Love's Last Gift ~ Chapter 1 L(revised)

Redemption

O Thou who at Love’s hour ecstatically

Unto my lips dost evermore present

The body and blood of Love in sacrament;

Whom I have neared and felt thy breath to be

The inmost incense of his sanctuary;

Who without speech hast owned him, and intent

Upon his will, thy life with mine hast blent,

And murmured o’er the cup, Remember me! —

O what from thee the grace, for me the prize,

And what to Love the glory, — when the whole

Of the deep stair thou tread’st to the dim shoal

And weary water of the place of sighs,

And there dost work deliverance, as thine eyes

Draw up my prisoned spirit to thy soul!

Boston, October 22, 1881

"Open the windows, Martha, and let some air in here."

The trusted house servant did as she was told, raising the heavy paned windows of the stuffy room.    The fire in the fireplace had been built much hotter than was necessary, even though the autumns in Boston were quite chilly.   But the hot fire had been necessary to boil water.   The boiling water had been necessary to sterilize everything that might be needed.   

"I can't do this,"  she gasped out between labored breaths.   "I can't.   I'm going to die.  It hurts too much.  Is it supposed to hurt this bad?"  she asked, squeezing tightly the hand of the woman who was not only one of her only remaining relatives, but who she also now thought of as her best friend. 

"How should I know?  I've never done this before either.   But you're wrong.  You can do this.  Women have been doing it for thousands of years.   Most of them survived."   She looked down into the face of the woman she had come to love so dearly and she brushed the damp hair from her forehead.  "And so will you."   She locked concerned eyes with the equally concerned servant who was laying out clean towels and a sterilized needle and thread. 
  
"Here it comes again,"   she said, panting.   "Oh, sweet Lord.   I feel like I'm being ripped in half!" 

"Hold my hand.  Squeeze it hard."

Martha rushed to stand between the naked, bent  knees of the woman she loved like a daughter.   "I can see the head.   It's time to start pushing."

"Oh, God,   I can't do this!"   

"Yes, you can.  Martha and I are not going to let you give up.  Now squeeze my hand and push!"
She bore down with everything she had.   She wanted it to be over.  She let out a scream as the pain became unbearable.  Then the pain passed and she fell back again against the pillows.  

"The head is out!"  Martha announced with a smile on her face.

"Good, girl.  Just a little more and it will be over."

"One more good push is all it's going to take,"  Martha said with confidence, having been witness to this miracle several times before.  

"You hear that?  One more good push and you can rest.   Now come on.   Push!!"

The push came with an earsplitting scream of agony.   Then there was silence, a think heavy silence,  as a pair of blue eyes and a pair of green ones locked in  a fearful gaze.  
   
The new mother collapsed back onto the pillows of the bed, exhausted and spent.  She had never been this tired in her life.   She lay there fighting the sleep that was pulling her into  its welcome embrace.  She couldn't sleep yet, not until she heard the cry.  When long moments passed and still there was only silence, she raised herself on shaky elbows to see what was going on.   The other two women in the room were standing with their backs to her in front of the wash basin.  What was going on?   Panic started to grow inside of her.  Why wasn't he crying?    Shouldn't he be crying.   She had never known the kind of fear she knew in this moment.   She was silently begging God to spare the tiny miracle she had just worked so hard to bring into the world  when a high pitched quivering wail split the air.  "Thank you,"   she mumbled as she fell back again against the pillows.  

"Here you are, mama,"  Martha said lovingly as she placed the tiny wrapped bundle in her arms.   She pushed the covering back to reveal the head full of hair on the tiny head.   Then the tiny slits of the baby's eyes opened and looked at her.   She couldn't control the tears that began to stream down her face.  The tears were a mixture of joy and sorrow.   The joy came from holding her child that had been joyfully conceived and whom she had carried in her womb for nine months.   The sorrow came from looking into a mirror image of the baby's father.  The same hair and eyes that were the exact same color as her child's father.  The father her child would never know.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"We have to find a way to get them out.   Now it's even more important that we do,"  Evangeline Webb told her aunt Olivia who was busy bundling the newest member of the family tightly into a warm blanket.  "And there's only one way I can think of that will work."


"What's that?"

"Good old fashioned bribery.   I haven't met a politician yet who would turn down cold hard cash.   And cash is something I have plenty of."

"What if he doesn't go along with it.   Then you and I will go to jail for soliciting bribes.   Martha will have to raise the baby by herself."

"That won't happen.   I've been handing out campaign funds to politicians since Papa died.   They all have a price.   We just have to come up with some clever way to get an appointment with the governor of Wyoming and from there we'll play it by ear."

"Speaking of playing by ear,  I think i know of  a way to meet the governor."   Livvy perked, her attention gained.     "Professor Schindler practically begged me to go out west with him and give a few concerts.  But I told him I couldn't go this time,  with the baby being due to arrive so soon.   But he told me if I would like to go when they return in the spring, the invitation would be open.   He is such a sweet man and he'd do anything I asked him to do.  If I ask, I know he'll arrange a concert in Cheyenne and make sure that the governor is present.   We can meet him and casually bring up the subject of men in prison and how would one go about getting a man released.   We would be able to tell if he was receptive or not.  And if he seems reluctant then we'll think of something else."

"That might work.   I can usually size up a man on the first meeting.  Especially when it comes to money.   If he's bribable,  I'll know it."

"And if he isn't?"

"Dynamite is cheaper by the gross."

"Ha ha.  Very funny.   But seriously,"   Evie reached for the swaddled bundle of love that her aunt held in her lap,   "he deserves to know his child."    She placed a tender kiss on the smooth pink cheek.  

"Yes, he does.  And his child deserves to know him.  And neither of them deserves to be in that horrible prison.   They're not murderers or rapists.   All they ever did was rob a few banks and trains."

Evie's eyebrows raised whimsically.   "I seem to recall a time when I said those words to you and you locked me in my room afterwards."

Livvy looked downward with shame and embarrassment.   "That was before."

"Before what?"

"Before I knew who they really were."

"And before...."

"Before I was able to see that they really were trying to turn over a new leaf and live law abiding lives."

"And before you fell in love with Jed Curry."

Livvy's mouth fell open for a moment before she snapped it shut again.   She took the hours old baby from her niece's arms and stroked the soft tuft of hair atop its tiny head.   "My what a head of hair you have, my darling angel."

"Don't change the subject, Livvy.   Is it so hard to admit that you, Olivia Vanderbilt,  strong, independent entrepreneur are in love?  That you need someone besides yourself?"

"I am not.  And I do not."

"Oh, come on, Livvy.  You've talked about Jed almost as much as I've talked about Hannibal over the past nine months.  And do you think I don't see the dreamy far off look you get in your eyes when you're daydreaming about him?    When I was falling in love with Hannibal, everyone made sure to point out all the signs for me.  And all of those signs are present in you.   A wise woman once told me that if he's the last thing on your mind when you go to bed and the first thing on your mind when you wake up,  you're in love with him.   So don't deny it.   He's on your mind constantly just like Hannibal is on mine."

"Who was the wise woman who told you that?"

"Sally, the saloon girl from Alpine."

"Ooooh.  Why did you have to bring her up?   You know I hate it when you talk about her."

"Why?   Jealous?    Another sign of being in love."

Livvy huffed and pursed her lips.   "I am not jealous of a cheap, beer swigging saloon tramp.   It just makes me angry to think of Jed Curry putting his hands on that....that...."

"On any other woman except you."    Evie smiled devilishly at her aunt.    "In love,"   she said as she pointed her finger in her aunt's red face.

"Alright,  I admit that I do have some very deep feelings for Mr. Curry.   And that's only one reason why I so desperately want him out of that place."

All smiles disappeared as two women in love with two men who were thousands of miles away locked behind prison walls felt the pain of separation and the anguish of helplessness.    

"You don't know how many times I have relived that day at Rock Springs in my mind,"   Livvy said as she stared into space, reliving it again.   "I don't know why we didn't just go on to Rawlins and find a minister or a justice of the peace.   Who would have dreamed that there wouldn't be either in Rock Springs?   I hope you can forgive me for insisting that the two of you wait.   If I hadn't insisted, you'd be married now and the boys wouldn't have been in Rock Springs on that day and everything would be different."

"I've forgiven you several times already.   It's been nine months, Livvy.   Stop feeling so guilty.   We could have refused to wait.   Anyway "what if's" about the past don't change the present.  All we can do is try and change the future."

"Then we had better be coming up with a plan quickly.   Because children have a way of doing this strange thing called growing up.  And I'd hate for this wee one's daddy to miss out on all of it."

A sadness veiled both women's faces as they thought of the their beloved ex-outlaws.   They had not really been living since that cold winter day when they had learned that Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry had been captured leaving a telegrapher's office in Rock Springs, Wyoming.   Evie had received the telegraph that Heyes had been sending upon arriving at Heavenly Hills.   The message had said simply,  "Leaving for Porterville.  Will send word when we depart for Nashville.   See you in a few days.  All my love.  Joshua."   She carried the small rectangular piece of paper with her always.  When she was alone, she would take it out and place it to her lips.  She had never received the second message with word of their departure because they were already behind bars when she had read the first one.   The very next day the newspapers were ablaze with headlines about the capture of the west's most wanted men.   Evie and Livvy had headed to Cheyenne immediately, but she arrived only in time to see him being herded into a stagecoach bound for Laramie and the Wyoming Territorial Prison.   That brief glimpse of him had been her last.   She had tried in vain to get a visitation privilege.   But she was informed that prisoners only received visitors twice a year and then it was only from immediate family.   Being betrothed did not qualify as immediate.    She had even pleaded with Lom Trevors to try and do something to get them released or to get her visitation rights, but he had told her there was nothing he could do.   They had returned to Nashville where they ceased to really live, but merely existed.

