Epilogue Chapter 5
It was around 4 in the morning when he had finally made it back to his room. He had stopped by Dulcey's room first to check on her. She had given him a key to her room almost 8 months ago right after some drunk cowboy ended up in bed with her by mistake and Crown had broken her door down after he heard her scream. She had told him that she didn't want to keep repairing her door but he knew that it made her feel safer knowing that he had a key. As he leaned his ear against her door he could hear her lightly snoring inside and he knew from listening to her sleep next to his room for so many nights in the past that she was all right and sleeping soundly. He silently walked on to his room, closing and locking the door before quickly pulling off his boots to rest by the bed and then his clothes which he tossed across the footboard to join his almost dry vest. He then padded over to his bureau and pulled out his flannel drawers, quickly stepping into them before walking back to his bed and climbing under the covers. He felt himself falling quickly into sleep but managed to remember to pull some extra slack to the front of his drawers to give his man parts some extra room for the night.
Crown opened his eyes and looked out his window to find it already light outside. He threw back his covers, swung his feet to the floor and stood up. Feeling tightness in his crouch area he reached down and unconsciously pulled more slack to the front of his drawers to ease the pressure on his throbbing manhood. For the past two months ever since he had been shot by the Vardemans, he had been having the same or similar dreams about him climbing into Dulcey's bed with both her and him buck naked and her welcoming him with open arms and open legs. He had another such dream in his short sleep just now. He didn't have the time to release his built up tension this morning though as he pulled off the drawers and pulled on a clean Union Suit. So he began to rearrange and tuck his wayward body part under his trousers before buttoning them up. He thought back to how Dulcey had nursed him back to health after he had been shot, bandaging his gunshot wounds better than even Doc Teo or Doc Kihlgren could do, as how she had fussed at him so whenever he tried to do too much. He was pretty much couch/desk bound during this time which meant that he and Dulcey were in each other's close company most days and part of most nights for almost a month. They had been good friends before he was shot, but during his recovery their friendship had not only grown stronger but closer and more on the physical level. Crown began to relish her touches as she ministered to his wounds. And she too seemed to have enjoyed their new closeness. And he supposed that it was at that point in their relationship that he began to see her more as a life mate than a good friend.
He quickly dressed and opened his bedroom door. Suddenly he heard the sound of dishes rattling in that very distinctive way of Dulcey's which he recognized immediately. It would seem that Doc Kihlgren's prognosis for Dulcey's recovery was on target. It sure sounded like she was back to her old self this morning. Given the current messy condition of the kitchen he knew that him rolling up his sleeves and helping her clean up the kitchen would allow them some uninterrupted time alone to talk. All he had to do was to get rid of Francis for an hour or so which would be easy to do as long as a hot breakfast was involved.
He was halfway across the dining room when he saw Francis waving at him. MacGregor had returned from his week long subpoena gathering trip and in usual MacGregor style was regaling his business partner with tales of his self sacrifice and bravado, finishing up with his happiness that Dulcey had a few days off and "rested" according to her.
"But we're awfully glad you're back." Francis replied sincerely.
"We missed you a whole bunch, Biscuit." Crown told her stepping up close to her.
"Well…so I noticed." Dulcey replied cutting her eyes around the disheveled room.
Wanting out of Dulcey's way, Crown took both Francis and MacGregor by the elbows leading them out of the kitchen and hopefully out of Dulcey's earshot. "Mac" Crown said locking eyes with the Scotsman "Go get some sleep. I want you to relieve Francis at noon on jail duty."
"I'll do just that." Mac replied nodding to Crown and turning towards the stairs. "I am a bit weary from all my travels."
"Francis" Crown started turning towards the young man and dropping his voice down to a quiet rumble "Go down to the hotel and get some breakfast. Give me an hour and then bring back a plate for Ben and Tinker on my tab. I need some time to apologize to Dulcey and try to set things straight between us."
"I don't know if an hour's gonna be enough time after everything that's happened." Francis replied back quietly "Good luck, Marshal."
