Chapter 23: EPILOGUE
Monday, December 22nd... There were no passengers on the morning stage to Cheyenne. With the fresh team already in place, Mose had come back in for a last helping of coffee to sustain him until his next stop.
At the parlor table, Daisy was overseeing the unpacking of ornaments with frequent admonishments to handle with care.
"I am bein' extra, extra careful, Aunt Daisy," Mike grumbled, extracting an exquisite blown glass angel from its nest of wood shavings.
In the corner by the fireplace, Andy—home from school for winter break—was assisting Slim in positioning the perfectly shaped blue spruce to Daisy's satisfaction.
"Turn it a little to the left, dear... no... more to the right. It seems to be leaning... can you pull it away from the wall just a tad?"
The brothers rolled their eyes at each other but scooted the potted tree back to where they'd had it only a minute ago.
With his last slurp, Mose set his empty mug on the table and snapped his fingers.
"Dadblame it... almost fergot... got a tellygram for ya, Slim." He fished out the crumpled document from his coat pocket and handed it over.
All activity ceased and all eyes fastened on the flimsy paper as Slim held it delicately between thumb and forefinger. Unexpected telegrams were almost always harbingers of bad news. And he sure didn't need that right behind that unfortunate communiqué from Jess he'd received almost two weeks ago.
"Want me to read it, Slim?" Andy inquired gently. Slim had decided not to tell him, before he left St. Louis, that Jess wasn't going to be there when he arrived. Andy hadn't taken it well, either... not that it was Slim's fault.
Slim sighed. "No. I'll do it." He slit the seal with a thumbnail... slowly, slowly unfolding the thing, not in a hurry to scan its contents.
As the others anxiously watched, his frown faded as he read and an ear-to-ear grin wreathed his face.
"It's from Jess... he's coming home."
FINITO
As always... thanks to and blessings upon Beta Extraordinaire Sally Bahnsen... and kudos to Beta Apprentice Raian Kaiser.
I own nothing, of course... other than the products of my imagination.