Chapter 12
Twenty minutes later, Lou found herself being led by the hand through the main section of town. She was surprised when they walked right past Teaspoon's open door and didn't so much as call a greeting to him on their way past. "Where we goin', Kid?" she asked again, knowing she'd get the same response as the last half a dozen times she had asked. He would just look at her with that silly grin of his on his adorable face and not say a word, not a one!
Kid slowed down their steps and finally stopped in front of one of the businesses that she'd had no reason to go near in the past. "Alright, we're here," he told her.
Lou looked at the letters printed on the window. "This is the real estate office," she observed. "What are we doing here? No one comes here unless they're in the market for some land or a house. A house," she repeated. She turned her eyes toward her husband. "Kid?"
He looked at her sheepishly. "I, uh, I kinda bought you somethin', Lou."
"What'd you buy me?" she asked in a whisper, almost afraid to hope.
"I would have told you sooner but it wasn't all settled before I left on my ride. I'm sorry you had to get all worked up when it could have been avoided by me not keeping it a secret," he told her sincerely.
"By not keeping what a secret?" she asked anxiously. "Kid, you're talking in riddles and you still haven't told me what you bought."
"I bought us a house, Lou," he told her simply. "Well, it'll be ours just as soon as I sign the papers."
She looked from him to the door of the office then back to him. "I don't understand. How? When? How did you do this?" she asked in disbelief. From the moment they got married, if he wasn't with her, he was either on a ride, working with Buck around the station, or in town helping Teaspoon with something.
"Come 'ere," Kid said, glancing around and finding what he wanted.
He steered her toward a bench under the window and sat her down then he took
a seat next to her. Still holding her hand, he started to explain, "From
the moment you said yes to me in
She was watching him intently, amazed at how much thought he'd given their future. She felt bad for having any doubts he would take care of things, take care of her and their future children. She pulled at the tight waistline of the dress she had on; she'd tried to tell him she still had a surprise for him but he was so set on getting her to where they were now that it had fallen on deaf ears.
Kid got up and started to pace nervously in front of her, then as quickly as he started moving, he stopped. "Lou, I want a horse ranch," he told her, as he stood looking down at her. "The only thing I know is horses so that's why I think it'll work. People are always gonna need and want well trained horses and they're willin' to pay for them." He started pacing again. "Now, I know it'll be slow going at first, what with getting the house and barn situated with supplies and furniture but all I need is a couple horses to break and train. I'll sell 'em then buy some more and keep on that way for as long as I can."
Lou couldn't get over how emotional he was about this. He had mentioned it once, when he was trying to break in a new horse and she had been watching, how he wished he could do that for a living. It looked like his wish was going to come true.
"Kid, I've never seen you so excited about something before. You don't have to go on tryin' to convince me it's a good idea, I can feel it is. Did you really buy us a house?" She stood and went to him.
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms and nodded. "For a while there, I didn't think I was gonna find one. When I first started looking, there wasn't much available - I was afraid, at the rate I was going, we'd be having a family at the way station." He failed to notice the smile that crept across Lou's face at the mention of having a family. "Then when I did see something, it was either here in town or too small and had no land."
"Why didn't you tell me you were looking? I would have gone with you."
"This is something I wanted to do for you on my own. I promised to take care of you and provide for you - how could I do that if I couldn't even get you a place of your own? I didn't want to get your hopes up," he told her.
"Kid, you've given me so much already just by being there for me and loving me. Don't you know I wouldn't have been disappointed? I'm sorry I made it sound like I was so upset about not having a place of our own." She paused then added. "I don't care where we are when we bring a child into this world, I just want us to be together."
Kid lovingly touched the side of her face. "Well, I care. And now we don't have to worry and I have Teaspoon to thank for that," he said, chuckling.
"Teaspoon?"
"Yep, you see, all those times I told you I was helping him out at the
office, I was really looking at houses and land. He
promised to cover for me. I was complaining to him one day how there wasn't
anything available and that if we bought land to build on, it would take all
our savings to buy the lumber and supplies. We'd have nothing left to live
on. He then told me about this place the other side of town; it seems an older
couple lived there but the husband had just died. The last Teaspoon had heard,
the son was on his way from
"It seems Teaspoon knew the man, they used to play checkers together or something, so he took me with him when he went to pay his respects to the widow." Kid grabbed her arms again, this time in excitement. "Lou, I'm tellin' ya, the moment I rode into the yard and looked at the house, I knew it was meant for us. Wait til you see the house, kinda reminds me of Emma's back in Sweetwater, only bigger. The barn needs work and there's no corral but it's good land, rich soil. Horses, cattle, crops, anything would thrive there, I know it!"
Lou laughed at his exuberance. "I can't wait to see it. But how did you get it?"
"Well, when we were there, the son mentioned wanting to sell it and did we know anyone who might be interested. Teaspoon looked at me and I looked at the son and that was the start of me buying a house," he explained, smiling.
Lou threw herself into his arms and said, "We'll have to do something extra special for Teaspoon as a thank you for bringing you out there with him."
"He told me what he wants," Kid said mysteriously.
"And that would be?" she asked after trying to read his expression and giving up.
"A grandchild to spoil," Kid said, watching to see her reaction.
Lou sucked in her breath then quickly tried to cover up. She'd decided to tell Kid her news right away but not here in the middle of town, she'd wait until they were back at the way station. "I think that could be arranged," she said then took her husband's hand and pulled him to the door. He was looking at her strangely so she wanted to change the subject. "How about you sign those papers then take me for a ride out to OUR house." She smiled, liking the sound of that.