Disclaimer: These characters belong to Mirisch, CBS, and Trilogy and is only intended for amusement and no other profit in any way, shape, or form.
Many thanks to my beta reader Judy.
"Long day."
Vin just nodded and stared out into the darkness. It had been two days since they had left the wagon train. Mary and Billy were sleeping nearest the fire, while the others formed a protective circle around them. It was Vin's watch, but Chris was watching Vin. It wasn't that Chris didn't trust Vin to stand watch, but Vin had been distracted lately, ever since he'd set eyes on Charlotte.
Who'd have thought that Vin, of all people, would fall that hard and that fast for a woman, a married woman at that? Before he knew it, Vin was acting more like, well, Buck than the man he'd come to rely on so much. Steady quiet Vin actually lusting after another man's wife. Hell, he'd even run off with her. A woman could do that to a man, separating him from good sense, his friends. It wasn't bad if she were 'the woman'; 'the woman' who completed the man, like Sarah had Chris.
Could Mary be 'the woman' who could complete Chris Larabee? Could Chris be that lucky, to have found her twice in one lifetime? Would he have remained silent if she hadn't said she was going to marry Gerard?
He almost hadn't asked her if she loved Gerard. He had almost been afraid of the answer until she refused to answer him. Relief washed over him, and he couldn't help but smile at her when he'd ask if she loved Gerard just a little.
They'd sat in companionable silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Chris knew Mary might still marry Gerard, but when she admitted that she didn't love him, he knew that she was having serious doubts. He knew that she wasn't in love with Gerard, only that she cared for him as an old and trusted friend, a good father for Billy. The relief had almost made him giddy. That was the reason why he hadn't caught Vin's attraction to Charlotte until the husband had broken Charlotte and Vin apart during the dance. Chris had been watching Gerard and Mary together. They were close, too close. But Mary seemed happy. Above all, Chris wanted Mary happy and safe. If marrying a farmer would provide that, then Chris would learn to live with it. He didn't have to like it, and she would be safer away from him. Wouldn't she? He'd been too preoccupied with the thought of Mary and Gerard married to notice his best friend's headlong plunge into heartache.
When Vin and Charlotte had come back after the rescue later than everyone else, he had suspected the worst. Like Buck and the others, he'd assumed that Vin and Charlotte had succumbed to their desires and committed adultery. Not that he was judging them, Vin had just as much right to be happy as anyone else, and Charlotte appeared to be in a loveless marriage. However, Vin's reaction wasn't that of a guilty man.
The conversation he had heard between Charlotte and Vin had confirmed his suspicion that for the moment at least, they hadn't gone beyond the line. When Charlotte had turned up missing, he'd known she had gone with Vin. He didn't think Vin had planned it because of his request that Chris not leave them until he knew they were safe.
Chris had been disappointed when he'd found out that they were gone. Disappointed that Vin had actually taken another man's wife, disappointed that Vin might be gone for good. When they'd nearly lost Vin to that abscess, Chris had admitted how much like a brother Vin had become, a part of a family that Chris hadn't wanted, but had grown to accept. His loss to the group would have been major, especially to Chris. The brother he'd come to depend upon lost because of some woman.
Chris might have been happy for Vin, but Charlotte just wasn't the woman to make Vin happy. Vin may have thought so at the time; but Chris knew that the fact she had a husband and wanted the farmer's life and wouldn't like the nomadic life that was Vin's', Chris just knew that it would end badly. That is why he had told Vin to think about what he was doing.
Vin didn't want to listen when he had first approached him, but something had happened between Vin and Charlotte while they were gone that had given Vin second thoughts. When Vin had actually tried to speak to Chris, Chris had cut him off. "I need to know that I can depend on you, Vin." Chris didn't want Vin to explain to him about Charlotte. He understood love and lust. He wanted Vin to look at the situation realistically, so he told Vin what he would be leaving behind if Vin chose to leave with Charlotte again. He wanted to feed that seed of doubt in the back of Vin's mind. It was Chris's last chance to make Vin ask himself if a life on the run with Charlotte was what he wanted. That had forced the tracker to start thinking with his brain again.
