Coming Home
Ann
Stolfa
He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a
place he'd never been before. –
“Rocky
Mountain High” - John Denver
Joshua muttered a curse as
the sleek red convertible hit yet another rut in the dirt road. The hot dusty wind tangled his dark hair as
he drove into what seemed like the middle of nowhere to him.
“What am I doing here?” He
asked himself for the thousandth time,
even knowing the answer, it still didn’t seem real to him. The father he barely knew had died and left
him a ranch in
A sign reading “Last Chance
for Gas” made him realize that his tank was almost empty so he reluctantly
pulled into the run-down gas station. A
beat up old pickup sat on one side of the pumps, but other than that the place
looked deserted. Joshua started honking
his horn, trying to get someone’s attention.
“Why in the hell are you
honking like that?” A man appeared from
around the corner of the station.
“If you knew a little
something about customer service, I wouldn’t have to honk. Now fill it up, and be careful not to scratch
the paint. This car cost more than your
whole gas station.” Joshua gave him a
haughty stare, and was surprised to find the man didn’t back down like most
people did. Icy blue eyes met his dark
ones for a long moment.
“Mister, I don’t know who
you think you are, but I’m not…”
Joshua interrupted him with
a wave of his hand. “I’m not really
interested. Just fill it up.” The other man flexed his hand like he wanted
to punch Joshua, but evidentially thought better of it. A sly expression crossed his face.
“Sure mister, I’d be glad to
fill up your tank.”
“Just make sure you put the
premium gas in, this is a high-performance car.
Not that you’ve probably ever seen one before.” Joshua mumbled that last
bit under his breath. He watched the
blonde man in the rear-view mirror. For
some reason, the man looked familiar, but he couldn’t place why. “Maybe all these small town hicks just look
alike to me.” He thought nastily. He was
distracted from his thoughts as an older man stepped out of the door of the gas
station and yelled at the man pumping the gas.
“Jed, what the heck are you
doing?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this
one.” Jed gave the older man a wink.
“But Jed, you’re using…”
“I said I’ve got this
one.” He motioned the man to go back
inside.
The older man sighed and
shook his head. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”
Jed finished filling the car
and walked back to the driver’s side door where Joshua was checking his hair in
the side mirror.
“All done mister. That’ll be 15 dollars.” Jed gave him an
“I-know-something-you-don’t-know” smirk.
Joshua handed him a
20-dollar bill, holding it by the corner like he was afraid Jed would touch
him. “You can keep the change if you can
give me directions to the Heyes ranch.”
Jed’s expression turned
serious. “The Heyes ranch? What business do you have there?”
Joshua looked at him like he
couldn’t believe he was being challenged by this man. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I
own it. Can you give me directions or
not?”
“What do you mean you own
it? That ranch belongs to…wait a minute,
are you Joshua?”
“How do you know my name?”
“Well, I’m…let’s just say
everyone knows everyone else’s business around here. Let me draw you some directions to the ranch;
it can be a little hard to find if you’re not from around here.” Jed emphasized
the last few words, making it clear that Joshua was an outsider. Jed sketched him out a rough map on some
scrap paper and Joshua grunted his
thanks, leaving Jed in a cloud of dust as he sped off.
The old man walked out of
the station and stood beside Jed watching the car disappear down the road.
“Any particular reason you
filled it with regular instead of unleaded?”
Jed gave him a grin and
handed him the 20-dollar bill. “Oh just a little lesson in manners.”
It wasn’t long before
Joshua’s car started sputtering and backfiring, the engine making horrible
knocking sounds. He cursed Jed under his
breath, babying the car along until he reached the turn-off to the ranch, which
was marked with a crooked old sign reading “Devil’s Hole Ranch.”
The first sight of his
inheritance was disappointing. Joshua
had a picture in his mind of ranches he had seen on television, neat and tidy with
a quaint farmhouse and red barns. The
reality was somewhat underwhelming. The
porch roof leaned at a crazy angle off the two-story house that had once been
white but was now sorely in need of paint, and the barn wasn’t much
better. As he pulled into the yard, a
few scrawny chickens scattered, and the cow in the ramshackle corral mooed
hopefully at seeing a human.
Joshua could only
stare. Never in his wildest dreams had
he thought his father would have lived in a place like this. He compared it mentally to his modern
apartment in
He walked reluctantly to the
front door and let himself in with the key his father’s lawyer had sent
him. Joshua was pleasantly surprised to
see that the house was tidy, even with the worn furniture and outdated
furnishings. Taking a quick look around,
he was drawn to the fireplace mantle.
Framed photographs crowded the small space. He picked up the one closest to him and
smiled at a wedding photograph of his parents.
“Mother looks so young, like
a child.” He thought to himself. He stared hard at his father, trying to bring
any memories to the surface. His father’s
dark eyes seemed to stare back defiantly at him, and it somehow made him angry,
so he set the picture back down and picked up the next one. It took him a minute to realize the chubby,
smiling baby was himself. He looked at
the rest of the pictures, realizing they were all of him. His kindergarten school picture, one of him
in his little league uniform, high school and college graduation pictures, and
a recent one of him and his fiancé, Heather.
The last one startled him; it had only been taken a few weeks ago, right
before his father had died.
“Mother must have been
sending him pictures all this time.” It
was amazing to Joshua that his mother had been keeping in touch with his father
all these years and never mentioned it.
He set the picture down that
he was holding and wandered through the rest of the house. The upstairs bedrooms were clean and comfortable
looking so he decided he would stay even though he had originally planned on
taking a quick look and then going back to town and finding a hotel for the
night. The town hadn’t looked very
promising for finding an acceptable hotel anyway, at least that’s how he
justified it to himself.
He was unpacking his
suitcase when he heard a knock on the door.