The month following their failed attempt to see the boys, had been the most miserable of their lives.   They were helpless and hopeless.   Evie had decided that it was her destiny to be alone and in sorrow.    Livvy buried her self in work while Evie spent most of her time at the piano.  Then the discovery of a new life forming in the womb,  which should have been a joyous occasion,  seemed to bring an even darker cloud upon them.   A child born out of wedlock was sordid enough.  But the bastard child of an imprisoned outlaw was down right scandalous.   Livvy was terrified that the public would learn of the baby's paternity and the backlash to the family businesses would be devastating.   Livvy had hastily gotten the final arrangements made to enroll Evie in the Boston Conservatory of Music.    She had papers drawn up by her very discreet lawyer.   Evangeline Webb, with a few strokes of a pen had become Mrs. Joshua Smith, widow.    Her "husband" had been murdered by the Harlan Mathis gang along with her family.     How sad that he had left her with child.   That was their story and they were sticking to it.   No one except Evie, Livvy, Martha and the trusted family chauffeur, James knew the truth.  The whole truth.  The truth that she had never been married and she had never been with child.  The truth that the child everyone was going to belief was hers was really the unexpected result of passion between Livvy and Jed Curry.   They left for Boston in March before Livvy's pregnancy was detectable to all the people she knew in Nashville.    And when they returned everyone would assume that Evie had given birth to the blonde haired, blue eyed angel named Gabriella.  And they would not do or say anything to let others think differently.  An illegitimate child of the infamous Kid Curry was not exactly a badge of honor for a woman of good standing in high society.  And so they stayed in Boston while Evie studied music, waiting for the birth of Livvy and Jed's child. 

When she played the piano, it was the only time Evie felt halfway human.   The rest of the time she felt like a walking corpse.   She slept, but she never rested.   She ate, but she never tasted.   She read, but didn't comprehend.   It was only when she played that a tiny sparkle of the flame that had once burned inside of her could be detected.   When she played, especially the songs that Hannibal had loved to hear,  she would lose herself in the music.  She was transported to another time and another place.  A place where life made sense.  A time when she knew what happiness was.   She wanted it back.   She wanted all of it back.   And it all started with him being freed.  And she was willing to do whatever it took to gain that freedom. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Laramie, Wyoming,  October 22,1881

He sat on the cold stone floor with his back against the cold stone wall.  It wouldn't be long now.  He had the timing down to a science.  He could almost count down to the moment when the sun would begin to come through the small window that was cut into the hard limestone wall.  It was a rectangular window measuring two feet long by one foot wide.  It was located high on the wall, not really allowing for a view of the world outside.  But at least you could see the sky.  The patch of sunlight would start as a narrow strip on the floor.  But as the minutes passed and the earth revolved further around the sun, the patch would grow larger.  And for the span of about twenty minutes,  he could sit on the floor in that patch of sunlight and feel it's warmth and feel almost human again.  

He scooted on his rump to the spot on the floor where the patch of sunlight was beginning to form.   He sat facing the window, his arms propped up on his bent knees,  letting the warmth fill his bones.   Bones that ached from the hours of hard labor that began at day break and didn't end until late afternoon.   Being in the sun outside was different.  That was the sun of weariness and strength sapping intensity.    This was different.  This was his sunshine.  A subtle, gentle  sunshine that renewed his strength and reminded him that there was one thing that no one could ever take away from him....hope.    

He went through this same ritual everyday.   It was always around this same time,  the late afternoon or early evening.   And he knew when the patch of sunlight was gone, the daylight would soon go with it.  And that meant the darkness would fall.  And the cold would settle in.  And the rats would come.   But worst of all the nightmares would invade what little sleep he managed to get.   And always it was the same kind of nightmare.   Evie was falling to a deep, dark hole.  She was hanging on to the edge begging for help.  He would try to go to her but he was behind bars and couldn't reach her.   Then another man would appear and help her.  And she would disappear with him.   He would always awake,   his skin clammy with perspiration and his head throbbing, his heart pounding.   But he couldn't call out her name.  

It would be very easy for a man to go insane in this six feet by eight feet cell with only a sliver of the sky for a  connection to the outside world.   But he would definitely go insane when he spent each minute of every day in complete and total silence.  Prisoners were not permitted to speak.  Not to the guards, not to the warden and certainly not to each other.  They couldn't even speak to themselves.   Silence was commanded and commands were enforced.  Everyday there was some new, unfortunate soul who couldn't take the silence any longer and dared to break the rules and for the sake of his own humanity and sanity would speak or cry out.  Sometimes he would hear them in the night say simply, "Dear, God, help me."   The punishment for even uttering that simple prayer was something he couldn't bear to think about.  

He had seen prisoners who had broken the rule of silence shackled to the outside wall that surrounded the prison.  They would be left there in the bitter cold of winter with only their thin striped pants on.  If they could remain silent for what the warden and his minions considered a long enough time to become compliant,  he would be allowed to come back inside his cell.  If he continued to speak, even to beg for mercy or to be allowed to put on a shirt, he would be doused with cold water and left a little longer.  And that punishment was for first time offenders.  His mind couldn't grasp the unholy contraptions that were invented to silence those who were repeat offenders.  If necessary, the tongue would be cut out.  A man could not meditate on God's word and sincerely repent of the wrongs he had done if he was not silent.  But Heyes knew better.  He had witnessed what God was really capable of.  And the God he knew was not an angry titan waiting to strike men down with a lightning bolt from the heavens.  He was a God of love and forgiveness and most of all hope.  God had sent him his precious Evie to show him that truth.  But now he was here where a man's faith was tested beyond what he thought he could ever endure.  Where the law and not God reigned supreme.  But no amount of law or legislation could keep him from screaming aloud inside his head.  And always, everyday he screamed the same things.  "I won't stay here for long!"   "I'm going to survive this!"   "Evie I love you!"    "Please wait for me!"

Those were the things he said over and over to himself.   Here in the Wyoming Territorial Prison,  where you spent all of your time with only your own voice in your head to listen to,  all you had to do was plan.  He was working on a plan to bust them out of here.  Kid's cell was on the other side of the compound.   The warden had taken extra precautions to make sure that he and Kid were as far apart as they could be.  They had been here for almost a year and he had only seen Kid four times.  But all those times he had tried to let him know without words that he was working on a plan to get them out of here.  It was going to be difficult, but it wasn't impossible.  Especially not for a man with enough motivation.  And he had more than his share of motivation.  

His life was just starting to become what he had always dreamed it would be, when he and Kid had been arrested.  There had been no dramatic hoopla. No spectacle like the day they had been spotted in Cold Springs.  He and Kid had went into a telegraph office in Rock Springs so Heyes could send a message to Evie, who had gone back to Nashville with her aunt Olivia.  He had just paid the telegrapher and stepped out onto the street when a familiar face greeted them.   It was an old "friend" they had played poker with not more than fifteen minutes ago.  They had trusted him, had felt no reason to worry, but he had turned them in to the sheriff, apparently as soon as they had walked out of the saloon.    They had been extradited to Wyoming the very next day.  Their trial had been the next week and had lasted only three days.  They were of course found guilty and sentenced to twenty years.  

Evie must have learned of their capture through the newspaper,  because she and Olivia had arrived in Wyoming just in time to see them being taken from the courthouse and loaded into a stage  coach bound for Laramie and the Wyoming Territorial Prison.  They hadn't even let him speak to her.  She had run to him trying to see him one last time, but he had been shoved into the coach and it had driven away before he could even get a good look at her.  But he had seen her.  And he could have sworn he heard her voice, over the sound of the horses' hooves as the coach sped away,  yelling to him,  "I'll get you out of there.  No matter what it takes."  

But he knew that wasn't going to happen.   But he also knew Evangeline Ruth Webb well enough  to know that she had probably exhausted every attempt to try and get him and Kid released.  But they had been in here for over a year now.  His fate was sealed.  His destiny decided.  This is where he would live the rest of his days.  If he didn't do something about it himself.  He was stuck in here and the only way he was going to get out, was to bust out.  And there was no way he was leaving Kid behind.   

Would she wait for him, he wondered.  Would she try to move on with her life?    He knew they shared a love and a bond that would never be broken.  Neither time nor distance could sever the invisible string that tied their souls together.   But he also knew something about life....it went on.   When loved ones died,  life went on.   When children grew up and left the nest, life went on.   And when the man you loved was stuck in prison and you were left on the outside alone.....life went on.    Fear for his and the Kid's sanity wasn't the only reason  had to get out of this place.  Pulling off an escape meant a very elaborate plan and expert execution of that plan.  And if he couldn't pull it off, what's the worst that could happen?  He'd be shot trying to escape?   Maybe that wouldn't be so bad either, he thought as his little patch of sunshine began to dwindle.  

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Six months later,  City of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory

"You were brilliant.   The governor is bound to want to meet you after that performance.  And you look absolutely ravishing.   Any man with a pulse would want to meet you just to get a better look."   Livvy spoke through her teeth as she stood next to her niece, smiling at the many people who had turned out to hear her niece play the piano. 

Evie's passionate and entertaining performances had been captivating audiences all across the west for the last three months.   She had performed in San Francisco just three days ago and now she had just performed her last performance here in Wyoming.   The concert had taken place at the Dyer Hotel in downtown Cheyenne.   Her reputation and her talent had preceded her and she was very well received, even if she was a woman.   She was Professor Schindler's top student and people came for miles to hear her play.   But the only guest she and her aunt were interested in was Governor Clayton Ramsey, Jr. 

Their plan was simple.   Meet the man.   If the timing and situation were right, make him an offer of money in exchange for the release of two prisoners.    Good old fashioned bribery, just as Livvy had said.  

"He's coming this way,"   Livvy said behind her smiling teeth.  "Smile and be charming."

Evie ignored her aunt as she watched the tall, slim distinguished man approach.   With a full head of wavy dark hair, graying at the temples, dark eyes, a dashing salt and pepper gottee and an athletic build,  Evie could see why many ladies had been in attendance tonight.   The widowed governor was quite a catch.    Livvy and Evie had tried to learn as much as they could about the fifty year old lawyer who had been elected as governor of Wyoming three years ago.  But they had not learned as much as they had hoped.   He was planning on running for a second term in the next election.     He was considered both a ladies man and a man's man.   He was charming and handsome, but also strong and firm.   

"Good evening, Mrs. Smith.   I'm so pleased to finally meet you.   And I must say the rumors of your talent and your beauty hardly do you justice."     He kissed the back of her offered hand.

"Thank you Governor Ramsey.   May I present my aunt,  Olivia Vanderbilt."

 "And you, madam, are equally as beautiful,"  he said as he bowed before the petite blonde. "And your reputation as a savvy business woman precedes you."   

