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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2251298" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 113, “A Lover’s Spat”, Thursday, January 12th, 1882:The El Parador is about half filled with patrons. Many of them are the familiar faces of regular customers. At the bar Jules Huerta, a worker at Gilson's BathHouse is having a beer with Juan Tolucca. Also at the bar by himself is the elderly half-orc Wang Li who operates an opium den over on East Street. At one table Conrad Booth is dining with his friend and fellow Long Branch gambler Paget Flashman. At another table ice house owner Hannibal Brown is dining with his son Maxwell and daughter Liza. Four miners who Jake has seen before but does not know the names of are at another table. There are four strangers at another table, a wood elf, two half-elves of wood elf descent and a human. All four appear to be fairly young and have the bearing and seriousness normally associated with soldiers. They are speaking in Spanish. Jake quickly deduces that one of the half-elves is the leader while the elf appears to be the main protector of the group, his eyes continuously scanning the room for any potential trouble. Manuel Gonzalez is seated at the piano where Kate appears to be trying to teach him one of Chopin's piano concertos. The surprising thing is that he does not appear to be very good at it with her constantly having to repeat each section to him. They have gathered an audience as the El Parador's regular musician Estaban Fuente is watching their every move along with his sister Maria and card dealer Carlos Ramirez.After some time Kate stopped and laughed. "I think we need to start right at the beginning. Forget the Chopin. Now, I know you can sing. Can you read music?" Manuel Gonzales nodded and said, "Ah my little sandpiper. You've uncovered my secret. I am a good teacher but a poor student.  Yes, I can read music, I learned how in order to read biographies of the great composers, but I did not learn it with plans to actually practice the skill myself." "Alright, then you understand the basics." Kate went on to explain how the white keys are tuned to the key of C, and which key is for which notes, and then how the black keys were the flats or sharps that allowed you to play in other keys. 'Now, let's start with C scales." She showed him the scale and the appropriate fingerings and then set him to practice it with each hand separately and then together. As Mr. Gonzales played through her eyes roamed across the room. She breathed a little sigh as Ruby came in. She hadn't seen her today, and Kate was never sure what trouble she might be getting into. The other table of interest was the four strangers.  She thinks, “They must be those special visitors that had arrived yesterday.”  Manuel notices her distraction and says "Perhaps we should pick this up tomorrow. That way the patrons can also eat in peace instead of having to listen to my poor attempts at using this contraption.""I'm sorry. I'm not much of a teacher, I'm afraid. We can go on if you like. There's no one waiting for me, and my time is free until work this evening." Kate looked over toward Estaban. "I suppose the patrons are anxious for Estaban to begin though. I wonder if he might be interested in learning this contraption as well," she said, acknowledging his apparent interest.  Gonzales replies, "He probably would. He is already proficient in the guitar, drum, maracas, concertina and violin. Before you begin to teach him though I would suggest that you talk to Sonoma. They have performed together for the last two decades so are both familiar with where each other is musically and she could probably offer you some suggestions for working with him."  She says, "If that's the case, she would probably be the better teacher for him then. Sonoma plays quite well herself. We can continue this tomorrow afternoon, and I'll have a better idea where to start you." Mr. Gonzales then headed up to his room. Ruby see Jake sitting at a table looking around at the other patrons and Kate at the piano. Ruby walks up behind Jake quietly and puts her arms around his neck and whispers in his ear, "Hi handsome." He smiles and strokes her arm. He was watching the stairs expecting her to come down. Then he gets a puzzled look on his face, turns his head and sees she is wearing a long, black velvet jacket and traveling hat. "Welcome back, where've you been?"  "Look what I got," she says, putting the bottle of bourbon on the table. "I think I need this to help with my headache." She throws the paper on the table and sits next to Jake with her back to Kate. She leans in close. "I went to Tombstone and talked with Colby Tucker. He is sure what we found out is true." Ruby notices as these words leave her lips that Jake's relaxed look quickly changes to a tense one.  His eyes glance quickly around the room. