CHAPTER 28
"I can't believe you're reading that thing."
"Don't you think we should know what he says about us?"
Jimmy released a frustrated sigh. "Alright, tell me."
Marcus's latest novel painted them as true western heroes, from their start as young Pony Express riders when Jimmy secretly spied the beautiful Louise coming out of the swimming hole, to his days and nights of secretly pining for her, until she risked it all to help him take down a group of outlaws, an adventure ending with a declaration of love. To be worthy of her, he gives up his gunfighting and takes up the badge. Their story ends with a wedding, and consummation.
While Lou was outraged, it could have been worse. He made her seem like a formidable woman, and at least he waited till after the wedding to have them jump into bed together. Her face grew red again as she thought of how he described her with her clothes off. "You're right." She threw down the book. "We should kill him."
"At least Tompkins said he wouldn't put them in his store."
"'Cause he knows better." Lou stated. She may have made some not so veiled threats to the shopkeeper. More quietly she said to Jimmy, "Do you really think people might come after us? For this?"
He pulled her into his lap, softly pressing his lips to hers. "No one has come for Wild Bill in a long time and there's nothing in this book about me killing anybody or outdoing any real hired guns, so maybe not. I'm more worried they'll come to get a look at you."
"They'll get a look at the end of my gun." Lou said confidently.
Weeks went by and no one came for them. Meanwhile, Lou worked on getting the cabin ready for the baby. It wasn't much, a kitchen, sitting area, and a bedroom. But the bedroom had been made purposely large, with room for a crib and a rocking chair. Jimmy had helped her arrange the furniture and Louise took her time figuring out where to put all the items she had gathered for the baby, diapers and clothes and things. She would often sit in the rocking chair and imagine how her life would be when the baby came. Her belly grew bigger and bigger and it became harder for her to move around.
Jimmy refused to let his guard down. Lou kept a gun on her at all times and Buck and Ike kept an eye on her, checking in regularly when Jimmy wasn't home. Cara or Rachel were always nearby. The company helped keep her from going stir-crazy. In the evenings, Rachel would serve dinner in the bunkhouse for those of them on the ranch, like old times.
An overwhelming wave of nostalgia swept over Kid as the station came into view. He wasn't sure what he expected to find. Was it even possible Lou had returned after all this time? He'd been sure she was dead. Maybe Marcus had made it all up. He knew enough to know a lot of it was a lie. Jimmy had not been the first to discover her secret and certainly not by spying her in the swimming hole. Had he pined for her the whole time? Maybe. Who could blame him, really? But the story erased Kid from Lou's life, erased all of them to focus on the romance at the heart of the story.
It had been hard for him to read, harder to put down. He was ashamed to say he read the author's descriptions of Lou repeatedly. Not just the pages about her slipping out of her clothes and into bed with Jimmy. It was the depiction of her strength and courage and unyielding loyalty. When he read those parts, the story felt real. Mostly, it made him regretful, for all the ways he had unintentionally stifled those things in her. For how in his jealousy, he'd wanted to hide that part of her and keep it for only himself.
Katy spurred herself faster without any prodding, happy to be home. It was quiet as they entered the yard. The sun was low and all he heard were the tree frogs and birds. It looked different. It was turning into a proper horse ranch and there was a new building on the property. In the dusky light, he could see it was a small cabin. Light shone from the bunkhouse and so that's where he went, securing Katy to the post. He wasn't sure what he would find. But if not Lou, at least he would find the family he'd left behind.
Jimmy heard movement outside. Slowly, quietly he stood up and pulled his gun. He motioned for Noah to stand next to the door and for the others to move to the back of the room, Ike and Buck shielding the women. All eyes stared at the unopened door, half expecting it to get kicked in. Lou found Rachel's hand and gripped it hard. She'd never been so scared of a potential threat and she realized it wasn't for her but for the life within that she stood in the corner, allowing the others to protect her.
The door swung open and the first thing Kid saw was the barrel of Jimmy's gun.
"It's me, Jimmy." Hands up, he stepped back.
Jimmy blinked, not quite understanding what he saw. Then his arm dropped to his side and a grin spread across his face. He turned to find Lou, to know that she saw him too. The others were gasping and moving to hug their friend. Lou stayed stock still and stared at the image of Kid, standing in the doorway of the bunkhouse. He stared back and then she did something that she still to this day will never admit, she fainted.
She was only out for a short minute, but it was enough to have Jimmy half frantic. Kid saw her condition, round with child, and nearly fainted himself. The room was suddenly filled with chaos. Jimmy rushing to Lou's side and cradling her in his arms, Rachel and some other woman telling him not to worry, the others crowding Kid, asking him where he'd been all this time. His head spun, just one question running through his mind over and over, the only question that mattered.
"Where was she?"
"It's a long story," Buck told him, grasping his arm and helping steady the shakes Kid didn't even realize he had. Lou started to come to and they helped her to her feet. She leaned hard on Jimmy.
"Kid?"
"Lou." His voice broke when he talked. A look passed between him and Jimmy and in it Kid saw permission granted. He closed the distance between them and threw his arms around her. He didn't let go for a long time.
