CHAPTER 30
"Cara Jane Hickok," Teaspoon announced to Polly and the other boys who had not been able to be at the ranch for her birth. "My first grand baby!"
"That makes me a grandma!" Polly added, loving that she could share in this happiness, since she'd never had children of her own.
Buck leaned in close to Cara, close enough that she could feel his warm breath against her neck. "How's it feel to have a namesake?"
"It's amazing. Maybe the best, or second best, feeling I've ever had," she told him teasingly, sneaking a quick kiss before turning back to the conversation.
Teaspoon cleared his throat loudly, embarrassing the two of them before going on. "Cara for the brave woman without whom our family would never have been reunited and Jane for, well, um, a very special sail boat I suppose, and for the man that loved Lou enough to fight for her when we couldn't."
December 1862
Jimmy and Lou had finally settled into their new home with little CJ. The kitchen opened into the dining area which flowed into the large living room. CJ had her own playroom, filled with toys and books and games. Upstairs was the master bedroom containing their few possessions, books and clothes. They had a fireplace and sitting area and a water closet. Across the hall was a bedroom that would be perfect for the baby. For now, she slept in her crib with them.
Jimmy had finished decorating their home and filling it with the things they needed for living. He'd hoped this would be a project Lou and him could share but she'd been almost painfully bored with the process of selecting and arranging the furniture. She'd given him free reign and so it had become his own personal project. He had designed the house from the foundation up so it was fitting, he supposed.
He laid thick carpets over the hardwood floors to protect them and to insulate from cold and noise. The entire first floor was meant to be a gathering place for their family, all of them, and so he had purchased a large table for the dining room as well as a cabinet to hold their dishes and cutlery. In the sitting room, he had made the fireplace the focal point and arranged the sofa and chairs to be a place to engage in conversation. While the sitting area in their bedroom held overstuffed chairs made of soft chocolate leather which complimented the warm palette of the room, downstairs was brighter. Jimmy had painted their bedroom forest green and CJ's room a deep blue. Everything had been chosen to match, from the pictures on the walls to the bed linens. Downstairs he kept the colors light. He thought of the upstairs, filled with bedrooms, as their place of rest, but he wanted the downstairs to be lively. He kept the exposed wood of the beams and ceiling and whitewashed the kitchen and playroom. The parlor and dining room were wallpapered.
The wraparound porch had a swing and a simple table and chairs so they could enjoy a game or a meal outdoors in the good weather. Inside and to the right of the stairway was a mud room where they washed their clothes and kept their dirty work boots. To the left was a hall that led to the other rooms. Jimmy had installed a series of hooks where they could hang their coats and their belts. There was a small table to hold their keys and such.
It was meant to be their home and their sanctuary.
Their daughter was four months old now and she was smiling and cooing. She had a hell of a grip and Jimmy already had plans for teaching her to shoot and ride. He wanted her to be able to take care of herself, just like her mother.
Noah joked that Jimmy had become fully domesticated and he didn't try to argue. He was more than happy to be under Lou's thumb. And as CJ grew bigger day by day, he knew she would have him wrapped around her finger till the day he died. He left the marshal's office every evening with a smile on his face, knowing he was going home to see his girls.
He found her half undressed in the firelight, while CJ slept soundly in her crib. It flooded him with memories. It had been ages since they'd been together, not till before she'd had the baby.
"What are you doing?" she asked, and he realized that he'd been standing in the doorway, staring. She was naked now and she pulled the pins from her hair. It fell in waves well past her shoulders. She took a seat and began running her comb through it.
"As beautiful as you look when you get all dressed up darling, I gotta say, I prefer you like this."
She only smiled. Using his teeth, Jimmy loosened his gloves and tossed them to the floor. He let the memories run through his mind. The first time he was inside her. Taking her in his bunk. Her hot, damp skin under his palms. How wet she was. How deep he got. How loud she moaned. He'd yet to touch her but he was already rock hard with need.
