Chapter 30

Jessie plopped down in the train seat beside Colt, feeling relief mixed with butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She hated to leave her family with only a long letter to explain everything, but it had to be done. Colt had a plan, and she aimed to see it through.

“Did everything go well?” Colt asked beside her.

How she had missed that soothing voice of his.

Jessie nodded. “I hope so. I wrote out a letter explaining everything. I hope Momma doesn’t worry. I know she’ll wonder about me. I told them how to contact me, but explained that the mail doesn’t get to us very often out in Arizona.”

Jessie nearly smiled at the thought of returning to that tiny shack with Carby and Colt. She had missed their company.

The train’s whistle blew, and Jessie tensed. She was suddenly plagued with doubts. She didn’t want to be separated from her family again. What if they didn’t understand?

Colt must have sensed her disinclination, for he put his hand over hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s gonna turn out alright, okay? You’re much safer with me. Adam might not be as inclined to pursue your inheritance further if you’re all the way across the country and living within two miles of Clint Slade.”

Jessie stared at his hand over hers, feeling secure by his presence. She knew that he would protect her if Adam grew violent, but who would protect her heart?

As she glanced up at his face, she knew that it was far too late for that. Her heart had already given itself away, even if it wasn’t wholly his yet, she knew and recognized the yearning within her. Something she had never felt with Adam.

Her mind told her to move her hand, but the strength flowing from him was something that she needed at the moment. Something she couldn’t survive without.

The train set to moving, and the butterflies in Jessie’s stomach multiplied. Terrified and nervous, she flipped her hand around until their palms touched, needing the reassurance that he was truly there.

Her eyes wandered over to his, and locked in place. There, in the depths of his pale blue eyes, lay the heart of a hero.

Someone who had traveled across the country to return a raggedy old dress to her.

Someone who had rescued her.

Her hero.

Of all the men she knew, no one wore his heart like Colt did. She felt as if she knew everything about him just by looking into his eyes.

All too soon, his eyes shifted until they looked out of the window to the swiftly passing town.

An emotion came over his face.

Hurt.

What had hurt him? She hadn’t even said anything hurtful.

Suddenly self-conscious, she removed her hand from his grasp and felt the coldness assail her with his absence. Clasping her hands together, she looked straight ahead and tried to avoid eye contact with the man next to her.

*****

Colt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What was he even thinking? Swooping in and taking Jessie away from her home? Sure, he had a good reason, but she was so nervous about the whole ordeal that it made him second-guess his plan.

Not to mention those big green eyes and how they looked at him so trustingly.

He couldn’t be trusted. Not when his heart belonged to two women.

You idiot.

He seemed to hear himself say in his head. What are you even thinking? Two women? One is married, for Pete’s sake! And the other is sitting right beside you, lonely and terrified, and you’re looking out of your window like a whipped puppy.

Colt glanced over at her, not sure he wanted to but taking a step of faith, and found her avoiding his gaze.

No wonder.

Sighing at his own ignorance, he looked back out of the window and tried to sort his heart out.

Someday you’ll meet a lovely woman, and she’ll love you more than I ever could.

Bliss’ words rang in his ears. He hadn’t believed them before, but at the moment, when this woman saw so close to him, he was nearly convinced.

It didn’t seem fair to ask anything of her, not when her fiancé had turned out the way he had. She had loved that man. Colt knew it.

Not to mention that he was keeping things from her. She had no idea what Bliss was to him.

He didn’t even know what Bliss meant to him, but he did know that last night was the loneliest night for him. Being so near to her and yet so far away, he felt more apart from her than when he was back home.

“Are you alright?” her voice asked.

He snapped his head back in her direction. “Sure I am. Why do you ask?”

Jessie looked down at his lap. He followed her gaze and found that he had been wringing his hands and hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m… I’m just…” He couldn’t come up with an explanation to satisfy himself.

“If you’ve changed your mind about taking me back to Arizona, then I can get off at the next stop…”

“No,” Colt interrupted. “It’s not that at all. This… this is the right thing to do. We’ve got to keep you safe.”

He heard Jessie sigh. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“You’re not trouble. If you were, I wouldn’t have come across the country for virtually no good reason,” Colt reassured her.

