Chapter XIV
By Joanna Phillips
Cody cast another nervous glance at the back of the wagon, where Kid occasionally muttered and stirred, but still did not gain consciousness.
"You're gonna raise some hell when you wake up, my friend," Cody muttered, as he pulled into the drive of the old hotel. His chest had a hollow feeling as he tried to come to terms with the fact that they'd left Jimmy behind.
Lou gently pulled the curtain away from the window as she heard the rumbling down on the drive. Her heart fell as she saw two figures in the wagon…the same two figures that she watched drive away with the last stirrings of hope in her heart that morning.
She wondered why Jimmy was sprawled in the back of the wagon, but sighed and let the curtain fall, returning to her bed and falling upon it, finding herself out of tears. In seconds, she drifted into the sleep of pure depression and exhaustion.
"That bastard!" Kid growled, pacing the tiny room with the fury of a mustang who woke up and found himself in a corral, "Who does he think he is?"
"Your friend, Kid!" Cody snapped back, from his calm position on the bed in the hotel room, "Do you realize what he's done for you and Lou?"
"Once again, there he goes poking his nose into my business!" Kid ranted, but he was obviously weakening from the exertion, "He's really gone too far this time!"
"Sit down, and shut up before you fall over," Cody finally snapped at him, leaning forward and putting his head in his palms, "Kid, I swear if you weren't so sick I'd hurt you right now! What is wrong with you? You are out of that hell hole! You can take care of Lou now! Hell, Kid, did you forget about her? You haven't even asked where she is or if you can see her!"
"Because I ain't going to see her! I'm going back! I can't let Jimmy do this! It's my responsibility to…"
"Your responsibility is to Lou! Get that through your thick stubborn skull!" Cody shouted suddenly, standing up.
"She almost died to save you Kid. I found her with a group of deserters that would have slit her throat when they were done with her, because she traveled across the country to find help for you! Do you hear me?"
Kid looked up, his eyes wide, "They didn't hurt her, did they?"
"Well, Kid, they beat her up and scared her to death, but they didn't hurt her badly physically. We all tried to keep your whereabouts from her , but she found out one day, and she was going to strike out after you alone. She shamed us all. She kept going when we were all so tired we could have died. She's the most remarkable woman in the world Kid, and she's gone through hell and high water to get to you. And she needs you now, and you need her. And you're going to stay with her if I have to tie you down."
Kid's eyes filled up with tears at the onslaught of shame that suddenly washed over him.
Slowly, he edged himself on the bed, and bent at the waist, his shoulders heaving in giant sobs.
"Go see her, Kid. She's waiting for you," Cody finally said gently, and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I can't let Jimmy do this…" Kid began brokenly, "and I can't get her hopes up!"
"Jimmy already did it, and you're not getting her hopes up. You're fulfilling them," Cody suddenly pressed something in his hand and Kid opened his palm to look at a key, "Lou's two doors down. Go see your wife, Kid."
Kid took a ragged breath and dried his eyes, before pushing himself up slowly and walking unsteadily for the door.
Kid eased into the room and his eyes softened when he spotted Lou's small form curled on the bed. She was facing him, and her arms were curved protectively around her rounded abdomen.
Kid crossed the room and felt a surge of protectiveness more powerful than anything he'd ever felt wash through every vein in his body. On the bed lay his whole future, his whole life, and suddenly any cause he'd ever known took a step back in his mind. He still loved his home with a very important part of his being, but every fiber in his body pulled toward this tiny, beautiful woman that had ridden through a war zone to save his life, and who demanded nothing more from him than she would willingly give.
His lips trembled lightly with emotion as he eased himself down next to her. His dirty hand was quite a contrast to the whiteness of the sheet and the paleness of her face. The months had been hard on her, he thought, hell, the years had been hard on her. He'd make it up to her, he decided.
Lou jerked slightly but then quieted and murmured softly in her sleep as she felt soothing hands stroking her hair slowly. Those hands know me, she thought from behind her veil of grogginess, I must be dreaming.
The expert, familiar touched continued, threading through her long auburn hair and stroking her neck softly. Lou moaned softly with pleasure at the soothing touch, before she remembered her surroundings and jerked awake.
