Something In The Water - Part 2

©2004 by Helen Gibson

A cold breeze suddenly whipped up making Lou shiver. Her shivering brought Jimmy out of his thoughts and he hugged Lou tighter to himself. He didn’t know why, but then he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

As she shivered, she felt his arms tighten around her, then something she hadn’t felt him do for a long time…he kissed the top of her head. She had to fight the urge to turn around and kiss him back. She really missed Jimmy over the years. If she’d known three years ago, what she knows now, she would have married Jimmy, not Kid. But here she was, single again and back in the arms of Jimmy. She decided right then and there, that this time she wasn’t going to let him get away. Now to get him to confess his feelings to her. She knew he had once loved her, but she loved Kid more back then. She still loved Jimmy and if that kiss he had just given to her, albeit on her head was any indication, she knew he still loved her. ‘That’s it. I know how to get him to do it…’ she pondered.

“Ahh, Jimmy?”

“Hmmm?”

“Would you go to the dance with me on Sunday?” she asked with hope flooding her heart.

“Only if you’ll go with me? I was just working up the courage to ask you the same thing, but you beat me to it!” he smiled down at her.

Turning around, Lou asked, “how did you know about the dance? You only arrived today.”

“Teresa was telling me all about it while you were cooking dinner. She was hinting at how much she really wanted to go. I think there’s a boy involved. Anyway, that’s when I decided I’d ask you. It’s been a long time since we went to a dance, especially with Louise, not just Lou.” He winked at her, making her smile light up her face. God he loved that smile.

“Oh, well in that case, I’d love to Jimmy.” Lou giggled. ‘God I could just kiss him so easily’ she thought, licking her lips.

He saw her lick her lips and did the same in response. He then started to lean in to taste those lips for himself. It had been too long since he tasted her kiss, held her in his arms… Just as he reached his goal, Lou responded and kissed him deeply. She wasn’t expecting this, but she sure as hell was going to enjoy it.

A cry from upstairs scared the couple apart. Looking into each other’s eyes, Lou whispered, “come on, come give me a hand.” With that, she stood up, holding onto his hand and led him through the door and up the stairs to Joey’s room. She led him into the child’s room, where she unwillingly let go of his hand so she could pick up the clean nappy to change her daughter.

“Jimmy, could you please pass me the bottle on the chest of drawers?” she asked pointing to the bottle.

He picked up the bottle and walked across the room to give it to her. He looked into the cot of the little girl and his heart melted. Instead of giving the bottle to Lou, who was still busy fastening the clean nappy, he handed it to Joey. She looked at him sleepily and smiled. Taking the bottle from him, Joey put it in her mouth, but her eyes remained locked to his.

Joey liked this man. Her mummy liked him more than any other man she had seen visit. She just hoped he’d stay around for a while. He had a really nice horse she’d love to go riding on…

Jimmy couldn’t help but fall in love with Joey. He wished he were her daddy. ‘Maybe I might become her daddy if things between Lou and I work out’ he thought. That thought thrilled him to no end. ‘If only I can get rid of Wild Bill. Well maybe he can be killed off and I could just go by the name of James Butler?’

He was brought back from his thoughts by a kiss placed on his cheek. He looked down at Lou and smiled. He couldn’t help but fall further in love with her each time he looked into her eyes. He looked to Joey and saw that she was back asleep, then he looked at Lou. He reached out, pulled Lou to him and covered her mouth with his once more. This was where he wanted to spend eternity…with Lou, Joey and if possible, more kids of their own.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Teaspoon heard Joey cry and even though she stopped, he thought he’d get up and check on her. Anyway, he needed a drink of water.

He stuck his head in Joey’s room and what he saw startled him at first. Then, as that wore off, the sight before him warmed his heart. To him, Louise was like his own daughter. Especially what they had been through together over the past five years since they had known each other. (Sure, at first he thought she was a boy, but hey, he was still a father figure to her even then). With what Louise had been through personally within her short life, he was glad it was Jimmy making her happy. He always thought they’d make a good pair. The only thing that might set them back was their stubbornness. But then again, Jimmy did believe in Lou’s ability to look after herself, unlike Kid who always seemed to panic at the slightest thing…like he wanted to put her into a glass case and only take her out to show her off.

