Chapter 2
One morning when Christy awoke, the sadness seemed to weigh her down so much it was hard to move. She debated for an hour over what to do, then she began to gather her things together. When she was finished, she went to the barn and saddled her favorite horse, Glory. She rode to the top of a small hill overlooking the farm and turned to look back.
Only a few months ago, Christy had heard word that her cousin was in Rock Creek working for the Pony Express. She tried to write to him, but kept tearing up the letters. It had been five years since she had seen him and she wasn't sure how to say what she was feeling. Especially after the way they had parted…maybe he wouldn't even want to see her again. So she put off contacting her cousin until now. Maybe he wouldn't be happy to see her, but he was all Christy had left. With another sad glance at the farm, Christy turned her horse and headed for the town of Rock Creek.
Christy rode for two days, only stopping to let her horse rest. She avoided any people she saw, not wanting to attract attention to the fact that she was a woman travelling alone. She finally stopped about a day's ride from Rock Creek and made camp. Earlier, she had passed the settlement of Blue Creek but decided against staying in town. She didn't have the money for a hotel room, and besides, she really wasn't in the mood for company.
She built a small fire and cooked some of the bacon she had brought with her. She ate without really tasting the food. Tomorrow, with any luck, she would see her cousin. Would he still remember her? Christy was so lost in thought, she never noticed two shadows creeping towards her in the dark.
"Just keep real still, missy, and you won't get hurt."
The voice startled Christy out of her thoughts. She briefly thought of running for her horse, but decided against it when she saw the two men both pointing a gun at her. She had brought along Charles' old rifle, but it was still tied onto the horse, and hardly of any use.
She slowly raised her hands in the air and tried to observe her captors. The younger of the two quickly grabbed the reins to her horse and began to go through her saddlebag. He had long dirty blond hair and a big wad of tobacco in his mouth, which he frequently paused in his scrounging, long enough to spit out a big stream of juice.
The older man continued to point his gun at her while grinning leeringly. "What's a gal purty as you doing travelling alone, now?"
Christy refused to answer him, figuring anything she said could only make the situation worse.
The men said nothing else as they continued to search her belongings. Soon, the younger seemed to give up in disgust. "Shoot, Jim, she ain't got nothing."
Jim looked at her steadily. "Now why would a young thang like you be travelling by yourself?"
The other man looked around nervously, "Maybe it's because she ain't alone."
Jim glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if whoever she's with is just gone huntin' for a varmint."
This thought seemed to make both men nervous and Christy did nothing to sway their opinion.
Jim seemed to be thinking things over. "Maybe we'd better skin out, Joe."
Joe seemed to readily agree. He swung up onto his saddle, looking down at Christy. "What we gonna do with her?"
Without giving Joe an answer, Jim walked his horse over to Christy's side, and using the butt of his gun, whacked her solidly in the head. She fell to the ground in a heap. "Get her horse.", Jim said.
The two riders galloped off.
Jimmy Hickok had thought making the trip to Blue Creek with Cody would be a good little excursion. Two days with no corral repair to be done, no chopping wood for Rachel, and a little peace and quiet. Or so he thought. True enough, little work was required of him; all the two riders had to do was deliver an important letter concerning a gold shipment to the mayor of Blue Creek. The letter was the easy part; listening to Billy Cody's mouth throughout the entire trip was another story entirely. Jimmy's head ached because of Cody's endless rambling.
"Jimmy? Jimmy, are you listenin' to me?"
"Cody, how can I help but listen to you? You've got the loudest mouth in the dern territory." Jimmy snapped.
"Well, I got lots to say, and I don't want you to miss any of it." Billy grinned. "I figure I'm the best shot at an education you got, Hickok."
Jimmy cut his eyes at his best friend. "If you're the only shot at an education I got, I'll take my chances without it."
The sparring was nothing unusual between the two riders. From the first day they met, James Butler Hickok and William F. Cody competed at everything, from shooting skills to women; nothing was too small or large to argue over. Cody's laid-back, easygoing ways irritated Jimmy no end. Jimmy was as impatient and hot-tempered, as his friend was relaxed. They were as different in looks as personalities. Cody was blonde headed and blue-eyed, while Jimmy had long dark hair and brown eyes. Jimmy and Cody believed that opposites attracted for nothing else could explain their friendship.