Kid was almost as startled to suddenly have her piercing eyes boring into his as she was to find her husband sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Kid!" She gasped, "When did you…what happened?" She murmured, not sure if she should still be angry at him or not.
"Jimmy took my place in the camp. Lou, I'm such a fool."
"What? Jimmy's in Point Lookout now? Why?" Lou suddenly came fully awake at the alarming news.
"He knocked me out, then him and Cody switched our clothes and Cody carried me out."
"That fool," Lou said softly, then turned her large eyes on Kid. He was troubled with the wounded, scared look in them, "And you, Kid. Are you staying?"
Kid felt tears prick his own eyes as he watched Lou bravely fighting hers. Slowly, he leaned down to kiss her very gently, thrilling at the feel of her small arms encircling his neck.
He met her eyes, now luminous with hope, and looked deeply into them
"I'm never going anywhere without you again, Lou. I swear it."
"Not even if the South needs you?" Lou asked, no bitterness in her voice, only trepidation and a demand for honesty.
"Not even if Virginia crumbles and falls into the Chesapeake Bay, sweetheart."
Lou felt tears rise in her eyes and she choked back a sob as she wrapped her arms around her husband and allowed herself to be held tightly.
Her eyes soon searched the ceiling as the full impact of what had happened hit her. Jimmy was in the prison, and he'd done it for her.
Jimmy would have to be blind not to notice the hostile glare of one particular prisoner in the corner of the tent. Jimmy did his best to avoid anyone's eyes and not cause any trouble all day, but time and time again, he found the slightly older man with the suspicious brown eyes looking his way.
Again, he averted his stare, and instead got up and left the tent, thirsty.
He was bending down to take a drink out of the water barrel when suddenly a hand from somewhere behind him forced his head below the surface of the water.
Caught off guard, Jimmy inhaled a lung full of liquid before he realized what was happening. Finally, he managed to catch his attacker squarely in the shin with his boot, and he surfaced, coughing and gasping for air.
"What the hell?" Jimmy demanded, spinning with his fists clenched to see the man who'd been staring so malevolently all day.
The man didn't answer but rushed him, sending both of them sprawling into the mud, with Jimmy on the bottom.
"You think it's funny? You like to steal from dying men? What did you do, take the clothes off his back while he was unconscious? Or did you kill him, then do it?" The man raged, his face inches from Jimmy.
Jimmy finally succeeded in rolling the weaker man from him, and sitting up, pinning him down with one arm to prevent him from taking any more swings.
"You know Kid, right?" Jimmy finally gasped out, struggling to get his breath back after the hard tackle, "Listen here, you fool! Kid's out! He's safe! I took his place. So if you'll kindly shut up and not draw the guard's attention, I'd appreciate it!"
"You expect me to believe that?" the stranger growled, "Who would willingly come into here for someone else?"
"That someone else's best friend, who had his life saved more than once by him," Jimmy replied quietly, then added in his head, the man in love with the woman who longed to see him, that's who.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
"James Hickok. Friends call me Jimmy. I guess that means you can call me James."
He glared, "How was I supposed to know you didn't beat him up and take his clothes? How do I know you didn't still?"
Jimmy glanced at the panting man "You got a name?"
"Marty. Kid is a friend of mine. In fact, I'm gonna be his partner out west after the war's over."
"That so?" Jimmy wondered, slightly amused.
"That's so. I saved his life, you see. Course, I think what you did might win out. If he gave me half of his ranch for just pulling him out of a riot, I can't guess what he'll give you," Marty laughed suddenly, and Jimmy finally caught a glimpse of something besides a bitter, angry man, "Probably give you his wife!"
Marty howled with laughter at the joke, missing the dark, painful, and almost hopeful flash that ran through Jimmy's eyes.
"Probably give me a fat lip, to tell you the truth," Jimmy reasoned, "he didn't want to leave, you know."
"Stupid sometimes, ain't he?" Marty smiled.
"More times than I can count," Jimmy replied.
"Well, it's a heck of a thing you did for him," Marty said, and stuck his hand out, "Welcome to Point Lookout."