"Why, thank you,  Governor.   And I must say that we are pleasantly surprised that such a powerful man as yourself is also such a handsome man."    Livvy said.

He smiled charmingly at the compliment.  "Have you ladies had supper yet?   I would be delighted if the two of you would agree to join me for supper this evening at my mansion."

"Mansion?"   the ladies asked in unison.

"Yes, the governor's mansion.   Every governor lives there for his term in office.   And since there is no capitol building yet, all of my offices are there as well.     I conduct all of my business for the territory from my home."

"Isn't that, lovely?"   Livvy said.    She was worried at first when he said mansion that he had been referring to his own private estate and that their plan to bribe him would be out of the question.   "We would be delighted to join you, wouldn't we, Evangeline."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"My goodness, Governor, these portraits of your late wife are exquisite.   You must have paid a small fortune to have them commissioned,"   Livvy remarked as she sipped her after supper coffee.   She and Evangeline had marveled at the three large paintings hanging in the parlor of the governor's private wing of the mansion.   

"Yes, I did.  But it was well worth it.  They've turned out to be a great investment as the artist  has passed away.   I expect their value to triple over the next ten years."

Evie looked at him perplexed.   "Not to mention the fact that they are a beautiful reminder of your wife."

"Oh, yes, there is that too,"  he responded coldly with a dismissive wave.  "I had them taken off the walls of my family estate in Casper and brought here when I was elected to office.   My son insisted on having these likenesses of his mother here. " 

"Don't you have a daughter as well?"    Evie asked.  

"Yes,  I do.   She remains at my home in Riverton .   She is not well.   She has to be cared for around the clock.   I have my own private physician who lives there and takes care of her.  She hasn't been the same since her mother passed."

Evie and Livvy exchanged concerned looks.   "So you have a family estate in Casper and a home in Riverton?   My, you must have built quite a good business to afford two homes,"   Livvy remarked as she tried not to show her disappointment.

"I've been very fortunate.   My law firm does do quite well.   But my wife was heiress to a large fortune when her father died.   And when she met her very unfortunate and untimely demise, her fortune came to me."

"And your children, of course,"   Evie added,  not caring for the governor's lack of emotion concerning his wife or his children.   Evie and Livvy exchanged a worried glances.  

Dammit.   There went their plan to bribe him.  Money wasn't a good bait for a rich man.  But Livvy had lived long enough and had dealt with enough men to know that they all had their price.   She just had to find out what this man's was.   She just hoped it was something she could afford.   Because she also knew that sometimes the price didn't involve money.

"Excuse me,"   Martha said from the back of the room.   "I'm sorry to interrupt but, the wee one is need of supper as well."

Evie and Livvy communicated silently and both arose from their seat on the luxurious sofa.

"Won't you please excuse us,  Governor Ramsey.   A mother's job never ends,"   Livvy said as she followed Evie towards Martha and the fidgeting baby.   "Is there a private room where my niece might nurse her baby?"

"Certainly.   And please, call me Clayton.   Two doors down on your left."  

"What are we going to do now?"    Livvy hissed at Evie's back as they walked down the hallway.

"He's wealthy.   So I doubt our offer will impress him much."

"We'll have to go with plan B.   Hannibal says you should always have a plan B."
"Do you have a plan B?"

"No.  Not exactly.   We'll just have to play it by ear like you said.   Which door did he say?  Left or right?" 

"Right I think.   Didn't he say right, Martha?"

"Pick one quickly.   The wee one isn't very patient you know."

They went into the second door to the right and stepped into a large bedroom.   It was lavishly decorated and smelled strongly of men's hair tonics and colognes.  

"This must be the governor's bedroom,"   Livvy mused.    "We have to come up with something while we are all in here alone together.     We need to find out what we can use to bribe him with.  And then we have to find a way to bring up the subject of releasing the boys from prison."

"Sometimes Livvy the best approach is the simplest one.   Think of it as a business deal.   You're used to that.   Just tell him what we want and ask  him how much or what it will cost us.    I think that's the only plan B we've got at this point."

The ladies relaxed for a moment as Livvy nursed "Evie's" baby.     They were lost in thought about what to do, when the door of the bedroom opened and  a young man, obviously the governor's son,  practically fell into the room, oblivious to the three other people in the room.   And he wasn't alone.   The two lovers were so involved in their passionate exploration of each other's mouths to notice the three women sitting in the room, until Martha screeched in shocked outrage at the display.

Clayton Ramsey, III released his hold on his far too young lover and stood shocked, not knowing what to say to the three strangers in his bedroom.    His father, having heard the scream, came running into the room.   One look around told him what had transpired and that these ladies had seen the kind of person his son was.  His face flamed with rage and embarrassment.   Everyone in the room was silent, none of them knowing what to say.  The only noise in the room was the greedy sound of a baby nursing at its mother's breast.   The governor looked at the baby and then into the eyes of its mother and knew that somehow,   he must strike a bargain.  Or his hopes of winning and election were ruined.   As would be his life.  He smiled wickedly at the woman who was supposed to be the baby's aunt and then at the young woman who was supposed to be her mother.  "Ladies it appears we all have a few skeletons in our closets.  Is anyone opposed to discussing the price tags attached to those skeletons."

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"These conditions are preposterous.    I won't sign it."   

"Preposterous or not, those are the conditions.    If you choose not to sign the agreement then your friend will remain exactly where he is and I will have to come up with another clever way out of my present predicament.   Of course, now that I know your little secret and you know mine, neither of us is obligated to keep those secrets,  should you choose not to enter into this arrangement."

She heard the subtle threat behind his words, even though they were delivered with a  charming smile.  

"If you reveal my secret, sir, my life will change little.   I will merely have to endure the whispers and gossip of the local towns folk.  But if I reveal yours you will be ruined."    

Crinkles around his eyes appeared in his handsome face as he laughed at her words.  "My dear, if your secret became public, your family's newspapers would cease to sell and people would line up in droves to withdraw their money from your banks.   Believe me, you will endure much more than a few whispered tales at the church picnic.  But think of the results if you do decide to accept the terms of my agreement.    We will all have what we desire."

"Not exactly what we all desire.   We would still be settling for the next best thing."

"True.  But settling for the next best thing is far better than accepting what we both are currently forced to accept, wouldn't you agree."

He could see the indecision in her lovely young face.  He must change her mind and he must do it today or else she and her aunt would leave Wyoming and that was something he couldn't allow to happen.   He was going to have to use drastic measures.  "Have you ever been inside a prison, Mrs. Smith?"

She inwardly cringed as he placed emphasis  of her alias, letting her know that he knew it wasn't her real name.   Why had she agreed to meet with him privately.  She wished now she had insisted on bringing her aunt.   "No, governor, I have not."  
  
"Then allow me to share with you what an inmate's typical day is like.  Up before dawn, a meager breakfast of cold gruel, then out to the fields for a day of hard labor.   That's rain or shine, cold or hot.  Then it's back to your six foot by eight foot cell furnished with a rustic cot and a straight back chair,  where you will fight the rats and insects for your supper.   There you will try to sleep in a cell that is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.  That's life for six days of the week except for Sunday of course when prisoners attend church services for eight hours of the day.  And if you are a high profile inmate such as your friend, then there is a guard outside your cell door, twenty four hours a day.  That means no privacy, no chance for escape.  And all of this is done in complete silence as prisoners are not allowed to speak.   Not even to themselves.  And if one does speak without permission,  well, I won't go into details about the punishments for such an act.   How long do you think it would take a man to go mad in those conditions, Mrs. Smith?"

She felt a wave of nausea begin in the pit of her stomach.    Consequences be damned.  She would sign.   What choice did she have?   She had no choice.   She had to do this.  There would never be another opportunity to gain their freedom.    

"There are a few of your conditions that I have issue with.   Must I live in the mansion.  Isn't there a gate house or servants quarters I could live in."

"That wouldn't be very convincing now would it.  If I want this to work, the public must be completely convinced that this is the real thing.  If they are even suspicious that it is a fraud, then I will be ruined for sure.  No. I will not budge on that condition.  Nor will I budge on the final condition.   There can never be any contact.  No letters, no telegraphs, no secret meetings at midnight.  Nothing.  Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand.  I will sign the agreement,  but first I have a few conditions of my own."

"Yes?"

"First, I want my family to live with me if I so choose.  And if they choose not to live with me then I want them to visit whenever I want.  I want my own private suite of rooms.   This mansion is enormous and there's bound to be a private wing I can have to myself.  And I want my own personal staff.   Staff of my choosing.  I have no problem with keeping up appearances in public,  but in the privacy of my own part of the house, I expect to be left alone."
   
"That should not be a problem."  

"And secondly,  I wish to be allowed to go there and tell him the news in person.  Considering the sacrifice I'm making, you owe me that much."  

He scrutinized her face through squinted dark eyes for a moment, as if trying to see inside of her mind and discern her intentions.  "Very well.  But you will be escorted by my own people who will make sure that you breathe not a word of our arrangement.  For if you do, I will not be obligated to keep my end of he deal.  And should you break any of the terms,  the contract will be null and void.  And you understand what will happen if the contract becomes null and void?"

She merely nodded her understanding.  

He dipped the end of the shiny silver pen into the ink well and extended it in her direction.  She looked at the paper in front of her and then at the pen.   She couldn't do this.   But for the sakes of every person she loved, she had to do this.    God, give me strength.  With shaking fingers she gripped the pen.  She positioned the pen above the line where she was to sign her name.  Her hand shook visibly and her breath caught in her throat as she scribbled,  Mrs. Joshua Smith across the line  at the bottom of the page.  