Chris was curious just what had occurred to cause Vin to have second thoughts. Was it the fact she was another man's wife? Did Vin just take her along because he felt he had no alternative? Charlotte had pursued Vin from everything that the others had told him and the little he'd seen. That didn't excuse the fact that Vin had taken her with him, and that he'd only come back to warn them of O'Shay's reinforcements. Maybe Vin was just flattered, but Chris didn't know if Vin was suffering from a broken heart or wrestling with the idea of going back and taking Charlotte again. That was what bothered Chris.
He knew something was laying heavily on Vin's thoughts. Not knowing what and how he would react was what bothered Chris. Was Vin so smitten that he regretted choosing his friends over Charlotte? Could Chris count on him? Chris was tired of wondering. Vin's silence had been eating at him for two days. It was time for Vin to tell Chris the truth. It was time to clear the air between the two of them. That was what had caused Chris to watch him and then to decide to walk over and tackle the problem head on. Larabee wasn't a man to sit patiently until the reticent tracker decided he wanted to talk to Chris. He wanted Vin back; he wanted the man he was so easily silent with back. Vin's silence for the last two days hadn't been that comfortable, no-talk-necessary-silence-between-two-friends. It was an almost painful silence that meant the silent one was wrestling with realities that he didn't want to accept and move on.
Chris understood that type of silence. He'd lived with it for almost three years, and he wasn't about to lose Vin to it. Chris might not be ready to shout aloud that he was happy that Mary was returning to Four Corners single and unattached, but his heart had accepted it. It was getting his mind to accept that he could be happy again, but he couldn't do that until he had Vin back to normal. Vin had been rock steady for him in the past months, and Chris needed that steadiness to back him in the days to come. He didn't need to worry about being able to count on Vin, and he wanted to count on him without question, without worry, without thought, just like he had before Charlotte.
Chris had never doubted that Vin would be there to back him and the others. The possibility that Vin would be the first to leave the seven was something Chris had never contemplated, and it was that possibility blindsiding him out of nowhere that had shaken Chris from the contentment that he'd found in the group. Chris was willing to make his friend angry to make Vin see that his break with Charlotte was the best thing, the right thing. So concerned with his impending confrontation with Vin, Chris had been unaware that he was being subjected to the same scrutiny he had given Vin.
Mary watched Chris as he left the camp to walk out to Vin. She knew that was where Chris was going even before he'd quietly gotten up and strode towards where the tracker sat watching. Mary knew what Vin felt like. Had their decisions been the correct ones? Had Vin made the right choice, his friends instead of Charlotte? Had she weighed and found her growing feelings for Chris more important over Billy's need for a father? What if Chris never came round? What if he could never leave the shadow of Sarah and Adam behind? What if what she felt for him wasn't returned? But it was, she could feel it.
The longer Chris stayed in Four Corners, the closer they became. When he had asked her if she loved Gerard, and she didn't answer, he had smiled, then teased her. That was the closest she had felt to him since they had known each other. He knew her, how she thought, but he also cared enough about her to let her decide what would make her the happiest. He'd seemed relieved when she'd let him know that she didn't love Gerard like that, and he knew she knew. So here they were, going back to Four Corners. She was glad to be going home.
Traveling with Gerard and his daughter had been a pleasant interlude, but she knew that she had made the right decision. Comfortable and safe was how she'd felt with Gerard, at least she had felt safe until he'd come to Chris and told him they were going to give in to O'Shay. Mary couldn't understand how Gerard could just bow to the majority when he knew that Chris was right. Even she knew O'Shay would never let the wagon train reach Four Corners alive. Too many witnesses to tell the law about the murderous O'Shay, too many loose ends. Marriage to Gerard had lost some of its appeal in that moment.