He went downstairs and opened the door warily. He recognized the tall blond man standing
there from the gas station.
“You! What do you want? And what did you do to my
car?”
Jed stuck out his hand. “The name’s Jed Curry. I think we got off to a bad start
earlier. I’m your closest neighbor, and
I was friends with your father.”
Joshua hesitated a fraction
of a second before taking his hand reluctantly.
“I guess you want to come in.” He
stepped back allowing Jed to enter, although his body language said he’d rather
he didn’t.
Jed kept up a steady stream
of conversation, seeming not to notice Joshua wasn’t saying anything.
“So what do you think of the
place? Isn’t it great? Beautiful country, my family has lived here
for several generations, yours too actually.
This land was settled by a pair of cousins, they were famous outlaws,
did you know that? Any way, I’m named
after him, Jed Curry that is, I’m the fourth one, kind of a family tradition.”
Joshua just shook his head
trying to absorb all this information that was coming at him at a fast pace.
“So, uh, you were friends
with my father?”
“Sure, used to come over
here all the time when I was a kid. He
would show me your pictures when he’d get a new one. He was so proud of everything you did. I helped him out here on the ranch the last
few months when he got sick. Thought I’d
come over and show you around, get you settled.”
“I don’t plan on being here
long enough to get ‘settled.’”
Jed’s face fell. “You mean you’re not moving here. I thought…”
“I don’t know what you
thought, but I have no intention of moving to the middle of nowhere. I’m only staying long enough to sort through
his personal possessions and then I’m selling the place.” Joshua turned to dismiss Jed.
“Wait a minute, you’re
selling this place?? It’s been in your
family for four generations, you can’t sell it!” Jed was horrified at the thought.
“Not only can I, I’m going
to and as fast as I can.” They squared
off, staring each other down.
“I never thought kin of mine
could be so coldhearted.” Jed swiped his
hat off in frustration.
Joshua swiped his hand
through his hair in his own gesture of frustration. “What do you mean ‘kin’?”
“I told you, they were
cousins - the two that settled this land, your great-great grandpa and
mine. That makes us cousins too,
although it’s pretty distant.”
Joshua looked dubious at
this news. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth? Maybe you just want a piece of this land, or
money?”
“You calling me a liar
mister? Kin or no kin, I’ll flatten ‘ya for that.” Jed’s
stare turned icy blue.
Joshua reassessed his
position seeing the fury in Jed’s eyes.
“Now hold on just a minute. I
think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m
a little overwhelmed here, this is not what I was expecting.”
Jed relaxed a little. “Well, I guess I can see your point. This all must look a little strange to a city
boy. Tell you what, I’ll show you around
anyway; maybe you’ll change your mind about staying.”
“I seriously doubt that, but
I would appreciate a tour.” As they
stepped outside, Joshua had to admit the scenery was beautiful, very different
from what he saw out his window in the city every day. The massive mountains were capped with snow,
even though it was the middle of summer.
They surrounded the flat land the ranch sat on, making him feel
sheltered and intimidated all at the same time.
Jed took Joshua around the
farm, pointing out the chickens, cow, and one old mule that needed to be fed;
he even took pity on the city boy and showed him how to do those chores, only
laughing a little when Joshua stepped in manure, ruining his expensive
loafers. Jed was still shaking his head
in amusement as he drove out in his old beat up pickup truck leaving Joshua to
his own devices.
Joshua went in the house
after Jed left, mumbling about animals and farms and doing his best to clean
his loafers. “I guess I’m going to have to
find a pair of boots if I stay here for very long.” He grumbled to
himself. He wasn’t really hungry after
seeing the meager store of food in the kitchen, so he decided to look around
the house a bit. He gave each room a
short look, making mental notes about the furniture and other things. As he opened one door on the second floor, he
found himself facing some stairs going up.
“Must be the attic. Probably
dirty and full of old junk.” Joshua’s
curiosity got the better of him though and he headed up the creaky stairs into
the stuffy attic. There was the usual
junk - broken furniture, boxes, old clothes - but one large trunk at the other
end of the attic caught his attention.
As he got closer, he could tell it was old, the stained wood having
faded, the hinges rusty and the leather accents dry and cracked.
“H.H.” He read the initials
carved into the lid. “ I wonder who he
was?” The lid creaked loudly as he
opened it. Inside was a collection of
yellowed papers and books. Joshua
carefully unfolded the piece of paper on top.
“Wanted:
Joshua opened it and read
the inscription on the front page.
“To Han, Merry Christmas,
1879. From Jed.” Joshua settled in with his back against the
trunk and started reading the first page.
“
Heyes looked up from where
he was reading a book in front of the fire.
“What’s this Kid?” Kid was
handing him a slim package wrapped in brown paper. “You know we decided not to get each other
anything. I thought we were going to
ignore Christmas this year.” Heyes gave
him an annoyed look, but he took the package anyway.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but I
saw this a month or so ago, and I just had to get it for you.” Kid looked like a little boy at, well,
Christmas.
Heyes sighed. “If you must know, I got you something
too.” They grinned at each other
understanding completely. “It’s not
much.” He handed Kid a box trimmed with
a bow that he had been hiding under his chair.
They unwrapped their
presents at the same time, Kid letting out a whoop at the big box of chocolates
Heyes had given him. Heyes stared at the
book in his hand.
“Uh, thanks Kid. A journal huh?” He opened it and stared at the blank pages.
Kid sat down next to
him. “Yeah, I thought it would be good
for those times when you got something on your mind and you don’t want to talk
about it. My dad kept a journal and he
said it always helped him figure things out by writing them down where no one
else would read it.” Kid looked so
hopeful that Heyes would understand, that he couldn’t bear to tell him he
didn’t like it. It’s not that he didn’t
appreciate why Kid gave it to him, it was just the though of seeing certain
things down in black and white, things he would rather keep hidden, that made
him hesitate.
