by Reina Torres
“Oh, I noticed,” he told her. “I just didn’t want to call attention to it, in case you changed your mind.”
She shook her head. “But you may after you hear what I’m about to ask you.”
Her words made him curious, but he knew something with complete certainty. “Whatever you need,” he assured her, “it’s yours.”
“When you return,” she met his curious gaze with her smiling eyes, “I was wondering if you might help me learn to ride a horse.”
He knew he was staring at her openly. He swore if he looked down at his hands that he would find them shaking. “Teach you how?”
She bobbed her head. “I know how odd it seems,” she explained, “my father rides horses all over for his job, but he didn’t teach me when I was a little girl.”
“And now,” he smiled, “you want to learn.” Tucking the shirt she’d given him against his chest, he held out his right hand. When she set her hand in his he raised her hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss on the back of her hand. “I’ll be happy to teach you. We’ll have you riding like you were born in the saddle before you know it.”
A whistle from the bunkhouse turned Ellis’ gaze in that direction.
Luke stood by the doorway holding up his pocket watch.
With a quick nod, he waved Luke off.
He turned back to Virginia. “I want you to know that I’m honored that you asked. Learning to ride a horse takes trust. Trust between the rider and the horse… and the teacher. I promise that you’ll be safe.”
She looked up at him and nodded. “I know you’d keep me safe, Mr. Cooper, but you need to go and get changed for your ride.”
He looked down at the shirt in his hands before looking back at her. “Will you stay?” He knew his voice sounded a little strained, a little higher than normal. “And see me off on my run?”
Her smile warmed her face, making her eyes sparkle in the daylight. “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind letting me stay.”
They shared a look and Ellis took a step toward the bunkhouse. “I’ll just be a minute.”
She nodded. “And I’ll be right here.”
Chapter 6
Finding the Warm Springs station wasn’t a problem at all. He’d gotten there within the expected time, even with the speed he’d maintained to keep his mount fit. Once he left the regular express route he didn’t have fresh horses to use every few hours and he wasn’t one to chance the health of his mount. Any man who did that on the prairie wasn’t fit to own a horse, let alone ride one.
It was after nightfall when he arrived, and Ellis took his mount straight to the largest building amongst the small collection of buildings that made up the center of town in Warm Springs. Ellis took a quick look around inside the stable and noticed that the half-dozen horses in residence looked clean and well-fed and what’s more, the barn smelled like fresh laid hay.
Confident in the skills of the men running the establishment, he negotiated a price for a good brushing, feed and water.
That settled, he made his way to the Marshal’s office, walking up the steps and knocking on the open door frame of the office.
The man seated at the desk barely lifted his head to take a look at the doorway. “What do you want?”
“My name’s Ellis Cooper, sir. I have a packet of letters for you, sent by Levi Hawkins at the Three Rivers-“
“Are you still talkin’, son?” He waved his fingers toward the door. “Come in and hand ‘em over.”
Ellis walked across the floor, wincing when a board creaked under his boot. “Here you go, sir.”
The man looked up at him and narrowed his gaze. “You’ve got manners. I heard that about Levi’s boys. Glad to know you live up to it.” He dropped the packet of letters on the desk and sighed. “Looks like I’ll need another lamp to work by, and you grab yourself a cup of coffee. I think it’s a fresh pot.”
“Oh, thank you, sir.” Ellis’ stomach was grumbling, but he wasn’t going to complain or bother the man to ask what might be open. Given the nature of the town the answer was likely nothing beyond the Saloon. And a saloon would likely have the barest selection of greasy, badly cooked food. And he’d had his fill of that at Blackwell. “I’d like a cup. Thank you.”
The Marshal was already opening the first letter. “Make two cups and bring me one, why doncha?”
“Sure.” Ellis picked up the first cup from the table and winced when he saw the dark remains of something in the bottom of the cup. Picking up another it was the same thing. “Uhh…”
“Somethin’ wrong, son?”
“Is there somewhere I could wash out these cups?”
There was a pause and then the old man pushed his chair back from the table and gave him a good look from head to toe. “Wash? Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.” The man lifted a hand to scrub at the scratchy growth on his chin. “You can take it out to the trough outside. I just filled it this morning.”
Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew one of his kerchiefs and set about wiping the inside of the cups. “I’ll just give it a little rub.”
The older man sighed and turned back to his desk. “All you’re doin’ is ruinin’ the flavor of the cup, son, but have it your way.”
Ellis poured two cups and set one beside the marshal. “If you need me, I’ll be outside.”
The marshal waved him off. “Have it your way.”
Ellis set himself down on the top step of the Marshal’s office and took a sip of the coffee. It rolled across his tongue like mud sliding from the banks of the river in the early spring thaw. It tasted just as good.
He set the mug down and scratched the taste off of his tongue with his teeth.
A burst of raucous laughter reached his ears and he turned to look at the Saloon across the street. The door was placed at the corner, the customary bat-wing doors blocking the light from the middle section of the door, but from his vantage point he could see men at the tables, a couple of women working the room. Doing what, exactly, he didn’t know, and he certainly wasn’t going to find out.
