STANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYALSTANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYAL
Teaspoon slowly ambles out from the inside of the barn. He glances upward at the early evening sky wondering for just a brief moment if the good lord will take Buck away from this ranch, his family, Jane and even from him. Teaspoon quickly tries to erase the thought from his clouded mind, not wishing to dwell on the worst possible outcome of this tragedy.
The sky resembles a storm of destruction with Teaspoon hearing the haunting familiar sounds of a storm that passed through the ranch a few months ago. A few dark clouds are twirling around overhead. The sky speaks out to Teaspoon with a blustery howl as a breeze picks up and blows the orange, amber and scarlet dried leaves from the trees around the ground of the ranch. He listens to the hysterical clangs of the wind chimes on Lou’s porch. He can make out the creaking of the porch swings on everyone’s porches as they rock back and forth in a violent fashion. Teaspoon can only hope that the storm doesn’t bring the ranch more damage or bad happenings. Over the past few months this ranch and the family who reside here have been put through many trials and tribulations. They have all held up pretty well in Teaspoon’s eyes, but he wonders how many more catastrophes they could possibly endure.
Teaspoon glances back down from the sky to set his sight on the homestead that is stationed just in front of him. This ranch has been his home for a few years now, first as the home for his Pony Express Riders, and now a home with his wife and family. He really can’t think of any other place he would rather be.
Teaspoon leaves out a tried sigh. The day had been a very extensive and wearisome one. Every member of his family, who had been at the clinic, had suffered through an intensely emotional day. For once Jimmy and Kid weren’t fighting against one another. Instead the two of them had joined forces and had ganged up on poor, defenseless Cody. Both Jimmy and Kid had tried to make this entire incident ending with Buck getting shot, out to be Cody’s fault. Cody has certainly been up to no good of late, but he had nothing to do with allowing Jesse to rule their lives. That has all been his doing.
Teaspoon arduously opens the fence gate and ambles heavily, as if in one day he has aged fifty years, inside the front yard of his home. The gate makes a boisterous creaking sound that brings Rachel and Charlene scampering out of the house and onto the front porch. Teaspoon stops dead in his tracks for a moment to gaze at his wife. He knows all to well who is to blame for all the catastrophic events that have been happening to his family.
Teaspoon gazes exasperatingly at Rachel and Charlene who are waiting patiently for him to bring them some good news concerning Buck’s condition. With her hands positioned sternly on her hips, Teaspoon is sure that Rachel has a few days planned for lecturing him pertaining to the matter of allowing Jesse James into their lives, and all the dangers it has brought to their family. Teaspoon figures he deserves the lecture, he just isn’t too sure that his emotions can handle it right now.
Rachel watches Teaspoon as his body moves toward her sternly stationed body on the porch. What she observes restores her stance to a much more softer portrayal of her. She beholds a pale in color, defeated man approaching her. Teaspoon is slightly slouched over as he shuffles toward the steps of the front porch. He resembles a man that has just been whipped for a crime that he has committed. It is possible that Teaspoon’s exhausted appearance is due to the fact that he has bad news to report to her concerning the condition that Buck is in. But, Rachel honestly figures that Teaspoon’s sluggish movements toward her is due to the serious reprimanding he believes that he will be receiving from her.
Teaspoon takes the last step and apprehensively walks up to his usual place next to his wife. Their eyes meet with sorrow. Teaspoon doesn’t utter a word, but only continues to look at Rachel hoping that she can take away the pain he is feeling, from not only Buck being shot, but from his past love for a boy that proved his good intentions were far from what he really had in mind for his family.
Rachel isn’t about to allow her thoughts about Jesse and all that he has done to her family occupy her mind at this time. She is a thoughtful wife first, and she knows her husband needs compassion and understanding at this moment.
Rachel takes Teaspoon into an embrace for a warm, tenderhearted hug. She can’t bear to see Teaspoon this upset knowing that he is blaming himself for the situation that one of his boys is in.
Charlene is looking on at the amorous couple. She hopes that soon Buck will feel this way about her. But, at this moment the couple before her is simply irritating her. Charlene can only put up with such intimacy with other couples for so long, and this allotted time is up for Rachel and Teaspoon in her eyes.
