STANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYAL
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jimmy practically throws the broom he had been sweeping
the marshal's office with clear across the room as Teaspoon steps into the office
from the bitter coldness of Christmas Eve Day.
Jimmy looks at a startled Teaspoon, but doesn't
say a word, and only looks more angry and bitter that Teaspoon has stopped in
to see how he is doing.
"Well nothing like taking your frustrations
out on a beat up defenseless material object such as that their broom you just
about put through my office window," Teaspoon remarked boldly.
"Don't you have a wedding to get ready for?"
Jimmy spoke flatly.
"Yes, I do." Teaspoon walks apprehensively
toward Jimmy who is now leaning his backside against Teaspoon's desk. "You
need to swallow your pride, and just make an appearance at their wedding. It
is important to Cody that his family be there," Teaspoon spoke adamantly.
"Teaspoon, I slept with Kid's wife. I can't
believe that you're not giving me one of your hour long lectures," Jimmy
spoke an upset tone in his voice.
"Yeah. Jimmy, I don't agree with what happened
between you and Louise, but I could see it coming back when you first came back
to town. It's almost like this thing between you and Louise was destined to
happen, and now that it has we all have to find a way to move past it. It will
take a lot of hard work for Kid and Lou to put their marriage back together,
but I believe they can do it. Lou has just got to lay it all out for Kid. Her
being lonely in their marriage, and insecure about his love for her."
"What about Lou's feelings for me?"
"Well that is a whole another chapter. Lou
also has to decide if she wants to save her marriage, or if she wants to be
with you. But, I don't put the blame on you totally for what happened. The blame
is equally shared by both of you."
"What about Buck? I know my actions with Louise
are upsetting him too."
"Buck and Kid have been building their ranch
together for a few years now. They spend a lot of time together, and they have
become closer than two brothers could ever be, but I had a chat with Buck about
you and Louise. Buck knows how Kid spends so much time working the ranch that
he hardly knows that Louise exists. I think after all Buck's ups and downs with
Jane he is more able to understand the feelings between you and Lou. He doesn't
seem to be that upset by what happened."
"But, I'm sure he still believes that what
Lou and I did was wrong?"
"Yeah, well like I said Buck and Kid are very
close. But, if what you're asking is if Buck despises you right now. I would
say no he doesn't."
"I still don't know if it is such a good idea
that I be at that wedding. Kid will be there, and Lou. I hate the idea that
this wedding is hurting Buck so much."
"Jimmy, I don't want this wedding to happen,
but I'm going to be there for Cody. Goodness knows something still don't feel
right to me about Jane's reasons for marrying Cody, but there ain't nothing
any of us can do to stop this wedding from taking place this evening."
Before Jimmy can promise that he will make a quiet
appearance at Jane and Cody's wedding, the door to the marshal's office flings
open, and Jack walks in from the windy morning.
"Jimmy, how you been?" Jack asked flatly.
"Good. Teaspoon, I'll let you and Jack talk.
I'm going to head back to the ranch," Jimmy stated flatly.
Jimmy grabbed his coat off the coat hook as he exits
the marshal's office. Both Jack and Teaspoon watch Jimmy get on his horse, and
ride out before Jack turns to face Teaspoon.
"So, how did Buck take your news?" Jack
asked seriously.
"What makes you think I ever plan on telling
Buck my news?" Teaspoon asked disheartened.
Jack looks totally shocked that Teaspoon has not
told Buck the truth about his parentage. "Why wouldn't you tell Buck is
what I'm wondering?"
"There is a lot about Buck that you don't know,
or understand," Teaspoon spoke somberly.
"Now is your chance Teaspoon. Make me understand
why you wouldn't tell Buck that you are his natural father!"
Teaspoon is a little apprehensive about telling
Jack anything about Buck, but what can Jack do now. He's already delivered to
Teaspoon the best news of his life, but Teaspoon's good news would only bring
more pain to Buck.
"The truth Jack is that Buck had a very painful
childhood, and if I would have been in his life from the beginning a lot of
that pain would not have reached him. I can't tell Buck the truth because the
realization of my not being there for him when he needed me the most would be
too much for him to handle."
