House Guest

It was almost six o'clock when I faced the inevitable; I couldn't hide any longer. My wife would at least be expecting me to come home for supper, and I couldn't expect Jack to spend the night in the saloon. "About ready to go home?" I asked Jack as I put my stuff away. After Bret brought the food back, Jack had settled in on the settee and started looking at a book. I didn't know how well he could read yet or what the book was, but it seemed to keep him occupied.

"You mean to your house?" he asked as he tucked the book back into the smaller of his two bags.

"Yes."

"I suppose." He didn't sound enthused, but then he hadn't sounded enthused about anything today. "Is your wife gonna be there?"

I nodded "She will." I'd already told him about Doralice and the girls and I was praying Doralice's day had gone well and she would be in a good mood when we got there. For both our sakes. I figured that would make Jack feel better, and I just needed all the help I could get.

I'd finally decided the only thing to do was tell Doralice the truth about everything. She might think I was an idiot for a while, but she's a good woman. She would understand the dilemma I was in with Jack for tonight, and I was hoping Winters and I could reach some kind of understanding tomorrow. I just needed tonight to go well.

I led Jack out the same way we'd come in and once again I think we managed to dodge everyone. It was a short walk to the house, and Jack didn't say a word the whole time. He seemed to be a little more relaxed with me now than he had been earlier today, he'd stopped just sitting and staring at me, but he was still about the quietest child I'd ever met. I assumed he was just reserved, but it seemed strange to me that a boy was so . . . withdrawn.

"You'll like Doralice," I told him as I opened the front door. "She's a pretty good cook too." Jack just nodded.

I didn't see anyone when we stepped inside but judging from the smell coming out of the kitchen Doralice was getting supper ready. I didn't hear anyone either. I didn't know if that was good or bad. I nudged Jack forward and set his bag down. "Doralice?"

"Back here," I heard her call from the twins bedroom.

Blessedly she didn't sound frazzled or like she was about to cry. "Need any help?"

A moment later Doralice appeared, a smile on her face. "No. Would you believe they're both quiet for now?"

I couldn't describe the relief I felt at hearing that and seeing Doralice looking more like herself. "Where's Maude?"

"I sent her home about an hour ago." She came over and kissed me. "She's had to help out so much lately, and we're going to have to start doing this on our own sooner or later. Besides, they were both really good today. Even Maudie . . . ." Doralice stopped short when she saw Jack and gave me a questioning look. The look was replaced with a smile as she turned back to Jack. "Who's your friend, Bart? I didn't know you were bringing company home for supper." Having only met Buckley once, I was sure she wouldn't immediately notice Jack's strong resemblance to his father. I could only hope the smile would remain when she found out he could be with us a while.

Before I could answer, the kid who'd hardly spoken to me or anyone else unless it involved women's right to vote stepped forward. He took off his hat and looked up at Doralice with a grin. "I'm Jasper Roan Freemont-Buckley, ma'am. You must be Misses Maverick."

I think my mouth actually dropped open. Where had that charming little display come from? What happened to "I hate Jasper?" And where had that Freemont-Buckley come from? I saw Doralice's eyes cut back over to me and I knew the Buckley part of the name hadn't been lost on her.

"I am," she replied that smile still on her face.

"Jack's gonna be staying with us a few days," I interjected before Jack could start with anything. I was no longer certain he was as quiet and reserved as I first believed and I didn't want him going into any explanations.

The confusion that came to Doralice's face was probably identical to mine when Winters told me the same thing. I gave her a look that begged her not to say anything just yet. She nodded once, but that was followed by a look of her own; one that told me I'd better have a really good explanation for all this. Still, that smile never left and when she talked to Jack she was nothing but friendly and welcoming.

"Well, Jasper, why don't you come with me and you can get settled into your room before supper."

Jack didn't say anything about her calling him Jasper and just nodded. "Yes, ma'am. That would be nice."

Doralice held out her hand which Jack readily took. "Bart, will you bring Jasper's bag?" Doralice asked before they went down the hall together.

For a minute I just stared after them, not sure what to make of what I'd seen. The little boy that had been smiling at Doralice like there was no tomorrow was not the same kid that had been staring at me for the last couple of hours. Shaking my head in disbelief, I picked up Jack's things and took them into the spare room. On my way, I heard Doralice telling Jack about his room and I stopped short when I heard Jack speak. "Misses Maverick, ma'am?"

