Chapter 20

They left the courthouse and headed straight home to see the family. Duncan, Moses, and Eli could hardly wait to see their kids. Moses was extremely proud of his and Suh’s boy. They’d named him Pike Longfeather Kidd in honor of Moses’ father.

Duncan and Eli’s young’uns were seven, and the two marshals could hardly wait to get home from a trip. Pike was about six months younger than the other boys, but he felt he could do anything the others could – the other boys expected as much of him.

Sissy was hanging clothes on the line when she heard the horses coming up the gravel road. She looked out between the saddle shop and the leather shop and saw Eli’s black horse, then she saw Duncan and Moses. There was another Paint horse almost like hers, with a tall young man on him, riding next to Eli.

Sissy ran to the back door and yelled in at the others, then ran back out to the barn to meet them when they came in. Adalee and Cadalee ran from the saddle shop where they’d been when Eli and the others rode by. They ran out and hugged Eli, Duncan, and Moses. Suh came out with Pike as she hurried over to Moses, hugging him as he hugged and kissed her and Pike.

“Eli, we’re glad all of you are back, we sure missed you,” Sissy said as she put her arms around his waist, all the while, looking the tall boy over good as he pulled his ragged old saddle off his horse.

“Sissy, I want you to meet Joe Johnson, from over in Texas. He’s gonna be with us for a while, before he heads back over that way.”

“Joe, this is my daughter, Sissy,” Eli said as he looked from Joe to Sissy. He smiled when he saw them grinning at each other.

“Hey, Sissy. Eli never told me he had a daughter as pretty as you. I’m more glad I rode back to Arkansas with him now. He’s been showing me how to be a man and how to shoot a gun. I reckon your daddy is about the best man I ever knowed in all my life,” Joe said in his slow Texas drawl, grinning red faced at Sissy the whole time.

“He’s the best man I’ve ever known too, Joe Johnson. Welcome to the Crow family. The others are in the house if you want to go in and meet the rest of the family.”

“Sissy, I’m a bit ragged and dirty to be going in a house like this. I better try to get cleaned up some first,” he said, his old hat in his hand, not knowing what to say or do, now that he was here at Eli’s house with a houseful of family.

“Sissy, why don’t you take Joe over to Little Duck’s and tell her who Joe is and let her find him some buckskins and moccasins. Just don’t get his as tight as you wear. Then you can take him upstairs and show him the bathing room. Just don’t be giving him a bath,” Eli told her, and she laughed at him.

“Come go with me, Joe Johnson. We’ll get you some new clothes and I’ll show you where you can take a bath. I can’t bathe you though, my daddy told me not to,” Sissy laughed as she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her, not waiting for an answer.

“Eli?” Joe looked back at him with a worried look.

“Joe, you go with Sissy. She’ll help you get some new buckskins like we wear, then she’ll show you where to wash up. I was teasing her about washing you.”

“Come on, Joe. I wasn’t teasing ... I like you and I’m the only girl here that don’t have a man,” Sissy told him, laughing when he looked at her funny.

“Eli, you got that girl talking just like you. She’ll have that boy so messed up he won’t be able to tell you his name by tomorrow this time,” Duncan said.

“I was just thinking about the first time we saw Sissy and all the other girls out there that day. Just look over there at Suh, with Pike and her man Moses. Duncan, I reckon we did good when we brought them girls back here. Lettie’s a nurse now and it didn’t surprise me none when Doc Harrod married her. They spend all their time together at the hospital and at home too, she goes where he goes.”

“I know, Eli. But Sissy being the youngest, had more time for you to rub off on her. She’s a mess.”

“She’s a happy girl now, Duncan. I kinda hope she does give that boy a bath, I really like him.”

“I can tell he’s a good’un, Eli. Hell, he wants to be like you so bad, he runs over his self backwards, just to be next to you,” Duncan said as they rubbed their horses down.

Cadalee and Adalee were helping them rub their horses down, listening to Eli as he and Duncan talked. They smiled as Eli told Duncan he wanted Sissy to like Joe. They looked at Joe’s old ragged saddle hanging on the rail, then looked at each other.

