*Author's Note*
Thank you for all the follows, favs, and reviews.
Keep Workin' Our Livery
Jessa POV:
After walking outside of the courthouse, I spotted Shaw with Sherriff Maynard standing by the door of the paddy wagon. The sherriff pointed his finger between me and Shaw while telling me, "Ma'am, ya'll can have a minute 'fore we head back to Kentucky."
"Thank you, Sherriff." I gratefully told the short and round man before rushing over to Shaw. "Oh, god, I've missed you so much." I confessed to Shaw as I gave him a hug.
"I miss you too, baby. So, so much." Shaw breathed into my ear as he held me tight (tighter than he's ever held me before too). "It feels so good to hold ya even if I'm in chains." He told me, pulling away slightly so that he could look at my face. "How're you holding up with running the livery? Did my note help ya?"
"Your note helped a lot. Todd's working with me and Johnse's even helping when he's not delivering shine." I told Shaw, putting his mind at ease about my ability to run the livery.
Shaw just nodded his head and let out a simple, "Good.", before leaning in to kiss me.
Of course, I welcomed the kiss. I held onto his shoulder with one hand and held the back of his neck with the other as our lips frantically pressed together in desperate and needy kisses. Since we knew we were going to be parted for an undisclosed amount of time we were stealing all the kisses from each other that we could. We paused half a second to fill out lungs with much needed air before we went back to nipping and tugging at each other's lips; kissing frantically and desperately.
"Okay, you two, break it up." Sherriff Maynard told us while yanking Shaw away from me.
"Babe, just keep workin' our livery and takin' care of the kids. I'll be home soon, don't worry." Shaw quickly blurted out as the sherriff led him over to the back of the paddy wagon.
"I will, but it's hard not to worry, hun." I told my fiancé while the sherriff unlocked the cage door.
"I love you, Jessa." Shaw told me as the sherriff shoved him into the paddy wagon.
"I love you too, Shaw." I replied to my fiancé as the sherriff locked the cage door and walked around to the front buckboard of the paddy wagon.
Holding onto the bars of the cage door, Shaw told me, "Give the kids hugs and kisses from me, honey."
"I will, Shaw." I assured him with a thin smile.
Tolbert:
I was leanin' 'gainst the corner o'the courthouse, hidden by the alleyway, while watchin' Jessa have a goodbye moment wit' the Vance Bastard. God, seein' her throwin' herself at 'im was sickenin'. How can she be throwin' herself at 'im like some two-bit whore so shamelessly? I tipped back my flask, feelin' the shine roll down my throat, as I watched the paddy wagon roll 'way wit' Jessa wavin' g'bye at her bastard while tellin' him, "I'll write you, Shaw. Just hold on, we'll get you free and cleared."
"I'll write you too, baby!" Shaw called out, replyin' t'Jessa, as the paddy wagon rolled farther 'way down the road.
My hand was by my side wit' my flask danglin' from it as I watched Jessa walk off towards that damned livery. Goddamnit, I hated that livery. If it wasn't for that business, I'd have Jessa right now. The shady Vance Bastard would just have t'go into the livestock business (which makes lots an' lots o'money). I wante t'follow her, but decided not to since she's most likely mad at me from the fall earlier. I took a sip of my flask while watchin' her disappear into the livery.
I needed t'figure out a way t'get her back wit' me an' for good. As long as the Vance Bastard's still breathin' I don't exactly stand a chance.
Allie POV:
I was finishing up dinner and keeping an eye on the babies, whom were sitting on a blanket in the main room playing with some toys, whenever Cap came home. "I invited Jessa over for dinner tonight. Figured 'tween that hearin' today and her workin' the livery she wouldn't be up to cookin'." He told me as soon as he walked thru the door.
Looking over my shoulder, I asked my husband, "How did the countersuit go?"
