The Western Chronicles
by B L Miller and Vada Foster
46: Another Rescue
A flash of lightning lit up the window followed almost immediately by a clap of thunder that rattled the pane and shot Josie into instant wakefulness. Rebecca still lay with her head on the gunslinger’s chest, but she had slid down and was now curled up against her side. Josie had pulled the blanket off the cot they had not needed during the night and spread it over them to keep off the chill. She was glad she had because the temperature had dropped considerably during the night, and Rebecca was shivering slightly even with the blanket.
A hard rain began to pound the building with a force that shook the window yet again. Josie was not certain she heard the knock on the outer door until she heard John’s voice call out, "Miss Josie, Miss Rebecca. I’m going to go fetch you some breakfast. I should be back in fifteen minutes or so."
Josie smiled to think how kind this man had been to her and Rebecca. He could easily have locked them in separate cells for their last night, and undoubtedly would be in trouble if it were to get out that he had not. "Thanks, John," she called back in acknowledgement. She wrapped her arms around the sleeping blonde and hugged her tightly. It was inconceivable that this could be the last time she would hold Rebecca, feel her precious body against her own. She kissed Rebecca’s forehead and whispered into her hair, "Sprite…wake up. We have to get dressed."
"In a minute," Rebecca mumbled, nuzzling her face into Josie’s soft breast. Josie settled back and pulled Rebecca close; a minute was about all they had, and it was little enough to give to the woman she loved. Without warning, she felt wetness sliding down the side of her breast, and realized Rebecca was crying.
"Oh, Rebecca, please don’t cry. It kills me to see you so unhappy." Poor choice of words; the little blonde began to cry aloud. "Shhh, baby. Where is that strength you promised me? We aren’t giving up, remember?"
"I can’t do it, Josie," she sobbed. "I’ll kill them before I let them take you!"
"Don’t even joke about that. You’d be in the same boat I am."
"That’s where I want to be."
"No you don’t. Listen to me." She put her hand under Rebecca’s chin and lifted her head. The soft green eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks splotchy and red. "If you did something like that, you would be arrested and tried here. It would not prevent them from sending me back; it would just end your life early. If I felt I was responsible for that I would spend eternity in hell."
Rebecca edged her way to the side of the cot and sat up. She took a few deep breaths and then turned back to face Josie. "I know that. It’s the only reason I would not kill them. But I don’t know how I can bear this…"
"It’s not over till it’s over." She put on a brave face and shifted to sit beside Rebecca on the edge of the cot. "We have to get dressed. John will be back soon."
"Yes," Rebecca replied dully. She began to stand up to gather the clothes that had been scattered the night before, but at the last moment she turned and threw herself into Josie’s arms. "I love you so much, Josie. I pray we still have our whole lives ahead of us, but if this is all we are allowed to have, you should know that being with you has been the best thing that ever happened to me."
Josie swallowed hard to try to keep the tears from forming in her eyes as she softly replied, "You must be reading my mind. I was just…" Knocking on the outer door interrupted her thought and she called out, "Just a few minutes, please John." Kissing Rebecca lightly on the forehead, she rose and began to pull her clothes on. Rebecca did the same, the two of them managing to dress within a few feet of each other without getting in the way, their motions practiced many a night when they could not bear to be so far away from each other that they could not touch.
"All right, we’re decent," Josie said loudly enough for John to hear. Despite that, he took his time opening the door and coming down the hall, allowing the women a few more moments alone.
None of them did more than pick at the breakfast John had laid out on the desk in the outer office. When the rain finally began to slow down, the sound of utensils scraping plates was the only one to be heard...until the far off wail of a train whistle pierced the silence.
"It’s time," John said softly. He reached to his belt to pull off the handcuffs that hung there, and Josie held her hands out in front of her without a word. She rose from her chair and walked to where her hat hung on a rack by the door.
"May I have my hat."
"I’ll get it," Rebecca said, shouldering her way past John who was already reaching for the hat. She removed the black Stetson from the rack and placed it lovingly on Josie’s head after brushing back the dark tresses as Josie always did.