"Please, excuse me."    Her hand came up to cover her mouth.   " I'm going to be sick,"   she blurted out as she ran for the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He let the  heavy hammer drop onto the stubborn rock.  How many whacks was it going to take, he thought.  With one more blow the rock split in half.  He didn't mind the hard work.  It kept his body fit and allowed him to at least be outdoors, even though it was a little chilly.  It must be April.  He tried to keep track of the days and months by scratching hash marks onto the stone walls of his cell.  And he could tell by the fresh blades of grass and the buds on nearby trees that it was spring.   But even if it had been below zero  or one hundred and twelve degrees, he would have been glad to be outside today.  Because today, Kid was here in the same field.  Rarely did he and Kid get placed in the same field for work.  If he was busting rocks, then Kid was usually digging them up in another field and vice versa.  But today was one of those rare days when they had been placed in the same field.  Five times.  This was only the fifth time he had seen his partner in over a year.   It was difficult to look at him being chained ankle to ankle in a single line of men, standing shoulder to shoulder,  that stretched out for half a mile.  But he tried to time his swings so that he and Kid both were in an upright position at the same time.  He stole a glance at him whenever the guards weren't looking.  He and Kid had both  grown thin, but both remained muscular, due to the strenuous work.     But gone were the golden curls he once sported.  Kid, like himself, was shorn on a weekly basis, face, head and body.  All prisoners were relieved of all hair on their bodies on a monthly basis.  This eliminated the threat of lice which reduced disease among the inmates.  But he and the Kid weren't your ordinary prisoners.   High profile prisoners who presented a major risk for escape were shorn on a weekly basis.  That way if they escaped into the nearby towns they could be easily spotted.  It also served as a badge of honor, so to speak, among the criminal element.  All the men knew that the prisoners who got shaved weekly were the ones you didn't want to be shackled to.  

He cast a sideways glance at his life long friend and silently chuckled to himself.  He wondered if he looked as silly with his shaved head.   And the poor little fellow shackled to Kid by his ankles looked like he was petrified to be next to one of the weeklies.   "You couldn't be safer than a kitten in a little girls arms,"  he silently told the frightened man, taking a brief moment to enjoy the amusement of the situation.  But his amusement was short lived as he heard the approach of a wagon.   It was too early for the wagons to come and bring them back to the compound.  That  only meant one thing.  They had come to collect some unfortunate soul who had been snitched on or caught talking or stealing food.   He felt sorry for the poor SOB already.  

"Prisoners, fall in!"

At the sound of the command all hammers stopped swinging and all prisoners stepped forward to form a single line with an arms length between each man.  

"Prisoner number 022440,  step out of line!"   the guard yelled.  

He knew that number.  It was his number.  Kid would know  it was his number too.  They had both memorized each others numbers the day they had arrived and had been issued them.  They had never been allowed to speak to confirm that, but Heyes just knew.  He knew Kid was going to be worried.   What fresh hell was this, he thought.   Whatever they thought he had done, he would have to face the consequences of it regardless of his guilt or innocence.  He straightened his back, squared his shoulders and stepped out of the line of men who stood shackled together.   An armed guard kept his gun pointed at him while another unlocked the shackles around his ankles.   The guard motioned for him to get into the wagon.  He did so silently and without protest.   Once in the wagon his right ankle was again shackled to a three foot chain with a lead ball attached to the end.  As he sat on the back of the wagon, his eyes locked with Kid's.  He didn't like the look he saw there.   It was a look he'd seen so many times before when anyone dared to threaten Hannibal Heyes.   It was good to know that the time here had not, so far, completely  killed Kid's spirit and his protective nature.  Heyes tried to let his friend know that it would be alright and not to worry.   So he offered a weak smile and a wink of his brown eye as the wagon jolted forward carrying him towards whatever fate had in store for him.  

"Back to work the rest of you!"   he heard the foreman yell as the wagon began its half mile journey back to the compound.   He never took his eyes of the back of prisoner number 022441 as he turned to begin swinging the hammer once more.  And he didn't miss the blue eyes that stole a glance over his shoulder to give him one last parting look.  

When they arrived back at the compound, he was surprised when he wasn't immediately taken to his cell or to the "box,"  the metal room where prisoners were sometimes placed for punishment on warm sunny days.  Instead he was taken to the warden's office.   He was shoved inside the door and the door then closed behind him,  leaving the guards outside the door.   He looked around the room,  delighting in the sights of things as common as a clock and a calendar.   He had been right,  it was April.  And it was 3:00 in the afternoon.  He was so absorbed in soaking up the sight of things he had not seen in so long he almost forgot that the warden was even there, until he spoke.

"Come in, Mr. Heyes.  You have a visitor."     It was only then that he saw the man standing to the left of the warden's large wooden desk.  He was dressed in a suit and tie and stood with authority.  Heyes didn't like the looks of him.  And he certainly didn't know why a perfect stranger would be coming to visit him.   That's when she stood and turned to face him.

He had not seen her behind the tall back of the wing back chair she sat in.   She arose and turned to face him.  His mouth fell open and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.  It was her.   She was here.  His Evie was standing in front of him.   She was the most magnificent sight he had ever seen.  She was even more beautiful than he remembered.   Her skin glowed with the vigor of youth and health.  Her figure if possible had grown even more voluptuous and desirable.   She was dressed like the fine lady that she was in rich silk and lace.   Her glorious hair was arranged in an abundance of curls and ringlets atop her lovely head.  She stood out like a perfect rose among a field of dead thorns here in this place.  

She had been sitting in the chair for half an hour, waiting.   Butterflies had formed in her stomach when she had heard the sound of them coming up the hall.  Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the door open and she knew he was standing right behind her.  It had been so long since she had laid eyes upon him,  the man she loved so dearly.  She rose from the chair anxious to see that face.  The face she adored with it's shining brown eyes and dimpled smile, and the golden brown hair that fell across his forehead so endearingly.   But when she turned around her eyes were met with the sight of a stranger.  The golden brown locks were gone.  His body was thin and waspish.   The black and white striped shirt and pants he wore hung from his wiry frame like rags from a pole.  And he was carrying a heavy lead ball that was attached to a chain that was shackled to his ankle.  She could only stand and stare at him as he slowly bent and placed the heavy ball on the ground at this feet. 

When he straightened and captured her gaze once more, he could not miss the startled look on her face.  He knew he must look like the walking dead to her.  But he didn't care.  She was here.  His Evie was here.  Before he realized what he was doing his mouth opened and words came quietly from out.  They both spoke in unison,  "Is it really you?"  Her voice laced with sorrow and disbelief.   His with amazement and hope.  

His voice was hoarse and raspy from having been silent for so long.  His own voice sounded strange in his ears and he reflexively started to raise his hands to shield his head, expecting a punishing blow for speaking aloud.   But then he remembered that the guards were outside the door.  

Evie saw the reflex and inwardly cursed every lawman and person associated with the penal system of this territory.   It also didn't escape her attention that his voice was weak and rough from being too long unheard.  She wanted to rush to him and hold him and kiss away his fears.  But she couldn't.  The governor's watch dog who had escorted her here was not about to let her get that close.  He had his orders.   She managed in spite of her horror at the way he looked to smile at him.   She hoped he saw in her eyes how much she loved him. 
    
"You may speak to the lady, Mr. Heyes.  There will be no repercussions,"  the warden told him knowing he had questions that needed answering.  

Heyes cleared his throat before he spoke.  There were so many questions he wanted to ask.  He spoke in a low, slow voice,  "What are you doing here?"

"I've come with good news.  News I wanted to give you personally. You have been pardoned.  The governor signed the papers just this morning.  He very graciously allowed me to come and give you the good news in person."

His eyes darted among the other three faces in the room.  He didn't know what to think.  Was this for real?    He didn't trust anyone  except Kid Curry and the woman in front of him.   He had to believe in that trust now.   "Pardoned?"  he asked with reservation.

"Yes.  He sincerely regretted that he didn't grant you the amnesty before you were arrested and he feels you have been in here long enough to pay your debt to society.   You are free."

"That's right, Mr. Heyes,"  the warden said.  "I have all of the necessary paper work here and this gentleman has come as the governor's personal representative.   It is all legitimate, I assure you.  You will be released immediately."

Bubbles of joyful laughter grew inside of his belly.  They started to rise up in his throat.  He was going to leave this place today.    He was going to walk out of here a free man courtesy of the governor himself.   He wouldn't have to spend hours trying to figure out a way to get them out of here.....His face was suddenly crestfallen and the bubbles of laughter burst before they could escape leaving behind the laughter to fall unheard to the bottom of his chest.   

Evie saw the momentary elation followed by the devastated downfall of his face.  "Jed is leaving today, too,"  she added quickly, knowing that his concern for his partner was on his mind.
  
And that's when she saw it.   The sparkle of light in the chocolate brown eyes.  The grin that began slowly and grew into a broad full on smile.  And the dimples that seemed even larger in the hollows of his thin face.  

"Guards!"  the warden summoned the men from outside the door.  "Remove the shackles from Mr. Heyes' ankles please."

He couldn't take his eyes off of her as the men removed the restraint from his ankle.   He could only imagine how he must look to her.  But he didn't care, because he knew that she loved him no matter what.  She must have worked so hard to get him released.  And not just released, pardoned.   Or should he say it must have cost Livvy a bundle.  At last his life would be what he had always hoped.   As soon as these shackles were gone he would go to her and hold her.   His arms ached suddenly to feel her there.   But before the shackles were removed, the suited silent man came to Evie and grasped her upper arm.  Heyes brows came together in question.  

"Please remain in my office, Mr. Heyes, while Mrs. Smith is escorted out of the compound."

Mrs. Smith?   Why was she using his alias?    The suited man walked Evie to the door and would have ushered her right past him, had she not forcefully stopped.   There were pools of tears in her eyes as she laid a gentle hand against his cheek.  She let her hand linger on the smooth, clean face, tanned from hours of hard labor in the fields.   There was something in her eyes that bothered him.  He couldn't quite put his finger on it.   He brought his hand up to cover hers as it rested against his cheek.    The suited man then urged her out of the doorway.   His hand caught hers and held it tight until they were grasping by mere fingertips as she was being practically dragged from the room.  And without a word she was swept away and out of his sight.     

