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Vin looked up from his beer as Ezra Standish walked up to the table and plunked a bottle of whiskey in front of Buck Wilmington. The gambler put down a tray with seven glasses to go with it. Only Buck, JD, Vin, and Ezra himself were there at the moment, but it was nearing midafternoon—Ezra must have figured the others would be along soon. “Many happy returns, Buck,” he said quietly, taking his own seat and pulling out his deck of cards. Lord, you never saw the man without a deck of cards.
“Well, thank you, Ezra!” Buck stared at the gambler in open shock for a minute before happily breaking the seal and pouring four glasses, sliding one at JD with a grin as the kid wrinkled his nose at the hard liquor.
“What’s the occasion?” Vin held off on drinking until Buck made it clear whether there should be some kind of a toast or not. It’d taken him a while to figure out that Buck liked that kind of thing, but now, after almost six months of friendship, he knew he should wait and see what the man was going to do.
True to form, Buck raised his glass and they all followed suit. “Today,” he announced with a huge smile, “is my birthday!”
“Why didn’t I know it was your birthday?” JD asked. He looked kind of hurt, like he should have been told before the day. He turned on Ezra. “Why did you know?”
Ezra shuffled his cards, a small smile playing at his lips. “I have my sources.” He grinned at Buck as the birthday boy knocked back a second shot. “I hear Miss Caroline has cleared her schedule for the night in honor of the day, so perhaps not quite so much so fast, Mr. Wilmington?” Well that explained how Ezra knew. He and Miss Caroline were right chummy. Not as chummy as Buck and Miss Caroline, but then, nobody was as chummy with the women of this town than Buck.
Buck smiled wide. “Sweet Caroline!” he sighed. “She’s a good woman. Knows how to celebrate proper-like.”
JD was sulking. “I can’t get you a present if I don’t know it’s your birthday, Buck!” he griped. Vin hid a smile at the response, noticing that Ezra didn’t bother to hide his. For all JD liked to protest about Buck not being his older brother, kid sure did treat him like one.
Buck clapped him on the back. “Buy me a drink when this fine whiskey runs out,” he offered, giving Vin and Ezra a wink. “At my age, all you really need is good liquor and a willing bed partner. And you ain’t fit be the latter.”
“Buck!” Chris walked in then, smiling and slapping his old friend on the back before sitting down in an empty spot. “You haven’t expired of old age yet, I see.”
“Maybe you ain’t looked at a calendar lately, pard.” Buck returned. “You’re still older than me.”
“Hey yeah!” JD piped up, leaving off the whiskey for his preferred beverage. Vin didn’t see why a man eighteen years off the teat needed milk, but it wasn’t really his business. “How old are you, Buck?”
Ezra looked up from his cards with interest, while Chris gave a knowing grin and Buck looked kind of annoyed. Vin just sipped his whiskey, looking up as Josiah and Nathan wandered in. He nodded them to seats and reached across to snag the bottle and pour them both a couple of fingers.
“Now, JD, a gentleman never tells such things,” Buck argued, not wanting to say.
“I don’t recall him asking me my age,” Ezra put in quietly, ignoring the snort and glare Buck threw his way.
“Let me guess,” JD offered, almost bouncing in his enthusiasm. “Um, thirty-five!”
Vin could have told the kid he was way off. Buck laughed and Chris smiled in response. “Must look younger than my years!” He got a soft, reminiscent look in his eyes. Almost sad, Vin thought. “Though thirty-five was a good year, wasn’t it, Chris?”
Chris nodded, his own smile small as he sipped at his whiskey. That smile was definitely sad, and Vin wondered what had happened back then. It weren’t all good, that was sure.
“Well, okay,” JD demanded, looking embarrassed because he was laughed at for his guess. “So how old are you, then?”
“Forty-three,” Ezra murmured softly. Vin figured he wasn’t too far off at that.
Buck and Chris looked at Ezra in surprise.
“That’s a good guess,” Chris said.
“It’s a gift.” That poker face gave absolutely nothing away.
JD grinned. “That’s great, Ezra. Can you guess anyone’s age?” He put his mug of milk down. “How old do you think I am?”
“Nineteen,” replied Ezra. And Chris. And Buck and Nathan and Josiah—all at the same time. Vin hid a smile in his glass as JD huffed, mighty put out.
