Buddie Fox

President Cleveland looked out over the yard and watched the group of children playing. He turned and looked at the young woman standing in front of his desk. Though it sounded too incredible to be true, there was no denying the badge and papers she held in her hand. His gaze returned to the front lawn where lemonade was being served to the children. “Are all those children yours, Deputy Fox?” “Not all by birth, but yes, they’re mine. The oldest girl and the twins are mine. The rest belonged to my ex-husband. His last request was for me to raise his children.” “What about their mother? Didn’t she want them?” “No, their mothers didn’t want to raise half breeds.” “How many mothers were there,” he asked looking at her. “Nine, including myself. Our daughter is the oldest one of the tribe. Tom never remarried after I left him.” “So what is it exactly that you want from me,” he asked not wanting to pry into her life anymore. “I want you to get Horace Jackson off my back. Nothing I’ve tried has worked. Not even playing dead kept him away.” “How did you get hired anyway? Not that you were a bad marshal or anything. In fact, you were quite the opposite. It just surprised me that a woman became a marshal.” “My brother Hank helped Jackson out of a tight spot one day. He offered Hank a job as a deputy marshal. Gave him the power to hire whoever he wanted to help him with undercover work. Jackson came back here to live, not wanting to know what he did. Hank hired our brother Billy right away. “When our grandfather died, Hank decided that he and Billy should be raising me. I was called upon to help, whether I wanted to or not. When I became of age, Hank told Jackson that he had hired me, but he didn’t tell Marshal Jackson that I was a woman.” “What kind of work did you and your brothers do then?” “Have you ever heard of the Fox Hole Gang?” “Some,” he said looking at her hard. “Don’t tell me that was you.” “Yes Sir, it was. Jackson kept receiving complaints and reports about corrupt bankers or other lawmen. He hired us to find and expose those people. Because we were dealing with banks, he came up with the cover story of the gang. It explained why we went after the money. Being related allowed us to slip in and out of town easier. No one knew how to catch us, because they couldn’t identify us.” “Now, with all the children to raise, you want out?” “I was hoping the fire a few years ago would be my way out. Buddie Fox was dead and buried. I was willing to keep it that way. At the time of the fire, I thought I had lost my brothers as well. A terrible price to pay, but at least I felt like I was finally free to live my own life. Luckily my brothers survived, but someone tipped off Marshal Jackson and he found me again. Ignoring him didn’t work. He came to my ranch and asked me to help. Resigning didn’t work, he refused to take my badge back. I flat out rejected work and he kidnapped my children, forcing me to chase after the kidnappers. But the plan backfired when my children were then kidnapped by my ex-husband, who found out Shanesa was his daughter. “Even once I found the last of his children, Jackson still begged me to do just one more job. You know which one that was, Sir. Toby hadn’t even been introduced to his brothers and sisters when Marshal Jackson was on my front porch trying to get me to come back to work.” “I see why you wanted to stay dead. I can’t believe that one of my men would be that calloused as to take a mother away from her children. I’ll see that he is fired immediately.” “That’s not what I was wanting, Sir. I just want him to stop hounding me to work. I’ve told him I quit more times than I can count and he still comes after me.” “So, you’re saying you want to officially give up your badge.” Shawna grinned. “Not exactly, Sir. It has had its uses. No, I just want to get out from under Jackson’s control. But I don’t want to be a full time marshal either. I want to be able to work when and if I want to and not when someone tells me to.” “It sounds like you want to be an freelance marshal. That’s a highly unusual request, however this is a very unusual situation. What about your brothers? Do they feel the same way you do?” “I can’t speak for them, Sir. But the Gang only worked when it was all three of us, and I think my brothers have lost the urge to be marshals. They’ve settled down and are looking at buying one of the neighbors’ ranches to split between them.” “Let me think on this Deputy Fox. Being as deep undercover as you were, it’s going to take some different tactics to resolve this without revealing your identities. But I will find a way to help you, considering the work you did on that last job.”