They did not talk about where Lou had been, some unspoken agreement amongst them forbidding it. When he tried to press Lou, she refused to talk about it, brushing him off and leading the conversation in another direction. She told him only about getting home in the spring and that they'd had a double wedding with Teaspoon and Polly. That they were expecting a baby. The little cabin was theirs for now. He saw the matching bands on their fingers and it cut him deep. Saw the way Jimmy held her protectively and how she leaned close to him for comfort. The hollow feeling in his chest stretched painfully.
Kid told them of how he'd ridden to Louisville with every intention of joining the Confederates. He told them of the family he'd met, of their crossing to Indiana, and how he realized he'd made a terrible mistake. He met Noah's eyes across the table, silently requesting his forgiveness. He was rewarding with a simple, "Better late than never, Kid."
After much talk, Jimmy walked Lou to their cabin and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and some glasses before returning to the bunkhouse, and to Kid. It was just the remaining riders: Buck, Ike, Noah, and the two of them. Kid's patience had worn thin. "What the hell happened?"
It was a difficult night. Jimmy didn't want to retell the story, but knew it had to be done. If telling it was a challenge, believing it was even more so. Kid argued. There was no way what Buck and Jimmy told him could have happened. Maybe they were all drugged or hypnotized or whatever, but he refused to accept that some fairy tale monster was to blame. He couldn't accept that such a thing had held Lou for months.
"I want to hear it from Lou."
"No." Jimmy's answer was hard and final.
"You can ask Rachel and Teaspoon. Even Cara, she could tell you more than any of us," Buck offered. "They'll all tell you the same thing. But Lou doesn't want to relive it, and we're not gonna make her."
Kid had never been one for whiskey, but he took a long pull from his glass as he thought. It seemed to him, everyone had gone insane in his absence. "And Jack Winchester?" He looked pointedly at Jimmy. "He's the father?" There was something in his tone, like maybe he took some pleasure in that. Like Jimmy didn't get to have everything he coveted.
"She don't wanna talk about that neither," he said gruffly through clenched teeth. Kid saw the flexed tendons in Jimmy's neck and knew he could easily goad him into a fight. He thought about it. He wanted something to punch.
The others noticed too. Jimmy sat still, waiting for Kid to make up his mind, ready. Everyone knew he would wait for the other man to throw the first punch. Kid would. When it came to Lou, he always did.
Ike thumped on the table, demanding the room's attention. *Are you really both this stupid?* he signed at Jimmy and Kid. *Have you thought about how your fighting makes Lou feel? Do you think at all?*
"He's right. We ain't gonna let you pummel each other." Noah folded his arms across his chest and leveled his gaze at the two men. "That shit needs to stop. I don't care if you are the marshal," he directed at Jimmy. "We'll haul you both to jail and lock you up till you can promise not to do anything that's gonna upset her. She's a month away from giving birth for Christ's sake."
The fury that had been puffing up both men deflated. They were stupid. Kid spoke first. "I don't want to hurt Lou anymore than I already have. I'm sorry, Jimmy."
"I'm sorry too, Kid."
With a slight smile, Kid added, "and it ain't even Sunday."
The next morning, Jimmy left for town, promising to send Teaspoon over right away. Lou and Kid sat on the porch of the little cabin and talked. He admitted that he still couldn't believe everything he'd heard, but promised not to push her for more. Instead they talked about the past, remembering how things had been before, and about the changes to the station and the town. Kid brought up Marcus's new dime novel, and he knew she had read it when she blushed deep crimson.
"It's flattering, in a way. He got parts of you right."
"Kid!"
"Your character I mean," he said quickly. She accepted the compliment and they dropped the subject of the book and Wild Bill.
Not long after that, Teaspoon showed up and practically stormed Kid, pulling him into a crushing bear hug. "I'm proud of you, son. You made the right decision."
Sensing the two of them needed time to catch up, Louise excused herself to go help Rachel with lunch. She struggled to get up from her seat on her own and finally acquiesced to letting the two men help her. They watched her walk slowly over to the main house.
"That girl won't let nothing stop her," Teaspoon commented.
"Never did," Kid agreed. He turned to the gray haired old man. He looked a little wider in the waist since he'd seen him last. "Tell me Teaspoon, what really happened? Those things Jimmy said… I can't…"
It was a bit early for whiskey so Teaspoon brewed some strong coffee. "Take a seat, Kid." The old man did the same, feeling suddenly very weary. When they made it back to Sweetwater, Louise made it crystal clear that what happened, happened. She wanted to move forward, and so they had agreed that her disappearance, Grayson, Jack, and everything that happened in Boston was to be put into a vault and forgotten.
After that, things quickly became busy. They planned a double wedding, Teaspoon retired and the town appointed Jimmy as marshal. Within a month they had both married, Teaspoon moved into town with Polly and the younger couple had built their little love shack and could finally live together as a married couple. Throughout all of this, Lou established herself with the town, as a woman and Jimmy's wife. No one questioned that her baby was his and they let that become their truth.
"We're going to respect Lou's wishes so once we talk about this, it ends here. You won't mention it again, especially not to her."
The retired marshal had always been a storyteller. Now was no different. Where Jimmy gave broad strokes, Teaspoon dug into the nitty gritty and, no matter how painful it was, did his best to give Kid the full picture. "If you really want to try to understand it, you can go to Boston. There are a couple men there who can explain it better than I can. But it won't change anything, Kid. It's what happened, It was awful. But it's over."