Mr.
& Mrs. CodyMr.
& Mrs. Cody
Chapter 3
"Well paint me purple and call me a plum. I never would've thought one of the other boys would beat you 'ta getting married, Jimmy. It's a real shame that girl had to loose her pa though. I already talked to Neville after the shooting and convinced him to move on or he'd have more trouble than he could handle. He wasn't quite as dumb as I thought 'cause he jumped on his horse and rode outta here so fast you'd think the Indians were on his tail." Teaspoon related.
"It must have been your very persuasive way of talking, Teaspoon." Jimmy grinned.
"Well guess we best get over to Rachel's and let her know everything. She'll have my hide if she hears it from someone else. I swear that woman reminds me of one of my wives. Cain't rightly remember which one though. She was a real peach of a girl, but when things didn't go her way…well best just stay out of the way and let the fireworks go off and settle down or risk getting' burnt to a crisp."
Cody and Lou had just past through Bridger Station when trouble showed up. Three men on horseback suddenly appeared behind them and began firing on the Express riders. Cody and Lou rode their horses in a zig-zag fashion to try to out-maneuver their gunfire. The men gave chase for a few miles, but were soon outdistanced by the pair of riders.
"I thought Teaspoon said he didn't except any trouble over these papers." Cody yelled over to Lou.
Lou just shrugged and kept up the furious pace to keep ahead of their pursuers.
They quickly changed horses at Glen Rock and headed on toward Deer Creek, ten miles away. A few miles out of town, they met up with the three men again.
"How'd they do that?" Cody yelled. "They must know some shortcut we don't know about."
"That or they aren't the same men. Must be something important in those papers if they've set up an ambush all along the trail." Lou pointed out. "Do you think we oughta split up and meet up at Deer Creek? Maybe we could lose them that away."
"No. We're going to stick together. It's not that much further to town. If we can get there, they'll leave us alone."
"Yeah, and then what after we leave town?"
"We can talk to the sheriff and see if he has any ideas who these men might be." Cody replied.
A shot rang out. The screaming of a horse could be heard throughout the area. Cody glanced over to Lou and saw she wasn't there. He looked back and saw it was her horse that had been shot and she was laying prone on the ground near the horse. He quickly reined in his horse, turned back and raced over to her. The men were getting closer, too close. Cody quickly grabbed Lou, draped her over the horse, mounted up behind her and raced like hell for town.
Another shot rang out and Cody could hear it whiz past his head. He spurred the horse to go even faster, but with two riders now, the animal was having a hard time keeping up the grueling pace. Cody could just make out some of the buildings in the town ahead. Just as he suspected the men dropped back and left them alone.
He slowed the horse to a canter and headed straight for the sheriff's office. It was then that he realized Lou was still out cold. He walked inside the small building that housed the sheriff's office and saw a young boy sweeping the floor. He looked up when Cody walked in.
"Can I help you, mister?" The boy asked, almost frightened of Cody.
"Yeah, is the sheriff around?" Cody inquired.
The kid visibly gulped and said, "No, sir, he's in Ft. Laramie 'til next week. Got a deputy, but he's always in the saloon drinking and taking freebies off the girls." The kid's faced reddened.
"Oh. Gotta a doc around here?"
"Yeah, just down the street aways, gotta sign out front, cain't miss it."
"Mighty obliged." Cody tipped his hat to the youngster and walked back out to Lou. He led his horse to the doctor's and carefully cradling Lou in his arms Cody walked inside.
"What happened?" The doc asked.
"Horse got shot and fell off. Hasn't woke up since. It was a few miles outside of town." Cody wasn't sure if he should tell the doc about Lou being a girl so he tried to choose his words carefully.
"Were you the one doing the shooting?"
"Hell no. If I was, why would I bring her back here?"
"Her?"
'Uh-oh. Now you've done it Cody' he thought to himself. "Yes. We were being chased by three men and one of them shot her horse. She fell off and I don't know what's wrong with her." The whole time he spoke Cody was absently stroking Lou's hair as he cradled her to him. His affection for her was strikingly obvious to the doctor.
