~ How Dark the Night Can Get ~
by jann
*~*~*
"Full house, queens high," Maude Standish drawled as she laid down the winning hand. She gave a coquettish smile to the rancher sitting across the table from her in the Standish Tavern, her eyelashes fluttering in a habit long since developed to provide a distraction to any potentially irate losers.
Malcolm Talbot, however, seemed unaffected by either her charms or his loss. And without a word, he stood, leaving the deed he'd wagered on the table, along with a pile of his money. He then pushed through the crowd that had gathered to watch the poker game, the townspeople having learned from experience how interesting it could get when Maude Standish was involved.
When Talbot clambered down the steps leading to the main floor of the saloon and out the batwing doors, a murmur swept through the crowd. It was Maude's son, Ezra, however, who spoke loudly and clearly enough to be heard. He sat below the raised gambling area, a glass of whiskey in front of him and his attention all for the game above, missing nothing. And raising his glass in a salute, he gave a small smile of satisfaction, saying, "Congratulations, Mother. Thanks to your superior skill and cunning, you are now the undisputed owner of as… fine… a piece of ranch land as any I have seen in quite some time."
Another murmur swept through the crowd, the witnesses to Maude's triumph exchanging uneasy looks. She, however, ignored the men around her in favor of the one below as she raked in her winnings. "Why, thank you, darlin'. I did play rather well tonight, if I do say so myself."
Ezra's smile widened just slightly. "Indeed, Mother. In fact, I suspect Mr. Talbot will long remember this day. As will I."
He brought the glass to his lips and drained the contents. And setting it down again, he sat back in his chair, hands folded across his middle, a picture of contentment.
"That bird taste as good as you make it look?"
Ezra looked up at the unexpected question to find Buck Wilmington and J. D. Dunne standing over him. "To what bird are you referring?" he asked the tall man grinning knowingly down at him.
"Why, to whatever canary it was you just swallowed whole." Buck winked, then glanced upwards, where the crowd was still milling about. "Good game?"
Ezra smiled again. "A very good game, indeed."
"So? How much did you win?"
"More than mere dollars can express."
Buck and J. D. exchanged puzzled looks. Then, as they pulled out chairs and sat down, a feminine voice raised in laughter above the noise of the saloon. And looking to the gaming area above them, J. D. spotted a familiar figure.
"Hey, Ezra, ain't that your mother?"
"It is indeed, my astute young friend."
A look of alarm chased across Buck's face. "Aw hell, Ezra. Don't tell me you two got into a game together!" His expression became one of weary resignation. "Okay, how much did you take Maude for? And please say this isn't going to turn into another of your little wars."
"Please." Ezra's tone was one of contempt. "I know better than to participate in games of chance with Mother. She cheats."
Buck gave a relieved sigh. "Then what's going on? Why are you sitting here looking like the cat that ate the canary?" Then as understanding dawned, he nodded to himself. "Maude lost a fortune up there, didn't she?"
"On the contrary." Ezra waved to the balcony where his mother still sat. "She is raking in her pile of winnings as we speak. A veritable fortune, I'm sure."
"Then why are you so happy?"
Ezra flicked a glance above. Then leaning forward, he gestured his companions to do likewise. "You know that piece of wasteland Malcolm Talbot has been trying to pawn off on some unsuspecting soul for months now? Well, he just bet the farm -- literally speaking -- and lost."
"You mean Maude…?"
"…is now the proud owner of the driest five hundred acres of rock to be found in this, or any other, territory." Ezra leaned back in his seat and grinned.
"Ezra!" J. D. exclaimed in shocked tones. "She's your mother! Why didn't you warn her?"
Ezra raised his eyebrows, his expression as innocent as hours spent in front of a mirror perfecting the look could manage. "Me? Try to tell the great Maude Standish how to play poker? Why, I wouldn't dream of it!"
Buck shook his head. "You're really going to enjoy telling her how she got rooked, aren't you?"
"Tell?" Ezra next tried on a look of wounded affront. "Now surely, Buck, you know me better than that. Would I waste such a golden opportunity? Why let mere words attempt to convey the charms of Mother's new abode when she can experience it firsthand?"
"You mean you're going to build her up, then take her out there just so you can watch her expression when she realizes someone out-cheated her?"
"I am indeed. First thing tomorrow morning."
"That's cruel, my friend."
Ezra grinned. "Isn't it though?"
He poured himself another drink, too pleased with the turn of events to so much as raise an eyebrow when Buck leaned back to grab an empty glass off a nearby table and then avail himself of the nearly full bottle.
