STANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYALSTANDING
BETWEEN LOVE AND BETRAYAL
Jesse looks over the camp that he and the gang have set up as their new home for the time being. The new camp seems safe enough hidden in a cluster of trees and mountains. They are far enough from Rock Creek to keep themselves out of jail, but not too far to keep Jesse from continuing his revenge on his family from the past!
Jesse crouches down to the campfire, and serves himself a plate full of rabbit stew, and a smoldering cup of black coffee. He stands back up, and with his supper in hand, he walks toward the back of the camp. He passes a few men on the way each nodding their head that they acknowledge Jesse’s presence. Jesse demands respect from his gang, and they all know it without being told. Jesse reaches the very back of the camp, and sits down on a large boulder.
He takes a sip of the scalding coffee, and wonders if Teaspoon has been able to round up a posse to search for The James Gang! Jesse is so deep in thought that he doesn’t realize for a brief moment that Simon has come up next to him and is standing right beside him.
“If you’re thinking about Teaspoon Hunter and what his next move will be, don’t bother thinking too hard about it. I can pretty much tell you what the old marshal’s next move will be just by the contempt he held on his face for you,” Simon spoke his attention aimed at the steaming hot rabbit stew on his own plate.
“Do you think he’s fighting for his life at this very moment that we are enjoying this delicious rabbit stew? Or, do you think his fight for his life is over?” Jesse asked with a reckless tone coming from his almost unsound mind.
Simon isn’t sure how he should answer Jesse’s question. He wonders silently if the young gang leader has lost his edge. Jesse has fought against his so-called family from his past, but perhaps he doesn’t hate them as much as he lets on to his men. Simon wonders if maybe the people that make up Jesse’s family are actually the only people in Jesse’s life that he truly cares about. If that is the case, then Jesse will be shouldering a heap of guilt for a very long time.
“I really don’t know if Buck’s fight is just beginning or if it is over. What really matters is the unforgiving gaze in the marshal’s eyes when you shot his deputy. He may not have a posse out looking for us just yet. But, if his deputy should die, I’m sure it won’t take Marshal Teaspoon Hunter any great length of time to hunt you down.”
Jesse’s mouth portrays a wide grin of accomplishment. “Let Teaspoon come searching for me. I’ll make damn sure he ends up just like Buck!”
Jesse stands up from the boulder and walks away from Simon, leaving Simon plenty to think about. He had really thought that Jesse cared about his misfit family. The shooting of Buck and Jesse’s uncaring feelings as to whether or not Buck lives or dies, has Simon realizing that Jesse is either terribly ill mentally or he indeed hates his family!
Doc Barnes had worked scrupulously through the morning on the wound that had nearly taken Rock Creek’s deputy from them. It had taken quite a while to accomplish, but he finally stopped the profuse bleeding, and had bandaged the wound.
Buck lays completely motionless as Doc Barnes brings a white sheet and a coverlet up to the young man’s chest to ward off the chills that are invading his body. He has just finished cleaning up the offensiveness of Buck’s wound that if left unattended to surely would have caused his family a great deal of emotional pain. The room that Buck is resting comfortably in resembles a bedroom taken from Rachel’s home, orderly and unsoiled. The only ingredient missing is the love that the riders all became accustomed to when they became Teaspoon and Rachel’s family.
The doc gently takes a damp cloth from a basin of warm water and dampens Buck’s feverish face with it. He hopes the young man isn’t developing an infection from his wounds. He wipes gently at the many bruises on Buck’s face that he must have received when he fell from his horse. Underneath Buck’s left eye a deep black and blue mark has surfaced. The right side of Buck’s face looks like an overly roasted marshmallow, black and swollen. The doc dampens the cloth again, and places it over the right side of Buck’s face. He holds the cloth down on Buck’s face hoping the warmness from the cloth will bring the grotesque swelling down.
“I won’t be able to keep Teaspoon out of here much longer. I’ve already made them wait long enough to hear how you’re doing,” Doc Barnes spoke hoping his voice will wake the Kiowa up from unconsciousness.