“It would be good of you Teaspoon if you could inform myself and Rachel about Buck’s condition,” Charlene spoke impolitely.
Rachel feels her husband’s body become tense from Charlene’s hateful tone. He pulls his body away from the protectiveness of Rachel’s loving embrace.
Rachel hesitates at first to release her hold on Teaspoon. When she finally allows Teaspoon to stand away from her, she immediately recognizes the utter pain that is easily detectable in Teaspoon’s eyes. Rachel is all too aware of the pain she witnesses. The heartache that Rachel sees won’t easily go away. It means that one of his boys is hurt emotionally or suffering with a physical pain. Teaspoon has never been good at hiding how much pain he feels when someone he loves is in pain.
Teaspoon tries to gather his wits to present himself as being under control emotionally to a loathsome Charlene. “Don’t make yourself out to be the victim, Charlene. I am well aware of all the manipulating that you’ve been up to since the very day you arrived on this ranch,” Teaspoon spoke with rejuvenated energy.
Charlene tries her best to portray the innocent woman. “I have been minding my own business. I will admit at first I may have been trying to get Buck to fall in love with me, but he has made it perfectly clear that he is only interested in that boresome school teacher.”
“Charlene, I think it would be best if you didn’t bad mouth Jane. Buck will only think badly of you,” Rachel spoke calmly.
Charlene crosses her arms at her chest. She breathes out a tiresome sigh. “How can all of you be so blind to Jane’s fictitious feelings toward Buck? She doesn’t love him. Jane is simply using Buck to get what she wants from all of you.”
Teaspoon is showing extreme anger in his actions. His face, once pale from the long day spent at the doc’s clinic, has now turned a deep shade of red. “And, what might that be, Charlene?”
“To allow Jesse James to destroy this ranch and the people who live here,” Charlene spoke adamantly so sure that Teaspoon and Rachel will believe what she is saying about Jane.
“And….uh how are you so well informed on what Jane has in mind for all of us? And, how do you know that all Jane’s wrong doings involve Jesse James?” Teaspoon asked perplexed by Charlene’s admittance of guilt on her own part. “Could it possibly be that this is actually your plan and Jesse’s?”
Charlene is stunned that Teaspoon has easily figured out that her admission of Jane being involved with Jesse is actually her own admission of guilt.
The guilty look of shock on Charlene’s face tells Teaspoon all he needs to know about the woman before him. He never quite trusted Charlene, and now he is sure she is up to more than she is actually admitting to. Instead, Charlene places the blame on Jane. In Teaspoon’s eyes, Charlene’s outright blaming of Jane is her own admission of guilt. Could Charlene actually be plotting against his family, with Jesse as her accomplice?
Charlene feels the harsh gaze in Teaspoon’s eyes as if he is wondering to himself if she is guilty for the very crimes that she is insinuating that Jane is involved in. She clears her throat nervously. She desperately needs to think of something to erase the awkwardness that has come between her and the Hunter’s. “I could be wrong about Jane. I only think badly of her because she claims to care about Buck, but she is always with Cody,” Charlene spoke honestly. She can play on Teaspoon’s emotions concerning Jane’s attractiveness toward Cody. After all, Teaspoon has witnessed with his own sight the closeness that has taken place between Cody and Jane.
“Jane is simply friends with Cody, Charlene,” Rachel spoke softly. She turns to face her husband who is still cautiously wondering about Charlene and what the vixen is up to. “I think we should go in for the night.”
“I agree. I’m going to head on over to Kid and Lou’s,” Charlene spoke, as she makes her way down the steps of the porch in a hurried fashion. She needs desperately to put space between herself the Hunter’s.
Rachel and Teaspoon both turn and watch Charlene walk away from their home and towards Kid and Lou’s home.
“I don’t know exactly why, but I don’t completely trust
that woman,”
Teaspoon spoke quietly to Rachel.
Rachel puts her hand on Teaspoon’s arm. “Lets go inside, and you can tell me how Buck is doing.”
Teaspoon suddenly remembers Buck and his almost fatal injuries. “Yeah, lets go on inside.” Teaspoon opens the door to their home allowing Rachel to step inside. Teaspoon notices that the chilling wind from earlier in the evening as died down. The dark clouds in the sky seem to be shifting further west. “Looks like Mother Nature has decided to take pity on us this time. I only hope that Jesse can see what he’s doing to this family before it is too late,” Teaspoon spoke softly not really intending for anyone to hear him.
