By Joanna Phillips
It was very early the next morning when the boys rode up to William's station. The stationmaster came out to greet them with a rifle, looking fierce.
"Sorry Teaspoon," Tom Harris said in apology, lowering the gun, "You can't be too careful with the Indian trouble…" His voice broke off as he realized that two of Teaspoon's riders had fallen prey to the Indian trouble he spoke of. "Sorry," He mumbled again.
Buck's sharp eyes had already scouted the station. "Jimmy and Lou's horses are in that corral."
The others looked to find the black horse and the palomino. They looked stricken, but Teaspoon took it as a good sign, "Well, we know they both made it at least this far."
Tom nodded, "Yeah, Lou came through here like there was a prairie fire on his tail. I tried to warn him of the trouble, but he wouldn't listen, said he had to make the Redfern station by sunset. And then when Hickok came through here and found that Lou had ridden on, I couldn't keep him back either. Fools, both of them."
Teaspoon shook his head, "No, they ain't fools, but they sure are acting like it…or were acting like it," He said sadly. Then he turned back to Tom, "Can you keep those two horses for a while longer?"
Tom nodded, "Yeah, I'll keep 'em here, and won't let nobody else ride 'em."
Teaspoon tipped his hat in thanks, and motioned to the boys, "Come on, boys, don't look so down and out. They could be sitting at Redfern with their boots propped up."
The others looked doubtful. Jimmy and Lou would have tried to make it home long before now if they had been able to.
But they dared to hope Teaspoon was right as they rode for the station. Much like the scene at William's station, Joe greeted them from behind a shotgun barrel.
He apologized.
"Joe, are Lou and Jimmy here?"
He scratched his head, trying to figure out a way to break the news to him.
"Don't know nothing about Hickok, but Lou insisted on continuing on his run. Took out a green horse the night of that bad storm Horse came back here early the next morning. Looked like he'd had a good run, all covered in mud…We ain't seen nothing of Lou since, but one thing's for sure. That horse put up a damn good fight to get him off, or something else did."
Wordlessly Kid wheeled Katy and galloped away as fast as she could carry him. Teaspoon nodded to the surprised Cody, Noah, Ike, and Buck, and they followed him while Teaspoon made his excuses with a heavy heart.
Kid stopped Katy about a mile from the station and flung himself off Katy. He walked on unsteady knees for a few feet, then collapsed on his knees.
The others rode up in time to hear him scream her name, piercing the quiet Western twilight.
"LOU!"
Cody reached him first, crouching down beside him and putting a brotherly arm around his shoulders.
Kid pulled away as if he'd been burned, and getting up, started blindly running away.
It wasn't long before his legs gave out again, and he fell face down in the dirt. He didn't try to get up and his hands clutched at the rocks and dust. His whole body heaved as he sobbed and clawed at the ground until his fingers were raw.
And all he said, even as Cody and Noah gently picked him up under the arms and carried him back to the horses, was her name over and over.
"Lou, no, no, no, Lou…"
"No Lou, not like that!" Raven Wing corrected her gently, laughing at her efforts to learn to weave.
"Damn it!" Lou swore softly, pricking herself with the sharp needle. She sucked her finger and sighed, looking at her only woman friend in the camp, "I'm afraid I've never been very domestic."
"Jimmy does not seem to mind too bad. He's only complained once about your cooking!" Raven Wing laughed again.
"Glad I can provide you with amusement," Lou muttered, holding back a grin.
Raven Wing leaned into her shoulder and placed an arm around her, squeezing her in a hug, "You are amusing! I am glad to have you here!"
Lou rolled her eyes, but let her smile break through. Raven Wing was a beautiful, vibrant person, and it was impossible to mope for too long around her.
She and Jimmy had now been with the Sioux for a week. Lou had slowly grown used to the idea, and no longer cried herself to sleep every night. She avoided thinking about Kid at all, and instead turned her efforts to learning to do her chores. Jimmy often was invited to ride with the hunting party, and his skill with a gun had made him quite popular.
A slight smile crossed her face as she thought of Jimmy. They'd grown so very close, relying heavily on one another to make it through this whole ordeal. Lou often felt her heart skip with excitement when she saw him ride up on the appaloosa horse Curly had found for him to use. At night, over whatever concoction Lou had tried to make edible, they talked and laughed about what each had learned that day. They were absurdly out of place with the Indians, and they knew it.
As she thought about him, she heard hoof beats. She smiled and looked up to see Jimmy pull his horse up near their tee pee.
"I'm over here!" She called out, and he trotted the horse over.
"Come on," He told her, extending his hand to her and removing his foot from the stirrup of the primitive Indian saddle.
When Lou's eyes brimmed with hope, he knew he'd made a mistake. She thought they were going home, and for the first time in a few days, he remembered where her heart still was.
"Thought you'd better ride a little so you don't fall off your horse when we go home," He said with an apologetic smile.
Lou looked away quickly to hide her disappointment, then smiled bravely at him, "If I was off a horse for fifty years, I could still outride you!"
"Is that a challenge?" Jimmy asked with raised eyebrow.
