The Substitute Suitor

Note: This story is set between the episodes 'Blind Love' and 'The Keepsake'.

The sounds of the town bustling with activity filled the air in Sweetwater that morning…the clattery rambling of wagons traveling through the main thoroughfare, the familiar cadence of horse hooves pounding along the dusty trail. It seemed that everybody had picked today to come to town. But then, who could blame them? The sun was shining above in a perfectly cloudless, azure sky, and the most refreshing, gentle breeze swept through the warm spring air. Yes, it was definitely a beautiful day.

Emma and the Sweetwater riders were no exception. They, too, had come to town, primarily for the purpose of helping Emma restock with supplies from Thompkin's General Store. However, they also came with the intent of enjoying a nice little vacation away from work and the humdrum way station scenery as they meandered around town while Emma visited with Marshal Sam Cain.

"Sure is a fine day, ain't it?" Jimmy asked, his head tilted up toward the clear sky.

"Such a fine day that I'd like nothin' more than to fall asleep in the shade of a big ol' tree," Cody responded dreamily, after swallowing a large bite from the juicy, red apple he was enjoying.

Buck shook his head and laughed at Cody as they walked through the streets of Sweetwater. "Is that all you think about, Cody? Sleep?"

"Well," Cody began, getting defensive, "it ain't like this work is a piece of cake, fellas. Ridin' for days in the saddle is tirin'!"

"We ain't denyin' that, Cody," Lou stated matter-of-factly, "it's just that you sleep more than you do anythin' else! That is, except eatin'."

The six riders began to laugh at Lou's comment, knowing just how much truth there was in her remark. If anybody knew how to get out of doing work or chores, it was Cody. Though he did work hard at his job when required, there were times when he was just plain lazy.

"Hey, Cody, I think that's another one of those deadly sins Teaspoon was talkin' about that you can mark off your list," Kid chuckled. He began using his fingers to count the deadly sins Cody has already committed. "Let's see, you got gluttony and pride already, and now you can cross off sloth!"

"How about not bathing regularly? Isn't that a sin, too?" Ike signed, doing his best to contain his devilish grin.

"Well, Ike, they do say that cleanliness is next to Godliness," Lou added, an impish smirk on her lips.

Cody had finally had enough of this. He refused to be the butt of the other riders' jokes any longer. So, Cody stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to face the riders who were now completely consumed by gut-wrenching laughter.

"Oh, yeah?" Cody shouted out angrily. "I don't see you all as bein' any better." He paused and turned to Jimmy. "Hickok, you shoot someone if they even look at you the wrong way." Now he turned his gaze upon Lou and lowered his voice slightly. "And Lou, isn't there somethin' in the Bible that says a woman shall not don the clothes of a man?" Cody paused his speech again and began walking backwards along the sidewalk. "And…well, I'm sure I could find somethin' on the rest of ya if I gave it more thought."

Jimmy and Lou were absolutely livid at Cody's accusatory remarks. Lou's eyes were blazing with rage, but her fury did not even compare to Jimmy's. By now, Jimmy had attempted to lunge forth into Cody only to be met with Buck, Ike, and Kid's restraining arms. The only satisfaction Jimmy and Lou got was when they watched as Cody, who was not paying attention to where he was walking, suddenly fell backwards off of the elevated sidewalk causing Cody, along with his half-eaten apple, to land on the dirt-covered ground below. However, on his way down, Cody had managed to bump into a young woman who was passing by, catching her completely off guard. She was so startled that she dropped the two large luggage bags that she had been carrying.

Cody realized what had happened and was extremely apologetic, especially when he saw just how pretty the young lady really was. He quickly rose to his feet, brushed himself off a bit so as to regain some shred of dignity and respectability, and tipped his hat.

"William F. Cody," he introduced himself. "I apologize for bumpin' into you, miss," Cody stated sincerely as he bent down again to pick up the bags that she had dropped.

The young lady caught her breath after the shock and replied with a smile, "Oh that's alright. I guess neither of us was looking where we were going."