After two days of listening to Cody however, Jimmy was about to forget about friendship. His ears seemed to ring with Cody's voice. "Cody, can't you shut up a minute? A body can't think with all that talking."
Cody, who had actually been quiet for a moment, looked hurt. "What's eatin' you?"
Jimmy was silent. He figured anything he said would only add fuel to Cody's fire. He scanned the horizon, ever watchful. Although the ride to Blue Creek was normally a peaceful one, Jimmy knew it didn't pay to get too comfortable. "Watch your back", was probably one of Teaspoon's favorite sayings to his group of young riders.
Jimmy and Cody, along with Kid, Ike, Buck, Lou, and Noah all worked for the Pony Express. They lived together in a small bunkhouse in Rock Creek under the supervision of one Marshall Teaspoon Hunter. While probably not ever known for his cleanliness, Teaspoon was looked up to by all the riders. Whenever some fatherly advice was needed, Teaspoon was glad to help out. Even if his advice weren't wanted, he would usually put in his two cents worth. If it was womanly advice the riders seeked, they sought out Rachel Dunne, the stationmistress and cook.
Jimmy continued to observe his surroundings, mostly ignoring Cody's continuous chatter. Wait, what was that? Jimmy almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. In the distance he could just make out something white against the ground.
"Cody, do you see that?" Jimmy cut his friend off midstream.
Cody squinted his blues eyes in the direction Jimmy pointed. He, too, could barely discern a white shape in the distance. "What do you think it is?"
Jimmy shook his head, he wasn't sure, but he had a bad feeling.
Cautiously the two riders began to approach. As they got closer, they could clearly see the shape was a person, a girl in fact, lying on the ground.
Cody slowed his horse to a stop. "Psst, Jimmy." He whispered.
Irritated, Jimmy stopped to look back at his friend. "What?"
"What if it's a trap" He motioned with his head toward the still figure.
Jimmy knew what Cody meant. The girl could be a decoy, faking an injury, while someone else hid in the trees, waiting for a chance to attack an unsuspecting helpful stranger. Without speaking, both men drew their guns and began to approach again. Jimmy reached the girl first. He climbed down from his horse and squatted beside the her. He gently shook her shoulder as Cody stood watch. The girl made no response so Jimmy eased her carefully onto her back.
The first thing he noticed was the large gash at her forehead. The blood had dried into her hairline, staining her blonde locks darker. There was also a small cut on her lip that caused it to swell. The next thing he saw was despite her disheveled appearance, the girl was quite pretty.
Her hair was a dark blonde; long strands of it escaped the bun secured in the back. Her skin was fair and sprinkled with freckles. She looked to be in her early twenties. Jimmy noted that she was wearing men's clothing and had no wedding band.
"Is she alive?" Cody interrupted Jimmy's appraisal of the young lady.
Jimmy removed his glove to feel for a pulse. "Yeah, she's breathing."
Cody bent down to examine the girl closer. "Reckon what she's doing out here all alone?"
"I don't know, but one thing's for sure, whoever left her out here may come back, and judgin' from the looks of her, I don't think they're too friendly." Jimmy began to gather the girl into his arms.
"What are you going to do with her?" Cody asked.
Jimmy grunted as he hoisted her weight over his saddle. "I'm takin' her to Teaspoon, he'll know what to do."
Jimmy and Cody climbed onto their saddles and galloped home toward Rock Creek.
The first thing Christy Tunstall became aware of as she gradually regained consciousness was that the ground had gotten a lot softer. Ever since she left the farm, she'd had a horrible time trying to sleep on the rocky ground. Now it felt as if she were laying on a feather bed, she was so comfortable. Christy figured she must have been dreaming she felt so warm and cozy. She struggled to stay asleep, not wanting the feeling to end. Despite her efforts, she felt herself drift towards waking. She reluctantly opened her eyes and quickly decided maybe she wasn't awake after all.
She was lying in a large wrought iron bed, beneath a heavy quilt. Sunlight streamed through the windows and splashed patches across the quilt. She struggled to sit up and that's when she noticed she wasn't alone. A pretty blonde headed woman rose from the rocking chair in the corner of the room, where she had been quietly knitting.
The woman came closer and laid her cool hand against Christy's forehead. The woman looked to be in her early forties, but the years hadn't taken away any of her prettiness. Her wide blue eyes were concerned as she glanced over her patient. "Well, I see you're finally awake. You've had us pretty worried."
