Death Whispers In The Wind

Chapter 10

Castor's workload as a Bounty Hunter had scaled back considerably when he quickly found himself Sheriff of Huxebee Creek, taking over the job from the last town Sheriff, Don Sturks, when at the age of 62 he died in his sleep, of an apparent heart attack.

For the townsfolk of Huxebee Creek, it wasn't hard to search for Sturks' replacement, which the entire town had pretty much lobbied for Castor to run for Sheriff, it'd be a job that was tailor-made for him and right up his 'metaphorical' alley. It just made a whole lot of sense to everyone in town who'd known, since the very first day he set foot in Huxebee Creek in fact, he showed up one day looking every bit the part of a Bounty Hunter and then bought a home here.

Castor had gained the towns' trust by letting it be known that he was a Bounty Hunter by trade and he didn't keep it a secret from any of them of how he made his living, his life was an open book and he had nothing to hide. Although there were some reservations initially, those quickly faded away and were all but forgotten once the townsfolk came to know, love and admire Castor.

Not long after he first arrived in town, when just short of a month, which by then it didn't really matter at all to the townsfolk that he was a notorious Bounty Hunter, when the good people of Huxebee Creek got to known him as an individual and as a person, they found out he just wanted to be looked at like everybody else, he didn't want to be treated any different.

For Castor, he wanted so badly to be accepted into the small, humble, hard-working and close-knit community that Huxebee Creek came to represent, as he'd fallen in love with the place, smitten almost from the first moment he'd set foot in town. The whole town respected Castor so much and they held him in such high regard, that they couldn't really think
of anyone else to replace Sturks for town Sheriff.

Castor looked at the opportunity as a welcome change of pace, he'd grown tired of the Bounty Hunter lifestyle and begun toying with the idea of an alternative to his current work choice. He'd been seriously contemplating the subject ever since the day he strung up Bunker Frye in that abandoned saloon. The town gave him the added encouragement he needed to fully convince himself he was right for the job, the role of town Sheriff was different and yet remained distantly familiar to Bounty Hunting. Castor assumed he'd be vying for the role against a worthy candidate and opponent and specifically because of this fact, he began looking forward to the challenge, the political challenge as he ran for Sheriff of Huxebee Creek.

However unfortunately for Castor any challenge would be absent when the time came, as he ran unopposed, for no one within the small town felt qualified to run as a viable opponent and moreover, no one was truly vying for the thankless role of town Sheriff. Just after a mere week from when Sturks died in bed, Castor was being sworn in as the new town Sheriff of Huxebee Creek and little did he know, it would be a job he'd hold for the next 29 years!

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Not only did the town of Huxebee Creek give Castor Feenix a job he cherished and that which also gave him purpose, it would be the town that brought him together with the woman who became his true love, the place where he'd meet and fall in love with his future wife, Ellie Parrish. They'd met at the town church and their courtship was fast and furious and within 6 months, they were hastily married.

Both of them wanted children and were anxious to raise a family alongside their neighbors in Huxebee Creek, but that particular road in their lives and that of their future would be, sadly rife with complications. 

When Ellie had gotten pregnant on 3 separate occasions throughout the years and then to only have all 3 pregnancies end in miscarriages, each one more heartbreaking than the last and by the time Ellie had suffered her third and final miscarriage, she realized that no matter how hard they tried, she couldn't have children and because of this, she went through a period where she were withdrawn and would regularly try to mask her problems from her husband, not wanting Castor to see her coping with a guilt that stemmed from her glaring inability to bear children, something that'd begun to give her nightmares.

In Ellie's nightmares, she'd dreamt that Castor had fallen out of love with her, as she'd failed miserably to provide him with children and therefore a family, something Castor desired immensely. Within the nightmare, she stood helpless and paralyzed while she witnessed a montage of her marriage disintegrating and then watched as Castor slowly drifted away and into the arms of another woman, a romance with the other woman would blossom and if that wasn't horrible enough, Ellie then watched the two of them having passionate sex, even crazier would be the fact that this night is when the other woman conceived a baby with Castor. Then what followed was the birth of the child, a baby boy. By this point, the nightmare would be over and Ellie would snap herself awake, finding herself sobbing uncontrollably the moment she awoke.

Ellie's crying would always wake Castor from his slumber, he'd quickly hold her tightly in his arms, gently rubbing Ellie's back while softly kissing her on the forehead and neck. Castor would then console her and ask if she wanted to discuss her nightmare, she would find it difficult to confide in her husband and so, she'd consistently decline his offer. Every time she'd experience this reoccurring nightmare, Castor would constantly offer a listening ear, to which Ellie would always turn it down. It went on like this for several weeks until finally one night, Castor begged his wife to "open up to him". She relented and started to explain her nightmare to him as he quietly listened intently.

"I've been having this horrible nightmare where our marriage is falling apart..." Ellie spoke softly.

"El, that would never happen. Listen to me, I love you so damn much, it hurts! Ya know that, right?" Castor quipped back, then asking Ellie.

"I do, I do know. It's just that i've been thinking a lot about us lately."

"What is it, sweetheart?" Castor replied.

"I want you to know how sorry I am, dear." Ellie responded.

"Sorry? About what?" Castor calmly inquired.

"I wished so much, so much that I could... that I could give you what you've always wanted. I've prayed many a times for that miracle, Castor. Prayed to god so many times, got on my hands and knees, begging the lord to let me have this one and for whatever selfish reason, it's gone unanswered, those prayers went unanswered and I didn't know why?"

"El, there's nothing you coulda' done, baby. You can't think like-"" Castor said tenderly, before Ellie interrupted him.

"But now... now I realize that maybe it's because, perhaps it's because he's found me unworthy. I'm not fit to be a mother in his eyes, Castor. I might never be and I just want you to know, I want ya' to know I don't blame you for any resentment you may carry bout me, I'm sorry I can't provide you a child!" Ellie admitted sadly.

"Don't talk like that, El. Please darlin', don't blame yourself. I love you and that's all that matters." Castor said tenderly.

The matter of children would be a regular subject of conversation for Ellie, she thought about it almost constantly as she dealt with her insecurities. Castor would try to put her at ease and reassure his wife, that he was happy with or without children. For the most part, their marriage was a happy one and eventually Ellie had overcome her guilt, yet she never stopped thinking about the prospect of being a mother.