A
LOVE REBORNA
LOVE REBORN
Jimmy was telling Teaspoon about my accident and everything that I had said afterward when the door unexpectedly swung open. All heads turned to see Buck standing in the doorway.
"Devon, Devon I need to talk to you."
I stood up in shock at the look of complete desperation in his features. I took a step forward but was stopped by Jimmy's hand clasping mine.
"Buck, it has to wait." Jimmy said.
Buck looked down at Jimmy's hand holding mine, then back up at his friend. The look in his face was that of a man whose prized possession was being held by another.
"It can't wait." Buck growled, "I have to talk to her now."
Just then Rachel and Lily came rushing into the bunkhouse. Lily wore the same look of a woman rejected I had worn just hours before. I wondered just what had happened between these two.
"What's going on in here?" Rachel asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Teaspoon said, "Now why don't everybody just take a seat and explain. Buck your talk will have to wait."
Buck sighed loudly, seemingly complacent to the fact that our talk would have to wait. He took the seat directly to my left, while Jimmy sat to my right. The placement of the two didn't escape anyone's notice, especially Lily or Lou. The two women sat with Rachel on a bunk to my left.
I watched Lou as Jimmy explained my situation to Teaspoon. Armed with the knowledge of Jimmy's feelings for her, I studied her for any trace of feelings for him. If the cold stare I was receiving were any indication, I'd say that she was surely torn between two men. I had the chance in the minutes before Buck's entrance to meet Jimmy's rival. I assessed him and came up with the fact that if you could somehow combine the two men, he'd be almost as perfect as Buck.
Once everyone was seated, my story was told from everyone's perspective but mine. Rachel gave the facts of the accident which brought me into their lives, she then told Teaspoon of my reaction to Buck and everything that I had said afterward, including the whole birthmark incident. I watched the older man as he was told these things and was surprised when he did not look at me judgmentally. Jimmy was next. He told everyone about what he had heard in town after leaving my farm, and how he believed I was in danger.
Teaspoon seemed to take a few minutes to digest all the information he had been told, then eyed me curiously.
"So what have you got to say for yourself?"
"I'm not killing cows."
"How can we be so sure?" Lou asked, "You, yourself say you're a witch."
"What I am," I said, "is sick and tired of having to defend my beliefs to people who don't even want to try and understand. What I do is treat ailments with herbs and meditation. Yes I gave Mrs. Garnett a tea, but I never told her it was a magic potion. That is the imagination of a little girl who was never told any better."
"She does the same thing as a Medicine Man or Shaman in an Indian tribe." Buck said. As everyone stared at him he took my hand, "That is what you were, a Shaman right?
My eyes widened, as I'm sure, did everyone else's. "How - how did you know?" I gasped, then I saw the glint in his eyes. "By the Goddess, you remember!"
He nodded slightly, and Lily gasped. I would have gotten up and thrown myself into his arms were it not for Jimmy's hold on my other hand.
"There's something . . ." Teaspoon began, "actually, there's a lot I don't understand, but the first thing that pops into my head is what scared you so much in town?"
"Thompkins." Buck answered, "It was Thompkins wasn't it?"
I nodded.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"It's a long story." I said.
"So what do we do next?" Kid asked.
Teaspoon leaned back in his chair, and thought for a minute. "I agree with Jimmy, you could be in a lot of trouble. So I think you should stay here until we figure this thing out."
"No." I said. "I will not bring all of you into this. Besides I have to take care of my farm."
"I can have the boys check on your farm."
I shook my head; "I will not hide."
"Dammit Devon, don't be stupid!" Jimmy said.
"I'm not! I appreciate your concern, really I do, but I need to be home." I pleaded.
"If that's how you feel, then I can't stop you. However as Marshal I have to make sure you're safe." He looked at Jimmy and Buck each with one of my hands in theirs and knowing that Buck had been courting Lily, Teaspoon said "So I'm sending Jimmy home with you."
"No!" Both Lou and Buck said at the same time. As everyone eyed the two, I looked at Lily whose eyes were wide with shock.
"And why not Buck?" Teaspoon asked.
"I have to talk to Devon, and it's a talk best done in private."
Teaspoon nodded thoughtfully, and turned to the female rider, "Lou?"
"Jimmy's got a lot to do at the waystation, and Buck has responsibilities here." She glanced pointedly at Lily. "Couldn't you just send Barnett?"
"Barnett is an-"
"Jimmy . . ." Rachel, warned.
"Idiot. This is real danger Lou, you didn't see how those farmers looked."
"Jimmy, I'm just saying-"
"Would you be acting this way if it were anyone else in my position?" I interrupted, "Or is it just me?"
Lou stared straight at me.
"Lou didn't mean any-" Rachel began to say but was cut off by Lou's soft spoken "Just you."
"Well then, there you have it" I said as I rose to leave. "I'll make sure the lynch mob let's you pull the lever at my hanging." I said as I walked out.
Jimmy and Buck got up at the same time.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jimmy asked.
"To take her home."
"Oh no, Teaspoon said I was going." Jimmy said as he grabbed his hat and walked to the door.
"I need to talk to her." Buck said as he met Jimmy at the door.
"What about Lily?"
"What about her?" Buck said, "Jimmy I need to do this. Lily understands that."
"Does she? Look at her."
Buck looked over at Lily, whose hurt features were silently begging him to stay. "Please understand." He said, then walked out into the night, never seeing Lily break into tears.
Prologue ~ Chapter
1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3
~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ Chapter
6 ~ Chapter 7 ~ Chapter 8
~ Chapter 9
~ Chapter 10 ~ Chapter 11 ~
Chapter 12