"Good." Shaw told me, hanging his hat up on its hook. While removing his jacker and hanging it up, he told me, "Shaw won, but Jessa had to verify Tolbert's handwriting on a note and it got a bit ugly for a minute."
"What'd you mean by ugly, Cap?" I asked with an arched brow.
"Perry Cline called her a golddiggin' strumpet and Shaw blew up. The Kentucky sherriff had to hold him back or he would've jumped Perry." Cap explained while making his way into the main room, stopping at the blankets the babies were playing on in order to check-up on them.
"Wow, that sounds intense." Was my immediate reaction. Of course, leave it to a Hatfield and McCoy court case to be a complete 3-ring circus. Looking at my husband, I asked "You don't mind setting the table while I take care of the platters, do you?"
Cap didn't say a word, just walked into the kitchen and over to the cabinets that the dishes were kept in. Taking a stack of dishes out of the cabinet and bringing them over to the table, Cap told me, "You know she really seems to miss him."
"What? Really, cause she doesn't seem too emotionally torn up to me." I told Shaw while loading the fried chicken I made onto a large platter. I think I would know if she was missing him or emotional since I saw her almost every day, other than weekends that is, since I babysat her kids. Kids that were currently playing my mine at the moment.
While setting the table, he went on to say, "Right before the sherriff loaded him into the paddy wagon he let Shaw say goodbye to Jessa; they hugged real tight and kept kissin' for a good minute or so 'fore Sherriff Maynard had to pull him away and shove him into the cage."
"Well, soon enough he'll have a date with the gallows and she'll just have to move on with her life." I told Cap while bringing the chicken platter over to the table.
"That's the problem tho, darlin'. I don't think she'll fully move on once he's hanged." Cap told me, going over to the cabinet the glassware and mugs were kept, while I went back to the counter to grab a platter of corn.
"Why not?" I asked, grabbing the platter of corn on the cob while hearing the hinges of the cabinet squeak as my husband opened it.
"Cause of the way they were with each other, Allie." Cap told me as I walked over to the table while he grabbed the glasses and a mug (for his coffee since everyone else would be drinking milk). As we passed by each other on our way to our destinations he went on to say, "It was as if they were holdin' onto each other for dear life." As he placed the glasses on the table while I grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes and the gravy boat, he concluded his thoughts with, "It's clear that she loves him and he either loves or is obsessed with her. Whatever it is with him I dunno, but it's somethin'."
Going over to the table, I scoffed, "Cap, of course she's holding on to him for dear life, he's been locked up for a couple of weeks and it's the first time she's seen him." I placed the potatoes and gravy on the table before rubbing his shoulder and telling him, "Don't read too much into it, once he's gone for good my friend'll get her senses back."
Cap placed a hand on my hip, keeping me gently rooted in place, while looking into my sapphire eyes with his mismatched ones and sighing deeply, but honestly, in his wave-like timbre, "Allie, darlin', I think Jessa, no matter what you say, is going to harbor some type of feelin's for Shaw. He got to her and twisted up her head." Lightly rubbing a circle into my hip with his thumb, my husband added in, "Hell, just look at how long it took Olga to leave him. She obviously had feelin's for him too since she stuck 'round for so long even when he more or less just said he was usin' her to warm his bed and treated her like shit."
I shook my head, not wanting to hear what he was saying. Holding my hand up, I walked over to grab the pitcher of milk from the counter while sighing, "Cap, stop, I don't want to think of Jessa being dumb enough to fall victim to Shaw's charm and his controlling, manipulative ways. She was raised better then to become a victim to Shaw's ways."
Before Cap could say a word, a knock sounded at the door. Jessa had come for dinner. "I'll get the door." Cap announced, swiftly making his way to the door. While placing the pitcher of milk onto the table, I heard the door open accompanied by Cap telling Jessa along with Todd and Mary, "Come on in." As I went to grab the coffee pot, I heard Cap say, "Allie's in the kitchen, but it's time to et so…"
Looks like I need to push aside the things that I was taking to Cap about so that I can listen to whatever Jessa wants to talk about; be a supportive friend. I just hope she doesn't talk too much about Shaw tonight since he really is a sore spot we've avoid talking about so far.
