BUDDIE FOX

Joshua looked at the house and shook his head in disbelief.  It would take months to even make the ranch livable for him and Shawna.  He turned to watch the lumber laden wagon groan to a stop in front of the main house.  Shawna had bought it all, cash.  He was afraid to ask her where the money came from.

From ill gotten gains, no doubt.  He still couldn’t believe that he had just married an outlaw, the notorious Buddie Fox at that.  That was the one thing he left out of his last letter home, no use having his mother worry about more.  It was two months to the day that he found Shawna injured on the train in El Paso.  To look at her now, one would not even know how close she had come to dying.

Feeling a slight twinge of pain, Joshua dismounted and limped over to the wagon.  The man unloading the lumber looked at him curiously, but kept his mouth shut.  If Miss Shawna married the man, he must be a good one.  She wasn’t the kind to make the same mistake twice.  It was no secret about her last husband.  Tomahawk would come into the saloons to get drunk and rave about the only girl to reject him.

Tom had no friends there, not even the old drunks he bought the whiskey for.  None of the men in town, him included, liked to see a good woman be bad mouthed that way.  But they didn’t want to rile the big breed either.  Chris fisted his hands when he thought of the things Tom said he made Shawna do when they were married.  Mrs. Kane didn’t look like the kind of woman who would do those sort of things, but who knew what went on in their bedroom.

“That should do it for this trip, Dr. Kane,” Connors said as the last piece was unloaded.

“This trip,” Joshua exclaimed looking at the towering pile in front of him.

“Don’t worry, Chris and me won’t be back for a couple of days.  A crew from town is planning on coming out in the morning to help with the repairs.  Believe me Doc, this place is in better shape than you think.  Old Man Fox knew what he was doing when he built the ranch.”

With that said, Connors whistled to the team of mules and headed back for town.  Shawna and Caroline came out of the house as the men and wagon topped the hill.  He wrapped his arm around his wife and shook his head again.  How could they possibly make this place livable in one day.

“It’s not that bad,” she said putting her arm around his waist.

“Sure seems like it,” Joshua said steering his bride to the front porch.

He felt her shiver as they neared the front door.  It was costing her a lot to be here.   No doubt memories of her father still haunted her when she was near the place.  Joshua knew she was going through all this for him.  He did have to admit that it would feel good to sleep in a bed again.  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her an encouraging squeeze.  Feeling her mentally steel herself, Joshua guided her into the house.

“Supper will be ready in a few minutes,” Caroline said heading for the kitchen.

“Smells wonderful,” he said getting a whiff of the venison stew.

The three of them sat perched on the high stools that surrounded the middle work space.  Caroline was silent for the rest of the evening before excusing herself to her room off to the left of the kitchen.  Joshua cleared the table of the dishes and poured hot water in the basin.

“I’ll wash if you’ll dry,” he said cocking an eyebrow at Shawna.

“That’s women’s work,” she said snatching the towel from his hand.

“I spent a lot of time in the house growing up.  None of the boys wanted to play with me.  I came home every day with a bruised eye or skinned knuckles.  Mother couldn’t bare the thought of me being hurt so much.  So I helped out around the house to keep her company.”

“Father was always late coming home from the office, if he came at all.  Mother didn’t like being alone.  I guess I felt sorry for her.  I didn’t even tell her that Father was tea