By Keri
Chapter IX
"Well, it's taken a while but he's healin'."
"Yeah."
"And what about you?"
"Aw, Emma."
"Sam, you haven't said much about it. It's been almost two months."
"Not too much to say really. She was my niece, I loved her and now she's gone."
The couple sat holding hands on Emma's porch. Winter weather was rolling in but it was Sam's words that chilled her to the bone. Loss was something that everyone at the Sweetwater station had experienced at one time in their lives. Callie's loss was simply another in the tradition of death that plagued them.
The matron of the station took a deep breath. She had lived long enough to learn that everyone heals in their own time. The man grasping her fingers would recover from the loss of Callie, he was starting to even now. She squeezed Sam's hand and turned to him with a smile.
"And she loved you too, Sam."
Her whispered words of comfort brought a small smile to the Marshal's face.
Maintaining his view of the homestead he answered with his own whisper,
"I know."
"Well Soda, what do you think?"
Cody had snuck away to the stables and was now facing an unwilling conversation partner. The horse and his rider had been spending all their free time out at the old picnic area. Callie and Cody's old spot. It had taken Cody a while to recover from Callie's death, in truth he was still fighting his sadness now.
The first week back home Cody didn't move from his bunk. No one had said anything to him, but the feeling of overwhelming pity from his friends was too much to deal with.
Finally, eight days after returning home, he ventured outside. Slowly, he started to live again, despite his insistence that life could not possibly continue without the woman he loved. He had lost people before, but somehow Callie's loss was insurmountable in his mind.
Days, hours, minutes, dragged by and it was almost a month later when he resumed his route. Despite the rush he got from grasping that mochilla in his hands and feeling Soda race under him, his job felt empty and hollow.
The other riders had done their best to give him space and support at the same time, but that wasn't always the easiest thing to do. At one point Jimmy lost his temper and not knowing that Cody was behind him, lamented, "When are we gonna go back to living around here! I'm telling you guys, I can't put up with him anymore!"
Cody forgave Jimmy the minute the words were out of his mouth. He himself had questioned when he was going to start living a normal life again, and despite his fervent belief that recovery from his loss would never occur, it slowly did.
It started with a laugh. A spontaneous laugh during supper one night, and the riders fell silent. It was a sound that had been missing for so long that it was almost eerie to hear it again. Cody, engulfed in silence, turned to Lou.
"What's wrong with everyone? Can't a body laugh 'round here no more?"
Lou's pulled her lips into a simple smile and it seemed that the sadness that had become part of everyday life was finally lifting. So life had slowly returned to normal, well as normal as life could be for the Sweetwater express riders, and even more slowly, Cody's heart was healing.
Just as he was preparing to mount Soda and ride out for a quiet day on the plains, Buck's voice stopped him cold.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I'll be back later, Buck."
"Nope, not this time. Emma said she wanted the bunkhouse cleaned up before lunch and it's your turn."
"Okay, I know but if you clean it for me this time, I'll..."
But Buck simply shook his head and walked away.
Cleaning the bunkhouse wasn't the worst job at the homestead but it was a job nonetheless. Cody stomped around stripping sheets from bunks and sweeping the floor. Eager to finish his chores, he yanked his own sheet so hard the mattress flew off his bunk and toppled him to the ground.
With a smirk, he flipped the mattress over and was brushing himself off when a folded paper caught his eye. He leaned closer to discover a note stuck to the bottom of his bed. With building curiosity Cody snatched the paper off his bunk and brought it outside to read. The simple word, Billy, on the front of the note, brought a lump to the rider's throat. He sat down on the bunkhouse steps and slowly unfolded the letter.
Billy,
Well, I guess things have worked out. Even though I'm writing this note while I'm still in Sweetwater, I know in my heart that my destination is a place of peace and beauty. It s where I belong. I know you hate to leave me so far away, but just know that I will be happy there. Never doubt that I love you, Billy. I always will, no matter where I am, but we have different destinies to fulfil, and I would never want to keep you from yours. No matter what you do or where you go, the baby and I will always keep track of you; you were like a guardian angel for us - and we'd like to return the favor.
With all the love of heaven,
Callie
With tears and a grin, Cody raised his head to the sky and clutched the note to his heart.
"Thank you, Callie."
The words, simple and plain, brought with them a peace that Cody hadn't felt since Callie's death. For the first time in months the young rider felt certain that life would go on. And now, it would go on with Callie watching over him.
The End
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
The Way Station
Campfire Tales
