A Twist Of Fate
A Twist Of Fate© Laura Brown
CHAPTER 1
Jimmy rode low in the saddle, urging his horse on. They were late back from Ft. Laramie and Jimmy was anxious to get home. They flew over the trails as if the devil were on their heals but in reality the only things chasing Jimmy were his own thoughts and worries. He couldn’t shake Christine from his thoughts. Ignoring the heat of the day, Jimmy rode on, finally having decided that it was time to head out to Lucas Springs. He was only a few hours ride from home and the sooner he got there the sooner he could be on his way to meet Christine.
Lou sat at the table in the bunkhouse, her fingers drumming
restlessly on the table and her eyes fixed on the blank sheets of paper in front
of her. She could hear Kid snoring softly in his bunk and outside the rest of
the boys were resting on the porch, keeping
out of the blazing sun.
For the seventh time that afternoon Lou picked up her pencil and wrote the words ‘Dear Christine’ at the top of a page. She began her letter with the usual inquiries but soon stopped, screwed the page into a ball and threw it down on the floor where it’s predecessors lay in much the same state.
Jimmy had set her worrying about Christine before he had left on his run and now, after a few days of waiting for a letter from Christine to arrive, Lou had sat herself down to write another herself. The problem was she didn’t know what to say. She’d never had a problem writing to Christine before; usually the words flowed out onto the page as naturally as speech, but today she was struggling.
Pausing for a moment, she picked up the bundle of Christine’s letters which she kept and scanned through the last one she had received, hoping either for inspiration or some clue as to why she hadn’t written in so long. The letter, however, was just like all the others; full of anecdotes, questions about the family, and thoughts about any number of seemingly unconnected trivialities. There was nothing to indicate any problems. Lou stopped to consider the possibilities. She pushed the thought that Christine could be ill to the back of her mind, pondering instead on what could have held up the mail or occupied the whole of Christine’s attention.
Flicking to the end of the letter she read Christine’s warm congratulations and ‘I-told-you-so’s’ about Lou and Kid getting back together. Lou grinned as she read her friend’s words and turned round to watch Kid as he slept. As she watched him and thought about how much their relationship had improved, the thought flew into her mind that maybe Christine had found herself another man. Lou’s heart ached just at the thought of what that would do to Jimmy. As much as she loved Christine, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to bring herself to speak to her again if she hurt Jimmy like that. But deep down she didn’t believe that would happen. They were both completely committed to each other. There must be some other reason for Christine’s silence...but what?
“You feelin’ alright, Lou?” Rachel asked, looking across the table at the young woman. “You look like you’re miles away.”
Lou looked up from the plate of food she’d been gazing at unseeingly and smiled at Rachel. “Just thinkin’,” she explained quietly.
“Well stop thinkin’ and get on with eatin’ or Cody’ll have that piece of pie right out from under your nose,” Rachel warned.
Noah and Buck chuckled their agreement and Cody didn’t even bother trying to defend himself as he’d been contemplating doing just that for the past ten minutes.
“Anything wrong, Lou?” Kid asked.
Lou shook her head and then looked up at the people around the table. If she couldn’t talk to them who could she talk to? “Well... I was just thinkin’ about Christine,” she explained. “She hasn’t written in a while and I’m gettin’ a little worried about her.”
“Have you talked to Jimmy?” Buck asked. “He’s probably heard from her.”
Kid shook his head. “He was just askin’ if Lou had heard from her before he left the other day,” he told them.
“I think he’s worried too,” Lou said.
“How long’s it been since you heard from her?” Teaspoon asked, looking over at Lou with a concerned frown.
“Nearly two months,” Lou answered, suddenly wondering why she hadn’t started worrying about this earlier.
The room was silent for a while as everyone sat thinking about the situation, Cody pausing with his fork half way to his mouth as he pondered it.
“You don’t think...” Lou began quietly, airing her deepest concern, “You don’t think Christine could have found someone else do you?”
“You mean another fella?” Cody asked, surprise evident in his voice.
“It would explain why she hasn’t been writing,” Noah admitted.
“She wouldn’t though, would she?” Lou asked.
“No, she wouldn’t,” Buck answered firmly. “Christine wouldn’t do that. There’s no way she’d do that to Jimmy.”
Kid nodded in agreement. “She loves him, Lou. I don’t know why she hasn’t written but there has to be some other reason.”