As Francis walked towards the front door, Crown turned on his heel and headed back to the kitchen, knowing that his talk with Dulcey would more than likely take longer than an hour, but he knew for a fact that Francis was not so good at keeping time and would likely show back up in two hours instead of one. Crown's plan was to scrub dishes, the floor, and clean anything and everything she wanted cleaned in that kitchen and hopefully open up a meaningful conversation between them in the process. It was Tuesday, normally a quiet day in the Cimarron Strip, so he figured he had most of the day to apologize to her proper and gain her forgiveness.
As he walked into the door of the kitchen he began rolling up his sleeves. She was walking back from the table towards the sink when he stepped up to her reaching out to take the dirty plates out of her hands. He placed his hands under hers being careful to be gentle as he touched her hands. He felt the tension leave her hands as he slowly slid his hands under the plates and withdrew his hands taking the dirty dishes with him.
"I'll take care of all the cleaning so you can take care of your paying customers." He told her heading for the double sink. "Do you have enough pans to start breakfast with?"
She looked at him with knitted eyebrows and her mouth opened as if to ask something before quickly turning around and walking to the stove and then to the cabinet stack next to the stove where she pulled out the lowest drawer. "I'm good on pans, but it looks like I will need some baking sheets washed."
Crown fished three large baking sheets from the bottom of the stack next to the sink. "Will three be enough?" he asked glancing back at her. He noticed that she had already pulled out a large bowl and had begun measuring out flour into the bowl.
"Yes." Came her one word answer as she quickly moved to the cooler and returned immediately with a basket from the new store in town.
Crown knew that the Wayfarer was on a regular perishables delivery route now because MacGregor had been bragging about it several weeks back. He glanced back again and saw her pull out eggs and milk out of the basket. Doc Kihlgren was right. Cimarron City was settling down. Maybe the time had finally come for Crown to start thinking about settling down too.
Crown had passed his bar exam about a month ago and his senator friend and sponsor, Preston Plumb, had contacted Senator Sam Maxey in Austin concerning a new judicial position opening up in the federal courts at the state capital in within two months or so that Pres thought that Crown would do well in. Crown's parents, brothers and sisters lived about 20 miles from Austin and they had been wanting him to come back home to Texas something fierce since his father had been so sickly the past year. Crown had received more letters from his family in the past year than he had in the past ten years since he had last visited his family at their ranch.
Crown had bought a section of land with a spring fed lake on it close to his parent's ranch with his first big Marshal's bounty ten years ago, but had not been back to the property since then. He had always hoped he would live long enough to make use of the property; build him a house, do a little hunting and a lot of fishing, raise some horses, and run a few head of cattle. He had never thought about raising children before, but that too changed after he was shot by the Vardemans. As Charlie had put it to him very plainly; Crown really did need a good woman by his side. And there was no arguing that Dulcey was a good woman. Once more in the present he suddenly realized that he was slacking up a little on his scrubbing duties. He rinsed off the second sheet and immediately began scrubbing on the third baking sheet wanting to make sure he finished ahead of Dulcey so she wouldn't be waiting on him. As he finished with the sheet he grabbed the dry towel off the edge of the counter and wiped the sheet dry.
He picked up all the sheets and walked over to the table sliding over dirty coffee cups to make room to set the sheets well away from where Dulcey was now almost elbow deep in biscuit dough. He noticed that she had tied her long hair up with a scarf to keep it out of her face. In all the months he had known her he had never watched her make biscuits before. "What do you want me to scrub up next, Biscuit?"
To his surprise she only raised one eyebrow at his use of his nickname for her. That was twice he had not gotten the usual reaction from her. Something was definitely changing between the two of them.
She glanced over at him and then down to the table. "Coffee cups."
"Yes ma'am." He replied looking around at all the coffee cups scatter all over the table and counters. "All of 'em?"
"All of them." She insisted with just a hint of a smile on her face.
"Well then I'm going to need more hot water for all those cups." He told her and turning back to the sink. He pumped out water into the large pot that was sitting on the corner of the sink and then took the pot to the stove. He leaned over and began stoking the fire up with 3 split oak pieces figuring that would be enough heat for both her biscuits and the hot water "You want me to toss some bacon on to fry while the water and the oven heats up?"
"Yes, please." She replied eyeing the wood as she began to pinch off biscuits "But no more wood, please. I don't want my biscuits to burn."
"Si, Jefa." He responded teasingly as he walked over to the cooler door. "How many pounds do you want me to fry up?"
