Daydreams and Duels - Gwen's musings on Mr. King, Mr. Culpepper and Mr. Amorru

[Gwen Eiber]

Location: Gwen's office in the Medical Ward

To say Gwen was a bit flustered might be a bit of an understatement. She'd practically fled Miss Charity's room, no practically about it.  Even now in the privacy of her office with the door shut she could feel the warmth in her face and her hands were still shaking a little.  She sat at her desk, gripping the end of her braid in one hand and giving it a sharp tug. What was she doing getting so worked up? All he'd done is asked to call her by her name.  That wasn't an unusual request after all. Perhaps it was the tone with which he'd said her name, plus holding her hand so tenderly on purpose even, accompanied by the request to take her to dinner.  She shouldn't read anything more into it than what it was.  Simple flights of fancy.  Surely Mr. Culpepper was doing just as he said, wanting to thank her for her for being kind.  Lots of patients did that.  After Beauregard Hastings tangled with that porcupine and she'd pulled out all the stickers, he had his wife bake her a whole peach cobbler and brought over enough feathers to make a brand new goose down comforter.  He didn't have to and she'd tried to refuse but he'd insisted.   Getting in a tizzy over Mr. Culpepper doing the same sort of thing was a decided lack of character on her part.  Maybe she just needed some breakfast of her own.

Location: Alice's Resturant

Gwen had gone to Alice's after her flight from the medbay to clear her head and eat some breakfast.   Jedikiah had been teaching a class so for the moment she was sitting alone.  She hoped he might join her later but she wasn't holding her breath, he'd probably already eaten.  Alice had apparently gone for the moment and while the young woman who took her order and brought the food was pleasant Gwen just didn't feel as comfortable chatting with her as she would have with the older woman.
 
She knew from previous late night dinners that Alice had been married and that her husband had died in the war. They'd talked a little about love and being married.  She was older than Gwen but younger than her mother which gave Gwen another insight to things and let her ask questions she'd never have been comfortable asking her mother.  And since she didn't have any older sisters or any female friends on the station she often felt isolated and unsure when it came to such things. She would have liked to ask Alice's opinion but perhaps it was better that she kept her silliness to herself.

She had a few girlfriends from back home, already married and one already expecting, but it had been pretty much decided who'd they'd marry when they were children.  It had been different with Gwen.  There was some speculation she'd end up a spinster and just be the town doctor, take over after her father.  Matthias seemed to think they'd marry and she'd give up this silly notion of being a doctor and just be a wife and mother while he ran the farm.

After he'd made his interest clear the other boys had stayed away.  Truthfully she hadn't minded too much.  She never felt a spark for any of them like in the books she read, even after dancing with most of them at the Harvest dance after she came of age.  She wondered sometimes if that wasn't the problem.  Maybe all of those romance books built a thing up so much it couldn't be real.

Her food was delivered and she dove into it with gusto, though her manners couldn't be faulted.  Mama could not abide bad manners.  Napkin tucked daintily on her lap, no elbows on the counter, fork and knife placed just so on the plate when not in use. 

Maybe some women just inspired that kind of love and devotion in men. Charity inspired a man to take a bullet for her. Never mind that he was her bodyguard and he was paid to do just that, she'd seen a movie once about that, she knew what could happen between a client and bodyguard. She huffed softly under her breath and cut into the country fried steak, daubing it in a little gravy.

Charity inspired adorable nicknames like Cherry and Duchess. She got nicknames like "Doc" and "Stitches", nothing adorable about those.  She had inspired Zachariah Masterson to steal flowers from Widow Thompson's garden when they were about 7.  He got his hide tanned and hadn't really talked to her again.  Matthias had managed a carriage ride with a couple of tired looking ponies and sweaty palms. She chewed thoughtfully, ruminating on her romantic life, or rather lack thereof.

At least Alice and her staff could cook.  She'd never tell her mother but this food was the best she'd had since she left home and might even be better than her mother's own. She stabbed a fried potato with her fork looking at it speculatively.

