STANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYALSTANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYAL
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The early morning sunrise had only brought more heartache and uncertainty to Rock Creek and its residents. Thanksgiving will soon be upon the family who lives at The Kid & Buck Horse Ranch. Teaspoon wonders silently as he sits in his chair at the jailhouse how they will maintain a happy family atmosphere when they are all bickering amongst themselves. Teaspoon watches Jimmy who is staring at the posters of Jesse and Frank James. With all the problems that Buck has been having lately, Teaspoon has had no time to talk in depth to Jimmy who is definitely having a few problems of his own. Even though the young man hasn’t burdened Teaspoon with what is going on in his life, Teaspoon can see the look on Jimmy’s face. He has had a permanent frown glued to his face for the past week or two. There is something eating at the young man’s heart, but Teaspoon isn’t quite sure what it could be that’s bothering him.
Cody storms into the office bringing a strong gust of wind with him. He shuts the door quickly as to not let in too much cold air.
Both Teaspoon and Jimmy glance over at Cody as he whirls around to face then with a stricken look on his face.
“Everything all right, son?” Teaspoon asked with minimal concern.
“I thought the two of you ought to know that there has been yet another killing,” Cody spoke out of breath from his brisk walk from his army post to the marshal’s office.
Jimmy turns completely around to listen more intently to what Cody is telling them.
“His name was Andrew Johnson. Either one of you recognize the name?” Cody asked flatly.
Teaspoon tries to remember if the name has ever crossed his mind, but he can’t really recall.
“Andrew Johnson,” Jimmy spoke out loud as he tries to place the name with a face. “I’ve heard of him. I think I even met him once.”
“When?” Cody asked elated that someone knows the latest victim.
“I think he’s one of the young men that I caught Hannah with.”
“I’m confused here Jimmy. I thought Hannah and you were seeing each other pretty steady,” Cody spoke dumfounded.
“That’s what I thought too. I have been informed by Hannah that she doesn’t see any one man steadily,” Jimmy spoke disheartened.
Teaspoon’s eyes brighten. So that’s what is wrong with Jimmy. Teaspoon is totally surprised that Jimmy is starting to fall in love, but Hannah isn’t interested in the emotion of love at all.
“You’re still seeing Hannah, aren’t you Jimmy?” Teaspoon asked trying not to be too interfering in Jimmy’s life.
“Yeah, whenever Hannah can make the time.”
“Well I just wanted to let the two of you know about the killing. I have to get back to my men. We’re going to do an all out search for Jesse and his gang,” Cody spoke as he makes his way out of the jailhouse.
After Cody’s departure Teaspoon takes notice to the quietness that has overcome Jimmy. He looks to be in deep thought. Teaspoon isn’t quite sure that he should interrupt Jimmy’s train of thought, but he is starting to worry that something is extremely wrong in Jimmy’s life.
“I can see that something pretty intense is bothering you,” Teaspoon spoke hoping that Jimmy will confide in him.
Jimmy snaps out of his deep thought. He moves away from the bulletin board to stand in front of Teaspoon. “I’m real worried about Hannah. I’ve been noticing some things about her lately, and these things have me baffled.”
“You wanna talk about them?”
“Yeah. I just ain’t real sure where to begin. Everything is just such a jumbled mess in my head.”
“Why don’t you start with Andrew Johnson? That name seems to be haunting you a bit.”
“She knows him. She’s slept with him.”
“Hannah?” Teaspoon questioned bluntly.
“Yeah. Hannah also had been sleeping with Joseph Foster before he was killed, and Mister Carson seemed to know her intimately as well,” Jimmy spoke the words just flowing out of his mouth as if he’s putting a jigsaw puzzle together as he speaks.
“What exactly are you trying to say, Jimmy? Are you saying that you believe Hannah had something to do with the killings that have been going on around here?” Teaspoon asked with shock in his tone of voice.
“I ain’t sure. There’s something else, Teaspoon. I’m not sure I should tell you because I’m having a difficult time believing that Hannah is involved with these killings.”
“Jimmy whatever it is, I can help,” Teaspoon spoke trying to assure Jimmy that he will do whatever he can to make sure Hannah is not falsely accused of something she didn’t do.