Chris Larabee would never have given in to a man like O'Shay. Surrender was not a part of his nature. It was a dangerous way to live. She'd already lost one husband to that way of thinking, but she wouldn't have traded one minute of her life with her husband to have someone like Gerard. He was a good man, but he wasn't a man who would defend what was right regardless. Mary had admired that in her husband, and she found herself attracted to Chris Larabee because of it. Yes, she had made the right decision, but had Vin? Mary had left a man she was fond of and a little girl she had grown to love behind her. She knew how Vin felt.
What she didn't know was if Vin was questioning his decision or if he was having a hard time accepting his own behavior. She suspected more of the later. That, plus she knew Vin felt like he'd let the others down.
Vin Tanner was her friend, and more importantly he was Chris's friend. She knew that Charlotte had strained that friendship and made Vin question remaining with the group. Although she had been surprised that Vin had actually run off with Charlotte, she couldn't condemn him. He was a good man, a responsible man who felt compassionately for anyone in need of help, but he was an attractive man. Charlotte was a woman in what seemed a loveless marriage. Mary has seen the way Charlotte was drawn to Vin like a moth to a flame. She had flirted with Vin, and he had responded. Mary hoped the tracker was not questioning his decision to the point that he would regret it and the friends he had chosen over Charlotte.
She was just too close to making Chris understand that they could have something together. Mary didn't want a strain on the close friendship between Vin and Chris to affect her possible future with Chris. Not only had Vin become her willing ally in making Chris Larabee see that she was 'the woman' for him, but he was her friend. She wanted him happy, and she wanted the closeness between Vin and Chris back. Chris was happier, more relaxed knowing he could rely on Vin without question. Now, Chralotte had disturbed that. Mary didn't blame Charlotte for grasping at happiness, but she didn't like the fact that it had put a bar between Vin and Chris. She knew that neither man had spoken much to one another since Chris had asked Vin if he was all right.
Men! Sometimes she just wanted to see what was inside their heads. How could they possibly be so stupid sometimes? They were too stubborn to actually say how they felt. To get Chris Larabee to admit anything would take one of the powder man's sticks of dynamite. It probably would take multiple sticks to get Vin Tanner to open his mouth and speak. Mary smiled an almost evil smile. They would probably come to blows before one of them would admit that their friendship was worth too much to lose it over a woman who truly didn't want Vin the way he had wanted her.
Charlotte was still in love with her husband, she just didn't know how to get him to open up to her. Well, the interlude with Vin had been just the thing for Charlotte's marriage. Knowledge that she would leave him had made her husband see things clearly. Her reaction when he was shot showed the love was still there. Vin had seen it, but he'd been willing to see it then instead of before. Why then, why after they had run off together? What had happened that had made Vin look at Charlotte realistically, instead of through the blind eyes of a lover?
Mary would have given every penny she owned and then some to be a witness to the conversation she knew was going to take place. Vin's quietness had been grating on everyone's nerves. Buck and Ezra had steered clear of him for the past two days. It wasn't that they were angry, they just didn't know how to reach Vin.
JD didn't have a clue. Mary didn't think that JD had been aware of how close he'd come to seeing the last of Vin Tanner. Mary smiled thinking how JD probably still thought that Vin would have taken Charlotte back to Four Corners with him. JD was an innocent when it came to matters of the heart. He was learning slowly, from his own experiences with Casey just what love was like.
Nathan and Josiah were patient and worldly enough to let Vin have the quiet he'd needed in order to let go of Charlotte. They would listen when and if he decided he needed to talk, but Chris wasn't that patient. Mary knew that Chris thought he'd waited two days too long in his estimation. Now he was going to confront Vin and wring whatever was bothering the tracker out of him, whether Vin wanted to or not. Oh, how Mary would love to be just a small rock somewhere within earshot.
Chris had been serious when he'd told Vin to let him know when he could rely on him again. It was his way of telling Vin he needed to decide where his future lay. If it was with Charlotte as Chris feared it was, Vin would be lost to the group. Vin was talking even less than he usually did. As Chris approached his friend, Chris thought he knew what Vin was thinking about.