"But don't you and Josiah have that prisoner transfer to take care of tomorrow?" J. D. asked.
The whiskey Ezra had been in the process of swallowing went spewing across the table. And as soon as he could speak without choking, he schooled his expression into one of affability and hopefully said, "I don't suppose one of you…?"
Buck shook his head. "Sorry, Ezra. We just spent three days escorting that passel of railroad men over half the territory. And now I've got some catching up to do -- if you catch my drift."
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. And wrinkling his nose in disgust, Ezra disdainfully said, "Believe me, Buck -- the less I catch from you, the happier I'll be." He turned hopeful eyes then to J. D.
"Don't look at me," the youth warned. "I'm so sick of the backside of a horse that I ain't going nowhere for the rest of the week that my two feet can't take me."
Ezra, however, wasn't about to give up. "Then perhaps Nathan…?"
That time it was J. D. who shook his head. "Mrs. Elleman is expecting any day now. And with all the trouble she's been having, there's no way Nathan is going to leave town."
Ezra had still another ace up his sleeve. "Vin, then?"
Buck nodded towards the saloon doors. "Ask him yourself. He just came in."
Ezra turned around and put on his brightest smile. "Oh, Vin? Could I perhaps interest you in a little proposition?"
"No."
Vin didn't so much as look at the gambler as he stalked past him to the bar.
"But you haven't even heard what the terms are!"
"No."
Inez poured Vin a drink and he drank it in one shot. He then held the glass out for a refill.
Ezra shot a questioning look to Buck, who grinned and said, "I saw him out on the boardwalk with the Widow Harper as we rode in."
"Yeah," J. D. added with a grin of his own. "She was hanging on to his arm like he was all that was keeping her from drowning. And she was batting her eyelashes so hard at him it like to blew me off my horse."
"Good Lord! I would have thought he'd have shot that woman ages ago."
"Nope." Buck's grin widened. "But I'm giving odds that it will happen before the week is out. That woman just don't let go when she wants something. And she sure wants Vin -- bad."
Buck and J. D. dissolved into laughter and Ezra looked past them to the bar, where Vin was standing fully upright -- that stance alone warning those familiar with his usual slouched posture that he wasn't there that night for fun and relaxation. It was the glare he fixed on anyone foolish enough to attempt to share bar space with him though that insured him plenty of elbow room.
Ezra looked from him to his mother still sitting at the table above in idle conversation with several of the locals. He knew better than to approach the tracker after yet another encounter with the annoyingly persistent widow who had spent the better part of the past month trying to fix his interest, but he was fast running out of aces. So gathering his courage -- and surreptitiously checking the derringer in his sleeve holster, just in case -- he got up from the table and moved casually towards the bar, stopping a good five feet away from the irritated tracker. And putting on his most sympathetic of looks, he played his hand.
"You know, Vin, if you were of a mind to get out of town for a day or two -- to perhaps avoid anyone in particular -- I might allow myself to be persuaded to provide you with a legitimate means of escape."
"No."
The word was clipped, Vin not so much as glancing in the gambler's direction. Still Ezra persisted, abandoning subtlety in favor of a more direct approach.
"Come now, Vin. I will make it worth your while. I assure you."
"No."
Ezra wasn't sure how he did it, but Vin somehow managed to sound even more terse. And with a sigh of frustration he irritably said, "Mr. Tanner, I am aware that you are a man of few words, but surely you have some other syllables at your disposal this evening?"
"No."
That time Vin shot Ezra a glare that made the hair on the back of his neck rise. And deciding the prospect of witnessing Maude's comeuppance wasn't worth the further risk to life and limb, he returned to the table where Buck and J. D. sat grinning at him.
"You can always ask Chris," J. D. suggested, his grin widening at the thought of their leader's response to such a request.
Ezra shot him a glare that came close to the one with which Vin had just graced him and sank back into his chair with a dejected air.
Then Maude came sweeping down the stairs with a cheery, "Hello there, boys. A lovely evening, is it not?"
"It is that, Maude." Buck stood to pull a chair out for her. "Care to join us?"
She smiled. "Thank you, but it's been a long day and I think I'll just go to my room over at the hotel and have a light supper sent up before I retire for the night."
"Then maybe we'll see you tomorrow."
Ezra sat up in his chair and scrambled to find one last ace tucked somewhere up his sleeve. "I, unfortunately, have a little business to attend to tomorrow, Mother dear. But I'll be back in a couple of days. And if you'd like, I would be delighted to escort you on a tour of your new property upon my return."
