Finally Home
Part 3 of the "Home" trilogy
Part 1: Let's Go Home
Part 2: Coming Home
"Damn, do they ever slow down?" Chris asked Vin as they chased JD's twin boys through the pasture."Casey claims they sleep now and then, but I've never seen it," Vin answered, capturing one boy and swinging him up into the air. "Whoa there, pardner! No playing in the creek!"
Chris finally reached the youngster he'd marked and got him by the back of his britches. "How can you tell which is which?"
Vin shrugged as they turned back towards the ranch house. "Don't matter. I just call them 'twin.' Not like they're gonna answer anyway."
The two-year olds had a large and varied vocabulary, but unfortunately it was still mostly single words or baby babble. They giggled, struggled and squealed as they were toted back to their parents.
Chris Larabee paused a minute to drink the peaceful scene before him. Nettie's old ranch house had been updated, white-washed and the corral was expanded to hold more horses. A new barn was situated a bit further back and out front of the house, under a tree, the ladies lounged, sipping tea while they chatted. Little Chrissy was the quietest Chris had seen yet, playing with a doll by her mother's side. Tables had been set out in the cool shade for the now almost-ritual Sunday dinner the group enjoyed on a monthly basis. The location for the gathering rotated between homes according to Vin's account of their routine.
When hosted by Mary and Buck, the group gathered in town at the home that had been built behind the newspaper office. Buck had insisted on a safer place to raise Chrissy. Mary sold her home out of town to Nathan and Rain, who had turned the ranch into a poultry farm. Rain didn't attend the church service, preferring to worship her gods in her own way, but she usually brought the fried chicken for the dinner, at everyone's request. Chris agreed. . .that woman really knew her chickens.
Ezra's contribution was the occasional dinner at the restaurant he owned in town as part of his hotel property. It also included a gathering for poker and drinks for the men later in the evening, while the ladies retired to the Wilmington's for their tea and dessert. Vin and Josiah usually put together a camp-style or picnic meal for their rare turn, the group not asking too much of the other two bachelors.
"Chris!"
Buck was shouting and waving, gesturing towards the rear of the house as they approached with the twins. Settling the boys into their small fenced play-yard, Chris and Vin followed to find the men gathered in the back yard checking over their guns while JD was setting up some cans and bottles along the furthest fence line.
"Thought we'd have a little competition," Buck smiled, "Friendly little quick draw. Billy's idea actually. I think he wants to see if you're all you're cracked up to be."
"I take it then we will be wagering something, Mr. Wilmington. Just to make it interesting, of course. Say, a five dollar ante each, winner take all?" drawled Ezra as he holstered his Remington.
"Yeah, right, Ezra. In your dreams," sneered Buck. "Mary'll tar and feather you herself you keep teaching this boy to gamble."
Billy gave his step-father a pained look. "I already know how to gamble, Papa Buck. Besides, didn't you say what Mother doesn't know. . ."
Buck placed a hand over the boy's mouth as he looked quickly around for any prying eyes or ears. "You hush, boy. Whatever I said or didn't say, don't bear repeating. This is just for fun. You got that, Ezra? Fun."
Chris shook his head and smirked at Vin. Trained some, but not tamed; old Buck was still Buck.
With Josiah and Nathan abstaining from the gunplay, Billy and Buck shot first; the youngster out-drawing his stepfather. Chris nodded appreciatively. The boy was promising. He out-drew Vin also, but fell to Ezra's speed. Ez and JD had to shoot three rounds before JD was finally declared the winner.
Ezra had tried to cheat the second time by using the derringer he still kept up his sleeve, but had been roundly smacked upside the head by the irate Sheriff Papa Buck who threatened to lock him up in the jail on his next Saturday night drunk.
JD faced Chris with a grin. "So, cowboy, it's between me and you. Always figured it would come down to this."
Chris looked at Vin. "He just call me a cowboy, Mr. Tanner?"
Vin snorted and Ezra drawled, "I believe he did, Mr. Larabee. At least once."
Chris stepped up to the firing line and checked his gun while Buck and Billy went to set up more targets. At Josiah's count-down, guns were drawn like lightening and bullets flew. Chris took down all six of his targets by the time JD had taken five of his.
Billy whistled thru his teeth as Chris uncocked and holstered his gun. JD tucked his gun away and, hands on gun butts, grumbled, "Damn. Well, you ain't lost your edge, old man."
Chris gave him a gentle open-handed tap on his cheek and told him, "I reckon it don't matter much 'cause if we'd really been facing either other, we'd both be dead. You're a hell of a shot, JD. You were always fast, but you've improved your accuracy. I wouldn't have time to get off any more shots if you'd put a bullet between my eyes."
JD reached out to take the man's hand. "Heaven forbid that ever happens. I wouldn't want to be known as the man who was faster than Chris Larabee if that's what it would take."
Buck stepped up and threw an arm around the shoulders of both of his friends, pulling them in close. "Ain't none of us ever going to raise a gun to one another. Never happen."
"Amen," echoed Josiah, stepping in to join the hug, with Nathan on his heels. Chris looked at Vin who muttered, "Aw, hell" before moving within an arm's reach of his friends.
"If you will all excuse me. . ." Ezra started to say, looking decidedly uncomfortable, but Josiah swung out a long arm and snagged the man's collar, dragging him in.
"I'd have made an exception for you, Ezra, but what the hell. I'm feeling mighty mellow today after that supper," Chris grinned at him as the others dropped the group hug in favor of man-handling the dapper gambler, mussing his neat apparel for maximum annoyance.
"Cease this unwelcome molestation, gentlemen or I will be forced to. . .ooof!"
Again Ezra's words were cut off as Josiah grabbed him and turned him upside down. "We were showing you some affection, Ezra. Be grateful. Just imagine what would happen if we didn't like you."
