Jake

by Cynthia Woolf

  He captured her lips with his in a searing kiss.

  Jake felt a tug on his pant leg. He broke the kiss and looked down at Hannah.

  “Uncle Jake?”

  “Yes, Hannah,” he answered.

  “Are you gonna keep kissing Aunt Becky?” She looked up at him with her deep blue eyes. Eyes that some man would eventually get lost in.

  He squeezed Becky when she would have giggled.

  “I certainly am. Does that bother you?”

  “Well,” she rubbed her eyes. “I just wondered if since you like Aunt Becky now…what about me?”

  Jake dropped to his knees and opened his arms as wide as his injured shoulder would let him. Hannah ran to him and wrapped her arms tight around his neck.

  “Oh, Hannah, baby girl. You’ll always be my special girl but that doesn’t mean I can’t love Becky, too.”

  Becky felt all the breath leave her body in one big whoosh. Jake loved her? Did he mean it or was he just soothing a scared little girl? What about a scared big girl?

  “So does that mean we can stay?” asked David, impatiently.

  Jake ruffled the boy’s hair. “Yes, you can stay. Your father is probably right. I won’t be able to work a full day, but I’ll work as long as I can. In the mean time, you can fish and Hannah can play with her doll.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Jake.” David said and then he turned and walked down the hill to the river.

  “Aren’t you goin’ to read to me?” asked Hannah, holding up the book she brought. “It’s the one about the man on the island you read me before.”

  “You mean Robinson Crusoe. I remember. I promise I’ll come back in time to read to you before supper. Okay?” Jake walked over to the tent and got his waders.

  She pouted a bit but nodded her little head, her pigtails swinging about her shoulders. Then she sat down in the camp stool Jake had been sitting in and started talking to her doll. “Uncle Jake will be up soon to read to us.”

  Jake shook his head, sat down next to her on the other stool and pulled on his rubber waders.

  “How come you wear those funny boots? My Daddy and Uncle Zach and Becky and Davie all have some. Why don’t I get some? Huh?”

  “Because, young missy, you don’t go into the water. As a matter of fact,” he stared hard at her, “You don’t go anywhere near the water. Isn’t that right.”

  “Yup. I don’t want to go to the water. I might fall in again.”

  “That’s right. You might and Becky might not be there to save you next time.”

  Hannah looked up at him, unshed tears in her eyes. She snuffled a little. “I’m glad Becky’s here so she can save me.”

  “Ah, sweetie, don’t cry. Becky’s here to stay. As long as I’m here, Becky’s here. You understand, pumpkin? You got no reason to fear, but that doesn’t mean you can go by the river. Okay?”

  She nodded and two fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “Good. Now why don’t you get that stick we used yesterday. It’s there by the tent opening. That’s what we’re going to use to do your letters from now on. You can practice on what you learned yesterday.”

  She set her doll on the stool, ran to the tent and found the stick while he finished putting on his boots and got ready to go pan for gold.

  Hannah came back with the stick he’d carved for her. “This one?” she asked holding it up in front of her.

  “That’s the one. Now you sit here and practice your letters and I’ll check them when I come back up to camp. Just leave them here in the dirt when you’re done. If you want you can go take a nap in the tent.”

  “Uncle Jake,” she said it with such exasperation that Jake nearly laughed. “I don’t take naps anymore. I’m a big girl now.”

  “So you are, pumpkin, so you are.” He couldn’t disagree, as much as he wanted to. She was growing up, had grown up on the way here and turned into a pleasing little girl. She didn’t whine and usually didn’t pout much, did exactly as she was told and missed her Mommy and her Daddy, too, since he was always working.

  She was trying to hang on to the only family she had. Hannah could have gone the other way and become a real brat, but she hadn’t and for that, Jake was grateful to her father. He had taken off from work when Mary had died. But he’d worked long weeks before that and after to make up the time, so he could be with his children when they needed him most.

