Yesterday's Tomorrow

Part 5

Three years passed since that romantic night.  Those haunting words rang in her ears as the wagon made its way nearer to Rock Creek.  Lou remembered the night that she left the place.  She did not even say goodbye to any of the boys, to Teaspoon, to Rachel.  She received a letter about the deaths of her sister and brother caused by an accidental fire in the orphanage.  She hurried to get there even though she knew that it was too late.  When she arrived, she almost went crazy.  She blamed herself for not fulfilling her promises to her siblings.  Now it was too late, and there was nothing she could do.  She did not want to go back to Rock Creek; she did not want to explain to anyone why she left so suddenly.  The recollection of the fates of her siblings was just too tormenting to recall.  She needed time to find herself as she felt like a part of her was lost through the deaths of her loved ones. 

She didn't plan to leave for three years.  She didn't know why she was even coming back.  A part of her always belonged to Rock Creek for that was her home, where her family was.  She wondered if they would forgive her after her unexplainable departure.  She wondered about what Kid would say, if he would still remember her and what he said about how much she meant to him.  She brushed her tears away as the wagon stopped in front of the old Pony Express Station.  Now that she was back home, his words echoed in her mind, and she wondered, maybe she even hoped, that he still felt that way about her.

She got off the wagon slowly, too occupied with her troubled thoughts.  She did not notice the admiring looks of the young men who stopped in their activity to watch her.  She nervously carried her luggage and made her way to the station.  The place did not change much except for the surroundings.  She realized that the Pony Express had closed down, and whoever was in charge with the place was now running a ranch.  She did not see anyone working on the ranch so she proceeded to the house. 

The boys must be working harder than before, she thought as she noticed the newly painted wooden house.  She waited for a few minutes and was disappointed when noone opened the door.

"Excuse, miss, are you looking for me?" a familiar voice asked. 

She turned around and was greeted by a blond cowboy.  The grin was enough to make her jump into Cody's arms.  "Cody!  How have you been?" she said happily as he swung her around until they were both dizzy and fell to the ground. 

"Lou!  What happened to you?" he said, laughing and crying at the same time.  He looked so ridiculous that she began to laugh.  "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Cody.  I've just never seen you emotional.  I miss you so much, Cody.  What's the matter?  Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Nothing, Lou.  You just look different," he answered as his eyes wandered on the beautiful woman in front of him.

Lou's auburn hair was down to her waist; it shone golden red in the sunlight.  Her eyes had a more mature profundity in them.  She was lovelier than he ever remembered her to be.  Her body became curvier.  She would not be able to disguise herself as a man even if she tried.

"Cody, get your butt over here!" they heard Buck screamed as his footsteps grew closer.  "How long does it take to get a shovel anyway?  Well, I guess it will take a while if you happen to stop by the kitchen again!"  He stopped suddenly when he saw Cody on the ground with a beautiful lady.  His face grew red, embarrassed of his behavior.  "I'm sorry, Miss-"

"Buck!" she exclaimed as she jumped into his arms.

"Whoa, Louise," said Cody, "be careful there.  He's a married man."

"Are you really?"

He nodded as he hugged her.  "Yeah, two months ago.  I live just outside of town, not too far from here.  Oh my God, is this really you, Lou?" he said with amazed eyes.

"I'm sorry for not telling you why I left," she told him as she began to cry in his arms. 

"Hey, Lou, it's okay.  We heard about what happened.  We tried to find you, but we didn't know where you were.  We heard you were in this town, but when we got there you were gone.  Where have you been?"

"I've been in St. Louis with an old friend.  Where's everybody?'

"Well, Jimmy's with his wife, Rose Mary.  Teaspoon's getting some supplies for the ranch.  He got married again last year with his seventh wife, Savannah.  Rachel still lives in her house and works as a schoolteacher.  She's with Teaspoon getting supplies."  Lou knew that he avoided mentioning Kid, and she wondered why.  She already knew about Noel's and Ike's death, and she wished she was there before they passed away.

"Why don't you go inside and cool off, Miss Louise," Cody told her as he offered to take her luggage.  "It's too hot out here."

"Cody, if you think you can get away with the ranch work, think again.  You can continue working first thing in the morning."

"Buck," he whined.  "But Lou's here.  Who's gonna entertain her?  I can't work tomorrow.  Lou and I gotta catch up on old times, don't we, Lou?"

"Cody, we all gotta catch up on old times with Lou.  You can do that after you do your work."

"Buck, can you do me a favor and do it?  Besides you owe me a dollar.  Do my work, and it shall all be forgotten."

