37
"Buck." Jimmy whispered, "Buck, are you up?"
"I am now." Buck said. Ike was snuggled, asleep in the crook of his arm, so there was nothing wrong with him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothings wrong. It's good." Jimmy said with a smile.
"We're all up now, Jimmy." Cody said, "What do you want?"
"I got my package." He said holding it up.
"Well what is it?" Cody said getting out of bed. Lou and Kid were now up too. Noah was trying to still sleep.
"How early did you go to the jail?" Buck asked. He left Ike asleep on the cot, but he won't be for long since he'll miss Buck's warmth very soon.
"I just got back. Look at what she sent me." Jimmy said like a little boy with a new present.
He held up his precious gift.
"It's books!" Cody said now just as excited, reading a title, "History of The Expedition. Moby Dick. There must be a thousand pages all together here.. some newspapers. You got the New York Times! That's as big as it gets in newspapers."
Lou got out of bed "The works of William Shakespeare. You probably know this stuff, Cody."
"What did you need me for? You can read these just fine." Buck said.
"No, you gotta write her another letter." Jimmy said. No one asked who 'her' was.
"Jimmy, you can it write yourself. You're able to."
"Come on, please. She probably wouldn't even be able to read it if I wrote it. You write letters all the time." Jimmy pleaded.
Buck sighed and got a piece of paper. Cody was admiring the books. "What do you want me to say?"
"Say, Dear Penny, I really love.." Jimmy began. Buck wrote as Jimmy spoke.
"You can't write that." Cody said.
"Write what? I just started." Jimmy replied.
"You can't call her by her first name unless she gave you permission and you don't go off talking about love the first sentence." Cody said.
"I was talking about the books." Jimmy said.
"Well you're gonna scare her and she'll probably never write to you again." Cody said. "Call her Miss Penny til she gives you permission to just use her first name. You don't want to look like an ogre. And say something like 'I am so appreciative of the books.' Don't you know nothing about girls?"
"Shut up Cody" Jimmy said.
"Whatever you do, tell her you already have The Last Of the Mohicans." Noah said from his bunk.
"I'm telling you. Ask Jenny, she knows manners and all that high society stuff." Cody said still admiring the books. "Boy, she sent you some good ones."
"You read 'em?" Jimmy asked calming just a bit. The last thing he wanted to do was scare off Penny. He was so excited too see what the package was, he waited until the first hint of dawn to rush over and get it.
"No, but I heard of some." Cody shook his head.
"I asked for her to send something for us to read but I thought like a newspaper page, not a whole stack of books."
"What's your letter say?" Lou asked.
"It's mine." Jimmy quickly replied grabbing the letter with such pretty little looped writing.
"Ok" Lou said raising her hands in surrender.
"So... what am I writing?" Buck asked hold the pencil up.
"I don't know. What do you think? Maybe you should start again with a new paper." Jimmy said. "Dear Miss Penny, should I say Dear?"
"How about Greetings?" Buck suggested. "Is greetings ok?" He asked Cody.
"Why you asking him?" Jimmy scoffed.
Buck shrugged. "Im starting a new paper." Buck said and shoved the first letter off to the side "I'm putting 'Greetings Miss Penny. I greatly appreciate the books.' What else?"
"Tell her you already have The Last of The Mohicans but you only read the last page." Noah repeated then laughed getting out of his bunk.
"Thank you. Tell her thank you." Jimmy said. "I'm going to treasure each one. She said she got them from a classmate. That her brother left to join the army and didn't want his books. She was going to just toss them out."
"Who'd throw books in the trash?" Cody asked appalled.
Jimmy shrugged. "Better than throwing it in the fire."
"Rich folk. They do all kinds of crazy stuff." Noah said. "Could've donated them to a school"
"I like them!" Jimmy said grabbing his gift. "We are a school. A school for the baby."
"Well, you all figure out your letter, we gotta get going. We should be back home tomorrow." Lou said.
The baby started moving around. "Jimmy, I'll help you later. I gotta tend to Ike. Maybe you should ask Jenny the proper way to do things." Buck suggested. Jimmy tenderly picked up his books and newspapers and placed them on his bunk.
"That's enough reading material til Ike goes to college." Kid said. "Why you having Buck write the letters anyway?"
"Because." was Jimmy's response. He turned to his bunk and was looking through the books. "Maybe we can read this one tonight. It's short from this news paper." Jimmy said holding it up. "The Raven"
"We ain't gonna be here," Lou said ready to go. "Maybe you'll let us borrow it when we get back."
Jimmy nodded. Everyone got ready for the day.
