Please see Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers.
Chapter 6
Ezra was riding fast, faster than he ever had before and the world was a blur as he passed it by. The card player didn't know if he was riding towards something or away from it only that it felt good to be on the move. Suddenly he brought his mount up short. There under a huge maple tree sat Katherine on a quilted blanket, laying out a picnic.
She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered, her golden locks falling around her shoulders as she peered at him through hazel eyes. He dismounted and slowly approached. The young women smiled. "It took you long enough."
"Kate," he breathed in unbelief.
"Where are the children?"
Ezra's brow furrowed. Children? Ah, yes the twins. Kate's children. His children. He shook his head.
Coming to her feet Kate gracefully cleared the distance between them. "So you've finally come, but the question is, are you the man I fell in love with?"
Suddenly the sun was blindingly bright and Kate was getting further and further away. The confidence man felt a somewhat rhythmic motion as if he were in a boat or a wagon; it was drawing him away from his Kate and making him rather nauseous. He reached for her but she was out of reach now and her lovely face was being consumed with the brilliant light of the sun.
Squinting, Ezra opened his eyes. For just a moment, he thought Kate had stayed with him, but as his eyes focused, he noted the face in the sunlight had emerald green eyes, not hazel. His stomach turning over, Ezra groaned and closed his eyes swallowing the bile in this throat. His bed bounced up and down again and he cracked one eye to see the demon child responsible for the damnable movement. At this moment a realization that had been niggling at the back of his consciousness finally came to fore regarding Eli, but the importance quickly seeped away as Ezra struggled not to vomit all over his bedding.
"Cease and desist," he groaned.
The child got up and went to the bureau lifting a pottery pitcher to fill a cup with water and brought it over to the man. Seeing the water, made Ezra realize that his mouth felt as if it had been filled with cotton. He reached for the glass appreciatively only to have the contents splashed in his face.
"ARGH!" Ezra exclaimed sitting up quickly. With a laugh, Eli moved quickly away and poured more water into the cup. Once again the youngster approached and offered the cup to the man with an impish grin.
"I thought your brother was the prankster," Ezra said irritably, warily taking the cup of water.
"Oh he is. I'm just ornery," Eli stated brightly.
"Perhaps, you might speak more quietly," Ezra said, raising a hand to his head after he'd finished half of the liquid.
"Why? Does your head hurt?" the young voice was taunting and Ezra silently took back all of his reservations concerning Chris's methods when it came to the young scoundrel.
"What, pray tell, are you doing here?
"Waking you up."
Ezra took another sip of the water, "Obviously, but why are you here in the boarding house?"
"They needed the jail for a few drunk cowboys so Mr. Larabee decided to move Ethan and I over here."
"I see." Ezra looked into the frank green eyes framed by reddish gold locks. The reality hit him like a blow. This was his child. His and Kate's.
"You disappeared after our last conversation. I've been hoping to talk to you since then, but I guess you've been otherwise occupied."
Ignoring the obvious censure in the young voice, Ezra gave a miniscule nod of acknowledgement, regretting even that slight motion. "You want to know if your father is alive. If I know where he is," Ezra said quietly setting the glass down on the bedside table.
"No. That was Ethan's question not mine. I want to know if our daddy really thought our mama was dead? When he left and never came back?"
Ezra closed his eyes, battling powerful emotions as well as the queasiness from his over indulgence. Once in control, he looked directly into the green eyes, which seemed to be looking straight into his soul, "I assure you he did. When he returned from his business trip there was a grave marker with your mother's name upon it. He was told she had died."
After several seconds, Eli seemed satisfied and gave a nod. The child then reached inside a worn shirt, that had seen better days and was probably at least a size too big and pulled out a very wrinkled envelope. Ezra accepted the envelope, giving Eli a quizzical look when he realized that it was addressed to him.
"It's from Mama."
"It has been several days since we have been introduced," Ezra observed, "Why are you just now giving this to me?"
Eli shrugged, eyes straying from the man's intent gaze toward the window. "Wanted to make sure you were the right man."
Turning the parcel over in his hands Ezra's eyes narrowed. "It appears this has been opened."