He could feel the hunger gnawing at his gut, but he knew he had something wrapped up in his saddle bag. Olivia had sent along a few rolls and a piece of cheese covered in a cloth. He’d wait and let it go for a bit. He needed to find out what kind of time the Marshal needed to get the paperwork done.
Ellis was hoping that an extra run wouldn’t be necessary, and he’d be on his way back to Three Rivers in the morning. That would be the best outcome possible.
But until he heard from the Marshal, he was just going to enjoy the quiet night around him.
Stretching out one leg and then the other, Ellis dug his heels into the dirt and felt the muscles in his legs struggle to release into their normal length. Even though he’d been doing quite a bit of riding since he arrived at Three Rivers, it had been years since he’d ridden before that and his legs, well they weren’t quite up to all the activity.
And then his back pinched up. “I’m startin’ to feel old before my time,” he groused, but laughed at his own grumbling. Sure, he was sore, but he was happy. His first run had gone just fine so far, and if his luck continued, he’d be home in plenty of time to help Virginia with her projects.
“Virginia,” he uttered her name out loud and enjoyed the sound of her name hanging in the cool air. It sure sounded a lot better than Miss Halston. The wind stirred up around him and he smiled, leaning back until his elbows propped him up on the stairs. The dark night over his head was only marred by the washed-out light from the lanterns inside the saloon.
Out at night, you could almost see straight into the heavens. Just staring up at the stars would remind him of his mother and the stories she would tell him about the myths that gave the constellations their names. It got to be such a part of him that he was able to pick out the figures on his own. It was one of the things that kept his mind whole while he’d been in jail, staring out the window at the passing constellations through the seasons.
&n
bsp; Maybe, just maybe, he hoped, he might have a chance to share some of those stories with Virginia. That would be wonderful. Sitting shoulder to shoulder with her in the long grasses down by the river would be just exactly what he imagined heaven would be like.
The light from across the street brightened for a moment before not one but two figures stumbled out into the night.
Ellis shifted a bit on the step and lowered his right hand down to his pistol.
The men didn’t necessarily mean danger, but shadows in the dark made up some of the worst memories in his life, so he kept his eyes on the men as they made their way across the street in his direction. He didn’t move, just continued to look up at the stars.
Tinny piano music leaked out into the night once the volume of voices in the room lowered and Ellis tapped his toe in the dust.
The tune was a familiar Irish ballad that his mother used to sing when she thought that no one else was listening and before he knew what he was about, Ellis was humming along with the song himself.
“If you like the music, you should go in and get a drink, the man playin’ the piano is as ugly as they come, but the woman pouring drink ain’t half bad.”
Ellis froze, the toe of his boot an inch from the ground.
That voice.
“What’s the matter, boy?” Another voice cut through Ellis’ reverie and lanced pain through his middle. “Forgot the words?”
Words. Oh, he knew the words.
Betrayal.
Abandoned.
Guilty.
Punished.
He felt all of those and had lived through all of those with these men.
He didn’t answer the inane question. They didn’t deserve words from him.
“Come on,” the first one pushed further, and his name solidified in Ellis’ head. Calvin. That was Calvin. Ellis wondered if Calvin still kept a revolver in his saddlebag, “go ahead and sing us somethin’.”
The other man covered one ear with the palm of his hand. “No, don’t.” He was almost pleading with them. “My ear’s ringin’ something awful. I don’t wanna hear no singin’.”
“Huh,” Calvin shrugged his shoulders, “I was in the mood for entertainment. So what’s it gonna be now, Jed?”
Jed didn’t seem to care. “How’s about some peace and quiet?” He suggested, his voice bit into the quiet night around them.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Calvin was certainly talking loud enough to fill whatever void he had intended to fill. “Hey,” he held out the bottle in his hand, “the least you can do is have a drink with us.”
“Who said we were gonna share?” Jed took a step closer and nearly fell to his knees. “Give it here.”
Calvin pulled the bottle against his chest and sat down on the step beside Ellis. “Here, quick, take a drink before Jed guzzles it all down.”
He started to hand it over, but Ellis held up his hand to block it. “Sorry. I don’t drink.”
“Did you hear that, Jed? Our new friend here, doesn’t want to drink.”
“I’m not your friend.” He winced at the sharp tone of his response, he didn’t want to cause trouble.
Ellis heard someone clear his throat and turned to look behind him. The marshal was standing in the open doorway.
“Sir?”
“I was just about to tell you that I’ll need a few hours to finish up the paperwork. You’ll be able to get on your way in the morning.”
Ellis got to his feet, dusting off his clothes. “That’s fine, sir.”
“Where will you stay?” The marshal gave Calvin and Jed a few cautionary looks. “These your friends?”
“New acquaintances,” Calvin toasted the gathering.
“If you don’t have plans with your friends, Cooper you can spend the night here if you like.” He pointed a thumb toward the office. “You can sleep on one of the cots, we don’t have to lock you in, not many folks would like spendin’ the night behind bars.”
Ellis could feel his throat tightening. Felt sweat bead on his forehead. Felt his breath catch in his throat. Behind bars. “I’m happy to bed down in the stable, sir. You don’t need to put yourself out for me.”