Rachel knocked. "Everyone decent?" She shouted.
"Come in!" Buck called after glancing around.
Kid and Lou were packed up. "I packed you a lunch and some biscuits a jam for breakfast." Rachel said. "Have a good ride." Jenny followed behind her.
"How's your arm today?" Jenny asked.
"Oh it's just fine. See ya maybe tomorrow." Lou said running out to the barn. Kid was right behind her. Buck had already given him money for the milk.
"Jenny, Lou was supposed to watch Ike today. Do you think you can do it? I might be gone pretty long." Buck asked.
"Of course! I'm happy to help. It's the least I can do. You all have helped me out so much." Jimmy was still sitting on his bunk. "What do you have there?" She asked him.
He smiled broadly. "I got me a bunch of books" he said proudly holding some up.
"I've heard of some them. Although, I've never read any of them. Books , well, 'good' books are a topic you can discuss in proper society. There are books that are controversial so you shouldn't talk about them."
"Like which ones?" Cody asked.
"I didn't pay much attention." Jenny answered with a shrug. "Shakespeare was always good."
After everyone had gone on their runs, Jenny was left in the bunkhouse with Ike. She was sweeping when she discovered a paper under the stove. She picked it up and noticed it was Buck's handwriting.
Buck did arrive late that night. He quickly ate his supper alone and sat down to read the new story. Jenny sat near by him, holding Ike.
Jimmy's smile could not have gotten any bigger. "That story was fantastic. There aren't any others by that writer. What will we read tomorrow?" Jimmy asked.
"Are there any other shorter stories and we can start a book when the rest get back?" Noah asked.
"I'll take a look." Jimmy said. "The letter tells a bit about each book. Some she read and some she didn't. I remember Clara was trying to get me to learn how to read with Robinson Carouse, but the Judge said I didn't need it."
Noah pat him on the back. "Well you got plenty books now. You can read all of them."
Rachel smiled. She pat Jimmy on the cheek. "I'm happy you got all them books. I'm even happier that it put that smile on your face all night." Then she looked around the room. "Good night everyone. Jenny, you coming to bed or are you staying here longer?"
"I'll go." Jenny said quietly.
Buck noticed Jenny was more quiet but he figured maybe she didn't enjoy the story. He walked her to Rachel's house in silence then Rachel went immediately inside saying, "Don't stay out here too long, you two, it's pretty cold out."
Buck quickly kissed Jenny goodnight. Jenny just stood there looking sad. "Jenny, what's wrong?"
"Buck, who's Penny?"
Buck smiled. "Oh Penny, I told you about her. She's the midwife when Ike was born. Saved his life. What about her?"
"Why do you kiss me if you're in love with her?"
"Why would you think I love Penny?" Buck asked utterly confused.
"I found the letter you were writing to her."
"I haven't written her any-" then Buck stopped. "Oh." Then he took a breath. "That."
He thought for a minute. "First off I am NOT in love with Penny. Yes, I wrote that start of a letter but it wasn't from me and it was supposed to be thrown in the trash. It's from Jimmy. He's the one who is sweet on her. Not me. He probably wouldn't want me telling you, but I write the letters and he tells me what to write. I'm trying to convince him he can do perfectly fine writing the letters on his own, but he doesn't want to. And there was a whole discussion on the 'love' part this morning and he scratched that idea and went with 'grateful'. And lastly it was about the books. It wasn't about her personally. At least I don't think so. Well he didn't say it in any letter."
Jenny smiled. "I shouldn't have assumed. I thought someone named Clara sent him the books. I recognized your hand writing and I just thought... oh I don't know what I thought." Jenny threw her arms around Buck. Jenny reached up and pecked him on the lips quickly.
"Clara was a girl he knew a long time ago. Penny we met the day Ike was born. She went to a school to be a real midwife a few months ago." Buck explained. "I don't want you to be sad. I'm so happy you're back and I want you to be around me. If it were up to me, I'd want you to stay here forever. So are we good?"
Jenny nodded. "Yes, we're good." As she was back in his arms.
—
"Jimmy, write your own letters next time." Buck said as he walked through the door.
Jimmy had Ike in his lap and was bouncing him. "We finished the letter. I already sent it off."
"Jenny found the first letter and thinks I wrote it and that I love Penny." Buck said frustrated.
Noah let out a hearty laugh. "That's funny."
Buck glared at him, so he stopped but still a few giggles followed.
"What did you tell her?" Jimmy asked.
"The truth. That I'm writing the letters for you. No more." Buck said motioning his hands across himself.