“Yeah, I see what you
mean. Thanks Kid.” Heyes put the book on his desk. “I’ll… I’ll start tomorrow. Why don’t we go see if the boys have anything
cooked up special for Christmas dinner.”
Heyes directed Kid out the door, effectively changing the subject.
Joshua closed the book, surprised
at how much time had passed while he had been engrossed in the journal. He stretched his cramped legs, stood up and
took the book downstairs to the bedroom he had claimed as his, not realizing he
had picked the one that he had slept in as a baby. He climbed into bed, turned off the light and
dreamed of outlaws and the Wild West.
Morning dawned bright and
sunny, the scrawny rooster waking Joshua up earlier than he had planned. Luckily he found coffee in one of the kitchen
cabinets so he was starting to feel a little more human by the time his first
visitor arrived.
Joshua was sitting in a
chair on the rickety porch, legs up on the railing and looking at the scenery
when he saw the dust being kicked up by a car coming up the driveway.
“What now?” He groaned.
These people had no sense of others’ privacy, he decided.
The white Cadillac pulled to
a stop right in front of the porch. A
man in a cheap suit and cheaper looking toupee stepped out of the car and
walked up to Joshua.
“Mr. Heyes, I’m Edward
Briscoe, I’m in the real estate business and I wondered if I might have a few
minutes of your time?” He held out his
business card and Joshua took it, holding it like one might hold something
dirty.
“What business do you have
with me, Mr. ah, Briscoe, was it?”
Joshua didn’t trust the man on sight.
“Well, I’d heard about the
unfortunate death of your father, tragedy that, and I though with you as his
sole heir, not being from around here, you might be wanting to unload this old
place. Not worth much, I’d be doing you
a favor to get even a small amount for it.”
The thought crossed Joshua’s
mind that Edward Briscoe had eyes like a weasel he’d once seen in a zoo. He’d been in the business world too long not
to recognize a con job when he saw one.
“A favor huh? What’s in it for you Mr. Briscoe?” Joshua crossed his arms and gave Edward a
hard look.
“Please, call me
Edward. I’m just trying to be
neighborly, my commission wouldn’t amount to very much on a place like
this. Why, I might even be interested in
buying it personally, just to take it off your hands, mind you.” Edward tried hard to disguise the sly look in
his eyes, but Joshua didn’t miss much.
“Uh huh, well, I haven’t
decided what I’m going to do with the place yet.” Joshua lied.
“I suppose I’ll have it appraised and see what it’s worth.”
Edward was quick to jump
in. “Actually, I took the liberty of
having it appraised already. I’d be glad
to drop the papers off to you later.”
“That’s fine, like I said, I
haven’t decided what I want to do yet.
I’ll let you know if I decide to sell.”
Joshua figured he better see why Edward Briscoe was so anxious to get
his hands on this land before he made any decisions, and he wanted his own
appraiser to take a look at the place; he’d learned long ago never to trust the
other person in a business deal.
Edward didn’t quite disguise
the disappointment in his eyes. “Well,
all right, I suppose we can discuss it at a later time, I’ll call you
soon.” He reluctantly got back in his car
when he saw that Joshua wasn’t going to continue the discussion.
As soon as Edward drove off,
Joshua got his cell phone and called his assistant back in
“So you’re going through
with it huh?” Jed looked more
disappointed than angry. “I guess it’s
your business, but I wish you’d reconsider.”
Joshua didn’t understand why
this stranger’s opinion was important to him, but it made him defensive. “You’re right, it is my business.” He turned, dismissing Jed, who walked into
the house anyway.
“I thought I’d come help you
with the chores this morning.” Jed sat
down at the kitchen table.
“You might as well have some
coffee, since you invited yourself in.”
Joshua gave him a half-smile to show he was teasing. He handed Jed a mug of the steaming brew.
“Man, that’s terrible!” Jed made a face.
Joshua looked sheepish. “I don’t make coffee myself too often. Usually I just buy a cup on my way to work.”
“Good thing, you might
poison yourself, or someone else.” They
both laughed, Joshua surprised to find himself at ease for the first time since
he had arrived in
They finished their coffee,
such as it was, and went outside for a morning of hard work. It was the hardest Joshua had physically
worked in a long time, but it was honest work and he had to admit that he
enjoyed it. The thought only briefly
crossed his mind that his mother and fiancé would both be horrified if they saw
him. He snickered a bit at the thought
of his fashionable fiancé on this ranch.
Jed had brought over some
sandwiches, figuring that there wasn’t much to eat in Joshua’s
refrigerator. Joshua started to comment
on how Jed had brought way too much until he saw him eat.
“Do you always eat that
much?” Joshua stared at the mound of
food on Jed’s plate.
“What?” Jed looked up, part of a third sandwich in
his mouth.
“Nevermind.” Joshua just shook his head. “Hey, I found some stuff that you might be
interested in.” He went and got some of
the papers he had found in the old trunk, but he hesitated in bringing the
journal downstairs. It just felt too
personal to share yet.
“I found these in the
attic.” He handed Jed some papers, one
being the wanted poster for Kid Curry that he had found along with the other
one. “I guess that must be your relative,
the one you’re named after. You can have
it if you want.”
Jed looked at it for a
minute. “Yep, that was him, thanks, I
would like to have it.” Jed carefully
refolded the yellowed paper and put it in his shirt pocket. “Well, I have to be going; how would you like
to go into town tonight? We’ll go have a few beers, maybe shoot some pool”
Joshua hesitated. “I don’t know, I’m not really into beer and
pool…”
“Aw c’mon, it’ll be
fun. What are you going to do, just sit
around this old house and stare at the walls?”