"Thank you," Josie said, putting every bit of love she felt into those two words. Rebecca smiled at her, but didn’t trust herself to speak without crying.
John shuffled for a moment as if uncertain what to do, and then he cleared his throat. "I took the liberty of getting your bags from the boarding house," he said, thinking to himself, the boarding house they never had the chance to use. He picked up the bags from where they lay behind his desk, and handing the lightest one to Rebecca he shouldered the heavier one himself. "If you’ll open the door and go first, Miss Rebecca, then you Miss Josie…"
As the little procession made it’s way toward the train station, the townspeople came out to watch. The rain had stopped completely shortly before they began their walk, but the bruised looking clouds in the distance told of more rain to come. As they walked they gathered people as a snowball down a mountain picks up snow. Genie fell in beside Rebecca and Jane took up a place on the other side of Josie. The rest of their friends flanked John who walked behind Josie.
A small knot of people waited on the platform for the train to arrive, among them the Judge and his clerk, as well as Caleb Cameron. Caleb wore a gun, which looked as out of place on his hip as a sunbonnet would have looked on his head. He nervously fingered the grip as he watched the approaching crowd. He had not bargained on being the one to haul the outlaw back, and he was not certain he would be able to handle things if she decided she did not want to go. For now she seemed to have accepted her fate; he hoped she would not change her mind. The Judge wore a smile, which did nothing to cover up the hate that radiated from his eyes and danced around his body like ball lightning. It made Josie shudder to see such unbridled evil aimed at her and her step faltered as she realized that she might once have been accused of putting out such a vicious aura. Suddenly she realized that the Judge was simply a man who had lost something precious in his life, allowing the pain of his loss to turn him into a bitter and lonely person. Unfortunately the power of his position allowed him to use that bitterness to exact his revenge. Josie straightened her shoulders and with her head high she climbed the steps onto the platform, most of her entourage remaining on the ground, only Rebecca and Genie remaining by her side.
It started to rain again, and in an effort to keep them dry, John suggested they take a seat on the train even though departure was still twenty minutes away. He needed to handcuff Josie to a seat anyway so that he could go get tickets for the two women to Kansas City. There was no way he was going to leave her in Caleb’s charge for any longer than he absolutely had to. He asked the conductor to show them to the car with the least number of people in it, and the man pointed to a car at the middle of the platform.
John placed Josie’s bag in a rack at one end of the car, and when Rebecca started to put her bag beside it, he stopped her with his hand. "Keep it with you. You might need it." She couldn’t imagine what use her spare clothes and a few books would be on the train, but she did not think it worth arguing with him. She nodded and picked the bag up again. John addressed the few people who were sitting at one end of the car and asked them to move to the other end. He had to show his badge to one surly older matron, and finally with a loud ‘hrumph’ to show her annoyance, she rose from her seat and flounced to the other end of the car.
"Sit here please, Miss Josie," he asked, indicating a seat by the window facing forward in the car. When she did, he unlocked the handcuffs and passed one bracelet between the armrests on the seat, pulling it up and re-fastening it around her wrist. There was very little room for her to move her arms, and she had to turn her torso sideways to get comfortable. John’s expression told her how sorry he was that he had to leave her like that, and she smiled at him.
"I don’t blame you for any of this, John. Please don’t look so guilty; this was my own doing."
"I know that, Miss Josie. I just hate to hand you over to those two, even for a little while." The two in question had stepped into the car, and the Judge overheard the comment and chuckled to himself. Not only did he have the murdering Indian where he wanted her, but also he had outwitted the Sheriff and all of his delaying tactics. By that evening Josie would be in a jail in Kansas City, and he hoped to use his influence to make sure she got a speedy trial. He wanted to see her dead before he himself succumbed to the cancer that was ravaging his body. He actually looked forward to seeing his wife and children in the hereafter, but if he was going, he wanted to take one more redskin with him. Josie Hunter was probably his last chance.