"What kind of childhood did Buck have?"
Teaspoon paces for a moment. He then stops, and
stands directly in front of Jack. "Buck lived in a Kiowa village with his
brother, and he was treated badly by the other children as well as the adults.
He left the Kiowa, and ended up at an orphanage where he was also treated badly.
My point here Jack is that Buck has never really had the support that a father
can give his son. Buck needed that support more than anything else in his young
life, and I wasn't there to give it."
"You didn't know he existed," Jack stated
boldly.
"I slept with his mother Jack. Buck believes
that his natural father raped his mother."
"That is a damn good reason why you should
clear this matter up with Buck. Don't let Buck live his entire life thinking
that his father was a bastard that destroyed his mother's life."
"Jack I'm asking you as a friend to let this
matter be," Teaspoon spoke adamantly.
"Teaspoon, it isn't my place to tell Buck the
truth. It's his father's place to tell him the truth," Jack spoke quietly
as he exits the marshal's office, and leaves Teaspoon to rethink the decision
that he has made concerning Buck's right to know the truth about his father.
Jane tosses her wedding dress and undergarments
onto Lou's bed. She stares blindly at the heap of clothing for a moment wondering
if she'll really be able to go through with a wedding to a man that she has
no desire to spend the rest of her life with. "The rest of my life. That
surely could be a very long amount of time," Jane spoke quietly to only
her. She turns and stares at the woman reflecting back at her through Lou's
vanity mirror. So much has happened in her life since the day she arrived in
Rock Creek. So much has been good, but so much has gone wrong.
She recognized him right away, but she still
felt the need to protect herself from him.
"I'm a much better shot then what I once
was Buck," Jane spoke with fire in her voice.
The look on Buck's face had made her almost want
to laugh, but she had kept her laughter from bursting out.
"Does that mean you are going to shoot me?"
Buck asked calmly.
"I will if you take one more footstep towards
me."
But, Buck didn't believe that she had it in her
to shoot him. She fired a shot above his head, and it about frightened him right
out of his boots.
"That was a warning. The next bullet won't
be," Jane spoke seriously.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Buck insisted.
"How do I know that?"
"Jane, you do know me. I haven't turned
into a monster over the past seven years."
"You're always sneaking up on me. What's
your excuse for sneaking up on me this time? Let me think. The last time you
snuck up on me, you said it was because I was shooting at you and your friends."
Jane snaps out of her memory of the day she realized
that Buck was once again back in her life. Had destiny brought them back together
again?
When Cody had asked her to the dance, she could
see the hurt in Buck's eyes, but the night of the dance before Cody had arrived
to escort her to the dance it was Buck that stole her heart.
He had taken her breath away! Every last inch
of him had her appetite for passion sneaking up on her! Never before had she
had these sorts of feelings or thoughts for a man. Buck had thought that she
was simply too warm and needed a glass of water. What she needed was to have
Buck take her in his arms and escape to his bedroom where he wouldn't stop loving
her until the morning light!
Jane remembers how Cody's arrival had interrupted
a rather intimate moment between her and Buck.
During the evening of the dance they had gone
for a walk while Cody was attending to official army business. They discussed
what each of them had been doing over the past seven years. Before either one
of them could think about what they were doing, Jane found herself entangled
in Buck's arms and kissing him passionately. Once again Cody's arrival had put
a halt to anything more intimate happening right in the darkness of that alley!
But, later that evening after Buck took her back
home to his place, he gently backed her onto the sofa as he kissed her passionately,
and before she could stop what was happening Jane found her body underneath
Buck's!
Should she have stopped what was about to happen?
She had made up her mind by placing her hands on Buck's hips, and forcing his
body completely onto hers! All she could hear were the moans of passion and
desire coming from both of them!
Jane laughs at the interruption first from Charlene,
and than from Jimmy. She had wanted Buck desperately that night. She could feel
the waves of passion consuming her entire body!
The day in the clearing where he had said good-bye
to his best friend Ike had been a pleasant surprise for her. Buck was sad, and
she felt compelled to take him in her arms, and make passionate love to him.
