Epilogue: Peace of Mind

He was weary to the bone and felt years older than he really was. His piercing eyes swept the room and he squirmed uneasily in his chair. He hated having his back to the door.

The man in front of him looked over steadily from his cards with a confident smirk on his face.

"Call," James Hickok said quietly.

"I got you beat this time, Bill," the man laughed softly, and Jimmy felt his lip curl in disgust from beneath his mustache. Over the years almost everyone he knew had come to call him "Wild Bill," but he still found it hard to stomach. He'd given up trying to convince people he wasn't "Bill" a long time ago. Hell, perhaps he'd even given up trying to convince himself.

"Let's see, Earl," Jimmy sighed.

Earl lay down his cards willingly, and Jimmy's tired, weakening eyes still stared at his own hand. "Pair of Jacks, can you beat that?" Earl smiled.

Jimmy knew he could, but his eyes remained fixed on his cards. The sight of the queen of hearts in his hand made him think of Callie, of the much older queen he always carried in his breast pocket. There had been a few letters, of course, but he'd never seen her since that day she drove away with her brother. She'd married and had children, and invited him to visit her many times, but he'd never made it to New Orleans.

It was better to remember her as she was, he thought. He'd never met anyone to match her spirit, although Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley had both been strong contenders. And of course, Lou still held the highest place in his heart, all these years later.

He smiled again as he recalled the last time he'd seen Lou and Kid, almost a year ago. They'd settled out West again after the death of the South and the horror of Reconstruction, and had three boys and a girl. They'd both been deliriously happy, and he'd enjoyed the time he spent with them, Teaspoon, Rachel, Cody, and Buck tremendously. After all these years, they were still his only family, and he loved them. He was endlessly thankful that after the war they'd been able to settle their differences and to love each other even more than ever before.

His eyes flicked over the queen again, and he thought of Callie's eyes, and realized he'd been right as he watched her leave that day so long ago. He'd never seen that color again, and yet he could still imagine the hue with complete accuracy.

"Okay, Hickok, what you got?" Earl demanded.

Jimmy snapped back into the present, reluctantly leaving thoughts of Callie, Lou, and the boys behind to return to the poker game. His eyes passed over his two pair, aces and eights, and again he looked at the remaining card, the Queen of Hearts.

A gunshot rang out across the saloon, and Jimmy felt a brief pain and then images flashed before his eyes: a sturdy palomino that had carried him many miles, the faces of Emma, Sam, Rachel, Ike, Jesse, Noah, Teaspoon, Cody, Buck and Kid. Then those brown eyes that belonged to the woman he admired and loved more than any other played in his mind. And lastly Callie's ivory skin and glowing eyes framed by her raven hair flashed before him.

Then there was nothing as he slumped to the floor, killed by a shot in the back. At last, Wild Bill Hickok was granted some measure of peace.


To this day, James Butler Hickok's two pair, aces and eights, is known as the Dead Man's Hand. There has never been any confirmation on the fifth card of Wild Bill's hand.

But those that knew him, and those that loved him for the man he truly was, and those that grieved at his passing, might have guessed The Queen of Hearts was also there with him, at the end.

THE END

Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author

The Way Station
Campfire Tales

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