35
Jenny spent several hours at the store with Eric Dobbs each day over the next two days. She'd come back to the station and help Rachel where needed. True to Kid's word, every time he had a few hours available he was at the Family M, helping build Buck's bunk house. He had just gotten back when he saw Teaspoon with a well dressed man.
"Who's the suit Teaspoon's with?" Kid asked As he walked into the bunk house. It was just Jimmy inside with Baby Ike. The infant was sitting on Buck's bunk as Jimmy was sanding some wood.
Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. I've been in here."
"Whatcha working on? Looks like a tiny barstool." Kid said picking up the pieces that were put together.
"It's a baby chair for Ike. I'm gonna put a belt on the back and nobody will have to hold him at supper. And he can sit with us. I'm trying to measure it to the height of the table."
"Huh. Ok." Kid said and sat on his bunk.
They sat in the bunk house when they heard yelling. "Why's Teaspoon yelling?" Kid asked and looked out the open window.
"Well Mr. Sellers as a representative of the company we are honored to have you visit us!" Teaspoon yelled outside. "Before I show you you the bunkhouse, for your inspection, let's take a look at the horses in the barn. We got a mighty fine herd here." Teaspoon saw Kid looking out the window. "We'll only be a few minutes then go into the bunk house!"
"It's an inspector from the company!" Kid told Jimmy.
"Quick, get the baby's things out." Jimmy said abandoning his project.
"What about the baby?" Kid asked.
Jimmy grabbed the cradle and the basket that served as storage for his clothes and carried it out the back door. As he passed Kid, Kid put Lou's dresses in the cradle. Jimmy put the things in the back of the wagon.
"Here, take him to Cassie's. Ask her to watch him til I can find Buck. He should be home any minute." Jimmy said to Kid carrying Ike out the back door. Then he looked around the room to see if there was anything else they should get rid of. There was no time at all to do anything about Jenny's things. Maybe, if the inspector even looked, he'd think girly things were Rachel's. He could hear Teaspoon talking to the company representative. There was not going to be any time to go find Buck.
"Howdy." Jimmy heard Cody say.
"Mr. Sellers, this is one of our riders, Mr. Cody."
"Pleased to meet you." Jimmy heard Cody say. One more glance to the stove and Jimmy saw one of the baby's bottles. He wasn't concerned about the canned milk. He got the bottle and put it in his back pocket. He'd have to remember to not sit down too quickly. Also on the floor was one of the baby blankets so he shoved that behind Lou's bunk, figuring the youngest of their group might have a childhood memory keepsake tucked away. He had no where to put the baby chair.
Teaspoon opened the door. "Mr. Sellers, this here is James Hickok. Jimmy, this here is Mr. Sellers. He comed to view our fine establishment. I'm sure he'll find us all in tip top shape." Kid walked back into the bunk house. "This here is Kid and the rest will be due back any minute. If you'd like to take a look around."
Mr. Sellers looked around and set his eyes on the baby chair. He touched it curiously. "That's something I'm working on." Jimmy volunteered. "It's a gift, for.. my... sister's baby." Jimmy smiled and nodded. Proud of himself.
Mr. Sellers nodded. "Nice work." He wandered around the room, he'd lift a pillow or even a mattress here and there.
Cody whispered into Jimmy's ear. "See, I told ya!"
Noah walked in and he was introduced. "So you have two more employees here." Mr. Sellers stated. He had not reached Lou's bunk. "The extra bunk was for..." and he flipped through some papers. "Mr. Isaac McSwain, Deceased."
"Yes, sir. That's right. Then we have Buck and Lou should be gettin' here soon." Teaspoon said.
Mr. Sellers noticed Ike's bible on one of the counters. "That's good you have The Good Book. Who's is it?" He asked picking it up.
"It's for all of us. I read to them every night." Teaspoon said taking it out of his hand and holding it against himself.
"I know Mr. Majors is a firm religious man and encourages the employees to be as well."
Just then Buck arrived. He looked around. Noticing the guest and also immediately noticing the lack of Ike. "Buck! Glad to see ya. This here is Mr. Ishmael Sellers. He's a representative of Russell, Majors and Waddell. He's come to see how well we are doing." Teaspoon said handing him the Bible.
"Buck, uh, Cassie came by to let us know your laundry is done and waiting for you..." Jimmy said, "Immediately."
"My laundry." Buck said slowly, looking around. "I best go get it."
"Doesn't your cook..." Mr. Sellers looked at his papers. "Ms. Rachel Dunne do your laundry?"