Cody stood silently staring at the young woman for what seemed to be an eternity. He was completely mesmerized and dumbstruck by her beauty. She could not have been more than eighteen. She wore an ecru blouse that had lacy ruffles cascading from her neckline all the way down to where it was tucked in at the waist into a dark green skirt. Her hair was a dark auburn, almost the shade of Lou's, but it was much longer with the section of hair nearest her face pulled up and away from her face in a comb leaving the rest falling in loose curls down her back.

Even though her clothes were dusty and her hair somewhat disheveled, as she had obviously just come into town on the stage, Cody could only see the loveliness radiating from her pearly smile and her dazzling blue eyes…eyes not much unlike his own. It was most definitely love at first sight for William F. Cody.

Cody was only brought out of his reverie when Jimmy kicked him slightly from behind. By now, Jimmy and the rest of the boys were well aware that Cody had fallen for the young lady, and they grinned and chuckled to themselves as they watched Cody become a blundering idiot right before their eyes.

"Uh, sorry, miss," Cody repeated himself.

"That's quite alright. But if you don't mind, I do have to be going," she replied.

"Oh, yes…well, it was nice meetin' ya, miss…?" Cody was prompting for her name. He had to know the name that went along with such a gorgeous face and figure.

"Caroline Harding," the young woman answered.

"Well, I guess I'll be seein' ya…Caroline." Cody's face suddenly turned a bright shade of pink as he stumbled to say her name out loud. Usually he was such a smooth talker when it came to women, but for some reason, he suddenly found himself feeling like a lovesick schoolboy.

Cody was beginning to turn around to rejoin his friends, in such a stupor that he did not even realize that he was still carrying Caroline's luggage.

"Mister Cody?" Caroline called out.

Cody quickly spun around, still not cognizant of the fact that he was about to head off with her bags, and definitely unaware that the five riders behind him were snickering at the sight he presented.

"My bags, Mr. Cody."

He creased his brow in confusion before he finally looked down and realized that he was holding her luggage. Cody cursed himself for his foolishness, knowing that he was not making the best first impression to the young woman. He handed over the bags and smiled sheepishly as she turned her back to leave.

Cody watched as Caroline walked down the street toward the Sweetwater Hotel, her curls bobbing with each step she took. I'm in love, Cody sighed to himself before he was finally awakened from his trance-like daze by the audible laughter coming from his fellow Pony Express riders behind him.

Cody jerked back around and suddenly, his lovey-dovey, puppy-dog expression turned into a fitful rage. "Will y'all shut up! You made me look bad in front of Caroline!"

Lou managed to stop her laughter for a moment and blurted out, "Naw, Cody, I think you did a good job of that yourself!"

"Yeah, Cody," Jimmy chimed in, "I don't think anyone could've made you look any stupider than you made yourself look already."

Cody was about to take a jab at Jimmy, but he stopped himself and simply remarked coolly, "Yer just jealous, Hickok. And so are the rest of ya. Jealous that such a pretty girl talked to me instead of you."

"If we'd knocked her over, I'm sure she'd be talkin' to us, too," Buck teased.

Cody could feel the steam of rage building inside his head, but again, he repressed his actions, choosing to fight with words instead of fists. "We'll just see about that. I'll show you that once I lay my sights on something, I get it."

"I think you can cross 'lust' off that list of sins, too," Ike signed, only intensifying the bout of laughter from the others.

Cody began to walk away, furious. But then he turned back when he was some distance from the riders, raised his arm into the air, his index finger pointing in determinations, and called out, "You mark my words! William F. Cody always gets his girl!"

After helping Emma carry and load the supplies onto the buckboard, Emma and the riders left the town of Sweetwater and headed back out toward the Pony Express way station. The ride was relatively quiet, especially since Cody was still angry with the other riders for giving him a hard time about Caroline Harding. He refused to talk to them and only shot an occasional piercing glare in the direction of any rider who tried to make eye contact.

The others couldn't help but to let a little chuckle slip out every now and then at the way Cody was behaving. Even Emma noticed that Cody was not his typical boisterous self, but she just shook her head to herself and grinned, amused by the antics of Cody and the rest of her boys.