Maude gave him a bright smile. "Why, thank you, Ezra, darlin'. But I'm sure one of these other fine gentlemen would be happy to accompany me a little sooner than that."
Ezra shot a look of warning to his companions, then upped the wattage on the smile he returned to the woman who had taught him to lie through his teeth before he was out of shortpants. "Well, actually, Mother, they're all rather busy. Lots of criminal types needing rounding up, you know. So it would really be best if you waited until my return."
"Nonsense. The streets are quiet as church on a Monday morning. So I'm sure your Mr. Larabee can spare someone. Isn't that right, J. D.?"
J. D. looked from mother to son, squirming in his seat as he stuttered out, "Well, um, actually, I, uh, kind of promised I'd stick around the jail tomorrow. Yeah. That's it. To keep an eye on things, you know?"
"And I promised I'd help him," Buck hurriedly declared before Maude could beg his assistance in turn.
"I see." Maude shifted her gaze from man to man before her, her smile wavering only slightly. Then spotting the tracker at the bar, she brightly added, "Then perhaps Vin could be persuaded to keep me company."
Ezra nearly laughed, then immediately recovered to sound truly regretful as he said, "Well, unfortunately, Vin is in a bit of a disagreeable mood this evening. I'm afraid it is most unlikely that he will accede to your request."
Maude merely lifted an eyebrow, then swayed over to the bar. And stopping next to the tracker, she lowered her tone to one of sympathy and said, "Is that true, Vin? Are you in a disagreeable mood?"
"No."
The curtness with which Vin clipped out the word gave lie to his claim, but Maude took him at his word and shot Ezra a look of triumph. "Then you'll take me out to inspect my new property tomorrow afternoon?"
"No." The word was as brusque as all the previous syllables Vin had uttered that night. But the mirror over the bar reflected the look of relief that passed across Ezra's face at his refusal -- and Vin felt the Devil stir in him at the sight of it. So, giving the smallest of smiles, he added, "But I'll take you wherever you want to go first thing in the morning."
*~*~*
Despite Ezra's offer to make it worth his while to remember another engagement that would prevent him from accompanying Maude to her new ranch, Vin was up bright and early the next morning, ready to play escort. It was nearly noon though by the time his charge was finally ready to go. And when she told him where they were heading, he frowned.
"You bought Malcolm Talbot's ranch?"
"Of course not!" Maude was truly indignant. "I won it."
"So you ain't seen it?"
"No. Why? Is something wrong?"
Vin thought a moment. "Was Ezra in the saloon last night when you won that deed?"
"Yes. Why?"
Vin made a mental note to have a little talk with the gambler -- in a location where their discussion couldn't be overheard. Then shifting uncomfortably, he tried to find a tactful way of telling Maude that she'd been conned. "Well, it's just that the Talbot place is.... Well, it's not exactly.... That is...."
Maude laid a hand on his arm. "It's all right, Vin. I figured the place was a millstone around Mr. Talbot's neck. After all, no one plays poker that badly."
"Then why'd you play for it?"
"Does it matter?"
Vin was silent for a considering moment. Then he shrugged. "No, ma'am. I don't reckon it does. Not if you knew what you were doing."
Maude patted the arm beneath her hand. "Thank you, Vin. But for once in my life, I believe I may have known exactly what I was doing."
*~*~*
The two rode in the buggy Maude had hired for several miles in silence, having little enough in common with which to begin a conversation and both preferring to say nothing rather than expend breath in idle chatter. But after a time, Maude realized they had at least one thing in common -- her son. And although she knew Ezra in ways no one else would ever know him, there were those parts of him that were a mystery to her -- chief among them whatever it was in him that compelled him to hire out his talents in the protection of a dusty town in the middle of nowhere, to fight beside men he had long since learned to avoid and who would undoubtedly one day get him killed. And it was that part of him Vin Tanner knew. She was sure of that, for Vin had made the same choice in life, one that made as little sense as the one her son had made -- one man risking exposure by staying in one place too long and the other inexplicably settling for a steady job that paid less in a year than he could easily win in one night's work at the poker table. It made no sense for either of them to stay in the town they had made, if not their home, then at least a way station in their drift through life. Yet there they were. And hoping to understand why it was her son had chosen a lifestyle so far removed from the one for which he had been fashioned, Maude turned to one who had made the same choice and softly asked, "Why are you here, Vin?"
