CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Slim leaned against the hitching post at the Sherman Relay Station. He had just changed the stage horses and he had hurried, moving faster than normal in his haste to read the letter. He literally felt it was burning a hole in his pocket. As he read, he frowned. Finally he looked up from the letter, with an expression of disapproval etched across his tan face. “I sure wish Jess was a better speller. I can’t figure out this word.”

“Fiancée,” Mose stated without even looking at the letter.

Slim stared hard at Mose. “You read this?”

“Well, Slim...” Mose scratched the stubble on his face “.... uh, you see it was like this. Jess ain’t that good at spelling...”

“Neither are you, Mose!” Slim criticized.

“Aw, Slim. Jess wanted me to deliver this letter and I did it. Now I need to get this stage to Laramie.” Mose started to climb to the stage seat.

Slim grabbed Mose’s arm none too gently. “Hold up, Mose! What do you know about this? It don’t make any sense!”

“It sure don’t!” Jonesy echoed. “Jess has only been gone a few days and he already has a fiancée. Don’t make sense at all!”

“Well you know what they say; love at first sight,” Mose said with a nervous chuckle.

“And I know Jess. Mose...” Slim warned.

“Slim, I got to get going. Don’t want the stage to be late on account of us jawing. The stage line would have both our necks for sure!” Mose climbed to the stage seat. “I’ll tell Jess you said hello when I go through that relay station.”

“You just do that! And if you’re holding back on me, Mose, so help me...”

“Best be going now!” Mose slapped the reins against the horse’s rumps and the horses jolted to a gallop.

“He’s hiding something,” Jonesy said.

Slim nodded. “I ain’t never seen him so jumpy.”

“Let me see that letter. I can usually make out Jess’ chicken scratching better than you.” Jonesy reread the letter that Mose had brought Slim. “Says here that Jess plans to come back as soon as he can. He’s anxious to get back to work. Well now that don’t make sense either. If Jess is getting married, then why’s he coming back here? Why not stay on at her place? Mose says she owns a relay station. No, I just can’t believe that Jess is engaged to wed. Why that boy’s one big fear has always been marriage. Something’s wrong, I tell you. This ain’t like Jess.”

Slim shrugged. “I guess love can make a man do ‘bout anything.”

“Not Jess. He’s too stubborn, no matter how pretty the gal. I tell you Mose ain’t telling us something.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe! Why this letter ain’t like Jess. Ain’t like him at all. And what’s this part about Jess wanting to know who he can buy horses from in them parts? Ain’t she got horses at her relay station? I tell you, Slim, this gal might just not be all she says she is.”

“Well Mose knows her and...”

“And he ain’t telling us all either! You mark my words on that! Mose is holding something back from us. I’d bet the place on that.”

“Dab gum it! You’d think Jess could write more than a few sentences, at least a short explanation. We got more from Mose than we got from Jess’ letter, and Mose didn’t tell us squat.”

Jonesy slapped the letter against his leg. “Well this letter just don’t make sense. So what are you going to do about it?” Jonesy asked with impatience.

Slim shrugged. “What would you have me do about it? Jess is a grown man.”

Jonesy pointed his finger at Slim as if scolding him, “Not that grown that he might not need help.”

“I tried to give him help and he turned me down. He told me to go back home,” Slim argued.

Jonesy frowned. “And that’s that?”

“I can’t force Jess to accept my help!” Slim sighed with frustration.

Jonesy argued, “If you were in trouble, Jess would be there, and nothing would stop him either.”

“Who says he’s in trouble? The letter says nothing about....”

“He’s engaged ain’t he? To some gal we don’t know. I’d say that could be plenty of trouble, especially for a boy who’s scared of marriage the way Jess is.” Jonesy spun on his heels, heading for the house. “I’m going to Carson Springs.”

“You?” Slim practically ran to catch up with Jonesy.

Jonesy suddenly turned and faced Slim. “That’s right, me! And Andy too! After all I may need him. Andy won’t let a friend down and neither will I.”

“I’m not letting Jess down!” Slim argued. “I told you that he’s a grown man. And he told me that he didn’t want my help!”

“And I’m telling you that the boy’s in trouble. Getting engaged. You seen the way women look at him, even respectful ones, and the way he looks back. He weren’t engaged when he left here, and he’s only been gone a few days. Hardly time to even make an acquaintance, much less marry one.”

“Well I can’t figure that out either, or why he needs horses...”

“That’s why I’m going to Carson Springs. I’m going to ask him.” Jonesy again started for the house. He walked hurriedly across the porch.

Slim had to move quickly to catch up with Jonesy. “What about your back? And Andy can’t go along. With Jess gone, I need him here to help with the chores.”

Jonesy stopped in his tracks. Once more he faced Slim. “Now don’t you try to stop us! Unless you want to go instead of us?”

Slim’s frown started small but quickly grew. “I know what you’re doing, Jonesy, and it’s not going to work. I told Jess if he needed my help to let me know. Well he hasn’t!”

Jonesy slapped his hat against his body. “When it comes to women, he’s like you, the boy don’t know squat.”

Slim’s eyes opened wide with shock. “He ain’t innocent and neither am...”

“I ain’t talking about that kind of knowledge,” Jonesy cut in. “I’m talking about understanding the female sect. Neither one of you do, that’s a fact. Not like I do.”

A grin flirted across Slim’s face. “You Jonesy? You’re the expert huh on females?”

“That’s right, me! You might just be surprised how many women folk find me irresistible.”

Slim’s eyebrows raised with amusement. “Then how come you ain’t married?”

“‘Cause I’m smart. I’m on to their wily ways. Oh there have been two or three widows that have their eyes on me. How do you think I learned to cook so good? They gave me their treasured recipes. Oh the stories I could tell, but you’re too young to hear. Let’s just say them women wanted me all right, but I didn’t get hooked. That’s cause I know how they think. But Jess...I tell you that Jess can sure be awful dumb sometimes about the ladies. You remember that one when he first got here...”

Slim held his hands up in surrender. “All right, Jonesy. Jess hasn’t always been the smartest in choosing who he likes, but still he must have found someone...”

“Or she hood winked him into getting engaged. No, Slim, you ain’t stopping me. I’m going to meet her. The boy ain’t got no family. We’re the closest to family that he’s got. Face it, Slim, we’re like his kin so we got a right to check this filly out. There’s enough food to last the week, but you’ll need to buy some flour before next week.”

Slim snapped, “I can’t cook and do the stage line and ranch and...”

A slow grin spread across Joney’s face. “That’s right, but Andy and I can without any trouble. Well Slim, what’s it going to be? You? Or me and Andy? Which of us is going to Carson Springs?”

Flames of anger torched Slim’s face. “Well now I don’t think I got a choice. I’ll tell you, Jonesy, you got a stubborn streak that comes out every now and then, and it ain’t a pretty sight!”

“That I do,” Jonesy agreed with a smile, “and it’s a good thing for everyone around here that it does. Now get packing. Ain’t no telling when the marriage is to take place, and don’t you be getting any ideas once you get there either. After all this gal may have a sister.”

“Jonesy, I...”

But Jonesy had already turned away and started to enter the house. Over his shoulder, he commanded, “And Slim, when you’re getting your horse, you might as well cut out a few horses. If Jess says he needs some...well consider it his dowry.”

As Jonesy entered the house, Slim looked defeated.

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Chapter Fourteen