Catherine the Great
By: The Scribe
Mary Travis stared at the note and wondered what god she had offended that would visit upon her the nightmare that was arriving on a carriage in less than a day. If it were not for the telegram confirming the news, Mary would probably have not had the slightest inkling of it until catastrophe appeared at her door with too much luggage and more sibling issues than she would care to remember. The mail, as it was in these parts, was sporadic and uncertain and while Mary had become accustomed to its inefficiency, on this occasion she found herself cursing it because there was no time to write back and prevent this disaster from unfolding.
She sat in her office, reading the telegram once again, debating whether or not to burn it or move out of town, not necessary in that order. Unfortunately, she came swiftly to the realisation that neither alternative would do her any good because it was probable that her sister would arrive here before any of those contingencies could be put in the effect.
She did not know if Four Corners was ready for Catherine the Great because she sure as hell wasn't.
Catherine was coming to town. There was an old saying that women named Catherine were either saints or queens and in her sister's case, Catherine definitely fell into the category of the latter. It was not that Mary had no desire to see her overwhelming beautiful older sister, who was everything that she was not. It was just that when Catherine was around, Mary felt like she was sixteen again, running after her glamorous sister who seemed to hold the entire world in her palm and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had been terribly difficult to have a personality of any kind around a sister who simply captured the attention of everyone around her and knew it.
Mary could not even fathom why Catherine was coming to Four Corners. The telegram had said a scant little and Catherine's letter had not even reached her. Mary hoped it was not another of her parents' efforts to get her to move back to Boston with Billy. Mary knew that her family had never been entirely thrilled with the fact that she had traveled out West with Stephen in the first place but had endured it because Mary would not be talked out of it.
However, since Stephen's passing, they had been suddenly vocal about the subject. While she had told them that she had ties that kept her in Four Corners, she omitted revealing the most important of these connections because she knew that it would horrify them to know that she had romantic designs on an ex-gunslinger now lawman.
Truth be told, Mary thought ruefully, there was not really anything to tell, not since Ella Gaines had been gunned down in the streets of Four Corners some months ago. Since that day, Chris had retreated from her and placed a wall between them the likes of which she had not seen since he first came to Four Corners. She knew he still cared but he was cold and distant in his manner towards her and it broke her heart each time she saw him in the street and knew from the reflection in his eyes that things between them had changed. There was a rage smoldering inside of him he would not confide to anyone, especially her. Mary was equally hurt knowing that after everything they had been through, he could not trust her enough to tell her what was wrong.
The fact that she was not the only one who was languishing in this limbo, told Mary a great deal. Ever since he had shot and killed Ella Gaines, Vin Tanner's relationship with Chris Larabee had become strained. While they rode together and still spoke, Mary had the impression that the close friendship between two men was damaged and poor Vin was at a loss over what to do about it. Mary cursed Ella for bringing heartache to the ones she cared about even when she was rotting in the grave. This rift had occurred because Vin had been the one to pull the trigger on Ella in the final moments of her battle. He had shot the woman when she had been prepared to kill Chris and Mary. The tracker had acted the only way he could and fired, never realizing that killing Ella was something Chris desired to do himself.
By taking her life, Vin had cheated Chris of his revenge.
Now whenever they were together, it was like walking on eggshell. Neither had inkling as to how to repair this rift that was growing wider with each passing day and though Mary wanted to help make things right again, how could she do any of that when her own relationship with Chris was just as splintered? It broke her heart to see him holding her at arm's length and even Billy, when he was last home from school had noticed something wrong between his ma and Chris. How could she explain it to a child when she could not understand it herself?
And now, as if things could not deteriorate any further, she was going to be faced with a visit from Catherine.
The idea that her sister would soon be invading Four Corners and Catherine never seemed to visit a place as much as she invaded it, sent Mary into a state of turmoil. She did not wish her sister to see that she made a living running a newspaper, playing community leader on occasion and had no man in her life. It was hardly the kind of lifestyle that her very extravagant sister would find suitable. Of course, Catherine never ceased to tell Mary how disappointed she was that her younger sister had not 'married well' in her selection of Stephen as a husband.
To Catherine, the concept of marrying out of love was unimaginable.
Catherine, who married a Boston banker and lived in a sprawling mansion with servants and parties, who enjoyed the trimmings that came with being in high society, would no doubt find Mary's life in Four Corners dreary and demeaning in comparison. Mary regretted nothing about her life but she was not eager to have her older sister, who seemed to have the remarkable ability to make her feel small and ineffectual, take apart Mary's existence by her deep scrutiny.
