Chapter Ten
December 25th
During what little time his eyes were closed, Jess had slept on the couch. It was partly done to feed the stove, but the largest reason went to giving Slim space. Before calling the day before Christmas complete, the simple walk to the dresser drawer that held Jess' belongings had the type of tension that was stronger than a full coffee pot that had gone untouched for an entire day. He had taken a pair of woolen socks out of the drawer and walked back out, his backside finding the couch, but not to immediately lie down. His fists came together and propped under his chin, staring at Mike's empty stocking that would be filled to the brim before the first crack of dawn, but his true thoughts were on a man who had emptied his soul at Jess' feet and replaced what lived inside of him with fire. But knowing that Jess couldn't allow another soul to be similarly damaged, he didn't allow the storm of Christmas Eve to spread all the way to daybreak.
In the last few ticks on the clock before it reached four, Jess topped the sock off with a peppermint stick in the waving light of the flames and then arranged the final presents that needed to be placed under the boughs. Giving his work as Santa a final nod, Jess laid down on the couch and tugged a blanket up to his neck, but his eyelashes dropping wouldn't fall longer than a normal blink, as the sound of Mike's cry had not left his ears. It wouldn't take a long walk down memory lane for Jess to remember a Christmas when he cried, even if the span had grown to be rubbing close to the twenty year mark. Before he had been hardened by the trials of his youth when tears in his eyes did more than just smart, Jess' pa came into the house on Christmas morning with a puppy draped in his arms. It had been attacked by a wild animal and his father, not wanting the poor thing to suffer alone on one of the darkest nights a Texas winter had to offer, hoped that Jess' ma could tend the wounds. But the whimpering mutt wouldn't live to eat a bite out of their meager Christmas dinner. He was gone only moments after Jess' small hands covered the matted fur with his hand-me-down patched jacket. Swallowing the thickness in his throat that had developed while reliving the memory, Jess looked at Mike's sock and nodded, becoming even more determined that this year's tears needed to be dried.
Stirring at the first sign of morning, Jess slid away from the couch, the fire being the first recipient of his care, and then his steps took him to the barn where the stock received their Christmas morning fare. Leaning against an empty stall, listening to the variety of munching noises, Jess released a gentle sigh. There was contentment among the animals, being in a barn, in a stall, like that very first Holiday. Even though there was a burden resting on his shoulders that seemed too big to move, Jess could feel a measure of peace, because the burden wasn't pressing into him even worse. Somewhere, even there in Laramie, someone was bowed even lower than he, for how many families since the last Christmas had an empty chair at the dinner table, or an even larger hole in their hearts? Life had a way of hitting many people hard, but at least this family was still together. Tragedy held them in its tight grasp, but there was still reason to be thankful, and Jess carried that gratitude into the house where part of his appreciation met him in the kitchen.
"Merry Christmas, Daisy." Jess lowered his lips to Daisy's cheek, receiving a pat to his face with a hand that had been warmed by the stove.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Dear. I know it doesn't feel much like Christmas, but the meaning of the day hasn't changed even though we're facing hard times."
"Where's Mike?" Jess asked, lowering his voice. "I woulda thought he woulda been the first one outta bed this morning. He does know that Santa filled his stocking in the night?"
"He didn't drift off until late, so I just let him sleep in. I'm sure he knows that there are gifts from Santa Claus out here, but his heart isn't into the tearing into presents like he usually would."
"Well, he's gonna," Jess said with his jaw set with determined firmness. "And Slim too. I made a decision when I got up this morning. We're gonna have us a Merry Christmas. And that's gonna start right now."
"Oh, Jess," Daisy clapped her hands together, her eyes dimming with tears when Jess walked to Mike's bedroom.
"Wake up, Mike!" Jess jostled the boy, his fingers reaching under the covers to add a tickle. "It's Christmas and I reckon you oughta go see what Santa dodged the snowflakes to deliver. 'Sides, I ain't embarrassed to say I wanna know what I got too! I've had my eye on a present with my name on it since I saw it appear there shortly after Daisy finished decorating the tree last night."
