February 10,1900
Why are the boys in this town so disgusting? Is it really too much to ask that a boy you go out with have some semblance of manners? Evidently it is.
I had a date tonight, if you could call it that. Jimmy Morgan picked me up and we went for dinner. It was nice and all, until we took a walk in the park. Even though it was cool, the sky was clear and the stars were out so it was a nice night. Too bad he had to spoil it. This was our third date, so I didn't freak out too much when he leaned in to kiss me. I even enjoyed it, until he asked me if I would handcuff him and...well, I won't repeat what he wanted me to do, it was terrible! I told him he was a pig, slapped his face, and walked home.
Daddy said I was right and asked if I wanted him to run him in for lude conduct. I laughed and told him no, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should have let him. I've been Deputy for a week and nothing else even slightly exciting has happened.
I don't think I'll mention this to the girls. But, maybe I'll give Raven a pair of handcuffs. I'm sure she would find them...useful.
I give up on boys!
Sage
"The next time Bobby Mathews tries to kiss you, slap him," Sage linked her arm through Trish's as they walked down the wooden board walk that lined the main street.
"Sagey! He wasn't that bad.... was he?" The younger girl asked with a giggle.
Sage lifted her knee bumping the heavy basket of food she carried into a better position on her arm. "Trish, did you not see how he practically drooled on your hand?" She shuddered at the thought.
"Ughhh, I guess" Trish shrugged.
"That boy has no manners. If Daddy saw him act like that he'd lock him up and throw away the key."
"Hey, at least I got away before he actually kissed me... be happy about that!"
"True."
Trish peeked into the basket of food Sage was carrying. "You got enough food for me?"
"Of course silly!" Sage rolled her eyes at yer youngest sister. "Mrs. Hardy made a ton of food. She always goes overboard when it comes to making food for Daddy."
Ethel Hardy was the widowed owner of a small deli style food shop. Her prices were reasonable and the portions were huge. She'd decided long before then; "the way to a man's heart was through his stomach." From what Sage could see, she was definitely trying to win her father's affection.
"I think she's sweet on him," Sage said in a near whisper. "Eve and Raven are joining us, and there will still be bunches left over."
Trish giggled. "Mrs. Hardy? I knew something was fishy when she came by our house with an armful of goodies last week. Honestly, I thought Daddy was gonna have a heart attack!" She leaned in close to Sage. "Do you think she actually believes that we thought she really just bought too much flour and baked so much 'cause she didn't want it to go to waste?"
Sage, still giggling said, "it's kinda ...erm...cute. I mean, Daddy hasn't been with anyone since Momma died and he deserves to be happy. But she keeps cooking like this and we're all gonna gain 50 pounds!" She patted her flat belly.
"I ain't complaining about the food" Trish chuckled. "But I can't imagine Daddy with someone else... I like Mrs. Hardy and all... but... you know Momma's songs? They just suddenly pop up in my head... and I know she's still here."
"I know."
Sage had been ten when their mother passed away in child birth, but Trish had been only six and a half. Sage was always trying to make sure the younger girls didn't forget their mother.
"You sound just like her when ya sing them ya know?" Sage smiled and tightened her hold on the smaller girl's arm. "I heard you one night and it took the longest time for me to realize it was you. I was starting to wonder if we had a ghost."
"You heard me singing?" Trish's cheeks reddened. "I-I didn't know anybody was there," she stammered.
"Oh, no you dont," Sage turned her head to look at her as they walked. "You'd better not stop singin' now cos I mentioned it. I love hearing the old songs. I sing them sometimes too, but you sound so much like her. You have to keep singing them."
BLAM!
Out of nowhere, a tall dark haired young man with a red bandana tied around his neck, slammed into the girls knocking them to the ground. As they tumbled, Trish smacked her head against the wooden railing that was used for securing horses, and dropped to the walkway in a heap. Sage scrambled to her side. Once she was confident her sister wasn't dead, she looked up.
"Hey!"
"Uh, sorry," the young man stammered.