"For what it's worth, you did the right thing."
"Don't make it easier."
"Vin, I know you loved her. . ."
"Loved her? I thought I did. Leavin' her there was where she wanted to be, where she belonged."
"Then what's the problem?" Chris frowned. If Vin wasn't nursing a broken heart, then what was eating at him?
"You sayin' you don't love her?"
"I'm sayin' I thought I did. I really thought I did. You think I was just usin' her?" Vin's voice held a note of anger, but at least he was talking to Chris. He would have to tread carefully here. Chris wasn't that good with expressing what he felt either.
"No, I never thought that. I just thought you were over here havin' second thoughts."
"Bout what? Leavin' her where she wanted to be? She didn't really want me, she only thought she did. I was a fool." Vin shook his head, "Face it, Chris, you have a fool for a friend or used to."
"What are you sayin', that you ain't a fool anymore, or I don't have a friend anymore?" Chris was getting confused and just a little angry. Vin wasn't making any sense right now. Why on earth would Vin think he wasn't his friend anymore?
"Both." Then silence.
Chris waited and then waited some more. Vin wasn't saying anything else at the moment. Damn, he hated trying to get Vin to talk to him, really talk to him. It was like pulling teeth sometimes to get Vin to just say what he felt. Even Chris talked more about himself than Vin did. OK, so maybe he was as closed mouthed as Vin, but Tanner was going to tell him what was wrong or else.
"You want to explain that to me? I'm a little confused." Chris ground his teeth in frustration. Vin turned startled blue eyes in his direction.
"Why? You're the one said it." Vin shut his mouth and looked back out into the darkness.
Chris exhaled slowly, calming the urge to grab Vin around the throat and strangle him. "I don't recollect sayin' either one of those things. You want to tell me where you got this stupid idea?"
"You said you needed to know if you could count on me. That you didn't trust me anymore."
Hell, leave it to Vin to take every word he said and twist them around to where it was all Vin's fault. Chris began to see why Vin had been so silent the past two days. He wasn't pining over Charlotte; he was beating himself up because he thought he'd let his friends down.
"I said to let me know when I could count on you again. You've never let me down before. I just never expected you to run off without so much as a word." Chris had Vin's attention now, and he wasn't giving up until they settled this. "I never pegged you for another Buck." Chris heard the snort of laughter next to him.
"Me, neither." At least the sense of humor was still there.
"You want to talk about it?" Chris kept his voice calm and non-judgmental.
"Now ya sound like Buck and Ezra." Vin turned and looked at Chris, his expression blank.
"I meant about what went wrong. You want to talk about that?"
Vin sighed and then looked back out into the darkness. He didn't want to talk about it, but Chris didn't appear to be going anywhere any time soon. At least he was treating Vin like he was his friend again. Since he had asked him if he was all right, Chris had barely said two words to him. That had hurt worse than when Chris had told him that he couldn't count on him. It was all Vin's fault, but that one statement from Chris had made him take a hard cold look at what had happened with Charlotte. Vin wasn't very proud of his behavior. Charlotte was a married woman. It didn't matter that Vin thought she was in a loveless marriage and that her husband didn't treat her like she should have been treated.
Charlotte had given Will a child and when they'd lost her, instead of comforting his wife, Will had ignored her, treated her like dirt. Vin couldn't understand how any man could treat his wife like that, like she wasn't worth his attention. When she'd openly sought him out, Vin had been flattered. He'd wanted her. Why her, he had no idea, but he'd wanted her. And she had wanted him, too. When she'd nearly passed out and fallen off the horse, Vin had stopped to let her rest and feed her. At least that's what he had intended. He had never meant to tell her how he felt; he had never ever expected her to kiss him like that. They were weak, but they hadn't gone beyond kissing. That time at least. He hadn't planned for them to leave together either, but when she'd been around the bend waiting on him, he couldn't believe his luck. He'd been fighting what he felt ever since Will had told him to leave.