"That's from me," Mike said, bringing one fist up to rub an eye.
"I figured it was," Jess said, tapping Mike on the nose with his finger. "Well, ain't you gonna get up or am I gonna have to tickle you until you spill what's wrapped in that package?"
"I'm getting up!"
"Good." Jess smiled, watching as Mike hurried out from underneath the covers to wrap a robe around his body, the next step taken as his feet slipped into a pair of slippers, but where Mike's aim was completely for the Christmas tree, Jess would be taking a different direction. Now he had to face the most difficult part, getting Slim out of bed.
"Coming, Jess?" Mike asked with a stick of peppermint sticking through his lips.
"In a minute, Tiger," Jess said with a smile, and then his knuckles gave a short rap on the door before he opened it a crack to stick his head in. "Pard? You awake?"
"Yeah," Slim replied with an entirely different note than what had last been thrown at Jess. "Come on in."
"It's Christmas morning, Slim, what're you doing still in bed?" Jess asked, his hand reaching for one of Slim's clean shirts that hung on a peg by the door.
"I didn't sleep much last night," Slim answered, his eyes cast to their lowest position, for he had heard the chime of nearly every hour, shedding a lonely tear for each one.
His incense had burned down not long after Jess removed the socks from his drawer, his mouth opening to form his partner's name several times in the quietest parts of the night, but could never create the sound that would have brought Jess to the room. There were multiple prongs poking into his flesh, each one bearing a different feeling and a different name, but while he felt their repeated prodding, Slim didn't know which one had produced the sharpest jab. Guilt, friendship or someone's prayers, or maybe all three had the ability to penetrate all the way to his heart, but Slim only knew that they were all actively working.
"Me either," Jess said, pausing his step as he looked at his partner, for in his visual he saw hope.
"Jess," Slim began, a sigh coming shortly after the name exited his lips as a hand raked through uncombed hair. "I shouldn't have acted like I did last night. You're not at fault, Pard, I am, and I'm sorry."
"Don't be. If you'd like we can talk about it later, but right now, just get your shirt on and let's get to the presents. I dunno about you, but I'm feeling as frisky as a kid this morning."
"What'd you do?" Slim asked, his mouth drawing upward into a real smile as Jess swung his legs around to be moved into the wheelchair. "Drink all of the eggnog by yourself?"
"No, but that ain't a bad idea." Jess winked, beginning to push Slim toward the living room, and it was as if the tree suddenly became aglow as soon as the wheels brought him beside its adornment.
"Merry Christmas, Slim," Daisy said, trying to keep the tears from slipping down her cheeks, but one did find a pathway through her lashes.
"Merry Christmas, Daisy, Mike," Slim said, his heart feeling an emotion he had thought would be impossible to feel again when first Daisy and then Mike wrapped their arms around his neck.
"If you want any treats, just ask. The kitchen's full of them!" Daisy waved her hand toward the kitchen, and the scents that came from the other room had the ability to give an even louder offer, but at the moment, the joy was circling the Christmas tree.
"Can I start?" Mike asked, holding a package in his hands that clearly had his name written on the front in an unknown scrolling print.
"Have at it, Tiger," Jess said, giving Daisy a quick wink before broadening his face into a grin when the paper slid to the floor and Mike revealed a horse stuffed and sewn in Giant's likeness, supposedly from Santa, but a kept secret would reveal that Daisy herself had stitched every thread in place. "Whoa, it's Giant! And there's more. Buttons and Twink, too!"
"Why don't you have a turn, Jess?" Daisy suggested, nudging a present toward his seated position on the floor, her grin unable to be contained as he ripped the paper away from the box quicker than Mike had done.
"Boots!" Jess exclaimed as he held the shiny, black pair upward for all of the eyes to see. "Dad-gum, ain't they fancy? These ain't gonna get dirty, I'll tell you that."
"We'll see," Slim said, his throat finding a cheerful chuckle, "you know that wherever you go, trouble seems to follow."
