by Mark Eller
Aaron held his arms out wide. "I am dressed. The rest of my clothes are at the store. What is going on here?"
She looked surprised. "You know not?"
"No," Mister Golard said, "he doesn't. Mister Turner never had any say in the matter. Come to think of it, I doubt I had any more say my own self." He studied Aaron appraisingly. "Son, you really should have come in for that haircut. You look a sight."
"First thing in the morning," Aaron promised.
"Be too late then. The time you need it most is tonight."
"I suspect those clothes will have to do." Jorrin supplied. "I doubt the women will let him go back to the store to change."
"I suppose that means I don't have time to cut his hair."
"Will somebody please tell me what is going on?" Aaron had only thought he was confused before.
"You'll figure it out." Mistress Banks entered the front room. "I have to tell you, I had a terrible time keeping a straight face today. Imagine, selling you a house you already owned. Why, Miss Townsend bought the place for you a few weeks ago, and we have all been busy putting everything to rights since."
Screaming, three of the Turnbull children chased each other into the room. They looked apprehensively at the adults and ran off, still screaming while they played.
Mister Townsend entered. His two wives clung to either of his arms, dragging him along more than being led by him. All three smiled though Mister Townsend appeared a bit aggrieved. Immediately following them came Perk, and then Mister Turnbull came into view, wearing the same black suit he wore when he gave the Lord's Service.
The room was definitely crowded.
But only until Sarah left the Master Bedroom. When she entered the front room everyone else disappeared. Beyond any doubt, Sarah was the most lovely, most loving sight Aaron had ever been blessed to see. Bare shoulders pale beneath the lantern light, she wore a simple white gown that reached down to brush the floor. Her hair was immaculate, piled and pinned luxuriously. Fragrant white and red roses crowned her glory.
But Aaron did not see her dress or her hair, and he did not smell the flowers. All he saw was Sarah and her love. It shone. It radiated. Her love reached out and pulled Aaron into its embrace.
With hope pouring from her eyes, she stepped hesitantly forward. She looked excited and scared and unsure of how he would react to the brazenness of her actions. Her face spoke of love and compassion and sorrow.
He was not worthy of her. Aaron felt himself to be fool's gold in comparison to the pure tones of her silver strings. He was a small and grubby man, spirit torn and life beaten. In comparison, she was large with living, the shinning bright possessor of a soul capable of encompassing the world.
But he could deny her nothing because she deserved everything he had to give. Truthfully, she deserved more than he was capable of delivering.
No, he could not deny her. She saw it in him, and her radiated happiness filled the room.
Sarah's lips parted and moved silently as she glided to his side. Without making a sound her lips formed words. "I love you."
Mister Turnbull cleared his throat and gestured toward the crowd. "Gather round, people."
"Me too," Aaron's lips answered. Tentatively reaching out, he took her hand in his own. Together, they turned to face Mister Turnbull.
"Dearly beloved," the preacher began. "We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman…"
Chapter 28
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"Mmmmm." Sarah kissed his chest soothingly, and that was good because his chest needed soothing. Mere moments earlier it had boasted five lone hairs growing in one small isolated patch. Now those hairs were gone, victims of female whim and quick fingers.
"Do you hear them?" she whispered, crawling higher on his body until her lips touched his ear. "The birds are waking and singing us a song of joy. You can hear a primbol singing 'It's Morning! It's Morning!' and the sparrows are crying 'Happy Day! Happy Day!' Is it a happy day, love?" She kissed his ear gently.
Aaron turned his head to nuzzle her shoulder. "It is. Sarah, I want you to know. I do love you."
She pulled up higher so she could look down at him. "Do you? I didn't know. You never really said until last night, and I wasn't sure if you were speaking true or just being polite in a moment of passion."