Jane had been up and down and out of the bed that Doc Barnes had set up next to Buck’s bed at least a half a dozen times since lying down about an hour ago. Buck’s soft moans of pain in his unconscious state are what keep Jane from resting peacefully. The absolute fear that she might lose him while she sleeps, keeps her body from being consumed into a dormant state.
Jane handles the cloth from the basin of warm water by Buck’s bed and wrings out the excessive amount of water. She dampens Buck’s face with the moist cloth. She is so extremely gentle with him, almost afraid that he will break by her simple touch of his battered face. She wipes the cloth tenderly across his forehead, and down over his brows. Jane softly caresses his rosy cheeks with her hand. She can feel the fever raging inside of him.
Jane, with a feather like touch, traces Buck’s lips with her warm fingers. Thoughts of the two of them yet to make love engulfs her mind. She shouldn’t think such thoughts while he lie so near death. Jane shakes the thoughts from her head until it hurts. She can’t stand to think of Buck being gone from her life when they both have so much more living to do together. She must try to think of happier thoughts before she falls apart. Buck needs her. She has to be strong so she can will him to live. As she touches his face softly, Jane utters endearing words to Buck.
“You must come back to me. We have a lifetime ahead of us to share and grow old together. We have waiting for us a lifetime of joys. Like moonlit summer evening on the porch swing holding each other while we watch the stars dance across the sky. There are those autumn walks through the forest as we gaze up at the colorful changes of the leaves as we lie on the dewy grass of a nearby meadow.” Jane sooths Buck’s deep chocolate locks away from his face with her trembling hands. “What about the ranch? I want to help you with the ranch even though I don’t know much about breeding horses. I’m sure you’d have a good laugh teaching me. And, then there are our children that are waiting to be born. We certainly can’t let our unborn children down. You can’t just leave me now without allowing us to have that life.”
Buck begins to cough. Jane takes the glass of water from the table and brings it to Buck’s mouth. A tiny amount of the water manages to absorb itself between his lips. Jane can hear the slight grasping noise Buck makes as he fights to shallow the quenching liquid. It nearly breaks Jane’s heart that most of the liquid escapes down Buck’s chin and onto his long john shirt.
She tries desperately to absorb the wetness from his shirt into the already dampen cloth she holds in her hand. She wants greatly to make Buck comfortable. In Jane’s attempt to soak up the moisture on his shirt, she recklessly applies too much pressure to the wounded area of his chest. Buck screams out in pain! Within a few seconds tears stream down from her eyes and settle down her cheeks. She backs away from Buck as if she in someway is harmful to him.
Jane turns her head to face the door when she hears it open. Doc Barnes walks in and greets her at a distance from Buck’s bedside.
“Let me help you with that,” Doc Barnes spoke quietly.
Jane hands the glass of water over to the doctor.
“I heard him cry out in pain. I thought perhaps you could use some help.”
“I’m just so beside myself with worry that I might do something that will cause him unnecessary pain,” Jane spoke her voice cracking with emotion.
After Doc Barnes allows Buck to take one last swallow of water, he places the glass on the nightstand and turns to face Jane. “Anything that you do for him will have a positive outlook on the healing that his body must do before he awakens. If he was in any pain, it seems to have subsided now.”
“And when do you think he will wake up?” Jane asked hesitatingly.
Doc Barnes looks down at a restless sleeping Buck. “It could take a few days or perhaps a week. I wouldn’t think he would stay asleep much past one week. Now, I think you should crawl back into that other bed, and get some rest yourself. You won’t be doing Buck any good if you come down ill yourself.”
As Jane kisses Buck goodnight, Doc Barnes walks over to the door all the while watching Jane as she lightly caresses Buck’s face. He then leaves the room feeling secure that Jane can take care of Buck.
The early evening sky has turned into a pitch-black night. The days have been visibly getting much shorter since the beginning of November. The creaking of a wooden porch swing let’s everyone else at the ranch know that at least a few people are watching over the quiet ranch.