Sage turned back to the unconcious girl. "Trish?" She gently slapped her sister's face, with no result. "Look what you did!" She looked up at the young man. He was roughly the same age as she, or he looked like it. He was tall, at least as tall as her father, and he was 6'1". He had longish brown hair, it hung well below the collar of his shirt, and dark brown eyes. He was the most handsome boy she'd seen in some time. 'No!' she thought. 'He hurt Trish! Don't even give his looks one more thought!'
"I said, I'se sorry!" He snapped back. "Whadda ya want me ta do? Go ta confession? Light a candle for yer forgiveness?"
Sage ignored his question. "Who are you? And what did you do to my sister?" She glared at him from Trish's side.
"Cowboy!" Another young man called as he crossed the dusty street to the Train Depot. This one was a few inches shorter than the first, but slightly larger in build. He had olive skin and short curly brown hair. "Ya fergot da claim slips," he waved a handful of paper strips in the air. "Heya, whatcha got heah?" He said with an endearing smile that lit up his face, bringing out his deep dimples. He handed Cowboy the tickets and then dropped down to his haunches. "What happened?" He asked as he took Trish's hand in his, patting it in an effort to wake her.
"Your friend here," she rolled her eyes to the other male. "Ran us over. I think she hit her head."
"Hey! I didn't do anythin'! All's I did was run ovah heah ta check on some packages, an' when I got inside realized I didn't have me tickets!" He held up the scraps of paper to emphasize his point. He turned to the shorter boy. "I'se been looking all over foah dese!"
"Miss?" The curly haired boy started patting Trish's cheek. "Miss? What's her name?" He asked as he turned to Sage.
"Trish," she replied to him then turned her attention back to the other. "Look here CITY-boy, why don'tcha go back to where you came from? We happen to prefer folks with manners around here."
"I'se livin just fine wit'out mannahs," he steamed. "I don't need no stupid country hick ta tell me uddahwise."
Her brows shot up. "Ya ain't gonna be livin in THIS town fine wit'out mannahs" She mocked him perfectly. "That kind of stupidity will get ya killed 'round these parts."
"Cowboy, I t'ink maybe we should take 'er inside," the younger boy looked up at a darkening sky, filled with looming storm clouds.
"COWBOY!? " Sage laughed so hard she nearly snorted. "You are about as much a COWBOY as I am the queen of England" She smirked.
"Well sorry to ruin your uh, nice clothes yer highness," he cocked his head and looked her up and down. He hadn't seen a girl in trousers since he'd left New York, and even then it was only the newsgirls that wore them. He wondered briefly why this tall red head would be wearing men's clothing when everyone else was dressed so differently.
Sage ignored Cowboy and nodded to the other. "Would you help me get her inside? Please?"
Cowboy made a move towards Trish. "Don't even think about touchin' her!" Sage snapped at him.
"Whoa, hey!" He raised his hands in the air and backed away. "I wasn't gonna try anythin'. Not like I can harm her by caryin' her inside," his dark brows knitted together.
"You harmed her enough already, thank you very much," she said sarcastically as she shot him a deadly glare. Sage turned again to the younger boy. "Would you mind carrying her, Mr..."
The boy nodded and gave another sweet smile. "The fellas call me Mush," he scooped the young girl up in his arms, and started across the street.
"Hey Mush, where are you taking her?" Sage ran to catch up with him. She'd meant for him to take her inside the train depot.
Mush nodded to the large white building across the road. "Da sofa'll be bettah foah her dan some hahd bench."
Sage looked at the Victorian building that looked so out of place in Santa Fe. "But that's the old..."
"We bought it and are turnin' it inta a hotel," Cowboy's words cut her's off. He'd gathered up the picnic basket and caught up with them in just a few long strides.
Once inside, Sage looked around at the shabby interior. It needed a woman's touch, that was definite, but the place had potential. High ceilings and amazing woodwork.. She'd never been inside before, but she had heard loads of stories about it from her father. Some rich "gentleman" from New Orleans had it built and ran quite the brothel and gaming hall from inside it's walls. But when it was discovered that many of the girls there were under age, little girls really, along with two unsolved murders, the community backlash forced them out of town. The building had stood empty for three years, so cleaning was going to be the biggest issue.
