Chapter Five

After several hours passed by and Glennis still didn't awake, Lou realized she must have fallen into a deep sleep. Her breathing was easy and calm, so they weren't too worried about her. They thought of going for the doctor, but since they didn't completely trust him they were afraid of bringing him into the situation. As long as Glennis seemed to be doing alright, they both agreed to leave the doctor out of it.

As the night stretched out, Cody and Lou decided to lay out their bedrolls on the floor. They could have gone to the jailhouse and sleep, but with Edna Jackson on the loose, neither thought that was a very good option. Besides, one of them would have had to stay behind to stay with Glennis just in case she woke up or became worse. Splitting up at this point was too dangerous, especially for Lou.

So they lay down on the floor, side-by-side, and fell asleep holding hands.

When morning came, they lay entwined. Somewhere in the night they had gravitated toward one another. Cody was the first to awake and when he realized the situation they were in he grinned. He could definitely get used to waking up this way. Yes, sirree.

Lou slowly awoke to find Cody watching her. She reveled in the feel of his leg covering her upper thigh…her bare upper thigh. She quickly rolled away and pulled down her dress.

Clearly embarrassed at her disheveled state, she attempted to apologize to Cody.

"Lou, there's nothing to apologize for. Besides nothing happened. Your dress musta just moved up in your sleep. It's alright."

"I never should have slept in my dress. Now look at all the wrinkles in it." She fretted aloud.

"Lou, come here. Listen, you look beautiful and never more than right now. Ya' know I never liked waking up early before, but you sure are an incentive to do just that." He confessed. He leaned over to kiss her on the nose, but she moved her head at the last moment and caught his lips with hers for a 'good morning' kiss.

"There, that's better." She sighed and rolled over on top of him. Resting her elbows on either side of him, she leaned down for another kiss. "Mmm, this is a perfect way to start the day. Even better than yesterday."

"If that's the case, then I can't wait 'til tomorrow mornin'." Cody quipped.

"Just you wait Mr. Cody. Just you wait." She said as she rolled off of him and rose to check on Glennis.

Glennis was still sleeping soundly, so they decided to go downstairs to get a bite to eat. But before they left Lou insisted on changing out of her wrinkled dress and into one of the others she had bought the day before.

"Now turn your back Cody or you'll never get any breakfast in you." She told him.

"Aw, Lou, why did you pick now to be so mean?" He mockingly complained as he turned his back. The urge to turn around was great, but Cody tamped it down, knowing her trust in him was too great to risk ruining it.

As Lou changed into her new outfit, she was wondering if Cody was peeking, but every time she looked his way he had his back turned. Trust Cody to do exactly what he promised to do. Not sure why she was feeling disappointment at not catching Cody watching her, she finished dressing. But she purposely left the top two hooks on the back of her dress undone.

"Cody, you can turn around now."

She heard his breath let out in a rush and she smiled to herself. She was obviously having quite an affect on him.

When he turned around, she turned her back to him and asked him to fasten the remaining hooks for her. With shaky hands he tried to work the hooks, but they just wouldn't connect. "Why was it so much easier last night to unhook these and today I'm all thumbs and nervous?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, geez, I didn't realize I said that out loud. Sorry, Lou."

"It's alright."

Just as she was about to fasten the hooks herself she heard Cody say, "Hey, I've got an idea. Turn around."

After she turned to face him, he put his arms around her and reached for the hooks. In no time flat he had them fastened for her.

When she looked up at him in astonishment at the speed in which he worked, he shrugged and said, "It only makes sense to do it this way. After all this is how I unhooked them last night." And he grinned from ear to ear, clearly proud of his accomplishment.

She gave him a kiss on his cheek and scooted out from underneath his grasp, heading for the door. She opened it and bowed low, "Breakfast awaits you, sir."

"Why thank you, milady. But I have all I need right here with you."

Just then his stomach grumbled. She laughed. "I think your stomach has other ideas, Cody."

"Alright. I guess you're right. But we're not finished here, Miss McCloud."

They took their seats in the dining room under the censure of hotel's clerk.

"From the look of the clerk, I'd say he's not very happy with our sleeping arrangements now that he's found out I'm a girl."

"Oh, don't mind him, Lou." Then Cody got really bold and added, "'Sides, if you'd let me, I'd be more than happy to make an honest woman out of ya'."

Lou smiled for a moment and then her face fell. Fearing he pushed her too far too fast, he began to apologize, but she cut him off.

"It's alright, Cody. It's just me. I guess all the problems we're encountering are taking their toll on me." She said lamely.