"I wasn't entirely sure what I felt until a couple of days ago," Aaron admitted. "I knew you excited me. I knew I wanted you and wanted to be with you. I knew you mattered to me--but hon, I have never felt love before. I wasn't sure if what I felt was love or only a case of indigestion until--"
"Until Cathy left us," she finished. "I loved her, too. I even spent a couple nights with her, and I hoped the two of us could marry you at the same ceremony, but that didn't happen, and she has missed out by choosing second best."
Rolling off him, she pulled him around until he leaned over the bare shape of her body. "Enough of that. Let's talk about me. Husband, you've been trying to get an eyeful of me for a long time so you might as well get an good look now. I hope you like what I have, but I'm afraid the goods are damaged. After all, I'm not as pretty as Kit, and I'm not as young as Cathy."
Aaron let his eyes roam, and yes, her body was not traditionally beautiful. A small puckered scar, remnants from a knife wound, marred her left shoulder. Another scar, long and jagged, traveled diagonally from the inside of her left breast to the bottom of her right ribs. A third scar, angry red and puckered, marred the smoothness of her right thigh for several inches. That scar said she had been touched by fire at some point in her past.
"Well, Kit has some scars too." Sarah's eyes laughed at him. "They just aren't as big as mine."
"I didn't look closely enough to see if Miss Hawks has scars." Aaron said primly. "From what I recall, you had more opportunity to notice her attributes than I ever did."
Sarah ran her eyes down his body. "You sure noticed something, Bucko, because just saying her name sussed you out. Men don't get that reaction from the sight of a woman's eyes, and I saw more than a little of that reaction on you because of Miss Hawks while we were in Jefferson."
"Due to nothing but a pure hormonal response to being in your presence. Miss Hawks' appearance had nothing to do with it."
"Bull crap," Sarah laughed. "You fellows will react to the sight of an old hag on her deathbed."
Aaron laughed at her. "I do believe you are sidestepping the subject. Tell me true, Mistress Turner, you are attracted to our young kitten. In fact, I think you were far more interested in what she had to show than I ever was."
"Maybe I was," Sarah teased. "Maybe I wasn't. You will have to ask me that question later. As for right now…" She rolled him on top of her. "We have better things to do than to talk, and we have to be up and out of here in half an hour 'cause I made an appointment for you. I suggest you hurry up with what I have planned because you only got ten minutes before we have to get dressed."
* * *
Afterwards, Sarah walked him to the store because she had promised that he would be there no later than eight, a promise she had found it necessary to make to keep a certain Sub-Commander Marius completely away from Aaron on the previous day.
They reached the store in time to see Brian Haig drop off his empty milk containers. He seemed unusually quiet, almost skittish. Since Aaron was in a good mood in a melancholy 'I lost my girl but got married anyhow' sort of way, he thanked Haig and gave him a five copper bonus.
The store, he found, was already open. Kit had Sarah's shotgun on the counter beside her as she tried to run up a line of figures. Black circles surrounded her eyes, and Aaron realized she had been playing guard inside the store the entire night. Quietly smiling, she looked up when she heard them.
"I hope the night went as well as your face says it did."
"Passably well," Sarah admitted. "There were a few awkward moments due to a certain young gentleman's inexperience, but all in all, things went better than
well after I got him to slow down a bit."
"Hmmm--I hear tell these things get better with time."
Sarah grinned impishly. "We will find out, won't we?"
"Do you two mind?" Aaron discovered that he was sweating. It was a warm morning already. Mighty warm. Prickly skin warm.
Kit laughed, and then she came from around the counter to kiss his cheek before patting it gently with her hand. "Poor baby. We pick on you just terrible, don't we?" Her face turned serious. "Aaron, I'm sorry, but I have to run back out to the Manor today. I have a home to arrange the repairing of, and I was just told that my handyman, Mister Moorehouse, was murdered back when we made our little trip. I need to see that he gets a marker, and I need to talk to his family."
"Thank you for your help," Aaron told her while a flush of guilt ran through him because he never had got around to telling her of the murder. "Let me know what can be done for the family."
