Chapter 2
The first day of work went very well, Joy was really satisfied and Thomkins seemed happy too.
"You did well today, you know how to deal with customers. If you continue like this, I will never let you go"
"Thank you very much Mr. Thomkins, see you tomorrow"
Joy went home, took a nice hot bath to release tension, cooked a hearty dinner and then went to bed to read one of her books.
The following days were very quiet and ordinary: she was settling in well and she had also managed to make some improvements to the house: she had changed the curtains, she had put up some doilies embroidered by her (her maternal grandmother had taught her to sew and embroider, things a good wife must know how to do, she always said) and had bought shelves to furnish the library. To mount them, however, she needed someone's help and one day, during her lunch break, she decided to try asking the marshal. He was the only man she knew besides Thompkins and she didn't want to take advantage of her employer.
"Good morning marshal"
"Oh, good morning Miss Joy, can I help you? How's your stay at Rock Creek? I know you met Rachel"
"Yes, we met at the general store. I promised her I'd go see her but I haven't had the chance yet, I'm unforgivable. I feel good in the city, but I need your help"
"Sure, what can I do for you? And about Rachel, we could solve it like this: come to dinner with us tonight, so you'll meet my boys too "
"Oh but I don't want to disturb too much marshal"
"No trouble, Rachel'll be glad and she's a great cook"
"Okay then, thank you. I came here to ask you for help: I'm fixing up my house and I need to assemble shelves to build a bookcase, but I can't do it on my own. Could you give me a hand? I dare not disturb Mr Thompkins who has already been kind enough to offer me a job."
"Of course, indeed, I will do more, I will send you some of my boys who are younger and stronger than me. We are waiting for you tonight at 18.30, so we can talk about it"
"Thank you, you're really kind"
"But you think, for so little"
"See you tonight then, good job"
"To you. Good day"
Joy was very excited, she was probably about to make some friends in the city and she had also solved the problem of her new bookshelf.
After work, she went home to wash, perfumed herself, tied her hair in a half-up, half-down ponytail and wore a white blouse with lace inserts and a dark green skirt. Always her lucky jewels around her neck and ears. She also decided to take the opportunity to entrust the letters for Italy to the boys so that they could be sent once and for all.
When she arrived at the station, she found a young black man near the corral.
"Excuse me, is this the Pony Express station?"
The boy turned around and replied: "Yes, this is it. You must be Joy, welcome, I'm Noah Dixon, one of the couriers"
"Hi, yes it's Joy, nice to meet you Noah" and the two shook hands.
"Come, we've been waiting for you. Rachel and Teaspoon told us about you. You work at Thompkins then?", Noah asked her as they walked towards the bunkhouse.
"Yes, for now I'm only on trial, but I hope he's happy with me and confirm me next week"
"He'd be crazy not to, Rachel says you're very good"
Joy thanked and blushed.
"Rachel, our guest has arrived", Noah announced as he entered.
Rachel dried her hands and walked over to welcoming her with a hug.
"Welcome! I was very happy when Teaspoon told me you were coming to dinner"
"Thanks for inviting me, I don't want to disturb you though. I brought you some cookies"
"Thank you, but you shouldn't have bothered yourself, for us it's a pleasure to have you here"
Joy thanked shyly and in the meantime the door opened and some boys entered almost running: Noah had gone to warn that the mysterious guest had arrived"
"Joy, meet my boys: Noah you've met him before, then Jimmy, Cody, Kid and Lou. Buck I told you about is out on his run, you'll meet him at the dance tomorrow, and this young fellow is Jesse."
"Nice to meet you guys and thank you too for the invitation"
The boys greeted her and shook her hand.
"So how can you stand that grumpy Thompkins?", Jesse asked quickly to break the ice as they sat down to wait for Teaspoon.
"Jesse! You always have to make yourself known!", Rachel scolded.
Joy smiled and replied: "Well, he's actually very nice to me, I see him a bit like a father"
"Good for you", Cody interjected, "he's not always so nice to us."
"Maybe because every time we go to his shop we do something for him?", Jimmy commented and everyone laughed and told Joy some episodes of their relationship with Thompkins.
Joy was starting to feel at ease and when Teaspoon arrived Rachel started serving dinner.
The boys asked Joy to tell them something about her life in Italy and she just told what she had already told Teaspoon and Rachel.
The evening was enlivened by the chatter of the boys who told her some anecdotes about their work and their life together and Joy had a great time.