“Too easy,” Buck decided with a grin. He looked around at the rest of them, deciding who might be the hardest one to guess. His gaze lit on Vin, and the tracker tried hard not to look nervous at being the center of attention. Hell, this was no good at all. “All right, let’s see you put your money where your mouth is, Standish,” he said, digging a dollar and a half out of his pocket. “Go ahead and guess Vin’s age.”
Ezra glanced at him for all of five seconds, but Vin felt like a prize stallion given the once-over before a sale. “Twenty-six.”
“Nah!” JD piped up when Vin said nothing. “I’m gonna say thirty at least.” Ezra stared at him until the kid dropped his own money on the table.
“I’ll take that bet,” Josiah said, dropping in his buck-fifty. “Twenty-nine.”
“Twenty-nine ain’t no different than thirty,” JD argued.
Nathan laughed. “Wait ‘til you get there, kid.”
Buck looked at the nice little pot. “I’m going to say twenty-seven.”
Chris decided enough bets had been made, and looked at Vin. “So, who’s right?”
Vin was silent for a long moment, keeping his face blank like Ezra’s while he tried to figure out what to do. Well, hell, he figured after a minute, what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Or his purse—that much money’d buy him a good new bridle, and his was wearing awful thin. He reached out and raked in Buck, JD, and Josiah’s money, looking pointedly at Ezra until the gambler paid up. Ezra’s own advice on gambling came back to Vin: “Always attempt to leave the table when it is most financially advantageous to depart.” With a sudden grin, he got up and headed toward the door.
“Wait!” JD yelled after him. “How old are you, then!?”
Vin turned back at the batwing doors and said quietly, “A gentlemen never tells,” before walking out into the warmth of the late summer night.
He could feel Ezra and Chris looking after him with open curiosity as the others laughed and tried to start up a proper party. He figured it’d only be a matter of time before one of them asked. He guessed he might as well take a once-around town and make sure everything was going okay before they got to him.
Maybe figure out what to get Buck…
True to his prediction, Chris found him in the jail later that evening, babysitting one of the rowdies that had gotten a little too drunk over at Digger Dan’s. The gunslinger sat in the chair across the desk from him and shared a smile—it turning to a grimace suddenly as the dark room was filled with another brutal snore. Lord, that man Gustav could split a log with that snore. The drunkard choked slightly on his spittle and quieted down again, breathing loudly enough to let them know he was still doing it.
“Weren’t planning on taking a nap during your shift, were you?” Chris asked.
“Nah,” Vin said affably. “Figure I should stay awake. Make sure he don’t choke on his own tongue or something.” He grinned suddenly. “Figure Ezra might have been planning on one for his shift later, though. Gonna be right cross in the morning.”
Chris nodded his amusement, and they spent a few minutes in companionable silence.
“So when is your birthday?” Chris asked. The tone of his voice told Vin there’d be no getting past him this time.
Vin sighed. “Spring, I think.” He shrugged. “Never seemed to matter too much before.”
“Not sure it matters much now.”
“I reckon not.” Vin looked out the window as a commotion rolled its way out of their favorite saloon. Nathan, helping Josiah find his way home. Vin smiled—was awfully early in the night to be so in his cups. But then, it had been good whiskey. “Y’all have a good party?”
Chris followed his friend’s gaze, seeing Buck and JD exit next, Buck heading toward Miss Caroline’s while JD gave him an irritated and slightly awed look and headed for the boarding house. “Wasn’t bad.” He grinned. “The ladies at the cathouse always made much of him on his birthday when he was a kid. Guess he just likes to continue the tradition.”
Vin remembered his ma made him a cake once… He thought the peas were coming up in the garden right around that time, but wasn’t really sure.
“Kiowa have a birthday celebration of sorts, don’t they?” Chris asked. He wasn’t trying to pry, Vin knew; he seemed to feel that the day of his birth was something a man should at least acknowledge.
Vin shrugged again. “Sure. Used to do it for when I joined ‘em. First full moon after the high sun.” Chris looked confused. “Summer solstice,” Vin explained.
“Well then, we can call that your birthday—sometime in July. So, not spring, but it’d work.” Chris wasn’t pushing, just cared was all. “Man should be able to celebrate his birthday with his friends.”
Vin nodded. He supposed he should. He was silent for a long time. “Ain’t really sure how old I am,” he admitted finally. “Reckon one of them might ‘a been right.”
Chris snorted. “Probably Ezra,” he warned. “He ever finds out he was right about your age, he’s gonna call in that marker.”
“I expect so,” he replied, wishing he knew the answer himself.