"Give that handcuff key to Caleb," the Judge ordered. With a sigh, John did just that, moving out of the way so that Rebecca could take a seat beside Josie. As she was sitting, Rebecca dropped her bag on the floor beside her seat, and the catch popped open. When she reached down to close it, her eye was caught by the polished gleam of the barrel of one of Josie’s Colt Peacemakers. Quickly glancing up to make sure neither Caleb nor the Judge had seen it, she fastened the catch on the bag and lifted it up to hold in her lap. She knew the gun was not in there when she left the bag at the boarding house, intending to come back and sleep there. Clearly John had put the gun, which he had confiscated from Josie when she was arrested, in there for a reason. It made no sense that John would have given it to her thinking she would use it to try to help Josie escape; he was too honest a lawman to contemplate such an act. As Caleb took a seat opposite Josie, with the gun John had reluctantly issued to him resting awkwardly in his lap, Rebecca began to suspect that the purpose of the gun was not to free Josie, but rather to protect herself from the man she could no longer even remember thinking of as father. The Judge settled into the seat opposite Rebecca, his eyes flicking over her quickly and dismissing her as unimportant. He turned his gaze to Josie and gave a twisted smile.
"Enjoy the ride," he said venomously. "With any luck, your next trip you’ll be lying flat out in a pine box."
Josie said nothing for a few moments, merely contemplated him with her face an unreadable mask. The look on his face reminded her of what she had seen reflected back at herself from the mirror during the years she allowed her hatred for the railroads and her desire for vengeance to poison every part of her life. Until Rebecca showed her that it was possible to love and to forgive…herself as well as others…she realized that she was just the same as the man who sat across from her. At last she said, "I feel sorry for you, Judge. Your wife would hate that you have wasted so much of your life nursing a hatred for an entire people because of a few bad ones. I hope you can sort it all out with your God before…" The Judges hand lashed out to slap her across the face, but Rebecca was faster. She seized his wrist and held it tightly in her hand.
"Don’t you touch her," she hissed through clenched teeth. The Judge turned toward this little woman whom he had so easily dismissed and took a harder look. She had strength and a fierce determination to keep the outlaw from harm. The Judge decided to pick his moments, and it was too early in the day to provoke a conflict with either woman. Once the train was out of the half-breed Sheriff’s jurisdiction he could do as he liked, with no one to tell him other wise. Without comment, he withdrew his hand and placed it in his lap. Rebecca rested her hand on top of the bag in her lap, feeling her heart rate decelerate, and hoping her shaking was not visible to the man across from her. She would shoot him before she would let him hurt Josie, and she wanted her hand close to the bag just in case.
John came back into the car and saw the silent tableau in the end seats. He stopped beside Rebecca and held out two tickets to her. She glanced at them; they read one way to Tahleguah…from Tahlequah. She furrowed her brow as she looked at them, but John shook his head imperceptibly as if to say, this is right, don’t worry about it.
"Thank you, John. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. We’ll come back through here when all this is over."
"I’ll look forward to that, Miss Rebecca." He cocked his head at the sound of the conductor calling "all abooard," and then turned to Josie. "Good luck to you, Miss Josie. The Cherokee will not be forgetting you any time soon." Josie just nodded and smiled, unable to trust her voice. The train whistle sounded, and John made his way to the door, jumping out just before the train began to move. On the platform Genie, Charles, Horace, Jane, and Belle stood silently watching as the cars pulled through, looking through the windows until they saw Rebecca and Josie. Genie had told Josie as they walked to the station that she would wait for her husband and follow as soon as they could. She still believed that he could do something to free Josie even if she were already in the states. Josie was once again grateful for the two women who were determined to stand by her through this ordeal.
Rebecca nodded to Josie to turn her head toward the window, and when she did she was able to see her little group of supporters one last time before the train left the station. Dimly she noted that the rain had stopped once again, and was glad that she would not have to make this trip in a downpour. Rain depressed her, and she wanted to at least try to put on a brave front for Rebecca. She turned back to Rebecca and looked into her sparkling green eyes. Oddly enough, Rebecca seemed very calm compared to the way she was when they first boarded the train. Perhaps her success in thwarting the Judges attempt to strike her had given her confidence a boost. Whatever it was, it lifted Josie’s heart to see her lover relaxed, as she had not been since they first woke up that morning.