Suddenly, Teaspoon brought the subject to Joy's house, he hadn't forgotten the request she had made of him.
"Do you know that Joy plans to create a room entirely dedicated to books? I volunteered to help her assemble the shelves", Teaspoon said to see the reaction of his boys and not to address the matter directly.
"But like Teaspoon, you have bold young men by your side and you offered yourself? So you offend us!", in fact Cody said with a sly attitude.
"Well yeah, you're right indeed Cody, could you guys help her, what do you think?" Teaspoon retorted.
"I don't want to be such a bother, but I could really use some help", Joy clarified.
"Don't worry, Cody would do anything to show off, I'm sure he'll want to do all the work", Jesse laughed and the others joined him in teasing their friend.
"Laugh, laugh, I know my stuff. So, when can I come and assemble the shelves?"
"Oh, anytime, I can even leave the keys for you while I'm in the shop if you want", Joy replied.
"Well, I'd rather come when you're home…"
"And I'll drive you Cody", Noah said seeing Joy's embarrassment.
Cody bit the bullet and they agreed for the following Monday.
When it got a little late, Joy took her leave: "Thank you very much for the wonderful evening and also for the help you have offered me. Now it's getting late and I really have to go. See you tomorrow at the dance"
"Are you going with someone?" Cody asked.
"Not really, I'll go alone but I'm sure that once there, I'll find some company. I really have to go now", Joy said quickly before Cody offered to be her partner. Not that she didn't appreciate the company of the boys, on the contrary, she was happy with the new friendship that was being born, but she wanted it to remain a friendship...
Teaspoon understood her intentions and before anyone offered to escort her home, he proposed: "I have to go back to the prison too, I'll escort you home"
"Thank you Mr. Hunter, you are really kind"
"But enough of this Mr. Hunter, by now we have entered into confidence and if you agree too, I would skip the formalities from now on"
"Very willingly", she replied and hung on the arm that the man had offered her.
"One last thing, can I leave you some letters to send to Italy?", she asked before leaving.
"Sure, Kid will bring them with him on Monday", Teaspoon replied and Joy thanked him again.
Returning home, she renewed her thanks to Teaspoon and went to sleep. She was excited for the evening dance and also eager to get to know the latest courier too, that Buck Cross Rachel had mentioned to her, to learn something of his Kiowa culture. Immersed in these thoughts, she fell asleep easily.
Next day she went to the shop in the morning and in the afternoon Mr Thompkins closed the shop early so that he too could get ready for the ball.
Joy decided to wear a peach-colored dress, with a neckline that fell to the shoulders, trimmed with an ivory lace that embellished the dress. She left her blond hair almost all loose and gathered it only near the temples, leaving the whole face free. She wore her ever-present set that her father had given her: it had now become her lucky charm.
When she arrived, Rachel, Teaspoon and the boys were already in the room. As soon as she saw her, Rachel went to call her: "There you are! Come, I'll introduce you to Buck!"
Joy followed without having time to say a word.
She reached a boy from behind, tall, solidly built, with long black hair gathered in a ponytail, who was wearing a pair of buckskin trousers, a light-colored shirt and a black leather jacket.
Rachel grabbed his arm to get his attention and said: "Buck, this is Joy, the girl I told you about and whom the others met last night."
The boy turned and Joy gasped. She met two deep dark eyes with magnetic power, from which she struggled to detach herself.
She was brought back to reality by his soft voice greeting her as he held out his hand: "Hi, I'm Buck Cross, nice to meet you."
"My pleasure", Joy answered mechanically, trying to collect herself.
"So, are you the girl Cody couldn't stop talking about this morning"
Joy blushed and Rachel intervened to get her out of the way: "Never mind, Cody always shows off but he's a nice boy. Buck, Joy is a big fan of American history and native culture, maybe you can tell her something about your traditions"
Upon hearing these words, Buck frowned and stiffened and the thing did not escape Joy who tried to intervene: "Oh actually I have no pretensions, I just follow the passion that my father passed on to me" and instinctively touched her necklace.
Buck noticed her and frowned even more: "I guess what you might have read about my people", he said contemptuously.
Joy felt the need to defend herself: "You're wrong, I looked for books that tell your true habits, I don't like texts that tell things only from a Western perspective".
Buck raised an eyebrow but didn't argue. A little tension had built up between the two, but luckily the boys had seen her talking to Buck and had come over to say hello.