"I reckon." Jess nodded, and then he stretched underneath the tree to pull out a square box topped with an unevenly tied red bow. "Here, Slim. This one's for you."
"Thanks, Jess. Feels kind of light, though," Slim said, giving the package a shake before using his finger to slide through the paper on its bottom and as the lid was lifted, Slim's eyes rose to find Jess'. "It's empty."
"That's because you can't wrap a saddle," Jess replied, trying to keep his smile from taking over his entire face.
"You bought me a saddle?" Slim put a finger into his chest, slowly shaking his head. "But I can't even…"
"Don't say it, Slim." Jess held his hand up toward Slim and tapped his finger twice. "Call it a measure of faith, or maybe something else, but I know you're gonna sit a horse again. Until then, just lean on me."
"Jess," Slim said softly, the emotion tightening so hard around his neck that he almost gasped. "I don't know what to say. That's an incredible gift, and all I got you was a shirt."
"Great!" Jess clapped his hands together and then reached under the tree, moving two packages before finding the one in Slim's handwriting to him. "I reckon Daisy's kinda tired of sewing up them old ones anyway. Wait. Is it blue?"
"Why don't you open it and find out?" Slim asked with a hidden smirk.
"Doggone, it is blue!" Jess grinned, holding the shirt up to his front, the shade a smidgen darker than the one he was wearing. "Thanks, Pard!"
Even before the last present under the tree was unwrapped, the room was alight with the spirit of Christmas, filled to its center with the love of family, which was then taken to the table where breakfast was served. Tongues were rarely stilled while the morning feast before them was devoured, with enough added conversation in between bites that there never was a silent moment, and even when the last napkin slid across a mouth, the merriment was still jingling in the room.
"I got an idea," Jess said, pushing his empty plate to the center of the table. "Let's all of us go for a sleigh ride. After snowing all night, the sun's bright and I reckon if we bundle up real good, we won't feel a single chill."
"Yeah!" Mike hurried to Slim's side and began to pump his arm up and down. "You'll come too, won't you Slim?"
"Of course he will," Jess answered before Slim could make an excuse to decline.
"That sounds like a wonderful Christmas outing, Jess," Daisy said, putting her hand on Mike's shoulder to turn him toward his bedroom. "Dress in your warmest, Mike, and that goes for the two of you bigger boys, too."
"We will, Daisy," the trio said in unison, the only change coming from Mike as he added the usual "Aunt" before her name.
The layers covering nearly every inch of their bodies, Jess started the horse in motion, going slowly at first to get a feel for the snow depth, and then when the runners started to freely glide, Jess directed the horse to give them a greater thrill. Over and around hills and then dipping down to make a repeat, Jess' smile began to wane as he spotted a rider in the distance. There was no identity to be made at that gap, but a warning signal was creeping up his backbone, reaching his skull with a ringing bell when the rider made a sudden leap for their path and then suddenly halted. Squinting his eyes against the bright light, Jess sucked in a breath when the outline became familiar, and it took his jaw only a moment to harden when full recognition was made. Hal Bragg. And the man was carrying iron, for the weapon reflected every glint from the sun.
"Jess, he's not going to let us pass," Daisy said with a fearfulness nudging into her voice, but it was even more evident in her face.
"I'd try to outrun him, but I don't like the way he's brandishing that gun," Jess said, his hands responding slowly, but they pulled hard enough on the reins that the sleigh slid to a stop, and then his gaze lifted to Bragg. "I doubt your conscience has twisted enough that you've come to apologize."
"No, not at all," Bragg said, giving Daisy a sickening glance before hitting Jess with his gaze, "but there is something on my mind that includes you. As you can see, I have another gun. Put your hands where I can see them."
"Who is he, Jess?" Slim's voice took several steps downward.
"Bragg." Jess' mouth was in a straight line, but even though his hand was raised, it was close to becoming a fist.
"He's the man I invited into the house." Daisy expounded on the explanation grimly, and Daisy was certain she felt the stiffening of a body beside her, and Jess wasn't touching her.
"Since you know my name, maybe I should be privileged to know yours," Bragg said, giving the air a tap with his gun in Jess' direction.
