Chapter 5

In the following weeks things between Kid and Doritha did not change much, or rather changed for the worse. He still tried to make her understand that their life together wouldn't be like the one she was so intent to lead since she had arrived in Rock Creek. The blonde girl spared no expense, and lately she apparently had the need to be the center of attention. There was not a single day that she didn't have guests over for dinner, who she entertained lavishly. This active social life implied she spent without restrictions as she insisted that she needed new dresses and a great selection of delicatessen and expensive wines to serve in these formal gatherings.

The fights between the couple over this matter were more and more frequent, but somehow she always managed to soothe his irritation, and he ended up barely understanding her illogical points of view. Sadly for Kid, he realized that due to the strain between the couple he welcomed the rides as a way of liberation, and he even volunteered for the longer ones that nobody wanted to do. He thought if he was ignorant to her luxurious activities, he would be happier like the saying went: Out of sight, out of mind. Kid guessed that his friends had noticed the change of attitude in him, but nobody had voiced their opinions to him, not even Jimmy. They always tried to give him his privacy as they knew he wasn't comfortable talking freely about his personal matters. Kid didn't know what else to do and was even wondering whether he was wrong to think like that. Sometimes he had the impression that Doritha didn't see their future life together on the ranch Kid had always dreamed about, despite the fact that he had already told her dozens of times. She was acting as if she thought she would be able to lead that extravagant life when they got married. Kid wished he could talk to somebody about his problems but somehow he would feel guilty of going behind Doritha's back and tell somebody about their rocky relationship. Well, apparently he was the only one to see problems because Doritha seemed to believe that everything between them was as smooth as silk, or at least that was what she always said.

All those thoughts kept popping in his mind as he rode his beloved Katy across the plains on his way to St Joseph. It was the early hours of the evening, and the sun would sink down to welcome the night in a few hour's time. Kid kept riding at a fast pace, wanting to make use of the last hours of light before stopping for the night. Suddenly, the sound of quick hooves behind him reached his ears and in a flash a rider on a black horse whizzed past him at a breakneck speed; both rider and horse disappearing into the distance in a matter of seconds. Kid briefly stopped Katy as he admiringly stared at the swift rider flashing away. Definitely whoever it was he was a very fast rider, and Kid thought that the Pony Express could really do with somebody so brisk and apparently such a natural with horses. Not wanting to waste any more time he spurred his mare into a light trot which gradually turned into a speedy gallop and the two of them continued their ride.

A couple of hours later darkness fell, and Kid decided to find a place to spend the night. He slowed Katy to a light canter as he led her into the thick forest ahead of them. The light of a camp fire flickered in the distance among the trees and as the Southerner came closer, he could make out the outline of a young boy and his horse tethered to a nearby tree. On seeing the animal, the Southerner recognized the rider and horse that had passed him on the trail a few hours before. There were just a few steps away from the camp when in the stillness of the night the sound of hooves could be heard and drawn the boy's attention. Straightaway Kid heard the click of a gun being cocked, and his eyes fell on the revolver aimed at him which the young boy was holding.

The Southerner stopped his horse at a safe distance and lifted his hands over his head in a gesture of good will. "Sir, I'm just a Pony Express rider," he said, eyeing the boy and the gun nervously. He had let himself be carried away by his first impressions and would never have thought that this lonely rider could mean any danger to his safety. After riding for the Express for almost a year now he should know better and appraise a situation before walking into danger so recklessly. The gun shone with the flickering flames reflecting on its black frame; it was the only thing he could see clearly. The boy's face was darkened by the big hat he was wearing but there was no doubt the rider was quite young. His hands were small and his whole slender body seemed to be drowned in the too wide clothes he had on. "I mean no harm," he continued, still with his hands up in front of his face. "Just wondered if I could share your fire."

There was a lapse of a few seconds, and finally Kid let out his held breath as the sound of the gun being uncocked reached his ears, and he saw the boy lower his colt. "Thank you," Kid muttered while he slid off Katy and tied her to a tree.

His unwilling host hadn't said a word so far, and the Pony Express rider wondered if his idea of sharing the camp with this silent shadow had been a sound one after all. Kid came closer to him, intrigued by this wordless character, but from his standing position as he hovered over the sitting man, all he could see was the top of his hat. It seemed that curiosity got the better of this stranger as well, and in that moment he lifted his face to the Express rider, making his hat fall back. A couple of braids flopped over the stranger's shoulders and on recognizing them and their owner, Kid's mouth broke into a smile.

"My, my, it's none other than Miss Dainty," he exclaimed, amusement shining in his eyes.

Louise glared at him, inwardly cursing her bad luck for having bumped into this obnoxious boy, who was no doubt going to disturb her well-sought solitude. Kid finished picking up his gear from Katy and coming closer to her still figure, he asked teasingly, "Am I decent enough to be in your presence, your Highness, or should I wash first?"