Joshua had really wanted to
spend the evening reading the journal, but Jed didn’t seem to want to take no
for an answer. “Oh, I guess it wouldn’t
hurt for just a little while.”
“Great, I promise you’ll
have a good time.” Joshua looked
unconvinced about that, but he wisely kept quiet.
Jed got in his pickup and
yelled as he was driving off “I’ll be back to pick you up about
After Jed left, Joshua
picked up the journal and picked up where he’d left off the night before.
“
Kid and Heyes stood at the
bar, nursing their beers and trying to look inconspicuous.
“Heyes,” Kid whispered. “You
got any money?”
“Nope. How about you?”
“If I did, would I be asking
you?” Kid gave him a sideways, disgusted look.
“How we planning on paying for these beers, and the last ones we
had. I think they’re gonna’ want us to
settle up before we leave.”
“Yeah, I’ve been studying on
that Kid. I think I’ve got an idea. See them boys over there playing poker?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
Heyes gave him a smug
look. “Well, one of them is cheating,
and not very well. I say we join that
game and make that knowledge work to our advantage.”
Kid contemplated the
ragged-looking bunch of 4 men. “I don’t know
Heyes; I thought we were trying to keep a low profile here.”
“Aw c’mon Kid, it’ll be easy
money.” Heyes dragged him reluctantly to
the table.
“Howdy boys, mind if we sit
in a few hands?” Heyes didn’t miss the
sly looks two of the men gave each other.
“I guess it’s ok. Pull up a couple of chairs.”
Heyes and Kid sat across the
table from each other. Heyes played
quietly and watched the game for a couple of hands, figuring out the other
men’s not so subtle cheating. On the
third hand, Heyes triumphantly laid down the winning hand and started to rake
in the pot.
“Not so fast mister, you
haven’t seen my hand yet. I believe my four aces beat your full house.” He laid down his cards with a smirk.
Heyes looked at the cards on
the table. “Well, yes sir, normally it
would, but by my count, you only got three.”
The man looked up at Heyes
with a startled expression and then down at his cards.
Heyes held up the fourth
ace. “Looking for this? I noticed you ‘accidentally’ dropped a couple
of hands ago. Hope you don’t mind me
replacing it with that 2. I’m sure you
weren’t planning on cheating or anything.”
It was Heyes turn to look smug.
“Why you dirty…” The man stood up and reached for his gun,
only to find himself staring down the barrel of Kid’s.
“I wouldn’t do that if I
were you.” Kid’s eyes were icy blue as
he stared the man down. He was
concentrating so hard on protecting Heyes he was taken off guard when someone
hit him from behind.
“Jed!” Heyes screamed as Kid
slid to the floor. The other men grabbed
Heyes and proceeded to start beating on him when the bartender fired a shotgun
blast into the ceiling.
“I’ll have none of that in
here! You boys let him go and get out of
here. I have one more barrel loaded in
this gun and I’ll be glad to empty it in one of you.”
The men eyed him for a
moment, and then let Heyes fall to the floor and they slunk quickly out the
door into the night.
Heyes crawled over to where
Kid was lying still on the floor. “Jed,
wake up, can you hear me?” He was
relieved when Kid let out a groan and put his hand on his head.
“What happened? I feel like I got kicked by a horse.”
Heyes chuckled a bit, mostly
with relief. “No horse, but I think we’d
better get out of here before those boys come back. It sure was nice of them to pay for our
beers.” Heyes motioned to the money left
forgotten on the table as the men left in a rush. “See I told you I’d get the money.” Heyes gave him a grin.
“Heyes, if my head didn’t
hurt so much, I’d flatten ya right now.”
Joshua found himself a while
later hanging on for dear life as Jed’s pickup bounced down the dirt road into
town.
“You know, we could have
ridden in comfort if you hadn’t ruined my car.”
Joshua gave him a reproachful glare.
“Aw heck, it’s not ruined. It just needs a little cleaning in the
carburetor and drain the gas tank. You
can fix it up in no time.” Jed thought
for a second. “Ok, well, someone who
knows about cars can fix it up in no time.
I’ll see if I can help you out with that soon.”
“Yeah, especially since you
were the one who caused it in the first place!”
“Well, if you weren’t being
such a horse’s ass…”
“Horse’s ass?? Look you…”
Joshua didn’t get to finish his sentence as they pulled into the parking
lot of the bar. “We’ll finish this
conversation later.” He got out of the
truck and slammed the door in a huff.
Jed rolled his eyes. “I have
no doubt of that.”
The bar was like nothing
Joshua had ever experienced. The sound
of the live band and the smells were almost too much for someone who was used
to the upscale clubs in
Jed yelled over the
music. “Let’s go get something to
drink.” Joshua nodded his
acknowledgement and headed towards the bar.
“I’ll have a martini,
shaken, one olive please.” Joshua looked
at the bartender expectantly, and the bartender stared back as if Joshua had
two heads.
“You want a what???” Some of the cowboys sitting at the bar
started snickering.
Jed stepped up beside
Joshua. “Sheesh,
are you trying to get us killed? He’ll
have a Bud longneck, make it two.” The
bartender just shook his head and handed them two ice cold bottles of beer.
Joshua stared at it like it
was a snake that was going to bite him.
“Beer? In a bottle? Can I at least have a glass?”
Jed rolled his eyes again. “Just c’mon, let’s find a table.”
As they made their way
through the crowded barroom, Joshua stumbled and spilled his beer on a large,
tough-looking man who promptly grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the
floor.
“Put me down! I’ll sue you, I know the best lawyers in
Jed turned around at the
commotion and sighed at the sight.