Jane lets out a heart-wrenching sob while Teaspoon guides her body near a chair. When Jane doesn’t make any attempt to sit down in the chair, Teaspoon turns her body around and gently tries to ease her inflexible body into the chair. Teaspoon has no success with Jane’s stubbornness! She is just as stubborn as any man Teaspoon has ever known. He’s thinking in one way that is a good sign. Jane will need all the powerful stubbornness she can muster up being in love with Buck, who is quite stubborn himself when he needs to be.
Jane feels the gentleness of Teaspoon’s hands on her forearms pleading with her to rest in the chair. Jane doesn’t want to sit, and she really hates the thought of pacing the stuffy room that Doc Barnes calls a waiting room. She feels as if her lungs could collapse from the medical odor that fills the air space in the doc’s clinic. Jane takes notice that no one else seems to be having the inability to breath problem that she is consumed with. Her mind begins to race backwards to a different time, a different place.
He had been the man who raised her since her mother passed away when she was just a little girl. The memories of her mother’s death are so muddled together that she can hardly remember how her death happened, when her death happened, or why her death had happened. All Jane does remember of that time is the solid rock of a man her papa had been during the untimely death of her mother for her to embrace and lean on. After her mother’s funeral and burial, father and daughter set out on a life together yet alone. Their life alone, with the foundation of their tiny family gone from their outstretched arms, began in a new town named Church Falls.
Papa had immediately established himself with a jewelry and engraving business. Papa’s work was impeccable, and Jane’s creative designs gave her papa an advantage in the business. Nowhere else could you find the magnificent and lustrous pieces of jewelry that Jane’s father offered for sale.
The townspeople of Church Falls just adored the father and daughter collaboration. She kept her papa from missing her mother too much with all the feminine idiosyncrasies that are appreciable with every woman. Of course, at times Jane was more than her papa could handle! She smiles warmly at all his attempts to hide the fact that she was growing up into a beautiful young woman. He tried, sometimes in vain, to keep Jane in trousers and over-sized shirts that looked more like masculine apparel. He kept her hair tied back, and a boys cap on her head that shadowed the soft features of her face. Her papa’s well thought out masterminding of her projected life at his side had been triumphant for many years of her childhood. That is until Jane’s body took on the changes of a girl becoming a young woman.
Jane remembers how boys held no appeal to her. There was only one man that held her interest. All the rest were just schoolmates and friends. She certainly wasn’t afraid to bully any boy around that thought he would be able to get the upper hand with her! Even though Jane had the delicate features like all the other girls, solely a man had brought her up! It wasn’t until she became aware of the changes in her body guiding her toward womanhood, that Jane wanted to be more than just the town tomboy!
She remembers how her papa protested and threw itsy-bitsy fits when her clothing abruptly changed from trousers to dresses! She had let her hair grow a few inches longer than the shoulder length cut her papa preferred. Jane’s first attempt at allowing her hair to hang loose had been for the Christmas Dance when she was fourteen. She had chosen a dark navy blue velvet dress trimmed with a lace collar. She didn’t really have a date per se, but she was hoping some of the older more mature boys who resided in Church Falls would ask her to dance.
A loving smile sweeps across her face as Jane reminisces about when she had made her way into her papa’s jewelry store, he took one glance her way, and was ready to escort Jane to the dance himself. Which is exactly what her papa did! At first Jane vowed she would get even with him if he were determined to humiliate her in front of all of Church Falls. After she calmed down, she simply made up her mind that she would lose him in the crowd of people attending the social. Losing papa in a crowd of people simply wasn’t meant to be. He had clung to her like flies cling to…well…uh…like flies cling to normal animal bodily functions.
When the evening was over, Jane had to admit having a wonderful time with the most important man in her life. But, from that evening on her papa had a more difficult time keeping the reins halted on his daughter!