As the pair seemed to be finishing their kiss, Teaspoon snuck back to his room. He could wait for that glass of water after all.

Lou walked Jimmy to the bottom of the attic stairs, intending to lead him up them, but Jimmy stopped her. When Jimmy made love to her, he wanted it to be VERY special. She looked at him questioningly.

“I want to make it special for you, Lou. I don’t want to rush it; rush us.” He whispered hoping she’d understand and believe it. He knew she and Kid had rushed into things and look where it got them. He promised that wouldn’t happen to them.

Nodding, Lou leant forward and up to kiss Jimmy. He returned the kiss then watched Lou walk up the stairs, before turning and heading down the other set of stairs to his room. He couldn’t wait until morning because he was already missing Lou.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The sun rose upon the PEW bright and early. The occupants of the house stirred and eventually rose and dressed for the day. Lou was busy cooking breakfast when Jimmy entered the kitchen carrying Joey. She had woken up and brought her clothes down stairs, where Jimmy dressed her for the day. The little experience he had with his own nephews and nieces from his sister Celinda, had given him enough know-how of how to dress a child. He was very proud of his efforts until he came down to the nappy…that was where he got stuck.

“Ahh, Lou…A little help?” Jimmy Pleaded.

Turning around when she heard the worry in his voice, Lou laughed at the sight that befell her: there was Jimmy Hickok holding her daughter whom he had dressed but leaving her little bottom bare. Jimmy just prayed Joey wouldn’t lose herself in his arms.
Taking her daughter from Jimmy’s arms, Lou handed him her wooden spoon and preceded to the living room to finish dressing her daughter, calling over her shoulder for Jimmy not to0 burn anything.

Within a few minutes, she returned to see Jimmy trying to stop a pot from boiling over, also checking on the soon-to-be black toast. She gave a little giggle as she went over and took control of the situation once more.

Jimmy let her take control, as he knew he was failing miserably but he stood behind her, watching her fluid movements. After she gained control of breakfast once more, Jimmy had a sudden urge to just hold Lou in his arms. He stood behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck.

Startled, Lou turned to look at him and saw only love shining in his eyes. She reached up to kissed his lips softly and briefly before turning back to the stove, content to be in his arms.

Teresa, Jeremiah, Rachel and Teaspoon entered the living room and saw Joey peeking around the corner of the kitchen doorway. Teaspoon put his hand out to stop Rachel, then asked Jeremiah and Teresa to fetch some eggs from the chicken coop. As the children left the house, Rachel gave Teaspoon a questioning look, who simply smiled, put a finger to his lips to gesture silence and walked to the kitchen door where Joey was looking into the kitchen. He motioned for Rachel to follow him and look inside.

When Rachel looked into the kitchen, her jaw almost hit the floor at the scene that lay in front of her. There was Jimmy holding Lou, gently kissing her, whispering softly into her ear, making her smile. Rachel couldn’t stop the smile that split her face in two.

Joey’s giggle startled Rachel from her thoughts. Jimmy turned at hearing the giggle and suddenly, he dropped his arms from around Lou. He forgot that they weren’t alone in the house, that they were now well and truly busted. ‘Ah, what the heck’ Jimmy thought, as he wrapped an arm back around Lou.

“Morning Rachel, sleep well?” Jimmy greeted.

“Morning Jimmy, Morning Louise. I sure did. How long have I been asleep? I seem to have missed a few things!” she replied, smiling at the couple, while she picked up Joey and placed her into her highchair, which Buck, Ike and Noah had made for Lou after they found out Lou and Kid got divorced, and that Lou was expecting. Emma had sent they a letter telling them Lou was coming to stay and why – at Lou’s request of course.

Lou and Jimmy smiled, looking at each other, then they turned back to Rachel, where Lou was the one to speak, ”Rachel, I know you didn’t over sleep. As for what you missed, well… I still can’t believe it’s happening myself.” She looked at Jimmy, smiling, with love shining in her eyes, then she leant up to give Jimmy a kiss.