Vin had left fully expecting never to see Charlotte again, but there she had been waiting on him, her bag packed. He knew it was wrong, knew it wouldn't work out, knew she wanted land and a home, but all his good sense had just flown right out of his head. She was willing to go with him, and he'd taken her. Right or wrong, he'd made up his mind then and there that he was taking her as far away as they could get, everyone and everything else be damned. His selfishness had taken him by surprise, but for the time they'd had together, Vin wasn't thinking. He was feeling things he'd never hoped to feel, planning things he'd never thought to plan. They were finally guilty of what the others had accused them, and Vin didn't care—for the moment.
Always before it had been Vin, just Vin, no one else to count on, no one else to answer to. Chris and the others weren't forgotten; they had just been pushed aside while Vin basked in the fact that Charlotte had said she loved him. It wasn't until she had started talking about her husband that Vin had realized that a little piece of Charlotte would never be his. She felt guilty over leaving her husband, and Vin knew that that little voice could grow into a shout as time passed. It was the first time he actually started to think about what they had done, but he was willing to push it aside. She was beautiful, she wanted him, and he was willing to push any feelings of guilt aside for the moment. He didn't even bother with the bounty. The pleasure outweighed everything until those men had come.
It was bad enough finding out that O'Shay had hired twenty or more new guns to attack the wagon train. Then, the outlaw had asked Charlotte what she was doing with him if Vin wasn't her husband, Vin felt as if the world had just fallen on top of him. Until that moment, Vin had been willing to think he and Charlotte had a future. But when a hired killer had looked at them both with such contempt, Vin realized what condemnation Charlotte had willingly accepted to be with him. It was just too much. All of a sudden he realized what they had done, and then the other boot kicked him in the gut. He had never even thought of not going back to warn the others. They were his friends, and innocent women and children were on that wagon train. Chris, Mary, and Billy were there. Nathan, JD, his other friends—no his family—were all in danger, and Charlotte didn't want to go back and warn them? She'd actually wanted them to keep running? Desert them? That wasn't who Vin Tanner was. He'd felt like a fool, not like a deserter. He'd understood that Charlotte was afraid, that she had realized more than he what they had done was wrong, but just that one hesitation on her part had made Vin realize that he and Charlotte had nothing in common, nothing but their mutual attraction.
Then Chris had let him know that he had to decide—Charlotte or his friends. It wasn't fair, but it was honest. Chris hadn't had to do anything but tell Vin he needed to know if he could count on him. Reality was something Vin Tanner seldom ran from, and he wasn't about to start now. There was nothing that said he had to like it though, and he really didn't want Chris to know how much of a fool he felt like. Wasn't it enough that he admitted he was wrong, but did he also have to admit how much like a guilty fool he felt? Did he really have to spill his guts to Larabee? Of course that wasn't fair, and he knew it. If anyone had a right to know what was going on inside of his head it was Chris. Vin also knew that Chris would listen to him, and once he was satisfied that his friend was back, he would never mention it again. So Vin swallowed, sighed, hemmed and hawed a bit, and then he just opened his mouth and started talking. Maybe spilling his guts to Chris was part of what Josiah called penance?
It had taken all of five minutes to get Vin started, but Chris held on to his patience. He wanted his friend back, wanted to rely on him without hesitation, without thinking about it. Chris knew he couldn't get that trust back again until Vin had worked it out in his own mind first. So, he had waited, and he was rewarded.
"It was all wrong from the start, wasn't it?"
Chris hadn't been expecting his question to be answered with a question, so he hesitated. Before he could answer, Vin continued talking. It was almost as if he had to get it all out at once, like it had to come out or stay bottled up until Vin couldn't stand the pressure any more. So Chris continued to wait. It was necessary, but it wouldn't have been easy for Chris to talk like this either.