"To start with, two pounds in each pan." She replied watching him as he brought two packages of bacon out of the cooler. "What did you just call me?"
"Oh you mean Jefa?" he coyly asked her cutting his eyes over to watch her as she continued to fill up the last cooking sheet with pinched biscuit dough. "Why that means female boss in Spanish."
"Oh" was her one word comment.
Crown did not have to look at her to know that the wheels turning in that female head of hers with that one word reply back to him. She was the most curious person he had ever met in his life. And there was nothing that was off the table for her when it came to her satisfying her curiosity. After he had been shot by the Vardemans she had borrowed most of Doc's medical books and would spend the very little free time she had on her hands going thru those books. She had been quick to learn how to bandage proper, but had complained to him repeatedly that he needed to be more careful so that she would not have him to practice her bandaging skills on so much. And he had hoped to oblige her. He finished laying out all of the bacon into the two large fry pans and wiped his hands clean with the wash cloth from the counter next to the stove, his back still turned towards her.
"I have already forgiven you about Whitey, you know." She told him softly, the low sizzle of the bacon the only sound in the kitchen now.
Crown didn't to look at her because he knew that she wasn't finished and he wanted to let her have her say without interruption. He knew that her lack of words to him this morning was about to be made up for. He could hear her move towards the sink and begin to wash her hands obviously done with laying out the biscuits.
He heard her soft steps grow close and suddenly felt her hands unexpectedly on his waist. "On the ride back yesterday I couldn't sleep very soundly, so I am fairly certain I heard everything you said to me, and in particular your apology for lying to me." She began, her hands going around him as she pulled up a large apron to hang around his neck letting it drape down in front of him before tying it in the back. "But even though I have forgiven you, I will not forget how my trust in you fell apart when I saw Sam Phillips walk thru the front door of the Inn. And I will also never forget to keep my distance from the cells when I bring prisoners food ever again." Her hands dropped to his waist again quickly tying the sash on his apron, and she began to gently tug on him in an effort to turn him around to face her.
He slowly turned in her arms until he found himself looking down into her dark green eyes expectantly. He timidly reached around her arms and placed them on her hips relishing the feel of her and their closeness and the realization that touching her in this manner felt so right at this moment.
"And I will never forget how my trust in you became whole again when I saw you walk thru that cabin door and open your arms to me." She continued her eyes locking with his with both intensity and emotion. "And I meant every word that I said to you on the way back to Cimarron City yesterday….I do so love you."
He followed his instincts and leaned down to kiss her lips and felt her hands move up to the back of his neck, gently gripping his neck, her long fingers timidly pulling at his hair as they deepened the kiss.
Suddenly a clarity of mind took hold of him as their lips parted and he leaned his forehead tenderly against hers. He knew what he wanted….what he needed to tell her. But the taste of her lips had addled his brain something fierce and he struggled to put together how he felt.
"What we have between us will be dangerous for you." He warned her, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I know." She replied softly "It will be dangerous for both of us." Her hands trailed down to rest her long warm fingers on his cheeks and she pulled back from him slightly locking eyes with him once more. "But you are so worth the risk, Marshal Crown."
Suddenly the bacon popped loudly behind them and stopped him as he began to lower his head to kiss her again. Dulcey quickly dropped her hands from his face and he instantly missed her soft touch. Not wanting to let her go just yet, he allowed her to move around him but he kept his right hand around her waist as they stood together facing the stove. She quickly picked up the fork he had been using to put down the bacon and she began turning slices over in the pan on the right. He reached over with his left hand to the counter next to the stove and pulled another fork out of the old cracked pitcher that served as a utensil holder and he began turning the bacon in the pan on the left.
Crown looked down at his apron as one of the bacon slices in his panned spewed forth a long stream of hot grease that landed about belt level on his apron. "Well I don't much look like a Marshal right now." He told her glancing over at her and he was happy to see her face light up in a small smile.
"You better hope that Charlie doesn't come in here and find you in that apron, Marshal Crown, or you will be catching quite the tease from him about it." She warned him cutting her eyes quickly over at him.