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly and says quietly through gritted teeth, "I can't decide whether to be grateful you are back in one piece or strangle you." He hisses, "You damn fool, I suppose you went alone and on the stage?""Oh was I supposed to walk?" Ruby shoots back. "I thought the stage would be safer than riding. And YOU were too busy to accompany me so yes I went alone. So what? You think I can't take care of myself?" She pushes back in her chair making some distance between them. Kate looked back toward the table where Ruby and Jake were. They seemed to be deep in an intense conversation, and Kate didn't want to interrupt. Mr. Booth was also dining with a friend. Unsure where to go, and not particularly hungry, Kate went back up to her room to devote some time to her new books.Jake makes a low growling noise and his eyes narrow. He says in slow, carefully measured words, "I am quite aware you can take care of yourself. I also remember the last time we were in Tombstone five of the cowboy gang followed our stage out." Jake exhales again, shakes his head and then says in a less stiff tone, "So they were probably after me then, but what better way to get at me then through my red headed girl. Did either of the Earp brothers in Tombstone see you? All we would need now is for them to find out you were there and talked to Tucker, it wouldn't take long for that to get back to Morgan." He looks her in the eyes and says "AND you didn't ask me!""And the Cowboy Gang didn't get us last time either did they? Chumbley told me they've been hitting coaches all over. I don't know if they are looking for you, or us." Ruby paused. "Morgan was on the stage with me on the way out. He knew I was there I talked with him. I stayed out of trouble in town, I made sure to stay out of trouble. You knew I was going to go and you were too busy on Wednesday and I knew you had to work today so I went. I didn't know I had to ask your permission."  "You don't" he says in a loud voice and punctuates with his hand slapping the table, "need my blasted permission for anything!” Jake notices that people are looking over at them. Then in a lower voice, "You didn't ask me to COME with you. Arrggh." Ruby pauses again for a long moment. "Are you worried about me getting hurt?"  He leans in really close to her face and says very quietly, "Yes, OK, yes I was afraid of you getting hurt in Tombstone. And yes I am worried about you getting hurt or worse by the Earps because they find out you are sticking your nose in that business. Alright? Are you #$%&# satisfied now?" He pushes his chair back and stands up.  Jake notices the newspaper lying on the table with the headline Wells Fargo Stagecoach Robbed – Outlaws get $ 6,500"Am I satisfied? Should I be satisfied that you think I'm a fool? Sure Jake, that is very satisfying to know." Ruby slowly stands up, calm, trying to keep her temper under control. "I'm going upstairs." Ruby turns her back to Jake and starts walking away.Jake's breathing starts to come in strong measured in and out breaths. He watches her walk across the room and up the stairs, aware that folks in the room are watching them. When she gets to the top of the stairs he says quietly, "I hate when she does that." With that he strides across the room and takes the stairs two at a time, and walks both quickly and purposefully towards her room. He catches the door with his foot just as she is slamming it, pushes his way in and then slams the door.  "Damn you, Ruby West, you make me crazy."As Jake enters the room, Ruby rips her hat off her head and throws it to the floor, her hair flying loose in the process. As she turns to face him, “I make you crazy?” She says with her eyes narrowing. “I make you crazy? How exactly do I make you crazy? All you’ve done since I met you is make me crazy!” Ruby picks up a bottle of perfume off her dresser and lets it fly. She is so upset that her aim is obviously off and Jake easily ducks out of the way, with the bottle crashing and breaking against the door. “I can’t get you to stay with me over some stupid job,” she yells, “Then you get mad when I leave to help one of our friends. I didn’t ask you to come because you made it clear you had business to attend to. I’m not going to force you to come with me or do things you don’t want to do. Besides, I wouldn’t want to mess up your business plans.” Ruby is stomping back and forth and Jake notices her eyeing another perfume bottle on her dresser. She continues, “I thought I was doing you a favor, giving you one less thing to worry about, this Tom Kale business, going to Tombstone and taking care of it. And you never once told me not to go anywhere alone. So why are you so mad?” As Ruby is tirading and parading back and forth Jake is pointing his finger at her and trying to speak. "I...", she cuts him off, "You..., she doesn't let him interrupt, "If..." she continues without listening. "Hermes." he finally says in a low voice. She yells, “You know, I didn’t take all that money and leave because of you. I took your advice and didn’t go kill Adair like I wanted to. I promised you I would give you a toast before I left but really was promising I would try to stick around here. I stayed with you in your bed after we were together, I even said I would be your girl. All these things are different for me, things I'm not used to doing and things that get me in trouble. I’m not saying I don’t like it, but I’ve broken every single rule I have for myself when it comes to you and I have no idea why. I guess I AM just a stupid foolish girl.” Ruby stops stomping around and just stands there looking at Jake. She is breathing hard and Jake notices a slight tremble to her hands.Jake then stands there looking at her with his mouth hanging open. Finally he looks down at the floor before looking up at her. He starts to move slowly towards her. "Stupid, not hardly." He takes another step his eyes locked on hers. "Foolish, well probably some of that