By Kirsten
Christine smiled warmly, and in spite of the circumstances that she hated so much, Molly found her lips forming into a natural smile as well. "Yes, sir?"
This time before he spoke, Jimmy found himself quite relaxed. Maybe it was the calm manner in which the beautiful woman before him responded. "May I help you find the hotel and carry your bags?" He motioned towards the ground where their belongings were sitting, covered in trail dust.
A look of sincere gratitude crossed over the faces of the two girls. "Why, yes, that's very generous of you." Christine replied.
Jimmy said nothing but began lifting their small trunks. They didn't seem to be carrying as much as many women do.......well, at least he didn't think so until he actually tried to lift them off of the ground. He tried to conceal the groan that was naturally came out as he hoisted them under his arms.
There was something in particular that had captured the attention of Molly. The chivalrous man who was helping them just happened to be carrying two ivory handled guns. She elbowed her sister and pointed to them. Christine followed her sister's finger and merely shrugged. It didn't seem to bother her that men out here had to fasten weapons to their sides in order to cross the street.
In silence, the three people began their way to the hotel. Jimmy was in the lead, and occasionally he would stop to re-shift the luggage under his arm. Not all too soon, for Jimmy, he walked up the steps to the only hotel in Sweetwater. The girls, or rather the eldest girl, seemed quite pleased with the layout. While the other, seemed once again disappointed. Hickok couldn't help but wonder why it was that she even bothered to come out West.
"There you are, ladies." He said as he set the trunks down.
"I can't thank you enough, Mr.....?" Christine extended her hand, and he carefully took it with a light shake. Jimmy couldn't help but notice the silky-soft feeling of her gloves. They were apparently quite expensive.
"Hickok, James Hickok." He paused, hoping that he could come up with something else to say. "Most of my friends just call me Jimmy."
Christine smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy. This is my sister, Molly, and my name is Christine." So I was right. He thought. They are related.
"Are you ladies just passing through, or are you going to stay a while?" He tried to make the question sound as causal as possible.
Molly took the opportunity to step in front of her sister. "Actually we're just here for a short while and will be heading back....."
Christine pulled on the back of her sister's dress and she stopped in mid-sentence. She shot Molly a frustrated glance. "We aren't quite sure what our plans are. I'd like to find a decent place to open up a dress shop, but I'm not quite sure where to do so. So, right now we are just looking into all the possibilities."
Jimmy took a breath, as he realized that he had been standing there tense the entire time they'd been talking. "I'd be happy to tell you about the area. I ride for the Pony Express, so we make our way around. There's places that are nice, and places that you want to stay away from."
Christine smiled at the sincerity of Hickok's tone and expressions. Perhaps he was the kind of man that they could really trust. "That would be wonderful. How can we thank you?"
With a brief, flickering moment of hesitation, Jimmy thought of the one thing that would be thanks enough. "Why don't you and your sister come out and join us for supper. It's nothing fancy, but Rachel is an excellent cook."
Molly rolled her eyes, just what she wanted......to go sit in some hot dirty building with stinky guys that probably hadn't bathed in months and smelled like old horses.
"We would love to, and appreciate the offer." Christine responded before her sister was able to say something embarrassing to the gentleman.
"Great. I'll pick you up around 6 then." He turned without another word and left the hotel. Taking a deep breath he just hoped that Rachel wouldn't be too upset that he'd just invited too beautiful women to supper. Well, maybe Rachel wasn't the one to worry about making upset........
He spotted Lou across the street and she waved. "Jimmy, I've been looking all over for you!"
"Chris, what in the name of sanity do you think you're doing!?" Molly tossed her hat on the bed and sat down heavily. The bed shook and squeaked, she hated the sound so she stood up and took the chair by the window.
Christine said nothing, and continued to unpack. She carefully took the dresses out of her trunk and began to hang them up. Smiling, she lifted her favorite lavender dress from the trunk and carefully smoothed it out.
"Oh, Chris, you're honestly not thinking about wearing that old thing tonight, are you?" Molly was great at going from one thing to the other. It practically drove her sister crazy, but for some reason it didn't seem to bother Christine this time.
"I'm getting my things unpacked." She said, answering the first question.
Molly shrugged and began to do the same, carefully removing her favorite hat from the hat box. "Where do we go from here?"
"Of course I am, it looks like it belongs out West. Oh, how I've longed to be able to wear something less formal." Christine appear dazed and her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"What are you talking about?" Molly asked, sincerely confused. She didn't remember the previous question that she had asked.
"You asked me if I was really going to wear this. I said that I was. Honestly, Molly, you've got to keep track of all the questions you ask!"
On to Chapter Three