Evie was marched to the private coach that awaited outside the tall iron gates of the Wyoming Territorial Prison.   The governor's henchman fairly lifted her through the doorway of the coach before closing the latch and moving to sit on the top with the driver.  Once she was alone inside the coach she lifted the red velvet curtain from the window and watched as the high stone walls of the prison faded in the distance.   It was only then that she let the tears fall.  She slid from her seat and laid her head on the velvet cushioned seat and cried.  What have I done?  she asked herself silently.   Her only solace....the knowledge that her beloved would soon be far away from this horrid place that she could only describe as hell on earth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He waited outside the iron gates for what seemed like an eternity.   He had been escorted out by the guards not long after Evie had left.  He had assumed she would be waiting for him outside the gates.  He had almost floated out thinking about seeing her and holding her at last.  But when he was shoved outside the gates like a sack of bad feed all he found was the same dirt road that had brought him here over a year ago.  Why hadn't she waited?   And where had she gone?  And who was the man escorting her?   There were so many questions he wanted answered.   And he couldn't find the answers until he found Evie.  And he couldn't do that until Kid was released.   As if hearing his thoughts,  the heavy iron gates squeaked and opened.    A confused but nonetheless happy, Kid Curry stepped through the gates, dressed in the same set of clothes as Heyes.  Every prisoner who was released was issued a standard set of clothes and shoes.  All the belongings they had when they had been brought to prison had long since disappeared to who knew where.  Heyes didn't figure he would ever see his brown three piece suit and derby hat again.  But that didn't really matter.  He was free.  Free to wear anything he wanted, or nothing at all.   And nothing at all would have been preferable to the itchy clothes he and Kid wore now.   They each wore a pair of brown pants and a plain white shirt made of homespun.  Their feet were covered with second hand well worn boots that didn't fit well.  As the sound of clinking metal came from the other side of the closed gates indicating they were now locked on the outside of the prison walls,  Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry stood and stared at each other.  They just stood there looking each other up and down.   

"Well,  say something,"   Heyes finally said to his friend.

Kid cleared his throat, not fully trusting his  unused vocal cords to work.  "Boy, I hope I don't look as stupid as you do with that bald head and those ugly clothes."

Laughter erupted from both men as they grabbed each other in a bear hug.  

"How did this happen, Heyes?   How did we just get released like that?"

"We've been pardoned, Kid."

Kid stared at his partner in disbelief.  "Did you say pardoned?"

"That's right.  Evie was here.  She was the one who came and told me the good news."    Heyes turned and scanned the area.   "I thought she would be waiting here for me, but some man was with her and ushered her out.   I guess she's waiting for us down in Laramie."

"Well, let's get walking then.   Laramie's only a few miles from here.  I sure hope Livvy's with her.  And I hope she's buying supper, cause I'm starving."

Heyes put his arm around his friend's shoulder.   "I sure am glad that your time behind bars  hasn't changed your appetite, Kid.   I was worried that having to live in all that silence and in those conditions might alter your state of mind.   I can't tell you how much I worried about that.   And you know I was working on a plan to get us out of there.   It wasn't going to be easy but it was possible.  It probably would have taken about ten years to pull it off but I think I could have done it.  Did you ever think about busting out?   I know you probably thought about food all the time, cause I thought about it a lot myself and I don't love food the way you do. So....."

"I'm glad to see that your time behind bars didn't change your need to talk my head off.   Are you going to stand there all day and blab or are we going to Laramie?"   

Heyes just stared at this friend for a long moment.  "Don't get proddy, Kid."

Kid put his hand against Heyes' back and gave him a gentle shove  and they started their walk towards Laramie.  They strolled leisurely along, enjoying the feel of the sun on their faces.  Again this sun was different.  This was the sun of freedom and open spaces.  More than once they found themselves looking at each other and bursting into laughter.  They were free men.  Free to go wherever they wanted without fear of being arrested. They had not gotten far when an old man bent over from age, appeared in the dirt road ahead of them.   "Smith and Jones?"   the old man asked.

The boys exchanged looks.  "Who's asking?"   Kid asked.

"Names George.  George Poteet.   I was asked to find two fellas name of Smith and Jones coming from the prison on this road.  And I was asked to give them this.   He extended his weathered hand which held a white envelope.  On the front in an unfamiliar hand was written Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones.    "Who gave this to you?"  Heyes questioned the old man.

"Pretty lady in town.  Said it was urgent I find you two before you made it all the way to town.   She paid me a handsome sum for my troubles too."

"Thank you , Mr. Poteet.  That was mighty neighborly of you."

The note was short and sweet.  "Go east about three miles and find an apple grove.  There is a whitewashed fence there.  Wait.  Someone will meet you there and you will have the answers." 

The boys walked east and found the grove of blooming apple trees.  They leaned against the white washed fence and waited.   They didn't wait long when the sound of someone approaching was heard in the grove of trees behind them.   A young boy of about thirteen emerged from the trees, leading two horses.   "You Smith and Jones?"  he asked timidly. 

"That's us."

"Which one of you is Smith?"  

"That would be me."

The boy handed Kid the reins and Heyes another letter and backed away from them like they were monsters.  This letter had no writing at all on the envelope, but when he removed the letter he recognized Evie's handwriting immediately.  At last, he thought, he would learn where she was and where he could join her.   He looked up to see that the boy was turning tail to run.  "Hey,  boy, don't go anywhere.  I might want to talk to you."     The boy stiffened and stood still in his tracks.  Heyes  began to read:

"My Beloved,

  If you are reading this then you have been released from that horrible place and my messenger has found you.   I know that you have many questions and I wish I could answer them all.  But I cannot.  The only thing I want you to know is that I have always loved you and I will always love you.  You are free now and your freedom is my gift to you.  My last gift.   In order for you to remain free,  I must never have contact with you or Jed again.   Please do not try to find me.  It would only result in your being sent back to prison and I don't think I could live knowing you were back in that place.  Remember that time and distance  cannot keep two hearts that love each other apart.   When I fell in love with you it was for eternity.   I breathed you into my soul and there you will always remain.  You will be always in my heart and a part of my very being.  Please do not be angry with the decision I have made.  As you once had to do,  I have made the decision that is best for you and your future, regardless of how painful it may be for us both to live with.  But living without you and knowing you are free is preferable to living without you knowing you are locked away in a prison of stone as well as a prison of silence. Please give Jed my love and both of you please take care of each other.   You will find another envelope with cash inside one of the saddlebags.   I know Jed is probably hungry.  I also left you a small piece of myself that you can have as a remembrance of the love that we shared and that I will always feel.  

No matter where you go or what you do, always remember that I am a part of you and you are a part of me.  Nothing...not time, distance or circumstance will ever change that.   I love you, now and always.  This is the last time you will ever hear from me on this side of heaven.  So until we meet again in God's eternity, farewell, my beloved.

With love,
Your Evie

The look on Heyes' face told Kid that something in the letter was not good.  

"What's it say?"  Kid asked, but got no reply.  "Heyes?  What's it say?" 
   
Heyes turned silently and handed the letter to his partner then went to the horses the boy had handed to Kid.  As Heyes began a feverish search of the saddlebags, Kid read the letter.  When he was finished he looked at his partner.  He had turned both both sets of bags out onto the grass and was combing through everything.  

Heyes rummaged through the contents of both sets of saddlebags.  There were clothes and toiletry items and the envelope with one hundred dollars cash.  But where was the part of her she was speaking of.  He was hoping it was really another letter, telling him to meet her in some secret, private location where they wouldn't be seen, and all this espionage was just a front.  But his search was turning up nothing.  He was about to give up looking when he saw it.  It had gotten trapped between the folds of a blue shirt.   He lifted the folds of the material and picked up the lavender cord with care.  The cord had been carefully wrapped and knotted in the center around a lock of shiny, soft brown hair.   His heart sank a little.  So there was no plan to meet him.  She really did mean to never see him again.  And she was leaving him this to remember her by.  I'll be damned, he thought,  if she thinks I'm just going to accept this and move on without even questioning it.  

"What does this mean, Heyes?    Is she serious?   I don't understand any of this."

"Hey, kid!  Come  here!"   Heyes yelled for the boy who stood statue stiff among the trees.

The boy approached Heyes cautiously and spoke with a quivering voice,  "Yes, sir?" 

"Relax.  We're not gonna hurt you.  Did a lady give you that letter?"

"Yes, sir."

"What did she look like?  Was she young and pretty?  Brown hair and silvery blue eyes?"

"No sir."

"Was she a pretty blonde lady with bright blue eyes,  kinda short?"   Kid asked the boy.

"No, sir.   She was older.  She had red hair and she reminded me of my granny."

The boys swapped the same confused look.   "Was she alone or was somebody with her?"

"She was alone."

"Did she say who had given her the letter?"

"No, sir.   She just stopped me in the street and asked me if I had anything to be doing today.   Then she gave me a silver dollar to come out here to the orchards and wait for two men named Smith and Jones.  I was to give the horses to the one named Jones and the letter to the one named Smith.   That's all she said."  

"She didn't say anything else?    You're not supposed to let her know if you found us or not?"

"Oh, yeah!   When I get back to town, I'm supposed to meet her and let her know that I delivered the stuff to you then I get another silver dollar."

Heyes smiled.   "You meeting her in Laramie?"

"Yes, sir.   At the cafe."

With that the boy sprinted off towards Laramie, anxious to collect the rest of his pay.

"Well, Kid, I'm glad your in the mood for some food.  Cause we're headed to that cafe."

While Heyes had questioned the boy, Kid had been changing out of the itchy prison clothes and into the clothes that Heyes had dumped out of the saddlebags.  "Sounds good to me, Heyes.   And look,"   Kid said with a grin as he held up his floppy brimmed, concho trimmed hat,   "she kept our hats.  Your hat is hanging on your saddle horn too."

"She must have claimed our belongings after we were shipped out to prison,"  Heyes mused as he stripped off the crudely made brown pants and white shirt.   As he stood there in the open field with apple trees in blossom behind him and the fading afternoon sun in front of him, he felt an avalanche of emotions descend upon him.     He was free.   The warm sun on his bare chest punctuated the fact that he could run naked through this field right now and scream at the top his lungs if he chose to.   He smiled at himself.   He let his bare toes squish in the soft blades of grass under his feet.   He looked at Kid who was staring at him as he stood there in his long underwear.   He couldn't resist.   He took off like a shot and ran as hard as he could across the open field.    The sun on his face, the wind against his skin, the grass beneath his feet......he was free.   He opened his mouth and let out a whoop  and a yell.    It had been so long since he had even been able to speak, let alone scream or yell,  it felt like the release of years of pent up anger and frustration.    He ran back to where Kid still stood watching him.   He was out of breath, he felt like his lungs were on fire and the soles of his feet throbbed and stung.   But he was free.  His brown eyes twinkled as they captured the blue ones of his partner and best friend.   As they had always been able to do,  they communicated without words.  In a matter of seconds,  Kid's shoes and clothes were discarded and the two former outlaws were in their underwear, running in the grass, screaming and laughing like children.   Like free men.   Because that's what they were.  