"Buck, now she's gonna think I'm stupid. And if I write the letters to Penny; she's gonna know I'm stupid." Jimmy pleaded.
"Jenny doesn't think that. And Penny won't either. Penny likes you for who you are, not for how well you can spell." Buck said.
Jimmy didn't respond. He kissed Ike on forehead and mumbled 'Goodnight' to him then got in bed.
—
"Isaac might not be needing as much milk if he's eating more food." Rachel said at supper. Lou, Kid and Teaspoon were all still missing. She gave Ike another small spoon of oatmeal she made a small batch just for him.
"I'll write to Mrs. Barton and ask. Or maybe I can go see the doc." Buck replied, "Your chair really is working out." He told Jimmy. Jimmy smiled in response. Buck wasn't sure he should be offering but he looked at Jenny and said, "if Ike doesn't need as much milk, we could possibly leave sooner to go look for the tribe,"
The look of elation on Jenny's face was worth any future loss he might face. She dropped her fork and threw her arms around him. "Thanks!" She said and kissed him on the cheek. Then she felt a bit self conscious and sat back into her seat. Lou and Kid walked in the door together. They immediately sat down at the table.
"Did you get the report to the company office right away?" Cody asked.
"Yeah." Kid said. "It was actually kinda fun riding fast with Lou."
"I been to the company office. It was all hustle and bustle." Jimmy contributed. "When I went with Bulldog." He added. Then he got a wistful smile thinking about his old friend.
"Do you want to go riding again?" Buck asked Jenny.
"I'd love to!" Jenny answered happily.
"I'm off in 2 days. We could go riding in the morning then I could pick up Ike and we could go work on my bunk house." Buck offered.
"Sounds great." Jenny said with a grin.
"Rachel, do you mind watching Ike in the morning?" Buck asked. Teaspoon walked in.
"I'm glad to be back home. I might be gettin a bit too old for all of this." He announced as he walked in.
"I'll serve you a plate." Rachel said getting up. "And yes, I'll be glad to watch Isaac."
Teaspoon sat down to his plate. "So what did I miss while I was gone?"
The group filled him in on Jimmy's books and bits of what else happened in his absence. Then he asked about the trip to the company office. Kid retold the account. Lou sat pushing her food around.
"You seem quiet, Lou. Everything go ok on your trip?" Teaspoon asked.
She shrugged. "It was fine."
"Did you talk to the people about taking Teresa and Jeremiah home with you?" Buck asked.
Lou nodded. She didn't expound so everyone just looked at her then each other. Next, they looked at Kid. Feeling their gazes, he said, "They told her they'd be happy to sign over custody if she were getting married. They even said two weeks before we get married, we can go get Teresa to come so she can attend."
"Just Teresa?" Cody asked.
Lou nodded. "She's really excited about the wedding." Then she hung her head down at her plate. Kid put his arm around her. "Jeremiah doesn't want to come." She said quietly.
"Why not?" Rachel asked. Ike chose then to bang a spoon on the table. He had enough of his oatmeal. He didn't really use a spoon to feed himself, just play with it. Someone would feed him.
"He said he wants to stay and finish school there. Maybe even try for a scholarship after for a trade. He's not sure. But he doesn't want to come here." She said so sadly.
"I'm sorry, Lou." Jenny told her.
"He'd rather stay in an orphanage than come live with me." The sadness in her voice was unbearable.
"One time," Buck said and glanced over to Teaspoon, "a very wise person told me, when we love someone, we let them do what they want that will make them happy. Even if it makes us sad. Maybe he's just confused and might change his mind in time."
"Give him time. Maybe he wants to concentrate on school and thinks there aren't opportunities for him here." Jenny suggested.
Lou just nodded. Kid hugged her close to him and kissed her on the head.
"Maybe he does stay at the orphanage and gets a scholarship and goes to college, that doesn't mean he can't come back." Buck suggested. "Jenny came back."
"Will he come for the wedding?" Rachel asked.
"Yes. But he wants to go back after." Kid said. Again he hugged Lou.
"That's something. Maybe we can convince him to stay." Teaspoon suggested. "Maybe you should look into getting a bunk bed for the room. Just in case. Make him feel welcome."
Lou smiled. "I just might do that. Kid, Jimmy, you think you can make a bunk bed?"
Jimmy smiled, "We fixed up enough of 'em, I'm sure we can make one from nothin'. I'd be glad to."
That night they started a Shakespeare play. Listening to Teaspoon read the lines was just as good as watching a play for real. The next night, they discussed that they might all try reading different parts. Everyone was enjoying Jimmy's gift.