"Harper. Jess Harper," Jess replied, lowering his hand the tiniest fraction, but it was quickly noticed.
"Easy, Harper, drop that gun into the snow. There are three others here that I could put a bullet in, and I've got six bullets in my own gun. I don't think you look like the type that needs help with that simple of math." Bragg held a short breath as he watched Jess' hand slowly lift the handle of his weapon, giving the gun a toss into the snow and then he directed his gaze to Slim. "And you?"
"I'm not carrying," Slim responded, feeling the touch of regret that there wasn't a gun strapped to his hip, but the thought that he couldn't feel its presence wasn't rushing forward to slam into his mind, as the need to protect his family sat in the forward position instead.
Bragg waved his gun at Slim, eyeing the thick blanket that covered Slim's lower half. "I'm a born skeptic, so prove it."
"Leave him alone," Jess said, slinging gravel through his teeth. "My partner's paralyzed, so whatever you've got on your mind, aim it all at me."
"I intend to." Bragg nodded, sliding the gun to return to the ominous line that was drawn to Jess' chest. "All right, Harper, out of the sled."
"What for?" Jess asked, keeping a firm hold on his seated position. "You can shoot me just as clean right where I sit."
"If shooting you is what I planned, then you'd already be dead. Now do as I said. Get out of that sled."
His response was done slowly, and while taking the first step into the snow, Jess' foot slipped in an attempt to retrieve his fallen gun, but a bullet penetrating the snow between his split legs stopped his movement. With a hop, Bragg was out of the saddle, his hand reaching into the frozen layer to grip the handle of Jess' gun, making it come to rest in the pocket of his coat, and then putting a hand against Jess' chest, shoved him further away from the sled. Wearing a scowl that soon turned into a smile that bore devious edges, Bragg pulled the rope from his saddle and looping it around Jess' waist, he pulled tightly on his end, cinching the line against Jess' ribs. Topping his mount, Bragg twisted in the saddle, and with a quick jerk, Jess's body flopped into the snow.
"We're going for a real ride, now, Harper," Bragg said, the laughter bubbling out of his mouth enough to make anyone quiver, even if the temperature wasn't hovering well below the freezing line.
Slim's instincts made him try to rise, but since his legs were cut off from the direction his brain gave him, his shoulders were the only part of his body that could lean forward, but his voice could still snap, and it slapped the air like a whip had been flung. "Let him go!"
"Sure, only after the snow scrapes every inch of his hide off." Giving a high-pitched whoop from his throat, Bragg's horse responded with a similar screech when a pair of spurs dug into its sides, and with a wild leap, the animal bolted, taking Jess in a spiral through the snow behind them.
"Jess!" Daisy gasped through her cry, bringing her hands up to her mouth to stifle a sob that was close to forming as she watched Jess' body slice through the snow, the horror mounting further when he disappeared around a hillside. "Dear God! Oh, Slim, what are we going to do?"
"We're going to help Jess," Slim said, taking the reins out of Daisy's hands and slapped the horse's back with them. "I'll get us back to the house for a gun and then go after them. Their trail will be clear to see, all right."
But what Slim didn't add on to his words was the hope that the trail would remain as prints in the snow, and not that somewhere along the line, the white had changed to red.
The house was only stilled in front of him for the amount of time that it took for Daisy to run inside and return again with Slim's rifle and gun belt, his arsenal complete when Mike set a sharp knife secured in its sheath into Slim's hand. With all of his weapons readied and by his side, the landscape switched to a whir of white as he encouraged the horse to run its swiftest pace over the path already marked by the sled's runners, and then at Jess' imprint, Slim's heart matched the speed that he was gliding. Turning the hill where Slim's last visual of his partner had been taken away, Slim's eyes darted ahead in the snow, searching for a sign other than the lines that marred the snow, but the path to Jess remained in trail form.