Unfortunately, there was little Mary could do about it as she looked up finally from the offending piece of paper which had heralded the onset of this nightmare she could not prevent. The air in her office seemed stuffy and following this news, she definitely needed to occupy her time with some distraction. Thus, she opted to go about her day, since staring at the telegram was not going to change its contents or alter the fact that she was about to have a visitor in her home. Rising from her chair, Mary picked up the stack of newspapers that was the latest edition of the Clarion News and slipped out of her office.
Beyond the confines the Clarion News, it was a beautiful day in Four Corners. The heat was delicious against her skin and for an instant she stood outside her door allowing her face to feel its warm waves against her skin. When confronted with brilliant blue sky and glorious weather, it was easy to forget that the storm that was her sister would be blowing into town in less than a day. After lingering for a moment in the sunlight, she began her steps down the boardwalk, waving at the familiar faces she happened by.
She had just passed by Gloria Potter's store when she saw a rider making his way through town. Despite her effort not to look, Mary could not keep her eyes from drifting across the dirt road to rest upon the black-garbed gunslinger that was astride his dark gelding. Chris Larabee's piercing gaze rested upon Mary for but an instant but it was an instant that felt like an eternity to both. They stared at each other and it felt as if she were looking at him from across great chasm that neither could cross. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, wishing he would offer her some scant trace of hope that things between them were not embers dying in the cold but there was nothing but that cold, hard stare which he broke away by facing front again.
Mary swallowed thickly, feeling her cheeks flush as she was filled with hurt at his indifference. She forced her eyes away from him and rebuked herself silently that she should not have expected any better. Hurrying away from the scene, Mary fled in an effort to salvage some measure of dignity. She was a fool, Mary told herself as she continued on her way, feeling worse than ever because not even her sister's arrival in Four Corners could rival the anguish of knowing that Chris Larabee might no longer care.
Buck Wilmington, who had witnessed the exchange beneath the awning of the jailhouse where he and Ezra were currently engaged in a game of checkers while Josiah's nose was firmly planted in a book, was not happy.
"How long is this going to go on?" Buck demanded of no one in particular.
"What exactly are you referring to?" Ezra Standish inquired, paying more attention to the game than Buck's statement.
"Chris and Mary," Buck retorted. "He's avoiding her like she was the plague."
"Mr. Wilmington." Ezra looked up at Buck as if he were an impatient child. "You are trespassing in forbidden waters."
"I don't care!" Buck declared exasperated, hating the whole mess that had developed since their final showdown with Ella Gaines. Putting the bitch down in the grave should have ended all this. Instead her death seemed to have caused more damage than any scheme of violence she might have committed in life. "It's insane. He doesn't even look at her and it's obvious that they care about each other."
"Chris has to deal with this on his own." Josiah raised his eyes from his book long enough to remark.
However, he did not add that he was just as concerned as Buck. If it had been anyone but Chris Larabee, Josiah would have already attempted to do something about it. Unfortunately, since it was Chris, who would not tolerate interference from anyone regarding his personal relationship with Mary, the preacher was just as powerless as Buck to do rectify the situation. "We can't tell him what to do or how to feel. His demons are his to deal with."
"Oh hell," Buck groaned, not all happy to let it go at that. He had known Chris longer than anyone and leaving it to the gunslinger to deal with the situation would mean nothing would ever change. Chris would ignore the situation until he drove Mary away for good. As someone who thought that Mary was the best thing to come into Chris' life since the death of his wife and son, Buck was not about to let the matter rest without at least trying to do something about it.
He liked Mary Travis and he respected the woman even more. Seeing her with such pain in her eyes, when Chris walked past her as if she were nothing to him, provoked Buck's self righteous streak and he was caught between wanting to knock Chris' teeth out or shake some sense into him, which ever came first.
"I mean it's not just how things have been with Mary, it's how he's been with Vin too," Buck continued with his tirade, his ire stoked into a proper fit of outrage.
If the situation between Mary and Chris was not bad enough already, what was transpiring between the gunslinger and the tracker was even worse. Although everything on the surface seemed at peace between Chris and Vin, the rest of the seven knew better. They were not blind to the rift that had been steadily increasing between the once constant companions after Ella Gaines' death.
Ever since Vin had taken the shot that killed Ella, Chris had been acting as if the tracker had done him some great disservice instead of saving his life. Once, the two men were inseparable but in recent weeks, they were seldom together unless the duty of being the town's protectors required them to be. While Chris seemed indifferent to the situation between himself and the bounty hunter, Vin's hurt was clear even though he did his best to hide it.