“Bubba, put him down. C’mon, he’s just a city boy; he doesn’t know
any better.” Jed tried reasoning with
the big guy, concerned about the shade of purple that Joshua’s face was turning.
“Nope, I feel like squashing
something Jed, he’ll do just as good as anything.”
Jed picked up a pool cue
leaning against a table. “Don’t make me
do this Bubba.” He swung the pool cue
with all his might, breaking it in two against Bubba’s head. Joshua dropped to the floor. Unfortunately Bubba did not and he turned his
fury on Jed.
“Now Bubba, I warned
you…” Jed started backing up, motioning
for Joshua to move towards the door.
Bubba punched Jed hard, knocking him into a pool table where he slid to
the floor, not moving. Joshua had made
it half-way to the door when he saw Jed fall.
He hesitated; he had plenty of time to get away, but something made him
stop. The sight of Jed laying the on the
floor made his stomach twist for reasons he didn’t understand. He grabbed a pool cue and with a yell, ran
towards Bubba intending to do as much damage as he could before he fell
too. The sound of a gunshot made him
stop in his tracks.
“Put it down mister!” The sheriff pointed the gun at him. “I won’t hesitate to use this if you don’t.”
Joshua dropped the pool cue
instantly. “But…”
“Don’t talk back to me
boy. Pick up your friend and get over
here; I’m taking you in for drunk and disorderly.”
“Drunk and disorderly?? We didn’t even have anything to drink.” He mumbled under his breath walking over to where Jed was laying on the
floor.
“Jed, hey Jed, you ok?” Joshua was concerned about the bump on Jed’s
forehead, and he was relieved when Jed stirred with a groan.
“Did we win the fight?”
Joshua chuckled. “No, and I
managed to get us both arrested too.”
Jed was instantly alert.
“Arrested? What for?” He pulled himself to his feet with a little
help from Joshua. “What’s this all about
Nicole?”
The sheriff walked over.
“Jed, I didn’t realize that was you. Are
you ok?”
Joshua looked from one to
the other. “I assume you two know each
other?”
“Yeah, this is Nicole
Trevors. We’ve known each other since we
were little kids. Nicole, this is Joshua
Heyes.”
“Heyes? You mean Jake’s boy?” She looked at Joshua, seeing him clearly for
the first time. “Yeah, I can see the resemblance.”
Jed playfully punched her in
the shoulder. “So, are we still
arrested?”
She punched him back. “Not
unless I run you in for assaulting a police officer. Seriously, are you hurt?” She examined the bump on his head.
“Nah, it’s just my head. You know it would take more than that to hurt
me. If you guys could just help me to
the truck, I’ll be fine. I think I’ve
lost interest in playing pool tonight.”
Nicole and Joshua each
looped one of Jed’s arms over their necks and helped him out to his truck, all
three agreeing that it would probably be best for Joshua to drive with Nicole
leading the way as he was still unfamiliar with the way back to the ranch. They got Jed in the truck with some
difficulty, since he was a bit dizzier than he would admit.
“Darn fool needs to go to a
hospital, but we’ll never convince him of that.” Nicole grumbled as she shut
the truck door a little harder than was necessary, showing her annoyance with
the stubborn man. “Could he stay at your
place tonight? I don’t think he should
be alone, just in case.”
“Uh, yeah, sure I
guess. So you two aren’t, well…”
She stared at him for a
moment. “Aren’t what? Oh, me and
Jed? Nah, he’s like a brother to
me. I’m currently what you might call
unattached. Why?”
Joshua wasn’t sure why that
made him feel good, but he decided not to follow that line of thought any
further. “Oh no reason, just curious.”
They made it back to
Joshua’s ranch and got Jed settled into one of the guest bedrooms without
further incident. They found themselves
in the kitchen, lingering a bit as if both of them were reluctant to see Nicole
leave.
“So, would you like some
coffee? I think there’s some decaf in
here…” Joshua shuffled things on the cupboard shelf until he found the can he
was looking for.
“Sure, that would be
good.” Nicole answered, pulling a chair
up to the table. A comfortable silence
settled over them as Joshua made the coffee, and then sat down facing her after
handing her a cup.
Joshua cleared his throat,
causing Nicole to look up from where she was staring into her coffee. “Look,
what happened in there, it was all my fault he got hurt…”
She dismissed him with a
wave of her hand. “Nah, Bubba is always
looking for a fight about that time of night; I usually stop in to check things
out on my way home after my shift is over – saves me a trip back into
town. Don’t worry about it; you’ll get
used to the people around here.” She
took a sip from the cup in her hand and made a face. “Damn. No offense, but that’s really bad.”
Joshua rolled his eyes. “So I’ve been told. And I don’t plan on sticking around to ‘get
used to the people around here.’ I’m
only staying long enough to settle my father’s estate and then I’m going back
to
Several emotions played
across Nicole’s expressive face. She put
her coffee cup down and pushed away from the table. “Well, I guess that’s to be expected. I think you’re shortchanging yourself though;
there’s more to this place than meets the eye, but I don’t suppose you’re
interested in finding out.” She said
this quietly, shaking her head in a small gesture of disappointment. “I’d best be going now.”
“Wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t
mean to offend you.” Joshua couldn’t
figure out why she was upset, and why it mattered to him. “Will you come back? I mean to check on Jed.”
She turned from the doorway
and gave him a slight smile. “Sure, I’ll come check on Jed. He should be ok in the morning. As long as you don’t make him any coffee.” She shut the door before he could come back
with a reply.
Joshua checked on Jed one last
time before going to bed, making sure the other man was sleeping
peacefully. He didn’t like the
protective feelings he was starting to have about Jed; he’d spent his life
avoiding most entanglements after his father deserted him. Even his decision to get married was
motivated by having someone to attend business functions and parties rather
than a true desire for companionship, if he was totally honest with
himself. He liked being without
emotional entanglements – if he was a bit lonely sometimes, well that was the
price he paid for no one being able to hurt him by leaving again.