Trish woke as Mush laid her on the sofa. She sucked her breath in through her teeth.
"You awright miss?" Mush smiled down at her. His dimples showing deep in his cheeks.
"Wha? Who are you?" Trish blinked up at him. "Are-are you an Angel?"
Sage heard a chorus of male laughter behind her. She turned to see two young men standing next to Cowboy. One had sandy blonde hair and an eyepatch, the other had brown hair that was wavey on top and wore a pink shirt peeking out at his neck and sleeves. They were both grinning like fools.
"Heah dat Skitts? She thinks Mush is a angel!" The one with the patch giggled and slapped the other's shoulder.
Mush just smiled back at her. "Nah, I ain't no angel, miss. Me name's Mush."
Sage crossed to her sister's side.
"What happened?" Trish frowned and brought her hand to her head."Owww."
"That ox over there ran us over," Sage said simply as she motioned to Cowboy. "You hit your head," she ran her fingers along the back of Trish's head. She pulled them back covered in blood. She turned on Jack with hellfire in her eyes. "See what you've done!" She held up her bloody hand for emphasis.
"Geeez!" Skitts said when he saw the blood. He scurried from the room.
Jack glowered back. "Damned if you ain't da biggest pain in da ass! I DIDN'T DO IT ON PURPOSE!" He growled back in defense.
"Just what, exactly, is your problem? Cowboy," she spat out his name as if it were as foul to her as rotten milk.
"My problem?" Jack asked indignantly. "My problem is I apologized to ya and yer still actin like some spoiled hoity toity mug!"
"I ain't spoiled!" She said defensively. "And what in the world is a 'hoity toity mug'?"
Jack threw back his head and laughed.
"Don't mind Him, miss. He's been in a bad mood lately," Skitts hurried back into the room with some pristine white towels and a small bundle of linen strips to be used for bandages, glaring at Jack as he went to Trish's side.. "Should I go find a doctor?"
"Does it hurt bad?" Mush asked Trish as Skittery pressed one of the towels to the wound on her head.
"Uh...I...uh...yeah," she stammered looking at the handsome boy called Mush.
"How many fingers am I holdin up?" Mush asked holding up three fingers.
Trish blinked at him. Her mind, muddled as it was from the pain in her head, wasn't on his fingers but his smile. "Four....no..," she rubbed her eyes. "No...three."
Sage looked to Trish. "Lovely," Blink handed her a towel so she could clean the blood from her hand. "Thanks. And you are?"
Blink smiled at her. "Kid Blink," he said politely. "But I answer ta either."
"Thanks Kid. Is he always like this?" She tipped her head toward Cowboy.
"Nah. He's just .."
"I'se what?" Jack sat down on a chair near the sofa.
"Nuthin," Blink raised his brow.
Cowboy rolled his eyes.
"You got a name?" Sage looked to Cowboy. "A real name," she clarified.
The cowboy smirked. "Kelly. Jack Kelly," he took off his new black cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his hair. "But people call me a lot of uddah t'ings."
Sage batted her eyes at him. Full of sarcastic sweetness. "Gosh Mr. Kelly, I can't imagine why." She rolled her eyes and turned back to Blink.
"Whadda dey call you? Somethin bettah I suppose," his brow shot up.
"I'm Sage, and this is my sister Trish," she spoke to everyone in the room but Jack.
"Sage? Sounds like a nic-name ta me," Jack, growing impatient with her and her attitude toward him, folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in the wing back chair. "Ya gotta real name goil?"
Sage turned back to him. Her head tilted back so she could look down her nose at him. "Not that I'm gonna share with you," she said hotly. "Sage is enough."
Jack's eyes smoldered. No girl had ever gotten under his skin like this one. Her fierce green eyes and those fiery curls made his thoughts even more jumbled.
Skittery cleared his throat. "Think we should call a doc Cowboy?" He looked up at the two doing verbal battle.
Jack couldn't speak. He opened his mouth but nothing inteligent wanted to come out of it; so he shrugged.