A couple years later an outlaw took away the most important man in her life. Unbeknownst to Jane at the time of her papa’s tragic demise, she was given another wonderful man. Their lives had been brought together by circumstances beyond their control. Their time together wasn’t meant to be at that moment in their lives. They met. They had become friends fighting for the same cause, and then he took her home to Church Falls and then left for his own home the next day. Then years later, without any warning fate brings Jane back into his life. She can’t help but wonder if fate will be so cruel as to take this second wonderful man in her life away from her.
Her eyes meet with the closed texture of the door where Buck is being worked on. “I don’t want to sit down, and patiently wait for the doctor to bring us bad news. What I really want is for someone to tell me what is going on behind that door. God, I don’t even know if he’s alive!” Jane spoke her voice cracking with near hysteria.
Jane struggles her body free from Teaspoon’s grasp on her. She doesn’t make an attempt to storm through the door where she knows Buck is at. Instead, Jane willingly stands by Teaspoon’s side.
Jane’s emotional outburst has Jimmy frightened for her well-being. Buck would surely be beside himself with worry and feelings of unforgivable guilt if Jane should linger near the state of a nervous breakdown because she is worried about him.
Jimmy takes two strides toward Jane to make up the distance that separates them. He gazes into the emotional whirlpools of her glistening eyes. Her complexion has turned to the purest white that Jimmy has ever seen! Jimmy takes hold of Jane’s forearms to bring her close to him before he finds himself picking her up off the floor. He looks mournfully at her with concern when he feels the trembling of her body!
“Jane you need to sit down for awhile. You can’t do Buck any good if you make yourself sick over worriment for him,” Jimmy spoke softly to a disorientated Jane.
“Jimmy, I don’t understand what is taking the doctor so long,” Jane spoke regaining a bit of her strength back.
Jimmy looks back at Teaspoon. The two men share a painstaking gaze at one another. They both are aware of the shape they brought Buck back to the doc’s clinic in. Jane hadn’t witnessed all the blood that Buck had already lost from his journey back to Rock Creek. Jimmy knows from past experiences that a lot of blood loss from a bullet wound can be grave.
Everything that day happened entirely too fast to even comprehend the details some six years later. Jimmy remembers how one minute Ike was running from the bunkhouse and through town while the rest of them were close on his heels chasing him. The next minute Jimmy still can hear Buck hollering Ike’s name over and over and over again as the young Ike lie just outside the saloon on the ground with a bullet wound to the left chest area. The one thing Jimmy does remember clearly about that day is how quickly Ike’s white shirt became covered with his crimson blood!
What events happened next are still a blur to Jimmy. They were all told by the doc that Ike had lost a lot of blood. What really is a lot of blood? He still doesn’t know the answer to that question. But, whatever a lot is, Ike had apparently lost too much.
The doc had allowed them to go in and visit with Ike for a few moments. It was only right that Teaspoon allowed Buck to take the first visit. Perhaps Teaspoon somehow knew that Ike wasn’t going to make it that day. The old man certainly had a knack for knowing the obvious when everyone else tries desperately to avoid knowing it. Teaspoon knew that Ike and Buck needed time alone to say their good-byes.
After Buck came outside from his visit, he tore out of town on his horse. To this day, Jimmy really isn’t sure where Buck disappeared to for a few hours.
Emily had gone inside to see Ike. Jimmy remembers how she had been in visiting with Ike for quite sometime. Teaspoon went in to check on the young woman and Ike. It hadn’t taken Teaspoon too long before he was back outside insisting that they all go in to see Ike. Jimmy hadn’t expected to view what he saw before him. Ike had left this world for a much safer place, but in doing so, Ike had left his family behind.
Later that day, Jimmy guesses that a totally out of character grief-stricken Buck killed the man responsible for Ike’s death in cold blood.
How badly the outcome of a day can be from the simple words that a doctor must tell the victim’s family. He has lost a lot of blood. Whatever that dreadful phrase means, Jimmy prays silently to himself that Doc Barnes avoids telling Buck’s family those same words that ultimately lead to Ike’s death!