He gently pulled her closer to him with his right hand. "Well just let that rascal come." Crown replied with a shake of his head. "Charlie's been playing matchmaker for me ever since I started fishing with him." He began "If he came in here right now he would probably start crowing about how he'd been the one to set us up together."
"Well I didn't realize that Charlie was playing matchmaker for you." Dulcey replied quickly glancing over at him trying her best to hold back a smile. "He's been doing that with me too…. trying his best to match me up with Mr. Boyer."
"Why that…!" Crown began quickly turning his head to look down at her and search her face for the truth. And he knew for a fact that she couldn't keep a straight face in a bald-face lie. She immediately began to giggle and he knew for certain that she was just teasing him now. "Well then, the next time Charlie and I go fishing, I'm gonna see just how good that 'ole smitty can swim."
"Don't you dare!" She warned him pulling out of his grasp and turning to face him. "I was just making that up about Mr. Boyer." She reached out to tug on the front of his apron and he allowed himself to be pulled him closer to her. "Charlie and Lola Mae both have been going out of their way for months now trying to talk me into marrying you, not Mr. Boyer."
"Oh." Was suddenly the only word he could manage to get past his lips.
Suddenly there was only the sound of frying bacon sizzling in the room again before the bacon in Dulcey's pan popped and they both turned back around once again to tend the cooking bacon.
"Dulcey, you remember when I took that law test last month?"
"Yes, Jim." She replied pushing bacon slices around in the large pan. "The one you had been studying for." Suddenly she turned to him expectantly. "You passed it, didn't you?!"
His eyes met hers and he was suddenly caught up in her enthusiasm for his success. "Yes, I passed it." He told her with a smile. "And if all goes well I won't be a Marshal much longer."
He knew that she worried about him so much every time he left town on marshaling business and with his words he could almost see her body relax with relief.
"That's wonderful news, Jim!" She told him a huge smile spreading across her face as she turned her body towards him and reached out with her left hand to take the fingers right hand in hers and entwine them. "I mean, I hope this is good news for you. I know how much being a marshal means to you and all, but I also know that you will make an amazing judge because you are so fair and just and smart and …." Suddenly her face fell as her thoughts seemed to grow darker. "You're leaving Cimarron City aren't you?"
"Yes" he answered "the job is in Austin." He placed the fork down on the counter after finishing turning all the bacon slices and then turned his whole body towards her. "Pres got me the job and we worked it out that Joe would be taking over for me in the Strip as Marshal. Joe and his boys are doing a real good job and they are up to the challenge." He told her squeezing her hand back. "But I am hoping not to go back to Texas alone."
"Oh." She replied her eyes looking away suddenly as she let go of his hand and turned back to tend the bacon.
"Mac told me that Phinneas Hayward had been talking with the both of you about selling the Wayfarer's to the bank." Crown began. "And if that old banker is willing to put up the money to buy you out then it's a sure bet that the Inn will be a moneymaker for the bank." He paused as Dulcey picked up the drain pan for the bacon and placed it on the back of the stove top. "Mac also told me that you and him have not accepted his offer 'cause you didn't want to put me and the Marshal's Office out on the street."
"MacGregor and I originally agreed that you could stay here as long as you wanted, and Mr. Hayward is insisting that the jail and your office be converted into dining space before he will buy the Inn." She replied quietly beginning to fork the bacon on to the pan to drain. "But we will not…can not go back on our agreement with you." She told him quickly glancing over at him. "So it would seem that I have grown quite use to living under the same roof as you."
Crown smiled to himself as he turned back to the stove and starting to fork the cooked bacon in his pan into the drain pan. "Well you are the very first woman I have ever lived under the same roof with that wasn't family." He began glancing over at her, and he was pleased again to see a small smile forming on her face. "So it would seem that I have gotten used to being within smelling distance of your fresh baked bread and living under the same roof as you too." He added as he watched her smile brighten even more. He forked the last two cooked slices of the bacon onto the drain pan and set the pan to the side, reached out to grab the hook and slid the cover back into place. He watched as she finished forking her last bacon slices over into the drain pan and he took the handle of her pan from her, moving over to the side of the stove with his left hand as he slid the cover into place with his right hand.
