Chapter 24

Colt rode up to the cabin and dismounted, feeling the ache in his knees as well as his head. Even Worthless had known better than to bark at him as he rode up. Smart dog, because Colt would probably not have the patience to deal with him at the moment.

He took care of his horse and walked toward the front door. Worthless came walking slowly over to him and put his head under Colt’s hand.

Colt rubbed his brown head a few times before walking into the house, the setting sun just ready to send darkness over the land and let them all rest for the night. He couldn’t have been happier about that.

He opened the door and saw Jessie sitting at the table as she always did, watching the fire crackle and sizzle in the fireplace. She turned when he entered.

“It’s nearly dark out there,” she observed. “You’re awful late. Everything okay?”

Colt glanced at where Adam lay asleep on the floor across the room and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I had to talk to Sherman for a little while.”

“Was he mad at you?” Jessie asked.

Colt sighed and hung up his hat. “Not really.”

“You look tired,” Jessie said as she stood and walked to the stove.

“Let’s just say that I’m not ready to run a race just now,” Colt said as he sat at the table and leaned on his forearms.

Jessie sat a cup of coffee in front of him. The steam rose up and warmed his face as he wrapped his hands around the cup.

“So what did he have to say?” Jessie asked.

Colt put his head down and took a moment before answering. “He’s not going to give Bliss that house.”

“What do you mean?” Jessie’s hand flew to hover over her heart. “You mean the one you’ve been building on?”

Colt nodded. “She saw one she fancied and he bought it for her.”

Jessie was silent for a moment. “What’s he going to do with the house you’ve been building?”

“Probably make it into a line shack,” Colt answered.

Jessie’s eyebrows drew close together. “If I didn’t think…” She glanced over at sleeping Adam and lowered her voice. “If I didn’t think it would hurt your employment status, I would march right on down there and tell him exactly what I think of him.”

Colt smiled faintly. “Thanks, but it’s all over and done with now.”

“Done or no, it’s still ridiculous. Of all the things he could have done to you, he had to go and throw away your hard work. Is he still paying you?” Jessie leaned back in her chair.

“I’m pretty sure he is. I guess we’ll just finish the house and he can use it for whatever he wants,” Colt sighed.

“It’s just unfair.” Jessie shook her head.

Colt took a drink of his coffee and stared at the fire.

“You look incredibly tired. I’ll go ahead and go to bed.” Jessie pushed back her hair and stood.

Colt stood with her. “Thank you. You really don’t have to keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” Jessie’s eyebrows drew close together.

“Staying up for me. You don’t have to keep doing it.”

“I know,” Jessie smiled at him and walked back to her room.

Colt waited until the door clicked shut and sat back down. He was tired of everything. Tired of worrying, tired of stress. All he wanted was to go to sleep and wake up when this was all over.

*****

Jessie picked up the breakfast dishes after Colt had left that morning. Carby stood washing the plates while Adam still sat at the table, watching her closely.

“What?” she asked, looking back at him.

Adam shook his head. “Nothing.”

“You’re watching me like you think I’ll bolt at any moment,” Jessie smiled.

“Nonsense.”

Jessie shook her head. “Did Millie have much to say after I turned up… missing?”

Adam chuckled. “She came up with so many notions. At first she nearly convinced your mother that you were kidnapped, then she decided that someone convinced you to run away with them, which we all knew wasn’t true,” Adam ran his finger around the rim of his coffee cup as he spoke.

Jessie laughed and shook her head. “She’s a mess.”

A moment of silence passed and Jessie attempted to help with the dishes.

“You take yourself over there and sit down. You were up too late last night and too early this morning to be up and around like this,” Carby protested.

Jessie threw up her hands. “I don’t know what to do with you! I need to get Doc to take a look at this leg to see if I can walk normally on it again. Maybe then you all will stop treating me like an invalid.”

“Doc? That cowboy who was in here yesterday? You’re trusting him with the care of your leg?” Adam asked.

“Of course. He’s very experienced with the care of broken bones and the like. He does work on a ranch, you know,” Jessie said as she sat down at the table across from him.

