"Pie and cream? Ooooh, that sounds really delicious, don't you think, Weedy?" Leah said, but noticed that something was wrong. A boy not anxious for pie with cream, that was just not right.
"If you don't want yours, boy, then I'll have to have seconds so it doesn't go to waste," Josia said with a grin. "Nothin' quite like pie and cream to top off the day, I always say. There was something bothering the boy, that was for sure, but it would be up to Adfdy to pry it loose from him; they could be that way when something was off with them.
"No, sir, I'll have pie!" Weedy confirmed, glancing warily at Jonah and Leah before looking back to Dr. Boone. "That's my favorite!" To prove that point, and to hopefully get out of the spotlight, he went over to Addy to help dish out the treat. The poor kid wasn't sure which was worse, taking pictures with a dead girl or accidentally seeing people kissing! At least the dead girl couldn't tattle...could she?
Giving Leah a slight nudge, Jonah flashed a quick grin. Seemed that they had a reprieve from the Wrath of Mom, and that encouraged him all the more to try to sneak more kisses when they could!
"You would have thought young Weedy there saw a ghost, but we all know there is no such thing as ghosts, or haints, as I've heard them called," Josiah said in jest.
"They have been known as apparitions, haunts, specters and wraiths." Leah added.
"In N'awlins, they have any number of names for such things, even though there is no actual proof of one ever actually being seen. Too many folks there swear they are real." Elinor reported with a knowing grin.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
"Miss Jemima said she could help me talk to my ma," Weedy blurted out, immediately regretting that, since Addy was his ma now, and she'd been more of a ma than his own ma had been when she was alive. "I mean...I didn't..."
"'S'all right, Weedy," Addy assured the boy, even though it had stung a bit. But a ma was a ma, even if they weren't too good at it, so of course he was loyal to the woman. And it had seemed that she'd been making an effort to improve herself when she'd been killed at Whitefish. "Miss Jemima makes some pretty wild claims, but that don't mean yer ma ain't lookin' down on ya, an' I reckon she's pretty proud. I know I am."
It was suddenly quiet around the table. Only Angie would not know the history between Addy and Weedy; everyone else was well aware of how Addy had taken it upon herself to raise the boy after the tragedy in Whitefish that took too many lives, including Weedy's birth mother. It might be some time before she was privy to the story, then again, she might be included almost immediately, that was up to Addy.
Angie could not be sure if Addy had not already let her in on how she became the boy's guardian, they had spoken of so much on the trip to Kalispell. A lot had happened on the journey, what with Pop's injury and everything else, not to mention the excitement of it all for the big city girl arriving on the frontier
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
"Carry these on over ta th' table." Addy glanced down at Weedy and smiled, handing him two plates with generous slabs of apple pie, then followed him to the table with three more. Weedy slid 'his' plates in front of Leah and Jonah, giving them a weak smile, knowing they all held a secret.
"Go an' fetch them other two fer you an' me," Addy continued with a grin as she put the plates she was carrying in front of Josiah, Angie and Elinor. "I'll get th' coffee an' cream."
A few minutes later, everyone had their pie and coffee -- Weedy had milk! -- and were ready to tuck in. "I surely do think it'd be nice ta have our own cook!" Addy declared, "'specially someone as can cook as good as Mrs. Armentrout. Doncha think so, Weedy?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Sweets had the lad a bit relaxed, and knowing that he was safe from Leah and Jonah for now. "But your cooking is good, too."
Addy laughed. "No, it ain't, but it's nice'a you ta say." After sipping some coffee, she added, "Maybe we could run out ta Whitefish, visit yer Ma's grave. Dr. Angie might even want'a go with us, see what's left of th' place." After all, Whitefish was a legend here in Kalispell, and she'd hear it mentioned over and over.
"Whitefish? Yes, I'd like to go out there and have a look at it, well, what's left of it." Angie agreed, of course, she had heard about it from Josiah after it happened, as he wrote to her on occasion, that being one of them. "Josiah wrote me after the tragedy. Goodness, a whole town wiped out, that was sad."
"Yes, a real tragedy indeed." Josiah said, "Rumor has it that there are people who have stayed on and are rebuilding. It was a good little town, and certainly could be again."
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
"So long's Cole Steelegrave keeps his hands outta it," Addy muttered. Well, Cole hadn't been seen in some time, so maybe he had found better pickings to torment!
"I believe he's had the good sense to distance himself from his father," Jonah observed, glancing toward Eleanor, "since the shooting of Marshal Guyer. I don't think most people think he was responsible, but he may have decided it was better to go somewhere that he's not known."
"You mean Case?" Josiah asked.
"His father might have had a hand in that, but if you remember, Case hunted down the man who did the shooting and brought the body into town," Leah said defensively, suddenly realizing she may have opened a can of worms.
"Case didn't do it, most think he did, but he would have faced the Marshal face to face, not shot him from ambush! That was a hired man who did that." Elinor stated. "I had a man look into it, and no one seems to have mentioned Elias as the man who hired the alleged killer, but then it could t be proven either. Case may be a lot of things, but he's no bushwhacker!"
Angie sat up a bit straighter. For some reason, she had not thought about shootings or hearing about them firsthand.
"Wasn't Case," Josiah said firmly. "Might have been Elias that hired it done. But it dern sure wasn't Case pulling the trigger. You can ask Speed.
"He was down in the Cimmeron Territory last I heard." Elenor told them, "Has been for a bit now."
Well, even if Case was on the straight and narrow now, Jonah was glad to have some distance between them. He'd never actually crossed paths with the man, and there was no reason to think that he held any ill-will, except...Even the meekest of brothers could be protective monsters when it came to their sisters! And Jonah wasn't in any hurry to find out just how much of a bull dog Case could be!
"At least Speed survived, and it's cautioned us all to stay aware," Josiah commented, taking a sip of coffee. "And I don't mean just for whatever Elias may have up his sleeve. We have to realize that there could be all manner of people who have something against us." He glanced at Weedy and frowned, the kid didn't need such negativity. "Especially we doctors, someone may not like the outcome of treatment we render."
That was a truth, he'd heard more than once of a surviving family member who had blamed a doctor for 'killing' their loved one. "At any rate, we can still enjoy life while staying safe."
"An' carry a shotgun," Addy muttered under her breath with a grin!