The train had only been gone from the station for a few minutes and had not yet reached full speed when it was obvious that it was beginning to slow down again. The whistle shrieked several times as if the engineer were trying to warn someone away from the tracks, but despite the warning the speed still decreased until finally it came to a complete stop. The conductor made his way down the aisle reassuring the passengers that it was probably just a minor problem and they would soon be under way. The Judge was not mollified by that explanation and insisted that he make his way to the front of the train and find out what the problem was. After trying in vain to convince him, the man finally gave up and left the car, promising to return within a few minutes.
Josie’s gaze drifted to the window and she blinked several times as her eyes tried to make sense of what she thought she saw. At first it appeared to be a river stretching out in front of the train, with morning mist rolling on top of the water. But upon looking closer, she saw that it was not water but people, and the mist was steam rising off of them as the rain evaporated from their clothes. As far as the eye could see, the track was covered with people; women, children, men, all ages and sizes…and all Cherokee. They were on the move, flowing around the train to surround it on all sides, and yet it did not seem as if any of them had moved off the tracks. The Judge had yet to look out the window and thus had no idea what was causing the delay, but Rebecca saw the crowd begin to gather three and four deep outside the window and she could not keep the smile from her face. Upon seeing that, the Judge swiveled in his seat to look past Caleb and his face whitened at the sight of this sea of Indians.
"Nooooo," he bellowed in rage as he realized the intent of those savages. They made no move to board the train, but they formed a solid wall of humanity that would be impossible to move through either with the train or on foot, should he decide to take his prisoner off the train and strike out by horseback. He turned to his clerk who was sitting on the opposite side of the aisle from him and shrieked at him, "Go to the front of the train and tell the engineer to plow through those people! They’ll have no choice but to move if he starts up the train!" When the clerk made no move to get up, the Judge stood up himself and grabbed the smaller man by his lapels and pulled him to his feet. "I said go tell him to move this goddamned train!" The Judges face was almost purple with anger, but even though he trembled at each word that fell from the Judge’s mouth, the clerk shook his head no.
"I’m not going to do it," the younger man finally squeaked out. "If you want him to do that, you have to tell him yourself. I quit." The Judge released the man as if the very thought of touching him was repugnant. He stumbled away from the Judge and sat with the other passengers at the opposite end of the train, but not before giving Rebecca a small thumbs up sign.
Irate, the Judge turned Caleb, who was the only person he had left on his side and said, "Keep that gun on her. If she moves, shoot her. I’m going to get this train moving again." Caleb fumbled with the weapon and trained it on the outlaw across from him. The Judge made his way up the aisle and disappeared into the next car.
Knowing that a man with Caleb’s limited experience with a gun was as likely to shoot by mistake as on purpose, Rebecca wanted to talk him into lowering the gun. "Pa, you don’t have to point the gun at her. She isn’t doing anything. She can’t hurt you. Please, lower that gun before you hurt someone."
Caleb wanted a drink. He wanted to be doing something…anything…besides sitting here in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Indians with a vicious murderer. The fact that he was the one with the gun was a very small consolation. He needed a drink.
"I’ll lower the gun if you’ll get me a bottle," he finally managed to say around his parched lips. Rebecca turned to Josie with a question on her face, and the outlaw gave a small nod. It would buy them some time if he were to have a few drinks, not to mention it would slow down his responses and make him less likely to pull the trigger. She hoped. At least it would take the gun away for as long as it took him to finish a bottle, and that might be enough.
"Sure. Okay, I will, but please lower the gun now. I’ll be right back." Caleb lowered the gun, but kept it on his thigh with the muzzle still pointing at Josie’s mid section. His finger was no longer on the trigger however, so Josie relaxed somewhat. Rebecca got to her feet and went to where the small group of passengers was huddled together, fearing that there could be gunfire at any moment. "It’s going to be all right," she told them softly. "Just stay back here and you’ll be fine. Do any of you have a bottle of alcohol you can let me have? I need to distract the man with the gun." One by one they shook their heads no until she looked at the matron who had refused to budge from her seat earlier.
