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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2015688" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two “Surprises”, Thursday, March 9th, 1882, 5:30 P.M.  Nanuet asks Ruby, "So, besides for keeping you all company is there anything you need me to do tonight to make this evening a success?' “Yes, actually, loosen up a bit and relax tonight,” Ruby replies with a smile. “Especially you, Nanuet. You have been working hard helping get the third floor done and you never seem to reward yourself. So as your boss I am ordering you to have a good time!”  Jake comments, "Thanks for hanging around Nanuet. It is just good to know you are here if something were to go wrong if nothing else."They all continue to sit around making small talk. Ruby is fidgety, waiting for dinner, waiting for the paper, just waiting. Finally she blurts out, “Come on Jake, I don’t want to wait anymore, let’s go see our new room.” She practically jumps up from the table and starts dragging Jake. She looks back at the others over her shoulder, “We’ll be back in just a bit!” In a voice just loud enough for Ruby and Jake to hear, Chester says to the others, "Sure, just a bit. They're going to miss dinner." Then he gives the pair an innocent look. Chester asks, "So Nanuet, what are you going to do, now that the third floor is finished?"  He replies, "Well there is always the ranch for me to tend to, and I am sure I can keep myself busy around here." He says waving his hand in a sweeping gesture around the room. "The last several weeks have been nice, the excitement had been getting a little too much around here. "Ruby leads Jake up to the third floor. She makes him close his eyes and he hears her open the door. She takes his hand and guides him inside. Ruby whispers to Jake he can open his eyes and he sees her looking giddily excited. “You let me know if you think you can be happy here…” The room is L-shaped, extending across the front of the building on Main Street and coming around the corner onto Allen. Jake is standing in the doorway, which is on the left side of the room. The whole room is painted a deep red color. On the wall to the left is a coat rack and hanging there is Jake’s leather duster and Ruby’s traveling jackets and cloaks. To the right of the door, flat against the wall, is a big gun cabinet, stocked with their rifles, shotguns and ammunition for all. There are various dressers taken from the other rooms of the saloon all around their room. There is a small table with two wide velvet chairs in the corner. On the table is a couple of glasses, some fine whiskey and, of course, Kentucky bourbon. On the far side of the room there is a huge closet with all their clothes hanging inside and their shoes and boots are lined up neatly. Next to that is a large floor length mirror. On the dresser near the mirror is a basin and new scissors and blade for Jake to shave with and a vanity table with Ruby’s makeup and perfume. But Jake’s eye is immediately drawn to the huge four-poster canopy bed in the center of the room. It has sheer white curtains all around that are currently pulled back to each bedpost. It is covered with a huge fluffy white bedspread and piled high with soft pillows. Jake then notices all the windows have the same matching sheer curtains and they are blowing from the windows being open. He notes there are also shades to pull down for privacy. There is a nightstand on both sides of the bed with a lantern on each side. On the other side of the gun cabinet is a doorway to the other section of the room. In this smaller room there is a larger table with 4 chairs around it. There is a big chair next to the window for reading and a couch next to that. There is a desk and some cabinets for papers. There is also a safe that Jake locates under the desk. It is a two-foot square Diebold safe. He also notes there is another door out of this room. When he walks back out to the big part of the room Ruby is sitting on the bed. “I had my eye on this bed the minute I saw it,” she laughs, running her hand across the bedspread. “Oh one more thing,” she says with a smile. She does some quick hand gestures and speaks a few words Jake doesn’t understand and when she is done she slowly waves her hand around the room lighting candles that Jake hadn’t noticed before. They cover all the dressers and bathe the room in soft light. “So what do you think? As far as I can tell there is only one problem,” the smile gets a little wider on her face. As she wiggles her hips on the bed a few times, “The bed squeaks!”"The bed squeaks, huh." Jake laughs, an easy and free laughter. He takes off his hat and looks around the room one more time. "You have thought of everything. It is truly perfect." He fingers the white curtains on the bed, runs his hand over the velvet of the chair and then picks ups the bourbon and places it back down. "Once again Ruby, you have outdone yourself. I like what I see." He pushes down on the soft comforter enough to make the bed squeak. "Heh, we'll need to fix that." He puts his hat back on and offers her a hand. "Save those candles for later, I don't want Chester getting too smug, we should to back downstairs. You are spoiling me rotten, Ruby darling." As he pulls her up off the bed it squeaks again and Ruby giggles. "Heh." He puts his arm around her waist and guides her to the door. "Now I feel bad that I don't have a surprise for you."  