Portals
of Time
Vicky McCracken
Copyright © 2014 Vicky McCracken
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1494884185
ISBN-13: 1494884186
DEDICATION
I would like to thank everyone in the Damascus Writers’ Group for their help and support of this book.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
i
Prologue
216
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
Chapter 1
5
Chapter 1
222
Chapter 2
29
Chapter 2
237
Chapter 3
47
Chapter 3
252
Chapter 4
79
Chapter 4
266
Chapter 5
103
Chapter 5
282
Chapter 6
132
Chapter 6
296
Chapter 7
159
Chapter 7
308
Chapter 8
182
Chapter 8
326
Chapter 9
197
Chapter 9
339
ACKNOWLEDGeMENTS
I would like to thank Victoria Fletcher for proofreading and editing my books and getting them ready for publication.
Book One:
The Lazy Cross
Chapter 1
Jessie James McCoy rode into town from the cattle drive he’d just finished up. He had been out for a long time and was glad to be heading back to a town and sort of familiar territory. He stopped and looked at the wooden sign welcoming him to Silver City. Kicking his horse gently, he rode on. He knew it was late but the saloon would be in full swing; maybe some of the fellows he’d been on the drive with would be there. Anyway, he was ready for a good meal. The cook on the cattle drive hadn’t been a very good one.
He stopped in front of the saloon and tied his horse, patting the horse a little before walking to the door of the saloon. Yeah, it was in full swing alright. Some of the girls were dancing on the bar and the fellows were yelling at the top of their lungs. Jessie walked through the swinging door and up to the bar.
“I’ll have a whiskey,” he yelled to the bar keeper over the noise.
The man behind the bar set out a glass and bottle. He poured the first one and left the bottle when Jessie motioned him away. After downing about three glasses, he asked the barkeep,
“Hey, where can a man find some grub?”
“You come to the right place stranger,” he heard a woman’s voice say. He turned and looked into the bluest eyes he’d ever seen and for a moment forgot all about his hunger pains.
“My name is Missy Clarke and I reckon if you follow me to the kitchen, I’ll see what’s left. The cook is gone for the night and we’ve seen a bunch of hungry in here. Where’ you been anyway,” Missy asked as she led the way into the kitchen.
“Good to meet you Miss Missy, my name is Jessie James McCoy. I’ve been on a cattle drive and just got back into town tonight. Reckon that’s where most of the others come from too. I recognized some of them.”
“Well Mr. Jessie James McCoy, here’s your grub. Why were you named Jessie James,” Missy asked as she put the plate in front of him.
“My father met Jessie James at one of the bank robberies just before I was born. My father had gone to Mississippi after some horses. Somehow he ended up in Missouri at a saloon across the street from a bank Jessie and his gang robbed. My father ran outside when he realized it was a bank robbery. A small boy was on the street and a couple of Jessie’s gang knocked him down. Jessie stopped long enough to pick the boy up and make sure he was okay. Seeing my father across the street, he had come over and placed a couple of gold coins into his hands, smiled and ran to his horse and away he went. No one was sure Jessie James had anything to do with that robbery for no one saw any of their faces. No one but my father and he never said a word. He thought Jessie James was a good man, I guess because he picked up the little boy and that’s how I got my name,” Jessie was eating as he spoke and soon Missy was refilling his plate.
Missy sat and talked to Jessie while he ate.
“Do you need a room for the night?”
“Yes Miss Missy, I sure do,” said Jessie.
Missy smiled the prettiest smile he had ever seen.
“I will get you one if you call me Missy. By the way, the grub is on the house along with the room.” She led the way back toward the saloon. It seemed even louder than before. Some fellow grabbed Missy and Jessie decked him without thinking then followed her up the stairs to a room at the end of the hall. She unlocked the door and held the light she had in her hand until he had lit the lamp on the wall beside the door and replaced the globe. Light flooded the small room.
Jessie turned to Missy. “It was nice to meet you Missy. Will I see you in the morning?”
“Maybe,” Missy smiled, “if you want more grub in the morning. It was nice meeting you too Jessie James McCoy.”
Jessie watched as Missy swayed slowly down the hall until she was out of sight. “Wow,” he said under his breath. Closing the door he pulled off his boots and yawned widely. Looking at his watch he saw it was two a.m. No wonder he was sleepy. He stretched out on the bed where he fell asleep almost at once.
The next time he opened his eyes, daylight was streaming into the room and he sat up on the edge of the bed. He looked around the small room; the lamp had burned out of oil sometime before he had awakened. He stood and walked to the basin to pour a little of the water from the pitcher into it. The water he splashed on his face was cold. He wiped with a towel, slid into his boots, and went in search of the outhouse.
Coming back toward the back of the saloon, he was almost hit by the water Missy threw out the back door.
“Oh, sorry,” she was laughing, “Come on in if you want something to eat.”