"Don't blame him if he's a little grumpy, he's always like that with people he doesn't know", Jimmy said, slapping Buck on the shoulder, perhaps sensing the tension that had arisen between the two.
Jimmy invited her to dance to avoid any problems and Joy gladly accepted: she wanted to get out of that heavy and somewhat embarrassing situation. She expected a different reaction from that boy seeing how Rachel had told her about him.
The latter had moved away from the two boys for a moment because she had been called by a lady, but she had noticed the tension in Buck's gestures and had noticed Jimmy's intervention.
Getting rid of the lady who had called her, she went to Buck and asked: "What's the matter?"
"What do you mean?", he replied.
"I noticed some tension with Joy, is something wrong?"
"No, no, it's just that I'm always very wary of those who openly side with my people, I don't know, they seem like fake people to me"
"I assure you that Joy is not like that"
"I don't think you've known her that long"
"No, but I've certainly dealt with it more than you and then my instinct is never wrong. Don't be hard on her, on the other hand she has just arrived and she's a bit lost"
"It will be as you say, but for now I prefer not to give her too much confidence"
"As you wish Buck" and sighed. She just couldn't understand why he always had to be so defensive. Luckily the other boys had taken a liking to the girl and would have helped her to integrate.
Joy was busy dancing with the boys most of the evening but she had noticed that Lou didn't dance with anyone. She had scrutinized him more closely and she understood..
She approached and tried to start a conversation: "Nice party right?"
Lou nodded, feeling embarrassed. Joy noticed and decided to be frank: "It must be hard for you"
Lou looked at her with wide eyes and a little scared: "What do you mean?"
"To stand here on the sidelines and see all the girls dancing. It must be hard not being able to do it too"
"Who told you I'm a girl?"
"You confirmed it to me now. I admire you, you know, I don't know if I'd be capable of it"
"Please don't say anything, I'll lose my job"
"Don't worry, you can trust me"
Lou smiled at her and Joy squeezed her arm.
"So, you danced with all the couriers I see!"
"Well, not everyone, Buck seems to hate me…"
"No, he's just studying you, he's distrustful of new people, especially if they're interested in his culture, it's as if he wants to defend himself and builds a wall, he also behaved like this with us at the beginning. Give him time. He's a very sweet person."
Joy nodded. Rachel called to introduce her to some people, and when she cleared up, she went to get a glass of water at the buffet table. She was joined by a young man who asked her to dance, but Joy really didn't feel like it. The boy insisted and Joy politely declined the invitation again.
"Why don't you want to dance with me? You danced with all the couriers and now my turn has come"
Joy drew back scared and when the young man took her by the arm, she felt a shiver of fear but heard a voice behind her: "She told you she doesn't want to dance with you, what's the matter, can't you hear well? "
"How dare you talk to me like that, you dirty half-blood?"
Joy had recognized the voice of Buck who in the meantime had intervened between her and the young man.
"I don't want to argue with you, I'm just asking you to leave her alone"
"And why, to be able to lay your filthy hands on her?"
Buck was about to react but Joy held him back: "Buck, no, it's not worth it, let's go" and pulled him by the arm.
Buck scowled at the young man but let himself be dragged away from her. The people around them had stopped dancing and Teaspoon had joined the man: "If I see you bothering the girl or my courier again, you will regret being born, do we understand each other?"
The young man spat on the ground and walked away.
"Nothing happened gentlemen, it seems that this young man has forgotten his manners, come back and enjoy yourself".
People went back to dancing and eating as if nothing had happened: it was not the first time that a scene similar to a dance had been seen.
Joy walked Buck out of the lounge and said: "Thanks for sticking up for me, I'm sorry about what happened."
"I can't stand a woman being abused"
"It does you credit and makes me realize that what Rachel and Lou told me about you is true, even though you are a bit standoffish"
"I'm not standoffish, I don't like people who meddle in my business"
"I don't think I did, thanks again anyway, I won't bother you again" and walked away.
Buck had an instinct to stop her but held back. Joy was sorry for the way he treated her, but she really appreciated his gesture. She told herself that one way or another it would create a breach in the wall he was building, it was so worth it.
She went to say goodbye to the boys, Teaspoon, Rachel and Lou and headed home; she took advantage of some people who were heading towards her so as not to be too alone. She didn't want to disturb her new friends any longer.
She changed and went to sleep. All night she dreamed of Buck's face: it had taken her breath away.