Chapter 40

Bliss squealed as she stared at Clint on the ground.

“Clint!” she knelt by his side.

His hand gripped her arm as he looked up at her. “Run, Bliss. You’ve got to get out of here. Go, now.”

She shook her head.

“So, what’ll it be, Cooper?” Joe cocked the gun and aimed it at her head.

Bliss froze in place, even with Clint urging her to flee the scene.

“I really have no idea where that money is. Won’t you get that through your head?” Daddy tried to convince the man.

“You just saw me shoot Clint. You know I’ll do the same to your daughter,” The gun started to shake in Seth’s hand.

Bliss looked over Clint until her gaze stumbled across a bloody place on his leg. The uttered a prayer of thanks and stood to her feet, planning to face Joe head on. If Daddy wasn’t going to tell him where the money was, then she was going to have take care of him herself.

“You won’t shoot me,” she stared at him. “You know why? Because you remember too much. You know good and well that I mean too much to you.”

Joe’s eyes grew to a darker shade of fury and his hand became even more unsteady.

“Cooper, I’ll shoot her right here,” he warned, cold beads of sweat breaking out across his forehead.

“Don’t,” Daddy pleaded. “She’s the only one who knows where the money really is.”

Bliss snapped her head toward her father. “Say what?”

Joe stared her down. “Is that so? I should’ve known she would have pulled a stunt like that.”

Bliss stared at her father and wondered why he would say such a thing. She had no idea where the money was.

Amazingly, Joe lowered his gun, but then he directed it at her father. “Tell me,” he demanded.

Bliss panicked. She could lie, but that would make things worse for them when Joe found out the truth. She couldn’t tell him the truth, because he wouldn’t believe it.

“I’m tired of waiting,” Joe told her, his grip tightening around the gun.

Bliss looked down at Clint, who had propped himself up against the porch railing and looked up at her, a contemplating look in his eyes. She had to buy them some time.

“Before I tell you where it is, you have to answer me something,” Bliss crossed her arms.

Joe rolled his eyes upward. “Fine.”

“Who was my mother, really?” Bliss asked.

Joe rubbed his face. “She was the best blame outlaw this side of Rio Grande. Why, she could rob a bank and steal the strongbox off a stagecoach in the same morning.”

Bliss’ eyes widened. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. She looked down at Clint, who nodded up at her.

“Yeah, Kassidy was a good one. Too bad she had to die,” Joe shook his head and his gun lowered somewhat.

Bliss jerked her head toward her father and demanded answers.

“Kassidy Klaine was your mother, Bliss,” he said.

Bliss stared at him. “Are you serious?”

Daddy nodded.

“Wait,” Joe narrowed his eyes. “She doesn’t know this. You don’t know where the money is.”

Joe’s gun directed back on her and Bliss took a step backward.

Something collided with the back of Joe’s head, and he fell forward onto the ground. Bliss took another step back and looked up at who had saved her life.

Abel held a Clint’s rifle by the barrel, the butt of the gun in midair.

“Idiot,” he mumbled down at Joe.

Abel stepped over Joe and walked up the steps to squat down beside Clint’s leg.

“What made you do that?” Clint asked.

Abel examined Clint’s leg before looking up at him. “You’re my brother.”

*****

Clint leaned his head back against the porch railing as his brother took a closer look at his leg.

“Freeze, the both of you,” a voice said.

Clint and Abel both looked up at Sherman, who held a loaded .44 in his hands.

“Daddy, put that away,” Bliss scolded.

“Sherman,” Grace’s tone matched Bliss’.

“You two stay out of this. They’re not getting away this time,” Sherman told them.

Joe began to stir, and they all looked over to him. Abel handed his rifle to Bliss.

“Smack him on the head one more time, little lady,” he said.

Bliss took the gun and her eyes widened before a smile broke out across her face. Clint could tell that she was going to enjoy this.

“Not too hard,” Clint cautioned her.

Bliss nodded and drew the gun back to his Joe on the head with just enough power to knock him back out. Joe groaned and went limp again.

“You two quit moving around!” Sherman warned.

“Daddy, its Clint,” Bliss stated the obvious.

“I know who it is, and he’s going to be sent to the clink along with the other two,” Daddy told her.

Bliss gasped.

Clint watched as Grace walked right up to Sherman and took the gun out of his hand.

“This is silliness,” she stated.

Sherman stared at her. “Give me that.”

He tried to take the gun back, but Grace held it out of his reach.

“You’re gonna let Mr. Slade take care of Clint, and you’re gonna be happy about it. Then you’re gonna cart Joe into town and pretend you never saw the other brother. Is that clear?” Grace asked.

“What in tarnation?” Colt stood in the doorway of the house and looked out over the scene. “What’s happened here?”

Clint smiled at the man.

“I heard a shot and rode back here as fast as I could. Clint? Are you okay? What are you even doing here?”

Clint’s smile broadened as Grace patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, sonny. We’ll explain later. You help Clint get into the house. Sherman, you get that other one and make a couple of the cowboys watch him real close, ya hear?” Grace gave orders off to everyone as if it were a normal day on the Dottie Belle.

Clint looked up as Colt reached down a hand to help him to his feet with Abel on the other side.

