OOM: Oakville, 1888 -- A few good men, or at least some half-decent ones...

[ikissdhimbck]

By the time she reaches Oakville, it's after sunset and she's been riding all day. The last hints of yellow are fading from the sky, giving way to the pregnant dark blue of an endless night. She hitches Beaut to a post outside the first saloon she happens by, noting the livery stable to the south down the broad way. There's a nice hotel across the street.

But, first things first.

The batwing doors swing open as she steps in, all of five feet, tousled hair, and eyes as hard as diamonds. It ain't like it is in one of them Western ‘moo-vees’ — most folk don't pay her any mind.

Most.

Comments

[one_day_ace]

Ace smiles into his glass of bourbon. "Learned to ride 'fore I could walk," he says with more than a little pride in his voice, eyes alight with his favourite subject. "From the time I was little my Da'd swing me up into the saddle with him whenever he was goin' someplace and my Ma, she used to say that if she couldn't find me she just had t'check in the barn."

He looks younger when he talks about his family, and there's a visible shift as he pulls himself back out of reminiscing. "Which is t'say yes, ma'am. Up at Brokentree, the owner -- well, he's one of them eccentrics, got a bee in his bonnet a few years back about breedin' better cow horses by bringin' in some Eastern blood, and he took me on mostly t'take care of that side of things. I do the handling, the breaking, take care of the herd most of the time. You need someone t'handle your horses, I'm your man."

Bragging? Maybe, but it's all true. He's good with the beasts and always has been and it was sheer dumb luck that he managed to stumble across an operation where he wouldn't be out after cattle all day, he knows, but it's only served to teach him more.

[ikissdhimbck]

He'll see a shift in her, too. The way he talks about his childhood rings true with her own. She smiles like the schoolteacher used to, soft and hazy, an unguarded light in her eyes, expression sweet with memories. It passes quickly. Far too quickly.

"I reckon you an' I have that in common."

She drops her gaze, thumb brushing bourbon from the rim of her glass. It's business as usual when she looks up again.

"I'm glad t'hear it. I'm gonna need someone t'mind the horses, be my eyes when I'm otherwise occupied. You'll need t'supply your own mount, 'course. An' I'm lookin' for extra ponies; good stocky sort, deep chests, full broke. Y'got a finger on where I might find some?"

[one_day_ace]

He nods, mind already racing and bourbon forgotten in the glass by his side. Supplying his own mount, that's not hard -- fact of the matter is that he's been scraping pennies for a while and while he doesn't have enough for one of the real good mounts he's trained, he figures he can put down just enough cash for Arrow and her tack. He's about the only one who would want her anyway. Other horses, that's a little trickier.

"If you're looking around here I could get you a few from my place. They ain't doing much other than standin' around looking pretty right now anyhow. And I been down the road a time or two, know a few people, a few ranches with some extra mounts who'd turn a blind eye if there was coin in it for them."

Somewhere, distantly, he realizes that if he does this he can't ever go back, won't have a ranch to go to. He's somewhat surprised to find he doesn't care.

[ikissdhimbck]

"There'll be coin in it for 'em."

She nods once, leaning forward and smiling in that way she finds puts people at ease.

"How much, of course, is up for discussion. I'd like t'strike a deal if I can, but I'm willin' t'put forward what's fair. An' I'd be trustin' you t'handle that for me once I ride north'a here. I've still got business t'see to 'fore I can be wranglin' ponies up t'Cuero."

[one_day_ace]

"Right." He's gotten to be pretty decent at negotiating over the years, getting himself a fair salary and whoever he's working for a decent price on feed, leather, whatever's needed. "You can count on me."

That's not so bad, after all. He's not holding a gun to anyone's head, just making sure that those who do get away afterwards. He can work with that and figure the rest out in his head later. For now he trusts her. More than he probably should, but she's damn good at getting people. That much he's figured out already.

"You got an idea on when all this is gonna go down? That'd help a mite with planning."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I best hope I can."

She don't want to be disappointed.

"Three months' time. Enough t'allow for all the sundries people don't reckon on goin' into an enterprise like this. You're gonna need t'be willin' t'pack up an' leave here, 'least for a time."

[one_day_ace]

Ace shrugs, picks up his near-forgotten glass and takes a long pull of the bourbon. He's made all the decisions he can with a clear head, he figures, can't be anything wrong with letting it fade away at least a little. Tomorrow, he can think on the consequences.

"Not much keepin' me here, save for the work. You give me a day's notice and I'll be ready t'ride, wherever you're headed."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Hold your horses, son. You're gonna get a mite more'n that."

There's humor in her voice. They started out this evening with him fidgety and shy, blustery and swaggering. Now here he is, all set to ride out of town, sipping at bourbon in front of a fire that's making him a touch warmer than he should be, she figures.

"I still need t'find a few more willin' folk. That'll take some days, I wager. You'll get more'a the details once I'm satisfied your stock in this is what it should be. But y'don't hafta go racin' homeward anytime here soon."

