Chapter VII
By Joanna Phillips
Kid took a deep breath as he let himself into the hall. He hated confrontations with Jimmy, but lately they grew more and more frequent, and neither of them seemed to be able to stop it. He slowly walked back to his room, and was surprised to find Lou leaning in the doorway.
"You had another fight with him, didn't you?" she wondered, with large, wounded eyes. Kid knew it killed her seeing them slowly grow apart. It seemed they differed on almost everything lately, and more often than not, she found herself in the middle of it.
Kid shrugged, "It will be all right, Lou," he promised. He walked to her and took her into his arms, kissing her forehead.
She pulled away, and wordlessly went back into the room, looking a little betrayed and a lot worried.
Jimmy sat just as Kid had left him, motionless. His mind whirled. Kid was just jumping to conclusions, he thought, but he knew his best friend's judgement too well for that. Could Callie have murdered her boss and started the fire? Why would she? Surely she knew that everyone would recognize the killing as self defense…Unless it wasn't self defense after all!
Jimmy suddenly squared his jaw and stood up, grabbing the picture frame. He walked briskly out of his room and down the hall to where Callie slept. Just before he opened her door, something at the other end of the hall caught his eye. Lou walked out, leaning against the door frame of Kid's room. She looked at him disapprovingly, almost as if she knew exactly what he was about to do.
Jimmy realized she probably did know of his intentions. He purposefully ignored her glare and barged into Callie's room.
His angry expression softened as he looked at her. Her hair was a wave across the pillow, and her face was more peaceful than he'd ever seen it. Her lashes were so long they cast shadows down her cheeks. She had a few bruises on her face from Malone, and she looked vulnerable and wounded and all he wanted to do for a moment was take care of her.
He walked to her bedside, and leaned over her, whispering her name. Her eyes flew open in alarm, and she opened her mouth to scream, but Jimmy anticipated this, and covered her mouth. "Callie, it's me, Jimmy! We need to talk!"
He took his hand away when he was reasonably sure she wouldn't scream bloody murder. The hunted look in her eyes left him unsure of what she would do. "It's the middle of the night!" she mumbled, "What is so important it can't wait till morning?"
"This!" he growled, and flung the picture frame onto the pillow beside her.
She gasped in surprise as she grabbed the picture, and then sat up and hugged it to her chest. Tears welled in her eyes, "Oh, thank God you saved it! It's all I have left!"
"Left of what, Callie?" Jimmy insisted, "We are going to get this out in the open right here, right now. You are going to tell me who you are, why you are here, and what in God's name happened when I left the saloon tonight!" She suddenly achieved the look of a balking mule, and Jimmy snapped, "Callie! You either tell me, or you tell Teaspoon, and I think you'd better tell me! Because I saw Jarvis Malone's body, and I know that you killed him!"
She bristled and still searched for argument, but then her shoulders sagged in defeat, "All right," she growled with all the enthusiasm of a man walking up the stairs of the gallows.
Her eyes returned to the picture, and she touched each face within the frame with a graceful hand.
"Your parents?" Jimmy wondered impatiently.
Callie nodded, and knew there was no way to escape this young man's direct eyes, "Yes, and my brothers. I grew up on a plantation outside of New Orleans. Sullivan Manor. We raised horses, tobacco, cotton, you name it."
"A slave owner," Jimmy said, his lips pressed tightly together with disapproval.
"In New Orleans, its pretty much a way of life, Jimmy. Has been for hundreds of years. Don't fault me alone for it!"
Jimmy nodded, and realized he sounded as if he were doing just that. "All right, Callie, go on."
"Well, we were of course, very well-off, and very happy. I loved my family very, very much…" Her voice broke off as her throat grew tight.
"And what happened to them, Callie?" Jimmy pushed gently.
She twisted the blankets in her hand, and didn't look at Jimmy, "I was away at finishing school in London. It was a bad summer on the bayou. There was a yellow fever epidemic. My father first, then my mother. I was weeks away! I couldn't even be there for their burial, because the bodies had to be covered quickly!"
Her voice broke and the first tears slipped down her cheeks. Jimmy gently grabbed her hand, but she yanked it away, as if to remind him it was his fault she was crying in the first place.
"And your brothers?" Jimmy asked softly.
"Three of them died," She whispered.
