CHOICESCHOICES
Lou waited until she was sure Ike had turned down another road, before she
darted out of the alleyway and raced down the sidewalk toward Treva’s boarding
house. She ran up the front steps, let herself inside and quickly closed the
door behind her. She leaned heavily against the door for a moment or two while
she caught her breath, and then hurried across the lobby and up the stairs to
her room. It wasn’t until she had reached the privacy of her room, that
Lou let her swirling emotions surface.
“Darn it! Why’d they have to come looking for me? Why couldn’t they just accept that I left Rock creek cause I wanted to and left it me alone? Don’t they know it was hard enough on me to leave Rock Creek, without forcing me into a confrontation with them?” Lou exclaimed angrily, as she paced back and forth in her room.
(Because they love you Lou.) A voice whispered at the back of her head.
“Love me? Them boys don’t know what love is; otherwise they’d
let me be! They’d let me live my life the way I want to without any of
them trying to change me into
something I’m not, tie me down or smother me with their protectiveness!
I can take care of myself and this baby and I don’t need anybody’s
help, especially not Kid or Jimmy’s!” Lou vented.
(You know that’s not true, Lou! You don’t know the first thing about caring for a baby. Do you really want to raise yours up alone, without him/her growing up to know whom his/her papa is? Is that fair to Kid or the baby?) The voice whispered again.
“Kid’s made it plain that he doesn’t want to have anything more to do with me, so why should I worry about him or his feelings! This is my baby and I’m going to take good care of it and to hell with Kid wants!” Lou continued.
(But Lou-) the voice began again, but Lou angrily cut in before it could continue. “Oh, shut up already!”
Lou stopped her angry pacing and sat down on the edge of her bed. She placed her hands lovingly over her stomach. “ Little one, you don’t go fretting none. Your mama’s gonna take right good care of you. I’ve just got to find away to get out of town without your papa or uncles finding me.”
Lou smiled as her stomach moved in answer to her talking to it. Then she sobered.
It was going to take some doing to get out of town without Kid, Jimmy and the
others finding her. Especially now that she knew Ike had discovered Treva’s
boarding house. It was only a matter of time before one or more of her fellow
riders returned to the boarding house for the night and she needed to be out
of there by then. Lou got up from the bed and started repacking her saddlebags.
Just because the boys had come looking for her, didn’t mean Lou had to
sit around and find her.
Kid paced anxiously back and forth in front of the hotel as he waited for Jimmy, Buck and Ike to show up. His search of Ft. Kearney had proved futile and he had returned to the hotel to await the arrival of the others. He hoped that Buck, Ike or Jimmy would return with a lead on Lou.
He had only been waiting for a few minutes when jimmy rode up on Sundancer. Kid could tell by the scowl on his friend’s face that Jimmy hadn’t had any luck either. Jimmy reined Sundancer to a halt, dismounted and tied his horse’s reins to the hitching post before joining Kid on the sidewalk.
“I take it you didn’t have any luck either?” he asked Kid.
“Nope. Let’s hope Buck or Ike had better luck than we did.”
“Looks like we’re about to find out” Jimmy said, pointing down the street. “Here they come now.”
Kid turned his head in the direction that Jimmy had indicated and watched as Buck and Ike rode up. He tried to judge by their expressions whether their searches had been successful, but couldn’t read either rider’s face. He was just going to have to wait until they came to a stop and spoke. Kid didn’t have too long to wait cause as soon as Ike had reined Thunder to a halt, his hands began to move. Ike’s hands literally flew through the air in his excitement to convey to the others what he had found out. After a few minutes both Kid and Jimmy gave up trying to follow what Ike was signing and waited for Buck to tell them what Ike had found out.
Buck waited until Ike’s hands had stopped moving before turning to Kid and Jimmy. “Ike found a boarding house about three streets back and to the far right. The boarding house lights were still on so Ike went inside and inquired if they had any rooms available. There was..one.. so Ike paid for it and signed the register. As he was signing, Ike let his eyes stray over the pages and found that someone had signed in the night before under the name of Lou Boggs.”
“Wasn’t that the name Lou’s pa went by?” Jimmy asked Kid.
“It sure is.” Kid said excitedly.
“Ike said he didn’t question the woman at the boarding house about
the signature, for fear it would get back to Lou and she’d take off before
we talk to her.” Buck
continued.
