Mr.
& Mrs. CodyMr.
& Mrs. Cody
Chapter 5
The next day the doctor proclaimed Lou fit enough to travel, as long as they took the drive easy. After Cody got Lou settled in the back of the buckboard, the doctor gave him the book they had been reading.
"I've read it lots of times over. I'd like you to keep it, give it to young baby Cody some day. Tell him it's from the doctor that first discovered him…or her"
Cody really felt bad about deceiving the doctor about their marriage and didn't know what to say. So he simply took the book and thanked the doctor. Lou decided she could read it aloud while they traveled.
Cody climbed up into the seat of the buckboard and started off toward home.
Since her father's burial, Emily had stayed in the house with Rachel and Emma. And even though they were now married, Ike was still sleeping in the bunkhouse. He thought it might be better to wait until they moved back to her house before they began spending their nights together.
Emily had become very withdrawn after her father had died. Even though it had only been a few days ago and Ike knew she needed time to adjust, he was already afraid of losing her. He had a run later in the day, but Kid had gladly agreed to take it for him.
Not knowing what else to do, he went out to chop wood.
After Ike had been at it for about an hour, Rachel came out with a glass of lemonade for him. He just ignored her and kept chopping.
"Ike."
He still ignored her.
"Ike!"
Still nothing.
Just as he finished swinging the axe, she stepped over and laid a hand on his arm to stop him. "Ike, you can't keep this up. You need a break." Finally he looked up at Rachel. She handed him the lemonade. He took it from her, drank it down quickly, handed it back to her and started to chop some more wood. Rachel stopped him.
*What?* he signed angrily.
"Listen Ike, I know you're hurting because Emily's hurting, but you can't keep on ignoring her. She's your wife now and she needs you."
*I thought she needed some time alone. I'm giving her that. I don't know what to do.*
"What you need to do is talk to her, hold her, listen to her. Be in the same room with her for goodness sake! She's afraid you think you made a mistake marrying her, that you were only doing it because of her father."
Ike rapidly shook his head no.
"Now you know that and I know that, but she doesn't know that. You need to fix her way of thinking fast or I'm afraid she's going to leave."
That was all Ike needed to hear. He dropped the axe and took off running towards the house, towards his wife.
Ike slowly entered her room and found her curled up in a ball on the bed. He
laid down, reached arm around her bringing her to him and spooned with her.
They lay like that for what seemed like hours to Ike before Emily finally spoke
up.
She turned in his arms and quietly asked, "Are you sorry for marrying me, Ike?"
He felt like crying when he hurt the hurt in her voice. *Never. I love you. For always.*
"Then how come you've been staying away from me? We're married and you're still sleeping in the bunkhouse and I'm in here alone."
*I thought you needed some time alone because of your father.*
"What I needed was you by my side. I wanted you to hold me, to make love to me. Ike I need you."
*I never meant for you to feel alone. I didn't mean to hurt you. I guess I've got some learning to do about being married.* He smiled at her. *Forgive me?*
"Of course. And we both have some learning to do. Let's just be sure we do it together. Alright?"
*Deal.* He leaned over and kissed her. It started as a small gesture of love but it quickly intensified into something much greater. Soon they were tugging at each other's clothing, completely oblivious to everything but each other and how much they needed to be close.
They spent to rest of the afternoon making love.
When it began to get dark they decided to don their clothes and go in search of something to eat. They descended the stairs hand-in-hand grinning from ear to ear. Rachel spotted them and told them they were just in time for supper. They all headed over to the bunkhouse together.
When Ike and Emily walked in, Noah couldn't help but tease them both.
"And just what have you two been up to all day?" He inquired as innocently as possible.
They both blushed as red as Ike's bandana.
"Noah behave yourself." Rachel scolded.
"Yeah, son, you're starting to get as bad as Cody." Teaspoon interjected.
"Oh, no! Shoot me now and put me out of my misery, please!" Noah shot back.
"Speaking of Cody, shouldn't he and Lou have been back by now?" Buck asked Teaspoon.
"Well, yeah, they should have been back this morning. If they didn't run into any trouble."
All eyes in the room turned on Jimmy.
