snowy_river_man: (Riding with Jess)
[personal profile] snowy_river_man
Spur's place is a second home to Jim in many ways. It's as entangled with his history as his own homestead, and with his father dead, there is no one Jim trusts more.

Even now, knowing he's a Harrison.

Riding up the hill along the rail fence, Jim smiles as he catches sight of the ramshackle house, built between thin trees with nothing at its back but blue sky. Jessica's arms are looped loosely around his waist as they have been for hours, and Kate is close behind on her Beaut. The sun is shining, the air crisp. He finds he's looking forward to seeing Spur's face when he realizes Jessica has come for a visit.

"Spur!"

He slows his horse.

"Spur!" A brief Pause. "Spur!"

Still no answer.

"Damn," Jim mutters, coming to a stop.

Date: 2013-04-05 02:05 am (UTC)
ikissdhimbck: (This skin I'm in)
From: [personal profile] ikissdhimbck
"What's there t'thank me for?"

She keeps alongside Jim apace with little difficulty. The terrain is certainly different from Texas, but nothing a girl who's been riding since she was in swaddling cloths can't handle.

She smirks, soft and sympathetic, but not without her usual spark.

"Things may not be goin' the way y'planned, but I'm here for the long haul. She's dear t'you. I don't mind the detour."

Expression softening further still, she looks away.

"You ain't worried he's got himself in trouble too, are you?"

Date: 2013-04-05 02:48 am (UTC)
ikissdhimbck: (Cowboy on horseback b&w - Beaut)
From: [personal profile] ikissdhimbck
She's got a joke ready about him putting her to work  —  we prospectin' now, Jim Craig?

But the laughter dies before it can even breach the air.

I don't think she knows what she wants, and I do.

She doesn't turn to catch his eye. She lets the words hang there, without answer, for a moment.

"Well. You're both young."

Her words curl at the end, almost as if she means it like a question. It's not exactly what she wanted to say, but when she thinks on it she doesn't know where to begin.

Date: 2013-04-05 04:12 am (UTC)
ikissdhimbck: (Concerned)
From: [personal profile] ikissdhimbck
She's only now gleaning that he meant to pull her aside to talk, and her gaze slowly drifts from the lookout she's had on the horizon, coming to rest in their intimate circle. Beaut sees the creek ahead and makes a stubborn move forward, but Kate pulls her back.

Some days that's true.

But most days it's not, living the way we do, frontier children already turned to weathered mainstays.


"I see."

She catches his eyes at last, not sure whether she has the right to this information. It isn't her business, is it? But he's entrusting it to her, so she ponders over what he means.

"No — no, I wouldn't blame her myself. The lure of escape is hard t'resist, if that's the way it is. And you — "

She shakes her head. He's a good man, certainly a desirable one. Jess would be foolish not to see that. However, Kate knows it wouldn't be proper to speak those feelings so plainly.

"I'm sorry, Jim. Really, I am."

Date: 2013-04-06 10:52 pm (UTC)
ikissdhimbck: (What is this life?)
From: [personal profile] ikissdhimbck
She doesn't flinch, not even from that imponderable clearness in his bright eyes. The one that makes her feel like someone's seeing her, really seeing her, for the first time since she killed the sheriff and became Kissin' Kate Barlow.

She stares after the spot where he used to be for a moment, listening to brush crackle underhoof.

"Jim?"

She isn't really sure why she's calling after him, except — 

No need. It'll work out.

She turns over her shoulder, brow furrowed.

"D'you know what you really want? What's, ah — sustainable?"

Date: 2013-04-08 10:17 pm (UTC)
ikissdhimbck: (Looking down Bashful Don't know what to)
From: [personal profile] ikissdhimbck
His grin is infectious, and she catches it right away. There's pride in her smile, confidence, and — maybe a little relief.

Relief to hear his answer.

Relief that he keeps his head on straight.

She tips her chin down, laughter curling in the mountain air. It's as sweet as steam from a freshly baked pie, lacking even an ounce of doubt. She knows it can be done; she knows he can do it, and he will. She brings Beaut around and catches up to him, laughter still in her eyes.

"S'a good start, I'd say. But we'd better get to it."

She makes sure their legs brush as Beaut nudges by, a tease, an encouragement, a shared joke — freedom, for the first time since finding the suspicious tracks left in the mud, to feel like it's just the two of them in all these great mountains. The ease of friendship, and the calm before a big job.

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Jim Craig

November 2013

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