"It might have come open at some point. I've been carrying it for six months."
"I see," Ezra replied, noting the ten-year-old's obvious discomfiture and how Eli continued to avoid eye contact.
"I better go before Mr. Larabee comes looking for me."
"Eli."
The curly reddish gold head turned to look at Ezra before exiting.
"Thank you for delivering this."
M7***M7***M7***M7***M7***M7
"Ethan, Eli, this is Levi Potter," Josiah said his hand resting gently on the boy's shoulder. "He's been helping me with some work the last couple of days."
"We've met," Ethan said with a grin, recognizing the boy from the clandestine poker games some of the boys in the community had put together. "Good ta see ya agin, Levi. Play any cards lately?"
"Ah," Levi shot a quick look up at Josiah, "No."
"And he won't be in the future either. Will you Levi?" Josiah demanded sternly.
"No sir."
"Why don't you take Ethan and Eli and show them where I keep the buckets and scrub brushes. Then you can fill them up with water at the pump."
"Yes sir."
The twins followed the other boy, curious at his behavior around the mild mannered Josiah. The kid almost acted like he was afraid of the former preacher. No not exactly afraid…more like a kid worried about getting in trouble with his pa.
There was a rather uncomfortable silence as they filled the buckets with water. Levi felt rather guilty knowing that he was responsible for the twins getting caught. He still couldn't believe they were twins. Only one boy had ever showed up for the games.
"Well, lookie here, Jimmy. If it ain't the little stool pigeon," a snide voice said, coming from the direction of the livery. Emmett Jones and his cousin Jimmy approached steadily and were obviously unhappy with the younger boy.
"Yeah, we got a lickin' cuz a you, ya little squealer."
"I – I – I'm sorry," Levi answered taking a few steps back. "I didn't have no choice. Mr. Sanchez…well, I didn't have no choice!"
"Knew ya was too little ta join in, told Danny so, but yer still gonna pay for that lickin' I took," Emmett said taking a threatening step toward the smaller lad. "Betcha yer Ma didn't even do nuthin' ta her little baby, boy, huh?"
"Th-that ain't true! I got in trouble, too," Levi insisted as Emmett closed the distance between them.
"Why dontcha jest let this go, huh?" Ethan suggested stepping between the two with a conciliatory grin. "It won't change what happened."
"Don't know why yer defendin' him. He's the reason you got caught."
Ethan shrugged. "Thet's jest how the cards was dealt. Ya play the cards ya get. Can't do nuthin' about it now."
"Well, I can," Emmett insisted, trying to step around Ethan. "This ain't no concern a yers."
"If we ain't mad, you got no right to be. We both got tanned by Mr. Larabee… and more'n once. So just leave him be," Eli interjected stepping forward.
"Stay outta of this," Emmett growled, giving the much smaller Eli a firm push.
"HEY!" Ethan yelled, knocking into the older boy with his shoulder, causing Emmett to lose his footing. Jimmy then jumped on Ethan and before long all five children with rolling in the dirt.
"That's ENOUGH!" Josiah bellowed coming out of the church and grabbing Emmett and Levi from the fray, then separating Ethan and Jimmy. Eli stepped back voluntarily though aiming an angry glower at the two cousins.
"What is going on here?"
"Ah, we's just havin' a friendly scuffle, preacher," Ethan answered his green eyes twinkling and a grin on his bloodied lips.
Assessing the bumps and bruises, Josiah's eyes narrowed. "Doesn't look as if it was all that friendly." The large man turned questioning eyes to Mrs. Potter's son. "Levi?"
Seeing the boy's discomfiture and knowing it would not go well if the lad was once again to "tell" on the older boys, Eli heaved a big sigh. "Oh, it ain't some great mystery. Not like ya need a Pinkerton man or nuthin'. These two oafs were mad at Levi for tellin' 'bout the poker games and decided to even the score so ta speak." Eli turned to Jimmy and Emmett. "Though, I'll tell ya right now he done ya two a favor cause you can't play cards worth a," Eli's green eyes flicked toward Josiah and after a cough the child continued, "Well, enyway ya was losin' yer shirts."
