Chapter 41

Bliss knocked on Clint’s door later on that day, carrying a glass of water for him.

He told her to come in, and she opened the door.

“How’re you feeling?” she asked him.

“Fine,” Clint smiled at her with a shrug.

Bliss loved seeing that smile on his face.

“Need more pillows or anything?” she asked him as she handed him the glass of water.

Clint shook his head. “I really am fine.”

Bliss nodded.

“Sit down, I’ve gotta tell you something,” Clint motioned to a chair near the bed that he sat up in.

Bliss took the seat and pulled it close to the side of the bed before taking a seat.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked, crossing her legs and leaning her chin on her palm.

“It’s about your mother,” Clint’s expression clouded over. “Joe revealed it all to me.”

Bliss leaned forward. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. What did Daddy mean when he said that my mother was Kassidy Klaine? He must be mistaken.”

She had convinced herself that she had simply misunderstood her father earlier, but the look in Clint’s eye told her that what he had to say next wasn’t good news to her.

“He wasn’t mistaken. My brother’s boss, Kassidy Klaine, quit the gang because she had to move back here to Arizona to spend time with her baby girl. She talked about her all the time, called her Dottie a lot…”

Bliss interrupted Clint’s words with a gasp.

“Momma used to call me Dottie Belle all the time… it’s where the ranch got its name. It was her way of teasing me about the freckles on my nose,” Bliss smiled as tears stung behind her eyes. “I loved that nickname.”

Clint held his hand out to her before he continued. Bliss slipped her hand into his and he squeezed it tight.

“She told me and my brothers that she had buried the money somewhere out here and made up a fake map. I guess it was her way of protecting the people of Destin from my brothers. There was never any money. Kassidy returned the money to the bank in Destin and never told the boys about it. This happened after I ran away. I never even knew she had been killed.”

“So it’s true? My mother really was an outlaw.” Bliss felt her hand begin to shake.

“I’m afraid so,” Clint told her.

Bliss set back in her chair. The words didn’t sting like she thought they would. “This explains why my father had those newspapers of Kassidy Klaine and her robberies. They were like souvenirs.”

Clint shrugged.

“And his knife being on the top of Almighty where Momma died… did he…? No, I refuse to believe that,” Bliss shook her head.

Her father wouldn’t do that. There was no reason for him to harm Momma in any way.

“You don’t have to, because your father had nothing to do with that murder,” Clint assured her.

“Murder? So she really was killed on purpose?” Bliss asked.

“Yes, but your father didn’t do it. Joe did.”

Bliss stared at him. “J-Joe? Seth? I… I don’t understand…”

“He claims that it was an accident. He was so angry that he hadn’t gotten his share of the money that he acted on an impulse. That belt buckle we found was just the remains of the item that he had choked her to death with. He threw her over the edge to make it look like she jumped. After falling from that high up… there wouldn’t be much left to examine.”

Bliss closed her eyes at the images flashing before them. “But why… why would he… after all the time that had passed…”

“I don’t know why he married you,” Clint interpreted her meaning. “My guess is that you looked a lot like your mother and he was trying to look for a way to redeem himself. His motive for getting you back wasn’t that innocent, though,” Clint explained.

Bliss looked out of the window. It was just like the cad to try to make himself feel better, not caring what others thought. She tried to rein in her ill thoughts, uttering a prayer for help. Her heart smiled as she did so. It felt good to not have to try to help herself any longer.

“What were his plans?” Bliss asked Clint, looking down at their intertwined hands.

“He planned to marry you, get rid of your father by making it look like an accident, just like he had done to your mother, and get his hands on this ranch. He was bound and determined to get rich quick, no matter who he had to kill to her there.”

Bliss saw the muscle in Clint’s jaw clench as he spoke, his hand tightening slightly around hers in his anger towards him brother.

Bliss rubbed her thumb across his fingers, though inside she was an erupting volcano of emotions. Hatred, regret, fear, and relief bubbled up inside of her until she focused on the least violent of all.

“Thank you for stopping him,” she said to Clint.

Clint looked over at her. “I just wish I had been able to protect you sooner.”

Bliss smiled at him. “I think God had perfect timing.”

Clint smiled back at her. She looked closely and saw a faint dimple on the left side of his smile. She shook her head slightly. Clint had hidden so many things besides a dimple behind that scowl of his. Even his steel grey eyes grew a little softer when he smiled, though they still penetrated her heart with their pulsing gaze.

“I’m going to let you rest now. The sooner you get that leg healed, the better. Christmas is in a week and I want you to at least be on crutches by then,” Bliss went to stand, but his hand didn’t let hers go.

“Are you busy?” he asked.

“Not really,” she responded.

“Can… Can you sit with me for a little while? Just until I fall asleep,” Clint looked up at her sheepishly.

For once the rough gunfighter looked completely vulnerable and innocent. She couldn’t refuse.

She sat back down beside him and wrapped both of her hands around his. “I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

She leaned forward and boldly kissed him on the forehead, and when she pulled back she found that he was already back asleep. She smiled and brushed his hair off his forehead. Though he was asleep, she couldn’t find it within herself to pull her hand from the radiating warmth if his.

Even if he was probably going to leave her as soon as he got better, so pushed that thought in the back of her mind and focused on the time that she had in right where he was. She would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it.

*****

Clint woke up later on that day, blinking his eyes a few times to adjust to the afternoon light coming from the window. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on something dark brown and bright blonde next to him. He looked over to see Bliss, leaned forward in her chair with her head resting on the bed next to his arm, asleep next to him.