  Jake raked a knuckle lightly down her cheek. “You may be growing up but you’ll always be my special girl.”

  “I will. You just told me so.”

  He nodded.

  “Even after you and Becky have babies?”

  “Yes, even then.”

  She beamed at him.

  CHAPTER 13

  Billy watched the camp from the hill above, hidden by the thick forest of trees. From there he could see if Jake had visits from his brothers with any frequency. It seemed no one expected Billy to be here much less be sober. He hadn’t had a drink in days, not since Becky and her fucking husband brought in the bodies of those two bounty hunters. The bounty hunters made a stupid mistake. They wanted Jake alive. They wanted the damn bounty and they paid for that mistake with their lives.

  Not Billy. All he wanted was the gold. And that meant he needed Becky back and so Anderson had to die. As long as he lived, Becky was out of Billy’s reach.

  Becky was his to do with as he fucking pleased. She was his daughter. He’d already sold her to Winters and Winters wanted his money back or he wanted Becky. Billy wasn’t going to give that money back. Couldn’t. He’d already drank it.

  That was why he was sober. No damn money. He could pan for gold in the river but that was too much work and he liked it so much better when he could just get the dust or a nugget from Becky. He wasn’t going to put in the work if he didn’t have to.

  There was the problem of the bastard Andersons though. He hadn’t worked that out yet. They wouldn’t let him just kill Jake and not come after him. Whatever he decided, Jake would be dead. No one treated Billy the way he did and got away with it.

  ~*~

  Jake hated to admit it but Liam and Becky were right. He had gone back to work too soon. He felt the blood ooze from his wound and knew when Becky saw it, there was going to be hell to pay. For some reason, his little wife had made herself his keeper since they were married. Marriage changed things. He knew he was protective of her in a way he hadn’t been before. Oh, he never wanted to see Billy abuse her but he felt that way about any woman. There was no way he would stand by and allow them to be beaten while he was there to stop it.

  But with Becky the feelings were more than that. He didn’t want anything to hurt her. No person, no illness, no accidents, anything. She’d worked her way into his mind and if he admitted it, into his heart. He was closer to her than he’d ever been to Elizabeth. He and Becky were building something together. A life. One he couldn’t fathom without Becky in it.

  Was this what Liam felt for Mary? The pain he went through, was still going through, after losing her…Jake didn’t know how he did it. As short a time as they’d been together and he could only imagine how lonely his life would be without Becky. She laughed with him and fought with him. She was stubborn and hard headed and sweet and gentle. She was everything at once and all that he could ask for in a wife.

  He walked up the hill to the camp. He heard Hannah singing to her dolly in the tent. David had cleaned his catch and put them in a pan setting on the stones circling the fire ready to fry. They would make a good meal. David was a good fisherman and provided for his family and now Jake and Becky, too.

  Jake put down the gold pan he’d been holding with his good arm and called to David. “Can you help me, please? I need help to take off these waders.” Jake sat down and worked the one boot off as much as he could with the toe of the other.

  “Sure Uncle Jake. Are you tired now? Daddy said you would be.” David pulled on Jake’s boots, one at a time, until both were off and Jake was in his socks.

  “Wel
l, your father was right,” said Jake, “as much as I hate to admit it. Don’t tell him I said so, though. It’ll just make it harder for me to live with him.”

  “I don’t understand. You don’t live with him. How will it be harder?” David took Jakes waders and set them next to the tent to dry in the bright sunshine.

  “Never mind. It’s just a saying.” Jake pulled on his regular boots and laced them up as tight as he could with one dud arm.

  “Grown-ups are strange,” observed David.

  Jake laughed. “You’re right, we are.”

  “We are what?” asked Becky as she walked over to them.

  “Strange,” said Jake.

  She looked at Jake and then at David, both of whom suddenly broke out in laughter.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing important,” said Jake, with a groan.

  Becky dropped her pan on the ground and hurried to his side. “You hurt yourself didn’t you. I told you it was too soon. Take off your shirt,” she demanded.