“One night when Hannah and I were at the hotel, in our room, she had fallen asleep and I couldn’t get to sleep cause I was so afraid that Buck wasn’t going to make it.”
“So this happened when Buck was still at the doc’s clinic?”
“Yeah. I hadn’t been to see him all day, and I was real scarred that he wouldn’t make it through the night. I got out of bed to glance out the window to just make sure there was no commotion going on over at the doc’s clinic. I remember turning to go back to bed when my eye caught something sticking out of Hannah’s purse. Her purse was lying on the floor. I picked it up, and inside was a pair of black leather gloves.”
“Oh Lord.”
“That’s not all, Teaspoon. I didn’t ask Hannah about the gloves. I just figured that she has a pair of black leather gloves. I mean it’s a popular article of clothing for a woman who rides horseback. But, a few nights later we were at the hotel again, and that night I found a pair of black leather gloves in her purse stained with blood.”
“Why didn’t you say something before now, Jimmy?”
“I ain’t sure, Teaspoon. I don’t want to believe that Hannah is capable of cold-blooded murder, but the gloves sure make her seem guilty,” Jimmy spoke his voice cracking with emotion.
Teaspoon guides him to the chair in front of his desk and pushes Jimmy to sit down. Teaspoon sits on the edge of his desk. “Listen son, we have to find out whether Hannah is involved or not.”
“What about Cody? Should we tell Cody?” Jimmy asked quietly.
“I ain’t too sure that would be such a good idea. Cody can make such a damn mess out of anything he’s involved with. I’d rather the two of us try to find out what is going on with Hannah before we pull Cody into the situation.”
“Just how are we going to find out if Hannah is involved or not?” Jimmy asked perplexed.
“You need to spend as much time as possible with her. If she tries to give you the brush off then perhaps you should try following her to see exactly what she is up to on those evening when she doesn’t want to be with you,” Teaspoon spoke bluntly.
“I don’t like trapping Hannah, Teaspoon,” Jimmy spoke disheartened. He gazes at Teaspoon hoping for a way out of this, but he knows deep down in his heart that they must find out the truth. “I suppose this is the only way to find out one way or the other whether Hannah is a killer or not.”
“I’m sorry, son.”
Kid is in the barn mucking out the stalls with Louise right by his side assisting him. Louise watches her husband with intensity. Kid has been just as quiet if not more quiet than Buck of late, and Lou is sure she doesn’t understand what it is that has given Kid such a bad disposition.
Kid is bent over working hard at getting fresh straw spread out in the recently mucked out horse stalls. The late November winds and dropping temperatures has Kid a bit apprehensive about leaving any of their stock gazing out in the pastures at night.
As Kid tries to straighten up, he clasps for his back and lets out a painful groan.
Louise smirks at Kid’s discomfort. “Getting too old to work in the barn, Kid?”
Kid turns around to take in a full view of his wife clad in a pair of jeans and one of his flannel shirts. She is irresistible and irritating at the same time. She has witnessed a lapse of weakness on his part, and he hates Lou seeing that he might be having problems keeping up with the work with Buck not being able to do any work at the moment. Still though with all that Kid does around the ranch, he has very few aches or complaints.
“No, I’m not getting too old to get my work done,” Kid spoke bluntly as he moves to the next stall that needs mucked out and fresh straw put on the floor. Kid shoves the shovel in front of Lou’s face. “Would you care to show me how it’s done properly?” Kid spoke with a teasing smile on his face.
“Very funny, Kid,” Louise spoke boldly. “I’ll do your mucking out of the stalls if you do all the housework including the cooking for a week,” Lou spoke with a teasing smile of her own.
“No thanks,” Kid spoke flatly as he turns away from his wife and starts to muck out the next horse stall.
Lou had gotten Kid to talk for a while, but as soon as he starts back in on his work, he is quiet as a mouse once again. Lou can’t help but to be worried that there is something deeply bothering Kid.
“Kid, is there something you want to talk about?” Lou asked in a concerned tone.
Kid stops shoveling and stands up straight to face his wife.
“No. There’s just so much turmoil going on around us. We have Jesse god knows where just waiting to attack our family again. No one knows where he is at or what he’ll do next.”
“Jesse can’t hurt us if we stay together as a family, and work to try and discover where he is hiding out before he can do anymore damage to any of us.”