But the sweet taste of freedom left a bitter aftertaste in Heyes mouth when he thought about his sweet Evie.  What had she done?   She would never have given up on them so easily.   She would never have sacrificed their love without a very good reason, or unless she was being forced.  He had a feeling she had made some sort of deal to gain their freedom.  She had sacrificed their relationship and their future to gain that freedom.  He looked down at the lock of hair enclosed by the lavender binding cord that he still held in his hand.  He was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing he ever did.  Even if it meant losing that freedom.




  

Love's Last Gift ~ Chapter 3

Life-In-Love

Not in thy body is thy life at all

But in this lady’s lips and hands and eyes;

Through these she yields the life that vivifies

What else were sorrow’s servant and death’s thrall.

Look on thyself without her, and recall

The waste remembrance and forlorn surmise

That lived but in a dead-drawn breath of sighs

O’er vanished hours and hours eventual.

Even so much life hath the poor tress of hair

Which, stored apart, is all love hath to show

For heart-beats and for fire-heats long ago;

Even so much life endures unknown, even where,

‘Mid change the changeless night environeth,

Lies all that golden hair undimmed in death.

 ~*~*~*~

The streets of Cheyenne, Wyoming had changed a lot since the last time Heyes and Curry had ridden in them.    Cheyenne had been one of their favorite towns to frequent when they had first started out in the business.  Heyes remembered having a grand old time at the Big Horn saloon after robbing the bank near Fort Collins in Colorado.   He and Kid and the rest of the gang had ridden in to Cheyenne like they had owned the place.   And with the young, cocky attitude they displayed, no one had reason to doubt that they did.   But that had been before they had solidified their reputations and had earned the ten thousand dollar price tags on their heads.   After they had been arrested and lodged in the Cheyenne jail a few times,  they started to avoid the city.   And when their wanted status was upgraded to dead or alive,  they had tried to avoid crossing through the territory of Wyoming altogether whenever possible.  But now they didn't have to worry about being recognized or arrested.  They could walk in and order a beer like any other man.   Like a pair of Texas rangers.

The Long Horn Saloon still stood where it always had.  Several newer, fancier saloons has sprung up around town, but the boys doubted if they had the same atmosphere that their old haunt had.    The same old sign still hung across the top of the building's front, only the paint was faded and weathered.

"Wonder if old Gus is still keeping the bar?"  Kid asked as they stood on the street in front of the saloon looking up at the weather beaten sign.
 
"Only one way to find out,"   Heyes said as he went in with confidence.   They stood and took in the sights and sounds of the old familiar place.   Heyes closed his eyes for a moment enjoying the sound of glassing tinkling, cards shuffling,   poker chips chinking and a player piano twanging softly in the background.     He inhaled the scent of beer and whiskey,  cigars and sweat.   Yep,  nothing here had changed.   The familiar, yet older face of Gus Nelson frowned in confusion at the two smiling men who approached his bar with such confidence,  not because he didn't recognize the two men, but because he hadn't seen their faces in years and they were supposed to be in prison.  The confused look on Gus's face slowly transformed into a  smile as the two former outlaws sauntered casually up to his bar.

"I ain't read about no prison breaks in the papers.   So either you gents is lost or things in your lives have changed drastically."

"Hello, Gus.   We're not lost and we didn't bust out.   If you can believe this, we got pardoned,"  Heyes said with a broad smile.   "We just got released yesterday."

The older man's face lit up at the news.  He reached across the bar to slap both boys on the shoulder.   "That calls for a celebration.  Anything you want, on the house."

He poured Kid a beer and Heyes a shot of whiskey.   "Pardoned.  Well, I'll be hanged.  How long has it been anyway?  Six years?   Kid you were still just a snot nosed,"  he struggled to find a better word, but failed, "......kid, the last time I saw you two.   And you,"  he looked into Heyes brown eyes,  "you were just starting to lead the gang.   I must say, you boys did me proud.   I kept up with you boys and every time you pulled a job it would be in the papers and each job got a little bigger.   When I read about you blowing that safe in Denver,  the one that everybody said couldn't be blown,  I was so proud I framed the newspaper and hung it on the wall.  It's still there."   He pointed to the wall behind the far left end of the bar.  "We still talk about it to this day.  You boys know that I didn't take no offense when you stopped coming through here once you made the title of most wanted men in the west."

"Wasn't no offfense meant, Gus,"  Kid said as he swigged his beer.   "We had to steer clear of these parts once Sheriff Lawler had it in for us.  Is he still sheriff by the way?"

"Nope.   He retired and his son took over.   But don't worry.  I don't think he'll recognize the two of you."

"Well, even if he does,"   Heyes patted his breast pocket, "I've got official papers signed by the governor himself declaring us free men."

"That's wonderful, boys,  just wonderful.  Wonder why it wasn't in the papers about you two being pardoned?"

The boys swapped glances.  "We're not too sure about that ourselves.  But the warden assured us that it's all on the up and up.   And speaking of newspapers,  is there a copy of today's issue lying around anywhere?"

Gus handed Heyes  the latest issue of The Cheyenne Daily Sun from behind the bar.  "Hey, Gus,"  Kid said with a laugh, "remember that time Heyes pulled the old five pat hands trick on that city slicker from New York."

Gus let out a hearty laugh.  "Yep, some of the old timers still talk about it to this day, too.  That slicker never did figure out that he'd been had.   But he sure did know that he was a hundred dollars poorer."

Before long the whole saloon knew that Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry were in town,  and that they were free men.   After reminiscing for another hour, the boys found themselves winning big at poker for the next three.  They weren't sure if they really won because of their skill or if the other players let them win when they found out they were Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes.

Later in their room at the Dyer Hotel,  Kid slept soundly while Heyes didn't sleep at all.  Instead he spent an hour sitting in bed combing through every word of the newspaper by the dim  lamplight.  But nothing seemed to be of any significance  where he and Kid were concerned.   Starting tomorrow, he was going to do some digging.   He was going to ask around and see if anyone had seen anyone matching Evie and Livvy's descriptions.  They were here in Cheyenne somewhere.  He could just feel it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She awoke to a beautiful rays of sunshine filling her gloomy room.  The French doors leading to the balcony were open letting in the sunlight and the fresh spring air.  She raised her groggy head to look out upon the clear blue skies and heard the singing of birds nesting in the trees.   What a beautiful day to start her miserable existence she would now call her life.

Waking up the morning  after her wedding night  should have found her feeling elated and bubbly. Instead she felt deflated and flat.   Martha had roused her far too early.  She had not fallen asleep until late and now she just wanted to keep sleeping.

Evie groaned and threw her arm across her eyes to shield them from the brutal light.   "Remind me again, Martha, why I should even get out of this bed today."

"Because you've signed your soul away to that sorry excuse for a man who will be expecting you to be at the festivities tonight playing the part of the blissful newlywed.   And you know what will happen if you welch on your end of that bargain."

Evie sighed a heavy sigh, threw back the cover and sat on the edge of the huge four poster bed.  She didn't need anyone to actually remind her of why.   The reality of her life and her situation was with her constantly.   She woke with it, ate every meal with it, laid down with it at night and slept with it.

"Which one do you choose, my lovely,"    Martha asked, holding up two gowns for her to choose from.   She didn't answer.   Martha laid the two gowns on the bed beside her.   "Perhaps you would like your aunt's opinion.   But if you want it you must be gettin' it soon, for she will be leaving for home shortly."

Evie's head snapped up.  She had forgotten that her aunt would be leaving today to go back home to Heavenly Hills.  Libby had been left alone for far too long and the family businesses needed her attention.   Evie longed to go with her.  Almost as much as she longed for her beloved.   In fact she and Livvy would have already been home had this opportunity not fallen into her lap so suddenly.

She rose from her bed and went to stand against the balcony railing and gazed towards the west.  What she really longed for was to find her beloved ex-outlaw and take him back home with her.  But she knew what would happen if she did.  He would be hunted again.  And this time for a crime he didn't commit.  The governor had made it clear that if she didn't live up to her end of the deal, then the boys would be wanted for crimes far worse that robbery.   "Be safe, my love.   And know that everything I've done,  I've done for you,"  she said aloud before placing another kiss on the silver ring she wore around her neck.   It would never come off.  Until her dying day she would wear it.  If she could not place it on her finger then she would wear it around her neck.   Only when she was cold and dead would it be removed.

"I'm partial to the blue one, you know."   Livvy's voice brought a brief smile to her face.   She turned to find her petite blonde aunt admiring the deep blue silk gown that lay across Evie's bed.

"I'll wear the blue one then.  Not that it matters.   I don't care how I look or what I wear or what I say or how I act.   I don't want to even go downstairs for this dinner party.  And tomorrow night will be even worse.   He's expecting dozens of people for a garden party.  He expects me to dance and play the piano and play yard games.  And all while I'm smiling and acting so very in love with his son.   Thank goodness they are all strangers who don't know me well.  I'm afraid anyone who knows me well would see right through me."

"I'm afraid he will expect you to be on your most convincing behavior.   A woman who was truly in love with her husband would want to look her best for company.   How unfortunate that there is no capital building in Cheyenne.  All of the governor's offices are here in the mansion and all of his soiree's are here as well.   I'm afraid there's no avoiding it, dear.  You have to play the part.  Otherwise I fear for two former outlaws."

"I know.   I'll be the devoted little wife when I'm in public, but can't I be discontented and grumpy in the privacy of my own room?"

Livvy held her arms open and Evie stepped into the embrace of her most trusted friend and ally.    "Of course you can be grumpy all you want with Martha and me, but try to behave yourself around others.   You know we can't afford to mess this up.   If things go wrong,  we could loose everything."

"I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders."

"In a way it is.  Our world, anyway.   But you are a Sanders woman.   You have been through tougher times than this and done far braver things.   I have no doubt that you can do this as well.  We Sanders women are tough as nails."

Evie smiled, feeling a little more light hearted.   "When do you leave?"

"On the two o'clock train.   I've already packed and one of the governor's carriages will take me to the depot.   Martha and James will stay here with you.   I would never leave you here alone.    And I want you to know that I will come back as soon as I can if you need me.   I can be here in two days if I have to be."

