CHAPTER 8 - Restless
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to a very sweet fan who's been reading my books. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and to send a message.
Also, for any one who cares, if you leave a comment on any chapter giving me some critiques you will get a shout out on the next chapter! I am constantly reading over the chapters before I upload so I miss a lot of things. All help is appreciated so this will be a little way of showing it! :) Thank ya'll for reading and voting!
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There was no sleep for most of us. Jacob had screamed all night and kept everyone awake. I even heard some coyotes close by, like they were answering the call. Paw was trying to keep Jacob calm so Mama could rest, but it wasn't happening. I gave up on sleep and walked across the hall to their room. "What's wrong with him?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes that were glazing over from sleepiness.
"He's got fever, baby." Mama said as she sat up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. She took him from Paw and unwrapped him from his blanket. I noticed how flushed his skin was.
"How do you fix it?"
"Well, his little body is fightin' somethin' that I can't see. It's been a few hours, so if he doesn't start to cool down we're gonna have to set up somethin' like we did when Annabelle was sick. He's gotta sweat." Mama said as she looked up at Paw, who was in the chair beside the bed. He nodded and propped his elbows on his knees while rubbing his scruffy face.
"How are you gonna make him sweat?" I asked. I was still looking at his skin as I walked to the edge of the bed. He was so pink.
"We'll put some chairs together and put some sheets over it, like a tent. Your Mama will get inside with him and we'll make a fire outside to heat some water over. We'll put it inside the tent so the steam will fill it up." Paw answered, partly through a yawn.
"The steam will help his breathin', too." Mama added as she brushed her fingers over Jacob's black hair. I wondered what I looked like as a baby. "Britt, do you wanna hold him?"
I shook my head quickly, smiling. I was actually a little scared to hold him. He was so tiny. "No, ma'am. I'm afraid I'll drop 'em or somethin'."
Mama smiled at me and patted the spot next to her on the bed. I sat down and she picked Jacob up and slowly handed him to me. He didn't weigh much at all. He settled into the crook of my elbow and I stared at him. The last time I held a baby was when Ariyah was born. I remembered Mama making me sit on the couch and not move while I held her.
"Your Mama didn't let anybody hold you when you were a baby, and if she did she worried the whole time." Paw laughed from the chair. I smiled involuntarily. "The only time she didn't gripe about it was when we stayed with your Aunt Elizabeth. You were passed 'round them women like a bottle of whiskey in a saloon."
"I remember that." Mama said as she looked up to my face. "You were such a good baby. You only cried when somethin' was wrong."
"What did I look like?"
"Just like this. All my children look their father, except for Ella. She looks like me." Mama laughed. I grinned when Jacob stuck his hand in his mouth and seemed to calm down a little. His face was still red from crying, but the tears were drying. "You'll always be my baby, Britt. I don't care how much of a bad ass you think you are."
Mama's comment caught me off guard and my mouth opened a little as I looked up to see her face. She smiled widely and I started to laugh.
"You were a mama's boy when you were little." Paw said with a grin.
"There ain't nothin' wrong with that." Mama said while she pulled her long hair around her shoulder and started to twirl it around her finger. "As I recall, you were a mama's boy as well." She looked at Paw and he grinned.
"We need to go see Maw. If you're feelin' up to it tomorrow we'll go. I want her to see Britt and Jacob."
"We will see." Mama answered. She sounded like she already knew she wouldn't feel like going, but didn't want to tell Paw no. "Britt, will you bring Jacob's crib in here?"
I carefully handed Jacob back to Mama and went to retrieve the wooden crib from the living room. When I came back Mama pointed me to her side of the bed. I set it on the floor where she'd showed me and watched her place him inside. He wasn't screaming anymore and looked like he might feel sleepy. We took that as our cue to get some rest before his wailing started again. I told them goodnight and walked to my room.
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"Get up, boy." Paw yelled from the hallway. I squinted my eyes to see it was still dark outside. I sat up on the edge of the bed and stretched. I felt lazy and knew I hadn't had much sleep. I put on my boots and my shirt and picked my vest up from the night stand. I hadn't worn it since the day I got here. My hat was no where to be found and just as I was about to get mad, I looked under the bed. It was just far enough back that I hadn't seen it.
"Where are we goin'?" I asked when I walked out into the hallway. Paw turned around and yawned.
"We got some business." I saw a youthful look on his face and grinned. I knew what we were about to do and I was a little too excited. "Don't make too much noise, we don't wanna wake your mama."
I nodded and followed him to the kitchen. He had one of his saddle bags on the table and he stuffed his canteen inside. Then he walked into the living room and opened the doors on the amoire. He pulled out a pistol that looked like it was brand new. "Where did you get that?"
"I bought this pistol after your mama and I escaped from the Morrison gang. They stole mine, so I bought a new one." He handed it to me and I examined it before handing it back. "This one is your mama's."
I took the similar looking gun from his hands and looked at it, thinking about mama shooting it was funny. "Mama shot this?"
"Yep."
"You been takin' good care of 'em." I nodded as I handed it back to Paw. He smiled before placing it back on the shelf. He opened the bottom cabinet and pulled out a shot gun. "What are we gon' need all this for?"
"I believe in bein' prepared."