He smiled as his gaze stumbled over their intertwined hands just beside her head. He held his breath for a moment and just felt. Felt the soft, small hand as it fir perfectly into his fingers. Felt the warmth of her head against his arm. Most of all, he felt the feelings that had budded inside of him grow. He was growing fonder of the young lady next to him, faults and all. When he had first arrived at the Dottie Belle, they had both been children in a few different ways. Yet now they had both grown into the Lord nearly at the same time. Sure, it had been bumpy there for a little bit, but Clint wouldn’t do it any other way if he could.

Still, there was the question of Colt. Bliss meant the world to him, and they had known each other for the longest time. It could be that they had developed feelings for each other while he was gone. It could be that he was too late to have a chance at all with Bliss.

Besides, her father hated him, and he couldn’t picture them having a happy marriage when her own father didn’t even bless it.

Lord, I’m a jumbled up mess right now. I don’t know what to do with myself, I’m so confused. Why would Bliss want a bum-legged gunfighter when she could have Colt without any effort at all? He is the kind of man she needs. One who could guide her in You as a husband ought to do. God, please guide my steps. Help me to make sense of my feelings.

It wasn’t long before Bliss began to stir. She lifted her head and her eyes landed on him straight away. Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings.

“Grace is gonna kill me,” she mumbled.

Clint smiled.

“I must have fell asleep,” she smoothed out the skirt of her dress and smoothed down her hair.

“Just a little bit,” Clint teased. “Just be glad you don’t snore.”

“Oh, Clint. Don’t even tease about such things!” Bliss said in mock horror, putting her fingertips over her lips.

She stood and reluctantly pulled her hand from his. It felt so empty… strange… without hers filling it.

“I’ll be back around suppertime. The three of us might come in here to eat with you to keep you company if you want us to,” she told him, her hang on the doorknob.

Clint nodded. “I’d like that.”

Bliss left, and Clint focused his thoughts on the day’s events. This morning he had woken up by himself, the loneliest he had ever been. Now he had woken up with God’s most beautiful and charming creation sleeping with her head next to him.

God had blessed him. Sure, he had lost two brothers today, but he had gained so much more.

*****

By the next week, Bliss started watching for her father to return from town. She didn’t know if he would stay around long enough for Clint’s brothers to go on trial or not, but she would have some questions to ask him as soon as he rode up.

As Grace had expected, Daddy rode up the first day they started expecting him. Christmas Eve. He had never liked being in town, but Bliss had hoped he would stay around long enough to bring some news of the Slade brothers. However, she wouldn’t have wanted him gone on Christmas Day.

Daddy entered the house and Bliss met him in the hallway.

“What happened? Are they in jail?” she asked.

Daddy held up a hand. “Mind if I at least sit down first?”

Bliss smiled and followed her father to the kitchen where he sat down and Grace placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

Sitting across from her father, Bliss rested her chin in the palms of her hands and stared at him.

His eyes averted hers, but she kept staring as he took a few sips of coffee. Even Grace had begun to stare at him while waiting anxiously for news.

Finally, Daddy sat his coffee cup down. “They’re in jail. I left one of the cowboys in town to return after the trial and all was over. He’ll return and let us know as soon as possible.”

“How long until the judge arrives?” Bliss asked.

“About a week, they said,” Daddy answered.

Bliss leaned back. “Clint won’t like the waiting.”

“Thank you for bringing him up. We have to talk about him,” Daddy motioned for Grace to sit down.

“What about him?” Bliss narrowed her eyes at her father.

“He might have been loyal to us through all of this, but he is still one of the Slade brothers. I don’t think we can trust him again,” Daddy sighed.

Bliss resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Again? Her father had never trusted Clint to begin with.

Sending a brief prayer heavenward for help in controlling her words, Bliss leaned forward.

“If Clint was going to betray us,” she said, “then he would have done so before his brother attempted to plug him, don’t you think?”

Daddy thought on that a moment. “I just feel uneasy about him.”

“Daddy,” Bliss reached across the table and took her father’s hand in her own. “What’s the real reason why you don’t trust him?”

“This is the real reason, honey…”

“Sherman,” Grace interrupted Daddy’s words. “Just tell her.”

Bliss searched her father’s eyes for a moment. He was having a battle within himself about what to say.

“Fine.” He took a deep breath. “After that who debacle with Seth… er… Joe, I promised myself that I would never entrust your care to anyone but myself. But when I decided to hire Clint Slade, I expected the man to be older and to not have such an… authoritative demeanor. I didn’t trust him from the start because I knew that I was handing your protection over to a strange man. I was tempted to back out, but I knew that the most important thing about this time was keeping you safe, so I kept him on. After a few weeks, I started noticing that you two were becoming friends. I knew better than to trust a friendship between a man and a woman. I thought that my hostility would drive him away, but it never did. If anything, it made him look better and me look worse. That’s not what I would have ever expected.”

Bliss smiled slightly and looked her father in the eye. “He’s not who we thought he was. He’s changed into a man that we can respect and admire for the right reasons. He’s shown me back to God, and now I’ve changed, too.”

Daddy stared at her. “You’re really happy, aren’t you?”
Bliss nodded. “For the first time in over ten years, I truly am.”

Daddy waited a moment before a smile split his face in two. “He can stay as long as you think he should.”

Bliss smiled. “Thanks, Daddy.”

*sigh* This book is almost done! I think I might cry...