  Jake didn’t dare not do what she asked. He knew he needed the bandage changed. He unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off his shoulder.

  “It’s bleeding, not just seeping,” said Becky. “I’ll change the bandage but you need to stop trying to do what you shouldn’t. All the wound needs is a few more days and you’ll be able to work the river again without breaking it open.”

  “All right,” said Jake, resigned to the fact he was going to have to lay low for a few days. “I’ll work with Hanna on her letters and David and I will take turns reading to her.” He looked around the camp. “Where is Hannah? I don’t hear her singing anymore.”

  “She’s in the tent. Sleeping.” David yawned. “Sometimes, I wish I could take a nap, too.”

  “Don’t we all, David, don’t we all,” agreed Becky.

  Becky quickly changed Jake’s bandages. Dried blood caked the old bandage as fresh blood seeped on to it from where he’d opened the wound with his working.

  “You’re lucky, it’s not as bad as I thought. There are a couple of small tears but for the most part it’s still together and I don’t think you’ll need more stitches. Do this again and I’m going take you to Doc Cochran.”

  Jake felt like a chastised child but guessed he’d sort of been acting that way. He hadn’t listened to Liam or Becky when they told him to take it easy and let the wound heal. It bothered him that he couldn’t work. He was afraid Becky would start to compare him with Billy and he didn’t ever want to be lumped in with the likes of him.

  ~*~

  Billy crept slowly toward the tent. They’d gone to bed long ago and would be asleep now. He’d waited until he was certain. Jake was wounded and Becky, well once Jake was out of the picture, Becky would be easy to control as she always was.

  They’d leave and go west, just him and Becky. She’d go back to working and taking care of him and he’d go back to drinking and carousing and forgetting how much he hated his daughter for what she did. Killing his Jenny. His wife. The love of his life. It was Becky’s fault. If she’d never been born, then Jenny would still be alive.

  Vengeance and hatred were all he had now. All that drove him.

  He opened the tent flap and fell upon the sleeping forms. He stabbed and stabbed, expecting to hear their screams but he didn’t hear…anything. Something was wrong. Something… He felt soaring pain and grabbed the back of his head.

  He fell over and for a second, he saw them. He raised his knife. Something hit the side of his head again and pain crashed over him, but for only a moment.

  He raised his hand upward. “Jenny. Jenny, I’m finally coming home.”

  Jake held his gun aloft, ready to hit Billy again if he needed to. They’d been waiting for him to make his move, had prepared for it ever since David told them he’d seen a man in the woods above the camps.

  Becky lit the lantern.

  Jake had moved their sleeping pallet to the very back of the tent rather than near the opening. He was afraid Billy or someone Billy hired, might try to kill them. Kill him, Jake amended. Billy wanted Becky alive. She was worth money to him.

  It had taken some rearranging to make the room for two sleeping pallets, one filled with sacks of dry goods, flour, beans and sugar. All of which was full of holes now from Billy’s knife. Better them than Jake.

  Jake checked Billy’s neck to see if there was a heartbeat. He really didn’t want to have killed him. As much as Becky may have hated her father, Jake knew she hadn’t wanted him dead. But there was no heartbeat. Billy was dead.

  He looked over at Becky and shook his head. “I’m sorry. He’s gone.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” said Becky, biting her lip. “The bastard just tried to kill us, well you anyway. Did you see that the knife was only in your side of the bed?”

  “I saw. He wanted you alive.”

  She swiped at a lone tear that rolled down her cheek. “I will not cry for this man who hated me. I will not.”

  Jake opened his arms and she flew into them. She cried for a few minutes and then pulled back away from him.

  “Why? Why did he hate me so much and then go through with trying to kill you to get me back? Surely, he felt something for me. Didn’t he?”

  Jake was torn. Should he tell her the truth or let her believe that Billy somehow cared for her. Truth won out.