“I’m going to be honest with you Lou. Even though Jesse has become a notorious bank robber and killer, I never thought that he would make any one of us his next victim. But he did. He’s hurt this family in a way that only a hateful, devious outlaw would do. Jesse has no shame over the trap that he set for us to ride right into,” Kid spoke with emotion.
“Kid, everything worked out all right. Buck is going to be fine, and no one else was hurt,” Lou spoke softly not wanting to alarm her husband.
“Lou you weren’t there that day. It was a nightmare. Jesse’s men had all of us cornered on every side. We couldn’t move out of the circle that his men formed around us. I couldn’t see three feet in front of me that is how bad the smoke from our guns was hanging in the air. All I could hear was gunfire all around me! Then I heard Teaspoon yelling for Jack, and shortly after that I heard Buck yell out for Teaspoon. I didn’t see Buck fall to the ground, but the gunfire got quiet after he fell. The smoke had started to clear, and I could barely see Teaspoon hobbling over to be by Buck. If Jesse would have wanted to, and believe me I still can’t figure out why he didn’t, he could have easily killed Teaspoon while he was tending to Buck.”
Louise holds Kid in a strong embrace. “I know it had to have been awful, but Jesse can’t hurt us now. We’re all here together, and none of us are going to leave this ranch to pursue him. We’ll just let Jack Morgan do that for us.”
Kid lowers his face into the warmth of Lou’s soft brown hair. “Yeah. I only hope you’re right, Lou.”
Teaspoon knew the boy could be extremely stubborn. He wasn’t sure if it were his white blood or Indian blood that had made Buck that way. Perhaps the fact that he is of mixed blood is the reason for the absolute stubbornness that never seems to let up.
Buck had been refusing to eat so Teaspoon took it upon himself to have his meals with Buck. He had hoped that his company along with conversation would take Buck’s mind off all the hurt and betrayal he was feeling, and give him back the strength that he needs to get well again.
Teaspoon knew he couldn’t fool Buck into eating, but at least he could talk more with Buck in hopes of taking some of the pain away that he has been feeling since Jane had declared that she no longer loves him.
Teaspoon and Buck are sitting in Buck’s bedroom eating their evening meal together. In reality, Teaspoon would rather be spending time with Buck over having to put up with Cody’s inflated self-importance at the Hunter supper table.
“I realize that you don’t want to hear what I have to say about Jane, but I was there everyday with her while we waited for you to wake-up. Jane was a wreck. She was frightened that she was gonna lose you,” Teaspoon spoke trying to assure Buck that he needs to get well enough to fight to get Jane back.
“I understand what you’re trying to do here, Teaspoon, but it won’t work. I took your suggestion, and I talked to Jane. It’s my Indian heritage that is scaring her away,” Buck spoke sadly.
“That’s utter nonsense. Jane loves you. I can see it in her eyes everytime she glances your way. I’m telling you that your Indian heritage has nothing to do with her breaking your romance off. If Jane told you that then she’s just using that as an excuse so she can avoid telling you the real reason. ”
“If what you’re saying is true, then why is Jane hanging all over Cody? Why has she been so cruel as to tell me that she can’t stand being with me because I’m part Kiowa?” Buck spoke his voice cracking with emotion.
It hadn’t been Teaspoon’s intentions to make Buck feel the pain that Jane has caused him all over again. He is sure that Jane loves Buck and not Cody. But why then is Jane claiming to be in love with Cody?
“Could it possibly be because Jane is afraid of losing you? Jane lost her father to an outlaw’s brutality, did she not?”
“Yes. But, I would hope that Jane could talk to me about being afraid of losing me if that were the case. No Teaspoon, I think you’re wrong. I thought Jane was different than every other woman in Rock Creek, but she proved me wrong. My Kiowa blood frightens her.”
Teaspoon looks right through Buck as if he hasn’t heard a single word that Buck just said. He thinks back to something Jack had said to him when Jack had first laid eyes on Buck. “I’m surprised you hadn’t told me that you found him,” Jack had said without thinking about the implications and the meaning behind those words.