"No, that's not necessary," Trish said as her fingers rubbed her forehead. "Really, Sage. I'm okay."
Sage looked at her doubfully for a moment, then out the sitting room window. The rain had stopped. "Perhaps we should just go home?"
"Anything to get you out of my hotel," he glared at Sage.
Trish nodded. "Yeah, home would be good," she stood up but was very wobbly. Her arm shot out to steady herself on Skittery's shoulder.
"I'll take you home," Mush didn't miss a beat and swept Trish up into his arms.
Trish stared up at him, meeting his deep brown eyes with her own, and smiled. Skittery got to his feet as well and took the mangled picnic basket from the table where Jack left it. "I'll walk with you."
"Thanks gentlemen," she said sweetly to the three boys before her. Sage turned on her heel and led them to the door. She held it open for Mush and Skittery and then, once they were out the door, she turned back to Jack. "Uh, Cowboy...." She waited just until he looked up at her. "The place still looks like a whorehouse," with that, she turned and followed Skittery out the door.
"Bitch!" Jack grumbled under his breath. "My life would be so much simpler without goils."
Shout Outs
Raven: WOOTAGE! FINALLY! We need to get stuff set for chap 3! Cos you make your entrance then! Hee hee! BTW....Sean can NOT marry Ghost's daughter damnit! He belongs with Katie!
Gin: Thanks as always for the FB! I've been a terrible slacker in writing and reading! But I DID IT! WOOTAGE! Finally it's done. I PROMISE the next wont take so long. Congrats on getting such a great part In Peter Pan! I'm excited for you!
Zippykins! Yesh!!! They are staying in a former Whorehouse! smirks I thought it was appropriate for some reason. Thanks for the great FB! Where is your ficcage!? I need more! NOW! And since I've updated you need to as well! Rae Kelly: Heh, you shall make your entrance soon! Prolly around chap 4 or 5. You will be causing all kinds of trouble. nods Have you updated your fics at all? I don't see you anymore since I've been sick so...I'm a little out of the loop.
Coin: wow! I've never had anyone bow down to me before! Enough to inflate a girls ego...MEEP! Ok, I updated...where's yours! Get it up so I can read it! I'm addicted! Hehe
Sparks: GLOMPS BACK! Thankies for the review! I luffle knowing that you like it. beams Hurry and get SIMPLICITY'S BLOOD finished! I can't wait! Oh..."Here comes T-R-O-U-B-L-E!" Haha!
Zippy: You get two SOs cos you gave me 2 reviews! EEP! Reviews DO make people happy...specially me!
Ershey: Stay outta my journal damnit! (LOL) I actually had a horse named Comanche when I was like 14. I didn't get to keep him though. pouts I think I will use that in a fic sometime. You get to meet Mushy...your Angel...HAHAHAHA
Ghost: LOL I never knew anyone so excited to be a whore! I'm gonna be workin on my site so remember to check on the Skittery pics and the MG stuff! I want a puppy! So save one for me K?! Skittery would want you to! nods
Mayo: you are definately a crazy sicko! Sagey's Daddy doesn't have a thing for Raven..not like you think in that little demented brain of yours anyway!(lol) That will not be explained till WAYYYY later. But it will be explained. He doesn't like her being a whore but he thinks she is a good person in spite of her job. I'm glad you like the format. It's kinda fun. Thank you for the ficcy you did! I loved it ...even though it should be longer! LOL
Magnolia / MsJonyReb: I'm so glad you like the journal entry thing. I wasn't really sure if I should use it or not but it seems to be working. It's kinda fun to have that extra insight into a character and how they tick. I'm gonna have fun with the WH/H (whorehouse/hotel) thing. I think it will actually be more of a character than I ever imagined. We have definitely NOT heard or seen the last of Spot.
angelfish: yesh! The sequel has begun and I promise it won't take so long to update now! Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked "Goodbye" I hope you will like this one too!
Celtic, Eve, Eire, Hope: thanks for the feedback through IM even though you didn't post feedback ahem!...hint hint! I still love all the help ya give me