"Well bring her in and lay her on the bed and let me check her out."
Cody gently laid her down and with his hand brushed away a stray lock of hair from her forehead.
"Son, you go on and wait outside. I'll come back out after I examine her. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."
Cody grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear, "I'll be right outside, Lou. You're going to be fine." And he went out in the hall to sit down. After awhile he started pacing back and forth. 'Jimmy's going to kill me if something happens to her. She's gotta be alright. Yeah, she's gonna be alright. Just keep telling yourself that, Cody. Lou's been through worse scrapes than this. She ain't even shot. No, she just won't wake up. What if she never wakes up? Jimmy's gonna shoot me where I stand.' Cody sat down and put his head in his hands bemoaning his fate.
The doctor finally came out and Cody jumped out of the chair. Seeing the state the young man was in, the doctor put a hand on his shoulder and said, "She took a nasty bump to the head, but you know that much. She hasn't woke up yet, but there's no reason to worry about that yet. Sometimes a body just needs to heal first before regaining consciousness. Your wife should be awake by tomorrow."
Cody started to speak up to tell him she wasn't his wife but the doctor's next words stopped him cold.
"The baby should be fine, too, as long as she takes it easy and no more horseback riding. You're going to have to invest in a buckboard if she needs to go somewhere."
"Baby? Did you just say baby?" Cody's words stumbled out.
"Why yes. I'm sorry, I thought you knew. She's about two months along. Now, don't worry. Since the baby survived the fall it should be alright, but she's really going to need some serious bedrest for the next couple weeks just to be safe. You can go in and sit with her if you'd like. If you need anything just let me know."
Cody walked in and stared at Lou. She looked as pale as death, but the rise and fall of her chest beneath the sheet consoled him. He took a seat next to the bed. 'Now what do I do? I can't just leave her and go onto Ft. Laramie. And Jimmy needs to know what's going on. She can't stay here for two weeks, she's got to get married to Jimmy. Oh, what am I going to do?' He thought to himself and ran his fingers through his hair.
He took Lou's hand and said out loud, "Lou, what did we get into now?" Sighing, he laid his head on the bed and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Some hours later the doctor crept into the room and lit the kerosene lamp by the bed. He sadly shook his head at the young man sleeping, tightly holding his wife's hand. He hoped the young lady would be alright, but he was beginning to worry since she hadn't woke up yet. Only time would tell. It was a miracle that their baby had survived the mother's fall, although he didn't want to tell the husband that. The young man already had enough grief worrying over his wife. He walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
In the wee hours of before dawn, Lou slowly woke up. She gazed at the strange surroundings trying to remember what happened. Her last thought was falling off the horse and now she was here. She felt someone holding her hand. She looked down and saw Cody asleep, his head resting next to her arm. 'What on earth? Something bad must have happened to me for Cody to be so worried.' She gently shook her hand. Cody didn't budge.
"Cody?" she choked out. Her throat was so parched she had trouble talking. He still didn't move. 'Now what do I do? I can't believe he sleeps so soundly.' Lou studied him as he slept. He really was quite handsome. She wondered why she never noticed it before. 'Probably because his mouth always gets in the way. That and his cockiness.' She smiled to herself.
"Cody!" She nudged him in the shoulder with her other hand. He awoke with a start.
"Lou! Thank God you're awake. You had me so worried. The doctor thought you would've woke up before now."
"Where are we? What happened? All I remember is falling off my horse."
"You did. Those men that were chasing us shot it out from under you. When you fell you must have hit your head, that's what the doctor thinks. You've been out of it ever since." He explained. "How do you feel?"
"Awful. My head hurts something fierce. Can I have a glass of water?"
Cody grabbed the pitcher of water the doctor had left earlier and poured her a glass. He raised her head and helped her drink.
"Thanks." As she laid her head back down the room started to spin around. "Whoa, can you make the room stop moving around?"