He took the journal to his
room and picked up where he’d left off earlier in the evening.
“
“Yeah, it is beautiful land,
Lom, but I just don’t know if we’re ready to settle in one place.” Heyes pushed his hat back on his head, the
warm summer
“Heyes I swear, the governor
is ready to sign your amnesty; I’m meeting with him next month and I don’t plan
on letting him weasel out of it this time.
You’ll be safe, I’d stake my reputation on it. I’ll put the land in my name until you get
your amnesty and you can go on using your aliases until then; no one will know
who you really are or that you’re here.”
Lom wiped his hand across his face in frustration. He knew that there wasn’t much reasoning with
Heyes once he got stubborn, but that didn’t keep him from trying. “Kid, can’t you talk some sense into
him?” He looked back where Kid had been
standing watching the interaction between the two men, but not saying anything.
“Don’t try to drag Kid into
this Lom, he agrees with me.” Heyes
turned his back to the two men, signaling he was done discussing the subject
and he missed the hard look that crossed Kid’s face.
“You think maybe you could
ask me about that before you go answering for me Heyes?” Kid said softly, but with an edge of steel
that he rarely used with Heyes.
“What?” Heyes spun around in
surprise. “You actually think this is a good idea? We’ve talked about this before…”
Kid sighed wearily. “No Heyes YOU’VE talked about it before. You never once asked me, you told me. You’ve been so busy being parent and big
brother to me all these years, and God knows I appreciate it Heyes, I really
do, but you never bothered to ask me what I wanted. You just assumed you knew what was best and
that I’d go along. And I have, because
you did know best and it’s kept us alive more times than I can count. But now it’s time for US to make the decision
about this, and I think you’re wrong.”
Heyes just stood there with
his mouth open, never expecting this from Kid, and more than a little
hurt. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this
from you; I thought you’d always back me up.”
Kid cringed at Heyes’ words
but continued. “I will always back you up Heyes, and that includes letting you
know when I don’t think you’re making the best decision for us. It’s time to stop running. We can’t continue like this. We have friends here, I trust Lom and I know
you do too. What better place could we
find to finally put down some roots?”
Kid pleaded with him to understand.
They stood there in silence
for a few moments until Heyes turned away first. “I know you’re right Jed,” he said in a small
voice, “but what if we lose it all again?
I don’t think I can go through that a second time.”
“But what if we don’t
Heyes? What if this is finally our
chance to get back some of what we lost and never got the chance to have? A place of our own, a family maybe, being
part of a town again instead of always being on the outside looking in?”
Heyes was quiet for a long
while, obviously thinking about what Kid had said. Finally he let out a long sigh. “Ok Kid.
We’ll do it your way this time. I
still don’t like it much, but if you think it’s a good idea, then there must be
something to it. I’ll give it a
try.”
Joshua awoke to the sound of
someone moving around downstairs. The
journal laid open across his chest where he had fallen asleep reading it. He had had the weirdest dreams about him and
Jed riding horses with people chasing them.
He shook his head to clear it of the images, but they had felt so real…
He made his way downstairs
to find Jed rummaging through the kitchen in search of breakfast. He gave Joshua a nod of greeting when he saw
him standing in the doorway.
“Don’t you have any food in
this place?” Jed asked, head stuck in
the refrigerator.
“I haven’t exactly made it
to the grocery store yet; someone toasted my car, remember?” Joshua replied,
one eyebrow raised at Jed making himself at home, but he had to admit, it was
kind of nice to have the company.
“Besides, I usually just have coffee for breakfast.”
“Oh speaking of that, I made
some; I didn’t figure my stomach could stand up to another cup of yours.”
“Oh ha ha,
you’re a regular comedian.” Joshua said sarcastically, but he gratefully
accepted the mug of hot coffee Jed offered to him.
Jed sat down with a plate
piled with the last of Joshua’s small store of food. “I guess I’d better get your car running so
you can stock up. You might want to see
about trading that little ol’ car in for something
bigger, like a pick-up.”
Joshua didn’t reply to that
dig at his sports car, lost in thought as he was. “So,” he tried to sound casual, “you’ve know
Nicole for a long time huh?”
Jed gave him a knowing
grin. “Yep, since we were kids. You like her?”
Joshua made a snorting sound
of disagreement that didn’t fool either one of them. “Like her?
No, just curious. Besides I’m
engaged.”
It was Jed’s turn to
snort. “Yeah, I saw her picture. Looks like she’d faint dead away if she got a
speck of dirt on her hands, much less have to do a hard day’s work. Not that she’s not pretty, but after awhile
you want someone a little more substantial, someone who can stand beside you
and be a partner rather than just being a trophy.”
Joshua got defensive, maybe
because Jed had hit a little too close to the mark about Heather. “You don’t know anything about her, so just
leave her out of this.”
Jed held his hands up in a
gesture of surrender. “Ok, ok,
sorry. I’ll change the subject. I noticed the other day that there was some
fence down in your back 40 acres. We
probably should check that out today. I
can also give you a better tour of the rest of your land while we’re at it. There’s some pretty country back in there.”
“Are you sure you feel up to
it? That was a pretty good whack you
took to the head.” Joshua asked, trying
to convince himself that he wasn’t as concerned about Jed as he felt.
“Yeah, sure, I’ve always
been accused of having a hard head; one little bump isn’t going to make much
difference.”
Joshua tried,
unsuccessfully, to stifle a laugh.
“Somehow, I can believe that.”
Jed gave him a mock frown.
“Well you didn’t have to agree so fast.”