One mile, then two, close to three were passed and Slim's breaths were coming as bursts through his mouth in short puffs, as the fear in his chest started to spread to his gut, but it would be only one more corner before the air would be halted inside of his lungs. In the distance that was being swallowed up by the sled's forward glide, Bragg stood beside his horse, his throat guzzling a bottle of whiskey, but it wasn't this sight that Slim's gaze was solidly locked onto. With a rope still taut around his middle, Jess lay face down in the snow, his jacket barely clinging to his back, with a mound of snow partly toppled onto his legs. If Slim had felt fury during the days following his accident, what had raged before held no comparison to what surged through his veins now.
"Jess!" Slim called, but the only head that turned his direction was the man responsible for Jess' condition, which brought the handle of Slim's gun into his hand, the point finding the necessary target a moment later.
Bragg's fingers being wrapped around a whiskey bottle made an instant reach for his gun impossible, which gave Slim the opportunity to squeeze the trigger as the prelude of battle. The bullet drained the bottle as both glass and whiskey rained to the snow, but instead of raising his hands in defeat, Bragg pulled the gun from his belt and sent a return in Slim's direction. The miss was evident from the moment it had been triggered, and Slim let his second bullet fly, but this one couldn't even clip the man, as Bragg was taking a leap into his saddle, giving his horse the command to run before his backside completed its lowering. But the man and horse weren't the only ones barreling away. Slim's eyes grew wide as Jess' body was back in motion, bouncing off of a rock before the snow sunk its frozen teeth into his cheeks to never let go.
"Hold it, Bragg!" Slim shouted, keeping the sled in line with the fleeing horse, his finger yearning to pull the trigger, but with Jess rolling over the snow in front of him, he knew he needed a precise aim before sending the bullet racing through the air.
The man he pursued, however, felt no such concern. Bragg's attention was cast to what was in front of him, but with every hasty glance that he threw in Slim's direction, a bullet went with it. Ducking a blast that came too close to his hat, Slim waited for the man's next move, fully ready to make his own. Seeing the shoulder start to twist, the barrel of the gun came in sight, and Slim pulled the trigger. The reaction of the impact was a jolt backward with a hit to his shoulder, and Bragg tumbled out of the saddle into the snow, but the horse kept on running, keeping Jess in its trail.
Slim's horse was gaining speed, the runners of the sled whizzing across the surface of the snow, and urging the animal to pull out of the winding track in front of him, Slim watched with held breath as Jess' body became aligned with his. One hand reaching outward, Slim tucked the reins under his hip and then pulled the knife from its sheath, the rope feeling the blade a moment later. It took two solid jerks for Slim to complete the slice, but as Bragg's horse leapt ahead, Jess' body stopped tumbling. Trying to smile, Slim was certain that he saw Jess' head begin to rise, but in taking his eyes off of what lay ahead of him, Slim's sled was about to take a rough hit, for a stump mostly buried in layers of white was directly in his path.
The world spun in a dizzying array of circles, but Jess had been able to view one thing with clarity. Slim. It was what brought his head away from the ground, it told a knee to deny its pain and fold underneath him, and it sent his hands to be planted underneath his chest to hoist him off of the snowy surface. Jess felt pain in more than half of his body, but there was a power raising him, all from seeing his partner in action. But now that Jess was on his feet, the view switched to one of horror, for the horse that carried Slim was in a pattern that declared its being out of control.
"Slim!" Jess hollered, his mouth opening for another shout as he watched the inevitable take shape too far beyond his reach to be of any help. The wince started on his face the second before it happened, and then the sled hit the snow bank and rolled over, crashing into the wall of white, and underneath it all was Slim.
Running the span cut the distance in half, but it still felt as if Jess had only shuffled to get to the overturned sled. He slid the last three feet, dropping to both knees as his hands searched the surface of the snow for any part of Slim's body. It was his arm that Jess felt first, and then climbing upward, he touched Slim's head, grateful that it wasn't buried underneath the snow. Pushing his weight into the sled, Jess flipped it to its side, freeing Slim's frame from its belly, and a pair of blue immediately popped open.
"You all right, Pard?" Jess asked, his eyes working back and forth over Slim's frame searching for any wounds, and in one of his darting glances, he saw Slim's right leg move.