Christy looked around for something familiar. If only she didn't feel so tired, maybe she could figure out what happened to her. "Where am I?"
The woman smiled. "I'm Rachel, and you're in Rock Creek. Do you remember how you got here?"
Christy lay back against the pillows. It took all her strength to hold her eyes open. "Rock Creek?" She asked drowsily.
Rachel leaned closer to hear the girl's faint words. "Yes, you're at the Pony Express station in Rock Creek."
Christy fought to speak. She had to find out, before the sleep took her. "Kid…I'm looking for Kid…"
"Kid?" Rachel's eyes widened. "You know Kid?"
The woman knew Kid; he must be here, then. Christy allowed herself to relax and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
After leaving the girl under the watchful eye of Ike, Rachel hurried to the stables to find Teaspoon. She found him in the process of reshoeing Daisy, who was by far the riders' least favorite horse because of her nasty disposition. Rachel wasn't sure which one was more aggravated, Teaspoon or the horse.
"You're gonna do this whether you like it or not, you damned, ungrateful-"
"Teaspoon!" Rachel interrupted.
"Oh, Rachel," Teaspoon continued unabashedly. "What can I do for you?"
Normally Rachel would have smiled at Teaspoon's devilish behavior, but right now she had other things on her mind. "Teaspoon, I need to talk to you."
He swaggered over to her, smoothing his long white hair down with his hands. "Well, sure, what seems to be the problem?"
"It's about the girl Jimmy and Cody found." Rachel began.
Teaspoon lost his teasing grin. "Is she alright?"
"Yes, at least I think she will be. She woke up earlier." A worried frown creased Rachel's brow. "I think she may know Kid."
"Kid?" Teaspoon asked incredulously. "What makes you think a thing like that?"
"I'm not sure exactly, but when she woke up, she asked me where she was. When I told her she was in Rock Creek, she asked if I knew the Kid, then she passed out." She finished.
Teaspoon scratched behind his ear. "Well, did she say who she was?"
Rachel shook her head. "No, nothing except what I told you. How on earth would she know Kid?"
"Can't say that I know. Maybe she's an old friend?" he volunteered.
"Maybe" Rachel allowed, "But where has she been all this time?"
"Well, I guess there's one way to get to the bottom of this situation, let's ask Kid."
"No, good." She sighed. "He traded with Buck and is out on a run. He won't be back for a couple of days."
Teaspoon thought for a minute. "Then I guess we wait for our mystery lady to wake up."
During supper, the focus of the conversation was on the station's newest visitor. Everyone wondered who she was, and most of all, how did she know Kid?
"Hell, who's to say who she is?" Cody said between large bites of mashed potatoes. "Closed mouthed as Kid is, he's probably got lots of folks lookin' for him we don't know about."
"Whoever she is, I hope she knows Kid's real name." Noah joked. He was the station's only black rider, and although he was proud of his heritage, he had come to consider the mostly white express station group as his family.
"Maybe she can tell us where he got that nickname, too." Buck, the half Kiowa Indian, said hopefully.
Ike, who was bald and mute because of a severe case of scarlet fever when he was young, signed in the Indian symbols Buck had taught him: "We may not want to know!"
It was true that although the entire group was close, Kid's past remained a mystery. He never said much about his family or his days spent growing up in Virginia. No one had even known he had a brother named Jed until he showed up in town one day.
Of all the riders, only Lou was silent. Louise McCloud was the only female Pony Express rider. She had gotten the job by disguising herself as a man, and by the time Teaspoon and the others figured out she was a girl, she had already proven herself as worthy as any of the men. Everyone kept her secret to secure her job with Russell, Majors, and Waddell. Kid was the first person who had discovered Lou's little act of deception. A group of robbers had shot her and Kid found her. While he was trying to examine her wound, he lifted her shirt and discovered this was no ordinary boy. Lou and Kid grew closer because of the secret between them and gradually that closeness had turned to love. Now there was a mysterious stranger at the waystation who knew Kid. Kid had never mentioned an old girlfriend to Lou, but then again, he had never mentioned Jed, either.
"What did the doc say, Rachel?" Teaspoon asked as he pushed back from the table and patted his round belly. Doc Barnes had made a trip to the station earlier that day to examine the young woman.
