THE BEAUTY COMES IN THE SPRINGTIME
THE BEAUTY COMES IN THE SPRINGTIME
Buck arrived at the station with a huge smile on his face. He couldn’t believe his luck after having one of the worst rides that he can remember then he meets her, Louise McCloud. Even her name was perfect, just like her.
“Hey, Buck. What’s wrong?” Cody asked.
“Nothings wrong. Why do you ask?”
“Well cuz ya smiling and I’ve been callin' your name for five minutes.” Cody is always the jokester of the group. At least so he thought. A lot of times Cody was just sticking his foot in his mouth, but Cody is a very good person to have as a friend. He is always loyal to his family and he cared very deeply for them. He couldn’t imagine his life with out them, and if he had to he would give them the shirt off his back.
“Oh, well, I guess I was just thinkin' about a beautiful girl—I mean thinkin' about somethin'.” Buck couldn’t believe his slip. Now he would never be able to live this down, and knowing Cody he wouldn’t let him.
“A girl huh? Well where is this girl that has all your attention? And if ya can’t stop thinkin' about her why didn’t ya just throw her over your saddle and brin' her back with ya? Or were you afraid that if you brought her back she would get one look at me she would forget about you all cha? ” Cody was thinking how great it would be to tease Buck about his new girl. (This is going to last for months. I can’t wait.)
(Oh boy, he was never going to let me live this down.) Buck thought as he was heading for the barn to get the extra wheel they kept. They never knew when they would need it especial with one of the boys usually driving the buckboard.
“No I am not afraid of ya meetin' her. She just a mile out from here. She has a wheel broken on her buckboard and I came back to get our spare one and some help to put it on.”
“Well why didn’t she just come with ya?”
“Cuz she is with her family.” Buck replied. He was getting frustrated with Cody and his little jokes.
“She’s married! And your still going after her? Wow, you got guts.”
“No, she’s not married. She has her ma and brother and sister with her and she didn’t want to leave them alone. Now are you going to help me or not?”
Cody wasn’t one for doing hard work. In fact he always tries to get out the chores he already has. But to meet a beautiful woman, than he was more than willing to help. After all who could resist the charms of William F. Cody. “Sure I’ll help. I think we will need more than just the two of us though.” Of course he didn’t want to work too hard.
“Well who else is here?” Buck knew the only reason Cody was offering to help was because of Louise. (It figures. Only willing to help when there was a woman involved.)
“Well Kid’s on a run for a couple of days and Noah just left for his run. So that would leave Ike and Jimmy. By the way what’s this beautiful angels name?”
“Louise McCloud. Now you go Ike and Jimmy and I’ll go get the wheel. I’ll go and tell Rachael where we are headed.”
With that said and done they both went their separate ways. When Buck told Rachael what happened she had Buck take some food for them and to tell the family that they would be staying the night here at the waystation and for ever long as they needed to stay. Rachael was looking forward to meeting some new folks and hopefully new friends. A lot of women around town shunned Rachael for her job and also for the way she looked. That was different for Emma though, because she was practically married to Sam Cain when the Pony Express started even though those two didn’t think so. So off the boys went to help the damsel in distress. She hoped this girl could handle all of them at once the boys were definitely a handful.
A half hour later the boys arrived at the buckboard. All ready to meet this girl Buck had talked about on the way there. They all knew Buck had good taste in women so they straightened there backs and threw out there chests so they could look more impressive to this Louise McCloud. Of coarse they all looked like male peacocks trying to strut their stuff.
The rest had done Mary some good. She was feeling much better now. With the fresh water, and not jumbling around anymore had done wonders for her. (This was a good idea, moving out here. I can tell Louise is looking so peaceful. This will definitely do her some good. Hopefully Louise will be able to find someone who she will take a liking too. And with those boys I see coming I hope one of them will. I hope one of them will be good enough for her.) Of course Mary had very high opinion on who should date her daughter. After all Jeff was a well off young man, and he was always good to her little girl. So she always thought well of him.Louise and Tessa were still making flower halos when the boys showed up. She thought they looked kinda of funny. The way they were sitting on their horse didn’t look quite right. She should know because she spent all of her free time riding. (Oh well, maybe it’s just how they sit in their saddles around here.)
As the boys came to a stop they saw how right Buck was. (She’s the most beautiful woman I ever did see. I think I am in love!) All of them thought. As Buck started introducing them to Louise she got a better look at them. (Look at them all smiling, you’d think they never seen a girl before.) They were all very good looking men, they were all definitely easy on ones eyes. The Buck started introducing them. First came, his best friend he told her, Ike. Buck told her he was mute so he talked through Indian sign. She thought he had a gentle way about him and decided she would like to get to know him better. Next came Cody. She didn’t know what to think about him. He was trying to be charming to her and the lines he said to her she was sure he said to any woman that would give him the time of day, she wondered how many girls actually did. He did seem nice enough though full of himself, but nice. Then last but not least Jimmy. The first thing that Louise noticed about Jimmy was the way he wore his guns down low. He must be a gunfighter. Then she heard his full name James Butler Hickock. Now she knew he was. She had heard several things about him. Most of it she didn’t believe because her mama always told her don’t believe everything you hear. Plus he had this look in his eyes that told her that he wasn’t as people describing him, a cold hearted killer.