“Jimmy,” Jane spoke urging Jimmy to come back to her from wherever his mind had gone.
Jimmy looks at Jane trying to muster up the courage himself to break the awful news to her about the condition Buck was in when they first arrived at the doc’s clinic.
“You know Buck helped me through a very despondent time in my life,” Jane spoke softly.
“I don’t remember you being despondent. What I remember most about you is the determination in you that wouldn’t rest until justice had been served to Emery Pike for murdering your father.”
“I was determined to see that outlaw hang! But, underneath my tough exterior, I was drowning with sorrow over my father’s death. He was the only person I had left in my life. I probably would have drowned if it weren’t for Buck making me realize that death doesn’t end your life with that person. You always have that person with you even after death, through memories, and the guidance that they offer to you that you might not even realize is coming from them,” Jane spoke as she leans into Jimmy’s shoulder. “I can’t lose him, Jimmy.”
Jimmy hugs the woman tightly. He rests his chin on Jane’s head. The faraway look in his eyes is one of disturbance. With everything else that has been aggravating Buck lately, Jane has been a blessing in his life. Jimmy can even see that Buck has been much happier since Jane has come back into his life again. Except for maybe the fact that Buck is frustrated over the lack of privacy that he and Jane have not been able to prevail over.
Jane doesn’t seem to want to leave the comfort of Jimmy’s arms. He doesn’t attempt to push her away. If the worse possible scenario should happen today, Jimmy desperately wants to make sure Jane doesn’t drown.
Teaspoon looks dolefully at his Pony Express family that is embracing one another in hopes that they don’t lose another family member. In there own ways, each and every one of them is praying for good news concerning Buck’s health.
He thanks the lord each and every day for the family that he has been given. Teaspoon had been a drifter for so many years. He had been involved with so many different women, each one becoming a wife, but none of the marriages lasting very long for one reason or another. But, this family of lost orphans has been his blessing in disguise. This family had kept him from drifting again. They had been all boys, and one girl when they first signed up to ride for the Pony Express. Little did Teaspoon know then that he would end up loving each and every one of them as if they are his own flesh and blood. He gives thanks for all of them.
It has been a long time since Teaspoon has had to endure the death of a family member. He doesn’t want to have to grieve for Buck. He sighs heavily. He has accepted the fact that if Buck should die, he won’t have anyone to blame, but himself. The others, Kid, Louise, Jimmy and Jane, they will blame Jesse. Teaspoon isn’t so sure about the thoughts that will enter into the mind of his beloved wife. Rachel had spoken her peace concerning Teaspoon allowing Jesse back into their lives. ‘Nothing good can come of Jesse James being in our lives.’ Rachel had repeatedly uttered her words of wisdom. He hadn’t given much thought to the fact that Jesse had changed. That Jesse made a living from robbing banks and killing innocent bystanders that got in his way. He hadn’t thought that Jesse would turn on the only family he’d ever had. Rachel was absolutely right. Nothing good has yet to come from his allowing Jesse to intrude on their lives.
Jesse certainly has caused Teaspoon more then his life can handle of trouble. Now, Teaspoon may be faced with the death of a man that has been by his side for eight years. He doesn’t even want to fathom life on the ranch without Buck. Why hadn’t he listened to the words that Rachel had spoken to him? For that matter, why hadn’t he heard the words that Buck spoke when he had first discovered Jesse’s wanted poster hanging in his marshal’s office? Buck had been right all along about Jesse. Jesse had been using Teaspoon. But why? Jesse could have gone in any direction after holding up that last bank in Plum Creek. Why had the outlaw chosen Rock Creek? Had it been a plan of Jesse’s all along to destroy his family from the past? If that is the case, then Jesse had planned to kill Buck. He had planned to kill Buck! How could a young boy with so much promise turn out to be the kind of man that wants to kill his own family?