"I just never felt that way before. It was like I looked at her an' I was hooked. She, uh, I, I just never met nobody like her before. An' then she was just so unhappy. She didn't deserve that, but when she was with me she smiled an' was happy. I liked being able to do that for her. I just never even thought what we were doin' could really hurt anyone but us. I figured her husband didn't care for nuthin but his pride. After a while, he wouldn't even miss her, an' I thought she loved me."
Chris sat and waited. "I just didn't even think. You, an' Buck, an' Ezra, you were all talkin like we'd done somethin' when we hadn't. Well, we kissed that first time, that's all, but it wasn't nobody's business but Charlotte's an' mine, so I just got mad an' walked off. I shoulda listened that first time you tried to talk some sense into me, but I just was so mad you thought the same thing that everyone else did that I walked away." Chris just nodded when Vin paused to look at him. "Then I got stupid. I never asked her to go with me, I never thought I'd see her again. Then she was there. I took her an' ran. You know what that feels like, like. . ." Vin stopped when he saw the look that just as quickly as it appeared, faded on Chris's face. "Sorry, I . . "
"I know. Go on. What happened? What's been eatin' at you? The fact that you feel like you deserted us, or that you're just as human as the rest of us. You ain't the first man to fall for a pretty face, an' you won't be the last."
Vin genuinely smiled at that. Chris had a way about him that cut right to the chase. That was just one of the reasons Vin meshed personalities with Chris as well as he did. Chris just didn't waste words, and he didn't suffer fools unless he liked them. Vin felt lucky Larabee considered him a friend. He couldn't think of anyone he admired or respected more than Chris. If he could have chosen his own family, Chris would have been the big brother he'd always wanted.
"Well?"
"She didn't want to come back. She stood there and heard that man say he was one of 20 men comin' to attack the wagon train, an' she didn't want to come back. How could she not want to warn all those people she knew? I thought I knew her, I thought I loved her. I thought she loved me, but she didn't. She was just usin' me to get her husband to take notice. I can't believe I didn't see it. All she wanted was him to treat her like he used to. Why didn't I see that? Why was I so blind that she still loved her husband? Why, Chris, why?"
Blue eyes met green, and Chris knew what had been eating at Vin for so long. Vin would never have dreamed of turning his back on anyone who needed help. Just the thought that Charlotte had hesitated had shaken everything Vin believed in. He was a man who could make mistakes and accept them. But, he would never selfishly refuse to warn any one in trouble. It just wasn't a part of him. Vin had naturally assumed that Charlotte shared this belief, but when she had hesitated she'd made him doubt himself.
Then he had watched as Charlotte rushed out to her wounded husband. She hadn't rushed out to check on Vin when he was blown off the hill by the powder man. She could have easily broken the restraining hand the wounded Will had placed on her to get to Vin if that was what she had really wanted. Vin was confused how she could say one thing and do the other. How could he have so badly misjudged her? Vin wasn't upset so much by his actions, for which he was truly sorry, but because he felt like he had lost his ability to read people.
"She's human, Vin. She was unhappy, and you were different from anyone she'd ever known, but you weren't right for each other. Of course she was scared to come back. Will could have shot you and her and no one would have said he didn't have the right. You can't blame her for being what she was, confused. She probably did think she loved you. You were everything her husband wasn't any more. You paid attention to her, gave her compliments, made her feel special. Will was still too wrapped up in his grief to notice that he was destroying his marriage. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to anyone, especially a proud man."
Chris couldn't believe that he was defending Charlotte to Vin, or that he was talking about losing his son as easily as he was without feeling that ripping hole in his soul like he always did when he confronted the reality of Adam's death. He wanted Vin's break from her to be clean and final, but he couldn't have Vin back doubting himself. If he hadn't been so wrapped up with the thought of Mary with Gerard, he might have seen this coming and stopped Vin from doing what he so clearly regretted.