“Not on women,” Adam grumbled.

“I don’t see the difference,” Jessie stated.

“You wouldn’t,” Adam said sarcastically.

Jessie looked at him. “I don’t know what’s got your jeans in such a crinkle, but you need to get it straightened out. You’ve done nothing but grumble since you’ve found me. One would think you’d be happy as a lark about finding your fiancé after you thought her gone forever.”

Adam looked at her strangely. She knew that she had never spoken to him like that before, but he was just being so contrary!

“You’re right. I’m sorry, I’ve just been so stressed out lately,” Adam said, putting his head down.

Well, bless your heart.

Jessie leaned back and crossed her arms. “When are you going to alert my family that you found me?”

Adam shrugged. “Getting you back to Myrtleville is my main concern. They’ll give up and return home soon.”

“But they’re worried about me,” Jessie pleaded. “They need to know that I’m safe.”

“What do you want me to do? Go looking for them now and leave you alone? No, I can’t do that. I won’t,” Adam crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head in determination.

Jessie sighed. He had a valid point.

She just wished her family knew of her whereabouts.

*****

Colt entered the house later that day at suppertime and found everyone in their natural positions. Granny was leaned over a pot on the stove, Jessie was sitting at the table watching her, and Adam was sitting at the head of the table, looking as if he were in deep thought about something.

Jessie turned when she heard the door close. “It’s nice to see you arrive at a normal time.”

Colt smiled. “Now that we don’t have a deadline on the house, the days aren’t as long, thankfully.”

“I noticed that Worthless didn’t seem to bark much today,” Granny observed.

“I did too. Wonder if he’s getting sick?” Colt asked.

“He might just be getting used to you,” Granny said with a wave of her hand.

Colt shrugged.

Granny placed a pot of the table. “Let’s eat.”

Everyone had eaten and the dishes had been washed when they all settled down around the fire. The setting sun sent orange rays into the room through the window, drawing Colt‘s attention to the orange and brown buttes that stood tall and proud in his view. They were what set Arizona apart, and they made it beautiful.

“What do you think of Montana, Colt?” Granny’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Pardon?” Colt asked, sure he’d heard her wrong.

“I want to visit Montana someday,” Granny said.

Colt glanced at Jessie, who was trying to contain a smile, then back at his grandmother. “Why Montana?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just a place I’d like to visit.”

Colt sighed. “We’ll have to run into quite a bit of money before we can do that, Granny.”

“I know, but it’s nice to think about,” Granny said with a faint smile.

For that moment, with the withering wisps of graying hair framing her wrinkled face and that sparkle in her eye, Colt saw his grandmother for who she really was. She was still a young, adventurous woman who just wanted something more than the ordinary. She just wanted to be young and youthful again.

“We’ve got visitors, Colt,” she suddenly said.

Colt looked up and heard the hoof beats of more than one horse coming up to the cabin. He stood and walked to the door, opening it as a tall man, who looked to be in his fifties, dismounted his horse. Two other riders hung back, one of them strongly resembling a woman.

“Can I help you?” Colt asked.

“Yes, I’m looking for Jessie Steele. Would you happen to know of her?” the man asked.

A shriek came from inside the house, and Colt cleared the doorway just in time for Jessie to come through, moving faster on her crutches than he’d ever seen.

“Daddy!” She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him and letting her crutches fall to the ground.

Within ten seconds, the other two riders had dismounted their horses and the three of them hugged Jessie in turn.

Finally, Jessie turned to him. “Colt, this is my Daddy, Momma, and brother, Jake. Momma, Daddy, this is Colt Kidd. He’s the one who saved my life.”

“Kidd? Would you mind explaining this whole thing to me?” Colt froze at the sound of that familiar gruff voice. “I came here because this is the second time I’ve had to give directions to your place and I wanted to know what was going on. Now I find that there’s a woman here that I’ve never seen before. I’m not normally one to judge, but this looks mighty suspicious.”

Colt gave a nervous smile. “Hey, Sherm.”