"Yes, Jasper."

"I know Jasper is my given name, but . . . well, I never really liked it. Do you think you could just call me Jack instead? Like my mama did."

Again, I was struck by the differences Jack was showing with Doralice. I got 'I hate it,' and she got "Misses Maverick, ma'am." Even though I couldn't see either one of them I could imagine the look on Doralice's face when she answered. "Of course, Jack, if that's what you want."

"Thank you, ma'am."

I rolled my eyes; this was getting more interesting by the minute. I walked into the room and sure enough, Doralice had that look on her face. The one that had always told me she would be a great mother. Again, I hoped she stayed in this good of a mood when she found out what was really going on.

"Here's your things, Jack," I said setting his bag down.

"Thank you."

"Why don't you put your things away and wash up some before supper," Doralice suggested.

Jack gave her that grin again. "Yes, ma'am."

My wife then turned to me. "Bart, will you help me finish up with supper?" With that, she started back to the kitchen.

I knew "help me" was really code for "we need to talk." I shut the door to Jack's room and hurried after her; by the time I caught up with her the smile was gone and there was the slightest bit of panic in her eyes.

"Bart, what is going on?"

I sighed "That." I said inclining my head towards the hallway. "Is Jim's . . . package."

"That's a child, Bart, not a package."

"I know." That probably came out a little snappier than I'd intended.

Doralice took a breath. "He said his name was Buckley, how is he tied to James?"

I managed not to roll my eyes at Doralice using Jim's given name. To my knowledge, only two other people call him that; his mother, and Jim himself when he's feeling particularly full of himself. "It's his son."

"I didn't know he had a son."

I snorted. "I don't think he did either. Until recently that is."

Doralice sat down at the table and sighed heavily. "Why is he here?"

That question alone was enough to tell me that my wife still wasn't back to her normal self. Surely she had some idea of what was going on. I sat down across from her. I was still clueless as to how to explain this. "It's like I told you, honey, he's gonna be staying with us a while. Until Jim gets back."

"You agreed to keep his child?"

I winced. "No. Well, yeah. But I didn't know I was agreeing to keep his child, I didn't know he had a child."

"Where did he come from?"

"His mother recently died. She was a woman Jim apparently knew several years ago. She told her lawyer that if anything happened to her, Jack was to be sent to his father. That's Jim."

"Where is James now?"

"He said St. Louis."

Doralice nodded. "Alright. How long will he be gone?"

I winced again. "I don't know."

"Can you get in touch with him?" I shook my head, feeling like an idiot. Doralice glanced down the hallway then back to me. "So we don't know where he is or how to get in touch with him and that little boy is supposed to stay here until James comes back? And we don't know when that might be?"

Doralice had figured this all out pretty quickly after all. I tried to give her a grin. "Yes, ma'am." My smile didn't have my desired effect, instead of looking relaxed, Doralice looked close to tears. "I'm not workin' tonight," I rushed to explain. "Bret's at the saloon and . . . ."

"Well, that's fine for tonight but what about afterward? Bart, Maudie cries almost all night and when she's finally asleep Belle wakes up. How am I supposed to . . . ."

I shushed her softly and reached across the table and took her hand. "Bret'll be around a while. He's already said he'll help with whatever he can. With him here I can be home more if I need to be, and I'm meeting with the lawyer tomorrow morning to find out if there's anything we can do about this. Maybe he's knows something about Jim I don't. We just thought it would be best if we could talk away from Jack."

Doralice seemed to get ahold of herself and nodded. "Okay."

I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'll take care of this. Trust me." All I got was another nod. "Come on, let's eat and maybe we can all get some sleep. We could all use it."

"She probably won't stay quiet long."

"Even if she doesn't I'll be here. We'll sleep in shifts if we have to." I smiled again, and this time got a weak one in return. I pushed up from the table and reached out a hand to her. She let me pull her to her feet and I wrapped her in a hug. "I'll take care of this. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Everything will be fine. Trust me?"

Doralice sighed, and I felt her relax into me as she nodded. "I do."

"Good." I kissed her head again. "Now let's get ready to eat before Jack gets out here."

Doralice nodded again and pulled away from me. As she started setting the table I sent up a silent prayer that I hadn't just lied to her.