Epilogue Chapter 3

Crown was grateful that the temperature had not fallen below freezing. As it was his hands had grown cold enough to be stiff. He doubted he could even let go of the lariat now even if he wanted to. His legs were better off protected behind his chaps, but he could begin to feel his muscles in his upper legs start to bind up a bit after the many hours gripping the gelding's flanks in an effort not to fall of the back end of the black. He leaned his head around his hat and he could now make out the lights of Cimarron. They were maybe 5 miles outside of town at most. He suddenly felt the black pick up a bit of speed no doubt catching the scent of sweet feed on the wind.

As they rode into the outskirts of town he noticed that the streets were fairly cleared out given the weather and the time of day. He never did like bringing bodies back into town down Main Street. He would normally stop over at Blinn's place first to unload the carcasses, but he wanted to make sure that Dulcey was taken care of ahead of all else. The dead could wait.

Craning his neck around his hat again he saw the Wayfarer's lights. Francis, Fabrizio, and Charlie were waiting for them on the porch and he saw Doc Kihlgren quickly walk out of the front doors to join them.

Crown struggled to get his mouth working again as they pulled up to a stop in front of the Inn. "Francis" he managed to croak out as he stiffly removed his left arm from around her "Take Dulcey inside so the Doc and Mrs. Kihlgren can look her over." He barely managed to land on his feet when he slid off the back of the black and staggered backwards slightly as red hot pain shot up both legs. Charlie reached out to steady him.

Francis reached up and gently pulled Dulcey off the tall horse. Somehow underneath all those sopping wet skirts she managed to get her legs moving under her, but Francis immediately hoisted her up bridal style to carry her inside.

"Francis" She fussed as she was forced to put his arms around his neck "I can walk."

"Not 'til the Doc says you can." Francis countered immediately turning and walking up the steps to the porch as Fabrizio opened the door for him and the Doc.

Crown watched as Francis carried her off and a pang of jealousy rose up within him unexpectedly. Suddenly she leaned up within the young man's arms and craned her neck around until she saw Crown, opening her mouth as if to say something to him before Francis quickly carried her inside and the Doc's tall hat blocked his view of her face as all of them disappeared inside the Inn.

Charlie reached down to pick up Crown's wet hat as Crown struggled to loosen his grip on the lariat. His right hand hurt something fierce now.

"I'll get the outlaws over to Blinn's and stable the horses." Charlie told him as he placed the wet hat unceremoniously on Crown's head and then reached down to help him to straighten his fingers. "Your fingers are like icicles. You need to get yoreself inside and get warmed up pronto."

As Charlie took both his hands and briskly massaged Crown's left hand in an effort to quickly warm his hand up Crown was finally able to completely release his grip. "Thanks Charlie." He said taking a tentative, stiff step towards the Wayfarer's Inn.

"You betcha." Charlie replied with a lopsided grin. "Now get on inside and see about your woman."

Charlie had been calling Dulcey Crown's woman for months now, ever since they had become fishing partners. At first Crown had argued back to Charlie that Dulcey was not 'his woman' and that he and Dulcey were not and most likely would never be man and wife. And Charlie had argued right back at him telling him that he and Dulcey acted more like an old married couple than even he and his Lola Mae did after almost 30 years of marriage, that difference in age did not matter, and that it would do both him and Dulcey a world of good to jump into bed together naked.

As Charlie took the lariat into his hand and mounted his gelding, Crown turned and hobbled up on to the porch. He slowly made his way to the door fumbling with the door knob before finally stepping inside. With a sigh of relief he stood there just inside the doorway, dripping rain water onto the wood floor as the warmth of the room began to soak thru his sopping wet clothes and into him.

"Jim" Francis called out from the stair landing as he carried Crown's coat back downstairs with him. "Mrs. Kihlgren has Dulcey in the tub now. We got the water good and hot for her. The Doc says he wants to give her some time to warm up before he examines her." the young man rattled off rapidly. "Fabrizio drew a hot bath in your tub for you and, boy, do you ever look like you could use a hot soak right about now."

Fabrizio walked up to Crown with a large cup of coffee in his outstretched hand. "Marshal, I put some of Mac's special whiskey in it for you to help warm you up from the inside." The bartender told him with a big smile. "Mrs. Kihlgren brought over a big pot of potato soup and two fry pans full of cornbread."

"Thanks" Crown managed to get out before he leaned towards the stairs willing his legs to move out of the large puddle that had now formed under him on the floor. His legs were starting to loosen up a bit now. "to you both. A hot soak in the tub is sounding mighty good." He told them sincerely before stopping to take a large gulp of coffee taking a moment to appreciate the coffee's slow burn down his throat before he spoke again "Charlie took the bodies down to Blinn's and the horses to the stable."

"Ben Kravitz is going to help with guard duty tonight." Francis informed him as he passed Crown heading for the Marshal's office with Crown's wet coat in tow.

"Good." Crown called back to him as he began to slowly walk up the stairs. "I am going to take a bath and talk to the Doc after he takes a look at Dulcey." He told the deputy "Then I'll be back down to help on duty."

Francis looked like he was about to argue with Crown's plan for standing guard and then thought better of it. "All right, Marshal." The young man replied.

Crown slowly made his way up the stairs trying his best to keep the coffee from sloshing out of the cup. The fingers on both hands were still a little stiff and cold but he could feel them starting to warm up a little now and he was definitely feeling the pain as the nerves in his hands began to thaw out. As he walked along the hallway towards his room he was suddenly torn between going to check on Dulcey and going to his room where his hot bath awaited him. But he knew that Mrs. Kihlgren would have his hide tanned if he even so much as knocked on the ladies bathroom door right now, so he turned the other direction and made his way slowly to his room.

The steam rising out of the tub beckoned him in and he quickly downed his coffee in three big gulps relishing both the whiskey and the hot coffee as they made their way down his throat and set the cup down with a clunk on his night stand.

He quickly stripped off his soaking wet vest and hung it in its usual spot across the footboard of his bed and then hung his hat on the hat rack near the bed so the air could get to it better and dry it out quicker. He slowly walked to his bathtub and leaning with one hand on the back of the tub he gingerly stepped out of his boots being careful to not wet his rug with his sopping wet socks. As wet as his boots and socks were he knew that he would need to get his feet good and dried before he put on his dress boots. He unfastened his gun belt and laid it to the right side of tub. Then he quickly unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it onto the wood floor at the foot of the tub. He pulled loose his chaps and tossed them across the towel rack next to the bath towel. He leaned against the tub again and pulled his pants down and off his legs followed by his socks and he kicked them all across the floor to rest next to his shirt leaving him only in his union suit. His still stiff fingers fumbled with the small buttons as he unbuttoned them from the top down and he found himself coming close to just ripping the rest of the buttons off. The suit was so cold and wet that it now sagged down low on his waist and he took advantage of the extra free room the step out of the suit leaving about 6 buttons fastened at the bottom. He then tossed the suit on top his shirt and pants.

As he eased himself into the tub he couldn't help the groan of relief moving past his lips at the feel of the hot water. He slowly leaned back until he was resting against the back of the tub and then slid down so only his head was above water. He wedged his legs into the side of the tub so he wouldn't drown himself as he felt sleep begin to over take him. His last coherent thought was of the feeling of Dulcey's warm lips upon his cheek.