Chapter 21

Colt blinked a few times before pulling his gaze away from Jessie’s startled face. He quickly regained his thoughts and he looked at Dean, who wasn’t known for being the smartest of the bunch.

“Dean,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and shaking his head. “Didn’t your Ma ever teach you manners?”

Dean looked between then for a few seconds before realization dawned on him. His eyes widened and his face turned a shade of red that Colt hadn’t seen on a man before.

“Oh, then she isn’t…” The man’s statement remained unfinished as he shuffled his feet and looked at Jessie.

Colt shook his head once more. “No,” he mouthed.

Dean winced. “I’m real sorry ma’am. I really do feel like an idiot.”

Jessie crossed her arms and set her jaw. “I’m sure you do. Boot leather doesn’t taste very good, does it?”

Dean stared at her, clearly not comprehending what her words implied.

“Just get back to work, Dean. You‘re lucky that you‘re not a smart one or I‘d be obliged to pummel you.” Colt shoved the man by the shoulder and he walked off.

Colt turned to Jessie, not quite sure what to say. She looked at him and it was clear that her pride was wounded and that confounded arm moved to wrap around her stomach and tried to conceal what she thought was there.

“He’s the idiot around here, you know. He doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about,” Colt told her.

She nodded but didn’t say anything. She took her measuring tape and pulled it across the width of the window frame.

“Can you write down some numbers for me?” She asked finally.

Colt was silent for a moment. How could she go on like nothing had happened? He knew how shy and self-conscious she was about her weight, and a virtual stranger had just pointed it out. Wasn’t this the time that women typically began to cry?

“Sure,” he finally croaked out.

She handed him a piece of paper and a pencil. While she told him numbers, he jotted down and they moved to the next window. They did the same thing on every window of the house until she had the measurements of all the windows. Colt handed the paper over to her and waited while she inspected it. Her eyes rolled to the ceiling.

“This is completely backwards, Colt,” she said.

Colt’s heart stopped for a second. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll go back through and redo them myself.”

A smile broke out across her face. “I’m just kidding. You did good.”

Col let out a whoosh of breath. “Don’t scare me like that.”

She giggled. “You should have seen your face.”
He shook his head as they walked - and hobbled - toward the front door. A shrill whistle came from a group of cowboys taking a break in the room the kitchen was to be placed in.

Colt turned and hollered back at them. “Would y’all get back to work? I don’t pay you to sit around and whistle like a bunch a’ birds.”

He ushered Jessie out the front door and shook his head. “It would appear like these boys ain’t had a lick of raising.”

Jessie shrugged. “It’s not like they’ve had a woman around to practice on. It seems that Mrs. Slade keeps her distance from them all.”

He helped her up into the wagon and climbed up beside her.

“She does. Sherman brought her up that way,” he told her.

Jessie nodded. “That’s a good standard to have. I’ve heard stories of cowboys out here. Some say that most of them are refugees from the law looking for a way to earn some cash and stay as undercover as possible.”

Colt shrugged. “Some are like that, I guess. Most of them are looking for a life of adventure out here in the West. They’ve all got too big of dreams and too little of money.”

“I don’t think there’s a such thing as too big of a dream, Colt,” Jessie told him as they started moving.

Colt glanced over at her. “But sometimes you have to be realistic.”

“Of course. That’s why they’re called dreams and not plans,” Jessie pointed out.

Colt thought on that a moment. “Good point.”

“Take your dream of owning your own spread some day. At the salary you have now and the income you’re getting with taking care of your grandmother, it can seem pretty unrealistic, but it’s still your dream. Maybe someday God will look down and see to it that you get your dream, you never know. That’s why it’s important to hang on to those dreams and make sure they stay in your heart. Reality can never become a dream, but a dream can become reality.”

Colt sighed as he listened to her. His whole plan of having his own spread had become a distant dream the day his grandmother moved in. So far, it didn’t look like it would be a reality any time soon.