Kid and Louise are sitting on the porch swing with a blanket being shared between the two of them. Kid is leaning back against the side of the swing that allows him to look out over the ranch. Louise is sitting between Kid’s legs. Kid has his chin positioned on Louise’s head. His somber face tells the tale of the days events. He looks extremely grim and sad. He wonders what Jesse will do next. He wonders if they will be able to apprehend Jesse before he hurts anyone else. He hasn’t voiced his intentions to Louise yet, but once Buck is well, he plans on tracking Jesse on his own. Kid is already aware of how badly Louise will react to his decision. So for now he’ll just keep it to him self.
Louise has noticed that her husband hasn’t said two words since they came out on the porch about an hour ago. She knows that is mind is back in town at the doc’s clinic. “I know how worried you are about Buck. He’s strong. He’ll pull through this because Buck hasn’t been this happy for as long as I’ve known him.”
Kid has to smile at the newfound happiness that Buck seems to have found with Jane. “Jane and Buck, they are remarkable. In the very short time that she has come back into all of our lives, there hasn’t been too much to smile about around here. Yet, the two of them have managed to fall in love.”
“You really think it’s that serious?”
“I’m sure of it. I just hope Cody can accept the fact that Jane wants to be with Buck,” Kid spoke loud enough for an approaching Cody and Jimmy to hear him declare the love that is between Buck and Jane.
Cody and Jimmy stop just in front of the porch steps. “The two of you mind if we join you?” Jimmy asked quietly.
Kid had hoped on having a quiet evening alone with Louise. The events with Buck earlier today have worn his nerves almost to the breaking point. Kid isn’t too sure he can tolerate Cody’s determination to win Jane away from Buck, or Jimmy’s highly opinionated views on everyone’s life but his own. Just this morning Jimmy, who had fought with Cody, is now obviously befriending him.
Cody picks up on Kid’s reluctance to allow him and Jimmy to sit and chat with him and Louise. “I’ve apologized to Jimmy for my ignorance today. I’d like to apologize to the both of you also, if you’ll let me.”
“Your harsh words were aimed at Buck, Cody. It’s like you don’t care about Buck’s feelings or the way he and Jane feel for one another, not to mention the fact that it seems like you don’t care whether Buck lives or dies,” Louise spoke harshly.
“Lou, does anyone ask you to stop having feelings for Kid?” Cody asked harshly.
Jimmy who had been concentrating on the conversation between his friends finds his eyes staring blindly down at the ground. In Kid’s presence he actually feels somewhat ashamed that he has openly admitted that he is in love with Louise.
“No,” Louise spoke bluntly.
“I have feelings for Jane. I can’t just stop being in love with her just because Buck has feelings for her too. I’ll I can do is apologize for the cruel things I said about Buck. I really don’t want harm to come his way,” Cody spoke sincerely.
“Now may we sit down?” Jimmy asked impatiently.
“Come on up and join us,” Kid spoke harshly. He really can’t accept Cody’s apology because his best friend and business partner is fighting for his life. Kid isn’t so sure that Cody’s actions of late didn’t have anything to do with what has brought them all to the consequences of today. He has suspected Cody of being manipulative with their lives ever since he falsely accused and arrested Buck for murders they all knew Buck didn’t commit. Even Cody knew Buck didn’t commit those murders, yet Cody was determined to keep Buck locked up. Cody was determined to risk Buck’s life for his own obsessive feelings for Jane.
Jimmy holds out his hand as if telling Cody to step onto the porch ahead of him. Both grown men look at each other with hesitance about stepping onto the porch.
Cody feels Kid’s eyes boring into his soul. He quickly steps onto the porch to get rid of the awkwardness Kid’s stare is making him feel. Jimmy strolls onto the porch right behind him. Cody sits down on the top porch step. Jimmy sits down on the opposite side of the porch from Cody.
“What we need to do is stick together and help one another the way a family is suppose to in good times as well as bad times. Buck made it known to every one of us, including Jesse, that he didn’t trust Jesse. This is Jesse’s revenge, because he couldn’t get what he wanted from this family,” Kid spoke assuredly.
“What are you saying, Kid? You don’t think Jesse is through with his revenge?” Jimmy asked quietly.
“I think Jesse begrudges all of us because we ruined the protection from the law agreement that he had with Teaspoon,” Kid stated calmly.