Teaspoon’s mind wonders backwards to a time before the war that was fought between the north and the south.
The funeral had been meant for the gathering of friends and family for a dearly departed man who left them all wondering why his death had happened.
The army had participated in the funeral against Teaspoon’s wishes. His family of misfit orphans had once again been drawn into a battle that has left Teaspoon with many unhealed wounds of the emotional kind.
Cody had become involved with the army, partly Teaspoon believes because The Pony Express was coming to an end. Soon the telegram would carry the mail. Cody needed some sense of security, as did all his boys. The army had been advertising the great feeling of pride one gets for serving their nation in the army. Teaspoon had blasted the uniformed man for wrongful information concerning the outcome of one’s life once he has killed just for the sake of killing.
Cody didn’t listen to his or Rachel’s pleas to not sign on with the army. He had tried to make the young man see that it doesn’t make sense to fight against your own people. Cody only saw what he wanted to see, the glory of being a hero for his nation. It was his obligation to sign up and fight in the war. As if Cody’s joining the army weren’t pivotal enough, he had gone and enlisted Noah in the whole damn mess!
Only, Noah had been turned away from joining the army because he was a black man. That turn of events should have been a blessing.
Frank James secured Jesse’s involvement in the plight when he came riding back to Rock Creek to re-establish a family connection with his younger brother.
Damned if one thing didn’t lead to another, until Teaspoon found himself at the tiny cemetery burying Noah.
To this day Teaspoon wonders if his last words had made an impact on anyone standing at the gravesite of Noah Dixon that day.
Teaspoon had tried to make the small gathering of people understand that they are allowing themselves to be torn apart by war. That young lives are being cut short long before their time due to all the killing that’s going on in their nation. He had told them that if we don’t start doing some healing instead of killing, we’re gonna lose our homes, our friends, and our families. Teaspoon spoke these words as Jesse had looked on away from the gathering of people a top his horse.
Why had Jesse come back that day? Teaspoon had thought that the young Jesse had to make sure that Teaspoon didn’t blame him for Noah’s death. The memories are imbedded on his brain as if they had just happened yesterday. Jesse had nodded at Jimmy as if to say good-bye. Jimmy repeated the action to Jesse as Teaspoon looked on. Jesse then rode off never once glancing back at the family he was leaving behind.
Now all of Teaspoon’s words keep haunting his mind. They repeatedly pound on his brain as if he is the one that never really paid attention to them.
“If we don’t start thinking about healin instead of killin… thinking about healin instead of killin…We’re gonna lose everything…lose everything…our homes, our friends, our families…We’re gonna lose our families…lose our families!”
Teaspoon is startled out of his reminiscing of the past with the quiet shutting of a door and footsteps approaching all of them with the news on Buck that they have been waiting for.
As if on command to do so, everyone but Jack Morgan advances toward Doc Barnes in unison.
Jack Morgan, who is still established uncomfortably on his chair, watches and listens to Buck’s family and the doctor converse about the Kiowa’s medical condition.
“How is Buck?” Teaspoon asked his voice catching in his throat.
Doc Barnes glances over the family that has gathered into his inadequately small waiting room. He has often brought this same group good news as well as bad news concerning a loved ones condition. They are truly a family that cares deeply for each other. He looks into their eyes that hold so much hope yet equal the amount of fear that he will bring them utterly unbearable news. The worst part of being a doctor is having to look into those eyes.
“He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Jimmy breathes a heavy sigh of disappointment. “Those aren’t the words we were hoping to hear,” Jimmy spoke as he remains cautiously stationed next to Jane’s side with a strong hold around her waist.
Doc Barnes gazes down at the floor. For him it is a gesture of apology that Buck’s blood loss was the first words from his mouth. He looks back up at Buck’s family knowing he will see nothing but concerned expressions from all of them.
“I’m truly sorry. I know you’ve heard those same words before with very devastating end results. But, the truth is I can’t tell you what you all want to hear because what you want to hear wouldn’t be the truth concerning Buck’s condition,” Doc Barnes stated sorrowfully.
