. Damn, it was hard to focus. Deep breath.
"Em - " I hiccupped. "Emily , troof or dare?"
"Dare me!" she challenged.
"Okey dokey. Emily Metcalfe, I dare you to march inside that bunkhouse, climb up on the table, and give all those fellas a saloon girl-type dance they'll never forget!" I said with satisfaction.
"Hell, what're we waitin for?" Emily laughed, throwing the kitchen door open and running across the path. Hand on the doorknob to the bunkhouse, she waited impatiently for us. "Come on!" she said. "I can't wait to do this!"
"Wait!" I said. "I got me an idea!" I whispered to my two partners in crime and they nodded enthusiastically. "Ready?" I said excitedly. "Let's get 'em!"
With that, Emily threw open the door and the three of us ran inside, pushed aside various male bodies, and hopped up onto the card-strewn table. From the corner of my eye I caught Ike staring, slack-jawed; Buck with raised eyebrows and an expectant smile; and Teaspoon's broad grin. The three of us linked arms; Rachel began to sing, and we all began to dance a French can-can.
The fellas, while clearly unprepared for us, still weren't about to let a good deed go unthanked. When, flushed and panting with exertion, we bent over and hoisted our skirts as a grand finale, they clapped, cheered and whistled most appreciatively. As I swayed and was about to tumble off the table head-first Buck, bless his heart, caught me and slung me over his shoulder like a noisy sack of potatoes. On either side I saw Ike and Teaspoon follow suit with Emily and Rachel. We were hoisted up and carted away into the main street of town - and straight into the marshal's office, where we were dumped unceremoniously onto the jail floor. The cell door shut with a clang! behind us.
When I realized where we were, I opened my mouth to protest - noisily. Teaspoon, however, held up his hand.
"Louise" he said, very quietly, "not a word now. Not" he repeated sternly, "a word."
The three of us stared at each other glumly. "Guess we went too far, huh?" I said in a low voice to the others.
"Hell, no!" Emily exclaimed. "We was jus' havin a little fu-" she hiccupped, "fu-" she hiccupped again, "fun, thass all! We gived 'em a great dance, an' thiss izza thangs we ged for id!" she pouted.
"You're right, you know" Rachel said to the two of us. "Teaspoon, why exactly are we locked up?"
"You are, as you put it, locked up because of public drunkenness and, I might add, disturbin the peace!" Teaspoon said with a big smile - he was enjoying every second of this, the rat, as were all the other fellas. "Why, you all was carryin on so loud the ladies over to the church havin their Ladies' Aid meetin could hear you laughin an' carryin on! 'Course, what they was really complainin about was the singin - some o' them old biddies just don't appreciate a good chorus of "Roll Me Over in the Clover". Rachel, you have got one amazin singin voice, don't she fellas?"
"She sure does - but Lou and Emily can hold their own pretty well, too!" Buck added, Ike agreeing with him enthusiastically.
Rachel laughed and shook her head, holding it in her hands. "I can see I'm going to need to have a little chat with Mamie Carswell, Teaspoon" she said ruefully. "If she's still speaking to me, that is."
"Shucks, Rachel" Teaspoon laughed, taking off his hat and smoothing back his long silver hair. "Don't you worry none 'bout her - it was Mrs. Doc Barnes and her cronies what demanded you be locked up. Why, Mamie was the one tryin' ta keep me from lockin' y'all up here!"
""I thinks I juuust might haff ta thank 'er" I whispered boozily to Emily, who was crying and hiccupping on my shoulder. "Hey, Ike - does y'all have a spare handkechief? I thinks Emily might need it. Thags, Ike honey." I handed the handkerchief to Emily, who wiped her eyes and noisily blew her nose.
"Thags - " hiccup "Ike - " hiccup "honey." She handed the soggy mass back to him. He smiled, shook his head, and stuffed it in his back pocket.
*Come here, sweetie* he signed to her. She got to her feet - with a lot of help - and stumbled over to the cell door. Ike reached through the bars and smoothed her mussed-up hair from her face. *Don't worry, Emmy - Teaspoon'll let you out real soon. You were just having some fun, was all*
Emily opened her mouth to speak - and promptly hiccupped. "You - " hiccup - "you mean y'all don't hate me?" Hiccup. Sniffle.
*No! I could never hate you! I love you, Emily Metcalfe - I love you so much I want to marry you. If you'd have me, that is* Ike added.
Buck cheered. "Way to go, Ike!"
Rachel cooed, "That's so sweet! Here we are, locked up in jail, and he proposed to you! How many women get proposed to in jail?"
I prodded Emily with the toe of my boot. "Well?" I demanded.
"Well - " hiccup - "what?" she answered.
"Y'all gonna marry the poor guy or not?" I crossed my arms and tapped my foot impatiently. "We're waitin!"
Emily began crying afresh. "Of - " hiccup "course I'll marry you, Ike!" Hiccup. "I wanna marry you and - " hiccup "have" hiccup "lots of" hiccup "babies with you!"
Hiccup.
We all clapped and cheered - and there was quite a little crowd in the small office. All of my brothers, and Buck; Teaspoon, Rachel, and Emily; Tompkins and Barnett; and Mrs. Carswell, who had come to persuade Teaspoon to let us out.
He did that promptly. "I want to kiss the bride!" he announced, hugging and kissing first me then Emily. Buck clapped Ike on the back, as did our other brothers. I hugged Emily and patted her on the back, and a miracle happened.
She stopped hiccupping and we all cheered with relief.
While everyone was talking and laughing, I took Mrs. Carswell aside. "I jus' wanna thank y'all, ma'am - ah guess we all kinda got carried away. You mus' think we're nothin but a no-good buncha heathens."
True to form Mrs. Carswell laughed. "My dear girl, don't be so hard on yourself - you're only young once, you know. Those sour old maids never had any fun in their lives at all, and it shows. I can't wait to see you and Buck get married. It's going to be just beautiful, I know!"
"Thank you, ma'am" I whispered. "You're very kind."
"Not at all. And Louise?" I nodded. "You have a terrible singing voice." I shook with laughter and she bade us all goodnight.
"Well, folks - time ta call it a night - we got quite a day ahead of us again tomorrow" Teaspoon announced, ushering all of us outside. I hugged Rachel and Emily.
"You are the best friends I could ever have and I love you both! Thank you for such an unforgettable night."
The three of us hugged; Buck and Ike worked their way amongst us. *Thanks for the dance, ladies!* Ike signed cheekily. *I'll never forget that as long as I live!*
"Me neither" Buck added, pausing to kiss me on the lips. "Something tells me it was your idea" he said, tickling me in the side. I shrieked and wriggled in his grasp.
"Save it for the honeymoon, you two!" Jimmy called out to us. We just laughed and watched Ike and Emily, lost in their own little world.
"I'm so happy for them, Buck" I whispered. He put his arms around me and kissed my hair, my ear, my neck.
"Me too" he whispered back. "But I can't wait til it's this time tomorrow, and we're alone together. I've missed you so much!"
"Mmm-hmm" I murmured, lost in his kisses.
Alone upstairs in our bed, I watched him walk to the bunkhouse, alone for the last time ever.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, folks! Real life has been moderately crazy lately. But it looks as though the wedding is a go - thank you, my dear Sarah and Jenna, for your wonderful input...hehehe...they DID land in jail after all! I tried to keep the bachelorette party in the time period - but the little vixens got away on me! No surprise there...
On to the wedding (and the wedding night...) ;) ML