Lou smiled, somewhat relieved by her friends’ assurances. “You're right,” she said quietly. “I just wish I knew what the reason was.”
As she finished speaking the sound of a horse riding up into the yard could be heard. Buck got up and peered out the window into the dimming light. “It’s Jimmy,” he announced as he made out the young man’s figure as he slipped down from his horse.
“Jesse, head on out there and see to his horse,” Teaspoon requested.
Buck sunk back down onto the bench as Jesse got up and walked out, for a once not complaining as he went.
Jimmy was just leading his horse into the barn as he saw Jesse approaching.
“Hey Jimmy,” the boy called out in greeting as he wandered up and took a hold of the animal. “I’ll take your horse for ya.”
“Thanks Jesse,” Jimmy replied tiredly. “Anything been goin’ on?”
“Nope, same as always - boring.”
Jimmy shook his head at the boy’s restlessness as he headed out of the barn and towards the bunkhouse. The air was still warm and it smelled sweet and fresh. He took his time walking across the yard, taking the time to slow himself down after the run. As he took the steps in one stride he found himself praying that he’d see an envelope lying on his bunk when he went in there.
He swung the door open and saw everyone sitting round the table, finishing off their dinners.
“Hey,” he muttered quietly, not really paying them any attention, instead making his way quickly over to his bunk.
“How was your ride, Jimmy?” Teaspoon asked. “Everything go alright?”
“Yeah, no problems,” Jimmy said quickly, before stopping at his bunk and looking down to see nothing but his blanket and a fresh shirt Rachel had put there. He felt his heart sink but, aware that he was standing there in front of everyone staring at his bunk, he sat himself down and pulled off his coat.
“How’s things at Fort Laramie?” Kid asked from the table.
“Fine,” Jimmy replied tersely, not interested in small talk. He stood up and began to take off his gunbelt. For some reason he struggled over the buckle, his fingers refusing to work properly.
“Heard there’s some Indian trouble out that way,” Teaspoon commented lightly, dabbing at the crumbs on his plate with his fingers.
“Well I didn’t see nothin’,” Jimmy replied, finally getting the buckle undone and flinging his belt on his bed.
Rachel looked up as she heard the note of annoyance in Jimmy’s voice. He looked tired and flustered. She smiled sympathetically and filled him a bowl of stew. “Here you go, Jimmy,” she said, placing the bowl on the table. “I saved you some bread too.”
“Thanks Rachel,” Jimmy mumbled, taking his seat quietly.
The conversation picked up again, the boys talking about the new horses Teaspoon had brought in and Cody declaring his undying love for the girl he saw in the street the other day.
Teaspoon watched as Jimmy sat in the middle of the group, ignoring everything around him except for his dinner. He looked a lot like he had done when he first came to the Express; moody, isolated and uninterested in everyone else. The sullen look in his eye was gone, however, as it had been for some time now, replaced at the moment by a look of distant concern.
There was a break in conversation for a moment and Jimmy looked up, suddenly drawn out of his contemplation. “I need some time off, Teaspoon,” he said, his statement coming out as a request despite the demanding choice of words.
“And when would you be needin’ this time off?” Teaspoon asked casually.
“I want to leave tomorrow,” Jimmy stated, ignoring the inquiring glances of the others as they listened to the conversation.
“Well,” Teaspoon said slowly, stopping to take a sip of water before he continued. “You’ve been workin’ pretty hard lately and there ain’t much goin’ on. Don’t see why that would present a problem.”
“Thanks Teaspoon,” Jimmy said, throwing him an appreciative smile before getting up and walking over to his bunk.
“Where ya headed?” Teaspoon asked, leaning back on his chair and watching Jimmy closely.
Jimmy paused for a moment. For some reason he was unwilling to tell them, but he knew there was no way around it this time. “Lucas Springs,” he said quietly, keeping his back turned on his friends.
The boys exchanged glances and Lou breathed a sigh of relief, at least now they’d find out what was going on.
“Well,” Teaspoon said, grunting as he pulled himself to his feet. “I won’t see you before you go so give her a kiss from me.” He patted Jimmy on the shoulder and then, with a nod and a smile to Rachel and the others, he left the bunkhouse to have a chat to Jesse and then go back into town.
