HONORABLE INTENTIONS
CHAPTER EIGHT
When Mike and me went inside we were greeted by the smell of Daisy's chicken and dumplings all warmed up and makin' my mouth water with just the thought of getting' some food inside a me.
"Mike, wash your hands please before you sit at the table," Daisy said before adding, "Jess, will you wake Slim? I know he doesn't like to say so, but his shoulder has really been bothering him." Daisy wasn't really payin' too much attention to me while she was talkin'. Had her hands full pullin' a tray of biscuits outta the oven.
"Daisy, I need to talk to you first. 'Bout what happened out on the road." She was all business, concentratin' on them fresh baked biscuits. I knew she was only half listenin' to me, but I needed to know 'bout that fella.
"Daisy. This is important." I took a few steps towards her and she finally turned around to face me, smilin' and brushing a stand of loose hair from her face. But as she got a closer look at me, the smile fell from her face and I knew I must a looked a sight with that graze on my face and the knee outta my pants and blood caked around the gaping hole.
"Jess! You're hurt!" She came rushing towards me, wipin' her hands on her apron and a deep frown creasing her brow. "Oh dear, what happened? Why didn't you say something? Here, come and sit down, let me take a look at you."
"No, it ain't that bad." And it wasn't. Real annoying and mighty inconvenient the way my knee was stiffenin' up, but it could wait.
"But you're bleeding." She looked me up and down, tsking and fussing, her hands twitchin' with a need to be tending me. I was feeling mighty uncomfortable under her scrutiny and I eased my swollen right hand behind my back. I wasn't too worried about her wantin' to fix them grazes, none of them was serious, just plain annoying, but I knew if she cottoned on to my busted paw, there'd be no getting her and Mike into town.
"Daisy, I need you to tell me exactly what happened… just before Molly bolted on you. Did you see anything that might a spooked her? Was there anyone around…? 'Fore that fella came along?" She was standing close to me, frownin' and starin' at the graze on my face. "Daisy?"
"No, Jess, I didn't see anything or anyone. I honestly don't know what startled the horse. One minute everything was fine and the next we were out of control." Daisy was eyeing me suspiciously, "Why? Is something wrong?"
"Maybe." I said, wonderin' how much I oughta be telling her. "What about that man? The one who helped you? Did he say who he was?"
"You know, I was so relieved to see him that I forgot to ask his name and he didn't tell me. I was just grateful he came along when he did. Did I do something wrong?"
"No… no Daisy. It's just… Molly had a cut on her rear… I was wonderin' how it got there is all. That fella… he didn't say what he was doing up this way? Or where he was from?"
"Oh yes, come to think of it he did. Said he was up here visiting the old Walker place. Said Mrs. Walker, God rest her soul, was his great Aunt and he was tidying up some of her affairs. I gather he was on his way over there." She paused, frowning and looking hard at me. "Are you sure there's nothing bothering you, Jess?"
I ain't one to get fanciful notions, but for a long time I been getting by on my gut feelin'. Mostly in the past it's been the only thing what's got me out of tight scrapes when there seemed no way to win . I learned to trust it and right now my gut feelin' was telling me I wasn't imagin' things. That look I seen in Tip's eyes out front of Mort's…like he knew somethin' more'n he was letting on was startin' to make sense to me. That stranger lurkin' around… he was part of it, I wasn't sure just how, but I planned to find out. One way or another. I figured there was no use frightenin' Daisy… leastways not tonight. The sun was goin' down and it wasn't safe to be travelling in the dark. Not for her and not for Mike, not for the horses and not for me, not the way I was feelin'. And 'sides, it wasn't like I could leave Slim on his own, all banged up and half doped like he was.
"No, nothin's wrong." I forced a smile. "Just wanted to make sure you were all right."
"I am, but what about you, what happened? Look at your poor face and your knee. I'm afraid you're going to have to strip down to your underwear and let me clean that cut. Did you get in a fight, dear?"
"No I ain't been fightin'. Why does everyone around here think that's what I been doin?" I snapped.
"I can't imagine why." Daisy smirked at me.
"Well I ain't been. Got throwed from my horse. Guess it's a day for horses getting spooked." I snarled.
"I suppose it is. Now go and get out of those pants and I'll bandage your knee. And while you're at it, wake Slim and see if he's feeling up to coming to the table for supper."
