Mercy
Chapter 19
Life had returned to a new normal after a very hectic and disastrous month. Johanna had died and just two days later both of the owners of the town's only General Store died, followed two weeks later by Elias. Then on the very last day of the month they lost two more people.
It almost seemed to Kate that everyone she knew was dying. Rick had tried to get Kate to focus on him and their children. They were all fine and the town wasn't threatened by the war.
Unfortunately that was one thing that was still happening; the news they got from a paper arrived almost an entire month late. By late November and winter had a firm grip on the town, the news was only about what had happened in October.
Rick was still sheriff; the town, even with the deaths, was actually growing. Kate was still cooking and James and Lilly were growing like weeds. New clothes, new shoes, and new toys were followed by a new roof when the old one developed far too many leaks for them to contend with. It all caused them to spend money.
To offset these costs Rick kept coming up with new recipes for Kate to try. He was pulling them from his memory even if he didn't really know how to make them. Just the end product.
First up was making a different type of pizza. Instead of a thin dough crust on the bottom, Kate made a thick one. And instead of cutting up the meats and vegetables into tiny little pieces, she left them larger. You couldn't eat it with your hands and needed a fork instead. Regardless, it became a new town favorite.
Then out came a meat that Kate would stuff the center with cheese, place it between two slices of bread and add grilled onions. It was not as big a hit as the new pizza but the town liked it.
Another new idea was a lunch item that used fresh fish. Kate placed a half of a fried fish fillet between two slices of bread, added pickles, and a sauce that took a lot of trial and error with James being her taste tester. If he liked it so would everyone else.
However, not everything was going perfectly. Since the town was growing, it now had a second restaurant. They were only open for lunch and dinner and only served Mexican food. Naturally it did take away some of their business though as people moved in they found that both restaurants could still make money.
The question for the people in town was did they want to eat what they cooked, have Mexican, or what Kate dreamed up and cooked? She was still the only one offering fresh fish and was still the only one with ribs and steaks for dinner in addition to buffalo meat along with lots and lots of jerky. You just had to get there before everyone else for the fish.
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"Hi, babe! Close the door!" It was blinking freezing outside.
Rick saw James and Lilly sitting at the table and they were both so busy eating something that they didn't come see him like usual. Plus suddenly his nose smelled something old. Well new here but old to him. "What are you making?"
"One of your suggestions. Cookies. I boil some of the ingredients including the raisins and then bake them in these little round things, trying not to burn the bottoms. They stay nice and soft for a long time, instead of hard and crunchy," Kate told him. "I was thinking of wrapping them into groups of four or six and selling them that way. Here, try one." Kate attempted to stuff a cookie into his mouth.
The kids loved them and even she had tried one. So far no one was complaining about the taste. Rick intercepted the cookie, took it from her, and bit it. It tasted almost like he remembered them. Kate had shown yet again that she was really good at taking one of his ideas that only had the ingredients, figuring out how to make it, and making it taste really good.
"These are great!" Rick stuffed his mouth with the rest of the cookie.
"Thank you, Papa." Lilly loved the compliment. Confused, he looked at her then at Kate.
"I had James and Lilly do all the mixing while I did all the baking," Kate said then whispered, "They got a cookie if they helped." She was being devious and she loved it.
Rick walked over to kiss Lilly's head and ruffle James's hair since he thought he was too old to be kissed by his papa.
"We're closed tomorrow so we were thinking another trip to the beach." Kate hoped Rick was willing to jump all of them. It was starting to stretch what Rick could do since the kids were getting bigger and bigger as they got older.
"Please, Papa?" Lilly was the one with the idea since she really wanted to go.
"The water will be cold," Rick reminded her. It was winter after all.
"Not that beach, babe, the one south of here." They didn't have a name for it but could still see it on Rick's Christmas present. It would eventually be called the Gulf of Mexico.
"I think I can still manage that." He was willing to give it a try. The trick was getting everyone within his field. They had to not just be touching him but within the field it created to jump him and anything he was carrying.
Lilly jumped out of her chair, rushed over to him, and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Papa." Thanks to his gift they were coming up with all kinds of places they wanted to go see. However, most of them would take hours and mean staying overnight before coming back home. So only day trips had been done so far.
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Rick came home after a quick look through town and found his family all packed up and ready for the trip. It was going to be a cold trip since it was cold outside where they lived.
Rick found himself being squeezed by everyone as they worked to get in as close as they could. Everyone was cold. The first jump showed that it was still possible and Rick was soon jumping quickly to get from one spot to the next.