Jessie followed her into the kitchen noticing that today her dark hair was only pulled back from her face and hung down her back whereas last night it had been piled on top of her head and held in place by large pins. Her hair was long, down to her waist, so dark it was almost black. It didn’t seem to go with her deep blue eyes. He also noticed the women in the saloon last night had worn dresses partly off their shoulders and showing quite a bit of their breasts. But Missy’s dress had covered her body everywhere and today she had on one of a light blue color with a high neck. Her shoes were low and slightly worn out. Even so, Jessie thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“How did you sleep Mr. McCoy,” she asked as she motioned him to a chair at the table.
“Good,” he said. “Do you run this place?”
“No, it belongs to my father. The cook sent word he wouldn’t be in today so I am the cook. Besides, Papa doesn’t have to pay me for working.”
“I see,” Jessie looked down at the plate she had set before him. It smelled good.
“Anyway, it’s good to see you again Mr. McCoy.”
“Call me Jessie.”
“Done,” Missy said smiling.
He would like nothing better than to take Missy back up to his room and stay all day.
“Sit and talk while I eat,” he said without letting her know what he was thinking.
She sat across the table from him and they talked for a good while until a man entered the kitchen saying, “Here you are Missy, I wondered where you had gone off to. Still feeding those cowpokes are ya,” the man stood in the doorway to the saloon which was now quiet and dark.
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p; “Papa, this is Jessie James McCoy. He’s one of the fellows from the cattle drive that came through last night.”
Jessie stood and offered his hand to the older man.
“Good to meet you sir.”
Missy’s father shook hands with Jessie.
“Call me Frank. It’s good to meet you son. Now you finish your grub there,” he waved his hand toward the table.
Jessie sat back down to finish his food and Frank disappeared back into the saloon. Missy and Jessie talked for what seemed to be hours and then she walked up to his room with him. He paid to stay for two more nights. Somehow he didn’t want to leave, he wanted to get to know Missy better.
The next morning he showed up in the kitchen for breakfast. Missy told him most fellas didn’t eat in the kitchen because her father didn’t like it. But her father wasn’t here.
“Think you could get away after a while? I’d like to take you for a ride,” Jessie asked.
“I’d like that very much Jessie.”
“We’ll go after dinner,” Jessie tipped his hat as he left the room. He walked across the street to the bath house and paid for a bath and shave. Afterwards, he took his horse to the stables and borrowed a buggy for their ride. Then he made his way back to the saloon and up to his room where he slipped into some clean clothes. Going back down stairs he ordered a whiskey and watched some fellas playing a hand of Poker before sitting down with them.
“You sure you are bad enough to play? You look a little wet behind the ears yet,” one of the men asked.
“I know how to play, ain’t that enough,” Jessie answered.
“Deal,” the man said and the game began. At first Jessie lost two hundred dollars, then he began to win. By dinner time he had won seven hundred dollars before the other fellas left the game.
Later Jessie met Missy outside the saloon for their ride. They rode down by the river and Jessie parked the buckboard under a large tree. They walked along the water’s edge laughing and talking until finally Missy said,
“We better get back, Jessie, it will be time to help cook for supper.”
“You’re right,” Jessie said. “I didn’t realize how long we had been out here. Race you back.”
Laughing, they ran all the way back to the buggy. Jessie learned a lot about Missy that day. He hated for their time together to end. As he let her out in front of the saloon he said,
“See you tomorrow Missy, for breakfast.”
“Yes you will, Jessie James McCoy,” Missy smiled at him as she turned and walked into the saloon.
Jessie returned the buggy and walked back to the saloon and up to his room. He lay on his bed and his mind relived his time with Missy. “He was falling in love with her,” he thought to himself as he fell asleep.
By the third day, Jessie and Missy had spent every free minute together that Missy had from work and Jessie knew he was in love with her. The night before he was about to leave, he had supper with Missy and her father and mother at their house a few doors down from the saloon. The meal was wonderful and then the two men went out for what Frank called a smoke, which turned out to be a jug of whiskey. This was what gave Jessie the courage to ask for Missy’s hand in marriage.
“Sir, I love your daughter and I know we’ve only known each other for a few days but I would like your blessing. I want to ask her to marry me if she’ll have me.”
“I think you are a good man, Jessie and I know my Missy loves you too. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you, but you would be taking away my only daughter to God knows where.”
“I’m planning on going to Texas to buy a ranch. You could come with us or you could visit any time you want.”
“A visit would be nice, but I can’t leave. My whole life is here but if you love my daughter and she will have you, yes, you have my blessing.”
The next morning Jessie asked Missy to marry him and go to Texas to start their new home. They would buy some land with his Poker and cattle drive money and build a house. He was worried Missy wouldn’t be willing to leave behind the only home she had ever known but she said yes. She would go anywhere with him.
They were married that evening and stayed the night with her father and mother and got an early start the next morning. Jessie bought a covered wagon from a man who needed money to pay a Poker debt. He had gotten it dirt cheap. The long trip to Texas was wonderful and terrible. During the first week of their long trip it was hot. Missy had sunburn on her face and arms and she longed for night when at least the sun went down and she could pull off her dress. Even that didn’t help much and they decided to sleep outside where they could catch a little wind.
