Cuero, Texas, 1888 -- OOM for Ben Wade (part 3)

[ikissdhimbck]

[following this:]


Once the details are ironed out and their aliases are firmly in place, Reverend and Mrs. Evans ride for Cuero looking as much the part as they could manage. Ben even has himself outfitted with a makeshift clerical collar.

(Kate can't look at him without laughing. 'Perhaps,' she suggested, 'you can use it as a Bible bookmark when we're through, Ben.')

It's a half a day's ride from their campsite to the outskirts of town, so it's already late afternoon, pushing for evening, when they finally arrive. Cuero is right off the river, good dirt roads and two free iron bridges crossing the river a coup for the community. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, connecting Cuero to Houston, is visible from the ride in, and once they make it onto the main drag it's obvious that the trade town is, indeed, prospering (with more than two and a half thousand residents). Otto Buchel's bank is a prominent storefront, near J. R. Nagel's hardware, and H. Runge and Company (a branch of Henry Runge's Indianola-based store and bank). There's an opera house, two large schools, a fire department, and a hotel, as well as at least six different churches (which has Kate smirking, and teasing Ben about him better knowing his stuff before starting any conversations he can't finish). And, farther from the main street, are the factories Kate had heard about: a railroad machine shop, and a $50,000 steam-powered cotton textile factory with sixteen looms.

Suddenly, all of Kate's worries about being recognized while in town fade to background noise. If she can't blend in, in a place like this, then she deserves to be caught.

.

Comments

[almosthonorable]

He resists the urge to tug at the collar.

Wouldn't do for a man of the cloth to fidget, after all.

"Seems like as good a town as any," he says to Kate as they ride in, docile as you please, but he can't completely mask the sharp glint in his eyes while he takes in even the most minute details of their surroundings.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate's looking about in much the same fashion, though with a deal more artfulness. A woman must be demure, after all. Each time she catches the eye of a passerby, she coughs delicately into her kerchief and nods her respects, keeping her gaze politely lowered.

[almosthonorable]

Ben nods toward the hotel as they near it.

"I say we get settled in, have ourselves some friendly conversations with the locals."

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate looks over the hotel as they near it, wondering if she's brought along enough coin to afford room and board for both herself and Beaut in a nice place like this.

"I say that sounds good, honey," she nods, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "You're the boss this time, after all."

[almosthonorable]

His eyes slide to her.

"If you've got a better idea, you're welcome to say so."

[ikissdhimbck]

She out-and-out grins at him.

"Nope. Just watchin' and learnin' from the best."

Quick, simple statements while they're out in public, to keep up appearances.

(She barely resists the urge to cross herself.)

[almosthonorable]

It doesn't take long to turn over their horses to a livery hand; Ben pays and tips the young man, but not overmuch -- Tucker Evans only makes a modest living as a man of God.

He politely declines the offer for help getting their bags into the hotel lobby; he's missing the weight of his gun at his hip enough as it is, and he wants his leather satchel as close at hand as possible, just in case Kate is recognized.

[ikissdhimbck]

She certainly doesn't look a thing like her wanted posters at the moment. Bonnet pulled over her hair, fine (but modest) skirts in one hand as she climbs the steps to the hotel entrance, her other politely dabbing at her mouth after a brief coughing fit -- no one would ever suspect she'd have that 3 1/2" Colt strapped to her leg.

Just in case.

She nods politely to the clerk as they make their way to the front desk, but doesn't speak. It wouldn't do to speak before the reverend, after all.

[almosthonorable]

The clerk is just friendly enough to set Ben's teeth on edge, but he exchanges small talk nonetheless, saying the right things in the right places; the clerk will probably prove invaluable for information over the next day or so.

He procures a room upstairs for them -- the bridal suite, the only one currently available, and Ben swallows his bemusement.

"So this is the bridal suite? Now, I wonder how many brides've taken in this view?"

(He'll have to remember to tell Dan.)

