By Kirsten Page
Copyright 1999
“Kid, come on, let’s go,” Jimmy urged gently. The sooner they could get away from this tormenting place, the sooner it might mean for a chance to resolve some of the anguish.
Kid spoke through a shaky voice, “I’ve got to see her first.”
Oh Kid, why do you have to do this? Isn’t it hard enough? Jimmy thought to himself, fighting back the sick feeling in his stomach. He knew if he saw her lifeless body, there would be no way that he could conceal the emotions that he had been hiding so well. “Kid, don’t...”
It was too late, Kid had already begun to claw the dirt as his tears dampened the already moist soil. Jimmy could do nothing but watch, frozen......afraid of what was about to appear before his eyes.
With each second Kid kept delving deeper and harder.
Jimmy wanted to urge him to stop...convince him that this would be one of the worst things he could do. Deep down he wanted to beg that they go on from here and picture her as they had seen her just a few short days ago. He wanted to tell him not to see her pale skin and lifeless form, but to cherish the image of the last time that she had told him that she loved him.
Still, as hard as he tried to say all of these things, he couldn’t bring himself to even form the words on his lips.
Kid’s gentle sob stopped his thoughts completely. He watched as Kid’s hand came in contact with something that was very familiar to them both. It was the front of Lou’s jacket.
Finally, the weak composure that was inside of Kid snapped. He stood up and took the reins of his horse. With speed unlike any that Jimmy had seen before, he mounted and took off in no particular direction.
Jimmy took one last look at the grave, pushed the dirt back in its place, and mounted his horse. “Goodbye, Lou,” he said softly, the tears blurring his vision.
Then, he took off after his friend, and prayed that there was something that he would be able to do to help him recover from this. He owed it to Lou to help bring the man that she loved out of his pain, and he wasn’t going to let her down.
“Jimmy,” Lou had said shifting uncomfortably as she stood outside in the frigid night air.“Yeah?” He remembered trying to sound as natural as possible.
“I have a favor to ask,” she hesitated, “Actually it’s for Kid.”
Jimmy had laughed inwardly, not sure if he was ready for this one. “Sure.”
“You know how riding for the Express can be dangerous sometimes,” Jimmy had nodded in agreement, and Lou continued, “It’s just that...well, what I’m trying to say is this; if something happens to me, will you make sure that Kid has someone with him. I mean will you help him get through it?”
He had looked into her sparkling brown eyes. How could he ever say no to such a request, as difficult as it may be. “Of course, Lou.” He smiled, “But you’re going to live forever, and you and Kid are going to be the happiest people I’ve ever known.”
Jimmy spurred his horse harder, trying to run from the memory. That was the last time that they had been alone together. He couldn’t think about that now, though, he had a friend to take care of and a promise to keep.
Ellie made her way through the thick brush. The message that was to go to Teaspoon Hunter was carefully tucked inside of her pocket. She wasn’t going to let that sweet young woman down.
She stopped briefly to give her horse a rest. “There, Lady,” she said soothingly, “We’re almost there.”
“Then again, maybe not,” A gruff voice said from behind her.
Ellie wheeled around in time to be met up with a face that she had recognized before. In fact she had just seen the man a few days ago with Johnny. She didn’t trust him then, and she certainly didn’t trust him now that he was holding a gun on her.
“NOOO!” The words echoed through the canyon, at the young man’s cry of his heart-stabbing pain. He sank to his knees, knowing it would be so easy to jump, to end it all right there.
Yet instantly, he pushed the thoughts away as soon as they had come. Someone had to go on and keep her memory alive. How would she ever feel knowing that he had even had such a thought. She would have despised him for it.
Jimmy heard the cry from afar, and it didn’t take much to figure out who it had come from. He followed the sound, and found his friend on his knees weeping with a stream of dense tears.
“Kid,” he said softly, not wanting to startle him. His thoughts were racing from sadness to pity. There had to be something that he could do to reach out to his friend. He had never had to help a friend deal with a loss before, mainly he had experienced the struggle of dealing with his own losses, and that was hard enough.
“Leave, Jimmy,” Kid replied after long a tormenting period of repose from any sounds at all. There was nothing that he wanted anyone to say to him. He wanted no words of comfort whatsoever. Just once in his life he wished he could take this misery and suffer through it on his own. It was his relationship with Lou that was stolen, therefore he should be the one to pull himself through this.
Jimmy wasn’t about to give up that easily. Kid was going to go back with him if he had to tie him to his horse and drag him back to Rock Creek. There was no telling what would happen if he let him go out on his own. They would probably never see him again. “Kid,” Jimmy tried again, as he knelt down beside his friend.
Kid’s eyes filled with rage, “I told you to leave me alone! This is something I’ve got to deal with,” he hesitated, realizing that maybe he did want someone there beside him...even just to listen. Goodness knows Hickok had always been a loyal friend and had been someone he could talk to about any of his troubles.
“I loved her, Jimmy.”
It was in that moment when Jimmy looked into Kid’s tear-flooded eyes, and dampened cheeks that he saw what true love could do to a person when it was so unrighteously forced from them. “I know Kid,” he said before leaning over and embracing his friend...an embrace which Kid gratefully accepted.
Cole stopped in a clearing and smiled in self-satisfaction. He was definitely on his way to getting what he wanted. The very thought of how easy it had all come to him, made it all the more thrilling.
From the start it had worked out beautifully; bump off a rider, get offered their job, blend right in, get saddled up with a horse, be trained by the best, and the very next day get sent out on a run.
Stetson Cole lifted the mochila up and opened the side of it. Inside he hoped that there would be the treasures that he was looking for. However, a low growl escaped his mouth when he reached down and touched the bare bottom of it, Empty, it’s completely bare and empty!!! He clenched his jaw. If one of those Pony Express riders had intentionally pulled a switch on him, they would pay.
On to Chapter Nine