"I will, but Aaron, you need to find somebody to guard the store at night while I'm gone. Too many people suspect you have a fortune hid away in here. I don't think you will have any trouble with the locals, but there are a lot of strangers in town."
"Miss Perkins will guard it tonight," Sarah said. "We already talked it over. Until we figure out something different, she is sleeping in the store at night, and Aaron is going to teach me how to run it during the day."
Aaron frowned thoughtfully. "Hon, I'll be more than glad to show you how to run the store, but what about your job as Marshal?"
"I had to quit," Sarah said. "I went to visit Doc Gunther. He used that amazing little present you gave him on me and that started the process of making sure I had to quit my job. Sometime last night you finished that process. Sorry, hon. I'm afraid we lost my public servant's income." Her smile was pure mischief. "The rules say pregnant women have to resign. When he finished with me Doc said it would require a miracle for me to miss, and I say that if we missed last night we are bound to hit sometime this week."
Aaron's felt his knees turn weak. Kit squealed enthusiastically. "Fantastic! And probably on your first time together, too. How did he do it?"
"Hmm. The usual way the first couple of times. After that we experimented--oh--you mean how did Doc do it? Aaron gave him a Talent Stone, and now Doc is spinning cartwheels. He almost has that poor Mary girl healed already." She looked over at Aaron and laughed. "Honey, why are you so red? By the Lady, you are sweating buckets."
Coughing delicately, Aaron waved a nervous hand. "Wait here please."
He left and made his way to the lower cellar. Once there he found their packages among half a dozen others. Perk's silver was still down there, too. He would have to do something about that because nothing in the cellar was totally safe when there were so many new people in town. Not when he had far more value in his cellar than the bank had in its vault. For that matter, his small bank now had more worth in its vault than did that of most major banks.
The packages were heavy so he was panting by the time he returned.
"Here," he said, handing one to each woman. They looked at him curiously, turned the packages around, and pulled the brown paper free. Underneath the paper was a cardboard box.
"What is this?" Sarah asked. "It can't be a wedding present because I forgot to inform you we were getting married. Maybe it's a belated birthday present."
"What birthday? You never mentioned having a birthday."
"Of course not, silly. I was too busy getting married at the time. Figured my birthday was the perfect day to get married since there isn't much chance that I can forget the date. Sweetheart, I'm afraid you married an old hag of thirty."
Aaron smiled and gestured toward the package. "Just open the box, please."
She and Kit both did. Inside the box was a mass of newspapers. Hidden inside the newspapers was a lead box sealed with lead tape. Inside that--
Kit lifted hers up, let out a gasp and slid to the floor. She lay there, writhing while Sarah watched. Looking over to Aaron, Sarah raised her eyebrows.
"It's a good thing I trust you," she said, and then she took her own present into her hand and instantly collapsed to the floor. Nonplused, Aaron was unsure what to do. He tried to take the objects away from them, but their fingers clenched so tightly that he was frightened of breaking their fingers. After too long a time passed, Sarah sighed contentedly while Kit let loose with a low moan and shuddered. Kit's eyes opened. They were distant.
"The new herd will be here in seven days," she shakily said. "Aaron, that was a nasty thing to do, and there you stood the entire time watching me just so you could get your jollies. All I have to say is that you better behave yourself from now on because I will always know exactly where you are." She looked down at the object she held in her hand. "Imagine, my very own Talent Stone."
"I don't understand what happened," Aaron admitted. "What did it do to you?"
"You don't know?" Kit rose weakly. "Look to your wife. If you did things right last night the answer should be obvious."
Aaron looked down at Sarah. Her eyes were closed but a smile was spread across her face. Oh yes, now he knew. Sarah's back arched.
"I think I had better close up the store."
"I think you had better," Kit agreed archly. "Next time you do this, make sure the gift is opened in private. Much less embarrassing that way."
They tried not to watch Sarah for the next half-hour. It proved to be an impossible task because she was so active…and vocal. Aaron hoped that someday he would be as impressive as the Talent Stone apparently was, but he knew he could never measure up.