Joshua had never experienced
this kind of teasing give-and-take with someone else, never having had
siblings, and having been too busy as an adult to foster those kind of
friendships. It felt good to him; maybe
too good, those old feelings of wanting to keep people at arm’s length surfacing
again. He turned away and put his cup in
the sink. “Yeah, well, I guess we’d
better get at it.” The two men got up
and left in Jed’s pickup, neither one hearing the portable fax machine Joshua
had brought with him start printing, the papers falling off the table onto the
floor.
Joshua enjoyed the ride with
Jed more than he would admit. They
chatted about nothing in particular, mostly soaking up the scenery. When they got to the place where the fence was
down, they got out and Jed started looking around.
“What is it?” Joshua instinctively knew something was wrong
just from Jed’s body language.
“The fence didn’t just fall
down, it was cut, and someone drove through here. No one should have any business out here, and
no one I know would deliberately cut someone else’s fence. This just doesn’t seem right…” He trailed
off, following the tire tracks with his eyes to a rocky ridge not far in the
distance. “Lots of caves up there –
maybe we should go take a look.” They
got back in the truck and Jed drove slowly, looking around like he expected
trouble at any moment.
At the base of the rocks,
they got out and spotted a faint trail going up. Following it about halfway up, they found a
cave and some mining equipment partially hidden.
“I don’t like this Joshua; I
think we’d better tell Nicole about this and have her check it out.” The hair on the back of Jed’s neck was
standing up like they were being watched, and Joshua was picking up on his
nervousness.
“I think that’s a very good
idea.” They went back down to the truck,
looking over their shoulders frequently.
As luck would have it,
Nicole was waiting for them on the porch when they got back to Joshua’s house.
“I guess it would take more
than a knock on the head to keep you down.” She said disgustedly to Jed, arms
crossed across her chest.
“See I told you.” Jed whispered to Joshua, both of them
laughing like school kids with a secret.
She rolled her eyes at
them. “That’s the thanks I get for being
concerned.”
“Speaking of being concerned,
you might want to take a look back up in the hills on Joshua’s land – it looks
like someone has been messing around up there. “
“Gold hunters again?” She sighed, shaking her head.
“Most likely.” Jed agreed.
“Gold?” The word had definitely caught Joshua’s
interest.
“Oh, there’s been rumors for
years that there’s gold in those caves.
Every once in awhile someone will come across an old map and then we’ll
have idiots digging all over the place looking for it. It’s just an old legend though; no one has
ever found anything.” Jed shook his head
in disgust. “People looking to get rich
quick will do some stupid things.”
“I’ll check it out when I
get a chance – probably nothing to worry about.
You boys interested in going to a dance tonight? They’re having a fund-raiser at the high
school, mainly just a potluck supper, but it might be fun; could be a nice way
to meet some other folks, Joshua.”
Nicole looked expectantly at Joshua, trying not to look like she cared
if he said yes or not.
“Uh, well, I’ve never been
to a potluck before, but I guess…” he looked over at Jed, who was looking way
too amused at the whole thing. “Sure, I guess that would be fine.”
Nicole ducked her head, a
little shy now after her boldness in asking him, maybe a little surprised he
said yes. “Well, um, ok, see you later,
I mean, see both of you later.” She
quickly got into her car and drove off.
Jed couldn’t resist. “I think she likes you.”
“What? No, she was just being nice. Shut up!” Joshua sputtered like a teenager.
“Now what kind of talk is
that?” Jed asked with a grin, slapping
Joshua on the back. “I need to get over
to my ranch and take care of my chores.
I guess since we haven’t worked on your car yet, I should come pick you
up?”
“Uh yeah, that would be
fine.” Joshua said distractedly. “I have
a few things I need to take care of as well.”
He went in the house as Jed drove away.
He knew he should call his office and take care of some business there,
but the journal drew his attention and he sat down to start reading where he
had left off.
“
Heyes reluctantly let Kid
drag him to a box supper and dance in town.
He had thought it was a joke and laughed when Kid asked him to go, but he
changed his mind when he saw the hurt flash through Kid’s blue eyes. Kid was popular with the girls in town, his
good looks, friendly manner, and that little bit of “badness” his outlaw past
gave him made him irresistible. Heyes
just watched with amusement as Kid was surrounded by hopeful dance
partners. Heyes hung back, leaning
against the wall, his crossed arms and stance warning off any would-be
conversationalists. When they had first
gotten their amnesty and revealed who they were, they had been overwhelmed with
people wanting to get to know them, mostly through personal gain or the
“prestige” of being friends with famous outlaws. Eventually it had died off and the people
that were left truly welcomed Heyes and Kid into the community, but Heyes had
shunned most of their attempts at friendship, while Kid had joined in
wholeheartedly. Heyes was truly happy
that Kid had found a place where he fit in, and he only envied him a little his
easy way with people.
Heyes sighed as an obviously
drunk cowboy came stumbling up to him.
“Hey, you’re Hannibal Heyes,
aren’t you?” The smell of whiskey was strong as the man slurred out his words.
Heyes just glared at him,
trying to intimidate him enough to back off, but the man was too drunk to
notice.
“What’re you too good to
talk to me?” Heyes could see this turning ugly real fast and he tried to just
walk away. The man grabbed his arm,
stopping him; Heyes tensed, not wanting to cause a scene, but ready to defend
himself if necessary.
“Famous outlaw my ass, you
don’t look so tough.” The cowboy drew
back his arm to throw a punch, but it never landed. He looked in bleary-eyed surprise at the hand
gripping his arm tightly. Even through
the whiskey-fueled haze he could see the danger lurking in Kid’s ice blue eyes.
“Heyes, you having a problem
here?”