"Buck," Josiah sighed, trying to be a calming influence on the ladies' man, but that was no easy feat to do when he felt the same way. "I ain't happy about having my hands tied either but the good Lord helps those who helps themselves, Vin needs to talk to Chris about it. We can't do that for him, " Josiah sighed, wishing Buck could understand.
Josiah understood Buck's frustration and in truth, he was not entirely happy about Chris' treatment of Vin either. Of the seven, Vin had been the one to stand up for him when the investigator Silas Poplar believed he had murdered several women. Vin had openly defended him and was unshakeable in his belief that Josiah was innocence, a claim he did not believe the rest of the seven could make. Josiah hated being unable to return the favor because he knew standing up to Chris would avail them nothing and possibly worsen the situation.
"Right," Buck snorted in sarcasm. "He's about as closed mouth about it as Chris. I swear they were both tarred with the same brush."
"Stubborn," Josiah declared the unspoken thought in all their heads.
"What about you, Ezra?" Buck gazed at the gambler who had long since given up any hope of having any challenging play from his opponent in their game of checkers and had returned to the more routine practice of shuffling his favorite deck of cards.
"What about me, Mr. Wilmington?" Ezra looked up at him casually.
"Ain't you got an opinion on any of this?" Buck asked.
"No," Ezra said dispassionately. "I am firmly in agreement with Josiah on this point. Vin, Mary and Chris are adults and they should be allowed to handle the matter as adults, in private and at their own discretion."
"Meaning, we do nothing," Buck retorted, shaking his head in disgust, not merely at the situation but at the general opinion that nothing should be done, even if it was crying out for it.
"We can be there for them," Josiah added, knowing this would not appease Buck in the slightest but it was the only advice he had to give to the frustrated ladies' man.
"Josiah." Buck rose to his feet, deciding he needed a drink after this conversation. "We let things go the way they are and all we'll be there for is to pick up the pieces when it all goes to hell."
With that, he strode off the boardwalk, heading straight for the saloon and a little bit of Inez baiting.
"The man does get all fired up about things." Josiah sank in his chair after Buck had gone, wishing he had been able to help Buck, but short of mending things between Chris, Mary and Vin, there was nothing he could do.
"Well, he has a point," Ezra surprised him by saying.
Josiah stared at him in astonishment.
"I thought they were adults who should be allowed to handle the matter privately and at their own discretion?" The preacher reminded Ezra of his words with no small measure of accusation in his voice.
"I am not going to encourage Mr. Wilmington into doing something foolish. Knowing Buck as well as I do, he will attempt to handle the matter with all the subtlety of a raging Brahma bull in a china shop. This requires Machiavellian cunning to mend and unfortunately Buck is sorely lacking in that particular trait."
"And you're the one to do it?" Josiah tried to stifle a smile. While Ezra was becoming less mercenary by the day, his mind was always working on schemes. Fortunately, it appeared that not all of them were self-serving, even when he was attempting to be indifferent..
"I have not decided yet," Ezra replied. "This requires thought. After all, failure would mean having either Chris or Vin shoot me." He glanced over his shoulder at Josiah and was slightly alarmed when Josiah did not refute that statement.
"Actually I'd say both," Josiah grinned. "But by all means, go ahead. I can still perform last rites even if I'm not a practising member of the cloth any more."
"Thank you." Ezra gave him a look. "Your confidence is overwhelming."
"Morning, Miss Travis," Vin Tanner greeted the golden haired editor of the Clarion News, when he stepped out the bat wing doors of the Standish Tavern and saw the lady walking down the boardwalk towards him.
"Hello, Vin," Mary returned the salutation with warmth. "You just get back from patrol?" She asked casually.
"Yeah." Vin nodded. "It's pretty quiet out there. Hotter than hell though, needed a drink after all that."
"Hell has nothing on this place," she remarked with a little smile.
Vin could not disagree with her. As one who had traveled from one end of the Territory to the other, he knew just how hellish the place could be when it crept up on a man unexpectedly. While there was great beauty out in the wilderness that surrounded Four Corners, and a hundred other towns like it scattered throughout the region, that resplendent magnificence came at a price.
"Can't argue with you there," he drawled and reminded himself secretly that he had business with her he had been putting off for some time now. Ever since Ella's death actually.