“We all appreciate the honesty, Doc Barnes. Since it is obvious that there is no good news to report to us, then speaking for all of us, I feel that we need to know exactly what Buck is up against,” Kid spoke somberly.
“I didn’t exactly say there is no good news,” Doc Barnes spoke as he notices that their faces regain a vision of hope. “It appears that the bullet has went clean through him. No vital organs appear to be damaged from the moderate examination that I am able to perform here.”
“Are you telling us that Buck’s condition isn’t as grave as it appears to be?” Teaspoon asked his voice cracking with emotion. He can only hope that Buck will eventually be fine. He knows by the blood loss that the Kiowa would be in need of weeks of bed rest to gain his strength back.
“I am telling you that Buck is not out of danger. He could still lose his life over this senseless shooting. However, if over the next few days Buck has no noticeable problems concerning the amount of blood he has lost, I am saying that he will survive. Basically the next few days will be crucial to Buck’s pulling through this or not pulling through this,” Doc Barnes spoke with appreciated faces looking back at him.
“Can we see him?” Jimmy asked his voice filled with renewed hope.
“You may go in for a few moments, but only a couple of you at a time. Remember, if Buck is to survive, he will need plenty of undisturbed rest. He will need all of you to see that he gets just that.”
Doc Barnes ambles away from the joyous family. He makes his way over to Jack, who has waited rather patiently to have his shoulder and arm patched up.
“You’ve made them a happy family today,” Jack spoke quietly.
“He has a lot of healing to do. I hope their happiness can pull him through.”
Teaspoon latches onto Jane’s arm. “Buck will need to hear your voice telling him that he needs to get well.”
“Thank-you Teaspoon,” Jane spoke softly.
Jane takes a step toward the room that a resting Buck is occupying. She pauses and turns back at the marshal whose emotions have been through a heap of turmoil today. She grabs Teaspoon’s hand in hers. “You need to see Buck just as much as I do. I want you to come in with me to visit with him.”
Teaspoon can only smile appreciatively at Jane. With his hand resting comfortably in Jane’s hand, the two of them slowly ample to Buck’s room at the doc’s clinic. Both hesitate as they approach the door before opening it. Teaspoon glances at her, and finally takes his free hand to open the door. He allows Jane to have entrance to the room first. Teaspoon follows Jane inside, shutting the door behind him.
From the closed door, Teaspoon can see that the color has completely drained from Buck’s face. His coloring is extremely pale, but difficult to determine due to the exceptional amount of bruising. Teaspoon speculates that Buck’s coloring and the amount of bruising on his face is why he heard a soft intake of breath from Jane. He is watchful of Jane as she meekly ambles to Buck’s bedside. Her body seems to be moving in slow motion to Teaspoon. It takes Jane an overwhelming amount of time before she is at Buck’s bedside lightly soothing his feverish face with a damp cloth.
Teaspoon stands on the opposite side of Buck’s bed facing Jane. When she looks up at Teaspoon her face is as pale as Buck’s. Her eyes are misted over with tears, and if Teaspoon hadn’t grabbed her hand to steady her, she surely would have slumped to the floor.
Teaspoon takes the dampened cloth from Jane’s other hand, and begins to cool down Buck’s warm face.
Jane takes a mildly deep breath and gently soothes away the sweat soaked strands of Buck’s deep chocolate locks that are sticking stubbornly to his face.
Jane’s hand begins to tremble, and silent tears finally stream down her face accompanied with quiet sobs.
Teaspoon reaches out with his hand and touches her chin and tenderly turns Jane’s face to fix her gaze at the strength in his eyes.
“He looks so bad,” Jane spoke quietly.
“His body has been through a lot the past two days. Please Jane, try to keep a positive outlook on his recovery. I’m sure Buck can feel how frightened you are when you touch him. He’ll need you to be strong so he has a reason to fight for his life.”
“Do you believe he can overcome these injuries?”