"And the fourth?"
"Daniel left Louisiana long ago. He had abolitionist stirrings, and he and my father had it out. You see, Daniel was the oldest, the one who was supposed to keep the family business going. Daniel refused to have anything to do with slavery, so my father disowned him, cast him out. He went north, to Canada, I think, to help the Underground Railroad. We haven't heard from him in ten years, and I don't expect to. He probably doesn't even know they are all dead."
"So what happened to the house?" Jimmy wondered.
"Bank foreclosed," Callie mumbled, "Seemed they said my father had a lot of outstanding debts. I know that isn't the truth."
"How do you know?" Jimmy asked.
"Because I was always at my father's side, helping him tend to the books. I loved the business of the whole place, and I knew everything about how it ran! Even though I'd been in school for three months before they died, I know he couldn't have gone into debt. Sullivan Manor is one of the most profitable pieces of land in the entire South!"
"So why didn't you fight for it?
"Don't you think I tried? They won't listen to a girl any more than they will a slave!"
"So you left," Jimmy guessed.
"Yes, I left," Callie said, casting her eyes toward the window so he couldn't tell that she hadn't told him the whole truth, "And I rode West. I tried to find work, but I couldn't. No one was interested in hiring me for any honorable professions. I was hungry earlier this winter and staying in the stable with The Ghost. That's when Jarvis Malone found me. He took me inside, and gave me food and medicine. Probably saved my life. To repay him I agreed to work for him. I told him I'd work in his saloon, but under no circumstances would I become a whore. He was agreeable at the time. He led me to believe I might help with the business aspect of the saloon--accounts and such."
Jimmy shook his head, "So you're telling me you went hungry all those months, and then did the very thing you could have done all along to feed yourself in payment for one meal? There's something you aren't telling me, Callie."
I know! Callie thought, but shook her dark head, "Hunger has a way of wearing down a person's pride. Dignity doesn't keep you alive, Jimmy, not for very long anyway. Doesn't taste very good either."
Jimmy let it go, but still suspected he wasn't getting the truth of the matter, "All right, so you start working for Malone, but he's a snake that wants to make every cent he can off you. He tries to sell you off, I buy you. I leave, and I see you later that night, we take a walk, we try to be friends. You go back to your room, I walk home. I get home, turn around, and see that in the time it took me to get there, the saloon has caught fire and is beyond salvation. I rush in to find you, where you are supposed to be locked in your room, but Jarvis is locked in your room, dead. You are nowhere in the room to be found. Fill in the blanks, Callie," Jimmy said unsympathetically.
"Oh, all right," She snapped, then drew a deep breath.
"When I went up to my room, he was waiting on me. He'd blocked the door with a chair. I've never seen him so furious. He said I was giving myself to you for free, and that he was going to teach me a lesson," She paused as Jimmy tensed. She knew that it would work to her advantage if she could make him angry at Jarvis, and also make him feel guilty over getting her to leave the saloon with him. "He kept saying that I wasn't ever going to leave, and that I'd better stop looking for a way out through you. I just tried to please him, and not argue, but he wouldn't hear of it. He started beating me up."
Callie felt fresh tears well in her eyes as she told the truth of the beating, "I thought he was going to kill me! He kept slinging me up against the walls, and no one would help me! I screamed, and no one helped."
Jimmy moved to sit on the bed and put an arm around her shoulders. This time she didn't fight his gentle touch, and leaned against him, sobbing out the story, "He kept saying that he was going to kill me, and I believed him! And, so, when he wasn't looking I picked up my mirror and hit him in the back of the head. He staggered around, and got his hands around my throat," Jimmy glanced at the purple bruises there, and knew she told the truth, "But then, I hit him again, even harder, and he stumbled backwards, reaching out for something to break his fall. He grabbed the oil lamp on the dresser, and it fell. The fire ran across the floor so fast, and then the curtains caught fire. I didn't know if Malone was dead or just unconscious, but there was no time to help him, and even if there had been I don't think I would have! I tried to get out through my door, but the chair was jammed under it, and I couldn't move it! So then, I tried to wake Malone up, but I couldn't! I realized he was dead, and that I'd killed him! I was so scared I ran for the window, but it was too late by that time to get down to the porch, and I had to go crawl into another room. That one was locked from the outside, and the roof had caved in by the time I tried to get out again!"
