Chapter 9

Bliss sifted through her father’s old newspapers, looking for something interesting to read. One would think that in so many years’ worth of newpapers that there would be at least one interesting article.

Lifting a paper from the top of the stack and walking to sit in her father’s office chair, Bliss read over the front page.

“One thousand dollars will be rewarded to the person who captures Kassidy Klaine, dead or alive. If you have seen this woman, please notify the local authorities immediately.”

Bliss read the article on the second page about a recent freight office robbery that Kassidy Klaine had pulled off. It had been very well detailed and thought out. What she read near the bottom shocked her.

“She was accompanied by the Slade brothers. It’s speculated that they could be the three men that rode with her when she robbed the bank in Casteelburg, Montana. The capture of the Slade brothers will be rewarded with five hundred dollars each. If you have any information on Kassidy Klaine and her gang’s whereabouts, please report to your local authorities as soon as possible.”

Bliss’ eyebrows drew close together. Who was this Kassidy Klaine woman and how had she been associated with the Slade brothers? To her knowledge, the Slade brothers had died nine years ago.

Flipping back to the front page, Bliss noticed the date.

The newspaper was ten years old.

Deciding to get to the bottom of the story of Kassidy Klaine and her posse, Bliss went through the newspapers and picked out every one she could find that had her name as a headline. Her father never paid attention to the newspapers anymore, anyway. She took the stack of papers to her room and placed them under her pillow and out of sight. She would read them later. As for the moment, she had laundry to gather for Grace.

*****

I don’t know what it is about her overwhelming need to get Clint out of here, but I think her cute plan to make him leave just might work. Making a man miserable is her specialty when she wants to show it, and she has plenty of experience doing it.

Clint asked me about Seth Ryder today. I can’t figure out if the man is nosy or if all of these questions are really helping him protect Bliss. Either way, I know that he’s the one being hired to do this, so we have no choice but to trust him.

Bliss, Clint, and I leave for Plateau tomorrow to get supplies. I sure am glad that Clint is coming along. I probably couldn’t control myself out there alone with the likes of Bliss Cooper. I can’t believe that I haven’t told her how I feel. She has a right to know if a man thinks she’s the greatest invention since life itself, doesn’t she? I’m just nervous that she won’t trust me. She has trust issues with men and I can’t blame her. The past she’s had with men isn’t something to be proud of. I just want to prove to her that not all men are low-lying dirt bags.

I suppose that I’ll keep my mouth shut for the time being and just keep praying for her. That’s the most a man can do for his woman, isn’t it?

Colt closed his journal and set it aside under his bed roll.

“Kidd? You gonna help me with these here stables or not? You been up there for half an hour,” another cowboy said down below him.

“Comin’,” Colt muttered, scooting across the floor to climb down the ladder.

*****

Bliss retrieved her father’s dirty clothes from his room and placed them in her basket. Daddy always kept his room the same way Momma had kept it. The same quilt on the bed, the same pillowcases on the pillows, the same pencils on the writing desk, the same books on the shelves, and the same rug on the floor. Bliss couldn’t help but think of her mother when she was in Daddy’s room.

Her sweeping gaze connected with the desk and the contents on top of it. Her eyes landed on the newspaper she had placed on the table a few days before. The one that had come up missing.

So her father had taken it!

He was hiding something about the contents of that newspaper, and she was sorely tempted to find out. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, sorely disappointed and hurt that her father was keeping even more secrets from her.

*****

Clint sat at the table after supper that night and listened to Mr. Cooper and Damian tell yet another war story.

“I had one bullet left, and Damian here was fresh out. The Yanks were bearing down on us from all sides. I tried to find my target, but there was no way to pick one amidst the sea of bluecoats.” Mr. Cooper demonstrated with an arching motion of him arm.

“I put my beyonet to good use,” Damian joined in, “but there was too many of them. Just when I felt sure that we were done in, two of them came charging at us, guns blazing and battle cries piercing. We clutched our guns to our chests and prepared to leave this world.”

“Suddenly,” Mr. Cooper cut in, “A cannon ball came out of nowhere. It took both of them out and all that was left was their boots and their guns on the ground. We took up their guns which, though stained with their blood, led us both out of that battle alive.”

