Chapter 13
The next morning, Jamie talked nonstop over breakfast about the fishing trip with Kid. Jamie even tried to convince Lou that she should go with them. "Momma, you'd like fishin'. You get to dig in the mud for worms and then tie them to a string. I'm gonna catch a fish this big for you." Jamie said holding up his arms as far apart as he could. "Pa says I'm the best at fishin'."
"I bet you are little man. You'll have to bring back some for supper tonight, alright?" Lou said as she wiped off the oatmeal on his face.
Kid came to pick up his son right on time, and Lou decided to make the most of her time helping Sarah with wedding preparations. Sarah's family wasn't well off so they were keeping things pretty simple. When Sarah found out Lou made her dress for the dance she asked Lou to make her a wedding dress. Lou was very honored and delighted to do so. The morning flew by helping Sarah make some dress designs on paper. Sarah's mother had fixed them some lunch and then they made plans to go shopping for material as early as next week. Lou noticed the time and thought she best be getting back. Kid would be looking for her to drop Jamie off after their fishing trip.
Back at the station, Lou saw no evidence that they had been there so she waited around a bit. She spent the next hour or so sweeping the bunkhouse and putting the laundry out on the line. She decided to go look for the boys. She figured she'd find them down by the creek they went often, but there was no sign of them. She thought maybe they picked somewhere else, but after riding along the creek a ways she decided to go back to town. Surely they would be back by now but that was not the case.
Lou walked over to the hotel to where Kid had a room thinking maybe he had taken Jamie back there for lunch or a nap, but no one answered the door when she knocked. She went down to ask Otis at the front desk, who she knew from working at the restaurant, if she had seen them that afternoon. Lou was not expecting to hear what he had to say. Otis told Lou that Kid had checked out, saying he was heading back to Virginia.
Lou ran as fast as she could to the marshal's office. "Jimmy! Jimmy!"
"What's wrong?" Jimmy asked turning away from his conversation with another man.
"He's gone!" Lou yelled.
"Who's gone?"
"Jamie!"
"Now hold on Lou! Wasn't he with Kid? I thought they went fishing." Jimmy said trying to calm her down.
"They did but when they didn't come back I went to the hotel and Otis said he checked out this morning. That he was going back to Virginia." Lou explained to him.
"Maybe he left Jamie with someone and then rode off. Did you check with Teaspoon or Rachel or maybe even Emily?" Jimmy asked trying to be reasonable, although he was starting to panic himself.
"No, but why would he check out without telling anyone goodbye?" Lou asked him hoping that she was wrong and that maybe Jamie had been dropped off with someone.
"I don't know. Alright, come on. Let's go see if we can find him." Jimmy said leading Lou out of the office.
They first checked with Teaspoon and then remembered he would be out of town until nightfall. They then headed to the schoolhouse to see if Rachel knew anything, but she hadn't seen him. Next, they went to get their horses and headed out to Buck and Emily's ranch. It was a few miles out of town and seemed unlikely that Kid would've gone out of his way to take him there, but they had to find out.
As they rode, they passed again by the creek Kid and Jamie had been fishing at. "Did you hear that?" Lou asked bringing her horse to a stop and turning around.
"Lou, what is it?" Jimmy asked doing the same. "I don't know. I thought I heard something back there." Lou nodded her head towards a grouping of trees. They both decided to dismount and check it out. After just a few steps, they heard a noise that sounded like a whimper. Lou took off. "Lou, be careful."
"Jamie!" Just on the other side of the tree she found Jamie lying in the mud with blood caked on his face. His eyes were closed but he was crying lightly. Jimmy and Lou both dropped to the ground to check the extent of his injuries. When they couldn't find anything more than a cut on his head that had already stopped bleeding, Lou pulled him into her lap and soothed the small child. "Oh sweetheart, it's going to be alright." Jamie finally opened his eyes and looked up at his mother. "Momma?"
"Jamie, can you tell us what happened? Where's your Pa?" Jimmy asked the young boy.
"Bad men took Pa away."
"What bad men? Jamie, did you know them?" Jimmy was trying to be as gentle as he could, knowing that upsetting the child wouldn't get him the answers he needed.
"No. Momma, am I in trouble?"
"Oh no little man, you're not in trouble. We just want to make sure you're alright and find your Pa. Did the bad men hurt him?" Jamie just nodded.
"Did the bad men have guns?" Jimmy asked. Jamie nodded again. "Alright, Lou we need to get him out of here. You take Jamie to see the doc and I'll get Buck. He can help me track their horses. Hopefully we can find out where they took Kid.
Lou really wanted to argue and say she was going with him, but she knew she needed to get Jamie checked out. "Alright, but Jimmy please be careful." She stood up and held Jamie in her arms, but she reached up and gave Jimmy a quick kiss. She mounted her horse and Jimmy handed Jamie up to her. They then headed their separate ways.