Josiah curbed a grin at Eli's explanation and turned a grim face toward the Jones cousins. "I seem to remember Mr. Larabee telling you boys that one more fight and he was going to ban you from town. Guess it's time I have a little talk with your grandma." Jimmy and Emmett cast each other a worried glance. Both of them held a healthy and justified fear of Grandma Jones and unfortunately the only person in town whose opinion she thought held any merit was the former preacher's. "Now the two of you had best go find a seat in your Uncle's wagon and not move from there 'til he heads back out to the farm." Not needing to be told twice, the two took off like a flash of light.
"We best get the three of you cleaned up," Josiah said gently heading toward the pump. Not willing to argue with the large man the three followed and stood patiently while Josiah washed their dirty, bruised faces with a hanky from his pocket. Ethan had a split lip, Eli sported a black eye, and Levi had a fair-sized bruise on the right side of his face along his jaw line.
"Well, none too worse for wear, I'd say," Josiah finally commented. "Now, who threw the first punch?"
"It weren't so much a punch really, as a shove," Ethan answered honestly. "Emmett pushed Eli and I kinda saw red an' pushed him back." Josiah raised his eyebrows, surprise evident in his pale blue eyes at the confession. Ethan always seemed so even tempered, generally quite the peacekeeper. Biting his lip the boy started to continue, "Then…"
"Then all hell broke lose," Eli finished.
"Watch your language, young man, unless you'd like your mouth washed out with soap."
"Yes, sir," Eli was quick to reply, eyes downcast.
"I do understand that boys will sometimes have high spirits, but there are better ways to solve your disagreements than rolling around in the dirt. A good day's work will go a long ways toward tempering those high spirits, so we'll leave it at that this time. But if I find any of the three of you fighting again, you'll be sitting on a sore backside copying down what the good book has to say about it. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," two of the three children responded.
Eli's brow, however, was furrowed. "Ya mean, yer still gonna make us work…in this condition?" Josiah had to bite the inside of his cheek as the lad dramatically touched his eye and winced.
"Well, if you're feeling poorly, I certainly don't want to show you any unkindness. I'll be more than happy to walk you over to the clinic and have Nathan look you over. In fact I think Chris is over there with him right now. That would give you a good opportunity to explain what happened him."
The hopeful look in the bright green eyes turned immediately sullen. "Nah, that's okay. I'm feelin' alright."
"Good!" Josiah clapped his hands together. "Then lets get these buckets filled up and grab the scrub brushes."
M7***M7***M7***M7***M7***M7
JD had come over to collect the twins so they could wash up before dinner. Josiah put his hammer away and turned to see a rather nervous Levi shuffling his feet before picking up a stray nail and returning it to the can where they were kept. "Something bothering you, son?"
"Ma's gonna be mad."
"Well, the best that I can tell, the fight really wasn't your fault. I think your mother will understand that."
Levi shrugged.
"Would you like me to come with you and explain it to her?"
"Would you?"
"Of course I will," Josiah reached out to ruffle the boy's hair and Levi beamed his appreciation up to the large peacekeeper.
As the two walked over to the store, Levi studied a scrape on his knuckle. "Seems like lately I just can't do nuthin' right."
"Well, I have to admit, you've been finding your share of trouble lately. Why is that?"
Levi shrugged. "Ma's been so busy with the store, and I just," the boy's voice broke and he felt a comforting arm around his shoulder. With a sniff he continued, "I miss Pa and the way things were, and when I think about what happened I just get so mad and then before I know it, I'm sayin' mean things to Grace and doin' stuff I know Ma don't approve of." Tears rolled down the ten-year-old's face and he swiped at them self-consciously, looking around to see if anyone had observed his babyish display.
Josiah pulled the boy into a hug and suddenly Levi didn't care how childish he looked. He threw his arms around the big preacher and cried out the months of pent up grief and anger. Holding the boy tight, Josiah felt tears come to his own eyes at the depth of Levi's anguish. This was a hard land. Those who braved the trek out West seeking a better opportunity and life knew the risks that they took, but the children…their plight always tugged at Josiah's heartstrings. But this boy in particular, had carved out a special place in his old careworn heart.