By the time the second week came, Missy was almost blistered from the sun and then came the rain. At first they welcomed it, but it rained day and night. On the third day of solid raining, everything was muddy and soaked. About midday, they were traveling over some flat land and the rain slacked up some. Now it was more like a hard mist.
The road, if you could call it that, was rough. Missy was in the back of the wagon trying to mend some socks but she kept pricking her finger. Finally she gave up and put on her rain gear to go up front with Jessie when suddenly the right side of the wagon tilted and the wagon stopped. It threw her up against the side of the wagon.
“What happened Jessie,” she called.
“Don’t know yet,” Jessie called back. He climbed out of the wagon and walked around where he saw one of the back wheels at least ten inches in the mud.
Missy poked her head out the back of the wagon.
“What is it?”
“The wheel is in about ten inches of mud,”
“I’ll come help,” Missy slipped into her shoes and jumped from the back of the wagon holding up her dress tail so she wouldn’t fall. Jessie was right. The wheel was deep in the mud.
“Look for some rocks, good sized ones, but don’t go too far,” Jessie told her.
“Okay.” Missy looked around before she started off to the left where she saw a rather large rock and was glad it wasn’t raining hard.
Together they carried rocks and laid them in front of the rear wheel.
“You stay back here Missy,” Jessie was headed for the front of the wagon. “I’m going to see if I can get the wagon out now.”
He tried several times and once Missy thought the wheel was going to come out but it slid back into the mud even deeper than before. Jessie came ‘round and looked at it just as it began to rain harder once more.
“We need to empty the wagon,” said Jessie.
“Take everything out of the wagon and into the rain,” asked Missy.
“Yes, it may help us get out of the mud if we don’t have a lot of weight on the wagon,” Jessie added.
They began to move everything out of the wagon. Missy hated putting everything out into the rain but she knew Jessie was right. The less weight on the wagon, the better it would be. Once the wagon was empty, Jessie tried again to move the wagon wheel from the mud. Missy assisted by pushing but nothing seemed to help. The wheel only rolled back into the mud once again.
At this point Missy began to cry.
“This is bad Jessie. We’ll never get out of this mud.”
“Yes we will, we may just have to wait until it freezes.”
Missy laughed and hugged her husband.
“You’re silly.”
Suddenly they heard a noise. Jessie wiped the rain from his face and looked down the road. There, coming into sight, was another wagon. Jessie waited until it came up beside them. The wagon pulled up and stopped. Two older men jumped out after a young boy stopped the horses.
“Need some help, do ya, young feller,” one of the men asked.
“Yes, we seem to be stuck in the mud,” Jessie said holding out his hand. “Jessie McCoy is my name and this is my wife Missy.”
The two older men shook Jessie’s hand and tipped their dripping hats to Missy.
“Get off the wagon seat Ned and say hello to these nice people. Where are
your manners boy,” one of the older men said to the young boy, who looked to be about fourteen.
The boy jumped to the ground. After looking over the scene, they all decided to push. With everyone pushing, they had the wagon out of the mud in a few minutes. Then the men helped Jessie and Missy load everything back into the wagon. Everything was wet, even their flour was ruined.
“Ned, run get some flour from the bin and put it in a dry sack from the back. This will do you till you reach the next town to get supplies. It’s only about fifty miles on down. You can dry your other things out there.”
“Thank you for your help,” Jessie said.
“Anytime young feller. Here, have a bottle on us, it’ll warm ye up,” the man handed Jessie a bottle of whiskey and he took a good stiff drink and passed it to Missy who sipped a little and passed it back.
The two men and the young boy waved as they turned and drove off to the right, their wagon shaking as it went over the rocky ground. Missy and Jessie watched them until they were out of sight, which wasn’t far in the heavy rain. Jessie put his arm around Missy holding her close to him.
“We need to get somewhere to camp tonight. We have lost a lot of time and haven’t traveled many miles today.”
“I know Jessie,” Missy answered wiping the water from her face. She moved closer to Jessie and he could feel her shiver.
“Are you alright,” he asked her.
“Yes, just a little chilly because of the rain,” Missy answered.
They found a place to camp under a thick grove of trees to stop some of the rain. They couldn’t make a fire to cook so they sat inside the wagon eating dry bread and jerky, finishing with a taste of the whiskey the men had left them.
Sometime in the night Missy began to freeze. Jessie tried to keep her warm but she was burning up with fever. By morning her fever was raging and Jessie was worried. He tried to get them into town as fast as he could. Once they arrived, they took a room in the only boarding house in town. At first, the woman didn’t want to let them stay. Her husband was out of town and on weekends the town was crazy with cow pokes in the bar running wild once they were drunk. She changed her mind once she found out how sick Missy was.
Portals of Time Page 1