The woman nodded to indicate she did indeed have a bottle. "It’s a fine French wine for my son who just got married," she said haughtily. "I would hate to see it wasted on a lout like that." She jerked her head in Caleb’s direction with scorn.
"Please. I’ll pay you for it. I’ll pay twice what you paid for it, but I need that bottle now." The woman looked into Rebecca’s desperate face, and it reminded her of her own daughter. How could she say no? With a grumble Rebecca could not quite hear, the woman reached into a satchel on the seat beside her and pulled out a green bottle wrapped in shiny paper.
"Oh, thank you, thank you so much." Rebecca gave the woman a brief hug before returning to her seat and handing the bottle to Caleb.
Caleb could not unwrap the bottle and keep his hand on the gun, so he stuck the weapon in the waistband of his pants. When the paper was removed he saw that the bottle cork was flush with the top of the bottle, and he scowled. "How’m I supposed to open this damned thing?" he grumbled. The words were scarcely out of his mouth before the matron was standing beside Rebecca holding out a corkscrew. Wordlessly she took it from her, and handed the tool to Caleb. His hands shook quite a bit as he tried to removed the cork, and in the end it was broken to pieces. He finally pushed the remaining bits into the bottle figuring he could strain them out with his teeth. In fact, he didn’t much care if he drank the whole damned cork…he just needed a drink. Tipping the bottle to his lips he took several long swallows until at last his hand seemed to steady itself and he began to feel in control of himself. He sat back in his seat and smiled at Rebecca, and for a moment she was reminded of the father she once had. After only a few moments however, his gaze traveled from Rebecca’s face to the front of her dress and he leered. She knew that she would never make the mistake of thinking of him as a father again.
Caleb seemed to retreat into himself a few minutes later, the bottle the only reality he knew. Rebecca leaned toward Josie and was about to tell her about the gun in her bag when the Judge’s voice once again filled the train car.
"I told you to keep that gun on her!" He bellowed. Caleb blinked a few times, tipped up the bottle and took another swallow before pulling the gun from his waistband.
"She ain’t goin’ nowhere," he mumbled. Nevertheless he pointed the gun at her with one hand while clutching the bottle with the other. His finger was loosely on the trigger but it wouldn’t take more than a nudge to send a bullet hurtling into Josie. From that distance there was no way he could miss.
The Judge paced up and down the aisle of the train; his anger building with every moment that passed. The engineer had flatly refused to attempt to move the train with all those people on the tracks. He had tried to talk them into moving and was met with nothing but silence. Turning to the Judge he simply shrugged as if to say they were there until something changed. And the something that would undoubtedly change would be the afternoon train bearing the Governors car arriving right on schedule in just a few hours. If he had a deputy he could trust, the Judge might have tried to shoot his way out with the outlaw and take her by stagecoach or horseback. But the drunken sot with the bottle to his lips was less than worthless and he knew they would not get a foot away from the train before those savages separated him from his prisoner. It had become personal for him now. To begin with, she was just another redskin to be taught a lesson, but now she was a thorn in his side, and worse; she may just be allowed to wiggle out of this if he could not come up with something.
The Judge stopped his pacing and walked back to stand over Caleb. "Looks as if that reward is going to slip through your fingers," he said in a sympathetic tone. Caleb dropped the now empty bottle to the floor and turned his bleary gaze to the Judge.
"Huh? Whyizzat? I got her, ain’t I?"
"You’ve got her, but not for long if these savages have anything to do with it." Caleb turned toward the window and scowled at the people there. The muzzle of the gun followed his eyes, and Josie’s heart lurched at the thought of him opening fire on the unarmed people outside the window. "They’ll never let us take her out of here alive," the Judge continued, drawing Caleb’s attention back to him and away from the window. Josie visibly relaxed as the gun was once again lowered to rest on Caleb’s thigh. The Judge leaned down closer so that his words would not be audible to the people at the other end of the car. "Kill her. Her dead body is worth nothing to them, but the reward is good, dead or alive. You can say she got loose and tried to take the gun from you. You struggled over it, and it went off."