"Can't you stay just a little longer?   How am I going to do this by myself?  How will I survive without you?"

"You will survive because you have to.   Look at all you've been through in the past year and a half.   Compared to all of that, this should be a walk through the park.   You have a strength that most women will never possess.  A strength that can even make those people tonight believe that you spent a glorious night in the arms of your new husband."

Evie groaned in disgust.  "Please don't say things like that.  It puts images in my head that I do not want there."

"Sorry, dear, but you have to make the public believe that you are in love with that young man.  No matter how you really feel.  That is part of the bargain.  Don't ever forget why you are doing this."

"I won't forget,"  she said soberly, looking again to the west.

"I certainly wouldn't leave at all if I didn't have to get back to Nashville.    This whole thing just fell into our laps all of a sudden and I hadn't made arrangements to be away for this long.   I should have been home days ago."

"I know.   I'm sorry.  But I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get them out of that wretched place.   No matter what the cost."

"Don't be sorry.   I know I scolded you quite harshly about it, but I would have done the same thing had I been in your shoes."

"Speaking of shoes, I need you to help me decide on which pair to wear tonight and tomorrow night.   And I need you to help me with my hair before  you go.   Do you mind?"

"Of course I don't mind.   Let's have a good breakfast then you can bathe and we will spend the rest of the time getting you ready for the governor's dinner party."

"Livvy?"  Evie approached the subject carefully.  "Do you ever think about that day in Rock Springs?  The day we left them there?   Do you think if we had stayed there, they wouldn't have been arrested?"

Livvy was silent for a few moments.  "Yes, I think about it every day.  I wish now that we had all gone back to Rawlins and found a minister or a justice of the peace when we couldn't find either in Rock Springs.   And the two of you would be married now and everything would be different."   Evie could see the regret in her aunt's eyes.  "But there's no sense dwelling on what cannot be changed."   She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say more, but quickly closed it again.  "I'll go see about breakfast,"  she said in an almost inaudible voice.
 
Livvy left her alone on the balcony and went in search of the servants to tell them to bring breakfast.   Evie knew it made Livvy uncomfortable to talk about the day they had left Rock Springs.  When Livvy and Kid had arrived on the train that cold winter day in January of 1881, Evie and Heyes were waiting for them at the hotel.  They had inquired about a minister and found that the only minister in town also pastored two other churches in neighboring communities and he wouldn't be back for two weeks.  And there was no justice of the peace at the moment, because the man who had held that position had died of pneumonia just days before.   That's when Livvy had insisted that they wait long enough for her to plan a big wedding with music, a cake and a fancy gown for Evie.   They reluctantly said yes to waiting.  It was the biggest regret of her life.   She and Livvy had boarded a train the next day for Nashville.   The boys were to meet with Lom Trevors and let him know of Heyes' plans to marry Evie.    Then the boys were going to join them in Nashville.   But they never made it.   Evie had a telegraph from  Heyes waiting for her the day she arrived in Nashville, letting her know that he and Kid were leaving Rock Springs to head to Porterville to meet Lom.  It was the last she ever heard from him.   He was arrested apparently leaving the telegrapher's office.  And she knew that Livvy carried a tremendous amount of guilt about the whole thing.  She felt it was her fault for insisting that they wait.  That's why she rarely brought up the subject.  It was as painful for her to think about as it was for Evie.
Since the boys' incarceration, she had come to rely heavily on her aunt and she had grown closer to her than she had ever imagined.  She felt closer to her than she had to her own mother.   She didn't want Livvy to leave.  Even though Martha would still be here, she still felt like Daniel being left in the lion's den.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What are you doing up so early?"   a sleepy Kid Curry grunted from under the covers of his soft warm bed.

"I want to get down to the corner and see it they've got today's paper for sale yet,"   Heyes told his half asleep friend while he pulled on his boots.   "You can go back to sleep.   I'll be back as soon as I buy a paper."

Kid's answer was a loud and long snore.   Heyes just chuckled deep in his throat and shoved his hat on his head and headed down stairs and into the bustling streets of downtown Cheyenne.

He found a young man selling today's edition a couple of streets down from the hotel.   He  couldn't wait to get back up to his room and start combing through the pages to find some clue about Evie's whereabouts.   He handed the boy a nickel for the paper and was headed back across the street when a sign from down the street caught his eye.  He went to have a closer look.   It was a new place that hadn't been here when he and Kid used to frequent the town.   It was a restaurant and it appeared to be quite popular, considering the amount of people going in and out.   He would treat Kid to a big breakfast.   It felt good to be able to think about simple things again.  Things like what to have for breakfast or which shirt to wear.   He hadn't had to make a decision in so long he thought maybe he had forgotten how.   But he was wrong.   He decided right there that he was going to have steak and eggs.   And maybe a piece of pie.  The painted window sign of Fannie's Place said "Home of the Best Pie in the West."  But first he had to go through this paper.  Because he had also made another decision.  Come hell or high water, he was going to see Evie soon and he was going to get some answers.
 
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Heyes,  I mean it.  You ask me if I'm awake one more time I'm gonna brain ya!"

"But, Kid, I don't want you to miss breakfast.  It's getting late.   And there's a new place in town that I'm sure you will like."

One blue eye popped open.  "What kind of place?"

"It's a restaurant.  It's called Fannie's Place and there were lots of people there so it must be good."
The blue eye closed.

"And the sign on the window said it was home of the best pie in the west."

Two blue eyes popped open.  "Did you say pie?"

"Yep, pie."

"What kind of pie?"

"I don't know.  We'll have to go over and find out."

Kid threw the covers off and sat on the edge of the bed.   "I'm only getting up because of the pie.  I hope you know that."

A pleased smile crossed Heyes face as he watched his friend rise and walk slowly to the wash basin.   He knew the pie would to the trick.   Heyes sat down leisurely on his bed and picked up the paper that he'd laid there when he'd come in.   He read the front page.  Nothing exciting.   Just news about new bills the recently elected President Garfield was going to introduce to Congress, testimony from local trials,  advertisements from local businesses.  He flipped to page two.   More of the same, advertisements and death announcements.   He didn't recognize any of the names in any of the stories.   Was Martha sending him on a wild goose chase or was there going to be something in tomorrow's paper?

"Anything in today's paper?"  Kid asked as he surveyed his reflection in the mirror.   "You know,  I think I'll grow that mustache back again.  I looked pretty good in it.  And besides, when a man is stripped of his right to have one, it kind of feels good to grow one just because you can.   Know what I mean?"

No reply.

"Heyes?   You know what I mean?"    He turned and found his partner staring intently, searching the pages of the paper.

"What?"  Heyes asked without looking up.   "Oh, yeah,  I didn't shave this morning either,"  he said absentmindedly rubbing his day old beard.  "Kid there ain't a thing in here that looks like it would have anything to do with us or Evie."

Kid crossed the room and took the paper from Heyes.  "Nothing at all?    Well, maybe tomorrow's paper will tell us something.   Want me to go over this one just in case  you missed something?"

"You can if you want, but I don't think I missed anything."    He laid back on the bed.

"I'll give it a once over when we get to Fannie's."  Kid grabbed his hat and headed for the door.  "You coming?"

"I just knew there would be something in that paper today.  You don't think that Martha woman was leading us in the wrong direction do you?"

"Well,  I...."

"No, she was definitely trying to help us.  But then again,  she could be trying to get us to focus on the papers so we don't check on anything else, like the hotels and boarding houses."

"Yeah, I guess......"

"No, no,  I've got a really good feeling about her.  I got the feeling she was genuine.  She really wants to help us and Evie.  She's in some sort of  trouble and she's going to get hurt.  Don't you think?"

"Are you gonna let me answer this time?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't want an answer, Kid."

Kid just rolled his blue eyes.  "I think she was definitely trying to lead us in the right direction and she definitely wants us to keep checking the papers.  Don't get  like you get Heyes just because there wasn't anything in today's paper.   Maybe tomorrow there will be."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Now, can we go eat?"

"Let's go,"  Heyes said as he rose to his feet.  "I just hope we don't get the same reaction we got when we went into Minnie's Cafe in Laramie."

Fannie herself met them at the door when they walked in.    "Aw, no,"   Kid mumbled under his breath,  "here we go again."

"Hello, boys,"   the robust middle aged blonde greeted them.   "I was hoping you two would be coming to see me."

The boys looked at each other, confused, yet pleasantly surprised.  They removed their hats revealing their stubbled heads.  "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but do we know you?"   Heyes asked, expecting to get an invitation to the door when she saw their bare heads.

"No, but I sure do know who you are.   Why everybody in town is just hoping to get a look at the notorious Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry,  now pardoned, free men."

"Boy, word sure travels fast. So you don't mind if we sit here in your establishment and eat?"   Kid asked, surprised.

"Mind?   Why, my business will probably triple once everybody hears you've been in here.  And if you like the food,  I sure would appreciate it if you recommended the place to others,"  she shamelessly solicited.    She showed them to a nearby table and told them what she had to offer and the boys ordered their food.

"Say, ma'am,"  asked Kid, "why didn't you throw us out like the folks in Laramie did?"

"Folks in Laramie don't take kindly to newly released prisoners.  They figure they're all no good and going to cause havoc in their town.  So folks there don't encourage former inmates to linger very long.   But you won't find that here in this town, boys,"  she said with a wink as she trotted off to the kitchen.

"Well, Heyes, I think we found ourselves a home."  Kid said with blue eyes sparkling.

Heyes just smiled at his friend, but he didn't say anything.   He didn't know what to say.  Home seemed like a foreign word to him.  Like something from another language.   Without his Evie,  home did not exist in his vocabulary.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Evie stood with Martha on the top step of the columned front porch of the governor's mansion and waved goodbye to her aunt.     She hated to see her go.   She wanted to run after the carriage and beg her not to go.   She wanted to beg her aunt to purchase a home somewhere in Cheyenne and move Libby here so both her aunts would be close to her.     She took a deep breath and looked heavenward.   Dear, Lord, what have I gotten myself into?    Just help me remember why I'm doing this.

"Don't fret, lovey.   We'll see them again soon.  And in the meantime I'll be here and I won't let anything happen to you.    And James is here as well.   He's been a faithful employee to the Sanders family almost as long as I."