I stood there staring at her. Ain't no way I was droppin' my britches for nobody, well 'ceptin' maybe Lottie in town, but that don't count. What pride used to be mine, 'fore today, was hangin' by a thread and I weren't about ready to let it go, not for Daisy, not for… She musta got an inkling to what was on my mind, cause she was lookin' at me like I was a kid who'd just been told there weren't no Santa Claus.
"Oh, Jess, don't look so worried, I was a nurse in the war, you haven't got anything I haven't seen before, now you go and get undressed and I'll get some water to clean you up."
I wasn't real sure what she was meaning by 'I ain't got nothin' she ain't seen before, but it wasn't a place I wanted go. "It's okay, Daisy. I can wash it out later."
"Jess."
She was usin' that school marm tone she gets in her voice now and then and it didn't seem right for a growed man to feel like he oughtta be obeyin' her just 'cause she says so. How was I gonna set a good example for Mike if I couldn't stand up to Daisy myself?
"Daisy, I…"
"Now off you go. Dinner is going to be late if you don't get a move on. You don't want infection to set in do you? The loss of a little modesty is a small price to pay to keep your leg."
Keep my leg? I looked at her with my jaw hangin' open. She and the doc must've been in some kind of ca-hoots on how to scare a fella into doin' what they want.
"Sure." I said. No point arguin' with her, but I wasn't ready to give in neither.
I limped my way to the bedroom listening to Daisy givin' out orders to Mike to set the table.
I found Slim still sound asleep on his bunk, hugging his left arm as he snoozed.
"Hey, Pard." I shook his foot. "Rise and shine, Daisy's putting supper on the table."
When he opened his eyes he was wearing a look like he didn't know if it was night or day and I got to wonderin't if he remembered anything we talked about earlier. Figured I'd soon be setting him straight if he didn't. I weren't of a mind to listen to him argue; Mike and Daisy were headin' to town first thing in the mornin' and I wouldn't be takin' no for an answer. 'Sides, once I explained about what happened out on the road, I reckoned he'd be agreein' with me.
"Slim. Supper's on the table, come on, Pard, we're all starvin' and waiting for you."
"Jess?"
He looked around the room, it was mostly shadows now and I reached for a match, lit it and got one of the lamps burning.
"Must a dozed off again. Did the stage get away okay?"
"Yeah, got away okay. You gettin' up or you just gonna lie there?"
He scrubbed at his face with one hand and then pushed himself up. There was no mistakin' that grimace he did as he twisted his legs so he was sitting on the side of the bunk. I held out my hand to help him to his feet. "Easy, there, Pard," I said, steadying him while he got his bearings.
"How long have I been sleeping?" He glanced out the window, taking in the fact the sun was about all the way set.
"Most of the day, I reckon. Daisy sure doped you up good." I waited a few seconds while he came all the way awake. "Speakin' of Daisy, we gotta talk, Pard, and I'd like it a whole lot better if she wasn't listenin'. Somethin' happened…while she was on the road back home. You remember what we talked about earlier?"
"You were sayin' something about Deevy. Making threats."
"Yeah." I filled him in on the details again and then what happened out on the road with Daisy. He seemed more of a mind to listen this time. Not so quick to make out I was imaginin' things. "So, the way I see it, we send Daisy and Mike into town on the morning stage."
"I think you're right, Jess."
"I'm mighty pleased to hear you say that. I thought I was gonna have a fight on my hands."
"Why would you think that?"
"You weren't exactly agreein' with me early on."
Slim looked kind of sheepish. "Uh… yeah. I wasn't thinking too clear about a lot of things then."
I was real relieved to have Slim on my side and suggested we talk to Daisy after supper, when Mike was in bed. Didn't see a need for having the boy fret none overnight.
"I don't think Daisy'll go quiet." Slim said, shakin his head. "She's not one to run when there's trouble."
"Yeah, I know it." Then something occurred to me. "You know, Slim. If she thought you were hurtin' bad enough and needed to see the Doc, I reckon she'd be more'n willin' to take you into town."
"Oh, no. I'm not leaving you here on your own. Besides, the way you look, you're the one Daisy'll be wanting to take to the doc. You sure are a mess, Pard."
"No argument there. I ain't feelin' real pretty, neither." I said, bendin' my knee some to ease the stiffness. "I reckon Daisy's just bustin' to get her hands on me to do some doctorin' herself."