He shrugged. "Figured Ezra had something up his sleeve. Guess I was just in a mood to get in the way of it."
"No. I mean here in this place. With the Seven."
Vin flicked Maude a glance, then returned his gaze forward. "Everybody's got to be somewhere."
They fell silent again. And though Maude knew Vin had said all he felt comfortable in saying, it was important to her to find some kind of answer to the riddle that was her son. So she tried again, coming at the question from a different angle. "Have you ever been tied down to a place, Vin? Some place you couldn't get away from, whether you wanted to or not?"
Vin kept his gaze forward that time. And sensing something more in the question than idle curiosity, he thought for a moment, then said, "There have been a few places in my life I would have left a lot sooner if I'd been able to. And a few where I'd have stayed a bit longer if I could have."
"And is there some place you'd like to go back to? Some place you call home? Or maybe some place you'd tie yourself down to if it meant you wouldn't have to leave or where you'd always be able to go back, no matter what?"
Vin stared into the distance ahead, but it was the distance behind that he saw, places too far in the past for him to ever travel back to, separated by a distance not of miles but of shouldn't-haves and might-have-beens. Then he gave a shake of his head. "Places? No, I can't say as there's any place I've ever wanted to tie myself to. But there have been people I'd have hung on to if a piece of rope could have done the trick."
"But places can tie us to people, can't they? I mean, isn't that what home is all about? Having that one place we're bound to?"
"I don't know, Maude." Vin shifted his gaze to the woman beside him again. "You're asking the wrong person about that. I ain't had a home since I was Billy's age. Not really."
"No family either?"
"Nope."
Maude gave a sad smile. "Some people would say you were lucky. I know Ezra would."
"I doubt that." Back went Vin's gaze to the road ahead.
Maude, however, refused to deny the obvious. "I have no doubt he knew Talbot was trying to unload a worthless property on me and that he wanted to be here with me to see my face when I realized I'd been swindled. Now, does that sound to you like a loving family relationship exists between us?"
"Sounds to me like two people who ain't quite got a handle yet on just what they mean to each other."
Maude shook her head. "It's more than that, Vin. I'm afraid I've never been much of a mother. I guess I never really knew quite how to go about it. But I did the best I knew to do."
Vin cocked his head at her. "Is that what this ranch is all about? You doing the best you know to tie yourself down to a place, to the one person who would make it worth the sticking around?"
Maude sighed, meeting her companion's gaze squarely, glad for his direct manner of speaking. "I'm not exactly subtle, am I?"
"You and Ezra kind of got that in common." Vin gave a crooked smile and turned his gaze back to the road.
Another silence descended, that one not for lack of words, but merely for the gathering of them. And at last Maude gave a sigh and admitted to being shut out of a large part of her son's life, hoping to find the reason for it. "I don't know why Ezra stays here, Vin. He could go anywhere, be anything. Yet he chooses to stay in that dusty little town, using a gun instead of his god-given talents. Why?"
It was a question Vin felt in no way competent to answer, for he knew even less than did Maude what motivated the gambler to remain a part of the Seven. The others he thought maybe he had a handle on. But Ezra had always been a mystery to him, a man so far outside his ken, not only in learning and experience, but in thought and action as well, that he figured he might as well try to explain why the sun rose in the east as why Ezra Standish did any of what he did. And shaking his head regretfully, he admitted that lack of understanding. "I don't know, Maude. Reckon you'd have to ask Ezra about that."
"I have. And I never get an answer that even comes close to the truth. So I thought that maybe if I knew why you stayed, I might be able to understand why he does." Maude blew her breath out in frustration. "Does that make any kind of sense?"
"Not really. Ezra and I ain't exactly got a whole lot in common."
"You have the town in common. That and whatever it is within you both that makes you think it worth fighting to protect. So what is it? Why do you stay?"
Another silence fell, another gathering of words as Vin sought to understand, as he'd never thought to even question, why it was he -- who had always drifted through life without rhyme or reason -- should have stayed in one place for so long, why it was he thought the town he protected was worth dying for. He searched his mind and heart and memory, but the path it led him down was an unexpected one, traveling back through all the lonely years to the only place he had ever truly belonged, a place not of earth or wood or stone, but of one woman's heart.
