* * *
Afterwards, Sarah walked him to the store because she had promised that he would be there no later than eight, a promise she had found it necessary to make to keep a certain Sub-Commander Marius completely away from Aaron on the previous day.
They reached the store in time to see Brian Haig drop off his empty milk containers. He seemed unusually quiet, almost skittish. Since Aaron was in a good mood in a melancholy 'I lost my girl but got married anyhow' sort of way, he thanked Haig and gave him a five copper bonus.
The store, he found, was already open. Kit had Sarah's shotgun on the counter beside her as she tried to run up a line of figures. Black circles surrounded her eyes, and Aaron realized she had been playing guard inside the store the entire night. Quietly smiling, she looked up when she heard them.
"I hope the night went as well as your face says it did."
"Passably well," Sarah admitted. "There were a few awkward moments due to a certain young gentleman's inexperience, but all in all, things went better than well after I got him to slow down a bit."
"Hmmm--I hear tell these things get better with time."
Sarah grinned impishly. "We will find out, won't we?"
"Do you two mind?" Aaron discovered that he was sweating. It was a warm morning already. Mighty warm. Prickly skin warm.
Kit laughed, and then she came from around the counter to kiss his cheek before patting it gently with her hand. "Poor baby. We pick on you just terrible, don't we?" Her face turned serious. "Aaron, I'm sorry, but I have to run back out to the Manor today. I have a home to arrange the repairing of, and I was just told that my handyman, Mister Moorehouse, was murdered back when we made our little trip. I need to see that he gets a marker, and I need to talk to his family."
"Thank you for your help," Aaron told her while a flush of guilt ran through him because he never had got around to telling her of the murder. "Let me know what can be done for the family."
"I will, but Aaron, you need to find somebody to guard the store at night while I'm gone. Too many people suspect you have a fortune hid away in here. I don't think you will have any trouble with the locals, but there are a lot of strangers in town."
"Miss Perkins will guard it tonight," Sarah said. "We already talked it over. Until we figure out something different, she is sleeping in the store at night, and Aaron is going to teach me how to run it during the day."
Aaron frowned thoughtfully. "Hon, I'll be more than glad to show you how to run the store, but what about your job as Marshal?"
"I had to quit," Sarah said. "I went to visit Doc Gunther. He used that amazing little present you gave him on me and that started the process of making sure I had to quit my job. Sometime last night you finished that process. Sorry, hon. I'm afraid we lost my public servant's income." Her smile was pure mischief. "The rules say pregnant women have to resign. When he finished with me Doc said it would require a miracle for me to miss, and I say that if we missed last night we are bound to hit sometime this week."
Aaron's felt his knees turn weak. Kit squealed enthusiastically. "Fantastic! And probably on your first time together, too. How did he do it?"
"Hmm. The usual way the first couple of times. After that we experimented--oh--you mean how did Doc do it? Aaron gave him a Talent Stone, and now Doc is spinning cartwheels. He almost has that poor Mary girl healed already." She looked over at Aaron and laughed. "Honey, why are you so red? By the Lady, you are sweating buckets."
Coughing delicately, Aaron waved a nervous hand. "Wait here please."
He left and made his way to the lower cellar. Once there he found their packages among half a dozen others. Perk's silver was still down there, too. He would have to do something about that because nothing in the cellar was totally safe when there were so many new people in town. Not when he had far more value in his cellar than the bank had in its vault. For that matter, his small bank now had more worth in its vault than did that of most major banks.
The packages were heavy so he was panting by the time he returned.
"Here," he said, handing one to each woman. They looked at him curiously, turned the packages around, and pulled the brown paper free. Underneath the paper was a cardboard box.
"What is this?" Sarah asked. "It can't be a wedding present because I forgot to inform you we were getting married. Maybe it's a belated birthday present."
"What birthday? You never mentioned having a birthday."
"Of course not, silly. I was too busy getting married at the time. Figured my birthday was the perfect day to get married since there isn't much chance that I can forget the date. Sweetheart, I'm afraid you married an old hag of thirty."
Aaron smiled and gestured toward the package. "Just open the box, please."