Caleb blinked again as if trying to digest this suggestion. Josie and Rebecca had only caught a word or two of what the Judge whispered to Caleb, but it was enough to know that the man did not intend to let her live to tell her story to the Governor. As Caleb’s mind registered what he had to do, he slowly began to raise the gun, stopping when it was pointed squarely at Josie’s heart.
"Pa, don’t!" Rebecca said loudly to draw his attention away from Josie. In that same instant, Josie scooted down in her seat as far as she could, kicking up and connecting with the hand that held the gun and sending it flying to the far end of the car. Even as that was happening, Rebecca was pulling the gun from her bag and before the Judge had even registered what had happened, Rebecca had the gun trained on him. "You do anything to hurt her in any way and I’ll kill you," she said evenly. The tone of her voice left no doubt that she meant exactly what she said.
"Ow," Caleb said, shaking his wrist and rubbing it with his hand. It looked as if he had already forgotten that a moment before he had held a gun ready to take a woman’s life. Now he simply wondered why his hand hurt.
"Give me the key to the handcuffs," Rebecca said to Caleb. He looked at her blankly for a moment, and she said again, "The key. In your watch pocket." She took her eyes off the Judge while she was talking to Caleb, but out of the corner of one eye she could see that he was edging down the aisle. As soon as Caleb figured out which of his pockets was the watch pocket and handed the key to Rebecca, she turned back to the Judge. "Stop where you are and sit down. Now!" The click of the hammer pulling back on the gun was like a cannon volley in the quiet car. He dropped into an empty seat and glared at her silently while Rebecca unlocked the handcuffs. Josie’s wrists were red and chafed in spots and she rubbed them to bring back the circulation. Rebecca held the gun out to Josie while keeping the barrel pointed at the Judge, but Josie pushed her hand away.
"I can’t take that," she said seriously. "I haven’t broken any laws here, and I’m not starting now. I think possessing a gun while in custody would not look very good to the Governor. Besides, you’re doing fine without me." She grinned at Rebecca who smiled back broadly. Josie looked to the front of the car where the small group of people was finally beginning to relax and said, "Will one of you pick up that gun please, and help my friend here keep any eye on him?" She jerked her head in the direction of the Judge. Without hesitation, his former clerk got up from his seat and fished the weapon out from under the seat where it had landed. He walked back up the aisle and sat far enough away so that the Judge could not reach him with his foot, and pointed the gun at him.
"You’ll never work in another court of law, you pathetic little worm," the Judge said venomously.
"That’s certainly true of one of us," the younger man replied calmly. The Judge merely sank back into his seat and glared at each of them in turn, as if unable to believe that the tables had been so completely turned. He was already planning how he would contact a friend who was a General in the army and make sure that all these savages paid for what they had done to assist in Josie’s release.
Josie turned to the window and held up her free hands with the handcuffs clutched in her fingers to show the crowd that she was no longer a captive. The cheer that rose from the people made tears spring to her eyes, and she quickly turned away.
"Listen," Rebecca said excitedly. "Did you hear that?" It was now late afternoon and she was beginning to wonder if the Governor’s train would indeed be arriving.
"No, what did you…" the far off wail of the train whistle cut her off, and she grinned as she took Rebecca’s hand in hers. Now the only thing to worry about was whether he was able to connect with that train, but that concern would be resolved on way or another very soon.
Even before the train itself was visible, Josie could see the Cherokees begin to shift to the back of the train so that if the incoming train did not stop in town, it would be forced to slow down.
There was no need for that precaution; with a final blast of the steam horn, the incoming train came to a stop at the platform. Genie craned her neck to see if her husband’s car was hooked up in the back, and when she saw the crest of the Governor’s office on the side, she let out a very unladylike whoop and began to run to his car. The Sheriff had told her that the train with Josie aboard had been stopped a couple of miles out of town and that it would be held there until the Governor arrived. She prayed that the Judge had not taken matters into his own hands, having figured out that he could no longer hope to succeed in getting Josie extradited.
The Governor’s footman opened the door of his car and extended the step so that the Governor could step down. When he did, he was nearly bowled over by Genie as she launched herself into his arms.
