She had barely lit the room, when someone knocked on the hotel room, startling her enough to make her jump, spin around, and draw her gun all in one fluid movement. Her heart thumped against her chest and her pulse raced with sudden tension. She walked towards the door in her bare feet, her gun cocked and ready to fire on her command. She was still standing there when the knocking began again. This time it was followed by a male voice.
"Mr. McCloud? Sir, are you alright? I brung your bath an' water like ya requested."
Relief swept through Lou as she recognized the voice as belonging to the young clerk who had helped her check in. She giggled at her own foolishness and holstered her gun. She opened the door and peered out.
"Sorry to bother ya, Mr. McCloud. I had yer bath brung up earlier like ya wanna , but Cecilia and Gladisa said that there weren't no answer at yer door. I figgered thet ya mightened gone to sleep, so's I tole 'em to leave ya. It bein' near on to eight I thought thet I should waken ya up, so's ya could freshen up an'eat afore the dinin' room started." The young man said with an apologetic look on his face.
"Thank you, you for going to the trouble of sending my bath up again. I must have been more tired than I thought." Lou told the young man, smothering a yawn.
The young man nodded and then stood silently before her, as if waiting for her to say something else. It took Lou a moment or two to realize that he was waiting for her to open the door wider so he could bring in the oval shaped tub besides him. Lou blushed and opened the door wider so he could bring in the tub. Following behind him were two young women in cotton dresses the same shade of burgundy as his suit was, pushing a funny looking wooden cart loaded down with buckets full of water. In a matter of a few minutes, Lou was alone with a tub of steaming hot water.
After taking a bath and eating the simple, but tasty, meal offered by the hotel dining room, Lou found herself feeling better than she had in the past week. Obviously what she had said to Teaspoon had been right: all she had needed was some time away from the waystation, Kid and their problems. Even though she knew that none of the shops would still be open, Lou decided that to go for a walk before returning to her room. She decided that her first stop would be to check at the livery. It was standard practice for all the riders to give their mounts a thorough examination after completing a run, to make sure that they hadn't sustained any serious injuries while on the run.
As she made her way down the sidewalk toward the livery, she couldn't help noticing how beautiful the Kansas sky was. A full moon hung high in the sky, surrounded by thousands of twinkling stars that helped illuminate the ground below. The night was warm, almost too the point of being unbearable, save for the gentle breeze blowing. It was nights such as this one, that made her long for Kid the most. Even before their relationship had changed into one more serious, both had often found themselves in each other's company under skies as full and as bright as this one was. Sometimes it would be Kid who would seek her out on the top rail of the corral fence, climb up and sit down beside her. Or she would go in search of him, often finding him sitting behind the barn in the tall prairie grass gazing up at the stars. Sometimes they shared their thoughts and dreams for the future, other times they had just sat in companionable silence, enjoying each other's presence.
Just thinking of Kid brought tears to her eyes and pain to her heart. They had shared so much since they had first met each other and yet, here they were a year later, and it seemed that they really didn't know each other at all. At least, that's how it felt to her. She really didn't know anymore how Kid felt. Even to the point of wandering if he still loved her. These past few months had been incredibly painful for her; she knew that it hadn't been easy for him either. There had been too many times that she had caught him staring at her with those beautiful eyes of his, pain and anguish apparent on his face. Yet, every time she had tried to approach him to talk, he had eagerly made excuses to get out of talking to her. Either way, it didn't excuse the hurtful things he had done. Seeing him with all those other girls had been excruciating for her. Worst of all for her was the knowledge that Kid tried his hardest to act as if they hadn't meant anything to each other. Recalling the words that he had said to her before she had left on her run that morning, made her heart fill with hope. Whether or not they ever got together again, she didn't know. All she did know, was that she would try her hardest to make it happen. Hopefully, Kid thought the same way.
Reaching the livery finally, she went inside and lit a lantern. She walked carefully down the aisle of stalls, until she came to Lightning's. She slipped the bolt free and stepped inside. She ran her hands over Lightning's body, carefully examining every inch for any noticeable signs of injury. She was almost finished with her examination when she heard the barn door creak open. She felt herself tense up as she heard footsteps start down the rows of stalls towards her. She crouched down in the stall and went for her gun at the same time. She held her breath as she waited for whoever had entered the barn to make his presence or intentions known. She didn't have long to wait.
"Whoever is in here, better come on out with your hands up? There isn't another way out of the livery except through the front and I have all the time in the world to wait." An older man's voice called out.
Lou giggled with relief, then stood up. She knew that Avery couldn't see her from where he was standing at the end of the aisle and called out. "It's me Avery, Lou McCloud. I just came down to check Lightning over."
She holstered her gun and moved slowly out of Lightning's stall, keeping her hands up where Avery could see them. The older man squinted down the aisle and then lowered the shotgun he held in his hands.
" Sorry, Lou. Didn't know what to expect when I saw a light on in here. There's been some trouble around here lately with a bunch of troublemakers. They've been breaking into shops in town, stealing whatever they can find, making a mess of the place. Just wanted to make sure, nobody was messing with the horses." Avery told her.
"It's alright. I didn't mean to wait too long to check Lightning out. Fell asleep. Did you notice anything wrong with him?"
"No, nothing out of the ordinary. I did notice that he was about due to be shod. Want me to take care of that? Avery asked.
"If you can. I'll be in town for another day, before I head back to Rock Creek. Think you can have it done by tomorrow?" Lou asked.
"I'll do it first thing in the morning. Can't have one of the Express's best horses out of commission because he needs shoes, now can we." Avery told her.
"Thanks Avery. I'll be by in the morning to feed him." She told them as she headed out of the livery. She walked around town for a little longer, then headed back to the hotel. Stripping down to her long johns, Lou climbed into bed and tried to come up with a plan that would allow her to see the doctor without it jeopardizing her job. It was nearly midnight before she came up with an idea good enough that she felt comfortable going to sleep.
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