He chuckled at his own comment while Louise silently kept glaring at him dangerously. As she wasn't going to say anything, Kid decided to drop onto the ground next to her, and Louise automatically shifted away from him as if scalded, feeling he was too close to her. The two of them remained in silence for a few minutes; Louise avoiding his eyes as much as possible, her arms folded protectively over her chest. Meanwhile, Kid took out a piece of cheese and a chunk of bread from his saddle bags and offered to share them with her, but she refused, again without saying a single word. The blue-eyed rider ate in silence while he watched her horse with admiring eyes.

"It was you riding like the wind before, wasn't it?" he finally asked, but Louise never said a word but stared at him with an impassive and serious look. "It's a good horse you have there, Miss Dainty," he continued, regardless of her unwillingness to make small talk.

"Stop calling me that!" she finally exploded, tired of his silly games.

"Wow, I thought for a moment that a cat had eaten your tongue," he replied, not caring about the irritation obvious in her voice.

"Stop calling me that stupid name!" she repeated, her bright eyes and seriousness showing that she wasn't up for joking.

"Well, I never learned your name," Kid stated, but Louise averted her gaze, obviously not wanting to take part in the conversation he was trying to spark. Kid shook his head and seeing that she wasn't going to talk, he leaned towards the fire and began pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot he had brewed minutes before.

It was then that she blurted out, "Louise."

Kid was sipping the coffee when her voice resounded in the silence of the night. He turned his eyes to her and clumsily uttered, "Uh?"

"Louise. My name's Louise. Louise McCloud," she repeated.

"Nice to meet you, Louise," he replied with a big smile, stretching his arm towards her but she slapped his hand away.

"You already met me," she simply said, tired of his silly mannerisms.

"I guess you're right," he continued. "But seeing you in that attire, I should call you Lou. For one moment I thought you were a boy but your two little friends here gave you away," he added, pointing with his thumb at her two long braids.

"Very funny," she mumbled ironically. Kid kept staring at her for a few minutes, which didn't sit well with her at all. "What are you looking at?" she asked, annoyance clearly showing in her voice.

Instead of answering her questions he asked one of his own, "How old are you, Lou?"

To her own surprise, instead of letting out one of her sarcastic quips despite the name he was using, she simply said, "Seventeen."

"Don't you think you're all grown-up to be wearing these?" he asked, stretching his arm and touching one of her braids.

Before he had even finished his question, she gruffly rescued her hair from his grasp and barked, "No!" Realizing that her reaction had aroused a strange look from him as if in confusion, she hurried to soothe her answer, "I mean ... I like them. Something wrong with that?"

"No, of course not," Kid simply said and now that she was starting to talk, he felt more comfortable and kept asking her questions. "So where are you riding to?"

"St Joseph," she mumbled, not really in the mood to bear his continuous questioning.

"What a coincidence! Me too. You have family in the city? Maybe your parents?"

Louise turned two annoyed eyes to him and growled, "Are you always this damned nosy?"

"And are you always this nasty?" Kid retorted in the same loud tone; his amusement completely gone and his irritation growing at Louise's rudeness. He was trying to be polite and kind, but her continuous sarcasm was getting on his nerves. Who did she think she was?

"I don't like people asking a lot of questions," she replied scornfully.

"I was just trying to make polite conversation," he defended himself loudly.

"Well, talk about the weather like normal people do," Louise continued stubbornly, matching his shrill tone of voice.

Kid shook his head and let out in a low voice, "You are the rudest girl I have ever met."

"Whatever," she replied gruffly, not caring about his words.

The pair lapsed into a sullen silence; the only sounds coming from the crackling flames before them. Louise kept her eyes on the fire, trying to forget the annoying presence of the boy by her side, and for once pleased that he had finally hushed and taken her clear hints. Yet, the welcoming silence did not last long as once again Kid's voice sounded by her side. "It ain't so cold tonight, is it?"

Louise slowly turned her head towards him and couldn't help a giggle escape her lips at his remark. Kid joined in her mirth and added, "Wow, I managed to melt the ice lady. For one moment you had me fooled, and I thought you couldn't laugh."

Lou sobered, and instead of replying to his remark and to her utter surprise she said, "I'm going to St Joseph to visit my brother and sister."

"And your parents?" he asked cautiously after her last reaction to his questions, but genuinely interested in her answer.

Louise averted her eyes and lowering them to her intertwined hands which were clutching her flexed legs, she muttered, "Dead."

"I'm sorry."

"My siblings are at the same orphanage I escaped from five years ago," she continued as if talking to herself, completely forgetting about Kid's presence. "Naïvely I thought I would be able to get a place of my own and take them out of there, but it ain't gonna happen." She sighed bitterly and kept silent for a while.

"Why not?" Kid asked again.

His voice startled her, who for a moment had forgotten that Kid was there at all. Clearing her tight throat she continued self-consciously, "What with my 'wonderful' job I will never be able to save enough, so all I can do is to spend the little money I get to make their life more comfortable there."

Kid nodded in understanding and added, "Why don't you quit that job then?"

"And then what? There ain't much a girl on her own can do, is there? Or Mr. Clever Pants has better ideas? Uh? Should I dress up like a man and get a job delivering the mail in your company?" she asked sarcastically, her mouth twitching into a bitter smile.