"Dulcey" he began again "I have two cousins living and working in Austin. One works for the Democratic Weekly and is going to offer Francis a good job with the newspaper. And my other cousin works for Capital Bank and buys and sells properties for the bank. He says he has found a building for sale with a good location that you and Mac might want to buy. It's set up as a bakery right now but could be built out to whatever you want."
He turned to her and reached out to take her hands gently within his large, calloused ones. "I meant it when I said that I didn't want to go back to Texas alone." He told her earnestly as he squeezed her hands tenderly. "I know I'm being selfish, but I just don't want to break up our Wayfarer's family."
"Jim" she began locking eyes with him "I know you count MacGregor and Francis as brothers, but I just don't know where I fit into your Wayfarer's family."
"Well certainly not on the sisterly side." He replied pulling her towards him slightly. "According to just about everyone I know, we already act like an old married couple, and I know for a fact that I would sure be willing to make our relationship an official one. But you are the one that has the most at stake here, Dulcey." He informed her somberly. "I am a lot older than you and I got a lot of wear and tear on me. You've only seen just some of the scars." He watched as her eyes widened slightly and he could see the wheels begin turning in her head again. He now wanted to head off any possible thoughts about his man parts being part of the wear and tear, which thankfully they were not. "I mean I'm not missing any body parts and everything still works proper and all, but there's no doubt you are going to out live me. I just don't want you to be alone after I'm gone."
Dulcey quickly looked away and actually pinked up with embarrassment at the meaning behind his words. Crown gently squeezed her hands to get her to look back up at him. She still had such vulnerability about her sometimes that he had to rein himself in from gathering her up in his arms and kissing her embarrassment away.
"Well…." She began thoughtfully her embarrassment fading "I suppose by that time I will have our children and grandchildren to keep me company since all of your body parts are intact and working properly." She replied, with a hint of a smile.
He narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled coyly back at him. No doubt about it, she was certainly a match for him in sass. And that too was another part of her that he loved. But he needed to finish saying what was on his mind now. "And I meant it when I said that there is a danger to being with me. I've put away a lot of men in prison and if and when they get out, they are going to come looking for me. The only men I've killed have either been in self defense or to protect the public, but some of these men have families that may come after me for some vengeance. And you know that judges can collect enemies too. You've seen that with your own eyes here in Cimarron City."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly in the few seconds of silence that seem to stretch between them now. "I understand why you are telling me about the reasons why I shouldn't marry you, but I want to make sure you understand completely why it is that I want to marry you, Jim Crown. But I do so hope that ego of yours doesn't overinflate itself with what I am going to say."
He narrowed his eyes at her in mock anger. "Well if it does I'm sure that you will be able to stick my ego with a pin and pop it. You always do." His heart was now pounding inside his chest at the realization that in a round-about way he had just asked Dulcey to marry him and that she would likely say 'yes'.
She smiled knowingly at him. "I have been in love with everything about you from the moment I first saw you board the train in Kansas almost a year ago. You are every girl's dream man: strong, tall, handsome, brave, dashing; a knight in shining armor always there to save the day. But it wasn't until I almost lost you to the Vardemans that I realized that I truly loved you, and not just because of the shining armor that you wear for all of the outside world to see, but the real you beneath all that armor and bravado. The you that is kind, gentle, compassionate, caring, loving, loyal, fun, smart, and spiritual." She squeezed his hands back firmly. "So if you were asking me to marry you by saying that you want to make our relationship official then my answer is yes, Jim Crown, I will marry you."
"I am asking." With that he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately wrapping his arms around her protectively, not wanting to ever let her go. He could feel the heat course and thrum thru him as she kissed him back, hesitantly at first but then gaining almost a fierceness towards the end. Finally they broke for air, each of them looking at each other in surprise at the intensity of their kiss.
"Oh my!" Dulcey exclaimed pinking up in embarrassment. "I…I didn't mean to get so….. . It's just…" she trailed off breathlessly looking up at him.
"I am sorry I got a little carried away too." He replied reaching out to brush her hair back over her right shoulder. "I just got caught up in the feelings between us."
They stood looking at one another, their slowly calming breaths the only sounds in the kitchen.
"When?" she began a little hesitantly. "When do you want to get married?" she finished quietly reaching out to take his left hand and slowly entwine their fingers.