"Yep."
Jimmy laughed. Then he leaned down and swooped her up, sitting her sideways on the saddle in front of him. She squealed in surprise and then delight as he kicked the horse into a gallop.
Raven Wing laughed as they disappeared, heading for the open meadow. They were different that she thought white men and women would be. They seemed to feel and to love on a much deeper level, like the Sioux.
"Hey! Give that back!" Jimmy cried as Lou seized his black hat and jumped off the horse.
She laughed at him and placed the hat on her own head. It fell over her eyes. She tilted her head back to study him. Her eyes could still barely be seen.
"Looks better on me!" She laughed, then grew serious and held it out to him, "Here you go."
But when Jimmy reached down to take it back, Lou giggled wildly and snatched it away from him, taking off across the grass on foot.
Laughing, Jimmy got off the horse and chased her. Finally he stopped, winded. She paused, not far from him, her eyes sparkling. She held out the hat.
"Keep it!" He wheezed and collapsed flat on his back in the thick grass.
In a moment she came to sit beside him, tossing the hat on his chest. She lay down on her side, and propped up on one elbow, watching him. Jimmy's square jaw was set, but a grin eventually turned up the corners of his mouth.
Jimmy's eyes were closed, but he could feel her intense stare on him.
"What?" He demanded with feigned impatience.
"Just wondering what you are thinking about," Lou said quietly.
He opened one eye to squint at her. Her hair was tousled, and her cheeks flushed. Her eyes were brighter than he'd seen them since she and Kid had broken it off. For the first time in a long time, she looked completely happy. Impulsively he reached out to ruffle her hair.
Jimmy shrugged, "Actually I was thinking about a lot of things. Mainly that its nice that no one here knows about who I am."
"You mean Wild Bill?" Lou wondered bluntly.
"Yeah."
"That's not who you are Jimmy. They do know who you are. What they don't know is what other people have made you out to be!" She spoke with conviction, "You know that don't you?"
Jimmy opened both his eyes to look at her. She had leaned close to him and put a hand on his arm. Her eyes were gentle and clear…and beautiful, Jimmy realized with a jolt.
"Aw, Lou, I made some bad choices. I gave people a reason to believe everything about me."
"Jimmy, you never hurt anyone on purpose! You never had a choice," Lou said softly, taking her hand away, and laying her head down on her arm.
"There's always a choice Lou," Jimmy argued.
Lou shook her head, "You can sit there and tell me all day that you are like they all want you to be, but I know you, Jimmy! And I like the man I know. I ain't gonna argue with you."
Jimmy shrugged uncomfortably.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and both Lou and Jimmy sat up. Dark clouds were rolling in fast. They looked purple-black against the mountains. A streak of lightning escaped one far off.
"Might be another bad one," Lou said softly, and shivered slightly as she remembered the horrible storm the night she'd been thrown.
"We should get back. It won't wait very long to hit," Jimmy commented and stood up. He reached for Lou's hand, and she gave it to him. He pulled her up.
His eyes caught a movement not far away. He caught sight of a figure ducking behind a tree from over Lou's head.
"Dark Wolf," He muttered, and reached to grab Lou's arms, preventing her from turning around, "Don't look. He's spying on us!"
"What does he think he'll see?" Lou wondered angrily.
"He thinks he'll see nothing. Curly told me that he has been putting the idea in everyone's head that you aren't really 'my woman'. I guess he expects to prove it."
"That would be bad," Lou said softly, and met his eyes evenly, "What do we do?"
Jimmy smiled mischievously, "This…"
Lou's eyes were wide when Jimmy leaned down to kiss her. Jimmy felt her start to fight, but then seemingly accept that it was part of a show.
But in a moment, they both forgot all about Dark Wolf, the coming storm, and the whole Sioux nation. And as that dawned on both of them, they became frightened of that feeling. Lou pulled away first, and touched her flaming cheeks.
"Jimmy?" She started in a trembling voice, looking into his eyes.
"I know Lou," He answered back, slowly removing his arms from around her.
"What do we do?" She whispered, her heart and mind in turmoil.
"Nothing," Jimmy said quickly, "We don't do nothing!"
But, he realized, it was too late for that. *
They didn't say a word on the ride back to camp, but each had a million thoughts flying.
Lou told herself over and over it had been a show, a way to throw Dark Wolf off their trail. But Jimmy's kiss had been more than that, she knew, and she hadn't been sorry. Kid had seized to exist in those moments, all they had ever had together had disappeared. Most damning of all, was the fact that even knowing this she'd returned his kiss fully.
Jimmy felt the lead weight of guilt settle over him. Guilt because he'd thought about kissing her long before Dark Wolf had come along, guilt because he was here with her and Kid wasn't, guilt because he knew that she still pined for Kid and was at her most vulnerable. But most of all guilt because he'd knowingly thrown all that to the winds just to kiss her once.
And that had taken him to a place he wasn't sure he could find his way back from… *
Lou quietly went about preparing for dinner, while Jimmy went to the creek to fetch some water. They avoided the other's eyes for most of the silent meal when finally Lou set down her small clay bowl and sighed.