“Just wait in patience, Colt,” Jessie said, as if reading his thoughts. “You never know when God might just perform a miracle.”

Colt smiled over at her. She was sure something else.

“Do you have a dream?” he asked.

She glanced over at him and a faint pink blush came over her cheeks. “It’s silly.”

“Nothing is silly out here, Jessie. We’re all big dreamers,” he grinned.

She glanced up at him for a split second before her eyes drifted back to her lap. “I dream of having a big yellow house with white shutters and white trim. It has a big wrap-around porch and roses planted in flowerboxes under the windows. Surrounding it is a pretty white picket fence with flowers planted along it. It will be occupied by my husband and I, and we’ll watch the sunset every evening on that porch. Maybe with two kids, a boy and a girl, and a big sky above us.”

Colt smiled. “Sounds like a good dream to me.”

“Not silly?” she asked.

Colt shook his head. “Pshh. Not silly at all.”

She smiled back at him.

They arrived back at the shack and Colt hopped down before walking around to help Jessie down off the wagon. Once she was on the ground, he climbed back up into the wagon seat.

“I guess I’d better get this wagon back before Sherman misses it. I’ll be home later,” he said.

She nodded. “I’ll have some coffee on.”

He smiled down at her. “Thanks.”

She turned to walk away, but he couldn’t stand for her to just leave.

“I’m sorry about… what Dean said. It was insensitive and I’d shoot him in the face if I didn’t have any morals,” he said.

She gave a weak smile as her hand unconsciously moved to cover her stomach - again. “Don’t worry about it.”

Colt sighed. She couldn’t hide behind that brave façade she was trying to put up. She might could fool Dean, but for some reason Colt saw right through her. Two and a half short weeks had made a blooming friendship between the two of them, and the compassion that he felt for her kept growing each time she tried to cover her stomach with her arm. Every time she made a desperate attempt to try to make herself feel thinner, he felt the need inside of him to make sure she knew how beautiful she really was grew.

*****

Adam groaned as someone knocked on his hotel room door.

“Who is it?” he grumbled.

“Telegram,” a voice replied.

Adam walked slowly to the door and opened it. The operator stood in the doorway with a yellow envelope in his hand. He extended it when Adam appeared.

Adam took it and thanked him, shutting the door before the man had even turned to go. He’d had enough of this town and the people in it. Most of all, he’s had it with this wild goose chase. He had begun to accept that Jessie was gone forever, but then her mother had to go poking her nose around in places she didn’t belong. What happened to women knowing their place in this world?

He tore open the telegram and read it, finding that it was from Myrtleville.

JESSIE STEELE FOUND IN PLATEAU ARIZONA STOP TAKEN CARE OF NEAR DOTTIE BELLE RANCH STOP COLT KIDD

Adam smiled and clenched the paper in his hand.

She was alive!

*****

Colt took a deep breath and summoned up all the courage he could possibly have. It was high time he faced the one person he had been putting off for so long.

Alright, Lord. This is for Jessie. She needs a woman like Bliss around until her family can come for her.

He opened the door and walked down the hall. He took a deep breath and continued to the kitchen.

Bliss and Grace were sitting at the table drinking tea, talking about the weather or something of that sort. Colt didn’t really listen, too distracted by seeing her again, reliving the memories of years before.
Why did this have to be so hard?

Her coffee-brown eyes shifted until they landed on him, and his heart began to beat faster. Where was that Clint when you needed him?

Quickly reining in his heart as best as he could, he stepped forward as she smiled.

“Colt! It’s so good to see you. I haven’t seen much of you for the past few weeks,” she said.

Colt rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’ve been mighty busy.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t even seen you around here. Have you been in your office a lot?” Bliss asked, taking another sip of tea.

“Some.”

Grace stood and took the teapot to the stove and set it on the burner to warm back up.

“Something on your mind, Colt?” Bliss asked.

Colt placed his hands on the back of one of the chairs and sighed.

“Well, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”