They go back and rejoin the others for dinner.At 7:15 PM the Wells Fargo Stagecoach pulls up to the front door of the Lone Star, more than an hour behind their usual schedule.  Chumbley comes bouncing off of the stage and Chuck Nevers hands down two bound bundles of newspapers to Jeff Mills who helps Chumbley carry them into the Saloon.    The bundles are stacked by the piano and the newspaperman cuts the twice on the top bundle.   Complimentary copies of the 12-page paper are handed to the owners and employees of the saloon. The front page features a single front page under the headline “Escaped Prisoners Seen in Wyoming”, which is a follow-up to a story in the prior edition about the New Douglas Gang.   This story carries the bylines of both Hezekiah B. Chumbley of the Tombstone Epitaph and W. A. Eaton of the Cheyenne Transporter   The article includes interviews with three Cheyenne merchants, a saloonkeeper, a stable master and a general store owner all describing the mannerisms and visual descriptions of recent guests with comparisons to descriptions provided by Chumbley.    The reporters have tentatively concluded that the New Douglas Gang is comprised of Arthur Deadeye Douglas, Mongo Bailey, Pinto Joe Weams, Shotgun Sally Fox, Pamela Yeats, a woman suspected of being the safecracker and former Douglas Gang member Mae Clarke and an unknown elvan Indian whose saddle blanket was of a Navajo design.   The remainder of the article gives histories of the former Douglas Gang, the January 13th Promise City bank robbery and the January 24th jailbreak.The interior pages include a full-page advertisement for Upton’s Counting House & Brokerage; Half-page advertisements for Lacey’s General Store, the Long Branch Saloon, Kelly’s Dry Good & Tailor, Pierre’s Gunshop & Hardware, and the Bar H Stables; Quarter-page advertisements for Bauer’s Union Market, the Alhambra Saloon, the First National Bank of Promise City, Fly’s Boarding House & Photo Studio, Slade’s Hardware, Cook’s General Store, Drover’s Hotel, and Rixton’s Furniture; and One-eighth page advertisements for the Comique Variety Hall and Saloon, Boyd’s Cigar Store, Mason’s Feed & Grain Store, and Berman’s Mercantile. The remaining four pages of content include stories about a shallow grave found in the Dragoon Mountains with four unidentified human male bodies; the Merchant’s Association collecting funds for a town fire wagon; the Promise City Vigilance Committee’s call for a school and a church to be constructed; a profile on Elihu Upton the town’s newest lawyer; a recent altercation at the Long Branch Saloon where gambler Paget Flashman was accused of cheating and barred from returning; and a robbery in the Cochise County town of Bisbee where Mexican bandits Diego Perez and Pepe de Gallego robbed Hawkin’s General Store and then fled back over the border. The back page features a full-page advertisement for the saloon, which reads: Grand Reopening   Under new management   The Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon (formerly Lone Star) invites you to enjoy the musical talents of singer extraordinaire Ruby West. Bring in this ad for a 'buy your first drink and get your second one for free'. Only one per person thank you. Your favorite serving staff and dealers that you have come to know are waiting to make your night a memorable one. As they are reading the advertisement Jake waves Jeff Mills over and the two of them go outside. Jeff climbs the ladder and pulls the canvas off the sign. Ruby and Nanuet followed the others outside. She watched as Jeff pulled the canvas off the new name. She flipped her head back and forth a few times reading and rereading the sign. The words 'Lone Star' are gone. Replacing them in bright red letters trimmed in black is 'Lucky Lady', with a simple queen of hearts logo in the letter 'a'. Jeff climbs down and stands next to Jake, who has only the hint of a smile on his face as he watches the others come out and gaze at the sign for the first time. "Mr. Jake, I know I have said it before, but I like your style."  Nanuet shakes Jake's hand then pats him on the back. "Now where is this dinner I keep hearing about?"Jake turns to Ruby, "In case there was any doubt, I never believed it was the hat,” he says quietly. "Mr Cook," Ruby said slowly, turning to face him, "Have I told you lately how crazy I am about you?" She stood on her toes and kissed him, not caring that anyone else was around. "And you lied!" She playfully smacked him. "You said you felt bad you didn't have a surprise for me! You're very sneaky..." She kissed him again and ended it with a big hug. She whispered in his ear, "I'm glad you never believed it was the hat. But it worked, right? And we both got way more than either of us could have imagined." She pulled away from him and smiled.</blockquote>

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