The marshal shrugged. “Have it your way, Cooper. I’ll get back to my papers then.”
The man turned on his heel and walked back into his office.
When Ellis turned back to look for his cup he saw Calvin looking up at him, squinting into the darkness and the meager light from the lamp hanging on the nearest porch post.
“Cooper?”
Ellis felt his whole body go still.
“Ellis Cooper?”
Well, this night was just getting longer and longer.
Shrugging, Ellis cleared his throat. “That’s right.”
“It’s been a long time, Cooper.”
Ellis’ jaw tightened. “Well that would be your doing, wouldn’t it? You and you,” he looked over at Jed, “both of you left me behind.”
Jed sighed. “You were slow to figure it out, Cooper. That’s not our fault.”
“The robbery wasn’t my idea,” Ellis hissed at them, “I didn’t even know what you were planning until we were in the thick of it.”
Jed scoffed at his outrage, turning to Calvin. “I told you he was too much of a country boy to stick with us.”
“I wasn’t too much of a country boy to serve time in prison for a crime the two of you did.” Shaking his head, Ellis gave them both a look. “And I don’t ever want to see either of you ever again.” He picked the cup up off the step and stared into it. “I’ll give the marshal his cup back when I see him in the morning, but you two better not be here in the morning or I will have no trouble telling the marshal that the two of you were the ones that ran off with the money from that bank.”
“You wouldn’t.” Jed was suddenly very sober.
“I’m making a new start in my life. The two of you are in my past. A past I paid for day after day behind bars. I have a good job now, a job that I want to keep. You’ll leave me alone and I’ll forget I saw the two of you.”
He took a few steps and turned back to look at them. “That’s all you’ll get from me. So, take it. The only thing you two ever gave me was trouble and I want a good life now.”
He started to walk away and only heard movement from behind a few steps after him. “A good life? Son, you don’t have the money it takes to live a good life. Come with us. We’ll show you how to do it right this time.”
Jed swore at him. “He’s too stupid to see it, let ‘im go and hand me that bottle.”
Ellis didn’t stop walking until he was in the barn and then it was only because his legs wouldn’t hold him up anymore.
Chapter 7
Virginia had never felt so… connected before. She was used to travelling from one town to the next with her father as he worked in different settings. She’d met women, spoken to them occasionally and had some friendships.
Tentative friendships.
Temporary.
Just like her father’s jobs.
“Virginia?”
Lifting her head from her work, Virginia saw Olivia smiling at her over her crochet hook and blanket half-covering her lap.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hawkins-”
“Olivia,” she prompted the younger woman.
“Olivia,” Virginia tried not to flinch, but she heard the soft laughter from the assembled group.
“I was just wondering where you had gone in your head.”
Virginia saw the curious looks of the other woman. “I’m sorry… I was thinking.”
“Thinking of a young man?” Delia Burroughs made the comment from beside Olivia’s chair in their little circle. Her middle rounded with her first child, Delia was leaning back against the high back of her chair, her hands slowly working on a hemmed edge of a little gown. “I know that look.”
She felt the color draining from her face. “What look?”
Delia leaned closer to Tillie Bowles, the wife of one of the other Pony
Express riders, Wyeth. “What do you think, Tillie?”
The sunlight coming through the window gilded Tillie’s midnight dark hair. As she focused her warm brown eyes on Virginia’s face, Tillie’s complexion warmed. “She does seem to have that faraway look in her eyes.”
Virginia latched onto that thought. “Yes, faraway.” She fixed her eyes on the bib of the christening gown she was sewing. “I was thinking of someone… something, I mean. Something far away.”
The laughter around the circle was warm, their eyes full of tender emotions.
“Was I that obvious?”
“We’ve been through it ourselves.” Tillie leaned forward and then stopped short looking down at her own rounded belly. “I’m still not used to being so… round.”
“You still have a few months to go,” Olivia laughed, “by the time you get used to it, you will have to get used to something new.”
“A baby,” Anna almost squealed the words, making her mother wince. “How exciting for both of you! Why I can hardly wait for-”
Tillie dropped her spool of thread on the ground and Anna was left to chase after it with her fingers.
“Here you go, Til.”
Delia moved the conversation on. “So, who is this young man, Virginia? Do we know him?”
Flushing to the roots of her hair, Virginia continued with the long row of stitches forming a tuck in the bib of the gown. “I am not sure he even knows who he is.” Swallowing her emotions and fighting against the fluttering in her chest, Virginia made a knot. And quickly picked up her scissors and snipped the end of the thread.
“And,” Picking up a card of thread she measured out another length and threaded the needle, “I have no way of knowing how long we will remain here in Three Rivers.”
“What?” It was Anna this time, who paused in winding a yarn ball for her mother. “What do you mean? You just moved here.”
Laying the gown across her lap, she pressed the next tuck into the fabric, her fingers moving with practiced ease. “My father and I rarely stay long in any one place. I hope that will not be the same here,” she looked at each face around the circle and felt a warmth swelling in her chest. “I have never had such a circle of friends as I believe I am making here. It is something I do not want to lose anytime soon.”