Cody's sour mood persisted throughout the day and carried on into the bunkhouse during suppertime. Though he was bitter at his friends and the way they had teased him for his silly behavior in town, at the same time, he felt a warm feeling in the fluttering in his stomach when he thought of Caroline.

Cody began to fall deeper and deeper into his daydream of Caroline that he simply sat at the supper table, his head propped up on his elbow, his eyes staring out into the distance, not even touching the steaming plate of food in front of him. It was very unlike Cody to let food sit in front of him for so long before he devoured it. But for the time being, he was just content to envision that Caroline was standing before him, her beautiful hair blowing in the breeze and her eyes smiling back at him.

In fact, Cody was so entranced by these images that were running through his mind that he did not even notice Teaspoon and his fellow riders staring at him with huge grins on their faces. Finally, it was Teaspoon who brought Cody out of his semi-consciousness and back into the realm of reality.

"Uh, Cody, did anythin', uh, interesting happen in town today?" Teaspoon probed, though he already had a hunch that something indeed had happened, judging by the look on Cody's face, the glimmer in his eyes, and the full plate in front of him. After all, Teaspoon had been married six times. He knew only too well what the look of love was.

Cody shook his head slightly as the visions of Caroline disappeared when he heard Teaspoon's voice. "What, Teaspoon?"

Teaspoon began to repeat himself, this time speaking slower and louder. "I said, did anythin' interestin' happen while you was in town today?"

Cody looked around the table and was met with the laughing eyes and smirking lips of the other riders who were trying their best to contain their giggling. Suddenly, Cody was once again irritated. Now they had gotten Teaspoon to join in making fun of him.

"So I suppose they've already told you what happened," Cody spat, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Naw, Cody, the boys didn't say anythin' to me," Teaspoon began with a smile. "It's just that I been married six times, been in love maybe twice that many times…I can tell when someone's been struck by Cupid's arrow."

Cody looked at Teaspoon confused. "Who is this Cupid fella, Teaspoon? I don't recall anybody hittin' me with anythin'."

"That's because you were too busy actin' like a fool in front of Miss Caroline Harding," Jimmy joked, his voice growing haughty when he spoke the young lady's name. "You wouldn't have noticed if someone picked yer pockets and shot ya with yer own gun!"

Cody shot Jimmy another murdering glare through his narrowed eyes. He was about to say something not quite so nice in response to Jimmy's belittling remark, but he was silenced by Teaspoon.

"To answer yer question, Cody, Cupid is what the Romans used to call the God of Love. They believed he used to fly around in the sky and use his bow and arrow to shoot people and make 'em fall in love with each other."

"But that's silly," Cody retorted snidely.

"It's just an expression, Cody," Lou stated. "A figure of speech."

"Well, I ain't in love, so there." Cody stuck his tongue out at Lou as if he were a five-year old. She simply ignored his childish gesture.

"Ain't what it looked like to us," Buck added.

"We nearly had to roll your tongue back in your mouth the way you were droolin' so much," Kid snickered.

Cody's temper was now fully flaring. He jumped up from his seat at the bunkhouse table, ready to take a swing at the next person to say another word about the incident in town with Caroline Harding.

"I wouldn't talk if I was you, Kid," Cody shot back. Both Kid and Lou knew that Cody was talking about them. After throwing Cody dirty looks, the two glanced at each other shyly for only a split second since they were under the watchful eyes of Teaspoon and Emma who were still in the dark concerning Lou's true gender.

Teaspoon then rose from his chair also and held out his arm in an attempt to prevent Cody from lashing out in anger against one of the other riders. "Now hold on, Cody!" Teaspoon paused as the hotheaded blonde rider began to calm down. "Can't we all just sit down and enjoy a nice, peaceful meal for once?"

Cody felt somewhat ashamed for his behavior. He nodded his head and took his seat. "Sorry, Teaspoon…fellas."

The others felt pretty bad themselves as well. They've all had similar feelings for someone else before, and they knew it wasn't always easy to deal with them. It wasn't fair for them to make matters worse for Cody with their constant teasing and taunting.