Adalee slipped a halter on Joe’s Paint horse and they led him to the saddle shop, around behind Little Duck’s leather shop, so Joe wouldn’t see.

Eli saw what they were doing and pointed them out to Duncan. He and Duncan were smiling at the way things had come about, as they made their way in the house to see the women and young’uns.

The women were sitting around the kitchen table, and the young’uns were laying in the floor as they laughed and talked.

Moses, Duncan, and Eli hung their gun belts on the wooden pegs on the wall next to the back door, as the boys and girls yelled and laughed and ran to them. The three men sat right down in the floor as the young’uns swarmed them.

Eli lay on his back in the kitchen floor as his two girls leaned down to kiss his face. Eli Jr., Mica, Caleb, Kia, Michi and Ezra were climbing all over him as he lay there and loved on each of them. They were laughing and giggling, playing like they were holding him down as he hugged and kissed and played with his kids.

Moses and Duncan were laying back, their boys all over them too as Kia and Michi would go from one to the other, loving on them, playing and laughing. They laughed and played until the women made them get up and go in the other room so they could cook supper.

The men crawled across the floor, kids hanging on and riding them as they crawled through the doorway into the other room. This is what they came home for. This is what they rode hard and stayed nights on the trails for, to be home with their young’uns and women, to make them happy, to be a family.

Sissy was sitting beside Joe Johnson, with Kia and Michi sitting next to her. Joe looked good cleaned up, dressed in a new buckskin shirt and breeches. Sissy had combed his wild hair for him while it was wet and it was down on his shoulders after she’d slicked it back.

He looked around at the all the family members and felt his throat knot up at what he saw. He knew Eli had a big family, he’d told him he did. He sure didn’t know it would be like this. He’d never had a family of his own and this was more than he’d ever dreamed.

“Eli, Jon David’s and Amanda’s wedding will be on the first of June. They wanted to be sure all of you are here for their wedding,” Mary told him.

“Then we’ll just have to make plans to be here. I wouldn’t miss that boy’s weddin’ for nothing. He’s like my own and I tell everybody he is,” Eli said, smiling proudly.

“Eli, he’s asked me and Mary if he could change his name before he marries Amanda. She wants him to do it, since he thinks so much of you,” Lorene told him.

“Change his name? To what?” Eli looked up at the women. They were all smiling.

“He wants to be known as Jon David Crow, Attorney at Law,” Lorene said, her eyes watering up as she spoke.

“I don’t even know what to say ... I mean, well, what do all of you think?” Eli said, he could’ve hugged that boy right then, if he’d been here.

“Please let him do it, Eli, it means so much to him. He loves and worships you like a daddy and I want it too,” Lorene said. She was crying now.

“Lorene, are you sure? I mean, well if he wants to, I’d love for him to have my name.”

“Thanks, Eli. It’ll mean so much to him and Amanda. They’ve already said they want to name their first little boy Jon David Crow Jr.”

“Eli,” Rose spoke, getting his attention.

“Kia, Michi, and Sissy have something to ask you too. They heard Jon David and Amanda talking about his name change and they wanted to ask you something,” Rose told him, smiling at her brother.

“Sissy?” Eli looked across the table at her. She was smiling, so were Kia and Michi. The twins were almost nine years old and as smart and happy as two little girls can be.

“Eli, we heard Jon David talking to his momma and our momma and we decided we want our names to be Crow too ... Can we? Jon David said he could make it legal, for all of us at the same time, if you’d let him,” Sissy looked at Eli. She knew he would never tell her no. He never had before.

“Sissy, you and Kia and Michi are like my girls anyway. I tell folks all the time that you are. I just never tell them your last names. I’d like to know all three of you took my name. You know I’m as proud of you three as I am Lee Yu and Lilly Beth. You just tell Jon David to make the changes legal and I’ll have one more boy and four more girls.”

“There’s only three of us girls, Eli,” Kia told him.

“There’s Amanda. She’ll be a Crow girl too, when she marries Jon David,” Eli told her.

“Yeah, then there’ll be almost as many girl Crows as there will be boy Crows,” Michi said, as she and Kia laughed and clapped their hands.