The only man she'd had panting around her had a walking chest tube in and a lung full of blood at the time and that most definitely didn't count. Except earlier seemed more like he was interested in going walking out than simply saying thank you. Would a man like Mr. Culpepper be interested in someone like her?  He was a bit older.  Retired lawman. War veteran. Widower. Hero.  If he was, would she be interested in him? It was certainly something to think about.  She almost reached for her braid, but tugging on that at the table was a bad habit her mother had cured her of. She took another small bite chewing thoughtfully.

She imagined that Charity had a whole passel of men eager to dance with her or bring her flowers.  Or recite poetry. She could almost imagine Mr. Amorru and that ridiculous hairdo, but entirely dreamy accent reciting poetry in the parlor, no, no, not reciting poetry, serenading her up on the veranda. Her elbow found its place on the counter for a moment, cheek resting against her hand as she sighed softly, imagining the scene, Charity resplendent with her bejeweled fingers, twinkling eyes and a gown, oh such a gown, pink and layered as she paced the veranda, delicately flickering a fan, the lace edge of her sleeve beckoning.  Mr. King nearby, silent watchful, poised to pounce.  She didn't imagine he was one much for poetry and serenading.  She'd felt the muscles of his chest though, could only guess what it would be like to be held in his arms for a dance.  He wouldn't tolerate Mr. Amorru serenading Miss Cherry though.  Mr. Amorru would fight for his Duchess though, a terrible shoot-out for her hand, no, no a duel.  That would be much more romantic, yes a duel for the fair lady.  The clash of steel, Mr. King graceful and catlike, Mr. Amorru just as deadly, more like one of those brightly plumed birds she saw on a nature show one time.  It would be swift and terrible; Miss Charity couldn't bear to watch of course. Gwen would beg them to stop but a flash of steel a plume a red, a shrill scream...

Then Gwen's elbow slipped off the counter, fork falling to the floor with a loud clatter, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment for the second time today, sure everyone knew what she'd been daydreaming about.  There wasn't really much of anyone in the restaurant to notice but the server who brought her a clean fork.  Gwen made short work of finishing her breakfast, good manners back in place.  She must be losing her mind though. She understood why she might be thinking about Mr. King.  Even though he'd barely paid her any mind at all, she could admit at least to herself that she had a bit of a girlish crush on him. She would have understood if she had been day dreaming about Mr. Culpepper.  He was kind and handsome and had held her hand 3 times now.  But Mr. Amorru? He'd yelled at her, insulted her and just been downright rude. It made no sense what-so-ever she'd been thinking about him dueling Mr. King for her.  Why would she even want that? Maybe she'd been on the space station too long?

The point of leaving Santo was to go have some adventures.  To travel and see things and meet people.  To live life a little. To dance and maybe share a kiss before deciding if she wanted to come back to Santo. She already knew she didn't want to marry Matthias.  She wasn't so sure what she did want.  Now, more than anything she knew it wasn't staying on this space station. Her contract here was almost up.  She was going to secure passage in the next ship headed out that needed her skills.  As long as it wasn't the Wushu!

After she finished her meal, she looked at the dessert sitting in the case and thought about ordering a slice of pie.  That made her think about Mr. Culpepper once more.  He seemed like a nice man. Solid, dependable, steady.  And she knew he was a good man, a hero.  She'd gone and watched the news vids all about the Hero of Newhall. Bona fide lawman.  Served in the war. Tragic loss of his wife and young child. Little girl if she remembered right.  Made sense he'd be grateful for a little kindness.
 
She sighed and flagged down the waitress.  She went ahead and ordered 2 pieces of pie and 2 cups of coffee to go, had her put cream and sugar and honey in the bag since she knew how he took his coffee now.  "Hot date doc?" Said the younger waitress with a knowing smile.  "No, just some pie with a friend." No matter what intentions Mr. Culpepper might have she would be leaving the station soon and she was sure he would be too.