Jimmy shrugged his coat to the floor and proceeded to strip till he was as naked as she. Did he want to take her on their bed, on the rug before the fire? He was debating the question internally when she slowly parted her legs. If she had commanded him to drop to his knees he would have, but there was no need. Her small movement was enough to have him kneeling before her. He pulled her to the edge of the chair, her back arched, her perfect ass lifted just barely off the soft leather. She watched keenly as he buried his tongue inside her.
Jimmy had only meant to arouse her, to make her wet so he could have her properly but she had cum so fast and then she had shoved him to the floor and taken his cock in her mouth. He tried to protest, knowing if she finished him this way it would be a little while before he could have her the way he'd intended. But it felt so goddamn good and she sucked him so enthusiastically, he couldn't stop himself from letting go into her mouth.
After, they sprawled on the carpet before the fire, bare skin against bare skin, limbs entangled. Through their open bedroom door, Lou could see into the empty bedroom. She imagined CJ growing bigger. Her crib traded in for a bed. Maybe they would save it for their next one. A boy, she thought and it made her smile. She ran her hand over her stomach that had been steadily flattening since she'd had the baby. How soon did she want to try for another? Certainly not till after CJ turned two, maybe three.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, his hand tracing the patterns the firelight threw across her skin.
"A family," she answered.
"Already?" He sounded surprised. "I think we need to do it a different way."
She swatted his chest playfully. "Not this second. Eventually," she emphasized the word.
"Oh." He nodded. "Best keep up with the practicing then." He kissed her, positioned himself at her entrance and thrust into her fully. He took his time, pulling almost entirely out of her and driving himself into her deliberately, over and over until she was begging him for harder, faster.
Sometime later they walked over to the bunkhouse for dinner with the others. Jimmy carried the baby as they walked, all bundled up against the approaching winter.
These dinners had grown especially difficult for Kid and he knew it was time. He'd be moving on after Christmas. He watched Lou pass her baby around the room, as everyone wanted their chance to hold her. He marveled at how easily Jimmy accepted the baby as his own, and how plain the bonds between the three of them were already, in such a short time. He wanted that for himself too.
Jimmy could sense that Kid had plans to leave again. He didn't like it, but he understood. And knowing that Kid would be riding off to build a life somewhere, rather than to die in the war, made it easier. They'd exchanged a look over dinner that night and he knew the decision had been made. So he offered to help Rachel with the dishes and asked Kid to see Lou back to their house with CJ. He could read the apprehension on her face. It was selfish of her to expect Kid to stay here and pretend he was fine with being a friend and an uncle when that was never what he'd wanted. It was a testament to how much he loved them both that he had stayed as long as he did.
"You're leaving?" she asked him as they made their way to the new farmhouse. She didn't need to ask, but thought giving him the opening might make it easier. He told her that he was. California had been on his mind and he thought it sounded like a good place to make a fresh start. "California's far."
"You've seen one ocean already. Now you'll have an excuse to see another." It was the most he'd referenced her time away since coming back. "You know I thought Virginia was my home once. Then I realized it was here with you and everyone. Now I think it's time I found a place where I can build something like what you and Jimmy got. Doesn't mean we're never gonna see each other again."
She hugged him as tightly as she could while clutching CJ to her chest with her other arm. "You always have a home here, Kid. And you'll always be my first love,"she added, hoping it wasn't crossing too many needed him to know their time together would always mean something to her.
She went to kiss him on the cheek but he went in for her lips. He pressed his mouth chastely to hers for a brief moment. "For old time's sake. I love you, Lou."
Christmas Day
Teaspoon held CJ against his belly while they sat around the tree, opening presents. Her little blue eyes followed the others as they moved around her, grabbing boxes and opening things. "Ba-ba-ba-ba," she said very seriously, looking at nobody in particular.
"You don't say," the old man replied just as seriously. "I think that she's saying grandpa."