“Then why did you come? That old dress was hardly an excuse.” Jessie asked curiously.

Colt couldn’t answer that. He had no idea why he had come after her.

“I guess I was just looking for any way to justify seeing you again.” Had he just said that aloud?

If it wouldn’t have looked suspicious for him to pound his head into the window a thousand times, he would have done just that.

However, Jessie sat there and smiled. “I’m glad you did.”

He stilled. Surely he had heard wrong.

“Who knows what might have happened to me if you hadn’t been there,” Jessie added.

Colt nodded.

Just his luck.

“You’ve made quite a habit of rescuing me,” Jessie said with a light laugh.

Colt smirked. “If you wouldn’t make it so blame enjoyable, we might not have that problem,” he teased.

Jessie smiled. “What did Carby think of you coming back?”

Colt shook his head. “I don’t even know. I didn’t give her a chance to talk me out of it.”

Jessie smiled.

The conversation came to a lull, and it wasn’t as comfortable as Colt had hoped it would be. He felt like he needed to tell her something, but he had no idea what to say.

Later on that day, darkness had descended over the sky, and the train still sped on. Colt simply watched the window, as nothing but darkness crossed over his view. The other passengers in the train were already sleeping, but neither he nor Jessie could seem to join them. At least, that’s what he thought until he felt something on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Jessie asleep on his shoulder. He didn’t dare move a muscle, just as he hadn’t the first time she fell asleep in the same position. All he could do was take her in. Her coppery hair fell and contrasted with the green of his shirt, and her arms crossed over to stomach, a habit of hers that he still hated and wanted to break.

At that moment, he wondered if she even knew how beautiful she was, if Adam had ever told her.

Now that he thought of it, she had the prettiest nose. Did Adam ever tell her that?

Probably not, because the man didn’t even care how she felt.

The thought of Jessie investing her all into a man and then having him turn on her was saddening and strangely familiar.

*****

Jessie woke up to the endearing surroundings of Colt’s bedroom. While she had insisted that she not take his room again, but he had assured her that things were temporary and that he didn’t mind. Though she felt awful for banishing the man to the floor, the old bed hadn’t felt more comfortable after days of riding on a train.

As she readied herself for the morning, she heard voices coming from the kitchen on the other side of the wall. She heard a feminine voice, which she recognized as Bliss Slade immediately.

She opened the door to the room and stepped out to greet the woman, but Bliss stopped mid-sentence and stared.

“You brought her back?” she asked Colt.

Colt smiled back at Jessie. “It’s a long story. One which I need to talk to Clint about as soon as he gets the chance.”

Carby grinned and took Jessie by the arm. “You just missed the good news. You know that line shack that Colt had worked so hard on? Well Bliss here pitched a fit until her Daddy let us stay in that house until we can get back on our feet. It’s not completely finished, but it’s better than this old place!”

Jessie smiled from ear to ear. “Thank the Lord! I knew that beautiful place couldn’t go to waste. I’m so happy for the both of y’all!”

Bliss smiled. “It took a little convincing, but I finally made Daddy see my way.”

“I really can’t thank you enough, Bliss,” Colt said, standing up as Bliss did.

Bliss shrugged. “It was the least I could do after Grace told me all that back breaking work you put into that place. It made me right smart mad, I tell you. A line shack. Humph! Daddy can be ridiculous sometimes.”

Colt didn’t even hint a disagreement with her.

Once Bliss left, Jessie and Colt went about packing up the entire cabin. Bliss said they could move in as soon as they were ready, and aside from the porch, the entire house was completed.

Jessie had never seen Carby’s eyes light up so much when she set eyes on the house. Jessie , also, was in shock, if not more so than Carby. The place looked exactly like the one she had described to Colt!

She turned to him. “I thought you were painting the house white?”

Colt shrugged with a sheepish grin. “I changed my mind.”

Jessie’s heard melted at that moment. Never in her life had anyone made her feel like Colt Kidd.

Even Adam, who had held her entire heart in the palm of his hand, hadn’t made her warm through and through like the man standing beside her.

A mangled prayer of thanks was sent heavenward from Jessie’s heart for the opportunity to spend a few weeks in the wide expanse of a yellow house with a wraparound porch and white trim.

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