"That's a hell of a way to welcome a man anywhere," Jimmy muttered, touching his newly cut, and now soaking wet, hair.
"Trust me, it just gets worse," Marty said, with a surface lightness that only seemed to add to his meaning.
"Can't wait," Jimmy muttered, picking himself out of the mud and attempting to brush off clothes that had lost their last clean spot months ago.
Lou bit her bottom lip nervously. She'd done many foolish things in her life, but this quite possibly took the cake. Her hands trembled slightly, not from the cold of the winter night, but from the anxiety running through her blood.
It was early in the morning. She probably had a good hour before dawn. A week had passed since Kid had come to the hotel, and he'd been bedridden. He slept long hours and they had to force food down his throat. The earlier part of the week he'd run a high fever, and she and Cody had doubted he would survive.
As always, Kid surprised them, and was slowly recovering, although it would be months, and possibly even years before he gained his old strength back. They hadn't been able to seek the help of a doctor, either, because there was no way to tell who could be trusted to not turn Kid over to the authorities.
Teaspoon and Buck had yet to make it from Washington D.C. Cody was developing a bad feeling about what could have happened to them. They needed papers to get Jimmy out, and they needed Buck's expert healing hands to go to work on Kid. Lou and Cody had long arguments in the last few days concerning Jimmy. Lou was bound and determined to get him out of the camp, while Cody wanted to wait on Teaspoon and the papers he was sure the man could somehow secure.
Last night, after a particularly heated argument, Lou had given up on trying to convince Cody to go to the prison and plead Jimmy's case. Instead, she'd woken up at three in the morning and dressed warmly, waking the older stable hand and demanding to have her wagon. She would tolerate no questions from the older man who insisted it was far too dangerous for her to be travelling at night, especially given her condition. It was the first time anyone had noticed her pregnancy, and Lou knew soon she must settle down somewhere for the remainder of her pregnancy. But, she thought, it could not be here, with her husband a fugitive not five miles from his place of imprisonment. They had to move on soon, but not without Jimmy.
Dawn was just starting to make gray streaks across the sky when Lou drove the old mule into sight of the camp. The smell of the men affected her less this time, although her stomach did lurch violently.
"I need to speak to Jonathan Monroe," she informed the guard coolly, not daring to breath through her nose, "He is expecting me."
"Wait here," The guard barked at her, obviously not pleased to have to climb out of his tower to seek permission to let her in.
While he was gone Lou quickly made sure her gun was securely tucked into her petticoat. She still had no idea how she was going to get Jimmy out, but she prayed to God it would be with Jonathan Monroe's help.
"Please let me have judged him right. Please let him be a good man!" She said aloud.
"This way, Miss," the guard said, "Mr. Monroe is busy, but the warden has agreed to see you."
"No!" Lou said aloud before she could stop herself. When the guard threw her a curious glance she continued, "You see, Mr. Monroe is an old friend of our family, and I was hoping to see him."
"The warden will decide if you may see him."
Lou felt dread settle in the pit of her stomach. She felt certain her feet were growing heavier, and all around her she could see the starving, dirty, sore-ridden bodies of the prisoners in the infirmary.
Lou was nonetheless obedient as the guard led her into a different part of the barracks than where they'd been previously. It was cleaner. The office they finally entered was well furnished. A fire roared in a marble fireplace, and the dark mahogany furniture gave the room a warm, earthy feel. It was odd to find such luxury in the face of such shortage and need.
The man sitting at the desk wasn't as old as he looked, but his balding head and soft flesh added years. He glanced up and pointed a stubby finger at a chair for her to sit in.
"Leave us," the man told Lou's escort, and Lou glanced uneasily at the warden as he returned to his paper work while the guard exited.
"What do you want?" The man growled finally, sighing with boredom, "Have you come to plead the case of a husband or a lover? A brother perhaps?"
Lou was taken aback by his coldness, and rendered speechless, so the warden continued, "Shouldn't a woman in your condition hide herself?"
Lou's cheeks flamed with shame, "You've really no reason to speak to me so," she snapped indignantly, "I'm a United States Citizen, and I support the Union."