Vin couldn’t really say why he was suddenly troubled by something he hadn’t thought about in his whole life. Maybe it was because he had friends who cared about it, now. He looked up at Chris, who was just silently watching him think.
Wasn’t something he was too keen on doing right now, so he moved on. “JD’s right. I feel bad I didn’t know to get Buck something.”
Chris shrugged. “Figure it out later,” he said. “Buck’d like his birthday to last for a month, if he could figure out how. You stretching it out’ll tickle him.”
Maybe. Maybe he could use some of that bet money to get him something nice. Ask Miss Caroline for some ideas…
“When we gonna have your shindig?” He asked with a grin. He’d better make sure he wasn’t caught out again. Definitely have to have a present for Chris. Wouldn’t be right otherwise.
But Chris’s eyes darkened and he stood up abruptly. Vin had figured he celebrated with his friends—with Buck. Hell, maybe he hadn’t celebrated his own birthday since his wife and son. Damn.
“I’m sorry, Chris,” he offered quietly. “I didn’t think—“
Chris smiled tightly, and Vin saw that he accepted the apology okay, but he still headed for the door. “It’s okay. Just… don’t really see the need to celebrate it much these days.”
Vin nodded at his back as Larabee walked out. Funny. He’d never had the thought before, but he suddenly found it strange that he didn’t even know his best friend’s birthday.
****
Two days later, Vin had found what he was looking for.
Mrs. Potter had done up the box right nice, but he still fidgeted a bit as he walked up the boardwalk. He wasn’t sure if Buck was gonna like it—wasn’t sure it was really the kind of gift you gave for a birthday. Was done now, though, so he had no choice.
Buck and Ezra were sitting outside the saloon, watching the people come and go.
“Hey Bucklin!” Vin called, flicking the box at his friend when Buck looked up. Vin grinned happily at the look of childish glee on Buck’s face as he caught it and looked down at the present. “Happy birthday, Buck.”
“Thank you, Vin,” Buck replied. “You didn’t have to.”
“But he is, of course, very glad you did,” Ezra drawled, poking fun.
Buck swatted at the man but smiled his agreement. He pulled off the bow as carefully as removing his woman’s sash, and considered the box for a moment. It was long and narrow, and Buck’s eyes were suddenly narrow too, at the look of it.
“Not a harmonica, is it?” he asked, a teasing smile on his face. “Don’t think the town could stand two of us making that noise.”
“Hear, hear!” Ezra muttered in the background. Vin shot him a look then asked himself why he bothered, as the conman refused to acknowledge it.
“Ain’t a harmonica, Buck,” Vin responded, starting to wonder if this has really been all that good an idea. “Just open the damn thing.”
Buck grinned big, like a kid again, and Vin waited to see if his present was well received.
“Lord, Vin,” Buck breathed, opening the box and pulling out the little jack knife slowly. He flicked it open easy, admiring the steel of it. “Lord, now that is a thing of beauty!”
Vin grinned. Done it right, after all. The knife just sort of seemed like something Buck should have. It was small—easy to carry with him everywhere—but its smooth, uncarved folding hilt was made of four different shades of wood in what Mrs. Potter had said was a peacock pattern. The blade wasn’t too long, just 2 inches or so, but Vin reckoned it was good for dealing with things on the trail, and could get Buck out of a pinch if he needed it. Was smaller than the one he usually traveled with, too, so he could maybe hide this one away, like that one Ezra kept in his boot.
Ezra leaned forward to admire it as well. “That is beautiful,” he confirmed—as if it needed confirming. He sent Vin a knowing gaze. “I expect it cost a pretty penny.”
Vin grinned. “I come into some money lately,” he acknowledged. “Figured I could spend some on a friend.”
“Well, hell,” Buck said, eyes still on the knife—a fact that had Vin grinning bigger. “Now I got to think of something to get you on your birthday!” He tore his gaze away from the blade and smiled warmly. “How long I got to ponder it?”
Vin tried for that poker face again, but he saw Ezra’s eyebrows scrunch together some. “You got some time,” he allowed, touching the brim of his hat to them both and heading away before they could question him further. He’d have to figure out the date of the first full moon next year. Let Chris know. He wasn’t sure how the information would get to Ezra, but he figured the gambler was slick enough to ferret it out.
“You better make it a good one,” he called behind him, hearing Buck snort in return.
Yeah. He reckoned he could get used to this birthday tradition. He just wondered who was next.
****
The End