“We all need to stick together and fight against Jesse to keep our family safe. Buck needs us. He needs all of us to pull together and keep each other safe. Buck certainly doesn’t need to be fighting over Jane with you, Cody,” Lou spoke angrily.
Cody is about to voice his feelings again concerning Jane when Lou interrupts him.
“We all are aware of how you feel about Jane, Cody. But, you’ll have to learn to let her go. Jane loves Buck. You shouldn’t be fighting with Buck over a woman that doesn’t love you in the first place.”
Cody can’t let any of them know the many secrets he is hiding. If he allows himself to become hotheaded over what Lou is saying, he will surely give his secrets away. They are all too smart to not catch on sooner or later to the fact that he is plotting with Charlene.
“I can’t make all of you any promises concerning Jane. But, I can promise that I will try to keep peace with Buck,” Cody replied with sadness.
“Right now our main concern has to be Buck and getting him well again,” Jimmy stated flatly.
“We can’t forget about Jesse. The minute we let down our guard, he’ll be knocking on our front door. We need to rid him from our lives before he tries something like this again,” Kid spoke boldly.
Kid, Louise, and Jimmy are in agreement with what they must do to keep their family safe. Cody simply leans heavily against the porch wondering how he will keep the promises he has made, and still pursue Jane.
After talking to Teaspoon at great length concerning Buck’s almost fatal injuries, Rachel had needed a breath of fresh air. With a shawl wrapped loosely around her shoulders, she makes her way outside onto her front porch.
“It has been a rather tiring day,” Charlene spoke softly.
Charlene’s voice causes Rachel to almost take a tumble off the side of the porch. Rachel hadn’t expected Charlene to still be sitting on her porch. She had thought that Charlene had retired to Kid and Lou’s earlier in the evening.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Charlene spoke sincerely. If Charlene hasn’t learned anything else about this family, the one thing that she has learned is that if she wants to bury her claws into Buck Cross, she will need Rachel Hunter on her side. Rachel is the solid foundation of this family of orphans. She is the mother that none of them had. She cooked meals for them so they didn’t go hungry. She washed their clothes for them so they would have clean clothes to wear. She watched over them when they were ill. She made holidays special with very little resources. Rachel did all of this not because she wanted praise for being a good person, she did all of this out of love for those orphans.
Rachel walks over to Charlene who is sitting in a rocking chair hidden on the other side of the porch. Rachel takes a seat in the rocking chair next to Charlene. “I thought you had gone back over to Kid and Lou’s earlier.”
Charlene looks out in the direction of Kid and Lou’s home. Both women can hear the laughter coming from the front porch of Kid and Lou’s home. “They’re all over there, Kid and Louise along with Jimmy and Cody. I didn’t want to intrude in on their visit.”
Rachel touches the young woman’s hand. “I know sometimes you don’t feel welcome here.”
“It’s because I love Buck, and he loves Jane,” Charlene spoke sadly.
“Well, at least you’ve learned that nothing can overcome true love. Now if only Cody could understand how much Jane loves Buck.”
“I’m not totally sure I accept Buck’s decision to be with Jane over me. I know how much you like Jane, but I still say she’s playing both Buck and Cody for fools,” Charlene spoke harshly.
“I know you are terribly wrong about Jane. She’s a compassionate woman who wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone. I see the way Jane looks at Buck everytime he is close to her. She doesn’t look at Cody the same way,” Rachel spoke as she stands up. “I’m going to retire for the evening. I would suggest you do the same.”
Rachel walks back into the home she shares with Teaspoon Hunter. She leaves Charlene to ponder over her last words. Honestly, Charlene is beginning to believe that the only way she will get what she wants, is for Jane to have a terrible accident! “There probably isn’t much chance of that happening.” Charlene spoke silently to herself. She stands up from her chair and starts over toward Kid and Lou’s home. “Tonight I need some much needed sleep, but tomorrow I will come up with a grand scheme to get the two of them apart once and for all.
The midnight moonlight shines in through the window of Buck’s room at the doc’s clinic. Jane is standing by Buck’s bedside wiping down his face with a damp cloth.
Once again she hadn’t been able to sleep. Everytime she closes her eyes the image of her father slumped over his desk with smoke all around him enters her mind. She can’t shake the unbearable thought that she is going to also lose Buck to an outlaw’s revenge.