“And we were lucky to get out. I’m tempted to think that it was Devine intervention what brought us out of that war,” Damian suggested.

Clint saw Grace nod and Miss Cooper roll her eyes, the action not going unseen by the very observant cook.

“I’m beginning to agree with that, Damian. Now, Bliss and Mr. Slade, you two better get to bed. You’ve got a long day tomorrow,” Mr. Cooper said.

Clint glared at the man. He had a good mind to tell him that he would go to bed when he felt good and ready, but refrained. It just wouldn’t do for him to get fired.

Instead, he rose from the table and said goodnight, walking back towards the bedroom he was staying in. Miss Cooper caught him just before he entered.

“We’ll leave at about five in the morning. That sound okay to you?” she asked.

Clint nodded. “I’ll be up and ready.”

“Good,” She smiled at him and opened the door next to his. “Goodnight.”

“G’night.” Clint entered his room and threw his hat onto the peg beside the bed.

He unbuckled his gunbelt and slung it over the back of the chair at the desk, drawing the revolver out of the holster and placing it under his pillow.

A few hours later, he was still awake. Laying flat on his back with his arms crossed behind his head, he thought again about this Seth Ryder no one liked to talk about. If the man had been a severe threat, then Mr. Cooper would have notified Clint at the start, wouldn’t he? Mr. Cooper struck him as a man that would do anything and divulge any information about his daughter in order to keep her safe.

The only problem Clint found with the man was the way he treated his daughter. She was a more than grown woman, and yet the man still treated her like a child. Even worse, she sat back and took it from him like a child. Clint had been tempted to stand up for her more than once over the past few days. Then again, he was never the heroic type, no matter what the dime novelists and newspaper journalists said.

What was heroic about being a hired killer, anyway? It was a profession just like any other job. He did what he was paid for, and that was it. What about killing outlaws and murderers made him different from the rest of the lawmen in the country?

These thoughts plagued him until he bored of himself and finally fell asleep.

*****

Bliss tied her horse to the back of the wagon and climbed up into the front seat. The early morning sun broke out across the Arizona landscape and sharpened every hue, sending it’s light across the sky in shafts of pastel color. Colt climbed up and sat beside her whole Clint sat in the back, keeping an eye on his horse, which he had also tied to the back of the wagon alongside Bliss’.

Colt took up the reins and prepared to get going.

“Wait!” A voice hollered from across the ranch yard.

The three of them turned around to see none other than Damian Jeremiah running toward them, as fast as his aging legs would carry him, with a bulging duffel bag in his hands.

“What’s going on, Damian?” Bliss asked.

“I’m coming with you,” Damian explained.

Bliss smiled and looked over at Clint, who was frowning and glaring at the man.

“The more the merrier!” she replied cheerfully.

All the more torture to put her protector through. Clint looked at her and, for a moment, she thought she saw an emotion behind his eyes. Yet it vanished before it could fully materialize, returning his eyes to their usual icy grey color.

Damian climbed up into the back of the wagon and sat down across from Clint. Bliss smiled and nodded at Colt. Her plan was beginning to get better.

“So why did you decide to join us, Mr. Jeremiah?” Colt asked once they got moving.

“I decided that I needed to accompany ya’ll. I need to get some fresh air and thinking time. And please, call me Damian,” Damian replied.

“Fresh air, huh?” she heard Clint mutter.

“How’s the journalist business doing?” Colt asked.

“Horrible. I guess that’s a good thing. It keeps me on my toes. That’s another one of the reasons that I wanted to come to town with you three. I need to make sure that one of my articles gets mailed safely.” Damian explained.

“Well, we could have done that for you,” Bliss stated.

“I’m well aware of that, but I like to hand deliver my letters to the post. It’s a personal policy.”

Bliss shook her head. “My father and I still can’t believe that you are a journalist. We never expected such a career from you. I never took you for much of a writer, either.”

Damian laughed. “One of my many wonders.”

Thank you guys so much for reading this until this point! Means so much to me that you guys keep reading each chapter!

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