My Twisted Heritage
Chapter 5Gunsmoke
Spoilers: Twisted Heritage/Not really any spoilers, I really don't follow the original idea too much.
Hattie Tucker, was a traveler. At least that's what she called herself, in her old gypsie-type wagon. Everything she was packed tight into that wagon. And considering the size and shape of the odd wagon, it still wasn't much. In fact all she had inside was a bed roll, some cothing, a few blouses nothing fancy and plain brown and black skirts. Two pair of men's trousers, which she only wore when planting. She hated squatting in the dirt to plant in a skirt. She didn't care what nobody said, she just didn't see the sense in it. She also had in her possession a sterling silver brush, comb and mirror set her mother had given her on her wedding day. A silver framed picture of her and her husband Jack Tucker on their wedding day, 25 years ago. A small knitted pink blanket and a blue one as well. A few pots and pans, bowls and tin plates and cups and utensils. She owned two rifles and her husband's six-shooter. She also had almost eighty five hundred dollars hidden in a secret passage in the wagon. A passage she had discovered when she purchase the old wagon from a man in Oregon when she left home.
Her life had been a hard one. She was married at 18 years old. Had her first son at 19. Her second child was born when she turned 21. When she was 23, influenza had ripped through her small town and killed both of her children. Her son Jacob age five and her 2 year old daughter Kathryn Elizabeth. She and her husband had been sick as well, but they had been able to survive. She and Jack wanted to have more children, but they never got the chance. On his way into town to buy supplies, Jack was robbed and killed. He had had only five dollars in his pockets. When he hadn't returned home after a day, she had saddled her horse and headed for town. She found her husband, some five miles from her house and only a mile from town. He was still sitting in the wagon slumped back. He had been shot in the chest. After crying her heart out, she hitched her horse to the wagon and climbed in next to her husband and lead the team back home.
She buried her husband next to her children and went into the house to cry herself to sleep. When she arrived in town the end of the week, she went to the Doctor's to tell him everything. She was given a death certificate and then she went to see her lawyer. Being a woman, she really had no rights. But the lawyer told her that her husband had left a will and that she was to get everything he owned. Including his money. When he told her that he had five thousand dollars in the bank she wanted to faint. He then told her that he had been instructed to buy their small farm for five thousand, and to sell it to Barney Crane. A powerful rancher who had been trying to buy their land for sometime. He had never made an improper offer nor had he tried anything underhanded with the Tuckers. They had always been cordial to one another. Ten thousand dollars and she left for Boulder Colorado. And here she was, in Kansas territory, alone, and traveling across the country. Forty-nine years old, and she had only the wagon her old team of horses were dragging behind them. She needed a new team soon, these mangy beast were old and needed to be put out to pasture. They had served her well.
She noticed the wagon first. Then she had seen the three men lying scattered on the ground. Pulling her rig up to the side, she halted the team and pulled on the break, then carefully climbed down the wagon.
"Well, Ulysses, what do ya' think done happened here?" She said as she softly caressed the horse's mane. The horse only looked back at her as if to tell her to be careful. Reaching into the wagon, she grabbed her rifle and slowly walked around the stage. Hattie carefully gently knelt down to check the man nearest the wagon. He was dead. She then went over to the other man, farthest from the wagon, a white man, and he was dead. Shaking her head, she stood and walked over to the third man. Noting that he was not a white man, but Indian, she did not kneel beside him. She gently prodded him with the end of the rifle. When there was no response, she then used her foot on his shoulder to push him over. He definitely wasn't white. She looked at the dead man, than noticed the white blouse that he still clutched in his hand. She then looked around and saw the torn skirt as well. Alarmed, she began to look around, wondering where the woman had gotten to. She looks in the near by bushed, but found no one. She then looks in the coach, and there, she finds all the boxes of hats, clothing and such. Like a child at Christmas, she began to open the boxes, pulling out a fancy silk dress of sky blue color, and swung it about as she pulled it against her body. Even at 49 years old, she was still slender and though the dress was made for a younger woman, she liked it. It would do nicely for when she finally arrived in a real town. Folding the dress, she lay it on the floor and continued to open boxes, finding in all, 4 more dresses, and matching hats and gloves and even a parasol or two. Those, she had no use for, but perhaps she could sell them. Hattie took the dresses and placed them in the trunk in her wagon along with the hats and gloves and undergarments. She went back to the stage and looked into the coach once more, finding a woman's purse. Inside, she found a roll of money. Looking around, making sure no one was around, she quickly counted the money. Obviously, the woman was one with means, or a husband with means. None of the men lying dead looked to fit that description she thought to herself. Taking the purse, she hooked it to her belt then returned to the back of her wagon for a shovel. She looks up at Ulyses.
"Well, my friend, it looks like someone done got robbed here, or attempted anyways. I wonder what happened to the woman." Shaking her head, she returned to the road and began to dig graves. "These here ain't gonna be deep, but they'll do." She said to the dead men as she began to dig.