He had an astounding soft dance step as he guided her across the social hall to every dance that evening. She had thought he would simply tire out, and then she might get a chance to dance with one of her male friends from school. That wasn’t meant to be.
Her papa certainly was a vibrant elderly man. With every dance that they danced to it was she that was tiring and her papa just continued to dance on and on through the night.
She had hoped that one of her male friends from school might do her a favor and cut in on her papa. That certainly didn’t happen. They were all afraid of her papa. He was a strong man with a bit of a loud deep voice that frightened away just about anyone smaller than him! Perhaps the boys from school thought her papa might turn on them and whoop their butts! They were probably right in thinking just that. There was absolutely no way her papa was going to let any of those boys hold his daughter close enough to share a dance.
“You think you’ve really outdone yourself this time, don’t you?” Jane asked her papa with a warm smile.
“I am your papa. It is my job to outdo myself with every challenge you throw my way.”
“I see. So now I am a challenge,” Jane spoke with a gleam in her eyes.
“Every woman is a challenge to a man.”
“How so?”
“Women are mysterious creatures to men. We very rarely understand them, and I suppose we really wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“I don’t think I understand.” Jane spoke confusingly.
All her papa could do was laugh at her naïve young heart. “Someday you will understand exactly what I mean. Someday there will be a young man that will sweep you off your feet. When that day arrives, his life will never be the same.”
“The day will never come if you don’t allow me to dance with the boys from my school. Do you know that they are all afraid of you?”
“As they should be. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
All Jane can do is to smile warmly at her papa as he guides the two of them closer to their home.
Jane is shocked out of her memories from the past when a soft moan escapes from Buck’s lips. His face is sweating profusely as the moans continue, at first softly and as his pain increases, loudly.
“Buck please don’t do this! You’re scaring me.”
Doc Barnes rushes into the room and takes the cloth from Jane. He is frantically wiping down Buck’s face and chest with the dampened cloth.
“His fever has escalated. Why don’t you wait out in the waiting room while I try to bring his fever down.”
Jane doesn’t argue with the doctor. She backs her way out of Buck’s room and quietly shuts the door.
Teaspoon is glancing out over the corral at the quietness of the few horses that are happily grazing on some hay.
Teaspoon like the rest of his family is having a difficult time getting any kind of restful sleep tonight. The rest of his family is simply worried about Buck and how he is fairing over at the doc’s clinic. He is not only worried about Buck, but also feeling terribly guilty about Buck being in the line of fire in the first place. He put Buck in that line of fire by allowing Jesse to rule his thoughts and heart.
“You shouldn’t feel so guilty about what has happened to Buck,” Jesse spoke quietly from behind Teaspoon.
Teaspoon is startled and appalled to hear Jesse’s voice. He turns around slowly to face Jesse. “Why would you come back here?”
“I feel as if I owe you at least a warning of what is yet to come.”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage to this family? Why would you want us to suffer?” Teaspoon asked confused by Jesse’s actions towards his Pony Express family.
“I wanted your forgiveness, but because of Buck you couldn’t completely forgive me for my past mistakes,” Jesse spoke flatly.
“You came here under false pretensions! You lied to my face when you told me you wanted to change your life around! You came here to hide out from the law, and you knew I would cover for you knowing how I felt about the boy you once were,” Teaspoon spoke harshly to the young outlaw before him.
“It would have worked too if Buck would have minded his own business.”
“The law is Buck’s business, Jesse!”
“You are the marshal of this town. You ordered Buck to stay away from me, but he didn’t obey your orders. Instead of turning on Buck, and reprimanding him for his behavior, you turned on me instead. If we are ever to have what we once had as a family, Buck has to be out of our lives,” Jesse spoke stubbornly refusing to believe that Teaspoon’s loyalty lay with Buck and not with him.
“Maybe I ain’t making myself clear to you Jesse! There is no longer a life here for you. If Buck should die, I’ll hunt you down myself even if it takes me the rest of my life. Now get off this ranch before I forget how much I once loved you!”
Jesse abruptly draws his gun on Teaspoon to keep the marshal from following him, as he quietly mounts his horse and rides of The Kid & Buck Horse Ranch.