"What's for dinner?" Mary asked while making her way into the kitchen.
Jessa POV:
"Hopefully something good and not that dry meatloaf like last time." Todd remarked under his breath, making a zinger at the meatloaf I Allie made last week when we were invited over for dinner, as we followed Cap (who had Captain W. slung on his hip) into the kitchen.
"Fried Chicken." Allie told Mary, oblivious to Todd's remark since it was muttered for only me to hear.
"Todd, be grateful they're having us over for dinner." I reprimanded him in a low whisper as Lydia began to slightly dig into my hip as I carried her. Thank god Silas could walk now. I just held his hand and let him walk slowly next to me. Hell, I don't know if I could handle a baby on both hips right now. At least Lydia'll be walking whenever I give birth to the new baby.
"They didn't have to invite us. 'Sides, you know they don't like Shaw and vice versa so it's wrong even bein' here and takin' their help so much." Todd hissed while slightly narrowing his honey eyes, the ones he shared with Shaw and Mary, at me.
"We need their help right now, but once Shaw's free we'll go from there." I told Todd since that was more or less the situation. I mean I'd love for my friendship with Allie to stay intact after Shaw gets cleared of his charges, but realistically with how much she seems to hate him I don't know if that's possible. I know she says that everything with Shaw is water under the bridge and that our friendship means the world to her right now, but how will she feel when he's home? Putting a tight smile on my face, I suggested, "Now, let's just eat dinner and be nice tonight. Okay?"
"Okay…" Todd sighed before taking a seat at the table next to his sister.
"This looks good, Allie." I complimented my friend's meal (which I'm sure Todd'll have a complaint about once we're on our way home) as I handed Silas off to Todd, who was in the seat next to mine.
As Todd placed Silas on his lap and I took a seat with Lydia on mine, Allie smiled, "Thank you, Jessa." As Cap began to serve himself, Allie went on to say, "One of these days when you're not too busy at the livery you'll have to have us over for dinner."
"Maybe on Sunday you can come by." I suggested, since Sundays are known to be days for big dinners with family and friends no matter what era it was, as I took the platter of corn from the table.
"We can't." Cap told me as I placed a corn cob on my plate. Grabbing the platter from me, instead of letting me pass it down to Todd, Cap informed me a bit coldly, "We always have family dinner at my folks'. Everybody's usually there too."
"Not everybody since Sully and Jim are at my place for Sunday dinner, but I understand." I countered his remark while grabbing a piece of fried chicken from the platter.
"How 'bout we come over on Saturday?" Allie asked as a way to smooth over the dinner situation, while Todd and Mary waited patiently for some side platters so that they could have more than just chicken to eat.
"Saturday's good." I nodded with a smile, glad that we could agree on a day to do dinner at my place. Passing the bowl of mashed potatoes to Todd, I suggested, "I can make pot pie."
"As long as it's not possum, that sounds good." Allie teased, making a jab at the possum pie I told her about making and eating at Granny Delize's a couple of weeks ago.
"Possum pie's not that bad. Tastes like chicken." I joked, making Allie giggle. Cap just shook his head and ate his chicken with a suppressed smirk on his face.
The rest of dinner was filled with banter and went well. Oddly tho, Allie never brought up the counter-suit. I thought she would, but guess I was wrong. Perhaps Cap told her about the ruling and she just didn't feel the need to bring it up.
It's been a few days since the counter-suit and things seemed to get back to normal or as normal as it could be for me right now since I was running both a business and a household since Shaw was locked up. I seemed to be holding up good when it came to the livery business considering I was going by a note from Shaw with pointers on it when it came to running the business since I knew nothing about livestock. Todd was a good co-worker and brother-in-law. He was always running around doing pickups and deliveries (sometimes with Johnse's help if it was too long of a ride) for the livery.