“Don’s be all coy with me. How long has she been here?” Sherman pointed at Jessie.

“About three weeks. I knew better than to tell you because we had no idea who she was or what she was doing here. She needed my help and the only way to ensure that she got it was to keep her from you,” Colt told him.

“Three weeks? You mean that you took her to Plateau and everything?” Sherman glared at him.

“I had no choice.” Colt wished the man would understand that!

“Colt, I’ve known you most of your life, and so far you’ve been a pretty good kid. You’ve always done what I asked you and never gave me any trouble. But this…” Sherman motioned to Jessie. “This is going too far.”

“She was out in the middle of the desert with a head injury and a broken leg, what did you expect me to do? You know the dangers of the heat,” Colt argued.

“What was she out here for, anyway? You know nothing about her. Nothing,” Sherman raised his voice as he spoke.

Colt crossed his arms. “If you’re asking me to beg for an apology for helping her, then you’re gonna be waiting a mighty long time. Even Bliss knew about her and agreed that we shouldn’t tell you. Because this is the way you would react.”

“You turned Bliss against me? There are reasons that I’m protective of my land. Are you forgetting that whole Slade brothers debacle already?”

“I didn’t turn Bliss against you, Sherman. We were both trying to protect Jessie.” Colt was growing tired of arguing with the man.

“Would you two cut it out?” Granny’s voice echoed to them. “Colt, take care of these people’s horses so they can get inside out of the cold. You,” she pointed to Sherman. “You need to get off that high horse of yours and quit being so contrary. What’s done is done and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Colt turned to Jessie’s family and walked over to them. “I’m sorry about this. Jessie can explain everything to you.”

He took the reins to their horses and took them to the lean-to where he kept Hidalgo. He passed Sherman, but didn’t look at him.

“I’m not done with you, Colt!” He protested.

“Just go home, Sherman,” Colt stopped and turned to him. “Haven’t you done enough? We can talk about this in the morning and you can fire me or do whatever it is you plan on doing. It’s late and there are three more people that I have to find a way to accommodate. So, if you don’t mind, I have a lot to do.”

Sherman took a moment before replying. “You be in bright and early in the morning. We’ll have ourselves a little talk about all of this.”

Colt nodded.

Sherman mounted his horse and left, but the feeling that he left behind was even more unsettling than his presence.

*****

“We’ve got to find some way to repay that man for all he’s done for you,” Daddy said as Jessie finished her tale of how she came to be in the care of the Kidds.

Jessie nodded in agreement. “He also paid my doctor bill when he took me to town.”

“I’m just so glad that you’re safe,” Momma said as she wrapped an arm around Jessie’s shoulders.

“I am wondering how you got to be here,” Jake directed toward Adam.

“Mr. Kidd sent a telegram and home sent it to Bottlebrush,” Adam replied.

Jake nodded slowly.

“How did you three come to find me?” Jessie asked.

“We found a man who drove the stagecoach you were on. I know you don’t remember it, but you apparently asked him a lot of questions,” Momma smiled.

Jessie shook her head. “The poor man. Was he traumatized too much?”

“Not too much,” Momma teased.

The door opened and Colt entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Did Sherman leave?” Carby asked.

Colt nodded. “He told me to talk to him in the morning about this.”

“What a repulsive man,” Momma cringed.

Jessie searched his eyes. “Will you lose your job over me?”

Colt shrugged. “No telling. Either way, I’m not really fretting about it. I’ve just about had my fill of that man. He’s mean enough to swallow a horn-toad backwards.”

He walked over to the table and extended his hand to her father. “We’ve never met officially. I’m Colt Kidd.”

“Jacob Steele. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard an awful lot about you from my daughter here. We’re all very appreciative of you and what you did for her,” Daddy smiled.

“I just did what anyone would have done,” Colt put his head down and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Nonetheless, you saved her life,” Momma told him.

Colt sat down at the other end of the table and sighed. “As long as she’s okay, that’s all the thanks I require.”

Jessie smiled at him and glanced around the room. Her eyes landed on her fiancé.

A very jealous, suspecting fiancé.