"What? Lou can take care of herself. Besides she's with Cody and he's the best shot there is next to me. They're alright." At least that's what Jimmy kept telling himself all day. He'd known they should have returned already. But he also knew worrying over it like the Kid always did wouldn't make her come home any sooner. He'd spent the entire day near the bunkhouse so he'd be near when she came back, but when dusk came and they still hadn't shown up he started getting concerned. Of course he couldn't let on to any of the other riders because he didn't want them thinking he was turning into the Kid.
After supper, Ike walked back to the house with Emily and Jimmy sought out Teaspoon's counsel.
"Was wondering when you were gonna come find me, son." Teaspoon commented.
"Am I that obvious?"
"Only to me and Rachel I believe."
"Should I be worried, Teaspoon? I know how it is when we're carrying papers for the Army."
"Well let me tell you, those weren't the real papers, just a decoy. Now before you get all riled up, you know we have to do that from time to time. And like you said Cody's a crack shot and Lou's the fastest rider. Why do you think I sent the two of them. I couldn't very well send you with her. Didn't think you'd be able to keep your mind on the job if you know what I mean."
"Teaspoon…"
"Hey, you know I'm right. I needed them to be alert to everything just in case and you would have been too distractin'."
"Well when should we start being worried?"
"Well I figure if they're not back by tomorrow then you can go out looking for 'em. Maybe they did run into some trouble and had to lay low for a spell and that's what's delayin' 'em."
"Okay, Teaspoon. I'll wait through tomorrow." Jimmy started to walk back to the bunkhouse and then stopped. "Just one thing, if I start worrying like the Kid let me know."
"Son, there's nothing wrong with worrying about the one you love. That's normal. It's what you do with all that worrying that matters." Teaspoon left him and headed in the direction of his bed.
"Rain! Just great!" Cody started stomping around their campsite. "I hate when it rains and I'm on a run. What I wouldn't give to be back in the bunkhouse right now."
"Aw, quit complaining and grab your bedroll. If you move the buckboard just to the top of the hill we can camp underneath and be high and dry. Ha! Get it Cody? High and dry!"
"You just crack me up, Lou." He said flatly and not meaning a word of it.
"Just come on and hurry up before we get drenched."
He managed to get his gear and re-hitch the horse to the wagon and drove them up the hill. After getting settled underneath the buckboard Lou said, "See, now isn't that better?"
Cody didn't say a word. He was still in a bad mood on account of the rain.
After a few minutes of silence Lou couldn't stand it anymore. "What's eating you, Cody? Is it just the rain or is it me slowing you down?"
"You do realize if it rains too much the trail will be washed out, the buckboard's going to get stuck in all the mud and we'll never get back home."
"Aren't we the chipper one, Mr. Cody."
"We should've been back by now." He snidely added, "Mrs. Cody."
"So it is because I'm slowing you down. Listen, I didn't exactly ask to have my horse shot out from under me, Mr. Cody."
"No, but you still couldn't ride, Mrs. Cody."
"I wouldn't know I couldn't ride if I hadn't hit my head, Mr. Cody."
He grew serious all of a sudden. "Then you could've hurt the baby."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't have known about it. Okay, okay, I didn't mean that. So maybe hitting my head was a good thing after all, otherwise it might have been awhile before I found out about the baby. Anything else bothering you, Mr. Cody?"
"I'm starving! I haven't had anything decent to eat since we left Deer Creek. And you, Mrs. Cody, definitely cannot cook!"
She started rolling over in a fit of giggles. "At last! I finally find out what's really bothering you! Mr. Cody."
"Hey, it's not funny. I really am hungry." He feigned being insulted.
"Okay, listen, we'll be passing through Willow Springs tomorrow and I promise I'll treat you to a meal at the hotel. It's the least I could do for my dear, loving, food-starved husband." She batted her eyelashes at him, but she wasn't sure he could see her in the dark.
"You're on!"
"Good. Now let's get some shuteye. The sooner we sleep, the sooner we'll wake up and the sooner we'll be in Willow Springs."
"Goodnight, Mrs. Cody." He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
Lou exaggerated her sigh. "Ah, goodnight, Mr. Cody."