“You don’t look so good,” Colt said once Clint was on his feet.

Clint winced against the pain in his leg and looked over at Colt. “Quite frankly, you don’t look so good, either.”

“Smart aleck,” Colt mumbled.

Clint smiled faintly as they entered the house.

*****

“He should be fine in a couple of weeks,” Doc said to Bliss.

Bliss smiled at the one cowboy who knew anything about medicine and thanked him. “Guess we’re lucky the bullet didn’t stick in there, aren’t we?”

Doc nodded. “I’ve taken lots of bullets outta folks. It ain’t a perty sight.”

Bliss sighed. “Thanks again. I’ll make sure you get a bonus this month.”

Doc smiled. “Thanks, Miss Cooper.”

Bliss dismissed him and walked down the hall to Clint’s already crowded room. It seemed that everyone had questions that they wanted to ask.

She slipped into the room and leaned onto the wall near the door, content to sit back and not be noticed at the moment.

“I don’t see why you didn’t ride back to Tennessee like you were going to. Did you have a feeling that something was going to happen?” Colt asked.

Clint looked around the room and his eyes finally landed on her… and stuck.

“I guess you could say that,” he mumbled.

“Alright now, we need to let Clint rest. Mr. Abel, if you’ll follow me we’ll get you fed and get you settled in the spare bedroom,” Grace said, heading for the doorway.

“Thank you, Miz Grace, but I won’t be staying. I’m going to go with Joe,” Abel said sadly.

Clint jerked his head to look at his brother. The look he gave Abel told Bliss that he didn’t like that idea. “Abel,” Clint reasoned, “You don’t have to go.”

“You’ve told us yourself that a life on the run is no way to live. I’d rather get it over with now than a few years down the road. I’ll serve the time and pay the price for what I’ve done. You were smart to get out when you did, Clint. Before you had anything on your conscience,” Abel said, twisting the brim of his hat in his hands.

Bliss caught the pained look in Clint’s eyes as Abel exited the room. Before he was completely gone, Abel turned around.

“Take care of yourself, little brother,” he smiled, looking over at Bliss. “Take care of this one here, too. They don’t come much better.”

Clint smiled at his brother before he was gone.

The room cleared, leaving only Clint and Bliss in the room. Bliss walked over to Clint’s bed and sat on the edge.

“How’re you feeling?” she asked.

Clint shrugged. “Alright, considering. It could have been a lot worse.”

Bliss nodded. “It sure could have. Guess God was watching over us today… just like he always has.”

Clint looked up at her as if he didn’t understand a word she said. Such words must have been strange coming from her.

“You don’t know how freeing it is to finally feel like your life has a purpose again. Well, then again, I guess you do,” Bliss smiled at herself and rested her hand in his. “I’m glad you’re safe. I’m never gonna let you leave my sight after this. You leave for a few days and when you come back you’ve got two outlaws with you.” Bliss shook her head.

Clint grinned. “I’m pretty good, ain’t I?”

Bliss shook her head. “You’re hopeless, is what you are. Now you get some rest and I’ll go talk to Daddy a minute before he leaves.”

“What about not letting me out of your sight?” Clint asked, his eyes twinkling.

Bliss squeezed his hand. “You know good and well that if I stayed in here, we’d talk and you’d never get some rest, so I’m going to step out. I’ll be back in here to check on you in a little while.”

She stood and let go of his hand, walking to the door.

“By the way, Miss Cooper,” Clint’s words caused her to turn around. “I think your eyes are a lot prettier when they sparkle like that.”

Bliss smiled. “Thanks, Clint.”

Little did he know how much that meant to her. Her eyes were actually sparkling again.

*****

Bliss walked down the front steps, cutting her eyes at Joe as he sat on top of a horse with his hands tied behind his back and two guns directed at him.

“Daddy,” she caught her father before he mounted his horse.

Daddy turned around and faced her.

“Make sure you tell the sheriff in town that Abel went willingly with you. It might get him a lighter sentence,” Bliss told him.

Daddy rolled his eyes at her. “Why do you stick up for these people?”

“Because I believe in them, Daddy. You might think I’m sill, but I honestly think that Abel can turn around. Maybe even Joe, too,” Bliss replied.

“You hate Joe,” Daddy grumbled.

“No, Daddy. That me is gone. I’ve let her go,” Bliss smiled.

Daddy narrowed his eyes into slits and cocked his head. “What’s happened to you?”

Bliss looked up at the sky and giggled. Even the chilly air couldn’t take the warmth away from her heart. “What’s happened to me?” she looked back at her father. “I’ve lost control, Daddy. You don't know what it's like to completely let go of your life and never have to feel like you control what happens. That's too much pressure to handle. Let me tell you that you're missing out. It's freedom.”

Daddy arched an eyebrow.

“And it feels amazing,” Bliss spread her arms wide and smiled, spinning in a circle with her gaze up at the clear sky.

She walked back up the porch a steps, humming to herself and not letting her smile dim. She felt like anything could happen to her, and it wouldn’t matter. It was as she had told her father, and she had lost control.

Because no matter what, no matter where, she didn't have any control over what happened to her, but she knew exactly who did.

Sooo? Thoughts? Thanks so much for reading and being patient with me, guys!