"Shh," Jimmy whispered, alarmed and uneasy at the force of her weeping. "It's all right now."
"You and Kid saved my life! I never would have made it out alive if y'all didn't come get me out of there!"
Jimmy smiled, "Don't worry about it."
"Jimmy, am I going to have to go on trial? Because with all the fights I had with Jarvis in front of his friends, I won't stand a chance!"
Jimmy considered it, "No, Callie. We'll just let them all think that Jarvis died in the fire. You had no choice!"
She couldn't quite believe that it was over. She was far enough away from the Senator that he couldn't find her, Jarvis Malone and the papers he held to coerce her had burned, and she had one of the most feared gunman in the West prepared to protect her. For the first time, she thought she might actually be free. And if she'd had to lie a little to achieve that freedom, she considered it a small price to pay!
A week passed uneventfully for everyone. Callie moved into the large main house with Rachel at the woman's insistence. She grew to know and like all of them, especially Lou. When Jimmy made his three-day run, it was Lou that Callie spent the most time with. They rode over the plains, and Callie, who'd always prided herself on her horsemanship, had to admit she'd found her match with Lou. The girl rode as if she was part of the horse, and Callie admired her greatly.
She admired Lou for more than her riding, though. Callie couldn't believe all the girl had been through, and yet she still came out on top, and she was truly in control of her own life. She'd made sacrifices and lived with them, and she'd become the strongest woman Callie had ever met. She'd denied the only options open to her as a woman alone in this land, and had made her own way.
It gave Callie hope to see it.
In fact, the only person she didn't feel welcome near was Kid. He always held back, always watched her carefully. She had been awkward around him from the beginning, even more so than Noah. Noah and she had seemed destined to be at odds, with her a planter's daughter and he a free black man, but they'd even felt the stirrings of friendship. Kid suspected too much, Callie realized, and he could be the one obstacle to her way out. She would have to watch him, she knew.
"Jimmy's home!" Lou cried out as she and Callie pulled their spirited horses to a halt in the station yard. They'd spent a glorious morning riding across the plains.
Callie thought it foolish that her heart leapt so. While Lou was a wonderful companion, she found she missed Jimmy. In fact, she felt lost at the station without him. She missed the quiet walks they took through town, and she missed the way he always avoided taking her anywhere near the saloon. She missed the long conversations on the swing on the porch, and the races across the plains. She missed how he always pulled his horse up when he thought she wasn't looking and let her win. He was the sweetest man she'd ever known, and she found herself growing more and more fond of him, even though she did her best to talk herself out of it.
Jimmy stepped out onto the bunkhouse porch, and smiled broadly. He was covered in dust from head to toe, and both women giggled at him.
"Kinda hurts a man's pride to be laughed at by two pretty ladies," He pointed out.
"You look like you lost a fight with a chimney sweeper," Callie laughed.
Lou burst out laughing at the analogy, while Jimmy tried to hide his smile and look appropriately hurt. "God help us all with both of you teaming up on us!" He mumbled, "I guess I'll go clean up since I'm so offensive! You two stay out of trouble."
Lou and Callie both giggled in response, and Jimmy walked away with a broad smile, pleased beyond reason that Lou and Callie had hit it off so well. Out back, he plunged his head into icy water and grit his teeth as he washed the worst of the dirt away. When he surfaced, he was surprised to see a man standing directly in front of him.
He leapt for his gun, then saw it was Kid.
"Blast it, Kid, one of these days I'm gonna kill you!"
"No doubt you will," Kid said mildly. "Have a good ride?"
"Now why do I have the feeling you didn't walk all the way out here just to ask me about my ride?"
"Can't a fellow show concern for a friend?" Kid asked, knowing Jimmy was right, but not really looking forward to what he was about to say.
"Not really, Kid," Jimmy answered, reaching for the towel, "So I reckon you'd better just come out and say what you're gonna say. Then, let's go ahead and punch each other a couple of times for good measure, then decide we shouldn't have fought, and go back inside and explain our bruises by claiming we both just fell."
"Like we always do," Kid grinned, and then shook his head, "What makes you so sure I was gonna pick a fight?"
"Cause you're breathin'," Jimmy shot at him with raised eyebrows.