"So, what exactly are you in the market for, Mr. Caldwell?" I asked the middle-aged man as I led him into the backyard of the livery where the livestock pens were at.
"I need'a goat." Mr. Caldwell simply told me over the sounds of animals oinking, neighing, bahing, and whining.
"Well, the goat pens are right over here." I told him, gesturing towards the pens with the wave of my hand while leading him over to them.
"I hope these goats ain't too old." The customer remarked while going over to the pens.
"They're separated in pens by whether they're a kid, a nannie, or a billy-goat." I explained before adding in, "It shouldn't be hard for you to find what you're looking for."
"I hope cause I need'a goat." Mr. Caldwell grumbled as he started to inspect the goat pens.
"The far-left pen's got the kid-goats in it." I told him, since he wanted a younger goat, while pointing to said pen.
"Ah…" Mr. Caldwell nodded, going over to the pen with the young goats in it. "So, how much do you know 'bout livestock?" He asked me while inspecting the goats in the pen.
"Shaw told me enough, why?" I asked the man, getting the feeling that he was judging me cause I was a woman. It wouldn't be the first time that happened and it wouldn't be the last.
"Well, if Shaw told ya then ya must know a thing or two. He's knowledgeable, giv es good prices too." Mr. Caldwell told me, more or less reacting like all of my other customers did once they found out that Shaw told me about the livestock trade. What they didn't know was that I got a crash course in this business from his note.
"I assure you, Mr. Caldwell that the prices are the same with me as they were with my fiancé."
"Well, I'll take that goat then." Mr. Caldwell told me, pointing to a baby goat that was white with brown ears and legs.
"Okay, well, I'll get you checked out in the office and discuss a good day for delivery." I told my client, leading him over to the livery's backdoor.
"I'd like the goat sometime today, Miss." Mr. Caldwell told me as he followed me over to the livery's backdoor.
Opening the door, I told him, "That can be arranged."
"Ya know that Shaw's good people." Mr. Caldwell told me, walking into the livery with me following right behind him. As we walked into the front of the building, where the office was, he informed me, "He sold me a horse for my son last year, broke and trained it for my boy too for a small reasonable price."
"Shaw's good with horses. We have about 5-or-6 at home." I told Mr. Caldwell as we walked over to my desk.
"Yes, he is. The way he broke and trained my son's horse, well I've never seen nothin' like it 'fore." My client told me in a somewhat impressed tone as he took our seats at my desk.
"Well, let's get the paperwork for the kid-goat filled out and have you pay."
"Yes, ma'am."
After a few minutes I had Mr. Caldwell check out and he left, pleased at the price of $2.75 he had to pay for his goat. The goat itself was $2.50 and the delivery fee was an extra 25-cents. I was just going by the price list that Shaw had given me in his note (the one John B. delivered to me after he visited him in jail. Apparently, he had a good price system going on cause everyone that I dealt with felt the pricing was fair. Also, I had a cheat sheet for how much animals should cost when buying, stating how high I should go before bartering via Western Union with the sellers/supplies out west.
I was sitting at my desk (well Shaw's desk, but you know what I mean) whenever Todd came back from delivering some piglets to an upstart farmer (some young man my age who's just built a house and got married) on the edge of Logan.
Standing up, I told my brother-in-law, "Todd, you need to deliver a goat to Mr. Caldwell. He wants it today too, so come on and I'll show you the goat he picked."
"Damn…I just got back too…" He sighed out in a half-groan as he followed me outback to the livestock pens.
It was lunch time and I was at my desk eating a hot sandwich that I picked up at the diner. The couple that bought the diner from Shaw (the Clarkes) were nice and gave me a discount (well they gave Shaw discounts too before we got arrested) on my meal. They had renamed the diner Clarke's Café and updated the paint and color scheme inside. The place looked nice, but for some reason I felt melancholy going into it. Maybe cause me and Shaw found Peggy died in the kitchen back in '78…
Anyways, I was eating my lunch whenever the door chime went off and in walked the last person I ever thought I'd see in the livery. Nancy McCoy. She had a schooled look on her face as she walked further into the livery, towards my desk.
