The Jail House Visit

The jail house stuck out in the town of Silver Creek like a sore thumb. It was thrown together with leftover lumber from the mill and painted red, like some warning sign not to invite yourself inside.

Luke rode into town, dismounted, and tied his horse to the post outside. Ayanna followed behind on his mule with Anna Beth hugging her waist. Luke could see folks in town came out to gaze at the pair. He also knew the mule was the safest bet down the mountain trail. He cared less how things looked in the moment.

Luke turned his eyes toward Ayanna who understood him without the need for words. He'd go inside and see what condition Ruth Thompson was in before her daughter could come inside and visit with her. It was decided that Ayanna would take the girl into the familiar mercantile store where she could buy some dime store candy and keep her occupied.

Luke stomped caked mud off his boots as he opened the door. He was greeted by Cody the part Indian deputy whose wide frame casts a shadow from his desk. As he stood, Luke pulled his gun belt off and laid it down.

The deputy was a man of few words, unlike sheriff Clayburn who was nowhere to be found. Without saying a word, Cody grabbed what looked like a large ring of skeleton keys from the wall behind him. He walked over to one of only two cells where Ruth Thompson had been sitting on the edge of the bed. She stood in a plain vanilla dress that skirted the floor. Luke figured one of the church ladies donated it. He was relieved she didn't have lay in her torn and bloodied dress from the mountain trail.

She greeted Luke through the bars with moist eyes and worried lines across her forehead. Her brown hair was pinned back, revealing how her soft and supple complexion seemed painfully pressed against the cold black bars. Looking into her maple eyes, he knew more than ever that Ruth, as a mail order bride, wasn't prepared for the western frontier. But Luke wasn't prepared for her to leave town and head east as a prisoner.

Her face was contorted with pain that Luke reckoned came from deep inside. She strangled her words in the process. "Anna Beth! Where's Anna? Is she okay?"

Luke backed away as the deputy turned the key and swung the cell door open. The pair dove for each other into a tight embrace.

"Is my little girl okay? I need to see her."

"She's with Ayanna at the store. I...I just wanted to give you a moment."

"A moment?" She pushed back. "I may never get to see her after this."

"But that's not right. She will go back with you. You have family, someone who can take her in. Then you fight the damn charges, and you win." Luke grabbed her shoulders as if to talk sense into her. These folk back in New York, they must know what kind of man he was, a drunkard and a wife beater."

"He...he comes from a wealthy family. You don't know the kind of justice they can serve with money."

"I get it," said Luke. "Frontier justice would have set you free."

Tears pressed against her eyes when she buried her face in Luke's chest. He wished somehow after the ruse she put him through as a mail order bride, he could take back his original anger and save her. "You need to find a way to keep her. She will be trapped like I was. She won't ever be free."

Luke's mind churned on how he could fix things. He looked through bars of the window while she shuddered on his shoulder.

Luke turned his head as he heard a child come through the door. Ayanna stooped over Anna Beth, whispering in her ear.

The deputy had left the cell door open and watched from his chair. He hadn't seemed worried about anyone heading for the hills.

Anna Beth ran to her mother's open arms. "Momma! Momma!"

Luke stepped outside with Ayanna. He looked into her azure eyes, once again wishing he could read her mind through those eyes, wishing he could grab her soul and hold it. "I need to see the judge. I need to see if I'm able to keep the girl."

Ayanna clung to his every word while clutching a piece of paper. She surprised him with news of her own, just as Luke was about to dive over to the courthouse. "There's news of my uncle. He is coming by way of the iron horse."

It was then Luke recalled the story of how as a boy, her uncle escaped the Indian assault on their missionary family. He searched for the right words to say, but his words hung open far too long for his own comfort. "That's good. That's good news, Little Bird."

Luke crossed the bustling street over to the courthouse, leaving Ayanna to sort out where her place should be in a world she's never known.

The sun rose higher in the pearly blue sky by the time Luke crossed back over from the courthouse. Ayanna could be seen sitting outside on a bench in front of the jailhouse where she appeared deep in thought. It was then Sheriff Clayburn targeted Luke as he crossed the soiled street.

Clayburn took Luke aside before he could step inside the jail house. "Hold up a minute Lucas. I've got some news. The US marshal will be here tomorrow to take Mrs. Thompson and deliver her into custody on the train in Julesburg. Best you all said your goodbyes today."

"And the little girl?"

"Ah yes, she will be taken back east along with her mother." Clayburn shook his head and pulled on his whiskers. "This family has money and influence, and it tends to be far reaching. Just what do you think you can do about it?"

Luke said nothing but let Clayburn open the door where he eyed Ruth and her daughter in conversation. He stepped close enough to the cell where he overheard her and Anna Beth talking.

With tears in her eyes Anna Beth asked, "Momma, if you go away, does that mean I have to hold you in my heart until you come back? But you will come back, won't you? It will hurt my heavy heart."

Tears sprang from Ruth. She hugged her daughter and held her tight until Clayburn said it was time to lock the cell. "Can she stay with me until evening? What harm would it bring?"

The sheriff, seeing the mother's eyes swollen with tears shifted his stance. "I suppose she can stay with you under lock and key until evening. There's a carriage on the way from Julesburg under orders to transfer you back to meet up with the train in the city."

Ruth stood up and looked at Luke, as if the reality of it was like the weight of a millstone hung around her neck.

As Clayburn closed and locked the cell door, Ayanna stepped inside, likely expecting to take care of the daughter. She waited by the door, as Ruth pressed her face against the cold steel of the bars.

Luke put his face to her ear from the other side and whispered. "The judge said if I married you, I could claim her as legal guardian. It buys us some time from all the legal wrangling."

Ruth wiped the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath and glanced over at Ayanna leaning against the far wall in her deerskin dress. She looked into Luke's hazel eyes until she seemed more lost than ever. "Are you asking me to marry you, Lucas Cole?"

Lucas heard the door behind him open and shut. He wondered if Ayanna had heard Ruth.

Luke looked over at Anna Beth then met Ruth's eyes. "That's what I'm saying. I want to honor my commitment. We will be here for you once your set free."

"Marriage," she asked, as if it were a question. "I thought marriage was something we'd never talk about. I'll do it. I'll do it if it's the only way. But have you been so blind, you don't see that Ayanna is the one who loves you?"

"I never know what's on her mind."

"Maybe so, but I reckon you don't have eyes in the back of your head to see her like I do when she looks at you."

It was Luke's turn to look lost in the moment.

"I'll marry you if it's the only way to save my daughter. My former husband's family swore vengeance through me on her."