"William, thank God you’re here! He took her already. But the Cherokees have stopped the train and they’re waiting for you to come. You have to hurry…"
"Wait a minute, slow down. Let me get my land legs under me." His tone was light, but as he looked at her he realized how very worried she was. "Where is she? How do I get there?"
"I’ll take you to her," John stepped forward and extended his hand which the Governor grasped. "I’m John Kenwood, Sheriff of Tahlequah."
"Rebecca spoke highly of you," William said by way of acknowledgement that he knew that the Sheriff was an ally of Josie’s.
"I’m afraid the train she’s on was stopped a few miles down the track by some of her supporters who believed – as I do – that it was not right to extradite her without a fair hearing. Judge Fellowes was anything but fair; he refused to listen to her witnesses. And he made sure to get her out of here before you could get here."
"Well, let’s go hear her side of things, shall we?"
"I have a horse saddled and ready to go. Your wife and some of Josie’s friends will follow in wagons, if that’s all right with you. I think they want to see for themselves that Miss Josie is all right."
"I have very little luck in keeping my wife from doing exactly what she wants to do, Sheriff. If she’s determined to go, I sure don’t want to try and stop her. Let’s go." Indeed, Genie and the rest of Josie’s friends were already piling into two wagons that were tied up outside the station house.
"What in the world?" The Governor’s mouth dropped open at the sight of so many people surrounding the stilled train. The sea began to part as he and the Sheriff rode up, making a path that led to the car that housed the outlaw and her lover.
"She has a lot of supporters," the Sheriff said, as if that explained how so many people had known to be on the tracks at the time the train was due to leave.
"I see," the Governor said, leveling his gaze not at the assembled multitude but at John. The Sheriff shrugged; he counted himself among her staunchest supporters, and he did not care if the Governor knew it. The two men dismounted, and hands materialized out of the crowd to take the reins of their horses. When they reached the door of the car, a man stepped out of the crowd with a wooden box, which he placed in front of the door for a step. He climbed up on the box and wrenched the door open, then jumped down and stood aside for the Governor to enter. The people were eerily quiet; even the children stood silently watching as he mounted the step and entered the car.
The occupants of the car were aware that something was happening even before the door opened. The Judge had made a move to rise from his seat, but his former clerk pulled back the hammer on the gun that was pointed unswervingly at his head, and he fell back into his seat without a word. Rebecca had put Josie’s gun back in her bag. There was no need to keep Caleb covered; he had passed out shortly after finishing the bottle of wine. And the clerk had the Judge well in hand.
Rebecca turned when the door was flung open, and when she saw William step into the car, followed by John she was on her feet and moving toward them. She threw her arms around William’s neck and kissed his cheek. "Am I ever glad to see you," she enthused. Then she stepped to where John stood and hugged and kissed him as well. The blush that suffused his cheeks was clear to anyone who looked. "John…I don’t even know what to say. She owes her life to you. How can we ever repay you?"
"Just…live a long and happy life. That’s all I want."
"Thank you. We will."
The conductor tapped John on the shoulder, and the Sheriff turned to see a very angry looking man.
"You the one responsible for keeping my train here?"
"Yes."
"Then I’ll thank you to take your business elsewhere and let us get underway."
"Yes, of course. I’m sorry. Give me a few minutes to get the people off the tracks and we’ll let you go on your way." John stepped outside to talk to the Cherokee’s, and before he even returned the tracks were free of people. The sound of the steam engine firing up brought a cheer from the passengers who had been sitting for the better part of the day. But Josie knew they would all have a story to tell about Josie Hunter and the Cherokees who stopped the train when they reached their destination. It was probably the most excitement many of them had seen in their lives.
Rebecca led the Governor to where Josie still sat, and she introduced them. "Funny. You don’t look like a cold blooded killer," he said lightly as he shook her hand.
Josie laughed. "And you don’t look much like a Greek God, but you must be because that’s what Genie said she married." William threw back his head and laughed.
"You should hear what she said about you," he quipped.
"Will you please get these people off my train!" The conductor snapped at John, who in turn tapped the Governor on the shoulder.