"Lou, I know that's not it." He said getting angry. "And sooner or later you're gonna have to talk about it, but I'm not gonna push you. When the time is right I hope you can trust me enough to tell me. Now are you ready to order breakfast?"

Knowing she hurt him, but also knowing now wasn't the time to tell him about Wicks, she hung her head and just nodded that she was ready to order.

They placed their order and sat in silence until it arrived. Then they ate in silence.

Not knowing what to say to Cody, Lou kept her own company.

Cody was more than a little miffed that Lou couldn't or wouldn't trust him enough to confide in him about what was bothering her. In fact, now that he really thought about it, twice when the subject of marriage was brought up she clammed up and made some excuse. Maybe she didn't want to get married. Or maybe it was him she didn't want to marry. His heart sank. He'd moved too fast. He knew he'd mess it up. He always messed up the important things in his life. And here he was screwing something up again. Only this time it wasn't just 'something', it was the most important person in his life.

He knew things had been moving fast between them, but there hadn't exactly been a way to slow it down either. He just let things flow naturally between them and went where it took them. So why was she so skittish about the subject of marriage when her actions clearly told him otherwise? It just didn't make sense.

Looking over at her toying with her napkin, she looked miserable. In fact she looked on the verge of tears.

That was another thing, her crying. He'd never known her to cry before now. She'd always been so stoic, keeping her real emotions hidden as much as possible. That much he knew for sure. But now, since they'd been alone together he'd seen her playful, passionate, sad and miserable. Her emotions were showing and they were all over the map.

"Lou, I'm really sorry if I've done something to hurt you. I never meant to. I wanted to make this work between us, but if it's the wrong thing for you I'll leave you be. In fact, I'll transfer to another station and you'll never have to see me again. It's your choice and entirely up to you. But right now we've got to find Edna Jackson and arrest her. If you're finished eating we can go up and check on Glennis before heading out to find the widow." Cody knew the tone of his voice may have been a little harsh, but he was trying his damnedest to keep his emotions in check in front of Lou. He wasn't going to give her a chance to hurt him anymore, but at the same time he didn't want to hurt Lou anymore than he already had.

He rose from the table and headed toward the stairs to their room, Lou glumly followed him and trudged up the stairs. She was completely miserable and silently damning Simon Wicks for still ruining her life, even after all this time.

Her misery was interrupted by gunshot coming from their room. She hurried up the rest of the stairs, frightened that something had happened to Cody. Lou was in a panic when she finally reached the room, but she let out a silent sigh of relief at the sight before her.

Cody stood with his gun in hand and Edna Jackson lay slumped over her step-daughter on the bed.

"She killed her, Lou. I saw her do it, but I couldn't stop her fast enough. I shot her, but it was too late. She used the carving knife again, only this time she stabbed her in the chest. How could she do something like that and why couldn't I stop her in time?" He began to cry, but he abruptly swiped at his tears and in their place was a hardened feature. A look that was better suited to Jimmy, than Cody. Maybe he'd been taking lessons from him, Lou thought harshly to herself.

She walked over to each woman and checked for a pulse. When she found none, she slowly shook her head and announced, "I'll go try and find the undertaker. I'm sure he'll show up once he finds he has business to tend to." And with that she left the room.

Cody left the room as well, after he was certain Lou was gone from the hotel. He walked out into the street and headed over to the sheriff's office. He was still there well after dark, wondering how their relationship had gone sour so quickly. He wasn't overly worried about Lou because he knew she could take care of herself. Besides she was the last person he really wanted to see right now.

But as luck would have it, she walked right in through the door. Dressed again in her boy's clothing she plopped their gear onto the floor. When he looked at her questioningly, she said, "I checked us out of the hotel. I'm not staying there anymore, not when two dead bodies have been in that bed. Which one do you want?" She asked, indicating the cots in the cells.

"Don't care." He plainly said.

She shrugged and said, "Suit yourself." She took the first cell and laid her bedroll out on the cot.

Cody rose from the chair, picking up his own bedroll and took the cot in the second cell. He laid down on it and sighed.

"Aren't you hungry?" She asked him.

He shook his head. He didn't know if she saw him or not, but it really didn't matter. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He laid there staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours when he finally said, "Lou?"

"Go to sleep, Cody." And she rolled over on her side, aching inside for hurting Cody, but knowing it was the only way to get him to leave her alone. She silently cried herself to sleep.

Lou wasn't as quiet about crying as she thought and Cody heard ever sob that left her body. He died a little bit more inside everytime he heard her cry, but he didn't know what else to do. She wouldn't talk to him and he didn't know what to say. So he kept silent and eventually fell asleep.