The sun came shining through the window, and Kitty slowly opened her eyes. She felt stronger. Her side still hurt like hell, but was not as bad as before. Slowly she got to her feet and walked over to the window. Looking out, she saw a little girl playing in the yard with a puppy. Blane began to wake up and saw her gone. He looks around to see her standing at the window. His shirt was large on her, but not everything was hidden by the shirt. Her creamy white thighs were bared to his eyes. His eyes moved over the slender ankles, up the well-muscled calves, and the strong thighs. His mind drifted, her strong thighs were wrapped around his naked waist and he had the beautiful redhead pinned against the wall. He moved against her, his mouth devouring hers. Her soft hands caressing his bare back as he pushed deeper and harder into her. Gasping for air, she pulled from the kiss as his mouth trailed hot wet kisses down her throat. His hands grasping the edge of the shirt and ripping it opened, so that they were now, skin on skin. Her hand moved from the table, knocking the glass onto the floor and shattering it. This brought Blane out of his reverie.
"You shouldn't be out of bed." His deep voice startled her and she turned, there was fear in her eyes. "No one's going to hurt you. You're safe here." He held out his hand to her. "You need to be back in bed. If Jesse comes up here and sees you out of bed, she'll beat us both to a pulp. Especially if you open the wound that took her forever to close." He smiled at her and Kitty then smiled at him and took his hand as he helped her back into the bed. He sits on the edge, pulls the pillows up so she can sit up. "What's your name?"
She thought for a moment, then in her mind a moment flashed by, as a child, a man, a bit man, calling her name. "Kitty, get yourself in the house!" He yelled at her.
"Kitty." She said softly.
"Kitty?" He said asking for her last name.
"I…Kitty, that's all I remember."
"Do you know where you're from?" He asked her. She thought about it for a moment.
"No." She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember, but nothing came to her.
"I'm Blane. Blane Copperton, and this is my home." He said. Kitty just watched him.
"The child in the yard?" She asked him looking at the window.
"My daughter, Tracy." He said smiling at her.
"Jesse is your wife?" She asks him.
"No. Jesse is my mother. My wife died several years ago." As the sadness entered his eyes, he lowered his gaze.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." She said as she yawns. "I'm sorry." He smiles as he stands up and Pulls the extra pillows from behind her. Gently he lays her back down. Kitty slowly begins to close her eyes and fades deep into sleep as he stood there watching her.
The big man on the horse sat tall and proud, Jace noted as he came into town. He also noticed that the man was well aware of his surroundings and that a lone gun lay strapped to his thigh. "No doubt a gun slinger." Jace said to his wife as he helped her into the wagon. As the big man approached, Jace stepped up and tipped his hat to the man. The big man did the same and in so doing, the sun caught his badge and Jace was caught by surprise to see a Marshal, entering this seedy little town. Usually people were just passing by, no one stays long.
Matt rode up to the stage depot. Inside the window sat a man about 60 years old. His white hair stood on end, as though he had just climbed out of bed and his clothing looked the same to Matt.
"Excuse me, Sir?" Matt called to him.
"What can I do fer ya' young fella?" He asked him as he scratched his beard.
"I'm here inquiring about the stage, it didn't reach it's destination in Sioux City, can you tell me when it left here?"
"Hmm, there was only one passenger on that thar, stage, a woman." He said as he picked up his clip board and began to look at it. "Yep, left here 9 days ago and never reached Sioux City. They sent out a division two days after it failed to arrive. Didn't find nothin', no stage, no driver, it was like it just vanished into thin air. Shame too, that was one pretty little lady."
"Yes, I know, Can you tell me what trail the stage would have taken?" Matt asked him.
"Well, there's only one road from here, it goes for about thirty miles 'fore it splits. Then it heads west to Albertville, Copperton and Riverton. East it heads off to Dodge." He stated looking at the big young man who seemed worried. "She a friend of your young fella?"
"Yes, she is." Matt looks at the map that the old man had been looking at. "Alright, so if it didn't meet in Dodge, where's the next stop west?"
"That would be Albertville. Fifteen miles past the fork, headin' west." He said pointing to it on the map.
"Thank you, sir." Matt said touching the tip of his hat and nodding at the old man.
Blane lay sleeping in his bed. The covers down around his waist. The door slowly opened and he woke from thee slight squeak of the hinges. Kitty slowly entered the room still wearing the shirt she had been wearing earlier. She stood by the bed, gazing into his brown eyes. He was a handsome man, broad shoulders, strong arms. He stared at her as she slowly began to unbutton the blouse and allowed it to slip down her shoulders, down her back and over her derrière. She pulled back the covers and slipped into bed beside him. Immediately, he pulled her on top of his body. His hands moving beneath the sheet from her thighs to her derriere and up her naked back. He pulled her mouth to his and kissed her deeply, moaning as her tongue sought entrance into his mouth, and moaning again at the first taste of her.
The tap on the door woke Blane from his dream. Shaking his head to clear it, he quickly sat up. "Yes, who is?" He called.
Jesse opened the door. "I just checked on her, she's sleeping comfortably. I don't think anyone needs to watch her tonight."
"Okay." He was flustered by the heat of the dream.
"Are you alright, Blane?" She asked noticing the flush of his skin.
"Yes, just a bed dream." He said lying back on the bed. Jesse looked bewildered but she pulled the door closed anyway. Blane looked up at the ceiling, laying his arm across his forehead as his mind began to wonder back to the dream.
To be continued…..