Ike slapped his chest to get their attention. (I also found another livery. Treva, that’s the lady who owns the boarding house, she told me her brother owns it.)
“Great job Ike!” Kid told him. “How much do you all want to bet that we’ll find Lightning there?”
“Only Cody would be fool enough to take a bet like that.” Jimmy joked.
The others laughed at Jimmy’s joke, agreeing that only the blonde haired rider would be willing enough to take such a bet. As quickly as their laughter came, it faded.
“So what are we going to do now?” Buck asked.
“One room isn’t going to be enough for us all.” Kid said thoughtfully. “How’s this? Ike and Jimmy will share the room he rented at the boarding house and Buck and I will stay here in the hotel.”
“Sounds good to me. That way Ike and I’ll be able to keep a look out for Lou.” Jimmy told him. “That okay with you Ike?”
Ike nodded his agreement. (Jimmy and I will take the horses and get them bedded down for the night.)
“Good idea. After Buck and I rent our rooms we’ll go into the dining room and order us all something to eat.” Kid said.
Buck swung down off of Racing Moon’s back and then handed the horse’s reins to Ike. Jimmy mounted Sundancer and then untied the palomino’s reins and Katie’s from the hitching post and followed after Ike as he kicked thunder into motion. Buck and Kid watched them for a moment before heading into the hotel.
Meanwhile back at Treva’s boarding house, Lou had regained control of her seething emotions and plotted her next course of action. She knew that she couldn’t stay at the boarding house until morning for fear of running into any of her fellow riders. So she had decided to spend the night in Lightning’s stall so they could slip out of town at first light.
Lou couldn’t help feeling a little guilty about sneaking out of the boarding house without saying goodbye to Treva. She had taken an instant liking to the woman and in different circumstances would have liked getting to know her better. Besides it wasn’t like she was slipping out without paying her bill, it was paid up until morning. She slid her saddlebags over her shoulder, picked up a valise and slipped out into the hallway, descended the stairs and exited the boarding house.
Lou cautiously made her way back to Trevayne’s livery, sticking close
to the buildings and shadows so as not to be seen by anyone traveling down the
streets. When
she reached the livery a few moments later, Lou removed the two by four from
the latch and slipped inside, closing the door behind her. She let her eyes
adjust to the dark interior of the livery, before starting across the front
area toward the corridor that led between the stalls. She didn’t bother
to light a lantern to see, for fear of someone on the street seeing it and drawing
them to the livery to investigate. As she neared his stall, Lightning let out
a soft whinny welcoming her. Lou stopped before his stall and put out a hand
to stroke his soft muzzle.
“Looks like you and I are bunking together for the night, fellow.” Lou whispered as she unlocked the stall door and stepped inside. She had barely dropped her valise, bedroll and saddlebags onto the stall’s floor and had one arm draped over the stall door, locking it, when the doors to the livery burst open.
Lou jerked her arm back into the stall and crouched down onto the hay-strewn
floor. Her right hand hovered near the butt of her gun as she listened intently
for
footsteps or voices entering the livery. Lou didn’t have long to wait before
she heard the distinct clomp of boots on the wooden floor as someone entered
the
livery. A few moments later Lou heard what sounded like a match being struck
against wood and then the clanking of glass against metal as a lantern was lit.
Then Lou heard another set of boots join the first inside the livery.
Although Lou now knew that at least two people had entered the livery, she
still didn’t know who they were or whether they would prove to be friendly
or dangerous. One thing she knew for certain was that neither person was Trevayne.
Lou was sure that if it had been Trevayne who had opened the doors, he would
not only announce his presence, but demand whoever was inside to identify themselves
or risk dire consequences.
As Lou huddled in the dark stall next to Lightning, an array of noises reached her ears: boots tapping, floorboards creaking, hooves clumping, leather crinkling and stirrups jangling. At the end of each series of noises, Lou heard a loud thud that she interpreted as saddles hitting the floor of the livery. A wave of relief flooded over Lou as she realized that the intruders were only interested in bedding their horses down for the night and not looking to start any trouble.
That knowledge didn’t stop her from tensing up a moment later as someone
started down the row of stalls. Quietly Lou lowered herself from a crouching
position into a sitting one and drew her knees up to her chest. She held her
breath as the footsteps neared the stall she was in, and then stopped suddenly
as Lightning let out a welcoming whinny. Lou froze at the sound, knowing that
the person on the other side of the stall door had to be one of her fellow riders!