"This isn't going to work. We can't keep avoiding each other."
"I know, I was thinking the same thing," Jimmy agreed, "I'm sorry Lou, I shouldn't have done that. I just thought it would end Dark Wolf's prying once and for all!"
Thunder rumbled outside, almost like an evil omen of how wrong Jimmy was.
"I'm sure it did," Lou said, though she shuddered visibly.
They met the others eyes, wondering if they should delve further into the issue, if they should bring up the fact that Dark Wolf had little to do with how long the kiss had actually lasted.
Then, mutually, they agreed to let it go.
"Sounds like a bad storm," Jimmy pointed out, changing the subject.
Once again they were at ease with each other. It was living with themselves that was going to be the problem.
The storm outside grew worse, and the rains came down. Jimmy watched the entrance to the tee pee for water, but amazingly, none found its way in.
"Told you I could build a good tee pee," He pointed out.
Lou rolled her eyes and wrapped her blanket around her more tightly, "Sounds like there is a lot of activity outside."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than did Curly stick his light brown head in the flap. Lou screamed and jumped back, and Jimmy dove for his gun.
"Curly, ain't you never heard of announcing yourself?" Jimmy demanded, putting his gun back.
"I am here," He announced, agreeably.
"What do you want?" Jimmy asked, grinning at his friend.
"Thought you might like to know that if you do not tie down this tee pee, it will blow away, with you inside," He said calmly.
"Lou stay here, I'll go do it. Then I'm going to go see if anyone else needs help."
"You don't want me to go?" She asked, though in reality she preferred to stay. Storms weren't at the top of her list of favorite things at the moment.
"No, stay in here. I'll be back," He promised.
"Careful, Jimmy," She said softly.
Jimmy found that the storm was much worse than he thought. The creek was rising quickly, though Curly assured him it would not get as high as their lodgings. After he and Curly helped each other tie their homes down, they set off to help other members of the tribe do the same.
Lighting flashed dangerously above their heads, and thunder nearly split their ears. *
Lou jumped as thunder crashed overhead again. She stood up in the tee pee and moved about uneasily, tiding up what little they had, Jimmy's saddle, saddle bags, and bedroll, and the blanket and clay pots Raven Wing had found them. They wouldn't have had half that if the Indians hadn't found Jimmy's horse the night they were caught.
Suddenly a sound outside caused her to jump, the sound of a twig snapping. Someone was close by.
"Raven Wing?" Lou called softly, wrapping her arms around herself.
There was no answer. Lou tried to tell herself she was hearing things, but the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Unable to just sit and wait any longer, Lou pulled back the flap and stepped outside into the pouring rain.
She looked around and saw nothing in the blackness. Still she felt something or someone near by, watching her. She strained her eyes to no avail, and then sighing, turned to go back into the tee pee.
But as she turned around lightning flashed and she gasped. Dark Wolf stood, perfectly motionless, not three feet from her.
They both sprang into action at the same time. Lou screamed and headed for Raven Wing's tee pee. She could hear Dark Wolf's moccasins slipping in the mud behind her. He laughed wildly at her, hurling words of insult in Lakota.
Lou didn't announce herself but flung herself though the opening, into the sanctuary Raven Wing would provide for her.
Much too late, she realized that Raven Wing was not inside. She spun around to flee, but Dark Wolf stood motionless in the opening, watching her calmly. His eyes were a terrible black, and the lines on his striking face were hard and unyielding.
Lou pulled herself up to her inadequate height and stared at him defiantly.
"Leave!" She growled, though she knew he didn't speak English.
He was as still as a statue. Not one muscle twitched, not one eye blinked.
Thunder roared over head. Lou jumped and Dark Wolf laughed at her.
Lou knew she must get out of the tee pee. She also knew the only way out was through the tall man in front of her.
Without a sound to warn him, she suddenly charged at him, but she might have been charging a brick wall. He did not move at all. On the other hand, she bounced off him hard and landed uncomfortably near the fire, burning the inside of one of her arms.
She yelped in pain.
Then she glanced up and saw that he had pulled out his knife and was slowly advancing toward her.
Lou kicked it out of his hand in one swift motion and dove for it. Dark Wolf was instantly on top of her. They struggled for it briefly, but Dark Wolf was stronger than two men and soon ripped it from her hand.
Lou found herself in a much worse predicament than before. Now she was pinned under his greater weight and he held a knife to her scalp. Lou knew that he wouldn't kill her, but she wasn't sure of much else.
Whatever she was going to do, she had to do it fast, because any small chance she had of escaping was slowly vanishing.
With a burst of strength, she shifted her weight hard, and to her surprise Dark Wolf was caught off guard. He rolled off her.
And into the fire in the middle of the tee pee.
If Lou lived to be two hundred years old, she would never forget the screams that escaped him, nor the smell of burning flesh.
He reached out to grab her arm, determined that she would pay…
To Be Continued! On to CHAPTER VII
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
To the Way Station
To the Fan Fiction Page