She and Kit both did. Inside the box was a mass of newspapers. Hidden inside the newspapers was a lead box sealed with lead tape. Inside that--
Kit lifted hers up, let out a gasp and slid to the floor. She lay there, writhing while Sarah watched. Looking over to Aaron, Sarah raised her eyebrows.
"It's a good thing I trust you," she said, and then she took her own present into her hand and instantly collapsed to the floor. Nonplused, Aaron was unsure what to do. He tried to take the objects away from them, but their fingers clenched so tightly that he was frightened of breaking their fingers. After too long a time passed, Sarah sighed contentedly while Kit let loose with a low moan and shuddered. Kit's eyes opened. They were distant.
"The new herd will be here in seven days," she shakily said. "Aaron, that was a nasty thing to do, and there you stood the entire time watching me just so you could get your jollies. All I have to say is that you better behave yourself from now on because I will always know exactly where you are." She looked down at the object she held in her hand. "Imagine, my very own Talent Stone."
"I don't understand what happened," Aaron admitted. "What did it do to you?"
"You don't know?" Kit rose weakly. "Look to your wife. If you did things right last night the answer should be obvious."
Aaron looked down at Sarah. Her eyes were closed but a smile was spread across her face. Oh yes, now he knew. Sarah's back arched.
"I think I had better close up the store."
"I think you had better," Kit agreed archly. "Next time you do this, make sure the gift is opened in private. Much less embarrassing that way."
They tried not to watch Sarah for the next half-hour. It proved to be an impossible task because she was so active…and vocal. Aaron hoped that someday he would be as impressive as the Talent Stone apparently was, but he knew he could never measure up.
After a very long time, Sarah stilled. Her eyes opened to focus on him. A smile of contentment spread across her lips.
"Oh my," she said. "My, my, my, my, my." Rising, she stretched herself luxuriously while Aaron watched carefully. He was not careful enough. With impossible speed, she blurred, and then she was gone.
"This is impressive," she said from behind him. "I wasn't able to move nearly that fast on the Jefferson side. What a wonderful present." She pulled his head around and pressed her lips against his. "Thank you, love."
Kit pulled her away with a firmly insistent hand. "It was a wonderful present." The kiss she gave Aaron rivaled any of those he had received from Sarah, probably because Kit was not the least bit shy with her tongue. "You just wait," she promised when his oxygen ran short. "I'll show you exactly how grateful I am later."
Aaron's voice squeaked. "Kit, I'm married!"
She looked puzzled. "What does that have to do with anything? You're a man, and men will screw anything that holds still long enough. Besides, you only got married the once last night, so you got another one coming when I get back from the ranch tonight. Sarah and I worked it out that morning back in your apartment just before you caught us making out."
Aaron turned cold. He did not want to give offense but it had to be said. "Kit," he said carefully, "I like you a lot. I really do. I admire you even. The thing is, I hardly
know you, and I'm sorry but I certainly don't love you."
She shrugged. "I never thought you did. It doesn't matter. I love Sarah. She loves you, and she sort of loves me, too. And then you and I do like each other. Don't worry. The three of us will work it out. Look, I could get away with the occasional tumble with you, but that isn't what I'm interested in because Sarah is off limits now that she's married, so I have to marry you if I want to continue with her. That way we are all satisfied." She patted his cheek. "Don't worry, baby. Between us, Sarah and I will let you know how to run your life." She smiled at Sarah and then looked back at him. "Aaron, please tell me you aren't so stupid that you thought all that running around naked was for your benefit?"
Aaron chose to ignore the question.
"Well," Kit conceded, "maybe a little of it was. That first time anyway."
"Honey, I think you just got the answer to the question you asked me this morning." Sarah flung her arms around Kit and kissed her deeply. Then she pulled Aaron into their embrace and kissed him. "If you thought last night was something, you just wait for tonight. Kit, I told Doc you would be over to see him before you headed for the ranch.
Kit laughed and pulled free. "Uh uh. Don't want no kids running around. You can keep that stuff to yourself 'cause I'm not the mamma type. Gotta run."