but then probably less that me." He inches closer. "Girl, no. For me the most beautiful woman on either side of the Mississippi." He closes the final distance, gently takes her face in his hands and kisses her lightly on the lips. "I...", he pauses, "heh, I can't remember what I came up here to say."Ruby accepts Jake's kiss and only slowly opens her eyes after he pulls away. She stares him in the eyes as she whispers, "Jake, what are you doing to me?" "What am I doing to you?" He repeats back quietly. He shrugs. He steps over to the wall where the perfume broke and runs his index fingers through it. He goes back over to Ruby and runs his fingers behind her ears and along her neck. He moves over to the door to open it and stops to look back. "Tell me if it gets to be too much trouble." He gives her a weak smile and says, "Will I see you for dinner?"Ruby walks over to Jake and takes his hand in hers tightly. "Kate says sometimes the trouble is worth it. I am starting to agree with her." Ruby squeezes herself between Jake and the door. "I hope you do too..." She kisses him for a long moment. "Yes, you will see me for dinner..." She kisses him again, "If you want to wait I'll get ready now..." Jake doesn't say anything, but is easily convinced to postpone the start of dinner.Reading in her room, Kate's head snapped up when she heard the sound of a door slam. She thought she heard muffled voices, but the sound of glass breaking was unmistakable. She set aside her book and hurried out the door toward Ruby's room.  There was the sickly-sweet smell of too much perfume floating down the hallway. Kate knocked on the door. "Ruby, honey, are you alright?" Kate could hear noise coming right from the other side of the door. "I'm just fine, Kate, thanks for asking. I'll, uh, be down for dinner in a bit..."She waited for a moment. "If you're sure." Something wasn't right, but Kate didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on between Jake and Ruby in there. And she was sure Jake was in there. She went quietly back to her room. The smell of the perfume was still heavy and Kate realized it had soaked into her dress. She sighed and changed her clothes.Once she had changed Kate returns to the Cantina. The table where Jake and Ruby had been sitting at remains empty, their beverage glasses still where they had been left and the newspaper still sitting atop the table.   Ruby fixes herself up, pausing occasionally to give Jake little hugs and kisses. As Jake's eyes wander around her mess of a room she laughs. "I forgot you never saw my room before." She finishes getting ready and they go out the door to dinner stepping over the broken perfume bottle. "Oh I'll clean that up later," she says with a smile as she takes Jake's hand. "I'm hungry." They get back to the table that they left with the paper and the bottle of bourbon. "Oh, I forgot about this. Let's crack it open now." Kate stands near the piano, unsure if she should join them or not. Jake takes up the bottle, glances at the label and opens the bottle. He sniffs the contents, nods and pours out some for each of them. He seems subdued.  He says, "I sold the wagon today, I expect everyone will be satisfied." He notices Katherine standing awkwardly away from them. Jake gives her a little smile and motions with his head for her to come over. "I wonder where Nanuet and Sanoma are?""They went out in the wilderness somewhere, who knows. Did you get a good price for the wagon?" Ruby sees Jake nod is head in Kate's direction, who Ruby had not previously noticed. "Kate! Get over here!" she yells across the room. She turns back to Jake and says with a sheepish smile, "So did you get all your business done today?" "I got a goodly amount done. I think everyone will be interested in some of what I have to say. The contract with Morand is done, so as soon as the miners start extracting ore, it can be shipped." Jake sits down and has a sniff of his glass and a taste of the Tennessee Bourbon.Kate had intended to refuse Jake's quiet invitation, but with Ruby yelling across the Cantina she didn't have much choice. She walked over and sat down quietly, shaking her head at Jake's offer of a drink. "May I?" she asked as she picked up the paper and began to read. The paper is thick compared to prior editions, a full sixteen pages. The front page reads: Wells Fargo Stagecoach Robbed – Bandits get $ 6,500 The Wells Fargo Stagecoach running between the towns of Tombstone and Bisbee was robbed not far from the town of Tombstone. The strong box carried $6,500 in cash and assayed silver. This was the third attempted stagecoach robbery by the Cowboy Gang in the last five days since the reported death of the gang’s former leader Curly Bill Brocius. The gang is now reputed to be led by the notorious Arthur ‘Deadeye’ Douglas formerly of the Douglas Gang. The driver was unable to identify the robbers but rumors have circulated around town that Pony Deal could have been involved. Last September Pony Deal and Sherman McMasters were initially accused of holding up a stage near Globe, Arizona. They were investigated by Marshall Virgil Earp who later chose to release them when evidence surfaced proving that they were not involved. This was the second successful robbery of the Tombstone-Bisbee stage as the stage had been robbed last July. Virgil Earp arrested Frank Stilwell and Pete Spence for that stage robbery but neither man was convicted, being released on technicalities. At