Winter's Refuge

Chapter Two Hundred Fifteen

LOM

The Kid is a terrible patient. I know he's in pain, deep pain, but he never shows it. The man is stoic. Prison did that to him. He's proven himself a good man, a good friend, and a good father and husband. But I sometimes miss the carefree Kid I knew in the Devil's Hole Gang. He didn't have a care in the world, except protecting himself and Heyes. And he was confident he could do that. He smiled easily and laughed often. He's more serious now, always in control of his emotions. He still smiles easily with the kids, but he takes life much more seriously. It weighs on him and he blames himself for everything that goes wrong. I hate prison for that.

This morning, he was insisting that we head for Cheyenne today to go visit Matt.

"Kid, it's only been two days since you were shot. Rest another couple of days and we'll still get to the prison on time to see Matt McWinters," I pleaded with him.

"I'm fine to ride, Lom. I'm restless in this small town. Yesterday on my walk, I went into the blacksmith shop. We talked and I showed him an easier technique to fix a knife. We can get goin' today," the Kid said. He limped across the room and started to shave.

"YOU NEED TO REST THAT LEG!" I told him firmly.

"Now Lom, I told you I can ride just fine. Last telegram from the prison said we could visit any day until Sunday." He flashed me a rare real smile. "Trust me."

Taking a deep breath, I asked, "You promise to tell me if the pain gets bad? We have time. We can find a hotel anywhere along our way."

The Kid put a hand on each of my shoulders. "Lom, truth is, it hurts bad but it's a pain I can handle. And the sooner I get to see Matt, the sooner I'll get home to Chrissy. Have a gut feelin' I need to get home."

"I want to get home to Wayne, too. And I remember Heyes always trusted your gut…I will, too. Let's get some food and get on the road."

HEYES

The mornings have been quiet, actually, all the days have been quiet. We're trying to keep it quiet for Chrissy and the baby. He doesn't have a name yet. We just call him the baby. Dr. Crehan usually comes about eleven. Today he stopped at the blacksmith shop. Rocky's keeping it open for shoeing horses and small repairs. Anything else he says has to wait for the Kid to come back. I was in the library picking out another book to read to Chrissy and the baby when the doctor arrived. I went out to greet him.

"Morning, Doctor," Rocky said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Shadow here seems to have thrown a shoe," Dr. Crehan told him. He'd brought the gelding horse with a snow-white tail and a gentle personality with him when he moved to Three Birds.

"If you can walk to the house with your medical bag, just leave him with me and I'll have him shoed by the time you're ready to leave," Rocky told him.

I watched the young blacksmith talk to Shadow as he led him over to be shoed. Rocky was terrified of horses when he started here; now he handles them gently and they nuzzle him back, smelling the apples and carrots he always keeps in his pockets. The Kid did good when he agreed to take this boy on parole as his apprentice.

"Doctor, I'll walk with you to the house," I said, catching up with him.

"Glad for the company, Heyes. I have a handful of mail for Phoenix and, before you ask, nothing from Jed," Dr. Crehan said. "But there is a telegram from Dr. Arden. I assume it contains the same information he sent to Miss Denise. He'll arrive later today on the stage with a Mr. McNamara."

"How's she doing? Any better?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer if it was bad.

"She hasn't improved but she hasn't gotten any worse. I'm relieved Dr. Arden will be here today," Crehan answered, and I heard the exhaustion of body and spirit in his voice.

Putting the stack of mail under my arm, I opened my telegraph while Crehan opened then closed our gate. I read it out loud. "Heyes STOP Meet me and McNamara at the stage STOP He's a handful and yours now STOP Aiden."

"Who's this McNamara?" Crehan asked, as we went around and entered the house through the kitchen door.

"The Kid's long-lost uncle from Philadelphia. His priest wrote us about him being all alone. Chrissy asked Aiden to settle him back there or bring him here. Guess he brought him to Phoenix," I told him.

"Jed excited about finding an uncle? Is he your uncle, too? Your cousins, right?" questioned Crehan.

"Jed doesn't know. He was already gone when the letter came. He's not my uncle. Yes, we're cousins, my ma and the Kid's pa are brother and sister. This Charles McNamara is the Kid's ma's brother. He only met him once when he was little," I explained while Angie handed the doctor a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Mrs. Heyes. I'll see Mrs. Curry and the baby now," Dr. Crehan said, as he looked down at Ruth Ann pulling at his pant leg.

"Doctor? Baby sick?" she signed.

"I'm sorry. I don't know sign language," the man said, as he got down on one knee, his eyes level with Ruth Ann's. "Does she read lips?"

"Ruf asked baby sick," answered Diane Frances in speech and sign language.

Angie answered the other question. "She's learning to read lips."

He looked right at Ruth Ann and said, "The baby is very small. I'm here to help him grow."

Ruth Ann can only read some words from certain people. I was about to sign his answer to her when I realized Diane Frances was doing just that. Ruth Ann surprised the doctor by saying out loud, "Good."

There was nothing urgent in the mail, so I left it on the kitchen table for later. "Angie, I'm going to take the wagon into Three Birds and meet the stage. And send another telegraph to that city where Lom sent us the telegram. Maybe the Kid and him are still there. Wish Ribs was here to send it from here."