"That is all up to you." He answered equally as quiet reaching out to take her left hand within his right and squeezing gently "You just tell me when and where to show up."
She knitted her eyebrows in thought. "Jim" she began earnestly "According to Mr. Hooper I can't sell my part of the Wayfarer's because I am single and under the age of 21. So by law as an unmarried woman, I would require a legal guardian to transact the sale on my behalf." She caught her breath as he waited on her to continue. "I was going to ask you since you are the only person that I trust enough to be my guardian, but a guardian cannot marry their ward because of the conflict of interest." She explained further. "Mr. Hooper told me that legally I could marry and sell the Inn as MacGregor's business partner if there was a written provision in the marriage agreement that set aside the Inn as my personal estate."
"Then we'll go see Mr. Hooper after lunch today and get him to draw up the legal document that will keep the Inn as your personal property after marriage." He told her squeezing both her hands tenderly "You have a lot of business savvy and it's your savvy and hard work that has made the Inn profitable enough to be looked at by stingy 'ole Phinneas to buy. Mac is lucky to have you as a business partner, but I am even luckier to have you as a life partner, Dulcey."
Dulcey smiled up at him. "That is very sweet of you to say." She replied leaning forward and up on her toes to brush her lips against his tenderly before settling back down her eyes suddenly intent. "Jim, I don't want to rush things, but Mr. Hayward wanted an answer by the end of this week."
"You're not rushing anything that don't need to be rushed. A deadline is a deadline. We can get the Parson to marry us if you'd like. Then you can get Mr. Hooper to legally bind the separate property declaration to the marriage certificate to make it legal. That'll give us a few days before you meet with Mr. Hayward to break down the jail cells and get them set back up at the old Sheriff's office that Pete Webber and his boys have fixed up. Charlie can help us with the iron work that will need to be done. Joe's not going to be happy about being kicked out of the Wayfarer's, but he'll get over it." He told her squeezing her hands gently again. "I only worry about letting it get out that we're married way too far ahead of when we leave for Austin in order to keep you safer."
"We can always combine our marriage celebration with our going away party and no one will be the wiser. MacGregor will probably not even figure it out that we got married when he signs the Wayfarer's sale documents with Mr. Hayward, since he never reads anything he signs anyway." They looked at each other in silence for a moment as they each thought thru what they planned to do.
"But there's no doubt that the two of us sharing one bedroom would get around town faster than greased lightning." Crown told her quietly. Although his body disagreed, he knew that they could not become intimate with each other before they left Cimarron City. Both he and Dulcey were under constant watch by the regular townsfolk given their positions within the town, and talk of the two of them bedding down under the same set of sheets would spread like wildfire.
"So we get married and then act like as if nothing has changed." She suggested quietly looking up at him under her eyelashes.
"That's right." Crown agreed looking down at her lips. "But it may take a couple of weeks or more to get all the loose ends tied before we can leave for Texas."
Dulcey smiled up at him and reached up to loop her arms around his neck. Then she began to pull him slowly down to her. "Well I've been waiting on my knight in shining armor to sweep me off my feet for almost a year now, Mr. Crown. So I don't suppose a few more weeks of waiting is going to try my patience too badly." She assured him softly just before their lips met in a kiss that was quickly broken up by Francis' booming voice.
"Oh boy this is going to make such a great story!" Francis called out to them as he set up his camera and tripod in the doorway of the kitchen. "Doc Crown Domesticated! I can't wait to hear what my readers say about this!"
Suddenly Fabrizio appeared in the doorway behind Francis. "I wanted to come in early to clean up but looks like Marshal Crown has beat me to it."
"Oh, there's still plenty of cleaning to do." Crown called out to him leaving Dulcey's side and stepping quickly to the stove and then turning around to take the pot of boiling water from the stove to the sink. He then swiftly picked up and tossed Fabrizio a washcloth right over the top of Francis' head nearly hitting him. Crown fixed his glare on Francis next "You're lucky you're on guard duty or you'd be in here cleaning too. Did you get breakfast over to Ben and Tinker before you horned in on what should have been a private moment?"
"I sure did." Francis replied with a grin. "And if you really wanted a private moment then you should've picked somewhere other than the kitchen. Now are you going to let me take your picture or not?"
