“Because the baby was a part of you, and a part of Lou. It was a special gift that the two of you created as evidence of the love that the two of you shared. Regardless of how long it existed, it’s always going to be a special reminder to you and Lou how much the two of you loved each other.”
“Loved each other…it sounds so final; so over.” Kid remarked sadly. “I wonder if it’s really over between me and Lou.”
“I don’t know, Kid. That’s something that you and Lou are going to have to figure out for yourselves. It’s a tough road ahead for both of you, no matter what you decide to do. Just be sure you make the right choice in picking the road that you want to go down.” Teaspoon said as he turned to leave the barn.
“Thanks, Teaspoon.” Kid said softly to the older man before he left the barn.
He settled down on a bale of hay to think, and heard the barn door creak open behind him. Kid turned toward the entrance to the barn, thinking that Teaspoon had remembered something that he had wanted to say to him, and found a solemn Jimmy Hickok standing in the doorway instead. He frowned and turned his back on Hickok, hoping the dark-haired rider would take the hint that he wanted to be left alone.
Jimmy easily recognized the back turning as a dismissal from the Kid; but he ignored it. Ever since Lou had collapsed, he had been wracked by guilt over the way that he and Kid had treated her. For once he hadn’t leveled all of his anger onto Kid, blaming the other rider for all the wrongs he had done. This time he had fully leveled all his anger onto himself, knowing that he was just as responsible for Lou leaving Rock Creek as Kid had been.
When he and the rest of the Pony Express family members had been told by Doctor Banes that Lou had been pregnant, and then she had subsequently lost the baby, his heart had plummeted into his stomach. A baby. Sweet Lou had been pregnant with Kid’s baby, and she had lost it. He couldn’t begin to imagine the world of hurt that Lou was going to be feeling once she awakened and realized that she had lost the baby that she and Kid had created.
His thoughts had then turned onto Kid. If he knew anything at all, Kid would be beating himself up worse than anything that he could possibly say to him. Instead of feeling the daily anger towards the other rider that he had felt for the past several weeks, he simply felt tired. They had wasted so much time being angry with one another, over the past couple of months, that they had begun to really think of each other as enemies, and he didn’t like that at all. He didn’t hate Kid, he just didn’t like the way the other rider had treated Lou, and he knew most of that stemmed from his own personal feelings for Lou. She was one hell of a woman and any man in his right mind would have to be a fool to think that he could do better than her for a mate, and he wasn’t a fool.
Jimmy was just beginning to see that by his voicing his innermost feelings to Lou, that he had caused the female rider even more distress than what she had already been going through. Having Kid push her away because she hadn’t wanted to get married just yet, had hurt Lou in the worse way, and he had used Lou’s being hurt as a way to get back at Kid. He could admit to himself, now, that he had hoped that in the process of showing how badly the Kid was acting towards her, that Lou would begin to see him in a much different light as just a friend.
He realized now that as much as he cared about Lou, he had had no right to try to drive a further wedge between her and Kid. He had wronged both Lou and Kid by his actions, and he aimed to apologize for the way he had acted. He just hoped it wasn’t too late to repair his friendships with the two riders.
Jimmy entered the barn and walked over to settle himself atop a bale of hay near the Kid.
“I’m really not in the mood to fight with you anymore Jimmy.” Kid told him.
“Good ‘cause I’m not in the mood to fight with you either.” Jimmy replied quietly, as he moved over to sit down on another bale of hay across from Kid.
“Then what do you want?”
“Once upon a time before our emotions got all mixed up Kid, you and I were friends. I hope that despite the fighting we’ve been doing, that we still are.”
Kid shifted on the bale of hay he was seated on, so that he could look incredulously at Jimmy. “Friends? I was beginning to wonder if we ever were friends with the way we’ve been going at each other.”
“We were. We are.” Jimmy told him. “I want to apologize to you Kid. Not for what I’ve said in the past couple of months, exactly, but for the way I went about telling them to you. I made an already difficult situation even harder, and I had no right.”
“No you didn’t.” Kid agreed. He paused for a moment. “But you were right in so many ways. I let my being hurt over Lou not being ready to marry, fester into anger. I allowed that anger to control all of my thoughts and actions toward Lou, and you both. I’m sorry for that Jimmy.”
There was a moment or two of silence before Jimmy spoke again.
“Kid, there’s something else I need to tell you.”
“No you don’t, Jimmy. I know that you love Lou.”
There was a look of surprise on Jimmy’s face when he looked at Kid.
Kid laughed softly. “I guessed along time ago that you felt something deeper for Lou than what you led everyone to believe. It was why I got so riled up when I saw the two of you alone together.”
“I never acted on what I was feeling, Kid; until recently, that is. I kissed Lou the day that she left Rock Creek.”
“I know you didn’t.” Kid said. He locked gazes with Jimmy. “You are just too loyal for that. I just forgot about it for a while but I won’t make the same mistake again. Regardless of what happens between Lou and me, I want us to remain friends Jimmy.”
“No matter what happens from here on out, Kid, you are stuck with me.” Jimmy vowed and held out his hand to Kid.
The two riders shook hands. Each one knew that they were still bound to butt heads in the future; they were both to pig headed and argumentative not to. Whatever the outcome though, they knew that they would always be friends.
The barn door opened a moment later to reveal Jesse. “Teaspoon sent me to get you, Kid. Lou’s calling for you.”
Kid jumped to his feet and raced out of the barn toward the bunkhouse with Jimmy and Jesse on his heels.
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