Turning to Kate, he offers an elbow.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate's grateful for the 'condition' of her alias when the clerk informs them that they'll be staying in the bridal suite. It makes covering her face to hide the blush in her cheeks (can't have that, now, married woman and all) less suspect.

(She never got a bridal suite. Instead, she had a belly full of brandy and a headache the morning after to remember by, not even having the chance to spend one day wed to the man she [never told she] loved.)

She goes through all the social niceties of accepting Ben's arm and departing from the clerk's line of sight, before she lowers her hand from her face, watching her feet as they climb the stairs.

"We can draw lots," she says quietly, lips quirking into a barely-there smile. "Over who gets the bed."

[almosthonorable]

"No need for those."

He sets their bags on the hardwood outside the door and fits the key in the lock, swinging it open to reveal the room beyond the threshold.

"You're takin' the bed, I don't mind the floor."

The thick Oriental rugs will provide a hell of a lot more comfort through his bedroll than the desert floor, anyway.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate peers around the room, unsure of what she's checking for, but checking nonetheless. It's nothing like the accommodations in Milliways, but it is a very nice room all the same.

"My hero," she teases, helping pull the bags into the room so he can shut that door.

She'll feel a heck of a lot more comfortable when he does.

"But you know me. Thought I'd give you a fair shake by offerin'; the floor's unpleasant for anyone who's used t'the soft beds in Milliways, gentleman cowboy or no."

[almosthonorable]

He closes the door with a quiet click and moves the bags closer to the bed and oak dresser.

"I think I've gotten too used to 'em the last little while," he says wryly, lifting his holster from a saddlebag. "Floor'll be good for me."

[ikissdhimbck]

She turns to look at him.

"You haven't gone soft on me, have you?"

A smirk is just barely ghosting the corner of her mouth.

She turns back around, surveying the rest of the room once again.


Bridal suite.


What a joke.

(Too bad she isn't laughing.)

[almosthonorable]

"About as soft as a -- "

A pause.

That particular simile isn't for polite conversation.

"Diamond."

He opens a dresser drawer, finding it empty as expected, and carefully places his Colt inside, then sets to unpacking.

[ikissdhimbck]

That pause doesn't go unnoticed, Ben Wade.

Even if Kate looks, for all intents and purposes, completely lost in thought.

She brushes a hand across the cotton front of her dress absently, blinking out of her reverie, and turns to watch him unpack.


"You saw the bank ridin' in?" she asks, after another beat.

[almosthonorable]

"Which one?"

A slight smirk.

"Buchel's or Runge?"

[ikissdhimbck]

A slow smile graces her face.

"Which should we look at first?"

[almosthonorable]

He returns that smile.

"The one furthest from the sheriff's office."

[ikissdhimbck]

She laughs.

(An honest to goodness laugh.)

"You sure you don't wanna go pay your respects t'the local law, reverend?"

[almosthonorable]

"Well, if and when I do pay the place a visit, I've got the Lord on my side, here."

To say nothing of the Hand of God.

"So if it shakes out like it should, it'll be a meetin' of mutual respect."

[ikissdhimbck]

Amused Kate is amused.

She points to the crest of Ben's head.

"Your halo? Is tarnished. Y'might wanna see to that, first."

[almosthonorable]

"Matches the collar," he says with a half-smile, and takes a quick drink from his canteen before dropping it back in the saddlebag.

"You feel like takin' a walk before sunset, or'd you rather get settled in up here?"

He's fine with both options; there's no reason they can't go on a self-guided tour through Cuero in the morning, instead.

[ikissdhimbck]

"I don't think I'll be settled, even if I cut fresh flowers and hang new curtains," she says with a dry chuckle. "Plenty of time for unpackin' later. Besides, I still got my bonnet on."

She hold out her arm silently with a nod.

[almosthonorable]

He tucks her arm into the crook of his elbow, every inch the gentleman, and leads them downstairs; another short conversation with the clerk affords them directions and a handful of dinner recommendations, and Ben leads the way to the exit, holding the door for Kate.

"After you, Miss Evans."