Dulcey began to walk away from Crown towards the alley door "Just where do you think you're going?" he asked her walking swiftly over and catching her around the waist causing the color to rise in her face from embarrassment. "If I'm going to get my picture taken in an apron being all domesticated and such, then I believe the domesticator should be in the picture too."
"Come on Dulcey!" Francis called out to her. "My readers need to see the woman who stole Doc Crown's heart together with 'ole Doc. I don't have many pictures of you because you always seem to run off whenever I get my camera out, and this will be the first one I've taken with just the two of you. I'll even make you a print and frame it too. Come on Dulcey girl! What do you say?"
"Francis Wilde!" Dulcey told him sternly "What other pictures of me are you speaking of? If you have used my likeness without my permission again I will be demanding my royalties."
"You mean I should've been getting paid for Francis taking pictures and publishing stories about me this whole time?" Crown asked her and he pulled her even closer to him before cutting his eyes to Francis. "Francis, you and I are going to have us our own private moment to discuss this, you hear me?"
"That is fine by me as long as you don't try to kiss me too." Francis replied motioning Crown and Dulcey to move towards the middle of the kitchen where the light was better. "I sure don't want Dulcey getting jealous and whipping up on me."
Fabrizio began laughing as he continued to wash dishes.
"Fabrizio you just keep washing those dishes now and Francis you'd better get to takin' that picture pronto before I come over there and thump you in the head." Crown threatened him pulling Dulcey snugly into his side after they moved to the center of the kitchen to pose for the picture.
"Not if I beat you to him." Dulcey remarked sternly causing Crown to smile and look down at her as she looked up at him with the beginnings of a smile on her face.
Suddenly bright light and smoke filled the kitchen. "Boy is this ever gonna make a great picture!" Francis remarked happily and he began to fold up the tripod after pulling the exposed plate out of the camera.
"Now that the excitement is over, I'm going to put my biscuits in the oven, cook up some ham and start the gravy." Dulcey said walking to the cooler, opening up the door and stepping inside. "Someone around here has got to actually work for a living."
"Who said anything about the excitement being over?" Charlie asked loudly as he stepped thru the alley door pulling his wife Lola Mae thru the doorway with him. "We just talked to Francis and he said that our two resident lovebirds were finally building themselves a nest. And after all the months of matchmaking work that Lola Mae and me done, that is some excitin' news. So here we are to see for ourselves."
"Francis!" Dulcey called out from inside the cooler. "You are in soooooo much trouble!"
"Well I'm on guard duty and you're not allowed in the jail anymore, so I'm gonna ride this storm out safe and sound in jail." Francis called out to her as he hurried out of the kitchen. "Just don't forget to feed me, Marshal."
"Francis you'd better make Lola Mae and me a print of that picture you took, you hear me." Charlie called after him.
"Yes sir, I sure will." Francis called out from across the dining room.
Lola Mae quickly hugged Dulcey as she came out of the cooler, and then she took the ham from her. "Let me help you get breakfast going this morning. We missed you something fierce the past few days."
Dulcey stopped and hugged her back "I would love that Lola Mae! Thank you so much!"
Charlie walked up to Crown and pointedly looked up and down at the apron he wore. "You know that you are never going to live this down as long as you live, and as long as I have the breath to talk ugly about you."
Crown narrowed his eyes and glared at him before turning and walking over to the cabinet next to the sink and pulling out a drawer. He quickly tossed an apron over at Charlie hitting him squarely in the chest with it. "Well I think you're right about the excitement, and yours is about to start." He began walking back over and standing toe to toe with Charlie. "Congratulations Charlie, you have officially been drafted into the Wayfarer's cleaning crew."
"But Crown…" Charlie started.
"No buts, Mister." Lola Mae called out from the stove interrupting her husband's reply "The only 'but' you get is yore butt to the sink and start scrubbing."
"Do I need to call Francis back in here to take another picture?" Crown asked Charlie slyly as Charlie slowly put on the apron.
"What you need to do is hush and start drying dishes." Charlie replied tying the apron on behind him and eyeing Crown suspiciously before putting both of his hands in the hot soapy water and pulling out a coffee cup to wash. "Fabrizio and me don't want you slowing up the cleaning part so we can get on to the eating part of this exciting morning."