"A scenario I do not care to contemplate, Brother Josiah and as I am about to pass out due to an excess of blood in my cranium, therefore preventing me from contemplating anything, I beseech you to emancipate my person from your overly-affectionate embrace."
JD bent over, cocking his head to look Ezra square in the eyes. "What's that you said?"
"I said, put me down, you big buffoon!"
Josiah obliged by immediately dropping the hapless man into the garden dirt, just missing a row of Casey's vegetables. Then he grinned and offered him a hand up, dusting him off with painful vigor.
"With friends like you, my wardrobe needs no enemies," Ezra grumbled, snatching his hat from Vin's offered hand. "I do not know why I have put up with you rowdy heathens for all this time."
"You love us, Ezra. Besides, nobody else would have put up with you for this long," Vin admonished him as they moved back towards the front of the house where a dessert table awaited their return.
"You'd miss Rain's fried chicken," Nathan added.
"That is a pretty hefty reason for sticking around, I'd say," Chris added and they all stopped to look at him.
"That mean you're sticking around, old dawg?" Buck asked him.
Chris nodded. "Got me an offer to work on a horse ranch somewhere 'bouts here." He gave Vin a smile before he added, "Of course, not in competition with JD, I take it."
"I gentle horses for carriages, ladies and fine gentlemen, Chris. Hunters and hacks. High end livestock. I think Vin has in mind breaking broncs for the Army. Not quite the same thing," JD informed him.
Chris slapped Vin on the back. "Then I guess you got yourself a partner, partner."
Vin just grinned.
"Any way I can persuade you to take a badge?" Buck asked. "You don't have to actually wear it. Just be sworn in and put in your time at the jail like we've always done, or the occasional posse. Pay's terrible and you get shot at."
"How can I refuse such a tempting offer," Chris answered. "Do I get to arrest Ezra when he's drunk and disorderly?"
Ezra sniffed, "I am occasionally drunk, sir, but never disorderly."
"You look a little disorderly now, Ezra. Shirt's still hanging out in back," JD advised him, making the gambler grumble and curse under his breath as he straightened his clothing.
Buck nodded, "Suit yourself. I find handing him over to Nathan and his magic potions make him a mite more miserable than just locking him up though."
"It's my only fun, Chris," Nathan pleaded.
Chris grinned, "Guess we can't deprive Nathan of his fun then. I'll stop by the jail tomorrow to get my badge, Buck."
Buck smiled broadly, clapping his hands together and rubbing them like a preying mantis. "Let's go see what the ladies have set out for us. I heard rumor of some of Casey's sweet potato pie."
+ + + + + + +
Chris was leaning on the corral fence looking over JD's stock when he noticed the scent of rosewater in the air. He turned and found Mary standing there, watching him. The polite smile on her lips didn't match the flint in her eyes. Vin had warned him.
"You ran out on me, Chris Larabee," she accused. "You didn't even say goodbye."
"I'm sorry, Mary. Truly. If I'd had any idea. . ."
She held up a hand to stop him. "I didn't come to get an apology. Just wanted things straight between us. She's my daughter. Mine and Buck's. We raised her and that's all that matters. I don't want her to ever question that. I hope I make myself clear."
"People talk, Mary. Can't stop that. She may hear it from someone someday."
Mary crossed her arms, as much the gritty businesswoman as ever. "Then it's up to you to tell her different if she ever comes to you asking."
Chris crossed his arms to match her determination. "Lie, Mary? You want me to lie to her?" he accused. "I thought the truth was your sole mission in life, Mrs. Wilmington."
"This is the truth. You know as well as I that a father is more than a. . .a. . ..breeding stud. Buck is her father in every way as far as I'm concerned."
She colored slightly at her words but kept her head high. He dropped his arms and sighed. "Okay. You're right. For her sake, I'm her Uncle Chris. I'm still sorry though. She's a beautiful girl, Mary and I'd have been proud to be her father."
"Thank you. And just so you know, I don't have any regrets. None. Buck is ultimately what I needed. Whatever was between you and I. . ."
She let her words trail off, her 'plain talking' off her chest and not knowing what else to say. Hell, Chris thought, he didn't know what to say either.
"I'm happy you're home. Four Corners still needs you," she added.
"Gunslinger with a bad rep? I don't know that any town needs that."
Mary smiled, "Maybe it will scare away the bad element."
Chris snorted. "More likely attract a worse one."
+ + + + + + +
"Nice shack, cowboy," Chris told Vin as they rode up to the homestead.
Chris had built the original structure years ago as an escape from town when things got too close for comfort. Apparently Vin had made a few improvements since then, including enlarging the corral and adding a small shelter for the horses. "It ain't much, but it's home," Vin said as he dismounted Peso.
They cared for their horses, stowed tack and then took their saddle bags into the house silently and as companionably as if they'd been living together all these years. It was obvious that Vin had been sleeping on the top bunk so Chris set his bags down on the lower bunk. Then he wandered back out to the porch and sat down on the steps to watch the sun go down over the meadow. Vin brought out a bottle and two glasses, pouring and handing one to Chris without asking. They sipped quietly for some time before Vin commented, "It's still your place, you know."
Chris shook his head. "I gave it up when I left. Yours now."
"How about fifty-fifty, just like the business?" Vin suggested.
Chris nodded. "Deal, partner."
They shook on it and then Chris held up his glass for a refill. "Pretty smooth stuff," he commented.
"Christmas gift from Ezra. I was saving it for special."
Vin refilled his glass after Chris's and then held his up saying, "To partnerships."
Chris nodded as he downed his. At the next refill he supplied, "To being home."
Vin gave him one of those brief smiles. "Yep," he added, "Finally."
The End