“Well it’s very nice to meet y’all. I wanted to thank ya for comin' out here with Buck to help us. Now let me introduce you to my family. This here is my ma Mary Louise McCloud, this is my little sister Theresa or as we call her Tessa and this here is my little brother Jere-- ”
“How many people have ya killed? Where did you get those guns? Can I shoot one? Are any ya interested in Louise?” He was so excited. (Real cowboys! Wow this was so cool!)
“Miah! What have I told ya about manners? And no ya ain’t shootin' no gun. Please excuse my little brother, he’s just excited about meetin' real cowboys.” Louise was a little embarrassed about her brothers questions, especially the one about them being interested in her, but she did know that he always wanted to meet cowboys and how he always wanted to be one. So she just let it go.
“Well, we came here to get a job done so lets do it.” Cody said happily. He definitely wanted to show off in front of HER.
As they were putting the new wheel on Buck was telling Louise about Rachael and how she wanted them to come and stay at the waystation. At first Louise refused but then all the boys and her family talked her into it. “Well all right we’ll go. But just for tonight.” Louise thought this Rachael person couldn’t be all that bad if she had Buck bring them some food and offered them a place to stay. Hopefully she wasn’t like other women she knew she doubt that she was. She sure didn’t sound like it, if that was the case they could be friends.
“YIPPEE!” The boys and the children shouted. Louise thought this couldn’t be too bad if Tessa and her mother had taking a liking to all the boys. They both were usually so shy around strangers, and here they both were chatting up the storm with the riders. Miah couldn’t be more thrilled, Louise notice. Yes, coming out here was the right thing to do.
After they got the wheel fixed they were off to the waystation. Everybody in complete harmony.
After supper that night Everyone was sitting around the table talking and enjoying some coffee. Mary and the children went off to bed in the main house. So it was Lou, the boys now dubbed her after hearing the little secret that Miah let out, the riders and Rachael. Lou and Rachael became fast friends. They both liked each others independent spirit, and they also thought they were a lot a like. Currently Buck was telling a story and everybody was laughing so hard that most of them were about to fall off there chairs, except Cody.“I can imagine Cody’s face when he found out that you had tricked him! All covered in feathers and dirt! HA HA HA HA!” Louise couldn’t believe Cody would fall for something like that, then again ya she could. After all he got what he deserved by taking the sacred things out of Buck’s medicine pouch and then filling it with dirt.
“I don’t see what’s so funny about it. I was almost killed by them Gods!” Cody believed still today that the Gods had done those terrible things to him.
That made everyone laugh that much harder. The could see that he was serious though so they tried to calm down a bit. Just then someone came into the bunkhouse. It was a black rider who was wearing a silver-tipped whip. (So this must be Noah she thought. He’s very handsome, just like the rest of the boys. He looks like a cool headed person she decided.) Louise was always a good judge of character and she prided herself in that.
“What’s so funny? I could hear ya all the way out in the barn.” Then Noah noticed the tiny girl sitting between Buck and Ike. (Boy, she sure is pretty. I wonder what she’s doing here?) “I’m sorry I didn’t know we had company. My name is Noah Dixon.”
“I’m Louise or Lou McCloud which ever ya like. It’s a pleasure to meet ya.”
“The pleasure’s mine.” Noah could tell that she was being genuine about meeting him a black man. She didn’t have disgust look on her face or in her eyes. “So what was so funny, and how did you get here?”
Everyone took turns on tell Noah what was so funny and why Lou was here along
with her family. The talked for several hours taking turns on telling stories
about
themselves. By the end of the night Lou could tell that they were a tight family
and the riders made her feel like she was apart of it. She couldn’t wait
to meet the
other two members of this family. Teaspoon sounded very kind and strange at
the same time. The each of the boys did imitations of him and his famous speeches.
Then there was talk of this Kid fellow. (What a strange name.) The boys told
her how they always tried to get him to tell them his real name, but to no avail.
Also how he was a great friend. Jimmy and him were best friends which is kinda
strange since they are both so different. The boys told her that Teaspoon would
be back tomorrow and Kid the day after that.
“Well, I better get to bed. I need to go looking for a job tomorrow and finding us a place to stay.” Louise replied right after she yawned.
After Rachael and Lou left the bunkhouse the riders got to bed and started
discussing Lou and what problems she would have finding a job.
“I don’t know what she will be able to find in town as far as jobs
go. The only jobs out there for her are laundry, scrubbing floors or worse.”
Cody said with concern. He didn’t want the tiny girl to be doing any of
those jobs. “Plus she wouldn’t make enough money from any of those
jobs to pay for food and for a big enough place for all of them to live in.”
<Maybe we could ask Teaspoon tomorrow if she could work here.> Ike said.
“But what could she do here?” Jimmy was also quite worried about Lou. She was the first genuine girl he had ever met other than Rachael. He didn’t want to see her hurt or without food or a place to stay. He felt like protecting her anyway he could.
<She could help Rachael out. She always has enough work for two. That way she would have a place to stay and we wouldn’t worry about her so much being in town. We can protect her better.> Ike knew that she had won a special place in all of the riders hearts, so did her family.
They all decided that’s what they would do. Talk to Teaspoon in the morning and get her a job here. After Teaspoon has one look at her and her family there was no way he could say no.