"Oh yeah, she does. But , uh," Kid said.
"It was something really special and personal of mine, it needed to be handled with special care. I'm going to go get it." Buck said turning toward the front door.
"Buck, you might want to take the wagon over." Jimmy suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. I should take the wagon. It was very nice meeting you sir." Buck said turning around and heading toward the back door. "I'll return.. shortly?" Buck asked.
"Take your time." Teaspoon said.
With that Buck quickly hitched the wagon noticing all the things in the back and went to pick up Ike. It was heading toward sunset and he wasn't sure where Jenny was. He went over to the store and walked in. "Hey, Eric. Is Jenny here?" Buck asked holding the cradle and items in one arm and the baby in the other.
"Yes, she's up stairs. Checking some of the surplus, when she was done I was going to walk her back home. I didn't realize it had gotten so late." Eric said.
Buck stopped for a second and firmly said, "No need walk her home. I'm here now. Good night Eric."
"It's not closing time just yet. I'll wait for Miss Tompkins to come down."
"Suit yourself, we'll be down in a minute." Buck said. Since the staircase was outside, Buck went through the back and took the stairs two at a time. He set the cradle down then knocked on the door and Jenny immediately opened.
"Hi." He said cheerfully. "Do you have room to temporarily take in two orphans?"
"Um, sure? Come in?" Jenny asked puzzled. "What's going on? Why do you have the baby's cradle"Jenny said looking inside, "with dresses in it?" Jenny said taking Ike from Buck's arm. She made funny faces at him and that earned small smile. Buck set the cradle down.
"It seems we are in need of a place to stay, at least for tonight." Buck explained as much as he knew.
"Who's we? Am I in the way too?" Jenny asked.
"No. Well I don't think so. Let me go check it out. Do you mind keeping an eye on Ike?" Buck asked.
"He's no problem." Jenny said bouncing him. "We're getting to be good friends. Does he have bottles and milk in here?" She asked looking through the things. "I see a bottle but no milk. I know that's not something that's downstairs. When you come back, maybe bring him a can."
"I will. Lock the door behind me and I'll be right back."
Downstairs Buck told Eric he could leave any time he wanted to, that Jenny wasn't going to be back in the store today. "Ok. See you some other time, Buck." Eric said thinking she was leaving with him. "Good night."
Buck walked back to the bunk house. Mr. Sellers was not there. "Seems he went to rest and come back first thing in the morning." Teaspoon said.
"I have a ride early tomorrow. I'm first one out." Buck said. "I'm not staying here without Ike. I can stay at Tompkins' place. I already took Ike's things. I'll head back. Can Jenny come back to stay with Rachel?"
"I don't see why not." Teaspoon said. "Thank you Buck. I don't want you to feel like I'm kickin' ya out. I'm not. Soon's we can get the official out, sooner we can get you and the baby back home."
"Can you send someone over later with some supper?" Buck asked grabbing a can of milk.
"Sure thing." Teaspoon said. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. You just come for your run tomorrow and everything will work out. Don't you worry."
Buck walked back again to the store and around back to the stairs. He knocked at the door and Jenny quickly answered, unlocking the door. Ike was staring to cry.
"I think he's getting hungry." Jenny said. "I've tried everything. I started the stove." Jenny said taking the offered can. "There's no rocking chair here, so I'll just sit in one of these chairs."
"I can do the reading aloud tonight." Buck said. "There's a newspaper. Even though it's several month's old."
Buck read a few articles while Jenny gave Ike a bottle. Similar to what Teaspoon had read, the main news was about states wanting to secede from the Union. Ike finished his bottle but he wasn't sleepy yet. Jenny sat him on the seat next to her. They talked a bit before there was a knock at the door. Buck answered and it was Noah.
"Came to bring you some supper." He said handing over the food. "It's a nice place here." Noah said looking around.
"Do you want to stay a while, Noah?" Jenny asked setting the food out on the table.
"No, I'll be heading back. Teaspoon said he didn't think Jenny staying with Rachel would be a problem. I'm supposed to walk you back over to the station." Noah said.
"Thank you, Noah, but I'll just stay here. I don't want to interfere. Please let Rachel know that I'm fine."
"You sure about that?" Noah asked.
Jenny nodded. "Yes." And looked over at Buck.
"Ok. Well I guess I'll see you two tomorrow." Noah said with a smile and tipped his hat.