"Well, you can't blame her." He swept a hand through his hair then looked at me real hard. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah. I'm all right. And I'll be a darn sight better when I get some food in me. Go on Slim, or Daisy's gonna have a fit if we're both late to the table."
"Aren't you coming?" He asked.
"Sure, I am. Just gotta get cleaned up, first."
I scrubbed up best I could, washing a full day's grime from my face and feeling the two day growth rough and bristly along my jaw. Guess it was goin' to have to stay there, leastways till I could get my fingers to bend some. I admired the shiner growin' behind that graze on my cheek, then I tended it some, cleaning dirt and blood away with a wet cloth. My knee was gonna have to wait. The way my hand was feelin' I couldn't see a way to get them buttons undone easily on my pants or my boots pulled off my feet anyway. I already learned my lesson good in the barn when I tried to get my fingers to work. Reckon I had a real good reason for not strippin'down. Only problem was, I couldn't tell it to Daisy.
Not long after Daisy'd come to live with us, she made a rule 'bout leavin' our gun belts on the hook by the door at dinner time. She didn't like the example we were settin' for Mike, sitting down to eat with our irons attached. I made three attempts at undoing the buckle before I finally released the catch and let the belt fall away from my hips. Making my way to the main room I hung my belt by the door before joining the others at the table for dinner, keeping my busted hand hid good and proper.
"There you are." Daisy said, "I was beginning to think you weren't hungry."
"Jess? Not hungry? That'll be the day." Slim said, helping himself to a plateful of chicken.
"I knew what we was having." I said, "A herd a wild stallions couldn't keep me away."
The chatter around the dinner table was mostly Mike wantin' to hear more about the Morgans shootin' at me. But Daisy quickly put a stop to it changin' the subject to something more fitting for a young boy to hear.
"You know, I been thinkin'," I said, when the talk died down. "Mort said somethin' today about there being some reward money for the Morgan brothers." I leaned forward slightly, fixing the position of my hand under the table, trying to ease the ache. "I been thinkin' that Griff's wife, she's gonna be seein' it hard. Maybe she could do with some of that money. It seems to me maybe I can make some good come out of what happened today."
"Oh Jess, that's a lovely idea." Daisy smiled at me.
"Pard?" Slim was looking at me kind of worried. "Something wrong?"
I pulled myself up straighter at the table. "No. Why?"
"You look like you're hurting." Slim said, frowning. "You're not hurt worse than just that scrape on your knee are you?"
Mike butted in 'fore I could answer… "It ain't like the ground's all soft like a pillow, Slim. 'Course he's hurtin'"
Slim raised an eyebrow, glanced at me then addressed Mike. "A pillow, eh? Now where would you hear somethin' like that?"
Mike looked down at his plate, pushed a piece of chicken around with his fork before raising his head to look Slim square in the eye.
"Well it ain't!"
"No, Tiger, I guess it's not." Slim said, failing to control a smirk.
I couldn't help a quiet chuckle at what Mike was sayin'. Seems the boy does pay attention when ya ain't expectin' it.
"You know, Slim's right, Daisy. I am hurtin'… my belly's achin' real bad and I reckon it's gonna take a piece of that pie you got in the kitchen to fix it."
"I'll get you some," Daisy said gathering up dishes as she stood. I went to get up, reaching for my plate and then Slim's.
"I can do it." Mike was out of his seat and taking my plate from me. "I'll help Aunt Daisy."
"Why thank you, Mike." Daisy looked delighted with Mike's offer.
"Yeah, thanks, Tiger." I knew what Mike was doing and was mighty grateful to him. I leaned back in my chair, and covered my right hand with my left.
"Did Mort say how much the reward was?" Slim asked. He looked to me like he was trying to find a comfortable way to sit and the way he was holding his left arm; I knew he was still hurting.
"No, said he'd put the word out about the Morgans and let me know. Thought I might ride into town tomorrow and see if he's heard anything." Slim was breakin' out in a sweat and he sure looked kind of pale. "How's the shoulder?" I asked him.
"Been better, that's for sure." He moved around in his chair, rubbing at the sling.
"Maybe you shoulda stayed in bed," I said. Slim threw me a look like maybe I should be mindin' my own business.
"Here you are, Jess." Daisy put a plate in front of me with a huge piece of pie and good sized hunk of cheese on it and another in front of Slim.
"Thanks, Daisy. I've sure been lookin' forward to this." I picked up the spoon and shoveled a piece of pie into my mouth.
Continued in chapter nine