Jimmy didn’t go back to the table to talk to the others and play cards that night. Instead he stretched himself out in his bed and shut his eyes firmly, listening to the lively conversation at the table and running over his trip in his mind, playing over all the possibilities and letting them get worse and worse till he was guaranteed not to get any sleep that night.
Jimmy was gone with the first light the next morning, before
any of the other riders were up. Lou had woken up enough to wish him luck before
he left and to give him the letter she had scribbled for Christine the night
before. She’d watched him leave, a
nervous look on his face which she didn’t remember ever having seen there
before. And then she’d drifted back off to sleep to the sound of his horse
trotting it’s way out of the yard.
Riding with a little more pace than he had been for most of
the ride, Jimmy skirted his way round the town, unwilling to ride through the
middle of Lucas Springs. His heart had lifted a little since he’d neared
the town and he smiled as he realised he had
the feeling of coming home, the same feeling he had when he got near Rock Creek
after a long ride.
All his concerns about whether Christine would want to see him slipped away as he laid eyes on the small house. He remembered the quiet afternoons on the porch and the noisy, boisterous dinners they’d had while the whole family was there. He remembered the assurances he and Christine had given each other before he left and he knew that she’d meant it and that she’d be waiting for him just as he’d been waiting for her.
As he rode into the yard, full of a renewed energy, the sound of voices rang out through the air. To begin with he thought the voices sounded scared and angry but as he listened more closely he picked up the excitement and laughter in their tone.
Jimmy slipped to the ground and tethered his horse to the hitching post. Following the sound of the voices he made his way behind the house and saw two figures chasing around after a dozen chickens which had evidently gotten loose. His face broke into a broad smile as he watched Christine and the boy shouting and hollering to each other and to the chickens and making wild dives whenever they thought they’d cornered one of the angry birds.
“Stay still for a minute you goddamn crazy bird!” Christine shouted, the words slipping out of her mouth as easily as they would out of that of a drunken cowboy. One of the birds slipped through her fingers and she let out an angry curse. “You’re the next one on my plate, so help me God!”
Jimmy was just thinking about stepping in and announcing his
arrival when before his eyes Christine and the boy, bowed over as they were
in pursuit of the chickens, ran straight into each other, heads first. Both
chicken-chasers were flattened instantly and
Christine lay in the dirt looking up at the sky with a bewildered look on her
face. Forgetting his plans for a dramatic entrance, Jimmy rushed over and bent
over Christine, his hands holding her face carefully.
“Chris! You alright?”
Christine stared up at him with a perplexed expression but no words came from her lips.
“Chris?” Jimmy asked again, his concern growing.
Christine began to try and sit up and Jimmy held out his hands and pulled her to her feet, holding her carefully as she wavered from side to side. He peered into her eyes and waited for the recognition to dawn. It didn’t take long.
“Good Lord, Jimmy! Is that really you or did I hit my head harder than I thought?” she asked quietly.
“It is me,” Jimmy confirmed. “But I do think you hit your head harder than you thought.” He held her head between both his hands and looked into her bewildered eyes smilingly.
“C’mon. Let’s sit you down.” He took her by the arm and led her over to the chopping block which stood not far away. Out of the corner of this eye Jimmy saw the boy struggle to his feet and watch them closely, but he only had eyes for Christine.
“Better?” he asked, crouching down in front of her so that their eyes were level.
Christine nodded dumbly and continued looking at him in perplexion. Jimmy was just beginning to wonder if she was, indeed, sorry to see him when Christine broke into a smile which lit up her face. “Oh Jimmy,” she whispered, before throwing her arms around him with such force that they both ended up lying in the dirt.
Jimmy laughed out loud as Christine smiled down at him, her arms still wrapped firmly round his neck. “I can’t believe you’re here!” she cried.
“And I can’t believe you just did that!” Jimmy groaned, shifting uncomfortably as the stones on the ground dug into his back.
“I just...when did you...how long...I missed you so much!” Christine managed eventually as she sat up and helped Jimmy up with her.
“I missed you too,” Jimmy grinned, running a hand over her dirty face.
Christine struggled for more words but she was still so shocked that they just wouldn’t come, so instead she gave up and kissed him.
Seth stood a few yards distant and watched the two of them sitting in the dirt with chickens running all around them, kissing each other as if they were completely oblivious to the situation. He shook his head slowly. He’d known since he started working for her that Christine was a bit crazy but this was crazy even for her!