An awkward silence followed as they stood before each other, both bound by the same man, both sharing the same hurt and neither with courage enough to speak of it. Still, Vin felt a kinship with the woman in their mutual difficulties with Chris Larabee, although it incensed Vin to no end that Chris was treating Mary the same way. He could understand the gunslinger being mad at him for Ella but Mary had done nothing to inspire his indifference. She had not pulled the trigger that cheated Chris out of his revenge, that had been Vin's doing and yet they were both suffering the consequences equally. It stabbed at the heart of Vin's sense of justice that she should be punished for something he did.
Mary looked into Vin's eyes and knew that he wanted to say something further but could not bring himself to utter the words out loud. She wondered if he wanted to speak to her about Chris but brushed the thought aside almost immediately. It was not in Vin's nature to be so forward about something that personal, even if he was directly involved in the events. His blue eyes showed his discomfort and Mary sought to spare him the effort by giving him a way out.
"I have to be going….," she started to say.
"Wait," he said suddenly, his too soft voice rising an octave. Swallowing thickly, he raised his eyes to her and decided to just say what was on his mind. "I wondered if we could start our reading lessons again."
The words caught Mary by surprise but it was by no means unpleasant. She had enjoyed helping Vin learn how to read after inadvertently stumbling upon the fact that he could not, some months ago. For someone who composed poems by memory alone, she was rather impressed by his literary ability and was eager to encourage him to learn how to read and write so he could put his words to paper. After the situation with Ella, the lessons had stopped because neither knew how to deal with Chris' ambivalence and had naturally shied away from one another in an effort to keep matters from worsening. However, it appeared their efforts were for nothing because Chris had turned away from them anyway, and thus there was no reason why they could not resume the lessons again.
"I think that would be a good idea," Mary smiled brightly, uncertain why this had the power to lessen the impact of all the unhappy things that had taken place today. Starting with Catherine's impending visit and her sighting of Chris on the street, where he had once again treated her as if she were a stranger, she had dreaded to see what else could happen today to make her life more miserable than it already was. Mary was glad to see that it was not all bad news. "Why don't you come over tonight for supper and we'll do it after."
Vin had not expected a dinner invitation but home cooking was not something he was likely to turn down. He still had the appetite of a teenager, Chris had told him, and Mary's culinary expertise was something he would not mind sampling.
"Sure," he answered, "tonight then."
"I'll be expecting you," Mary concluded. "I'll see you later, Vin."
Vin's response was a slight tilt of his hat before she was on her way again.
Only after she had gone, did he notice Chris Larabee standing in front of him where Mary had been. For a moment, neither said anything as intense gazes met across the boardwalk. Chris' expression seemed impassive, as if the exchange he had witnessed between Vin and Mary did not effect him in the slightest. The tracker for his part, looked back at Chris in defiance, daring him to make something of it. A fight would be something he could deal with, not this cold indifference.
"Vin," Chris acknowledge with the same tilt of his hat, his voice bearing that ever present disconnected tone. "Anything interesting out there?"
"Just a couple of wagons passing through heading east and some railroad men heading out to the line," Vin replied.
"Good." Chris nodded. "I got Watkins to Sweet Water all right. A federal Marshall is going to take him to Eagle Bend for trial."
"Least of what he deserves," Vin replied shortly.
The outlaw Watkins had murdered a family of homesteaders on the other side of Bitter Creek six months beforehand and had wandered into Four Corners, without the slightest inkling that every lawman from here to Kansas was hunting for him. Watkins was foolishly convinced his crime had gone undetected because of the remote location of the ranch where the murders were committed and the belief that he had left no one to tell the tale. Unfortunately, one of his victims had survived the massacre and was able to set every lawmen north of the border on his trail.
"I reckon," the gunslinger agreed.
They stared at each other in anticipation of something being said about Vin's exchange with Mary. The tracker almost wished Chris would express some annoyance or anger at the encounter but Chris did nothing of the kind. He merely trapped Vin with that powerful gaze, trying to dissect him to learn what he did not deign to ask. even though it was obvious to Vin anyway, that Chris was burning with curiosity. However, feeling it and showing it were two very different things and in that arena, Chris had no peer when it came to keeping a tight rein on his emotions.
"Well, I'll be seeing you." Chris started to move past the tracker when it appeared that Vin was not about to be forthcoming with his supper engagement with Mary.
"Chris," Vin found himself saying before he could stop himself. "What's going on here?'
Chris stared at him with almost black eyes revealing nothing. "Nothing as far I can see. Is something going on with you?" His gaze bore into Vin mercilessly.