Lou laughed to herself.  The more things change, the more they stay the same, she thought.

Dinner with the boys did not change much either.  Cody still had the biggest appetite.  Teaspoon and his wife Savannah were very polite.  Rachel was curious about where she had been, and questioned her activities in the past three years.  Jimmy seemed to be very in love with Rose Mary.  He did not change much.  He was still the same Jimmy that she always knew.  Kid was still not there, and nobody seemed to comment on him.  She wanted to ask, but she did not want to sound too eager to see him.

"Do you have anyone special, Lou?" Rachel asked her as they cleaned up the table after dinner.  The boys were playing cards. 

"I wish I do, but I don't," she said softly.

"I don't believe that," Jimmy told her.  "I bet all these guys are after you," he teased her.

"Maybe even the girls," kidded Cody as he ducked to avoid the pillow that Buck threw at him.

"Nice to meet you, Louise," Glory said as she gave her a hug.  "I've heard so much about you.  I wish to know you better."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Louise," Rose Mary bid her farewell. 

"Take care now, Lou," Jimmy told her softly as he gave her a hug.  "I'm so happy to see you again."

"Hope you're still here tomorrow," Buck told her as he embraced her warmly.  "We'll see you tomorrow.  Thanks, Rachel.  See ya, Cody!"

"You owe me a dollar, Buck," he reminded his friend.

"Cody, why don't you go to bed?" Rachel told him.

"Yes, ma'am," he said as he hurried along, giving Lou a hug before he left.

"Not much has changed around here," Rachel told her.  "Cody seems to be more annoying than ever, and he's more in love with more women than he's ever been.  But he's a good kid.  It's funny how I've always seen him as if he's never grown up."

"It seems so to me," Lou said as they began laughing.

Rachel told her about the past events that she missed out.  Lou secretly wished that she would mention something about Kid, but after hours of talking she still didn't.  Rachel went to bed before she even had the chance to make up her mind to inquire about the cowboy who still held her heart.

She slept in her old bunk in the bunkhouse that was now nearly empty except for her, Cody and two pit bulls that slept on Jimmy's old bunk.  She noticed that Kid's belongings were still there, and his bunk still seemed to be used unlike the others.  She slept peacefully with optimistic thoughts that tomorrow she would see the person that was a big reason why she came back.

The next day, she helped the boys with the ranch right after she woke up.  They would not allow her to help at first, telling her that she was too feminine and to pretty for any work.  But after much insistence, they let her if she would only do the easy tasks like holding the shovel for them, holding the horses. 

"Lou, you still look like a lady in those pants," Cody teased her. 

"By the way, Cody, one of your girls stopped by today," Jimmy told him.

"Who?"

"I don't know who," Jimmy answered.  "She said you promised to take her hunting today."

"Hell, I promised to do the same thing with other people.  Which one is she, Jimmy?"

"That's your problem.  You figure it out.  She has blond hair and blue eyes, if that's any help."

"Oh no," Cody muttered under his breath.  "Here comes lover boy."

"Cody, will you hold that ax straight up and not straight down my skull!" Buck yelled at him as the boys turned to look at the rider.

Lou's eyes grew wide at the sight of Kid.  She knew it was him; she would always recognize him no matter where she went.  She wondered how he would greet her.  They watched as Kid dismounted from his favorite horse, Katy, and held a pretty lady by the waist to bring her down his horse.

"Hey, everybody, how's it going?" he greeted cheerfully, his attention still focused on Katy and the blond woman.  "Sorry I couldn't come home last night.  Brenda and I decided to camp overnight."  When he turned around to face the silent guys who were usually loud and sometimes annoying, he was surprised to see a lovely woman with them.  As their eyes met, he began to realize it was Lou.  Even in pants and with dirt on her face, she was still beautiful.  He immediately ran to her and hugged her warmly, swinging her around, both of them laughing.

"Lou!  Is this really you," he said, staring deeply into her eyes. 

"Nice to see you again, Kid," she said softly, forgetting about the tension that she felt earlier.

Kid broke their intimate gaze and turned to Brenda.  He put his arm around the blond woman and cheerfully introduced her to Lou.  "Brenda, this is my old friend, Louise, and Lou, this is Brenda."

"Hi, Louise," Brenda said with a smile on her face.  Lou could tell that the woman was not too thrilled to see her.  "I'm Brenda, Kid's fiancee."

"Hi, Brenda, nice to meet you."

She turned to Kid and said in a little whiny voice, "Honey, can you drop me home now?"