"We need to get off the train, sir. I’ll take Miss Josie’s bag if you will get Miss Rebecca’s."
"All right. There’s just one thing I have to do first." He walked to where the Judge sat glowering and fuming. John had filled him in completely on the way to the train, and there was no doubt in his mind that this man had completely lost his objectivity – if indeed he had ever had any – and had no business sitting in judgement of his fellow man. "Mr. Fellowes, you are disbarred. Your license to practice law in the Territory of Oklahoma is revoked. And I suggest that if you hope to continue in the legal field at all that you do so as far away from here as you can get, as I plan to make sure that our neighboring states get an earful about you. Is that perfectly clear?"
The Judge said nothing; he knew he was hopelessly outnumbered. The Governor turned back to Josie and offered her his arm. "Miss Hunter, I believe we need to vacate these premises before Attila the Hun over there tosses us out on our ears." The conductor scowled as Josie stood and took William’s arm.
"That’s the best invitation I’ve had all day," she quipped. William collected Rebecca’s bag and the three of them made their way from the train. John paused to get the gun from the clerk and was on his way back when Rebecca poked her head in the door.
"Can you arrest Caleb for something and bring him with you, John? I need time to contact my sister and get her out of that house before he gets back there."
"Well, he’s drunk in a public place. I suppose I can hold him for a day or so on that." He pushed Caleb forward in his seat and put his arms under the sleeping man’s arms and around his chest. With a heave he pulled him up and dragged him to the door. Caleb never stirred even as he was handed out to several of the Cherokee’s who were still milling around beside the train. John grabbed Josie’s bag from the rack and jumped out of the car just as the whistle blew and the wheels began to move.
The parlor in the boarding house was completely packed with friends and well-wishers who came out to say good-bye to Josie and Rebecca. It had taken no time at all for the Governor to decide against extradition for Josie, and the celebration had begun shortly after the decision was announced. Rebecca sent a telegram to Katy telling her to come to Oklahoma where Genie had said she could stay indefinitely until Josie and Rebecca settled out west, at which time Katy would join them.
Charles and Horace were playing song after song, and everyone was either singing along or dancing. Josie and Rebecca were both constantly being whisked away to dance with someone besides each other, but knowing that this may be the last time they may see these friends, they whirled and danced with everyone who asked. No one seemed to notice that most of the dancers were women, or if they noticed, they did not care.
Josie turned to a tap on the shoulder to find Genie standing behind her, her hands outstretched. "I think it’s about my turn," Genie said with a smile. Josie nodded and pulled the smaller woman into her arms. They were playing a slow tune, and Genie’s head naturally rested on Josie’s shoulder, her body moving in perfect rhythm with the tall gunslinger. Josie felt a soft inhalation and a sigh before Genie pulled herself a bit farther away so she could look into the blue pools that were Josie’s eyes. "Sometimes," Genie said softly, "I wish we had…taken that next step in our relationship. I knew you wanted to; I could tell by the way that you looked at me. I wanted it to, but I was afraid. Can you forgive me for being such a coward?"
"There’s nothing to forgive. I knew you loved me too. I always thought that if we had not been so tragically separated we would have become lovers. But that’s so long ago now. You have William and I have Rebecca, and we’re both happy. But you’ll always be the first woman that I loved, and the place you own in my heart no one can ever share." As the music ended, she kissed Genie on the forehead before allowing herself to be turned by yet another hand on her shoulder. This one belonged to Rebecca.
"I heard that," the little blonde said softly. "And I know there is a part of you that will always belong to her." Josie opened her mouth to speak, but Rebecca touched her lips with her fingers to silence her. "No, it’s all right. I accept it. I could never ask you to let go of something so precious to you. All I ask is that you remember who loves you now, and tell me if there is ever anything I should be worried about. Promise me?"
"You have nothing to worry about…"
"Promise?"
"I promise." The soft notes of "Beautiful Dreamer" began to play, and Josie held out her hand to Rebecca. "May I have this dance?"
"Yes. And all the dances of my life." She stepped into her arms and they whirled into their future.
THE END
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