The crow who had been watching the interaction landed on Billy’s shoulder as he trotted down the road in the opposite direction.

  “You satisfied with that?” Billy smirked.

  He stopped in the street. In tight alley between two of the workshops, Lou Cobb leaned against the brick wall. Louey stepped out into the street. With a wave of his finger he dismissed the crow familiar. The two Guns began again down the road toward the office of Deadeye Rand.

  “Not exactly. I really thought that woman was Calvin’s mother. He thinks so too.”

  Billy shrugged, “Well it’s a long story. Calvin kind of happened TO me.”

  “I don’t think I understand,” Lou furled his brow, “Is his mother still alive?”

  “I’m sure she is.” He snickered a bit.

  “Where is she?”

  “South of here, somewhere sunny and sandy. That’s all I really care to tell you Louey.”

  Lou decided to drop it. Something about those answers gave him the feeling that Calvin wasn’t the secret lovechild of Baird and some intense woman who had captured his sensibilities, as he had initially thought. He was beginning to have disturbing ideas about Calvin’s origins which he would prefer not to follow through on. If Baird didn’t feel forthcoming with that information, he wouldn’t pry any further.

  “It was beautiful what you said, about your answers belonging to Cal alone.” Lou smiled forlornly. “It’s almost like you feel for him.”

  Billy Baird let out a slow, guttural snicker, “You ain’t getting me. I know you too well for that. Best give it up.”

  “I wish you’d have told somebody you had a kid before all that happened.”

  “Good idea!” He let out another laugh, “Then every dickhead who had it out for me could take it out on him instead. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that, Mister Cobb.”

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  Louey looked to him. He considered that for a moment, finding the grim truth of it. “Well, he’s not dead. You could talk to him.”

  They passed some workers in Plaid banging out horseshoes on an anvil, the rhythmic ringing reminded Billy Baird of rifle fire. Lou couldn’t help but detect a little consideration for Calvin on Billy’s voice. He would not have hid the boy if he genuinely didn’t care what happened to him. At least, that’s how his brain squared away the logic.

  “I don’t got anything to say. Things are how they are. We go with the flow, that’s Grady’s way. We walk the Trail.”

  Louey looked to his friend as they walked. Though they had been on the same team, in the same place, they had never really stood side by side. There was a truth about Billy, written deep in his Resolve beneath all he had learned and done in time as a sorcerer. He was alone. There was nobody truly close to him. Though Lou called himself his friend, and though he had apprentices like Tornado Joe, there would never be someone who could actually relate to Baird. The man they knew was the carefully manicured persona which he had given to the world, not a true reflection of himself. His own father, the Great War, the traitors and the enemies which surrounded him, had all robbed the world of the real William Roland Baird. William was lost, there was only Billy Baird left.

  This was, at least, what Louey had thought before he found Calvin. He had no idea how this child came to be, but he knew there was another little Baird who really needed a connection, somebody to see him for who he was. He saw too much of Billy in Calvin, that same lonely man. Louey had hoped to help, but he had spent his time trying to cure the boy of his affliction instead of keeping him company. He had hoped a Coven witch might select Cal, as Madeline had selected him, and show him how wonderful a woman’s love could be. But he had seen the rejection written across Calvin’s Resolve instead. The best solution for Calvin, to Lou’s mind, was also the best solution for Billy. That the two might come together as father and son, be a family. Billy Baird could finally stand side by side with somebody. To Lou, who had his own child in the Posse, this was a no-brainer. Looking at Billy now, it seemed this simply could not happen, not now at least. Too many enemies surrounded him, still. There was no room for family. The thought brought Lou’s mood real low.

  Lou spoke low. “What’s going on in that head of yours, Billy?”

  “Good question.”

  Baird stopped at the door to Rand’s office. He looked back, that ever-present smile painted on his face. His eyes, those jubilant blues, were hidden in the shadow of his hat. This made him damned near impossible to read, to Lou, though it was never easy with him.

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out.”

  If you have some problems with the story, feel free to let me know those as well!