[one_day_ace]

The cockiness subsides and Ace ducks his head, turns to his drink to hide the quick wave of awkward embarrassment, coughs slightly on the warm bite in his throat as he swallows.

"Yes'm." He puts the empty glass down and stands, scratches a little at the back of his neck. "Reckon it's about time I headed out of here, though. It's been a while, people might..." get the wrong idea, a young buck of a cowboy alone in the parlor with a strange woman, but he doesn't exactly say that, "...well, they might talk."

Is he blushing? Maybe it's just the alcohol and the fire, warming him from inside and outside alike.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Sugar, you're gonna hafta get used to 'em talkin'."

She arches an eyebrow, slowly rising to her feet. She sets her glass of bourbon down carefully, and extends her hand to him again.

"They'll be doin' a lotta that. And sweetheart?" Her grip tightens on his, eyes sharp. "You leave when I'm through with you. You come an' go on my say so. That sound fair t'you?"

[one_day_ace]

The room narrows to the grip she has on his hand, past being a friendly handshake, and the way the warm blue of her eyes is suddenly as cold as a winter storm, the kind that has you sleeping in the snow before you even realize the wind's kicked up.

Ace swallows once, hard.

"Yes ma'am." And if his voice quivers just a little, right at the end, well...surely she can't blame him.

[ikissdhimbck]

No, she don't blame him none. In fact, it makes him rather bright, knowing how to pick his battles.

Just so they're clear:

"I may be nothin' but blonde hair an' blue eyes t'you, but believe me when I say not all the things they write about me are lies. When you work with me you work for me. An' I ain't sayin' it won't be fair; I'll pay you your dues, jus' as I will anybody else in my gang. But woman or not, I'm the boss, an' y'don't get invited in on a job an' then decide on your lonesome when it's time t'leave. Those decisions are mine."

After a pregnant pause she lets go of his hand, bringing her hands to her hips.

"If y'got a problem with any of that, y'can show yourself t'the door right now."

[one_day_ace]

Ace's eyes flick between her and the door, just once.

Then he backs up a step, places his hat on the arm-rest with exaggerated care, and settles himself back down on the settee. One of the most important lessons he's ever learned working over the years is that sometimes you gotta hang on and ride out the bucks, and sometimes you've just gotta let yourself fall and try again some other time.

This time, though, he has a nagging suspicion that he was never even on the horse.

[ikissdhimbck]

She doesn't budge, standing over him like some glorious statue; a miniaturized Theodore Roosevelt, standing akimbo. She watches him like a hawk, right up to the very second he settles himself in nice and snug. It isn't until that moment that she cracks another smile, though brief and humorless.

"Good."

Beat.

"As it happens, I'm done with you. Git."

She jerks her head toward the door, and that is that. Turning her back to him, she collects her bourbon and finishes it off with one swift flick of her wrist. If he happens to stick around long enough, he'll hear her add over her shoulder:

"Tomorrow night, 'round eight o'clock, come by the waterin' hole. We still got lots t'discuss."

[one_day_ace]

"Yes ma'am." It's rapped out quick and smart as Ace gets to his feet and collects his hat, keeping it held respectfully at his side as he offers her a quick nod and makes a beeline for the door. As he's halfway out he pauses and turns back, just for a moment.

"Thank you, ma'am."

For not shooting him or for offering him the job, could be either or could be both. Whichever it is he's gone the next moment and headed out into the street. As he trudges along with his shoulders hunched against a night chill he's not really feeling, he reflects momentarily on what just happened.

He's definitely not on the horse anymore. Matter of fact, as far as he can see he's just getting dragged along behind it, barely clinging to the reins.

And maybe it's just the bourbon, but the funny thing is?

He don't mind at all.

[ikissdhimbck]

It's his thank-you that pulls her up short. She stares at his retreating backside, blinking in surprise.

Her smile spreads like warm butter down a stack of flapjacks.

What a surprising boy he is, this John ‘Ace’ Lehane. She didn't go easy on him, but he managed to keep his head above water nonetheless. And the fact that he didn't back out, didn't quibble, didn't lose his nerve or bluster and bark, says to Kate that he's just the kind of man she needs. Not so weak in the head or the knees that he can't keep up; not so full of himself that he can't follow direction.

Thank you, he said. For the talking-to of his lifetime from probably the only woman outside of his own mama to treat him that way. It's a good thing, too. He's destined to more of it.


By the time he finds her at the saloon, at eight o'clock on the dot the next evening, he'll be treated to the howls of Mr. Ford, whose arm is twisted in a most unnatural fashion while Kate introduces his face to the table. It's a little trick Miss X once taught her. Her sweet Southern drawl grits like sandpaper down a blackboard, and she seems bigger than her meager five feet one inch.

Maybe 'cuz everyone's cowering at her feet.

The boys had their fun for a while, but there's no mistaking she's a force to be reckoned with. And by tonight, the whole town will know it.