Jimmy especially recalled that it was not too long ago that he was in Cody's shoes and the woman of his desire was Sarah Downs. He laughed to himself when he thought back to the time he had walked into the bunkhouse only to find that the other riders, Teaspoon, and even Emma were innocently mocking him with flowers and devilish grins. Jimmy's mood darkened slightly, though, when he began to hope that Cody would not experience the heartache that he had when he realized Sarah had betrayed him by attempting to frame him for murder. Though the short affair ended badly for Jimmy and left him somewhat embittered, he later became thankful for the closeness it brought him and Lou.

"We're sorry, too, Cody," Jimmy voiced for all of the riders. "It's just that you looked so silly back in town--"

Jimmy's 'apology' was cut short when Lou jabbed him in the side with her elbow causing him to wince in pain. Lou knew that maybe Jimmy didn't realize that what he was starting to say would have ended up riling Cody once again.

"What he means to say," Lou continued for Jimmy, "is that we know it ain't easy not to get nervous when you talk to someone you have feelin's for. But if ya like someone enough, ya gotta keep tryin', and then it'll get easier."

Cody appreciated Lou's word a lot. They were heartfelt and honest, and he knew that she was right. If he wanted to get anywhere with Caroline Harding, he would have to make an attempt to get to know her better in an environment where he felt more comfortable.

"Hey, Emma?" Cody called out.

"Yes, Billy?" she acknowledged.

"Do you think I could invite Caroline over for supper sometime?"

"Why, Billy, I think that's a great idea," Emma smiled. "She must be new in town, so I'm sure she'll appreciate the opportunity to meet some of the people…especially a group of fine-lookin' boys such as yourselves," she teased slightly, sending a wink over to Cody.

"Great! How 'bout tomorrow?" Cody asked eagerly.

"I s'pose tomorrow would be alright," responded Emma.

"I'll go over to the hotel where she's stayin' first thing in the mornin' and ask."

Cody was getting more and more excited by the minute. He couldn't wait to see Caroline again. But at the same time, Cody remembered how bad of an impression he had made earlier in town, and he was afraid that maybe she wouldn't want to have anything to do with him after the way he had so rudely bumped into her. But then she did smile at him. Oh, I'll just have to get up the nerve to ask her, Cody thought. Then his confidence suddenly began to grow a bit. Besides, who could resist the charm of William F. Cody?

William Cody was awake unusually early the next morning. He wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to prepare himself for his trip into town so he could ask Caroline Harding to supper at the way station.

While the rest of the riders were still asleep, Cody spent nearly a half an hour primping in front of the tiny mirror that hung on the wall of bunkhouse. After making sure his clothes and attire looked their finest, he moved on to his hair. He couldn't decide whether he should part it on the right or the left. Maybe no part at all, just comb the hair straight back, he considered. In the end, though, and after many frustrated attempts at combing his blond locks, he decided that he would just wear his hat and when he removed it, his hair would be in complete disarray anyway, so it didn't really matter.

After deciding to himself that he was the image of perfection, Cody strapped on his gun, picked up his hat, quietly sneaked out of the bunkhouse, and went to the barn to get his horse.

Cody made it into Sweetwater in record time. He pulled his horse to a halt right outside the hotel where he had last seen the gorgeous Miss Caroline Harding headed. He entered through the main foyer and approached the reception desk where a portly little man was busy tending to the bookkeeping.

"Excuse me, Mister," Cody began, "I was wondering if you could tell me what room Miss Caroline Harding is staying in? I believe she checked in just yesterday."

The clerk raised his eyes from his books and looked at Cody. "Uh, yes. Let me just check the registry log. You know, if you want, you can leave a message here for her and I'll make sure she gets it. It's still pretty early, and some folks like to sleep in."

"If it's all the same, I'd like to go and talk to her myself," Cody replied.

