By: Heidi L. Lane
Vin woke suddenly and completely in the early morning twilight. He lay on his cot trying to figure out what had wakened him. He sat bolt upright as he realized what it was. He didn’t hear the quiet sounds of his daughter sleeping in the other cot.
Getting up, he dressed, and then pulled on his boots. “Winnie!” he called, peering out of the wagon. He glanced all around, still not seeing his little girl. “Where ya at, Winnie?” he called, trying not to give in to the panic that threatened to seize him. He climbed down and walked around the area he’d set up like a camp near his wagon. “Winnie, now’s not the time ta be playin’ hide-‘n’-seek,” he tried again. There were very few people around at this hour of the morning.
He walked over to the jail, the last place Winnie’d seen her mama. Maybe she’d gone over there in hopes of finding her. Peering in, he saw no one, not even J.D. Considering that J.D. was supposed to be minding the jail, even though it was empty of prisoners, Vin thought his absence was odd. He walked over to the saloon, planning on asking if anyone there had seen his daughter. Vin was starting to get worried. Winnie was only five and Vin wasn’t sure how self sufficient she was yet. They’d only known each other one day. When you added the fact that Winnie’s mama had warned Vin before she’d left that Winnie had some “gifts” that she’d inherited from her mother’s Crafter blood; the fact he couldn’t find her was much more serious. Vin wondered just how Winnie’s Crafter gifts manifested themselves. She hadn’t yet done anything out of the ordinary.
His train of thought carried him to the door of the saloon. “Inez,” he called softly on entering the batwing doors, “You seen – J.D,” Vin interrupted himself as he spotted the young sheriff seated at a table, eating breakfast. He grinned as he noticed who the young man’s dining companion was. Seated there next to the Easterner, was his daughter, still in her nightgown, braking a muffin in to a multitude of pieces on her plate.
She grinned back as she spotted him. “Papa!” she greeted, looking at her plate she explained, “I was hungry.”
“I am too, ya li’l imp. Why didn’ ya wake me up?” He asked, trying not to sound angry. He took a seat at the table next to his daughter.
“I thought maybe it was too early to be up. Then I heard Mister J.D.,” Winnie said quietly.
“Well, it ai- it’s not too early,” Vin smiled then, turning serious he added, “Winifred, ya cain’t run off without tellin’ me. I’m not angry with ya, but you worried me.” He hugged the little girl and, running his hand though her hair said, “You need ta comb these.”
“I love you, Papa,” Winnie replied, climbing into his lap. “Are you gonna eat breffust with us?”
“Yup. I do believe I am. What do ya have here? Muffins, hm? Did J.D. get some milk for ya?”
“I didn’t think of milk. She does have some juice though,” the young man answered.
“Little ‘uns need milk ta grow, J.D.” Vin explained turning towards the bar he said, “Inez, can we have some more of these muffins an’ some milk for Winnie?”
“Papa, drink milk too,” Winnie crowed.
“Papa’s a big boy,” Vin explained to her, “I’m done growin’.”
“You’re not so big as Mister Buck,” Winnie pointed out. Inez placed another plate of muffins on the table along with a glass of milk. Winnie eyed the milk, then looked up at Vin and said, “Papa, you drink milk too.”
Vin sighed, “I s’pose you ain’t gonna drink yours unless I drink some too.” Winnie grinned at him in reply. Sighing again he looked up at Inez and said, “C’n ya get some for me too?”
“Sí, Señor Vin,” she replied smiling. When she returned with a second glass of milk Vin sighed again. He took the glass and looked significantly at his daughter. Waiting until she was holding her own glass of milk he put his glass to his lips and, closing his eyes, drank it down. When he was done he looked back at Winnie. She still had half a glass of milk; but after looking at her father’s empty glass, she soon finished her own. Vin smiled, life with a five year old was shaping up to be very interesting.