He had to stop and remind himself that Vin was a grown man who would make mistakes; Chris couldn't prevent that. It didn't stop him from feeling protective, though. Sometimes Chris forgot that Vin wasn't much older than JD. His friends, no his makeshift family had healed Chris more than he knew. Maybe Vin's friendship, their understanding and acceptance of one another had allowed Chris the healing he'd needed. Chris didn't know why, but he was grateful that he had met Vin on that day those fools had tried to lynch Nathan. It had been one of the luckiest days in Chris's life. He looked at Vin and smiled a relaxed smile, an accepting smile. Vin returned that smile wholeheartedly. Vin knew what it had cost his friend to make that statement, and he found a curious warmth in his chest that made him acknowledge that he had made the right decision in choosing to remain one of the seven instead of staying and trying to win the married Charlotte. Vin had done the right thing after all. Maybe his ma would forgive him his lapse of good judgement with Charlotte.
"Some day you need to ask Buck what I acted like the first time I met Sarah. I swear, if she had been lookin' for a man with brains, she sure wouldn't have chosen me, cause I was a fool with capital letters!"
Vin laughed, "But she was the right woman for you." It was a simple statement of fact, but it conveyed to Chris that Vin was seeing the light. He was almost out of that hole he'd dug himself into. Chris wasn't, however, expecting the second statement, "Kinda like Mary. Most people don't get a second chance, you know."
That soft growling statement shocked a laugh of astonishment out of Chris. How had Vin's spilling his guts turned into a Chris and Mary matchmaking opportunity? But it was the truth, nevertheless. Vin might not be so good at picking women for himself, but he was dead to rights when it came to what he'd said about Sarah and Mary.
"So what you're sayin' is that maybe you should let someone else pick your women out for you, and I should let you choose for me?"
Raspy laughter filled the silence around them, "You didn't need my help pickin' Sarah. Buck says he did that for you. I just figured you might need a shove in the right direction 'fore some other man snatched Mary up right in front if your nose."
"Someone almost did. That's one reason I was pissed at you. You weren't there keepin' an eye on Mary while I was being a fool keeping my mouth shut. I kept expectin' you to tell me that I'd better say somethin', but you were too wrapped up in Charlotte."
"You'd a shot me for sure if I'd been stupid enough to say somethin' like that. That, or told me to mind my own business. You're kinda slow sometimes, cowboy. Way Buck tells it, he proposed to Sarah for you."
"No, he didn't, smart ass. He proposed to Sarah and scared her so bad she begged me to marry her to keep her safe from Buck!"
'Now that's the truth of it. The woman was plum afraid I was just too much for her to handle. She settled for second best here." Buck slapped Chris on the back to emphasize his point.
Vin watched Chris join in Buck's laughter until his face broke into one of his smiles that passed for laughter. The aching he'd had in his heart for the last two days eased as he felt enveloped by these extraordinary friendships. Chris relaxed and tried to stop laughing long enough to tell Buck to shut up, but he just couldn't make himself do it. Somehow, sitting here with his two best friends made him realize that he could be happy without Sarah and Adam. He still missed them terribly, but he no longer felt guilty when he found a moment of happiness. Maybe he was learning to let go and remember the good times only. He didn't even worry about how much of his conversation with Vin that Buck had heard. He knew that both his oldest and closest friends would never betray his trust. He also had a sneaking suspicion that they were both in the Chris and Mary matchmaking business together. However, before he could speak another voice joined their group.
"Gentlemen, do you think you could possibly be any noisier? Not only have you forced me on this expedition without any of the amenities a gentleman should expect, but Nathan gives his share of the gold to the widow. Now, the three of you are disturbing my repose. If you insist on waking me at ungodly hours, the least you can do is allow me to know just what is so amusing that has you three making more noise than a gaggle of geese."
"I think he means ya'll are talkin' too loud. Hell, you two could raise the dead when you get started. All we need is for JD to come over here, an' then Buck'll really get loud." Vin winked at Ezra, and the con man gifted him with a genuine grin.