Teaspoon gazes at Buck. Jack had been looking at Buck when he spoke those words. “I’m surprised you hadn’t told me that you found him.” Those words keep repeating themselves in Teaspoon’s mind, and he can’t for the life of him get them to stop. What had Jack meant? Did Jack think for a moment that Buck was this long lost child that he claims Teaspoon fathered?
“Teaspoon. Teaspoon!” Buck had hollered Teaspoon’s name many times before the marshal acknowledges Buck’s presence in the room.
“I’m sorry Buck. What were you saying?”
“Forget it Teaspoon. I think you’re miles away from here.”
“Not miles Buck, but maybe years,” Teaspoon spoke softly.
Jane and Cody are arriving onto the ranch on a buckboard. He had waited for Jane in town until she had completed her day’s work at the schoolhouse. Her teaching took up a lot of her time. Time that Cody thought should be spent with him instead of with a room full of children. His selfish mood led them to the restaurant for dinner even though Jane had wished only to get back to the ranch to prepare her notes for her next school day. Cody had insisted that Jane needed to eat, and Jane being somewhat afraid of Cody’s temper, simply gave in without fighting him.
Cody halts the buckboard in front of the bunkhouse. Jane had been laughing about something that had been said between the two of them. Her smile ceases when Cody reaches up to help her down from the buckboard. She can’t help the way she feels whenever Cody is in close proximity to her body. She dislikes the way his touch makes her feel. She doesn’t have romantic feeling for Cody so when he touches her skin she has a very difficult time not pulling away from him.
Cody walks Jane into the bunkhouse. He had asked Jane to go over all the paperwork that he has collected on the investigation. Jane had said that she would offer her assistance, but she hadn’t thought it would be in the bunkhouse. It was too late for her to change her mind now. She didn’t like breaking a promise.
Jane jumps slightly when Cody shuts the bunkhouse door leaving the two of them trapped together behind closed doors. Cody reaches from behind Jane and tries to pull her body close to his. Jane resists, and Cody can feel her resistance. Cody turns her around to face him.
“Perhaps I should warm you up a bit first,” Cody spoke with an over self-confident grin.
He leans into Jane and lowers his head to kiss her.
Jane allows the kiss to happen, but immediately she thinks that she shouldn’t be kissing Cody because her heart belongs to Buck. Her heart will always belong to only Buck!
Before Jane reacts to stop Cody, she feels his hands start to roam down her backside! Jane stumbles backwards away from Cody’s grasp.
Cody is totally surprised when he becomes fully aware of Jane being halfway across the room staring at him as if he has raped her!
“What’s going on, Jane?” Cody spoke in a demanding tone.
Jane blinks away the tears that are close to falling down her cheek. “I’m not ready for our relationship to be more than friendship. I’m sorry, Cody.”
“You still love him, don’t you?” Cody asked disheartened.
“I have to be totally honest with you and with myself about my feelings. Perhaps I always will love Buck. I’ll I really do know at this point is that I don’t want to be kissed or held by any other man than Buck. Right now the only man I want to make love to is Buck. To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think these feelings that I have for Buck will ever go away.”
“Jane, I want to make love to you. I want to make you mine. I can make you forget Buck,” Cody spoke adamantly.
“Cody, you can’t make someone forget the love they have for someone else. Love just doesn’t work that way. You wouldn’t want to make love to me Cody when I would only be thinking that I was really making love to Buck. That wouldn’t be fair to either one of us.”
“I would have thought by now that you were getting over Buck. I can give you a reasonable amount of time to get over your feelings for Buck, but I can’t wait forever, Jane.”
“I won’t ask you to wait forever, Cody.”
Jane walks around Cody, and opens the front door to the bunkhouse. She walks outside and shuts the door between herself and Cody.
“Good-night Jane. We’ll be together soon,” Cody spoke arrogantly.
Jane stands at the front door of the bunkhouse and watches the Hunter home for a brief moment. Buck is inside that home. She could easily leave Cody’s unwanted embrace and waltz right into Buck’s bedroom, and Buck would welcome her with open arms. Buck would forgive all the vicious words that she had spoke to him. He would lie her down on his bed, and the two of them would be lost to the world and all it’s surrounding until sleep overtook their exhausted bodies.
Jane shakes her head to relieve her mind of thoughts of Buck Cross! She slowly strolls across the ranch to the Hunter Homestead!