"How can I do this, Martha?   How can I stand in front of all those people tonight and tomorrow and pretend to be in love with a man I hardly know?   And what I do know of him, I don't even like."

"Remember that tale you told me about going into that saloon and winning all that money at the poker table pretending to be Miss Savannah from Savannah?   Well, this is the same thing.  You just pretend to be someone else for a while.  Only this time you're not playing for money.  You're playing to keep the man you love out from behind those prison walls and to protect your family's future.  And I have a feeling that if you bide your time all things will fall into place and you won't have to keep up this grand charade."

"What sort of feeling?  Do you know something you're not telling me?"

"No.  I just have an intuition that's all.   When people are driven either by great love or by great hate, then they can make it through most anything and nothing seems to last as long as it really does."

"I suppose,"    Evie said as she watched Livvy's carriage exit through the tall iron gates at the front of the property.   Great love for Hannibal Heyes is what had driven her to  enter into a loveless marriage with a man she hardly knew.    She just hoped it wasn't great hate that would drive her to leave this place, rendering the agreement null and void.

Martha watched the young woman she loved like her own retreat back inside the house.   She would keep to herself the fact that she had practically told Mr. Heyes were he could find her and to be looking in the papers so he could read the news of her marriage.  If he had done as she expected him to,   tomorrow night was going to be quite an evening.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



"GOVERNOR'S SON WEDS WIDOWED CONCERT PIANIST"

That was the headline Kid Curry read on the front page of the evening edition of The Cheyenne Daily Sun.    Heyes had been disappointed this morning when there was nothing in the paper to give them a clue as to the girl's whereabouts.   They hadn't known that the Sun printed an evening edition.    Heyes was in his room now, sulking and pouting.   Kid hated it when he pouted.   He was worse than a spoiled child.    But what he hated even worse was an angry Heyes.   A pouty Heyes he could deal with.  He didn't like it but he could deal with him.   But an angry Heyes, nobody could deal with.   And after he read these headlines,  Heyes was definitely going to be angry.   Kid had left the room an hour ago to have another slice of Fannie's cherry pie.   Actually he had two, but that was his and Fannie's secret.     He'd heard the boy yelling for everyone to "read all about it."   So, Kid had bought a paper with the intentions of taking it back to the hotel so Heyes could spend the evening pouring over each page.    But the bold headline had caught his eye and he stood there stunned after reading it.  He dreaded giving this to his partner.

He hadn't read the article that followed but the only possible explanation was that Evie had married the governor's son.   How was he going to tell Heyes?    He would be crushed and then angry.   Maybe he should have another piece of pie and think on it.

"Hey, Kid!   What you got there?"

Kid turned to see his partner coming up the street from the hotel.   His first instinct was to hide the paper behind his back.  But it was too late, he'd already seen it.   Besides that,   Heyes would just buy a copy of his own if he refused to show it to him.  Maybe he could soften the blow by warning him.

"Evening edtion.  Heyes, before you read this.....well.....you're not gonna like it.   So, please, don't get how you get."    Heyes snatched the paper out of Kid's hands and read the front page headline.   Kid waited for a tantrum or an explosion of anger.   Nothing.

"So?"  Heyes asked with a shrug.  "You wanna go over to Fannie's and grab some more of that pie?"  Heyes asked as he handed the paper back to Kid.

"Heyes?   Didn't you just read the headlines?"

"Yeah.  So?   What does that have to do with us?"

"It's Evie.  It has to be.   She's agreed to marry the governor's son to set us free."

Heyes laughed a little as he shook his head.  "No, Kid.   You're wrong.  Not my Evie.  She wouldn't do that to me.  There's no way she would marry another man.    And besides that,  Evie's no concert pianist.   She plays piano real good, but she doesn't give concerts.   Now let's go have some more of that pie."

Heyes headed across the street to Fannie's.   Kid stared after him for a moment.   That was not the reaction he had expected.    Maybe Heyes was right.   Maybe their pardon and the fact that the governor's son just got married were unrelated.   Or maybe Heyes was just having a severe case of denial.    Kid followed after Heyes when a bill posted to the community board next to Fannie's place caught his eye.   He stopped Heyes with a hand to his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the bill.    They walked silently to the billboard and read the colorful printed flyer that was partially covered by newer bills.  Kid ripped some of them away so they could read the entire bill.
 
"In Concert - one night only at the Dyer Hotel -   Acclaimed Pianist,  Evangeline Smith - Saturday,  April 7 at  8:00 P.M."

"Didn't you say she was calling herself Mrs. Smith?    Heyes,  I know you don't want to believe it, but it has to be her.   It's Evie.  She's married that guy so we could be pardoned.  She was here playing a concert two weeks ago."

Heyes didn't speak.    He didn't know if he could speak.   Every emotion that a human being could feel,  seemed to surface inside of him at one time.    He didn't want to believe it.   She wouldn't do that to him.  Would she?   Not even to gain his freedom.   But what other explanation was there.   He grabbed the newspaper from Kid's hand and stormed into Fannie's and sat in the closest chair.   He began reading the article about the governor's son's wedding.   It had taken place yesterday at the governor's mansion.    It was a small private ceremony in which Mrs.  Joshua Smith, widow,  became Mrs. Clayton Ramsey III.    The two met two weeks ago when Mrs. Smith gave a concert in the Dyer Hotel in downtown Cheyenne.  The article went on to explain that the new Mrs.  Ramsey hailed from Nashville and had studied music at the Boston Conservatory.   And that was as far as Heyes could read.   He didn't need to read any more.   He had his answer.   She had married another man.  The article never mentioned the bride's first name, so there still remained that small splinter of hope that pierced his soul, that perhaps it wasn't her and all these things were mere coincidences.  But deep down he knew.

"Heyes?   You alright?"   Kid asked quietly as he sat next to his friend.

Heyes stared blankly at the table top in front of him.   He felt like he was going insane.   Two days ago he was pulling hard labor in the territorial prison, with little hope of getting out of those prison walls alive.  And now he was sitting in a restaurant a free man trying to make sense of what he had just read in the newspaper.   His hopes and his dreams, everything that had kept him alive in that prison, had just been smashed against the cold, hard rocks of reality.  The woman he loved was now married to someone else.

Why hadn't he married her when he had had the chance.   When they had arrived in Rock Springs on that snowy evening over a year ago,  there had been no minister in town,   no justice of the peace and no one with the legal ability to make them man and wife.   So he and Evie had reluctantly given in to Livvy's pleas, and decided to wait.   Livvy's intentions had been good.  She just wanted her only niece to get married in a church with a beautiful wedding gown and a big cake afterwards.  She just needed a few weeks to get things arranged and to contact their old friend Preacher to perform the ceremony.   He was the only minister of the gospel who could marry them using Heyes real name.  Regret.  What a terrible word, he thought.  And what an even worse feeling.     No, he wasn't alright.     "Don't I look alright?"   was all he could manage to say.

Before Kid could tell his partner that he looked worse than he ever remembered seeing him,  two finely dressed ladies carrying hatboxes and packages entered the front door beside them, chattering loudly about their morning excursions of shopping.   Kid stood and removed his hat and offered to assist the ladies with their packages.   Most of the time it was Heyes who had to remind Kid to stand when a lady entered the room, but this time Kid had to give Heyes a nudge to get him to stand and help him relieve the ladies of their burdens.

"Good morning, folks,"   Fannie greeted as she approached her awaiting guests.  "My, you ladies must have bought out the whole town,"   Fannie noted as she led the ladies to an empty table, the gentleman following with their packages.   "Shopping for a new gown for the big soiree, I suppose."

"Oh, yes, Fannie.  Violet and I are  so excited.   Papa said we could buy whatever we wanted and money was no object.  Isn't that right, Daisy?"

"Yes, sister dear, that is correct.  Papa is always grateful for us to have an opportunity to find suitable husbands.   And Lord only knows that suitable suitors are few and far between around here.   Papa always says that only the best will do for his girls."

Heyes and Kid shared a private, knowing look.   There was no shortage of men around here.  There was just a shortage of men who would want to court either of these two unfortunate looking young ladies.   Heyes set his arm load of packages next to the one called Violet.   She was well over six feet tall and so skinny a  hard breeze would have blown her over.  She turned hazel eyes towards him and smiled, revealing bucked teeth with a wide gap in the middle.

Kid deposited the stack of hat boxes in the chair next to Daisy.   She too smiled charmingly at Kid.   Her eyes disappeared into tiny slits in her chubby, round face.   A face that was covered with a sprinkling of fine dark hair.  The hair grew darker near her mouth and nose,  giving her the appearance of having a slight goatee.   "Thank you, gentlemen,"   Daisy said, extending her pudgy hand.

Kid took her hand and shook it gently and quickly dropped it.  "My pleasure, ma'am,"   he said as he backed away and he and Heyes turned to go back to their table.

"I suppose you girls are heading up to the governor's mansion tomorrow night for the garden party,"  Fannie said.

The boys stopped in their tracks.

"That's right.   It's a private invitation only gathering.   We have to look our best if we want to  rub elbows with the governor and his  new daughter-in-law.   We hear she is ravishingly beautiful,"   Violet giggled, her large hooked nose wrinkling.

The boys both pivoted on their heels and returned to the ladies' table.

"How rude of us not to introduce ourselves.   I'm Joshua Smith and this is Thaddeus Jones.  Is it our understanding that you ladies are without escorts for tomorrow evening's get together at the governor's mansion?"

Violet batted her eyes coyly up at the handsome cowboy,  "As a matter of fact we are without escorts."

"But that's only because it was such short notice.   Otherwise we would have had no problem finding an escort,"   Daisy quickly added.

"Oh, I'm sure you would have, ma'am,"   Kid said.   "But seeing as how you two ladies have bought pretty new dresses and me and my partner here just happen to be free tomorrow evening,  would you allow us to do the honor of being your escorts?"

Both ladies giggled and blushed.   "We would be thrilled to have you for escorts, Thaddeus,"    said Daisy with her hand shyly over her mouth.

"What time should we come calling?"    Kid asked.

"The party starts at seven,"  said Violet.

Kid smiled at his partner, "Well, Cinderella, we got twenty four hours to get you ready for the ball."