"All the women who want to get their men out usually do."
"I'm not here to see you, I'm here to see Jonathan Monroe," Lou finally growled, "I find his manners infinitely preferable to yours!"
"Don't put on your lady-of-the-manor act for me, my dear," The warden suddenly said, "I won't have any high and mighty southern belles waltzing in here!"
"I'm not a southerner, and neither is the man whose case I've come to plead!"
"Never are," the warden repeated.
"You will at least hear me out!" Lou finally shouted.
The warden slammed his hand upon his desk and stood up, looking Lou in the eye for the first time, "You will not give me orders, lady!" His face was blood red, and Lou pushed herself against the back of the large chair involuntarily, afraid of him.
"That's not the way to get what you want, you know," he said quietly, and Lou didn't like the tone of his voice or the look in his eyes.
She swallowed hard and persisted all the same, "What is the way to get what I want?"
He chuckled and scratched his shaved chin, coming around to lean on the desk inches in front of her. Lou had to tilt her head back a long way to meet his eyes, and she fought the urge to stand up.
"Depends on how bad you want this fellow out of prison," the warden said quietly, watching her face for outrage or fear.
Lou disclosed neither although her heart slammed against the wall of her chest and her blood boiled.
"I'm prepared to offer a large sum of money," Lou stated quietly, looking innocently from underneath her lashes.
"I'm already a rich man. How do you think I bought myself this post instead of being thrown onto a battle field?"
"Then what is your price?" Lou said, already knowing his answer.
"I find you very attractive…"
"I find you repulsive. I am not only married, but expecting a child!"
"I won't tell if you won't," he laughed, "Just a bit of your time and you can see the man in those stockyards of your choice walk free."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Lou demanded, feeling she might be sick at what she was about to do.
"How do I know I can trust you?" The warden asked.
"Because I'll do anything I have to in order to get him out of here," Lou said, and felt tears touch her eyes despite her attempts to control them. Weakness was something this kind of man relished.
"Even sell your soul?" The warden asked, "You must fancy yourself in love with him!"
"That's none of your concern. But either way, until I have the paper in my hand concerning his release, I'll not take your word that he'll go free."
"Papers can be easily ripped up, lady," The warden warned her, "but very well."
Lou could see the excitement on his face as his trembling hand scratched out the order to release Kid McCloud…in effect, Jimmy. He thrust the paper into her hand and moved around the desk.
"Now, my dear, it is your turn."
Lou batted her eyes in the same guileless manner she'd been using since she met this horrible man, and whispered, "Could you please turn your back? I am a lady, after all."
The warden roared with laughter, but Lou played the part of the modest lady convincingly, although the blush that crept up her cheeks and across her neck was the real thing.
Once his back was turned, Lou's hands flew to her waistband where she quickly drew the gun. In two small steps she had the steel rammed into the man's shoulder blades. Her hands trembled with rage.
"Let me remind you that my situation is very desperate, and I will not hesitate to kill you if you make one sound, you swine. How many other women have you taken advantage of right here and then refused to let their men go anyway? I have half a mind to kill you."
"You do and twelve guards will be here within the minute."
"I told you, I'm a desperate woman. Do you think I'll bother to reason?"
"What do you want?" The warden finally demanded, growing uneasy with the furious woman behind him.
"Sit down in your chair and make yourself comfortable. I'm sure your guards outside will be expecting you to be in here with me for quite some time! One sound and I kill you, and the first five guards through the door." "You really think you're gonna be able to bust someone out of here by yourself? You, a pregnant whore?"
"See, assuming I was a whore was what got you into trouble in the first place!" Lou said, unruffled, "And no, I'm not going to have to bust him out…you've already given him the walking papers, remember?"
"The second you leave my side, I'll scream bloody murder!" The warden promised.
"What makes you think you'll be alive to do that?" Lou whispered suddenly, as she drew a piece of cloth over his mouth and gagged him, preventing his shrieks of terror when she pulled out a long, sharp pair of scissors from his desk.
"I told you, I'll do anything to get my friend out of here," Lou said, with a reckless glint in her eyes, "Anything but what you wanted."
To Be Continued...Chapter XV
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
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