After we had everything together, we quietly stepped outside through the back door. I got the horses ready while Paw filled up our canteens. We mounted the horses and quickly rode away from the house. When we had reached the woodline Paw broke the silence. "This makes me feel young again."
"Don't make you look any younger." I laughed and he punched my arm. Honestly, Paw didn't look old. He still looked the same as when I was a child, except for his few laugh lines. He wasn't regular about shaving anymore and he had dark stuble around his jaw.
"Your mama is goin' to kill me when we get back." He grinned widely. "Either for what we're gon' do or 'cause I didn't bring her along."
"She wouldn't have wanted to come, would she?"
"Oh yeah."
"Paw, are you and Mama bored?"
Paw looked startled at my question. "With each other?"
"No." I laughed at him, knowing good and well they weren't. "I mean, are ya'll bored with life?"
Paw thought about my question and I knew they were. Even if he was about to tell me they weren't and that they loved having a ranch and didn't want anything else, I would know he was lying. To my surprise, he didn't lie at all. He gave me a straight answer. "Yes. I didn't think I would get bored doin' this, but I am. Your Mama is bored to death and that is honestly why you have so many siblings."
Disgust covered my face and Paw laughed at me. "That's more than I needed to know, Paw."
"Well you asked. Ain't nothin' else to do half the time."
I threw my hands up and shook my head. "Alright! That's enough."
The sun was starting to lighten the sky and it was already getting warmer. I was feeling the effects of little sleep by then and started having trouble keeping my eyes open. We were a long ways from Hope Plain when the sun finally rose. I just followed Paw, he seemed to know where we needed to go. I didn't ask since it wasn't that big of a deal. As long as I got to be involved, I didn't care.
I was getting more and more excited by the passing hour. We stopped at the creek outside of West Wood and let the horses rest. I couldn't be still. I felt restless and was ready to start again right after we stopped. Paw was watching me and commented. "Boy, what's wrong with you? You got ants in your britches or somethin'?"
"Nothin', Paw. Just ready to go."
"Let the horses get some water and we'll keep goin'." Paw said while trying to hide a smile.
I led the horses to the edge of the creek and let them drink for a few minutes. After that we started out again and right before we rode into town, Paw stopped us. He handed me a black cloth that I realized was a bandana. I tied it around the back of my neck and pulled it up over my nose. Paw did the same and it was then I noticed we probably looked like twins. We had the same eyes and hair and that was the only thing visible.
"We both have bounties, we can't be seen."
"You still have bounties?" I asked, shocked.
Paw nodded and I could tell he was smiling under his bandana. "They don't forget when you're as bad as I was."
I gave a light laugh as we continued into West Wood. We stopped in front of the saloon and I saw a wagon parked off to the side. "That's his wagon." I stated and looked at Paw. He nodded and dismounted. I did the same and walked behind him. I noticed a few people giving us worried looks, but then went about their business. Paw pushed both saloon doors open and strolled inside. I was close behind.
Paw walked to the bar and started talking to the old man that was wiping the counter. The man looked afraid. I walked across the saloon to stand next to Paw. The old man looked even more nervous at the sight of both of us. "Sir, they went upstairs about an hour ago. I haven't seen them come back, I swear."
"Thank ya." Paw muttered as he turned to look at me. "Let's go across the road, we'll wait for them there."
I nodded and glanced at the man once more. He looked a little relieved that we were leaving. When we were walking outside, Paw pointed at the windmill behind the bank. I nodded, knowing what he meant. I noticed Paw's gun belt while we were walking around the bank. The belt was still in good shape but the holster looked like it had seen better days. It was molded to fit the gun that was resting inside. I looked down at mine and saw it was getting that way too.
"Try not to let anybody see you." Paw said looking around. He reached up to grab the bottom floor of the wind mill and swung his legs up over the side. He leaned over and looked at me. "I'm gettin' too old for this."
"Now don't go hurting yourself." I said sarcastically and I did the same as he did. We climbed the side to the top floor that was right under the wind mill. It was just big enough for us both. Paw jumped from the windmill to the roof of the bank. I couldn't believe he did that. He motioned for me to jump and so I did, just barely making it. I rolled from the impact. Paw and I knelt behind the lip of the roof. "How the hell can you still jump that far?" I asked as I stared at him. Paw quietly laughed and just shrugged his shoulders.
We waited. And waited. When I was starting to think about giving up I saw the blonde haired woman step outside. She looked around and then walked to the wagon. Lucas came out soon after and followed her.
"We'll stay here until we see which way they go when they leave town. Then we'll follow 'em." Paw whispered and I nodded. It was late afternoon by then and we were going to be losing light soon. We watched them follow a horse path out into the woods behind town. "Let's go. They won't hear us now."
We climbed back down and got on our horses. We weren't in a rush to get close, we needed to see where they were headed. Paw seemed to be deep in thought for a while. I could tell he was getting angry, but I didn't know why. We had stopped to look at the tracks when he spoke. "Lucas' father is the man that led the Morrison gang."
"I thought ya'll killed him?"
"Oh, I did. But Catherine was already pregnant with Lucas. He tried to kill me and your mama."
"All the more reason to kill Lucas." I said through clenched teeth. It made me furious that Lucas was his son.
"Just keep your head. There ain't no tellin' what she plottin' now."
We followed the tracks all the way to Bear Hill. There was a small cabin about 100 yards away. We saw the wagon out front. This was going to be interesting.