"Maybe its time I got a move on, Chris," Vin sighed. He did not know whether it was because he truly felt this way or because he was angry and wanted to provoke some kind of a response from the friend he had trusted above all others. The one who now looked at him with a stranger's eyes. "That bounty is still hanging over my head. It won't be too long before someone comes looking for me."
There was a slight flicker in the gunslinger's face at the mention of Vin's departure. A little crack formed briefly in the granite hard exterior that he had been projecting these past few weeks.
"You're safer here then out there," Chris managed to say but knew instinctively it was not enough.
"Am I?" Vin glared at him. "Am I really? There ain't no place anywhere that's really safe, Chris. Not here, not out there. You can think that you know everything about a place and about a person and come away knowing nothing at all."
Leaving Chris to ponder those words, Vin Tanner strode away from the gunslinger wondering if it was better if he had just let Ella kill him because in the long run, it appeared Vin had lost his friend anyway.
Chris watched Vin make his way across the street towards the livery and guessed that the tracker was probably going to take a ride out of town. Whenever Vin was bothered about anything, he usually tried to put as much distance between himself and Four Corners as possible. There was too much noise to think, as Vin would put it succinctly during such occasions. A well of regret sprung up inside him at their exchange and the knowledge that Vin was driven to make this decision because Chris had given him no other choice bothered the gunslinger greatly. Vin had too much dignity to remain where he did not think he was wanted. Even though as far as Chris was concerned, it could not be farther from the truth.
Chris just could not bring himself to say it.
He knew he was being unfair. He was not so arrogant that he could not see that. Vin had saved his life when he pulled the trigger. However, knowing that did not change how he felt and how he felt was cheated. It was his family that Ella had murdered! His wife and child whose bodies he was forced to remove from the charred remnants of their home. He had remembered what they looked like when he pulled them out of the fire. Chris was not even spared that. When he found out that Ella was responsible for their deaths, the one thing that had made their senseless deaths tolerable was the fact that one day, he would avenge them.
When Vin pulled the trigger, he had taken that away from Chris and now the gunslinger felt rudderless, as if he had left something undone and would never be able to find closure because he did not have the chance to end things with Ella himself. As Chris stepped into the saloon, once again needing that drink more and more often these days, he could not deny that he felt disconnected from his life. The kinship that he had shared with Vin for so long was almost a memory and as much as he mourned it, he could not bring himself to repair the ever-thinning threads that bound them.
And then there was Mary.
Mary, whom he could not even bring himself to look at these days because the pain was too acute. He stared at her and saw all the things he had lost when Ella took Sarah and Adam away. Mary had endured much because she cared for him and Chris was fast reaching the conclusion that perhaps it was better if her life continued without him. She would be so much safer with someone else, someone respectable. However, not even Chris could dream that the someone else might be Vin. When he had seen them together, he had thought nothing of it. Why should he? Mary was always friendly when it came to the seven, ever since they first took up the protection of the town. But then he heard her mention supper and suddenly that implications took on an entirely different light.
The idea of Mary and Vin left a bitter taste in his mouth he could not abide. It could not possibly be true! Then again, his actions of late had cemented the possibility that Mary might be done waiting for him and certainly she could do worse than Vin. Chris told himself that he was leaping to conclusions, that they were two friends that were sharing supper together. It was perfectly innocent. Only his natural suspicion assumed that there had to be more to it than just that. Yet the more he thought about it, the more doubt set into his mind and there was this nagging possibility that he might be deluding himself.
Suddenly, Chris really needed that drink.
Upon entering the saloon, he made a beeline for the bar. Those who were accustomed to the gunslinger frequenting the establishment knew that this was usually a good sign to keep out of his way. Chris Larabee's temperament was almost as legendary as the Magnificent Seven's role in Four Corners. He pulled himself a stool, wearing an expression on his face that clearly indicated that anyone who was thinking of approaching him ought to reconsider for their own sake. Once he was seated, he searched for Inez, the sultry Mexican barmaid and manager of the Standish Tavern.
"What can I get you, Senor?" She asked, flashing him that dazzling smile that could reduce Buck to a lovesick teenager faster than a coyote with its tail on fire.
"Whiskey," Chris said shortly.
She disappeared briefly, returning a moment a later with a bottle and a shot glass.
"One whiskey coming right up," she replied filling the glass and was about to retreat with the bottle when Chris stopped her.
"Leave the bottle," he ordered.
Her brow arched and she gazed at him for a second, her disapproval clearly showing on her face before she responded, "you'll kill yourself drinking like that, Senor."
Chris raised his eyes to her before uttering with a cool smile, "there are worse ways to die."