"Take it easy, Lou. The doc says you need to stay in bed awhile." Cody hesitated a moment. "Lou, there's something I've got to tell you and please don't get mad."
She just stared at him and prepared for the worst. "Go ahead."
"The doc thinks we're married." He blurted out.
"What?! Why did you tell him we were married?"
"I didn't. He just assumed we were and I didn't correct him because there's something else. I'm not sure if you know or not." Cody wasn't sure how to proceed. Maybe she already knew about the baby and was embarrassed telling anyone but Jimmy about it. But then again she was still riding for the Express and she probably wouldn't be doing that if she knew about the baby, especially since the doctor said she shouldn't be riding in her condition.
"Just spill it, will ya'? What could be worse than him thinking we're married?"
When she registered the hurt on Cody's face she instantly felt sorry.
"Wait, Cody, I didn't mean that how it sounded. A girl would be lucky to have you for a husband. I just meant…"
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean anything by it." He sounded dejected.
Lou sighed. She'd really hurt his feelings this time. "I'm sorry, Cody." She grabbed ahold of his hand and looked into his eyes. "I mean it, a girl would be lucky to have you. Eloise Haversham should be the proudest girl around."
Cody finally smiled.
"Now what was it you wanted to tell me?"
Cody shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Lou, I'm not sure how to tell you…"
"The best way is to just say it and don't think about it." She advised him.
He took a deep breath, "The doctor says you're going to have a baby. That you're two months pregnant."
Lou just stared at him and her jaw dropped open.
"I take it you didn't know then."
She dumbly shook her head back and forth. She slowly began to smile. Reaching down to her stomach, she realized she was still holding Cody's hand. They both sat there with their hands on her stomach. Cody began to grin. "I'm gonna be an uncle!"
Lou hushed him. "Shhh, we're supposed to be married remember? So you'll just have to play daddy for awhile. Are you game?" She decided this could be fun.
Cody laughed. "As long as Miss Haversham doesn't find out. I don't think her mama would understand."
"I won't tell if you don't tell."
"Deal." Cody grew serious. "Um, there's a problem though."
"Only one?"
"Well, doc says you can't ride anymore and that if you need to get around I should get a buckboard. He also said just to be safe you needed a couple of week's bedrest. What are we going to do? I still have to get those papers to Ft. Laramie and I'm sure those men are still out there waiting for us. And how are we going to get you back to Sweetwater?"
"Um, Cody, I think that's more than just one problem." She paused. "He really said I couldn't ride anymore?"
Cody nodded.
"There's no way I'm staying here for two weeks, especially just lying around in bed all day." She said indignantly.
"He said it could hurt the baby if you rode and that's why he wants you in bed, to protect the baby. You've got to do what the doctor says, Jimmy would kill me otherwise."
"Alright, alright. I get it. We'll figure something out. Why don't we sleep on it and maybe we'll come up with a solution in the morning."
"Sleep sounds good to me."
Lou laughed. She carefully moved over to one side of the bed. "Cody, if you want you can sleep here, on top of the covers. I'm sure that chair isn't very comfortable."
He shook his head no. "There's no way I'm getting in that bed. Jimmy would kill me."
"Would you quit saying 'Jimmy would kill me'. He ain't gonna kill you because he ain't ever gonna know. Besides all we're doing is sleeping, nothing else."
"Well, okay. That chair is awfully hard. As long as you think it's okay."
"Cody, it's fine. Now lay down and go to sleep already." He did as she told him and was asleep within minutes. His loud snores started filling the room. Lou put an arm over her forehead and though 'Ugh, what was I thinking?'
Lou awoke some time later to Cody snoring in her ear. She elbowed him and he stopped snoring. Slowly she was able to fall back asleep.
A few hours later the doctor came in and smiled at the scene before him. The
young man had his arm draped around his wife's middle and her head was resting
next to his. He quietly tiptoed out leaving the young couple alone for awhile
longer.