When he stopped they found themselves on this thin strip of land with water on both sides. It was still a little cool outside but the sun was up and it would warm up soon.
Lilly and James soon learned that the water was a little cool to go swimming in. That didn't stop them from searching the beach for sea shells to take home with them and decorate their half of the bedroom.
Sheets had been hung up to divide the room so that each of them could have a least a little privacy. They were heavy enough that you couldn't see through them but you could hear the other person. So far it was working. It was just that a more permanent solution couldn't be worked out. The space upstairs was only just so big.
"MAMA!" Lilly came racing over to where she was just sitting on the beach and looking out onto the water. She knew, like everyone else, that this body of water was small in comparison. There were much larger bodies of water.
Kate watched Lilly come racing toward her carrying an enormous shell. "WOW, Lilly! That's the biggest shell I've ever seen." Kate turned it over and over in her hands. It was bigger than both of her hands combined. It was also very colorful, filled with shades of pink.
"I'm going to go find another one." Lilly left that one with Kate and ran off.
Kate was watching her and James searching for another huge shell, then turned her attention to her husband who was standing at the water's edge looking out onto the water. That had her up and taking Lilly's shell with her.
Once she was close enough she saw concern on his face. "What is it?" Kate looked the direction he was looking but didn't see anything. But she also knew that his eye could see things that she couldn't and never would.
"Ships, big ones. Lots of sails. They're all just sitting there." They were all lined up. He saw it as a blockade. He just didn't know why.
"Not coming this way?" Kate wanted to make sure. They would leave if they were. She wanted to protect her family.
"No, most of them don't have any sails deployed. They're just sitting there." Rick turned his head to look at her. "Nothing to worry about."
"Good!" Kate kissed him and showed him the shell Lilly had found.
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December turned into January which turned into February and save for the occasional day trip life was pretty much the same.
Rick had introduced Kate to something new she could make. She did what she was told since he only had one good hand and it was hard to do a lot of things with just one hand.
She cooked a potato, cut it in half, then scooped out the potato, leaving just the skin. She whipped the potato's insides, adding heavy cream, scooped some of it back into the skin, and added cheese and bacon. After baking it for a short time again, she served it. Like everything else she made it became yet another hit with the town's people.
Rick came home after lunch and brought the paper with him. Kate kept cooking which allowed James and Lilly to read it first.
"Lincoln has been elected again, Mama," James read. It was just none of them could remember voting for him or even being asked to vote for anyone.
"The Union has won again. General Sherman has taken Atlanta and is now headed for the Carolinas, they think." That had Lilly racing upstairs to get her dad's Christmas present so they could try and work out just where these places were.
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It was almost late May and Kate was thinking it was time for a nice long trip. To actually go see something. According to Rick there was a nice large city relatively close that they could go see. It would mean spending money and closing the restaurant for a week or even longer.
"PAPA!" Lilly abandoned her cookie to hug her papa and take the paper from him. She and James were eager to read what the paper had to say.
Lilly placed it on the table. "MAMA!" James was shocked and held up the paper for her to see. It had one word on the front. He knew that word and what it meant.
ASSASSINATED!
Kate left what she was cooking to look closely. The print below that word was much smaller. "Read it to me." Kate couldn't let the food burn and James was very good.
"It talks about President Lincoln being killed while watching a play in a theater. They are searching everywhere for the man who killed him. He jumped to the stage then ran. Everyone is condemning the killing and they want to catch his killer. Even the South wants to catch his killer." James was surprised at that. The South had lost the war and all the blacks had been freed from slavery. He liked that idea but was sure a lot of people would be angry. But he had never expected this.
"It's all happening in Virginia. Nowhere near Texas." Rick wasn't going to be involved.
"They're saying his body is going to be placed on a train and taken through seven different states before stopping in Illinois where he was born. Then he'll be buried there," James read and stopped as he and Lilly searched the globe to find Illinois and Virginia and debate what states would be the seven.
"Can we go, Papa?" He knew his papa could take them anywhere and it was a lot faster than taking the stage coach.
"Does it even say what cities he will be in?" Kate asked him.
"No." James was dejected. He'd never been in a large city and wanted to see what it was like to live there. If he got to see the train and maybe the President, that would be even better.
Kate looked at Rick for some help. "Really large cities would be a certainty. It will require a lot of money. We would need to buy all we eat. Find a place to stay even if it's for just a day or two. A lot of walking will be involved. We won't be able to take much." They were reaching the very limits of what Rick was capable of for all of them.