Just as Lou was reaching up to kiss Jimmy, she heard her siblings come stomping back into the house, heading in the direction of the kitchen. As they entered, Lou pretended to be reaching up to get something out of Jimmy’s hair.

“Here’s some eggs, Lou” Jeremiah announced, handing over his share of the eggs, followed closely by Teresa.

Thanking the children, Lou took the eggs and put them into a basket on the bench, then she turned back to the stove to continue with breakfast where she noticed Jimmy had already done this, so she instead gathered the plates and utensils to set the table.

“Okay, it’s ready!” Jimmy called over his shoulder. Lou returned to Jimmy’s side and helped carry the breakfast to the table. Lou immediately dished up Joey’s breakfast and set it before the child, who promptly took to blowing on the meal to cool it down. The rest of the family took their places: Teaspoon head of the table, Rachel to his right-hand side, Teresa to his left, Jimmy sat next to Teresa, Lou next to him, Jeremiah next to Rachel and Joey at the other end of the table, and began to serve their own breakfast and eat.

Since today was Saturday, breakfast was a fairly relaxed event. No-one was rushing off to school, or to the office. On Saturday’s, Teaspoon only went into the office for a few hours just to check on things…Saturday was HIS day with his family.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After breakfast, everyone went about their daily chores: Lou did the Laundry and gardening, Rachel prepared and cooked the days’ meals, Teresa fed the animals with Joey, Teaspoon made his way to town for a few hours, while Jeremiah and Jimmy mucked out the stables. Jimmy wanted to help Jeremiah because he wanted to talk to the boy.

After working along side each other for about twenty minutes, Jimmy decided it was time to break the ice.

“Um, Jeremiah, can I talk to you about somethin’?” Jimmy asked, his stomach already tied in knots of anticipation.

The boy stopped working and looked over at Jimmy. Seeing the man before him squirming in his boots had the boys’ attention. ”Sure, what’s up?”

“Well you know how I’ve always been close to Lou and well…ahh…well I’ve loved her for quite a while, hell, before she even married Kid…”

At the mention of Kids’ name, Jeremiah’s facial expression darkened. “Don’t say that name around me, Jimmy. He has caused Lou so much pain, I’m likely to kill him if I ever see him again.” Jeremiah spat.

“I’m sorry, I know exactly how you feel. What I’m trying to ask you is, well, if it would be alright with you if I could court Lou?” there, he said it.

The boy stared at Jimmy, a smile forming on his face. Here was ‘Wild Bill Hickok’ asking HIS permission to date Lou. “How do I know you won’t hurt her. Kid promised he wouldn’t, and he lied. Lou couldn’t survive another heartache like that and I won’t let it happen if I can help it.” Jeremiah felt proud to be spoken to like a man, also because he was Lou’s only living male relative he had to look out for his big sister.

“Well I’ve decided that with your permission, of course, and if things go well with Lou and I, somehow I’m going to kill off “Wild Bill” and just go by James or Jimmy Butler.” Jimmy explained. At the boy’s understanding nod, butterflies replaced the knots in his stomach.

“Jeremiah, if I ever hurt Lou, I’ll give you my guns to kill me with…hurting Lou would just kill me anyway. I really do love Lou with all my heart. I know I’ve barely been here a day, but your niece already has me wrapped tightly around her little finger. I’d love it if you would give me you permission to court Lou and possibly join your family.”
Jeremiah told Jimmy he’d think it over and let him know later on in the day. With that, the two men finished their chores just in time for lunch.

After lunch everyone headed to the pond (Teaspoon arrived back home just as lunch was dished up) for a swim. It was such a glorious day, everyone decided to ride the horses to the pond, including Teaspoon and Rachel. Joey wanted to ride on Jimmy’s ‘pitty horse’, which was fine with Lou who wanted Joey to get more acquainted with Jimmy. Lou noticed on the ride, that Jeremiah seemed to be watching Jimmy an awful lot which worried her a bit. She knew he occasionally read those dime novels of which she strongly disapproved of, and feared he had started believing the stories that had been written over the years of ‘Wild Bill’. She decided she’d have to have a little chat with him about it tonight. She really wanted things with Jimmy to be given an honest chance. She knew ‘Miah was just watching out for her, especially after what Kid had put her through, put them all through, but she hoped her brother might at least give him a chance to prove himself a worthy suitor.