My wife kissed me, saying, "With Lom gone, no urgent telegrams from the marshals will be coming in. It was a good time for Ribs to go visit his family in New Mexico. Why don't you take Nettie and Ruth Ann into town with you. They've been moping since Joy started school."

JED 'KID' CURRY

I didn't think until we'd left and were ridin' that Lom's knee might be hurtin' too and would have benefited from another day's rest. I should have asked him but did now. "Lom, how's the knee?"

"Doctor bandaged it up good again this morning before we left and put some kind of cream on it. Hardly know it's hurt. He gave me some to put on tonight," Lom answered.

I knew Lom was in more pain than he was lettin' on, so I let him set the pace. We were both quiet with our own thoughts. After three long hours, he pointed to a town ahead. "Alright we stop for lunch there? I'm not familiar with these little towns."

"As long as it's got a place the horses can rest while we eat in a friendly diner, I'm good," I answered. I'm surprised Lom hadn't stopped before this.

"Strange name for a town, Thunder," Lom said.

"Guess people have the right to name their town anything they want," I answered.

It looked like the town had two main roads; we chose the one on the right because that's where our horses led us. Out of habit, I read the name over the sheriff's office. "Sheriff Dom White. Deputy David White. Same last name, they must be related. I don't know them. Do you Lom?" I asked.

"You still have the habit of finding out if you know the sheriff in a new town?" Lom said with a small laugh. "I never heard of either of them."

ASJ*ASJ

There was only one diner in town. The special for lunch was beef stew…good beef stew and hot rolls. The waitress had a nice smile that she flashed at me, but I concentrated on lunch. I've been thinkin' about Chrissy all day.

"Kid, what's on your mind? Part of you been thinking about something else," Lom finally asked.

"Thinkin' about Chrissy," I told him.

"And how much you miss her and that nice family life you built for yourself?" Lom said.

"No, I'm tryin' to decide when to tell Chrissy that I got shot. If I tell her by telegram from here, it won't be a shock when I get home. But she'll worry until I get home and that won't be good in her condition," I started.

Lom laughed. "And she'll have a lot of extra time to build up that fiery temper of hers."

"Yeah, you're right. If I wait until I get home, I might get a little sympathy, but the shock won't be good for her or our little one. It might make her…or him…come early. Either way, she's gonna be angry and I'll hear about it," I finished.

In the end, I decided to wait until I got home.

HEYES

I never got that telegram sent off. The stage had arrived early. Aiden and an elderly gentleman, who looked to be wearing his pajama bottoms with his white shirt and jacket, were getting off. The doctor looked around and settled on me with relief. He took the old man by the elbow and pulled him over to me.

"Dr. Aiden, I can assure you that is not my nephew!" Charles McNamara announced loudly when he saw me.

"I know that is not your nephew. That's his cousin and partner, Hannibal Heyes. He must have been sent to meet you. The little blonde girl next to Heyes is Jed's daughter, Ruth Ann." Aiden sounded exasperated and anxious. Me and the girls were staring at the man's pajama bottoms. They looked like silk. At least he didn't travel in his long johns. "When I got the telegram, I had less than thirty minutes to meet Mr. McNamara and get us both on the train. HE refused to come or even get dressed. So, I grabbed what I could and practically dragged him to the train station. His pants were something I forgot to grab. He's your problem now. I must get to my Denise." Dr. Arden spoke so fast I had to concentrate on his words.

I looked at the old man, Charles McNamara, the Kid's ma's brother, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Ruth Ann. Then he looked at me and without a greeting said, "You there, help me. One of the things that your doctor friend didn't bring was my cane."

I reached out. He grabbed my arm and hobbled toward Ruth Ann. The girl reached out and took Nettie's hand. They both looked as if they wanted to run but held their ground.

McNamara studied Ruth Ann and smiled. He patted her on the head. "Yes, I believe you are little Jed's daughter. You look just like my sister Keara, his mother," he told her.

Her eyes got big, and she looked at Nettie, who started signing, "I don't know what he's saying."

After I was sure McNamara was steady where he stood, I got down on one knee and signed to Ruth Ann what he had said. She smiled.

"What's wrong with her? She deaf?" He demanded to be heard. "One of my other sister's sons was born deaf." He held out his hand to Ruth Ann but he had given me a new thought.

The child looked to me. When I nodded it was alright, she shook his hand and said one of her verbal words, "Hello."

The one word caused a few tears to fall down McNamara's check. "She looks so much like her grandmother when she was a little girl."

"Heyes," the stagecoach driver said, "Here's their bags. I'm throwing them down."

Two bags hit the ground as Dr. Crehan came running out. "Wait, wait!" he yelled. He ran and opened the stagecoach door. "Dr. Arden was in such a hurry to see Miss Denise, he forgot his medical bag."

"Heyes, Dr. Arden asked you bring Mr. McNamara into our office so I can examine him," Crehan said.

"Don't need an examination. I want to go back to Philadelphia," McNamara said loudly.

Nettie was signing to Ruth Ann what everyone was saying. Ruth Ann went up to the old man and took his hand. Staring at her for a moment, he smiled and grabbed Crehan for support as she led him to the doctor's office.

I picked up the two remaining bags and followed with Nettie.