"Mr. Tanner is correct. Mr Larabee and Mr. Wilmington, you are both laughing loudly enough to wake young Mr. Travis." Nodding to Vin, Ezra added, "Since these two are fully awake, I suggest we retire to the camp. I for one do not wish to be here when Mrs. Travis appears to chastise these two for the noise they are making."
"I am afraid that you are too late to cut and run, Ezra, Vin." Mary didn't appear to be on any warpath. She was smiling broadly at the four men, but there was a warmth in her eyes when she turned to Chris. "Buck, if you and Chris are going to continue giggling over here and wake Billy, you both get to put up with him when he gets tired and cranky tomorrow!"
Somehow, her threat only succeeded in setting off all four men. If Vin hadn't been sitting down already, he might have joined Buck and Ezra as they sank to the ground trying valiantly to laugh silently. Chris had managed to bury his head in his hands to stifle his laughter, and Vin laughed as quietly as only he could. Mary punched Chris in the arm indicating that he needed to make room for her on the rock he was lounging on. Vin winked at her as Chris turned away from him to make room for Mary. She nodded back at him and then at Buck and Ezra, but not before Chris caught them from the corner of his eye. Vin stood up, looking as innocent as only a guilty man can, at Chris.
"If ya'll don't mind takin' my watch for a while, I'd like to go back to camp an' see if there's any food left. I ain't had much to eat lately, but all of a sudden I'm real hungry."
"Why I could partake of something edible to go along with my libations. Buck?"
"Yeah, I packed up tonight. I know just where all the food is, so we won't wake Billy with a lot of rummagin' around. Mary, don't you stay out here with this old war dog too long. He tends to get grumpy if he has to be nice an' conversational."
"Thanks a lot, Buck. You comin' back, Vin?"
"Oh yeah. My watch is till midnight when Josiah takes over. I won't be long, count on it." With a wink at Chris and a tip of his hat to Mary, the old Vin walked back to camp with Buck and Ezra. Over his shoulder he said, "When Mary's ready to come back to camp, you bring her. I'll replace ya then, ok?"
"Thank you, Vin. It's such a lovely night, I'd like to just sit here for a while." She turned and smiled at Chris. "You don't mind if I join you for a while, do you?"
For some reason, it dawned on him that he and Mary would end up together if only because the others had decided that Mary completed him just fine. He wouldn't be surprised to find that Josiah, Nathan, JD, and Billy were hatching similar plots for tomorrow. Well, he was going to surprise these foolish matchmakers. He wasn't going to keep Mary chasing him for too much longer until he caught her, but he was certainly going to give his friends as much trouble as he could whenever he could. Just let them play matchmakers.
Chris turned quite possibly the sexiest grin Mary had ever received from a man on full force, "Why Mary, I wouldn't mind at all. In fact, I would certainly prefer your company to my friends right now."
The three guilty men just laughed and walked back to camp. Things were getting back to normal, and they sure looked to prove interesting in the days to come. Vin turned back once more on the way back to peek at the couple.
"Does he have his arm around her yet?"
"Buck, not every gentleman paws a woman like Mary Travis right off the bat! I am certain Mr. Larabee can manage a little finesse when it is required. Certainly my influence has benefited someone in our group, don't you think, Vin?"
"Ezra, I think you just might be right this time." With that, Vin shoved the reluctant Buck in front of him. "Come on, Ezra, let's take Buck back to camp before he goes back to give some pointers to Chris. I don't want have to watch Nathan and Josiah dig a bullet out of him."
"Now Vin, Chris wouldn't shoot me, we're. . ."
Ezra put his fingers to his lips to signal Buck to silence, "Shhh, Billy's still asleep. Now did you really want something to eat?"
"No, I just thought it was a good time for us to leave them alone. What do you think?"
"Oh, Mr. Tanner, I concur with you completely." With that the trio fell silent and sat around the fire waiting for the other two to return. It was good to be going home, finally.
FINI
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