"I don't know, Jess." Slim put his palm against his forehead and took a deep breath. "A little dazed, is all. But what about you? Aren't you banged up from head to toe?"
"Yeah, I reckon I'm fine," Jess answered, the thumping of his flesh no longer a concern as his eyes remained stuck to Slim's lower half, and there was no confusing the definite twitch.
"Good. We don't need two men down."
"We might not have one. Slim," Jess said with rising vigor in his throat, "you moved your leg!"
"That's impossible, Jess." Slim shook his head, his own voice reaching for a rough bark. "I can't feel a thing."
"I know what I saw!" Jess put his hand on Slim's knee and forced it to bend, yearning for Slim to kick it back at him. "Come, on, Slim, try to move your leg!"
"I can't, Jess!" Slim's teeth grew tight together as his eyes returned to their bedridden flame.
"Dadgummit Slim! I saw you. When you weren't able to think about being paralyzed you moved your leg and I know you can do it again! Move that leg, Slim, as if your life depended on it. No, wait, move that leg, as if my life depended on it!"
"Jess, I…"
"Do it!"
His face scrunching to its tightest grimace, Slim inhaled a deep breath and then held it, straining his body to do as instructed, feeling the outpouring of emotion wash over his entire body, just as it had done when he saved Jess' life. As his mouth opened to draw in a much needed stream of air, a gasping sound escaped his throat, for Slim felt pain, a beginning mark that led to watching in stunned awe when Slim moved one leg, and then the other. "I did it, Jess! They really moved!"
"Can you feel my hand?" Jess asked, stretching his fingers into the flesh of Slim's leg, starting at the ankle and probing all the way to his thigh.
"I feel every single finger," Slim said in wonderment, and then his face broadened into a smile, reaching upward to display the beads of moisture that were smarting in his eyes, but the reflection wasn't of despair, but matched what was blooming in his cheeks. "Oh, thank God, thank you, God."
"I was just about to say the same thing," Jess said, draping his arm around Slim's shoulder to pull him in an upright position, and even though Slim wasn't able to aid the lifting, both legs made the attempt. "You might not be able to walk just yet, but you're gonna get there, Pard!"
"Jess, I…" Slim began, his eyes momentarily dropping to the snow, as guilt still held a prong against his flesh, "…I don't know what to say."
"Why don't you just try, 'Merry Christmas'?"
"Merry Christmas, Pard," Slim said, slapping Jess on the back with a smile.
"Come on, let's go home. That eggnog's gonna flow down a whole lot smoother now!"
"What about Bragg?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about him." Jess frowned, brushing some of the snow out of the crevices of his clothes. "Don't you think we oughta give him a sleigh ride to Santa Claus? You bent the side a little when you crashed, but I reckon the sled's still usable. I'll even let you drive."
"You don't have to convince me, Jess," Slim said, pointing to the sled and the horse that stood nearby. "I was ready to say yes before you even offered."
"I'll be dad-gummed." Jess grinned, bringing his feet underneath him to get the sled righted and then pointed behind them. "Sit tight, Pard, and I'll go get Bragg."
"Will do, Jess," Slim said, but as he shifted both of his legs in the snow, he felt the swelling inside of his chest, for he had received the greatest Christmas gift of all.
After an outlaw was deposited in a jail cell to spend more than Christmas night behind bars, the sled was back in motion for home, the snow that whirred underneath them not the only sound that would be made during the route. Men didn't always share heartfelt conversations, but these were closer to brothers, and every hard line that had been dug with the sharpest spurs became smoothed over before the sled came to a halt outside of their front door.
The snow returned to shake out of the sky by nightfall, leaving the land in a whispered hush, but inside a certain set of walls, the warmth wrapped around each body like a gentle hug. From where the family sat around the Christmas tree, the cups of cheer in hand and in heart, their eyes couldn't see into the future. But when the calendar on the wall would be replaced with one brand new, there were two ranchers walking side by side into the barn, the evidence of a Christmas gift that would keep on being given, long after the winter snow melted into spring.