Clarissa was smiling to herself as she wrote in her thick tablet while the family was talking. She had already filled eleven of the tablets with stories and memories of their life here in Fort Smith. Jefferson had brought her a dozen more tablets home just the other day, since the kids were getting older. The story Jefferson told her about the woman and man Eli had arrested while they were coupling in the bushes with rattlesnakes crawling all around, was the one she laughed about whenever she read it over. She hated to even think of snakes, but the way Jefferson related the story made her laugh as she wrote it all down.

“Joe, tell us about Texas. None of us have ever been there before,” Clarissa said as she flipped a page in her tablet, ready for his story. She wished she could write his words down just like he talked. He talked so slow and different from them. She just loved to hear him talk.

Joe looked around the two tables at all the family. They were all looking at him, even the younger ones were leaning over to hear him talk about Texas.

“Well, I don’t hardly know what to tell you. It’s real big out there,” he said, his face red as everyone looked at him, smiling, waiting for more.

“Joe, tell us like you were talking to Eli, just you and him. We want to know all about it and where you lived before you came here with Eli,” Sissy said as she turned to look up at him, taking his hand and holding on tight under the table, as she sat next to him

“Well, like I said, it’s a big country out there where I lived,” he said and stopped again as they all looked at him, waiting for more. Sissy slipped her hand loose from his, then hooked it under his arm and reached back down to clasp her hand to his, their fingers laced and squeezed tight, as she looked at him.

“Where I lived was way up in the Panhandle. out in the middle of nowhere, with only the railroad coming through and a few stores and a saloon. There’s only one tree and they said that was why they called it Little Tree. It’s not like it is back here in Arkansas, and over’n the Territory where Eli bought the lands from the Cheyenne and the Chickasaw.

“We had big cattle pens where the trail herds come up from south Texas. Men would come down from Kansas City and Wichita on the trains to buy the cattle when they come in. I worked for an old man who let me live in the barn and help with the cattle herds when they’d come in. I reckon that’s about all there was to it,” he stopped and looked around again.

“Tell us about your folks, Joe. Where were you born? Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Sissy asked, wanting him to talk more. She just loved the way he talked so slow. His voice was that of a man – not a boy.

“Well, I don’t remember ever having a family ... but I do remember a woman and a man when I was little that let me stay at their house. She told me once, that my Ma was her sister and they took me in when she died. They had two girls and a boy, all of them older’n me and they beat and kicked on me all the time, until I got older and beat on them. The man and woman made me leave then and I walked up the road until I come to the town of Little Tree. The old man at the livery stable fed me and let me stay with him for a lot of years. It was there I woke up that day and saw Marshal Eli standing there. I first thought I was dreaming. Then I thought he might be God. I’d heard talk of God being big and Eli looked big and tall standing there. Then I saw his badge and his big gun and knew he was a lawman. Then I finally got my head settled down from being scared awake.

“I reckon I just took a likin’ to him as soon as I saw him, and when he said he was gonna chase down that herd of cattle that was headed south, and buy all of them cows, I knew I had to go with him somehow. I hope I can earn my keep and learn to be a man just like Eli someday. I don’t reckon I ever saw a man like Eli Crow. He just knows everything about everything, and people listen to him and wait for him to tell them what to do. No offense to Duncan and Moses, they’re good men to know too and I sure am proud to be sitting here with all of them now. I got some new buckskins and took my first ever hot bath that Sissy poured for me up there. I was scared to death Eli was gonna come in while she was washing my back and my hair, she even found a tick on the back of my head and picked it out...

“I don’t reckon I know what else to say. I want to laugh and I sit here listening to all of you and my eyes water up and I almost cry. I reckon I’m about as happy as I ever been in my life and don’t know how to handle all of it.”

“Joe, you’re part of us now. I got plans in my head for all of us to own lands over there in the Territory and move over there to live. You’ll have a place with us as long as you want it. We all like you and I think my little girl Sissy may like you best of all. You just rest easy and get to know all of us. You’re part of the Crow family now,” Eli told him and Sissy looked at Joe’s face to see the tears running down his cheeks.

