Between the Raindrops

Back in the Saddle

"City more like," he grumbled. "Still, just gotta take it slow."

"Believe me, Mr. Morgan, that is easier said than done."

He smirked but did not argue. "To the stables then?"

"Yes," Doc said softly. "Thank you."

He set off. She trotted along next to him on her little high heeled boots and he adjusted his pace to suit her. Motioned for her to lead and she smiled again and he stayed a step behind Doctor Griswold. Stuffy name for such a lady. Her hair looked softer, loose as it was, falling around her slender shoulders, looking sweet as spun brown sugar. Unburdened, her hips swayed and the petal-bright fabric followed with each light step.

Going through these motions sent him back some sixteen years to when he was just a fool not yet twenty. When he followed another girl; just as fine. In another city; just as civilized.

He did not rightly belong there either.

Twilight had been settling and the lamps blazed, casting their false light. Mary Gillis had been out to a show with a girlfriend and her dandy. They were passing some ally when a starved, shady feller snatched Mary's purse. Arthur seen it and, forgetting his place in the world, decided to chase that feller down. He returned the purse to the lady with the man's blood barnacling his knuckles. Mary made much and more of chivalry and heroism then and for a moment in time Arthur had allowed himself to believe in ever after. Mary... pretty as wild roses. Got himself pricked good too. Oh, Mary. He'd never seen anything so beautiful before or since.

Until he pulled a gun on this brave little thing.

"Mr. Morgan?" Doc said.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Do you suppose Mister Strauss would be willing to consider a colt," she asked. "As a method of payment?"

"A colt?"

"It's quite a tale," Doc said. She recounted a midnight ride in the rain and an operation on a kitchen table. A small miracle she arrived at all. "They had no other way to pay me... at least, not without inconvenience. I... I barely know how to ride, let alone train a horse. I was hoping, perhaps, that you would accept it as part of my repayment to Mr. Strauss? Instead of cash. You... well. I admit, I assumed..."

"Right now?"

"Would you mind terribly?" she asked. "You would be relieving me of a burden, honestly."

"Mister Strauss ain't too particular 'bout how exactly he gets paid. But, I gotta ask, Doc. You're borrowin' money but paying stable fees for two horses?"

"What was I supposed to do? Leave them outside?"

Arthur shrugged. "Sure, if need be. Just need some shade when it's hot and protection from the wind if it's cold. Horses ain't so different from people... sometimes we just gotta make do is all."

"Hm. I hadn't thought..." she began. "We always kept ours in a stable. Mr. Shelton handles everything for me."

"Oh, I'm sure he does," Arthur said wryly. She cast him a glance. "You really did just wake up one day and decide that big ol' city wasn't for you...?"

She shrugged, wringing her delicate hands. Hands that seemed steel-steady the day he first saw her. "Well, it was some version of... this or give up the profession."

"How you mean?"

She looked at him. "My... intended..." she started. She paused, considering how to explain it. A girl like her would have a husband, probably picked out by her daddy. Cut from the same cloth as Mary. Doc said; "He was certain it would reflect poorly if his wife chose to work."