With Ike sitting on one of the plush chairs, Buck and Jenny sat down to eat. To Buck, they felt like a real family. Jenny gathered up the dishes when they were done and Buck helped. "I was in the other room looking over the stored boxes this afternoon and I came across this chest that wasn't inventory but looked personal. Can you bring it out here and I'll look through it?" Jenny asked.
Once the chest was brought out. Jenny knelt in the floor in front of it. Buck took Ike and sat him in front of his chest as he laid on his side on the floor next to Jenny and the chest. She slowly opened it.
There was a blanket, with a pretty quilted design. A dress, two shirts, three blouses, an apron, and a bonnet, just to start. "These must be Mama's things. He kept them." Jenny said with awe. She pulled out a night gown and a silver brush and mirror set. Toward the bottom was a little doll along with a stuffed toy dog. The doll had a full cloth body, with yarn hair and button eyes. Jenny smiled. "Her name was Baby. I wasn't very creative." Jenny said and laughed. Then she pulled out a baby rattle. "This thing is as old as me. Do you think we should give Ike a 17 year old toy? It might fall apart." Jenny said with a smile, shaking it in front of the infant.
"I'll watch him with it. One time a girl left her baby on our porch and Jimmy brought her some spurs to dangle, so anything's gotta be better than that." Buck told her. Ike reached up for the rattle. There were baby socks and more infant dresses. She pulled out a smaller quilt and embroidered on it was "Jennifer". Then there were two more hand sewn quilts.
"I wonder if Mama stitched that?" Jenny wondered aloud. "She must have. I could do a little. I learned more in decorations on clothing with the tribe. I remember her always stitching square pieces together to add to one quilt or another. I don't remember her stitching words , though. She most likely made these."
Next, she picked up a family bible. Inside was written the marriage date of her parents. She touched the writing. "I don't know who wrote this. I don't know either of their penmanship." Jenny said and a tear fell down her face.
"It doesn't matter who wrote in it." Buck said getting up to his knees and hugging her. "It's something that's yours now." He wiped her tear away. "I'm going to guess your Pa did. You can always check the penmanship on his books."
"Here I am." She said, pointing to her name and slightly smiling. "Jennifer Marie Tompkins" and her date of birth. "I guess it's customary to have a family bible?"
Buck shrugged. "I guess. I wrote in Ike McSwain's. I have no idea who recorded his parents information and his and his sister's birth."
Continuing on, there was a small box of cards, inside were recipes. At the very bottom of the chest, was a white gown. "This must have been her wedding dress." Jenny said pulling it out. She held it against herself. She touched the satin and the lace. "Pa kept all this?" Jenny looked into the empty chest. There at the bottom were several ear bobs, several brooches, a few pairs of gloves, and a locket. Inside was a picture of her father and herself. She was younger than she was in the photograph that was framed.
Jenny folded everything back but a few she kept out, like the blanket with her name on it and the large quilt. She also packed the accessories in one of the bags. She picked up the night gown as well.
Ike started to rub his face, "He's probably getting sleepy now. I'm sorry there's no rocking chair here. Maybe I can just walk him around by bouncing him." Jenny told Buck picking up the infant. Buck put a fire on in Tompkins' room. He also set the cradle in there. Eventually Baby Ike did fall asleep and Jenny wrapped him in the quilt with her name on it. "I'm going to go change," she whispered to Buck after laying the child in the cradle. She walked into the second bedroom and put on her mother's gown. Then she wrapped herself in the larger quilt and walked back into the main living area.
"I'll sleep out here." Buck said as she walked out.
"Where? There's only sitting chairs."
"On the floor. I've slept on the floor plenty of times." Buck replied taking off his boots. He hung his gun belt up on the hook. He checked to make sure the front door was locked.
"If you're going to be on the floor, you might as well come into the room where it's warmer."
Buck smiled, "One floor is as good as another."
Jenny took the blankets off the bed and gave them to Buck. Ike soundly slept near by. She laid down, wrapped in the quilt, wearing her mother's gown. "It feels like home." She said. "Not the building but wearing my mother's night gown, being wrapped in this family quilt. Good night Buck."
Buck leaned over and quickly kissed Jenny. He felt like Kid when he'd always kiss Lou goodnight. "Good night Jenny. Sweet Dreams." He shut the bed room door and blew out the lamp. He chose the spot immediately beside the single sized bed. He laid on his side and as he closed his eyes, he felt Jenny's hand touch his shoulder. So with the arm he was lying on, he crossed it over his chest and held onto her hand. It sure felt like home to him too.