“Buck is young and strong. I believe he’ll be all right as long as we’re here to help pull him through this,” Teaspoon spoke supportively.
Jane takes the cloth back from Teaspoon and places it in the basin of warm water by Buck’s bedside. She wrings it out with both her hands and goes back to work trying to reduce the heat coming from Buck’s body.
In the waiting room Jimmy has taken up pacing with his hands securely attached to his hips. So much has happened to his family since he came back to Rock Creek. Buck is the last person that deserves to be lying on a bed with a bullet hole in his chest fighting for every breath that he takes.
Kid has finally decided to take a break from his pacing. He is sitting next to Louise on a small sofa. Once he is seated next to Lou, she gives Kid a warm smile and clasps her hand over his. Kid gently squeezes Lou’s hand willing his self to be strong.
The doc’s front door opens. Jimmy stops his pacing to glance up at the person who has entered the clinic. His eyes rest on the blonde haired man that has been annoying Jimmy more than anything else in his life at the moment. Jimmy makes a quiet dash for the man.
Cody backs up to the closed door when he sees the hostility aimed at him in Jimmy’s evil eyes.
“Get out!” Jimmy spoke with quiet animosity.
Kid jumps up from the sofa with Louise trailing him, when he witnesses what may turn out to be a fight between Jimmy and Cody.
“Buck doesn’t need this right now!” Kid spoke unexcitedly.
Jimmy turns around to face Kid. “You’re right Kid. Buck doesn’t need Cody here wishing him well when he’s really probably wishing Buck dead!” Jimmy spoke his voice filled with resentment as he gazes back at Cody.
“What I meant Jimmy is that Buck doesn’t need the two of you out here engaged in a brawl.”
“Gee thanks Kid, for trying to keep Jimmy from killing me,” Cody spoke with a forced smile.
“Personally Cody I really don’t care if the two of you beat the hell out of each other. I just don’t want you doing it in here where Buck is trying to rest,” Kid spoke adamantly.
“If the two of you insist on killing each other, take it outside so you don’t disturb Buck,” Louise spoke with anger for the two men who she normally has a great deal of compassion for.
Cody gets a cocky grin on his face. “Well since we’re all being so honest, I actually didn’t come over here to check on Buck. I came here to make sure that Jane is all right.”
Jimmy takes one long step forward to put no distance between him and Cody. He reaches out with his hand and takes a firm hold of Cody’s over-cleaned army uniform and smashes his back against the closed front door of the clinic!
Teaspoon and Jane glance up from soothing Buck in unison to look at the closed door of Buck’s room. They both hear the outlandish noise coming from the waiting room. Teaspoon immediately recognizes the raised voice as Jimmy and Cody’s.
Teaspoon makes his way to the door with Jane following right behind him.
“You leave Jane alone. Buck and Jane are together, and I am getting damn sick and tired of you always coming between them!” Jimmy spoke in a quiet shout.
Teaspoon and Jane have entered the waiting room, and are standing behind Kid and Louise.
“The same way you are always coming between Kid and Louise?” Cody spoke with clinched teeth.
Jimmy slams Cody’s back into the door again.
“That will be enough coming from the two of you,” Teaspoon spoke with quiet disapproval of the two men causing commotion in the waiting room. Teaspoon places his body next to Jimmy and Cody. “Let go of him, son,” Teaspoon spoke with a demanding tone to Jimmy.
Jimmy looks over at the face of the tiring marshal. He is hesitant at first to release Cody, but Teaspoon’s look of quiet objection concerning their bad behavior renders Jimmy helpless. His fingers slowly release the hold he has on Cody’s uniform.
After Jimmy releases his hold on Cody, Jimmy attempts to smooth out the polished uniform. “Sorry that I ruffled your feathers, sir.”
Cody feels the heat of embarrassment creep slowly over his face. He raises his left hand and pushes Jimmy’s hands away from his uniform.