She insisted that Buck make love to her in the
clearing that day. She wasn't going to stop the assault on his body, or his
senses until he surrendered his love to her!
She had pulled his shirt from his trousers, but
without any warning gun shots had been fired at the two of them, and all Buck
could then think about was getting her back to the ranch, and out of harms way.
Jane chuckles out loud thinking about the looks
that everyone at Rachel's dinner table had given her and Buck when they burst
into the Hunter home with their clothes in disarray.
The night that Buck and she had planned an evening
of romance, she had wanted him to make love to her before they went out to dinner.
There would be no interruptions that night. But, even though dinner had been
a wonderful prelude to a night of making love to the man that she loved, it
wasn't meant to be.
Cody had ended their night of magic by arresting
Buck for the murders that had been going on around Rock Creek. Of course everyone
including Cody knew that Buck was innocent, but Cody still was determined to
make it a memorable evening!
It had taken a lot of hard work to get Buck free
from the false accusations that Cody had made against him. On there way back
to the ranch she couldn't help igniting the fire between them again! She had
become quite daring with Buck on the road back to the ranch wanting him more
than ever, and not wanting to wait another moment longer. She had teased Buck
until there would be no way that he could say no to her!
Of course the sound of approaching horses lead
Buck to halt the passion once again between them. It turned out that Jimmy and
Teaspoon had once again managed to interrupt their lovemaking. Jane was seriously
beginning to believe that a conspiracy between Buck's family members was going
on to keep the two of them from consummating the love that was becoming quite
intense between them.
Jane chuckles once again out loud at the thought
of Buck trying to hide the appearance of his passion from Jimmy and Teaspoon.
Teaspoon had been blind to what had been going on, but Jimmy wouldn't allow
Buck to live it down, sort of speak.
Jane finds herself sitting at Lou's vanity staring
at a woman that she no longer knows. No longer really cares to know.
She had awoken from a nightmare where her father
had been killed by the hands of a ruthless outlaw, and now Buck was lying out
in the wilderness in the same state. She couldn't reach him. The only thing
she could see was a trail of his blood running through town!
"No!" Jane shouted.
"Having second thoughts?" Lou asked as
she startles Jane out of her thoughts.
Jane abruptly glances back at Lou through the mirror.
"I was thinking about the past. How the years just seem to fly by."
"Yes they do," Lou spoke sadly.
"If you could do your life over Lou, would
you change the way it has turned out?"
"I would change the hurt, and mistrust that
I have put in my husband's eyes. What would you change Jane?"
"I would change the many ways that I have hurt
Buck so badly."
"There is still time to do that."
"No Lou. Things have changed between Buck and
I, and Cody and I. I can never allow myself to look back on the past ever again.
Today is a fresh start for me. I need to take this fresh start and thank Cody
for giving it to me."
Kid and Buck are outside the barn rounding up the
few horses that were trying desperately to nibble the last of the dried grass
away from the cold ground.
Kid has had a permanent scowl on his face since
the day he had came home without going on his projected trip because Lou had
wanted her husband at home. What he found was his wife lying naked with another
man in her arms. He was no kind of fool, and he could easily figure out that
Jimmy and Lou had spent the entire evening making love.
No matter what Lou's reasoning was for being with
Jimmy in a way that a woman only gives to her husband, Kid had told her that
their marriage was over. He stayed in the house with Lou and his two daughters,
but at night Kid slept in the spare bedroom. He simply had no desire to even
sleep in the same bed with Lou.
"So, you planning on going to the wedding?"
Kid asked Buck not really sure how his best friend feels about Jane anymore.
"I can't," Buck spoke disheartened.
"Yeah, I understand. I don't really want to
go, but Teaspoon has been begging me to attend. He says Cody will be upset if
his family doesn't attend his wedding."
"Honestly Kid, Cody doesn't feel like family
to me anymore."
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,"
Kid spoke thinking about his relationship with Jimmy.
Lou continues to brush Jane's hair trying to keep
Jane from making the biggest mistake of her young life.