“I don’t reckon I can say anything else right now anyway,” he said, and Sissy felt him stifle a sob as his chest heaved.

“You don’t have to, Joe. Like Eli said, we all like you and he’s right, I do like you a lot. I liked you when I saw you ride up on the tall Paint horse like mine. If you mind your manners, I might even let you like me right back,” Sissy said and they all laughed at her.

Joe looked at her and grinned, he already knew she liked to tease him with her words. He hoped she wasn’t teasin’ him this time.

The marshals were home two days before Jefferson brought new warrants for them. Of course, this made the women and the young’uns all sad to know they’d be leaving back out sooner than they wanted. Eli had told them all about his plans to let Joe go to Tulsa and meet the house builders, then buy the lumber for a big house and two big barns over near Chickasaw lands, where they’d bought two thousand acres with lots and lots of pecan trees on it. The women and girls were all excited and started planning a trip over there themselves next fall to pick up pecans and bring back to sell and to put up for cooking and baking.

When Eli, Duncan, and Moses went to the barn to get their horses saddled and ready for the trip, Joe was right there, saddling his tall Paint with the new saddle Bill and Jack had made special for him. Sissy was there too and she didn’t want to see them leave, especially with Joe leaving this time. She took a deep breath and got her courage up as she walked over to stand close to Eli, making him stop what he was doing and look at her.

“Daddy, I got to talk to you. I hope you’ll listen to what I got in my heart,” she said.

“What’s wrong little girl? You already thinking about Joe leaving?” he asked. He knew what she was feeling, he always felt that way when he left his family to head west into the Territory.

“Yes I am, Daddy. I heard your plans for him to ride up to Tulsa with all of you, then buy the wagon loads of lumber and guide the men back down to Chickasaw lands. Daddy, I want to go with Joe. I can use a gun good – you told me I could. I can ride my horse and take care of her good – you told me I could. I want to be with him, Daddy. I won’t be any good to the family when he leaves, I may as well be gone with him. I could help him, Daddy. I really like him ... I promise I won’t be laying with him on the trail, but I already want to. Please tell me I can go,” she looked up at Eli, her big eyes full of tears.

“Sissy, you need to go get that bedroll I had your Momma fix up for you. She’s in her room waiting for you. She wants to talk to you before we leave. Get your gun out of your room too. I already got you a rifle in your saddle boot. I wasn’t gonna let Joe leave without you,” he told her and she grabbed him in a bear hug.

“I’ll be right back, Joe. Get my horse ready to ride... I’m going with you,” she yelled at him, then whirled and ran toward the house, her long yellow hair blowing out behind her as she ran.

Joe stepped out to look over at Eli, a big smile on his face as he saw Eli grinning at him. Duncan and Moses were grinning too. He knew it was real. Sissy was going with him.

When Sissy ran up the stairs to her Momma’s room she was so excited she was out of breath. She ran in the room and Mary was sitting on the side of the bed, with Little Eli sitting beside her. There was a bedroll, rolled up neat and tight with extra blankets inside the oilskin. Her Momma was smiling as she held her arms out for her.

“Sissy, you sit in the floor with Little Eli and let me braid your hair tight so it’ll be easier to travel with.”

Sissy sat in the floor, between her Momma’s feet, with her back to the bed as she began to talk and braid her hair.

“Sissy, you’ve grown into a beautiful young woman. I knew as soon as I saw you looking at Joe, you were going to fall in love. I just wanted to talk with you before you go. You know you’ll be gone over three weeks – there will be bad weather, and bad people out there. I know you try not to remember what you and your sisters went through before Eli and Duncan found all of you. But I want you to remember that now, and never trust no man out there. Kill them if you have to, just come back to me. I love you too much to make you stay here – and I love you too much to lose you.