  “Becky, sweetheart,” Jake wrapped her tight in his arms. “Billy didn’t love you. He wanted you back so he didn’t have to work. You always took care of him and worked for him. That’s all he wanted you for. He sold you remember? I believe he planned on killing Winters and getting you back, maybe to sell you again.”

  She shuddered.

  “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I don’t want you to feel bad because I had to kill the man who fathered you. He was never a father to you. Fathers don’t treat their children the way Billy treated you. Do you see Liam behaving the way Billy did with his children? Liam loves his children. They are not just work horses for him. Understand?”

  She nodded into his chest.

  “I plan on being a father like Liam to our children.”

  She looked up at him. “You still want to be married to me? Billy’s dead, you don’t have to protect me anymore. As far as any law knows we were never married and you can walk away.”

  “No, I can’t. I don’t walk away from my obligations.”

  She pulled back out of his arms. New tears trickled down her cheeks. “Is that what I am to you? An obligation?”

  “No. That’s not what I meant,” he stammered. “I said it wrong. Becky, I want to stay married to you. We’ve made plans and we have dreams and I can’t imagine doing any of those things or being without you.”

  She looked up at him, her face, dirty from working so hard, streaked with trails from her tears. “You…you want to stay married…to me?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “But why?” She slowly shook her head from side to side. “Not just because of the things we planned to do. Either of us can do those without the other and still fulfill those dreams. Tell me why, Jake. Why should I stay with you?”

  Her voice was almost pleading and he knew what she wanted to hear. Did he love her? Was that why he wanted her to stay?

  “Becky…I,” said Jake. He looked down and took both of her hands in his. “I love you. I can say that now and know it to be true.” He let go of her and ran his hands through his hair and began to pace in front of her. “I want to be with you all the time. I can’t imagine my life without you. The thought of not seeing you every day, of not talking to you and loving you every night fills me with such a void. I—oof”

  She launched herself into his arms, unmindful of his shoulder and covered his face with little kisses. “I love you, too. So much I hurt inside just thinking of us parting.”

  He steadied her with both hands and then took her face between his the palms of his hands, angled his mouth over hers and kissed her with all the love that was in him. Becky, his sweet little miner,
his lover, his wife. He’d been redeemed by this little rebel of his. His life was now about her, not about vengeance, not about death. She saved him because she loved him.

  “Come on, let’s go get Liam and Zach to help us with Billy.”

  “What are we going to do with him?”

  “Take him into Deadwood and get him buried, just like we did the bounty hunters. He deserves at least that much,” said Jake, easing his grasp on his beautiful wife only long enough to turn and take her hand.

  ~*~

  They had no service for Billy. Jake paid the undertaker twenty dollars to bury him. No words were spoken. No one attended.

  That part of Becky’s life was over and Jake wouldn’t have her reliving it as she buried her father.

  ~*~

  With his shoulder finally healed, Jake went back to working the cliff and the ropes. He discovered, much to his irritation that he’d lost some strength in his arm and couldn’t work as long as before.

  “How was your day?” asked Becky when he returned to camp the first night.

  “Long. I’m still weaker than I need to be.” He pulled her into his arms. “But I’m still strong enough to hold you.” He gave her a kiss.

  He let her go and bent to stir the ashes and build the fire bigger. “I can’t pull my weight, yet. Zach and Liam are having to do more than they should. I did, however, hit a big vein today. It’ll be a matter of days before we find out how deep and how wide it is but it could be the one. The one that will let us get out of this place and start over. Start pursuing those dreams we have.”

  She took the frying pan she’d put on the ground and set it in the fire after he’d gotten it going. She wanted the grease melted and the pan good and hot before she poured the batter in. It gave the bread a nice crisp outside. “I thought I’d make some cornbread to go with the beans for tonight. Would you prepare the coals for me while I make the batter?”

  “Sure,” Jake banked some of the hot coals to one side of the fire. Then he moved the hot fry pan on top of the glowing embers.