"I once asked you if you truly love Cody the
way you once loved Buck."
"I remember," Jane replied softly.
"Now would be the time to think about the answer
to that question. Jane, don't make a mistake that you may have to live with
for the rest of your life," Lou pleaded softly.
"I've thought about that answer for many weeks
Lou. You are more than aware of the many different feelings that a woman can
have for more than one man."
"Yes, I guess I am quite familiar with that."
"They say confession is good for the soul,
so I'm going to try and put my feelings for these two different men into words
that will put your mind to rest about my decision to marry Cody."
"I'm listening," Lou spoke softly.
Rachel and Teaspoon are dressed up in their best
clothes, and literally pacing back in forth in front of Rock Creek's humble
white church. Cody comes from inside the church, and smiles at the two who seem
more nervous than what he is.
"I hope the two of you don't dig a trench around
the church so poor Jane can't make her way to the alter in her wedding dress,"
Cody remarked with a wide grin.
Both Teaspoon and Rachel stop pacing, and look at
one another before they begin to laugh at their own foolishness.
"We do seem to be a bit more nervous than you
today Cody," Teaspoon spoke admiring Cody's calm control.
"Jane is going to be nervous enough. I really
need to be in control of my emotions to make sure she has me to lean on."
"Why is that Cody?" Rachel asked bewildered
by Cody's statement.
"What I mean is that Jane has this way of allowing
herself to get nervous over being the center of attention. She's just not used
to everyone fusing over her."
"I see," Teaspoon remarked
knowing that Jane's love for Buck is what her real problem is.
Kid and Buck are getting the last of the horses
into the barn, and supplying each of them with fresh water and a stack of hay
to nibble on. Neither man has much to say, but both men have a lot on their
mind.
Jane is about to tell Lou the truth about her love
for Buck as well as her feelings for Cody when suddenly a sweaty palm reaches
around her and clasps her mouth shut. A blindfold is quickly put around her
eyes, and the hand that covered her mouth to keep her quiet is replaced with
a gag.
"We weren't told to bring both of them,"
one man quietly stated to another man.
"We're taking both of them. We can't leave
a witness. We either take them both or kill one of them," the other man
spoke quietly.
"We'll take them both. I don't want no murder
hanging over my head," a third man replied quietly.
Three men drag a squirming Louise and Jane from
Lou's bedroom, down the stairs, and through the kitchen. In the kitchen Charlene
is present holding the door open while the men manage to get the two women out
of the house! Once outside, Lou and Jane are each placed on a horse, and tied
down to that horse. The five ride out through the woods behind Kid and Lou's
home!
Buck and Kid are going their separate ways as they
approach their own home.
"Good-night Buck," Kid spoke somberly.
"Enjoy the wedding Kid," Buck spoke disheartened
by the thought of Jane marrying Cody.
Charlene sneaks into Buck's home through the back
door. She had already started to prepare dinner so that Buck later wouldn't
have any suspicions about her being involved with Jane's, and now Lou's unforeseen
disappearance.
Before Buck makes his way into the kitchen of his
home, he hears Kid scream out his name.
"Buck!" Kid screamed from his home.
Buck rips through his home, and back out the front
door. He meets up with Kid as Kid is flying down the front steps of his porch!
"What's wrong?" Buck asked as he halted
Kid's fast approach toward him by placing his hand on Kid's chest.
Kid is having a difficult time catching his breath.
"It's Lou…..and Jane….the house……"
"What about Jane and Lou?" Buck spoke
nervously.
"They're gone! The inside of the house is a
wreck, like they…both put up a… struggle," Kid spoke hysterically.
Buck leaves Kid's side, and tears into Kid's home.
He halts his progression when he sees the destruction inside the home. The banister
leading up the stairs has been broken in several spots. Buck walks further into
the house. He steps cautiously into the kitchen where dishes have been smashed
onto the floor. The chairs at the kitchen table are lying on their sides and
broken. The back door is slamming against the frame every time the wind howls.
Buck rushes out the back door where he picks up
the tracks left by the five horses that made their way away from the house,
and then across the creek! He rushes back inside the house!