"Alright, then. Just a minute." The clerk then reached into a drawer and pulled out a leather-covered book with gold lettering on the front that read 'Hotel Log'. He turned to the page dated the day before and moved his finger down the page until he came to the correct name. "Here it is. Caroline Harding, room 110." The clerk smiled and glanced back up at Cody. "Just go down the hall, and it's on your left."

Cody tipped his hat. "I'm much obliged." With that, he turned the corner and started down the hallway, checking each door for the number 110.

After passing several doors, he finally came to the room where Caroline was staying. He quickly straightened himself, dusted off his clothes, took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it out, and cleared his throat in preparation for asking her over to dine with him. He even had a little speech that he had rehearsed repeating through his mind. Cody had already messed up their first meeting, and he felt that he absolutely needed to get this one right.

Cody let out one last sigh before he raised his hand, made a fist, and knocked boldly on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

Cody waited for a few moments, but there was no answer. Maybe it wasn't loud enough, he thought. He went for it again, only this time he pounded much louder.

Knock, knock, knock.

Some more time passed, and Cody was about to give up all hope when the door finally swung open with Caroline standing just inside the doorway, still in her nightgown.

Suddenly, Cody froze. There Caroline was in front of him, rubbing her tired eyes with hands as she had just woken up with a start by Cody's rapping on the door. When she finally realized that someone was at the door, and it was a man, no less, she remembered her modesty and began clutching at the robe that was haphazardly thrown over her white satin nightgown in an attempt to cover her bare neck.

"Who are you?" She asked with much caution present in her voice. "And what are you doing here?"

Caroline's face was taut, her lips tightly pressed together, her eyes as cold as ice. This was definitely not the kind of welcome that Cody had expected. His face fell as he realized that he had awoken her, and that she did not recall who he was. He now felt extremely awkward, even more so than he had during their first meeting, when he had carelessly bumped into her, causing her to drop the luggage she was carrying.

Finally, Cody mustered up some words. "It's me, Caroline…William F. Cody." He looked at her to see if the stone expression on her face had changed. It hadn't. So, he began again, "I bumped into you on the street yesterday mornin'…accidentally, of course."

Caroline's face began to soften a bit as the recollection of the clumsy young man began to flood her memory. However, the lovely smile and gleaming eyes that Cody had been so captured by the previous day still failed to surface. "Oh, yes, I do remember you. Well, what is it? What do you want?"

Cody's pre-rehearsed speech was suddenly lost as his nervousness returned. "Oh, well, I figured you bein' new in Sweetwater that you might not have had the chance to meet many of the town folks yet. And…and I came by to see if you would like to…meet some of the folks here, that is."

Cody found himself stumbling over his words more than ever now. Caroline merely looked at him, trying to decipher exactly what it was that he was saying to her in such a long-winded and confusing manner.

Cody realized that he must sound like a babbling dolt to Caroline. So, he paused for a moment and took a deep breath as he began to make a second attempt at asking the young woman over for supper.

"Actually…what I'm tryin' to say is…would you like to join me and my friends for supper tonight?"

Caroline stood silent for what seemed to Cody to be for eons. Then, she finally cracked a slight smile and answered, "Yes, that sounds lovely. I'd be happy to join you for supper."

The blonde rider could hardly contain the sheer pleasure and excitement he felt when he heard Caroline accept his invitation. Once again, though, he got ahead of himself when he said, "Then I'll see you tonight. Goodbye…Caroline."

Cody was already halfway down the hall when he heard a voice call after him. "Mr. Cody?"

Cody stopped and cringed to himself as he remembered that he had forgotten to tell Caroline where and when she would be eating dinner. He slowly turned around and walked back toward Caroline's room, not really wanting to face the woman who had such an uncanny ability to make William F. Cody turn into such a blundering fool. All she had to do was smile at him, and he was completely gone.

Cody brought his eyes up to meet Caroline's and replied sheepishly, "Sorry, I almost forgot. I'll be by here around seven to pick you up for supper."

A full smile now on her lips, Caroline nodded, "Alright. I'll see you then."

With that, Caroline closed the door of her room leaving Cody standing alone in the hotel hallway.

To Be Continued…Chapter 4