“Nope, pretty much got it
under control, but thanks.” Heyes looked
up in surprise at the other men standing behind Kid, ready to back him up. One of them stepped up and pulled the cowboy
away from Kid.
“Look Charley, Mr. Heyes
here just wants his privacy, and we respect that. Now I suggest that you move along before you
get yourself into real trouble.” A
couple of Charley’s friends came up and offered to take the now cowering man
off their hands, and an uncomfortable silence fell as Heyes looked at the group
of men standing around not quite sure what to do now.
“Uh, I appreciate you all
wanting to help me out there.” Heyes said awkwardly.
“It’s just what neighbors
do.” One man stepped forward and shook
Heyes’ hand. “Would you like a
drink? I think the strongest thing we
have at the moment is lemonade, but it’s pretty good.”
“Yeah, sure, that would be
good.” Heyes was stunned at the welcome he was receiving from the townspeople,
as several people came up and shook his hand.
He thought maybe deep down that they wouldn’t accept him because of his
past, but here they were, treating him like one of them. A little flare of hope lit inside him; maybe
this could actually be home…
Joshua stood by the food
table, uncomfortable in the midst of so many strangers. Jed seemed to know everyone, and lots of
people sought him out to chat. Joshua
tried to keep up with the introductions, but eventually he made his way to the
edge of the crowd, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, but he could
see the glances people gave him and heard the whispers around him. He definitely had aroused the curiosity of
the people here.
His stomach did a funny
little jump when he saw Nicole walk in the door; he told himself it was just
relief at seeing a familiar face, but even he knew that was a lie. She looked so different out of her sheriff’s
uniform that he almost didn’t recognize her at first. The gauzy green sundress she was wearing set
off the dark chestnut color of her unbound hair that fell almost to her waist
in soft waves. She seemed to be
searching for someone, and Joshua was surprised to find it was him as she
spotted him and made her way across the room towards him.
“You look really nice.”
Joshua said as she got to where he was standing.
Nicole blushed shyly. “I’m
sure I don’t hold a candle to the women you know in
They got a couple of plates
and sat down, watching people walk by, while Nicole entertained him with
stories about various people. Nicole,
like Jed, seemed to know everyone, and quite a few people stopped by to say hi
and to be introduced to Joshua. He was
pleasantly surprised to find he enjoyed hearing many of them say nice things
about his father, and he began to relax and actually have a good time. There was a warm feeling of community here
that he had never felt back home. People
seemed to accept him for who he was, rather than his net worth or his career
like many of the people he usually surrounded himself with did.
As everyone finished up
eating, a band started playing and the floor was cleared for dancing. Despite his protests, Nicole dragged Joshua
onto the dance floor and tried to teach him to two-step to the country music playing. She knew her toes were going to be really
sore from all the times he stepped on them, but they both ended up laughing at
his attempts.
When the music switched to a
slow song, Joshua started to head off the dance floor, but Nicole’s hand on his
arm stopped him. He knew it probably
wasn’t a good idea, but he took her in his arms and they swayed to the
music. Neither one said a word, but the
looks they shared left no doubt that they were attracted to each other. When the music stopped, they both stood there
for a minute, not sure what to say, until Jed walked up and broke the spell.
“Hey, you having a good
time?” Jed put one arm around Nicole’s
shoulders in a brotherly way.”
“We’re trying to.” Joshua
growled, giving him that ‘you can leave anytime’ look.
Jed just gave him a knowing
grin. “Well I’m sorry to break this up,
but I need to get home; I’ve got to be up early.”
Nicole and Joshua both
looked disappointed, but they said their good nights and Joshua followed Jed to
the truck.
“What was that all about?”
Joshua asked when they got in the truck.
“It’s not that late.”
Jed hesitated a minute. “Look, despite the fact that we got off on
the wrong foot, I like you; I think this town would be good for you if you’d
just figure that out. But, since you’re
dead set on leaving, and I also know that you’re engaged to someone else, I
don’t think it’s right for you to toy with Nicole like that.”
Joshua was quiet for a
minute, mulling over what Jed had said.
He couldn’t very well get mad when he knew what Jed said was true,
although he wasn’t so sure that he was in that big a hurry to leave, especially
after tonight.
“You’re right. I wasn’t toying with her though; she’s
different from any other woman I’ve known.”
Jed shook his head. “Boy, you’ve got it bad; I’m glad I’m not in
your shoes.” Joshua glared at him as Jed
started the engine. “Let’s go home.”
Joshua wasn’t ready to admit
to himself yet, much less Jed, how right the word ‘home’ sounded in reference
to the ranch. He wondered when he
stopped automatically thinking of
Joshua was still too wired
from the evening to go to bed, so he decided to read a bit more in the journal.
“
Heyes looked out across the
flat pasture towards the ridge that crossed the back part of his land. He could just barely make out the specks that
meant yet another group of people was trying to get rich quick by finding gold
in the caves there. He shook his head at
the amazement of the stupidity of some people and went to find Kid.
They rode up around the back
of the ridge and peered over the edge to get a look at the people before they
confronted them. Even though they weren’t
wanted men any more, their instinct for survival always kicked in, drawing on
all those years of watching their backs.
They were both surprised to see a woman and children in this group;
usually it was just men.
“What kind of fool drags his
wife and kids into something like this?” Kid whispered.
“The worst kind.” Heyes said
in disgust. He counted three men, one
barely out of his teens, the woman and a small boy and girl. After satisfying himself that they didn’t
seem all that dangerous, just misguided, he stood up and announced his
presence.
“Howdy folks.
Seems we have a bit of a problem here.
You’re trespassing on private property.
You might as well keep on climbing up; there isn’t any gold down
there.”
“Says who?” One of the
bolder men shouted out.
“
“Ok, ok, we don’t want no trouble. We’ll send my wif