Setting my sandwich down on the wax paper it came in, I gave Nancy a hard stare while asking, "What're you doing here, Nancy?"
"I heard tell that'cha where runnin' Shaw Eldridge's livery. Thought I'd come in an' see it for myself since I'm in town t'buy some groceries." Nancy said with fake sweetness in her voice, bobbing her head side to side as she took in the décor of the livery, as she came over to my desk. "I see ya fixed everythin' up nice after Tolbert supposedly busted it up."
"Tolbert didn't supposedly bust it up, Nancy. He did bust it up." I told her with an edge to my voice as I leaned back slightly in my chair in a bored posture.
"O'course you'd take that Vance's word over Tolbert's, your common-law husband's." Nancy spat out as she clenched the back of the chair that was in front of the desk for clients to sit in.
"Ex-common-law husband, Nancy. I gave him the ring back months ago and left." I deadpanned, tilting my head at Nancy in a 'so over you being here' gesture.
"Yes, you did do that. Such a shame ya were so stupid in doin' so."
Sitting up straight and gesturing to my half-eaten sandwich, I bluntly told Tolbert's shew of a cousin, "Nancy, if you're just going to insult me then you can leave. I'd like to finish my lunch in peace."
"Dear, I'm not insultin' ya just tellin' ya a hard to swallow truth." Nancy told me in a smug and self-righteous way as she pulled her hand away from the chair in order to rest her hand on her hip.
"Nancy, maybe you and all of the McCoys think me leaving Tolbert was stupid, but I don't feel that way. I did what I felt was best."
"Well, soon 'nough Tolbert'll be comin' to reclaim ya. Hopefully, you come to your sense and let him do so."
"It'll snow in hell first before I go back with Tolbert. Now, get out." I snapped at Nancy, pointing towards the door to cement the fact that I wanted her out of the livery.
"Ya won't be actin' all high and mighty for long, not when you'll be manless…" She trailed off in a tone more slippery then a slip 'n' slide.
I narrowed my indigo eyes at the black-haired shew that had Abel trapped in her talons. God, this girl was something else. Who spurts out insults with fake-sugar smiles, it ain't normal. Yea, well, this girl and her bitterness and hatred she had inside of her wasn't normal so…
Squaring my shoulders, I ordered the shrew, "Get the hell out, Nancy 'fore I drag you out by your hair."
"Fine, I'm goin'." Nancy relented with a neigh-like sigh. She glided over to the door and opening it. Looking over her shoulder she told me, "Ya didn't make me leave, Jessa. I'm only goin' cause I gotta do some shoppin' at Shifflet's." She told me from over her shoulder before walking out of the livery; leaving me alone once again with my lunch in my office.
Picking up my sandwich, I shook my head while wondering if I wouldn't had so much drama while working somewhere back in 21st century Tulsa. I bet back in Tulsa I'd have a normal part-time job and would be a Senior getting ready to graduate and go to college somewhere. Hell, it's crazy to think about how simple my life could've been versus how complex it really was. One thing for certain was if I was in Tulsa I wouldn't have Silas right now and no matter how hectice and dramatic things seemed I wouldn't trade my son for anything in the world and in extension his daddy, Shaw.
AN:
Hope you guys liked this chapter. What do you guys think about Jessa and Shaw's relationship? Will it survive his time on jail awaiting his trial date or not? Oh, and what did you think about Allie and Cap's pre-dinner talk? Anyways, Jessa and Allie's friendship seems to be back on track. Looks like Jessa's doing a good job running the livery, but Nancy stopping by…yea so not good…
Something goes down over in Pikeville, KY in the next chapter.