Outside snow was falling. Inside they had a fire going, the smell of roast ham filling the kitchen, and pine in the living room where the tree sparkled. After dinner, when CJ was in her crib, they broke open a bottle of scotch Teaspoon had brought spent the night talking, drinking, and snacking on the desserts that Rachel had spent a week making. It was one of the best Christmases they'd shared as a family, but also one of the saddest, knowing Kid would be leaving the next day.
As was his habit, when trying to make good things last, Teaspoon suggested a game of cards. Hours later they were still at it.
"Who suggested we play for real money?" asked Noah.
"I believe that was my overconfident husband." Lou eyed Jimmy who was sitting across from her.
He eyed her back. "Since when does anybody listen to me, least of all my headstrong wife."
"I fold." Buck threw his cards down in front of him. "I think I'll turn it in before I lose any more money."
"I suppose I'll quit while I'm ahead," Rachel said, pushing her chair back from the table and pocketing her winnings. She'd been beating them soundly for the last several rounds.
"That's an understatement," Lou grumbled under her breath, causing Jimmy and the others to smirk. She still had that competitive streak that had made her a hellion when it came to betting.
With the game done and the hour teetering on the edge of being early rather than late, everyone made their way back to the separate places where they laid their heads.
"Ready for bed?" Lou asked Jimmy as the last of their guests left them.
He was still buzzing from the excitement of the day and not ready to turn in. "Actually, can I interest you in a game of strip poker?"
"Alright then." Lou smiled mischievously. "I'll deal first."
Several hands later Jimmy sat stark naked staring at a bare breasted Lou.
"That's cheatin'!" he accused her.
"What is?" she asked in her most innocent voice.
"You deliberately lost those first couple hands so I'd be distracted."
"Why, whatever do you mean?"
"You still got on your skirt, your stockings, your underwear, hell your boots for Christ's sake, but you decided you'd remove your shirt and corset straight away?"
"Is that against the rules?" She pouted. "Don't be a sore loser now Jimmy."
He smiled widely. "You're the one's gonna be sore darlin'." In a flash he was up and scooping her into his arms. She yelped and he shushed her, reminding her that there was a little one sleeping upstairs. "Now let's even things up here."
With Lou's hips pinned against the table, Jimmy quickly undid the buttons on the back of her skirt. Her split pantaloons gave him easy access to the prize between her legs and he jammed himself in forcefully. He'd been hard since practically the beginning of their little game and he could feel she was more than ready.
With one hand on the table to support his own weight and the other covering her mouth to muffle her cries he slowed his pace, pulling all the way out and slamming into her over and over. Lou fell over onto the table and Jimmy watched himself moving in and out of her, his glistening cock appearing and reappearing, bathed in her wetness.
Lou was treading the line of heaven and hell. She felt full of Jimmy then he would pull away and she'd be empty again. He did this to her over and over. She pushed her backside against him, trying to get him deeper. Sore loser and a cruel tease.
He chuckled. "Patience." His hands stroked her perfectly round ass. He gripped her hips and pulled her off so his head just rested at her entrance. "You have no idea how beautiful you look." He teased her with his tip. She whimpered. After a few shallow, taunting strokes he plunged into her. She met him thrust for thrust, her cries for harder, deeper, driving him wild.
The next morning they gathered at Polly's for a big breakfast, part of Kid's send off. He would ride for Denver first and keep traveling west until he reached the coast. Lou felt a surge of wanderlust as he talked about the places he might stop along the way. It was a big country and there was so much to see. Kid had always wanted to settle down and she had never been ready to put her roots down, and now here they were. She supposed life with Jimmy would be its own adventure and maybe one day, they'd get their chance to travel the world as well.
The End
(Okay so the whole new dime novel panned out to be a bit of a macguffin, but it did bring Kid home and I think it could be a seed to the sequel. Thanks for reading!)