After a very long time, Sarah stilled. Her eyes opened to focus on him. A smile of contentment spread across her lips.
"Oh my," she said. "My, my, my, my, my." Rising, she stretched herself luxuriously while Aaron watched carefully. He was not careful enough. With impossible speed, she blurred, and then she was gone.
"This is impressive," she said from behind him. "I wasn't able to move nearly that fast on the Jefferson side. What a wonderful present." She pulled his head around and pressed her lips against his. "Thank you, love."
Kit pulled her away with a firmly insistent hand. "It was a wonderful present." The kiss she gave Aaron rivaled any of those he had received from Sarah, probably because Kit was not the least bit shy with her tongue. "You just wait," she promised when his oxygen ran short. "I'll show you exactly how grateful I am later."
Aaron's voice squeaked. "Kit, I'm married!"
She looked puzzled. "What does that have to do with anything? You're a man, and men will screw anything that holds still long enough. Besides, you only got married the once last night, so you got another one coming when I get back from the ranch tonight. Sarah and I worked it out that morning back in your apartment just before you caught us making out."
Aaron turned cold. He did not want to give offense but it had to be said. "Kit," he said carefully, "I like you a lot. I really do. I admire you even. The thing is, I hardly know you, and I'm sorry but I certainly don't love you."
She shrugged. "I never thought you did. It doesn't matter. I love Sarah. She loves you, and she sort of loves me, too. And then you and I do like each other. Don't worry. The three of us will work it out. Look, I could get away with the occasional tumble with you, but that isn't what I'm interested in because Sarah is off limits now that she's married, so I have to marry you if I want to continue with her. That way we are all satisfied." She patted his cheek. "Don't worry, baby. Between us, Sarah and I will let you know how to run your life." She smiled at Sarah and then looked back at him. "Aaron, please tell me you aren't so stupid that you thought all that running around naked was for your benefit?"
Aaron chose to ignore the question.
"Well," Kit conceded, "maybe a little of it was. That first time anyway."
"Honey, I think you just got the answer to the question you asked me this morning." Sarah flung her arms around Kit and kissed her deeply. Then she pulled Aaron into their embrace and kissed him. "If
you thought last night was something, you just wait for tonight. Kit, I told Doc you would be over to see him before you headed for the ranch.
Kit laughed and pulled free. "Uh uh. Don't want no kids running around. You can keep that stuff to yourself 'cause I'm not the mamma type. Gotta run."
* * *
Sub-Commander Marius was a large woman, perhaps the largest woman Aaron had ever seen. Though she stood an impressive six feet eleven inches plus change tall, she was no beanpole. The muscles packing her bones were enough to match Jorrin's and more. Her voice was a deep rumble emitting from lips hidden in the thick black brush of a heavy beard, something Aaron had never had the joy of seeing on a woman before. And when she focused on him he saw eyes that were steel gray and just as hard.
Sarah deferred to her. That told Aaron a lot. A person had to be special before Sarah would defer to them.
When asked, Aaron had no trouble deciding to give in to the Sub-Commander's request. Overriding guilt demanded it of him. After talking matters over for a while they decided that distance was an important factor, followed by accuracy.
Aaron owned five, bolt action .375 rifles with scopes. Each rifle held only three cartridges at a time, which Aaron thought was good since he had a limited supply of ammunition for the things. Because the rifles would be in inexperienced hands frequent reloads meant fewer shots fired, which translated to fewer shots uselessly wasted.
He spent the rest of the day explaining the use of the powerful rifle to a group of people Marius had picked, mostly archers because they were trained to stand still when danger approached. He had no trouble explaining the importance of a steady stance or of bullet drop. Explaining how to handle recoil was a big problem. As it turned out two of the original five archers could not learn to anticipate the powerful kick. They had a serious case of the flinch. A third person was just too small to lift the heavy gun without soon tiring. She left in tears when Marius pulled her from the group.