Once Levi had calmed, Josiah gently ran a hand through the lad's brown hair. "There's no shame in shedding tears for the loss of those we love, son. Showing your pain is no weakness." The boy sniffed and offered a watery smile. Josiah pulled out his handkerchief and offered it to the lad glad he'd replaced the earlier one. The two made their way to the store, where Mrs. Potter was closing the doors for the day.
"Oh my!" She exclaimed upon seeing her teary-eyed son with his bruised face. "What's happened now?"
"Gloria, just calm yourself down," Josiah said gently. "The boy's fine. His tears are from an honest expression of grief. We were talking about his pa. As for his face, Levi was put upon by the Jones boys but Ethan and Eli took his part. Wasn't his fault and he's okay."
"Oh, baby," the anxious mother said compassionately stepping forward to draw her son into an embrace. For the first time in a long time, Levi didn't turn away, but returned his mother's hug, before taking a step back.
"I'm sorry, Ma, for all the trouble I've been lately. I'm gonna do better, I promise."
Gloria smiled and kissed her son on the forehead. "Why don't you go wash up and I'll see to supper."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The boy hurried to start up the stairs to the family's living quarters, but turned before disappearing. "Thank you, Mr. Sanchez."
"Nothing to thank me for, son."
The boy grinned and disappeared.
"Well, then maybe you'll accept my thanks," Gloria said, eyes shining with unshed tears. "Levi's just been drifting farther and farther away from me since his pa died. I haven't known how to reach him."
"It's been hard on the boy," Josiah said kindly, "On all of you."
Gloria blinked away her tears and with a sniff and gave herself a shake. "Well, you'll stay for supper."
Josiah, smiled. The woman's fortitude constantly amazed him. Gloria Potter had to be one of the strongest women he'd ever known. Though she had expressed her grief openly at the loss of her husband, she had not dwelled on what she had lost but moved on, not only running the store and caring for her children, but taking an active role in the community as well. He had a great deal of respect for her. However, he found himself thinking more about her needs as a woman than anything else. That thought train made the large man uncomfortable.
"No, Ma'am, I –"
"It wasn't a question, Josiah, you'll stay for supper. It's the least I can do for all you've done."
"Gloria," Josiah said softly taking a few steps to clear the distance and laying a gentle hand on her arm. The woman looked up into Josiah's light blue eyes and her face flushed. "You owe me no thanks. Levi's a good boy. I'm glad I could help."
"Well, just the same, you'll take your meal with us," she said rather brusquely to cover other feelings that were swirling underneath the surface.
"I won't," he replied firmly, "If the offer is just an unnecessary expression of thanks. Now, if it's maybe something else, well then I might consider it."
"Something else?" Gloria replied and Josiah's only response was to look into her hazel eyes, the question unmistakable. She closed her eyes, but when they reopened her answer was evident. Very slowly, to make sure he wasn't misreading the widow Josiah leaned down to kiss her quivering lips. She responded with such longing and passion the he drew her into his arms allowing the kiss to deepen.
"Ma?" A young voice called from the stairs, causing the two adults to briskly step away from one another.
"Yes, Gracie?" Gloria responded trying to make her voice sound normal despite her pounding heart.
"You coming up to make supper?" the girl asked her brown pigtails appearing as she descended. "Mr. Sanchez!" The joy on the girl's face was unmistakable when she saw Josiah and the girl ran up to be swept into the big man's well-muscled arms.
"Hey, there, Angel. How was your day?"
"It was good. There's a new litter of kittens over at the livery. They are sooooo cute! I think we should get one when their big enough ta keep the mice outta the store room."
"That seems like a reasonable idea," Josiah nodded.
"Don't you go encouraging the girl, Josiah," Gloria groused rolling her eyes as she moved toward the stairs willing the flush to fade from her cheeks.
Josiah just winked at the girl in his arms.
"Are you staying for supper, Mr. Sanchez?" Grace asked hopefully recognizing an ally when she saw one.
Gloria paused on the stairs and turned just slightly to catch the peacekeeper's response.
With a big grin, Josiah gave the girl a squeeze before answering, "Yes, Gracie, I do believe I will be staying for supper."
TBC…