“I know you’ll be back before your next monthly, so you won’t have to worry about that on the trail. I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do out there, you’re a woman now and you can decide for yourself. I will ask that you wait to have babies until you’re married. Eli wants you to wait until we move to Tulsa next spring, by then you’ll know if you love Joe enough to marry him. We all like him, Sissy, he’s a good young man. He’ll be just like your daddy when he’s older, you know that or you wouldn’t even like him. You and Joe watch out for each other, don’t let yourself get into something that will get him killed trying to protect you. Eli told me you could use a gun better than most men. Don’t be afraid to use it on a man if he’s about to do harm to you or anyone in our family.

“I love you, Sissy, now you go out there and make your daddy proud and make your man proud too. Have fun but don’t trust no one but Joe and make sure both of you always know who’s around you and that you’re safe.”

“Thanks, Momma. I think I love him already and I’d have slipped off to be with him, if you and Daddy told me I couldn’t go. I promise, I’ll look after me and Joe, I don’t want bad things to happen to me and I don’t want to lose him. Tell everyone where I am. I know they’ll all be happy for me, especially Jessie. I’ll see Suh before I leave.

“Bye Momma, I love you.”

“Bye Sissy, I love you too,” Mary said as they stood and shared a long hug.

“Bye Sissy,” Little Eli said as he stood up to hug her.

“Bye Little Eli, I’ll see you soon,” she said as she hugged him.

Sissy hurried to the toilet and peed forever, it seemed like.

She ran to her room and grabbed her gunbelt off the wooden peg high on the wall and strapped it around her waist, tying it down on her leg. She pulled her Colt and backed the hammer just a bit, spinning the cylinder to make sure it was loaded. She knew it was, but Eli told her to never take for granted it was empty or loaded – always be sure. She grabbed her black hat just like her daddy wears, pulling it down on her head tight, looking in the mirror. She grinned a crooked grin like Joe does, and winked at herself before turning to run out the door and down the stairs.

The whole family was lined up out by the barn. Joe was holding the reins to her horse next to his as she ran out to hug them all. From Little Duck to Cadalee, Adalee, Bill, Jack, Carl, Donald, Jessie, Sundy, Suh, Eva, Catt, Juni, Tin Yu, Clarissa, Rose and all the young’uns, they’d all heard she was going with them and they all lined up with her Momma to hug her. Rose told her not to be too rough on the bad men over there in Indian Territory.

The five riders rode west from the barn, turning one last time before they rode over a hill, to wave back at the family that still stood waving. They rode west on the same trail they always rode on, away from the Arkansas River bottoms and out into the rolling hills. They turned north, with the tree lined Arkansas River on their right, in the distance.

“We’re two and a half days from Tulsa, let’s make some miles and we’ll spend the night where we always camp up this way,” Eli said.

They poked their horses up to a fast gallop and rode five abreast when they could. When the trail narrowed, Sissy and Joe rode behind the other three. They stopped twice to rest and water their horses during the day. Eli knew having Sissy along was gonna change the way they acted and relieved themselves whenever they wanted to. He’d already thought of that and the first time they stopped, he made sure she was private when she peed.

When they stopped to make camp at their usual place by the river, Eli was again thinking of Sissy.

“Sissy, you go over there past that little hill, so you’ll be private. Joe, you go watch out for her. A woman squatting to pee is unprotected. Make sure you never leave her. She trusts you and I do too, or you wouldn’t be here,” Eli said as he, Duncan, and Moses walked through some brush to relieve themselves.

Sissy went straight to where Eli had pointed. As soon as she was private, she skinned her buckskins down over her butt and squatted. She looked up at Joe as he stared wide-eyed at her.

“Joe, you better turn your back and pee, my Daddy will get your ass if he sees you just standing there watchin me,” she said and laughed as he whirled away from her.

She could see him standing with his back to her, wide legged, peeing as she drained her bladder too. She was about to bust wide open, but she would have waited as long as it took, before she told them she had to pee. She already knew that when she and Joe split off from them, that she could tell him and he would be alright with it by then. She felt sure of herself, like she was a grown woman – she felt in control. She was Eli Crow’s daughter, she had to be in control, her daddy expected as much of her.

When they’d peed and laced up, they walked back to where the others were gathering limbs and sticks for a fire. She and Joe bent and started gathering wood too as they piled it all in a pile next to where Duncan had the fire going already.