"The only home I ever had was with my ma." His voice was low, as if he spoke not so much to the woman sitting beside him as to himself, wanting to bring into focus all that he'd lost and someday hoped to regain. "I couldn't tell you a thing about the house we lived in. Not what it looked like, nor where it was. Nothing. And I couldn't hardly tell you nothing about my ma neither. Not how old she was when she died. Not her name, nor where she was from. Not a thing about who her people were. But I remember her. I remember the way she laughed and how she liked to dance around the room to some tune playing in her head. I remember how she used to tell me stories at night and how she made everything we did or that happened to us seem special. I remember how much she loved life. And I remember how much she loved me. But more than anything, I remember how safe she made me feel, like nothing bad could ever happen." He gave a sad soft smile at the memory, that long lost feeling of safety that only the innocent could know washing over him. "I was never scared of nothing as long as she was alive and with me. To me, that was home. And I never even come close to feeling that safe again. Not 'til this place, with six men willing to watch my back, to do for me when I can't do for myself."
Maude stared at him in confusion, unable to fully comprehend what he was saying, never having known a child's simple trust in goodness. "You stay because you feel safe? With outlaws shooting at you left and right? I don't understand -- I can't think of a place I'd feel less safe."
Vin frowned, searching out words to explain what had to be felt to be understood. "I don't reckon feeling like you're home has a whole lot to do with what's out in the world, all the bad things that can happen. It's about feeling like nothing so bad can happen that you and yours can't handle it together. It's about knowing that not the worst thing in life can change the way you feel about the people you care for, even if it tears you apart."
Another silence, this one not of a searching for words, but for understanding. And at last, feeling her way carefully, Maude slowly said, "And is that what your mother gave you -- a belief that not even the worst thing in life could be stronger than her love for you?"
Vin sat in silence for a moment, considering her words. Then he nodded. "I never thought of it that way, but maybe being loved is what makes a body feel safe."
"And when she died, did you still believe that your mother's love was stronger than anything life could throw at you?"
"I don't know." Vin's words were whisper soft, the pain of all the years that had followed his mother's death crowding out the memory of a time when hurts could be kissed away. "After my ma was gone, when I was all alone -- that's when I found out how dark the night can get. And I reckon maybe I spent so many years hiding my head under the covers, afraid to know what was waiting in the dark for me, that I forgot what she'd taught me -- that life ain't something to be scared of, that you'll always find something to dance about so long as you can play music in your head. That if you find the right people to share it with, life can be special. And maybe Chris and Josiah and all the others reminded me of that."
"Is that what mothers do for their children?" Maude asked softly. "Keep their nights from getting too dark?"
Vin turned a look of surprise on her. "Don't you know?"
Maude shook her head. "I told you I was never much of a mother. Ezra spent more time with the strangers I continually dumped him on than he ever did with me. It makes me wonder how many dark nights he must have spent, alone and frightened." She turned to fasten her gaze on the road ahead, seeing not it but all the years wasted. Then she sighed, the sound one of regret for too many things lost and abandoned. "I should have been there for him."
"Kind of hard to ease someone else's fears when you're busy running from your own."
Maude shot Vin a glance, her expression one of surprise and gratitude. Then turning her gaze back to the road ahead and her thoughts to the years behind, she offered an explanation for all the should-have-beens, not only to her companion, but to herself. "My whole life I've moved around from place to place, never knowing where I was half the time. Never being a part of anything. Never belonging -- not to any place and not to anyone. The only constant in my life has been Ezra. And there were times when he was a child when I had trouble remembering where I'd left him."
Put into words and spoken plainly, the truth was laid bare of all the usual trappings that Maude had always employed to hide it from view. She felt an ache of regret at hearing it, able to admit in that moment at least, that all the lonely years of her life were no more than a waste of lost opportunities -- opportunities not for wealth, but of time spent and experiences shared with the one who had always meant more than she'd ever been able to comprehend. But while she didn't think she'd ever be able to make any sense of her feelings for her son, she at least knew his importance in the weave of her life. And she would risk any gamble to insure the threads binding them would never come unraveled, no matter how loosely they'd been woven.
Then, wanting at least one person to understand that need in her to keep hold of what little she had in life that mattered, she continued. "When I was young, not having a home to call my own didn't bother me. I always figured that some day I'd settle down, find that one place that would be worth sticking around for. But I never found it. Never found anyone but Ezra I wanted to hang on to for very long. I guess, though, that I finally figured out that it's too easy most times to leave. Things don't go right, someone disappoints me, all I have to do is move on to the next town, the next conquest. I never learned how to tough things out, to see them through. But I'm not young anymore. And I've come to realize that some things are worth sticking around for. That some things are worth toughing it out for. I worry though that maybe I'm too old to learn any new tricks. So last night, it came to me as I sat there across the table from Malcolm Talbot, that if I had some place to go home to when things got bad or when I just got tired of always moving on, it would somehow make a difference."