"Well, by the way you ride, Russell, Majors and Waddell would have to think seriously about their policy against women," Kid added half-seriously. Truth be told, he was impressed by the way she rode. He didn't know many women and even men who could ride so naturally. Of course, even with her ability to ride, he knew it couldn't be as it was much too dangerous a job for a woman to handle, which was why the rule was in effect to begin with.

"Very funny," she let out unhappily.

"Sorry I didn't mean to make fun of you," he added sincerely, looking directly into her brown eyes.

Louise turned her gaze into the dark night ahead of her, feeling her cheeks get increasingly hot. She didn't know whether it was because of the intense fire crackling at her feet, but it was clear that she was beginning to feel awkward talking about her personal matters to this practically stranger. She wondered what had prompted her to reveal so much of herself when she was so particular about her life. So trying to deviate his attention from her, Louise asked, "That blonde lady ... she's your fiancée, ain't she?"

"Uh huh," Kid simply muttered in a thoughtful mood. He had forgotten about Doritha while he had endured Louise's rudeness and listened to her account. For a brief spell his problems had gone from his mind, but with Lou's question there came the reminder of what weighed in his heart so much.

"When are you getting married?" she continued asking.

"Probably in the summer," Kid replied in a serious voice. He and Doritha hadn't really decided the date of their wedding yet even though they both assumed that they would after a few months of courtship. Kid complained to himself that they never talked about their impending marriage. Every time he brought the matter up, all she talked about was the very expensive wedding dress she planned to buy or the dozens of guests she wanted to invite or anything along those lines, but nothing that Kid considered really important like their future life together when the ceremony and all the trimmings were over. "First I need to get a place of our own. I plan to make it into a good horse ranch."

Lou looked at him skeptically, not imagining the woman who was his fiancée as a simple rancher's wife. While she had stayed at the hotel, Louise had seen quite a lot of the lady to her dismay. She had tried to avoid that proper lady as much as possible after that episode at the hotel stairs. Lou would have bet her life that she would be getting a new scolding from Mr. Grigson, to say the least. Surprisingly, the blonde lady had not reported her as Lou had supposed she would. So she hadn't risked another unfortunate meeting and reminding her of that other day and tried to keep clear of her. Yet, she had seen her from a safe distance as she went and came, putting on airs and walking with that haughty manner. Louise just couldn't really match the image of hers with the one of a rancher's wife, but she didn't voice her opinion, after all she couldn't care less. Instead she decided to say the first thing that came to her mind without much enthusiasm, "She's pretty."

"Thank you," Kid muttered with a pleasant smile.

His answer and reaction refueled her irritation and she retorted in a disagreeable tone, "Thank you? Gosh, I paid the compliment to her, not you. What d'you think she's of your creation or what?"

Kid stared at her agape, flabbergasted at her unkind words. "You really ooze charm through all your pores!" he exclaimed, his voice choking with anger. "My goodness me, can't you be civil for more than five minutes? I imagine that with your 'sweet' character friends will file at your door in hundreds."

"Shut up!" Lou ordered, turning a deaf ear to his sarcasm and as she rose to her feet, she added, "I'm going to sleep." Before walking to the bedroll she had laid a few feet away she turned round to Kid and lifting a threatening finger to him she said, "You stay away from me, all right? You haven't seen half of me yet and God help you if I just sense you closer than you should be."

"Oh please," Kid mocked his reply. "You're more than safe with me. Not even if you were the only woman on earth, would I want anything from you."

"Fine!" she barked, glaring at him.

"Fine!" he retorted in the same tone and then she swirled round and lay down on the hard ground.

Kid watched her and for a moment their eyes met over the fire. As if bitten, Louise turned her back to him and threw the blanket over herself with such force that she stiflingly covered her head completely and irritated at her own clumsiness she struggled with the blanket to get comfortable and uncover her head. Kid silently chuckled at her antics and shook his head for the umpteenth time tonight. She was definitely the oddest girl he had ever met; they had managed to have a polite talk for barely a few minutes, and then she had launched another of her stinging remarks again.

Kid wondered what was the matter with her; every time he had come across her, she seemed to have been in a foul mood. The Southerner did not know anybody so grumpy, only Tompkins, but even so the store-keeper had his good moments from time to time. Maybe the explanation to her temperament lay on what she had told him. Kid admitted that it must be terribly frustrating not to be able to help your dear ones in the way you'd like to. It was admirable how she was ready to give everything for the welfare of her family. She was a young girl who had to face an adult's responsibility at an early age. Pondering on these facts made Kid see her in a new light; he had no right to judge her or snap at her when he had no idea what it meant to be an orphan girl with young charges on top of it all. It was already difficult for a boy, and he supposed that it would be much worse for a lone woman. Yet, nobody was to blame for her situation, and a smile always made things seem a bit better.

With all those thoughts crossing his mind Kid decided to turn in for the night and with one last look at her figure sleeping peacefully a few feet away from him he lay down on his own bedroll. Not once did it dawn on him that he hadn't given any thought to Doritha and their increasingly difficult relationship.