Kid laughed, "I choose to ignore that remark and say what I was planning on saying anyway. I actually came out here to apologize to you. You're right. I had no right to judge Callie like that, and I'm sorry. She's a sweet girl, and Lord knows Lou has taken a real shine to her."
Jimmy studied Kid as if he'd grown another head. He couldn't quite believe that Kid had just come up and admitted he was completely wrong about a woman Jimmy was interested in. He squinted his eyes and looked for signs of illness on Kid.
"Oh, cut it out! It's not like I've never been wrong before!" Kid growled.
"I ain't gonna argue with you there, Kid. I just don't think I've ever heard you admit it!"
Kid's eyebrows lowered in a scowl. "Come on Jimmy, I ain't that bad."
"Course not," Jimmy grinned.
Kid started to walk away.
"Hey Kid?" Jimmy called and when Kid turned around he could barely contain his mirth as he wondered, "How many hours did you have to listen to Lou nag you before you agreed to come apologize?"
Kid looked shocked, and started to deny it, but changed his mind and broke into laughter, "I think I passed out after about the fourth hour or so!"
Jimmy laughed loudly, then came to walk with Kid towards the bunkhouse. Kid sighed. He still had his suspicions, but Lou was right. It wasn't his concern, and keeping peace with Jimmy was much more important. That didn't mean he couldn't watch his friend's back for him though.
"Oh, you look so beautiful, Callie!" Lou cried clapping her hands in delight.
"But not as beautiful as you! Or you, Rachel," Callie smiled, looking at the two women in front of her.
They all smiled, feeling that they did in fact look beautiful. The church was putting on a dance, and the boys had been recruited to be their escorts. It was a task they took on quite willingly.
The women were all as beautiful as they were different. Rachel had chosen a deep blue velvet dress, and it fit her lovely figure beautifully. Her golden curls were piled high on her head. Lou had reluctantly let Callie drag her shopping in town, and had laughed as the southern girl carried dress after dress in for her to try, not content to stop until she'd found her new friend the perfect gown. And the dress was beautiful, Lou finally admitted begrudgingly. It was a wine colored, watered silk gown from Paris. Lou felt a bit foolish and extravagant, but Rachel and Callie were so awestruck that she decided to tough it out and risk wearing it.
However, Lou and Rachel both felt a bit out of Callie's league, though she was too gracious and modest to acknowledge it. She'd repaired one of her old gowns, and it was by far one of the finest dresses Lou or Rachel had ever seen. It was a light purple, too dark to be lavender and too light to be blue, and it almost exactly matched the color of her incredible eyes. Her bare shoulders and neck were exposed and her skin nearly glowed. Her black hair, always so shocking next to her ivory complexion, was twisted and pinned up, so that her eyes were the feature that drew the most attention--and they were very arresting.
"Well, let's go get the boys!" Callie said, and giggled again. She hadn't felt so excited about anything since long before her parents died. She missed the parties and balls of her old life more than she realized. A stab of homesickness assaulted her. She missed her brothers and her parents and the fine people they'd always attended parties with more than anything.
"Dang it! The whole dance is gonna be over by the time we get there!" Cody mumbled in frustration, "What's taking them so long?"
Teaspoon grinned at the blonde boy and said, "Cody, you'd better get used to it. You're gonna be waiting on women for the rest of your life, son! It's one of them facts of life."
"Sides, what are you in such a hurry for? Ain't like you got a pretty girl waiting on you!" Buck laughed.
"That's cause you chased them all out of town at the last dance!" Cody shot back.
Kid just shook his head and shifted his eyes to the main house just in time to see the door open and Rachel and Callie file out. He heard Jimmy take in a sharp breath as he looked at Callie. Kid strained his neck to see Lou, but she was nowhere in sight.
"Come on, Louise!" Callie demanded, laughing at her reluctant friend.
Lou finally stepped out on the porch, very nearly cringing.
"Would you look at that!" Buck exclaimed, "She looks like something that stepped out of one of them magazines from back East!"
Jimmy's eyes finally left Callie and fell on Lou. A small pang of envy went up in his heart, despite himself and his growing attachment to Callie. Lou did look just beautiful. He never failed to be thrilled when she got the chance to play the role of the lovely young woman she was, and his heart ached when he thought of all the times she had to hide herself.