"But I thought you wanted to have breakfast here," he told her.

"Actually I changed my mind.  I'm feeling very tired all of a sudden."

"Is something wrong, Brenda?" Kid asked her with a concerned look on his handsome face.

"I just need some rest, honey.  We hardly got any sleep last night after all that we did," she said as she giggled.

"All right, if you want to go home, I'll take you home," he told her softly.  He turned to Lou and smiled.  "I'll be back, Lou.  It's good to see you again," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"C'mon, Kid," Brenda called after him.  "I'm very tired."

Kid hurried away to his fiancee.  "See you around, boys," Brenda called before they left.

"What a bitc--" Cody said before Buck's hand cupped his mouth.

"Cody, don't say that.  It ain't nice, remember?' Jimmy reminded him.

"What's wrong with her?' Lou asked.

Jimmy, Buck and Cody looked at eachother as if she was crazy.  "What do you mean what's wrong with her?  Look at that woman, Lou.  Everything!  Everything is wrong with her!" Cody told her.

"What did she do?  I don't really understand why you don't like her," Lou told them.

"To make a long story short, Kid was very sad when you left.  He met her at the dance in town, and I guess she seduced him.  He didn't really like her, but he said he'd grow to love her.  I guess he at least likes her enough now to ask her to marry him.  Actually I think she made him think that it was his idea to want to marry her.  You see, Lou, she's a very manipulative little witch.  She used Kid's sadness in his time of weakness to make him fall for her.  And I guess it works," Jimmy explained to her.

"If you don’t like her, why don't you do something about it?  Why don't you talk to him?" she asked.

"We tried that," Cody said as he brushed the horse harder.  "I told him what I thought about her, how she tried to flirt with me, Jimmy and Buck.  Guess what I got for a friendly advice?  A smack in the face.  Hell, I couldn't even get out of the house for a week because my face was so swollen.  After that day, I promised myself to never tell Kid what I think about her.  Better keep it to myself unless I want another miserable experience."

"But how could Kid like her if she's like that?" she asked the boys.

"I told you, she's a manipulative witch."

"And we hate her," Cody added.

"What does Rachel think about this? Doesn't Teaspoon say something?"

"They try to respect Kid's choices.  Rachel seems to be very understanding.  She thinks that maybe Brenda's a good escape for him 'cause he seems to be a lot better with her than without her.  Teaspoon never really talks about her, except at that time when he told us that it's best if he learns from his own 'mistake'," Buck told her.

"What happened to Kid?"

Jimmy looked at her and sighed.  "He looked for you everywhere.  He was acting crazy like he was losing his mind.  He'd always get into fights, get drunk and do all that stuff.  Then when he met Brenda, he just stopped.  That's why Rachel is kinda thankful for that witch."

Lou's face grew pale at the thought of Kid being engaged.  "Are they really getting married?"

"I guess so," Buck said.

"Regrettably so," Cody added. 

Lou could tell that they did not really like the woman; Cody even spit every  time he mentioned her name.  She suddenly felt dizzy, as if she wanted to cry but knew that she shouldn't.

"You okay, Lou?" Buck asked her.  "You look a little pale."

"Why don't you go to the bunkhouse and rest for a while," Jimmy suggested.  "Or go to Rachel's house and have some drinks with the ladies."

"I'll go to the bunkhouse.  I guess I just need some rest."  She had no energy to climb up her bunk when she entered the room so she settled on Kid's bunk.

"Hey there, again," greeted Kid as he excitedly dismounted from Katy before the horse even stopped.  "Where's Lou?"

Jimmy almost laughed at the frightened look on Kid's face. "Didn't you know she was leaving?" he lied.

"She could only stay here for one night, which was last night," Cody joined in.  "Sorry, Kid, I guess you came a little too late."

"Hey, that's okay, right, Kid?" Buck told him.  "After all, you had a chance to see her for a few minutes.  Besides you had more fun camping with your fiancee last night, right?"

"Of course, he'd rather be with Brenda than here last night with Lou."

"Did she just leave?" Kid asked with a panic look in his eyes.  "Which way did she go?  Maybe if I'm fast enough, I could catch up with her.  Did she leave in a wagon?"  He began to mount on Katy when the guys started laughing.  "What's the matter?"

"We're just kidding, Kid.  She's in the bunkhouse resting."

"I don't think this should be the behavior of someone who's getting married in a few months," Cody yelled after him, laughing wildly at Kid's reaction.

'I'm gonna get you, Cody, when I come back," he warned the blond cowboy.

Part 6