Rachel, Teaspoon, and Cody are headed onto the ranch
in the buckboard that Rachel and Teaspoon had used to get into town for the
wedding. Jane hadn't showed any signs of making it to the church for her own
wedding. Cody had become quite the nervous bridegroom, and decided that perhaps
Buck Cross is the reason for his bride's delay!
As the three enter the ranch and come to a stop
in front of Kid and Lou's home they find that Buck and Kid are saddled up and
ready to ride out.
"Where is she Buck?" Cody spoke loudly
as he jumps off the buckboard, and heads over toward Buck.
Teaspoon senses the oncoming fight. He gets down
from the buckboard as well, and chases after Cody.
Buck and Kid both get down from their horse.
"Cody, we really don't have time for this right
now," Kid spoke his voice cracking with emotion.
"Where is she Buck?" Cody spoke demandingly.
"Both Lou and Jane are missing," Buck
spoke softly trying to avoid a confrontation with Cody. "We need to start
tracking their horses now before it gets dark."
"You're lying!" Cody spoke boldly.
"Cody, let Buck and Kid explain," Teaspoon
spoke adamantly.
"Buck and I were in the barn finishing up for
the evening. I had entered the house to get ready for the wedding. The house
is in shambles. I ran outside to get Buck. He found tracks at the back of the
house running through the creek."
"I don't believe one word of this!" Cody
spoke loudly.
"I don't really give a damn what you believe,"
Buck spoke angrily.
Buck starts to walk away from Cody, but Cody grabs
onto his arm to halt Buck's progression to his horse. "You kidnapped Jane
once before!"
Teaspoon senses trouble. He tries to get to Buck's
side, but he is too late. Cody charges into Buck and lays him out flat on the
ground! Kid and Teaspoon hurry to separate the two men that are literally punching
one another in the face!
"This isn't helping our search to find Lou
and Jane," Teaspoon spoke adamantly. As he tries desperately to hold Cody
back from hitting Buck again.
Buck struggles to get free from the grasp that Kid
has on him! "Kid, let go of me so I can kill him!"
Rachel steps in-between the men. "It's about
time that all of you start growing up and thinking about the danger that this
family has been in for quite some time now. I'm willing to bet that Jesse James
and his gang have everything to do with Jane and Lou's unanticipated ruthless
disappearance."
The men settle down. Kid is able to release his
strong hold on Buck, and Teaspoon slowly releases Cody.
"I'll give you your chance to find Jane. But
if I find out that you had anything at all to do with her disappearance, you'll
hang!" Cody remarked as he turns his back and walks away from Buck Cross
and the rest of his Pony Express family!
The five horses ride into a well-hidden camp in
the mountains long after dark. The outlaws halt the horses and attempt to untie
the two captive women. Both Lou and Jane struggle making it almost impossible
for their captors to release them.
"Stop struggling, or you'll stay tied and gagged!"
one outlaw shouted.
Lou and Jane both comply, and soon they are standing
on their own two feet. Both women feel the hands of a man taking the blindfold
away from their eyes, and the gags from their mouth. Once released both women
find their eyes staring into the evil, loathsome, unmerciful eyes of Jesse James!
THE END
TO BE CONTINUED IN…
If We Are Lost…Love Will Find Us
Will Louise and Jane ever find their way back home
to the man they truly love, or is Jesse's plan to destroy his past family destine
to succeed?
While trying to survive the brutality of Jesse James,
will Jane confess her fears and secrets to Louise?
While Kid and Buck search the territory for Louise
and Jane, what will Teaspoon do to keep both Cody and Jimmy from interfering?
Teaspoon wants to help Buck find the woman he loves.
He feels helpless to console the young man that is his son. Will he tell Buck
the truth hoping it will help heal the pain that Buck is feeling over losing
Jane?
Louise discovers she may be pregnant. Is she sure
who the father is?
What is ahead for Charlene and Cody? Will someone
who has suspected their underhanded plans all along finally discover all their
scheming?
While searching for loved ones, and fighting going
on amongst family members Rock Creek is exposed to the worse winter storm they've
had in over a decade!
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