Once Bitten: Twice Mad

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ever Ridden A Train?

Silas was whistling a happy tune as he entered the dining room the next morning. He took his seat, cradling Grace in his arm as he looked at those already there. Comanche seemed to be in just as good a mood as Silas was and had a smile on his face as he sat beside Frankie and leaned over now and then to whisper intimately into her ear.

Colt shook his head and scratched at his bearded chin. "It ain't natural to be so damn happy in the morning." He grumbled.

"A good woman's love will do that for you." Silas replied, kissing Grace's forehead.

"So far in my life there's one ever been one female that could put a smile like that on my face first thing in the morning." Colt admitted.

"Secret lover?" Frankie asked with a teasing raise of her brow and Silas watched Colt's eyes fill with a mixture of love and pain as he seemed to be seeing into the past.

"My daughter." He replied quietly just as Evangeline, Charlotte and Katherine came into the dining room, carrying steaming plates of bacon, sausage, egg, biscuits, gravy and fried apples.

"You have a daughter?" Silas questioned and Colt grunted before beginning to fill his plate with food, clearly done speaking.

"Good morning." Jedidiah exclaimed brightly as he entered the dining room. "I trust you all slept as well as could be expected after the whopper I laid on ya yesterday."

"I didn't sleep worth a darn." Ox mumbled as he staggered into the dining room and scratched at his messy dark hair. Silas found himself chuckling as the man gave them all a sleepy wave. "I'm real glad you have enough room here for all of us, Aunt Rachel, but have you got any beds that are just a bit bigger?"

"I'm sorry, Ox, I don't." Rachel replied regretfully. "Was it a tight fit?"

Ox flopped down in a chair and Silas saw him smile nervously at Katherine as she sat down across from him. Silas thought these people were wasting too much time. Clearly Ox was interested in Katherine and it was clear that Katherine was lonely so what was taking them so long to at least speak to one another? And then there was Colt and Evangeline! While it was clear that Colt had demons and more than likely a rather tragic back story, Silas could tell the man was interested in Evangeline and Evangeline seemed just as interested in him, however neither would act on those feelings.

Silas hated to see such precious time being wasted when time was a commodity that seemed to be rare and vanishing quickly.

"That bed was at least three feet too small." Ox admitted with a sigh.

"Why don't you simply nail a few boards to the end of the bed to rest your feet on?" Comanche asked with a grin and Ox seemed to think on that a moment and then nodded.

"I reckon that would probably work!" He frowned. "Why didn't I ever think of that?"

"I wanted to let you all know that I took the liberty of preparing the horses this morning and packing up quite a few supplies. It shouldn't take long once you finish eating to get the rest loaded up and be on our way." Jedidiah said happily as he sat down at the table.

Silas frowned and adjusted Grace in his arm. "When did we agree to leaving?"

"We didn't." Colt growled. "What do you think you're doing, old man?"

"Were you not just about to tell me that you'd talked to several in your group and thought on it last night and decided that coming west with me was a good idea?"