"Not much." Rachel admitted. "She's got a nasty bump on her head and some cuts and bruises. He seems to think she'll be alright with enough rest."
"Well, I guess Kid will be back tomorrow, maybe he can explain everything. I better get to work." Teaspoon stood and refastened his gunbelt. He was the Marshall of Rock Creek and took his job seriously.
The other riders started to pile outside the bunkhouse to enjoy the cool night air a bit before bed. Rachel caught Jimmy by the arm as he went by.
"Hold up a minute, Jimmy. I need you to do me a favor." She said.
"Sure, Rachel," Jimmy said agreeably. "What is it?"
"Take our guest this soup and feed it to her while I gather up the dishes." Rachel shoved a bowl and spoon at him.
"Feed her?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, Jimmy." Rachel sighed impatiently. "We can't let her starve to death, waiting on her to wake up. Go on, now. I'll be up in a minute."
Jimmy obediently took the soup and went to the house. He crept up the stairs and cautiously opened the door to the guest bedroom. The girl was still sleeping peacefully. He eased slowly towards the bed and sat the soup down on the bedside table. Pulling a chair up to sit in, he labored to spoon the soup down the girl's mouth without spilling it. Jimmy remembered the last time he had tried this. Ike had been horsekicked in the head and was unconscious for several days. Jimmy had been glad when Ike awoke and could feed himself, as it required more patience than Jimmy possessed.
Rachel had cleaned the girl up and dressed her in a nightgown. Jimmy noticed she was even prettier than he had originally thought. The cut on her lip was beginning to heal and if not for the ugly purple bruise near her hairline, she would have looked like she was merely resting.
Jimmy sat the bowl down causing the spoon to clang against the side. The girl stirred slightly and Jimmy watched as her eyes slowly opened. For a minute her gaze was unfocused but she soon saw him and gasped.
"Who are you?" She cried weakly. "Where am I?"
Jimmy tried vainly to calm her down. "It's alright. You're at the Pony Express waystation in Rock Creek."
"Rock Creek?"
Just then Rachel opened the door and noticed the girl's frantic state. She hurried to the bed and took the girl's hand. "You're just fine. Do you remember me?"
The girl shook her head. "N-No."
Rachel smoothed the girl's hair. "I'm Rachel and this is Jimmy. You were hurt and Jimmy and Cody found you."
Christy tried to remember. She had been hurt? The last thing she remembered was setting out to look for Kid.
"Do you know your name?" Rachel asked.
"Christy?" She was trying hard to think. Everything was so confusing.
"Well, that's a start." Rachel smiled. "Do you remember what happened to you?"
Christy was silent for a minute. "Not really."
She noticed the young man watching her. He had been silent since Rachel came in, but his gaze never left her. He was tall and lean, with long brown hair and brown eyes. Something about him reminded her of Harry, although she wasn't sure what. The two men didn't really look alike, but both of them possessed a certain haunted look, as if they had seen too much hardness in their lives.
Christy brought her attention back to the woman with difficulty. "I'm in Rock Creek?"
Rachel nodded. "Yes, at the Pony Express waystation."
Christy clasped the other woman's hand tightly. "Is Kid here? Do you know Kid?"
"Yes, Kid works here." Rachel glanced at Jimmy "How do you know him?"
The girl fell back onto the pillows and for a moment Rachel thought she wasn't going to answer her. She sighed deeply and tears began to fill her eyes. "I've looked for him so long, I can hardly believe I've finally found him. He's the only family I got left."
"You related to the Kid or something?" Jimmy spoke up.
"Kid's my cousin." Christy said softly as a tear trickled down her cheek. "Is he here? Can I see him?"
Rachel smiled and shook her head. "He's out on a ride right now, but he should be back late tomorrow evening."
"He's sure gonna be surprised to find you here." Jimmy chuckled.
"Oh, don't tell him!" Christy begged. "Let me surprise him. I wonder if he'll even know who I am."
"He'll remember." Jimmy said. "The Kid don't forget nothin'."
Rachel and Jimmy soon left Christy alone with her thoughts. To be this close to Kid and not be able to see him was torture. So much time had passed and so much heartache had caused them to separate, it was hard to know how he would react to seeing her. Christy fell into an uneasy sleep, waiting for morning to come.
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