one point since then Stilwell has served as a deputy of the county sheriff, John Behan. There were no deaths during this robbery, unlike the stagecoach robbery the night of March 15th of last year when the Tombstone stage carrying $26,000 in silver, was robbed outside of Contention City, Arizona. During the holdup, shotgun rider Budd Philpot was killed, as was one of the bandits, Bill Leonard. Two of the other robbers, believed to be Harry Head and Jim Crane, killed a passenger. On June 6th Crane and Head, both implicated in the robbery, were shot and killed in the Hachita Mountains of New Mexico by Virgil and Wyatt Earp. "Seems Deadeye Douglas has taken over Curley Bill's job," Kate said to no one in particular. "No one was killed in the robbery, which matches what we know of him." Kate turned the page and continued reading. Page two contains four fluff pieces, one about proper firearms maintenance, another about the weather, one about the new furnishings of Big Nose Kate's restaurant in Tombstone and the other about various types of materials that can be used for fencing. Page three appears to be what had originally been intended as Page one, with the original page numbering having been inked out and new numbering hand stamped using printer's type. The story is about the trials at the Comique but the focus is on none of the witnesses or defendants, Chumbly having instead profiled the Judge. The article has all of the comments made by Judge Isby, Morgan Earp and Wyatt Earp quoted verbatim, but only provides enough of the testimony from the others to bring the quotes from the others into context. The article ends with some statistics, stating that in Judge Isby's seventeen months in this circuit he has sentenced twenty-six men and two women to hang, nineteen of which are now laid to rest in Promise City's Boot Hill. He is only one of eighteen circuit judges in the Arizona Territory yet is responsible for the sentences of approximately forty- percent of the prisoners in the Territorial Prison at the Territory Capitol in Prescott, Arizona.Kate made a note to herself to never end up as a defendant in Judge Isby's court. "Seems Job got off lucky," she muttered. "Chumbley's article about the trial doesn't mention any of Suzie Forman's ridiculous accusations," she said.  She continued to read through the paper, occasionally offering interesting bits, but mostly staying quiet.She thumbs through the remainder of the paper. There is a very interesting article on page five under the heading "Horseless Carriage Comes to Town" describing Ruby and Jake's wild ride to town on Tuesday, including an artist's rendering of how the two rifles looked afterwards. The article does not name any of the stage's passengers and the only direct quote is from Zack Morand. One ad catches her eye, on Page twelve Pamela Yeats announces that the Trail Dust Saloon at the corner of South and Allen Streets is going out of business and that the building and all furnishings are for sale. The article states that they will remain open until a buyer is found.  Page fifteen has an advertisement for the Lone Star Dance Hall and Saloon with lengthy and very complimentary descriptions of Ruby's singing and Kate's piano playing, mentioning both by name. It also welcomes "the return of poker player Job Kane"."I'm surprised Tom would put in an ad for the Lone Star with everything that's going on," Katherine mentioned. "Oh, he didn't. There was some extra room so they ran ads for people who've bought them before. Chumbley wrote that up," Ruby told her. "That was nice of him. But he wrote rather too much about me, he obviously hasn't been to the Lone Star himself."While Kate is holding up the paper and reading page fifteen Jake's attention is drawn to the back page with the heading "Johnny Ringo Alive and Well". The article has an interview with the Ringo. He categorically denies any involvement with the Cowboy Gang, stating that his coat had been stolen from a coat rack the previous Friday while he was engaged in a high stakes poker game at a saloon in Galeyville. He says that he does not know how it wound up in the hands of Deadeye Douglas but that he has no plans to tangle with that outlaw.Dorita brings the three of them plates of food as their dinner. Musician Estaban Fuente sits at the stage and plays guitar. Maggie Whipple enters and heads out to the kitchen. Ruby and Jake exchange glances with each other as Ruby gestures in that direction.  After a pause Ruby says "Kate, one thing you should know. William Whipple isn't planning to give his daughter a fair chance at running the Lone Star. He plans to bring her back to Denver regardless of what happens the next half week."Kate closed her eyes and pushed away the plate she had only been picking at for show anyway. "I should have realized, although I can't say I'm terribly surprised. But I think Mr. Whipple will the one who's surprised. Maggie won't let go without a fight. And she is a grown woman. In the end, he can't make her do anything she doesn't want to. I'll speak to her before we leave."While they are eating handyman Grant Keebler hurries upstairs then returns and goes into the kitchen. A few minutes later Dorita heads upstairs. She comes back shortly and marches right over to the table. Placing her hands on her hips she stares at Ruby and says "There bad smell come from your room! Go fix it!"</blockquote>

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