"What's between there and Illinois?" Kate inquired which had James and Lilly looking at their globe again.
"It may not matter, the paper's a month old already," Rick warned all three of them. It was already May and President Lincoln had been shot in April.
"Then we stick with our original plan. We take a week, close the restaurant, and go see the city of Houston." It was chosen because it was in Texas and it wouldn't wear out Rick jumping them there. And as the paper had told them, it was presently the largest city in Texas. They even had a plan for Rick.
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A sign out in front of their restaurant said CLOSED and gave a date when it would reopen. It was warm enough that they didn't need coats. However, to be gone a week meant they needed clothes to change into or find a way to get what they had clean and not be naked doing it.
Kate had Lilly in her arms and was doing her best to hug her husband while at the same time a bag was hanging from the hand that was helping to hold Lilly in place. Rick was holding James who had his arms around his papa's neck. He too had a small bag hanging from his hand.
His eye told him everyone was within his field. "Everyone ready?" Rick got either, "Yes, Papa," or "Yes, babe," and he made the first of a series of jumps.
After a while getting into Houston while not being seen jumping was getting more and more difficult. Eventually Rick had to stop and now everyone was walking. Kate was holding the hand of her son while Rick had Lilly's hand.
They had a plan for his arm and his eye. Rick had that side of his face covered which he found to be a nuisance. His eye could see through the material easily enough but he was convinced he looked odd. He would be wearing a coat all the time that only had one sleeve that was large and long enough to conceal his right arm. He would use his weapon if it was necessary.
Both he and Kate had agreed that he should still wear his sheriff's badge, displayed for all to see. Maybe no one would ask too many questions that way.
"It's big," Rick commented as they walked farther and farther into the city. They saw lots of people either riding horses or in carriages or walking like them.
"It's ugly." Kate was beginning to think coming here was a bad idea.
"It stinks, Mama." Lilly was doing her best to not breathe through her nose. Smoke was pouring out of any number of these really tall round things.
"It's amazing!" James was apparently the only one that liked being there.
Most of the buildings in their town were made from wood that had come from Elias. It was looking like a lot of the buildings in Houston were made from stone or brick, though a good number of them were still made from wood.
Since they didn't know where they were Kate began asking questions. "He said there's a boarding house two streets down. Then turn right and six streets down from there on the right." It was the best answer she had gotten so far. Most had merely said they didn't know and kept walking.
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He, it turned out, had been right and now they had two small rooms to live in. Kate had Lilly with her while Rick had James with him. The owner had even suggested a place for them to eat.
They had a table and they were given a menu to choose from. It was different from what Kate was used to doing. She only served one thing for lunch and two things for dinner if they had fish. It was also bigger than her place.
Kate chose for James and Lilly though Rick did all the ordering for the group.
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"This is terrible, Mama," Lilly whispered since what she was eating didn't taste anything like what her mama could make. She had even stopped eating and was just staring at it, wishing it was something else.
"It tastes odd." James was still eating his, though.
Kate was swallowing what she had ordered but she wasn't enjoying it any. Rick was really the only one eating. He didn't need much and had eaten a lot worse during his time hunting down all the doctors that had done this to him.
"Maybe you can talk the lady at the house into letting you use her kitchen," Rick whispered to Kate who suddenly was looking at him like he was the most amazing man on the planet. Kate loved the idea and would try and make a deal as soon as they got back.
Still they needed to figure out how to get around the city so they could see something. That was what they had come here for in the first place.
"They're staring, Mama." Lilly whispered since she wasn't eating she had been looking around and everyone kept looking their way.
"Ignore them. They're just jealous of your papa," Kate asserted which had Rick giving her the eye. His one good eye.
Lilly saw a man really staring at them. She stuck her tongue out at him and watched him suddenly look at his plate. Lilly was very happy with herself. Her papa was amazing and could do wonderful things and he shouldn't be stared at like that.
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They were allowed to sit in the main parlor and talk if they wished which was where everyone but Kate was now. "So what do you two want to see tomorrow?" Did either of them have something on their minds?
"Parks," Lilly offered since she wanted to see green.
"The train station." James had read all about trains but hadn't yet seen one.
"We still need to figure out how to see anything without walking forever," Rick pointed out and they watched as Kate came back.
"She will let me use her kitchen so long as we provide everything," Kate said. It meant they needed to go shopping for ingredients for her to use to cook with. "She also said there are carriages we can rent that come with a driver. One time or half a day." That solved two problems at the same time.
It meant that if they were going to eat dinner they needed to go shopping soon and leave James with Lilly in one of their rooms.