"What kind of difference?"
Maude gave a wry grin. "I haven't figured that part out yet. But it occurred to me that maybe what I need is some place I'm tied down to, some place I won't be able to get rid of the next time things get rough or I need a quick bankroll. Some place that will always be there, waiting for me to decide to come home."
"That the only reason you played for Talbot's ranch?"
Maude thought about Vin's question for a long moment, trying to make sense of the instincts that had guided her the night before. "Maybe it's like you said -- your mother was home to you, the only one you've ever had. Well, Ezra's the only home I've ever had. And maybe I've spent too much of my life looking for what I've always kept at arm's length. So if that town you all keep risking your lives to protect is what he wants, if he can find something he needs there, some way to keep the night from getting too dark, then maybe I can too one day." She paused, flushing at how hopeful she sounded, so childlike in her trust that her life would work out for once. And dreading to think what her son would say to such foolishness, she shot Vin a look of embarrassment. "But don't you tell Ezra that."
Vin was silent for a moment, studying her. He then shifted his attention back to the road. "You don't tell him the truth, he's never going to let you forget how you got swindled."
"True. But it will make him happy. And I believe I owe him that much at least."
Another silence fell as the two unlikely companions considered the truths they had revealed to one another -- and to themselves. And at last Vin softly said, "It's not too late, you know, to remember where you left him."
Maude's breath caught, hopes and needs and wants stirring to life at the words. But she'd lived too long without believing in anything to start trusting in happily-ever-afters. And with a shake of her head, she sadly said, "He doesn't need me anymore, Vin."
Her companion kept his gaze fastened on the road ahead. "The nights are still dark as they ever were."
"Maybe. But Ezra has you six men now to hold back that dark."
Vin flicked a look at the woman beside him, her gaze fastened ahead but her expression full of regrets for all she'd left behind. "I reckon it should tell you something that it takes six of us men to do what it takes only one woman to -- if she's the right one."
Maude turned her gaze back to the man at her side. "And what makes you think I'm the right one?"
Vin gave another shrug. "You're his ma. Ain't no one else can ever be that for him. And no matter how much you two scratch and bite, no matter how many times you both left when you should have stayed, you're still the one he longed for when he was little and hurt and he's still the one you carried under your heart for nine months of your life. So no matter how old he gets, I reckon you're still the one he aches for when he's hurting. And no matter how far he's gotten from that safe place under your heart, ain't he still the one you carry inside it?"
Another silence descended while Maude considered the hope Vin had held out to her. But trusting too much in the good in life had never been a luxury in which she could afford to indulge. In her experience, wanting was rarely getting. Yet, still she couldn't help the wanting. And at last, with a sigh, she said, "You make it all sound so easy."
Vin gave a crooked grin. "Hell, ain't nothing ever easy where Ezra's concerned. No, all I'm saying is that it's going to take more than tying yourself to a piece of worthless land to keep the two of you from drifting so far apart that you never find your way back to one another."
"So, what would you suggest?"
Another shrug. "You both got a whole mess of words you drag out any time you need to talk your way out of or into something. Maybe you should find some to give to each other."
"And what words would those be?"
"What's wrong with the ones you just gave me?"
Maude shook her head. "He'd laugh."
"Maybe. Or maybe you'd find out he's always been there, just waiting for you to decide to come home."
Maude was still for a long moment, judging the pot she stood to gain, considering the hand she held and that likely held by her opponent, weighing the risks, benefit against loss, aware this was one game she couldn't afford to lose. Yet when had playing it safe ever paid off for her?
Her mind made up, she turned to Vin. "When did Ezra say he'd return?"
"Tomorrow."
"Then maybe I should wait until then to inspect my latest acquisition." And when Vin smiled in reply, she softly added, "Oh, and Vin? I think maybe you were wrong when you said you haven't had a home since your mother died."
Vin considered her words for a moment, looking back on his own and finding a truth in them for which he hadn't been looking. Then he nodded, that truth accepted. "Now that you mention it, the nights haven't seemed quite so dark as they were."
"Then what do you say we turn this buggy around?" Maude suggested with a grin.
Vin replied with a grin of his own. And with a flick of the reins, they headed home.
*~*~*
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.
~ Francis Bourdillon