Kid's mouth was hanging open. Teaspoon laughed and reached over to gently push his chin up. Kid walked out to meet Lou. She blushed, almost matching the color of her burgundy gown.
"Doesn't she look just beautiful?" Callie asked brightly.
Kid glared at Callie, thinking that he didn't need her reminding him to tell Lou she was beautiful. But Callie's bright eyes were so guileless and proud of Lou at the moment, he couldn't help but smile.
"Yes, she does. And so do you," He bowed his head slightly at her, and she flushed happily before going to meet Jimmy.
Kid smiled down at Lou and shook his head, "You know, you're beautiful all the time, but I think it might be dangerous for me to take you out into town looking like this!"
"Why's that?" Lou smiled back.
Kid put his arm around her and started leading her toward the buckboard, "Because I don't know if I can fight off all the men at the dance!"
Lou's laughter was wonderful to hear.
Callie's feet were tapping lightly to the music before Jimmy lifted her from the wagon. He laughed at her as she nearly pranced on his arm.
However, neither one of them anticipated the reaction that her entering the room would bring. The music continued playing, but it might have stopped as abruptly as the dancers. Stares were cast upon Callie, and whispers began running through the crowd. Jimmy for a moment thought they were stunned by her beauty, but then he heard what they were saying. The word "whore" ran through the crowd.
Jimmy glanced down at Callie to find her cheeks burning red and tears starting up in her eyes. She looked up at him with so much hurt that Jimmy wished he could have killed everyone in the room. The others, who were coming in behind them had stopped and stared dumbly as they realized what was happening.
Callie's pride was hurt, but her heart ached so much more. Did she really expect to be accepted by this sleepy little church town? Wordlessly she let go of Jimmy's arm and bolted out the door.
Jimmy threw a deadly glare over the crowd that shut them up as he spun to run after her.
"Leave me alone!" she screeched at him when she saw him following. Lou was suddenly at his side, clasping his elbow and digging her heels into the ground to stop him.
"She's too embarrassed to face you right now, Jimmy. She needs awhile alone."
"But I don't care what they think about her!" Jimmy growled, "I know she's a lady."
"I know, Jimmy, but her pride's been wounded and seeing you is the last thing she needs. In fact, seeing anyone is the last thing she needs. Give her a bit to pull herself together."
.
Callie walked through the night with her head bowed and tears streaming out of her eyes. She couldn't blame the townspeople. Back in New Orleans, she and the other ladies would cross the street rather than walk by a "lady of the profession" as they so delicately called it then. She'd seen more since that time than any lady was supposed to see in her life. Not only that, she'd become one of those women. And though now she saw the foolishness and snobbery of it all from her unique perspective, she couldn't help but realize that others never would.
She found herself standing in front of the charred saloon. It had only taken a day for the town to raise a tent and begin serving drinks in it. Every Western town had to have its whiskey, she supposed.
"Hello Miss Sullivan," A voice suddenly called softly from behind her.
Callie spun around, expecting one of the riders. She didn't recognize the man in front of her, but he obviously knew her.
"The Senator sends his regards!"
Callie didn't wait for him to say another word. Picking up her skirts she bolted back toward the church. The man seemed stunned at the speed of her reaction and took a moment before he gave chase, but his footsteps were closing behind her. She ran even faster, heading back toward the social and Jimmy. She sobbed out in relief when she saw the lights of the church.
Jimmy, who'd been sitting on the buckboard saw her flying towards him, and ran to meet her. Kid, Lou, and Teaspoon, who'd been standing by the doorway, also came out. Callie flew into Jimmy's arms and sobbed, rambling on incoherently in between hysterical gasps for air.
"He found me!" was the only real phrase Jimmy could make out.
Just then the man chasing her showed up, breathing heavily.
"You wanna tell me what the Hell you think you're doing?" Teaspoon growled at the younger man.
The man fished in his coat pocket and brought out a sheet of paper. Callie glanced at it, then realizing what it was, buried her face into Jimmy's chest again, "You might wanna take a look at this, Marshal!"
Teaspoon snatched the paper from his hands and unrolled it. He glanced up at Jimmy and then Kid and Lou in surprise.
Wordlessly he held it up, and they all looked at it and paled. Wanted for Murder and Robbery, Callie Sullivan. $1000. Alive.
TO BE CONTINUED… Chapter VIII
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