As they arrived at the pond, they all took care of the horses, then the older children (no, not Lou and Jimmy – ‘Miah and Teresa) stripped down to their ‘swimwear’ (a.k.a their longjohns / singlet and bloomers) and jumped into the water. Joey tried to follow them in, but Jimmy was too quick for her, quickly scooping her up in his arms and attacking her with tickles. Joey squealed with laughter as Jimmy continued his assault. When the little girl was crying with laughter, Jimmy stopped his attack and handed the girl over to Rachel’s awaiting arms. He looked around the bank for Lou, and was surprised to see that she was already in the water. ‘Gee she’s quick’ he thought.

While working on the ranch, Lou tended to wear her old work clothes from the Express days. ‘It’s so much easier to work in than wearing a dress or skirt’ he recalled her once telling him a long time ago, and he saw that she had stuck to this belief. Jimmy couldn’t believe Lou still wore longjohns, but hey, she always did the unexpected.

He looked over at Rachel, who nodded her approval, before he stripped down to his longjohns and did a running bomb off the old rock that jutted out from the bank into the water. (Remember when Teaspoon did that and found out Lou was really Louise? So does he!)

When Jimmy surfaced, Lou started an all-out water fight, splashing everyone in the water. They all joined in, with the girls ganging up on the guys. Without her noticing, Jimmy ducked under the water, swam over to Lou, where he threw her up out of the water only for her to slash back into the water in a most unladylike fashion.

She surfaced coughing and spluttering, glaring at Jimmy who could only smile back at her. Lou pretended to pout, so Jimmy swam over to her and embraced her, knowing she was faking, but not being able to resist – she looked so beautiful.

Jeremiah and Teresa continued the splashing fight, though ‘Miah watched Lou and Jimmy out the corner of his eye. ‘They look so happy together. He really does make her smile. I can see he genuinely cares for her and Joey likes him…Joey never likes strangers! Hmm, maybe I’ll give Jimmy my blessings. He DID say that if he hurt her I could kill him’ he thought, smiling at that last thought.

When Lou whispered into Jimmy’s ear that they had an audience, jimmy turned his head to see that it was Jeremiah watching them. When he looked at ‘Miah, the boy nodded his approval of their courtship and Jimmy mouthed “Thank you”. He then pulled Lou into a lingering kiss, while ‘Miah went back to splashing his little sister.

Shocked, Lou looked at Jimmy for an explanation. Looking at her, he simply smiled one of his irresistible smiles, pulled her in for a quick kiss, and told her “I’ll tell you about it later”, then he picked her up, and threw her back into the water.

Joey was getting bored watching everyone having fun in the water without her, so she decided it was time to join in. “Mama” she squealed.

Lou who had just surfaced once more, quickly looked over only to see the girl wadding into the water, quickly getting deeper. Lou’s heart stopped as she yelled for Joey to stay where she was, taking off, swimming towards her.

Jimmy saw that Joey was still heading further into the water, so he went quickly to her, since he was a lot closer to her than Lou was, picked up the girl and bought her back into the water with him.

Lou, Rachel and Teaspoon watched this. Lou fell still further in love with Jimmy, as her heart began to beat once more; Teaspoon, who had watched the whole scene between Jimmy, Lou and Jeremiah, and knew what was happening, then when Jimmy came for Joey, his heart leaped at seeing his ‘son’ finally leaving his wild days behind him. Rachel on the other hand, had silent tears of happiness trickling down her face.

Lou swam over to Jimmy and Joey, then stood next to him, embracing both him and Joey. Jimmy put an arm around Lou, and placed a kiss on Joey’s cheek. The little girl threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back on the cheek.