“The two of you best stop thinking about yourself right now, and start thinking about how very sick Buck is,” Teaspoon spoke in a harsh tone.
“Why?” Cody asked baffled as if truly not knowing the answer to his question.
“Why?” Jimmy spoke softly. He shakes his head at Cody and walks away from him.
Teaspoon takes his stance in the place that Jimmy abandoned. “Why? You really have to ask why?”
Doc Barnes and Jack have walked back out into the waiting room. They stand back from the crowd of people gathered near the front door. Doc Barnes folds his arms over his chest and watches the family gathering in a harsh manner.
“Buck is no concern of mine. I’m only here to escort Jane back to the ranch,” Cody spoke unsympathetically.
Cody brushes past Teaspoon to get to Jane. When he sees her he tries to reach for her, but Jane backs away and Jimmy side steps slightly in front of Jane to block Cody’s approach to her.
Cody won’t give up his quest to make Jane his now that she is in an emotional state of anguish. He figures now is his chance to pounce on her and make Jane his once and for all! “Jane, I’ll take you back to Buck’s home if you’d like.”
“She wouldn’t like, Cody,” Jimmy stated flatly. His temper starting to flare up again from Cody’s presence as well as his foolishness!
Jane finally raises her head to look Cody coldly in the eyes. “How dare you ask to escort me home after the awful way you seemingly don’t care about Buck’s life.”
Cody realizes that sounding so callous about whether Buck lives or dies, was the wrong way to be with Jane so close by listening to his declaration. “I didn’t mean to sound so insensitive about the condition Buck is in. Please Jane, just let me take you home so you can get some rest. I’m sure Buck’s injuries are taking a toll on your emotions.”
“Cody, your presence in this clinic is putting a toll on all our emotions. Why don’t you just go back to your murder investigations? We can all take care of Jane,” Jimmy spoke adamantly.
Doc Barnes has heard enough bickering from this loving family. He steps forward to make his presence known to all of them. “I really think that all of you should go back to the ranch. There is nothing more you can do here tonight for Buck. What Buck really needs right now is undisturbed rest, and you are not giving that to him.”
Jane steps in front of the doctor. “I can’t leave him. Can I please stay with Buck through the night? I want to be here if he should need me,” Jane spoke with a strong plead to the doctor.
“I’ll fix you a bed next to his,” Doc Barnes spoke softly to Jane. He looks around the waiting room at the rest of Buck’s family. “I insist that the rest of you go home for the night.”
Doc Barnes leaves the room to go back into Buck’s room to check on him, and to make up a bed for Jane.
“Jane, are you sure you want to stay here?” Cody asked defeated.
Jimmy steps in front of Jane once again to face Cody. “If she weren’t sure Cody, then she wouldn’t have asked the doc if she could stay with Buck.”
“Jane, I really think you need to go home and get a good nights sleep. You won’t sleep here. You’ll be worried about Buck, and then you’ll be up and down all night watching over him,” Cody pleaded.
Before Jane can answer Cody, Teaspoon interferes and comes between Jimmy and Cody. “Can’t you hear, son?”
“I can hear just fine, Teaspoon,” Cody spoke disheartened.
“Then listen to what Jane is saying. She wants to stay with Buck. It is her decision to stay here. Let it be,” Teaspoon spoke strongly.
“Teaspoon, you’re just upset because it was you that allowed Jesse back into our lives after everyone warned you that Jesse would bring us nothing but trouble. Now look what the outlaw has done. Buck could very easily lose his life, and it would be all your fault!” Cody spoke adamantly.
Kid grabs hold of Cody from behind and whirls him around to face him.
“Get out before I have to escort you out of here myself!” Kid’s anger over Buck’s shooting is finally catching up with his emotions. His look of absolute bitterness toward Cody makes the army man shiver.
Cody quietly leaves the waiting room with the rest of his family attentive to his dismissing of their feelings so easily. If he didn’t know himself better, he would have to believe he is starting to treat his family the same way that Jesse has chosen to treat them.