Against Her Will

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Two

Tanner drew his gun and dropped to one knee just as another bullet whizzed through the air where his head had been mere seconds before.

Tanner saw the man. He was tall, very thin and quite ugly with a beak-like nose and pockmark scars. Tanner was certain he'd never seen the bastard before in his life.

But ugly bastard was going to die. He could very easily have killed Temperance or Jackson with those bullets he'd already fired and he was preparing to fire another one.

Tanner cocked the hammer back and squeezed the trigger. The bullet slammed into his attacker's chest and the man fell back hard into the dirt. Tanner glanced at Temperance and Jackson to ensure that they were fine and saw them holding one another tight and staring at the fallen man with fear in their eyes.

"Tanner..." Temperance whispered. "I know him.. I don't know his name but that's.. he was with Yancy when they held me all those years ago..."

Tanner growled low in his throat, ignored the crowd beginning to gather round and walked to the man who was feebly attempting to raise his gun as blood pooled beneath him and dripped from his mouth.

"Why did you do that?" Tanner ground out. "Why'd you shoot me and get yourself killed?"

"Yancy..." the man coughed once and blood splattered across his face as it flew from his mouth.

Tanner put his foot on the man's hand to stop him from raising his gun further and glared down at him. "What about Yancy?"

Ugly bastard met his gaze and Tanner could see the anger radiating from his eyes. "Yancy was my friend."

Tanner chuckled coldly and cocked his gun before aiming it directly at the man's large, sloped forehead. "You need to pick a better class of friends."

The gunshot echoed across the dusty storefronts and Tanner holstered his weapon as he went back to his wife and son without sparing another glance at the dead man upon the ground.

"Daddy..." Jackson whimpered. "Did you kill him?"

Tanner hated the fear he could hear in his son's voice. He didn't want the boy to be afraid of him. "Yes, I did, Jackson. He would have killed me if I hadn't."

"Tanner--" Temperance stepped forward but her eyes were on his torso. "He shot you..."

Tanner glanced down at his side. The right side of his white shirt was soaked in blood and his favorite brown vest had been ruined. The pain was bad but Tanner had had worse. He had gotten fairly immune to physical pain over the years.

"I'll be okay, Temp," he promised as he laid his hand on her cheek. "It didn't hit anything important and it went all the way through."

"Can we go home now?" Jackson asked as Big George slowly plodded back to them. "I'm ready to go home."

Tanner nodded and ruffled the boy's hair, happy when he smiled a little. Hopefully it was just fear of what had happened that Tanner had heard in his son's voice and not fear of him.

"Can your old pa go to the doc first and get patched up?" Tanner asked.

Jackson nodded. "Yeah. You'll get blood all over the wagon."

Tanner chuckled as Temperance snuggled up to his left side and Tanner kissed her hair, "You alright, sweetheart?" he asked.

"I just want to go home, Tanner. The fair has been fun but I'm ready to get the hell out of this city."

"You and me both, Temp," Tanner assured her.

He grabbed Big George's reins and was about to push them through the small crowd that had gathered around when he heard the sound of spurs behind him and the cocking of yet another gun. Before he could reach for his a booming voice filled the air.

"Tanner Montgomery, put your hands up and turn around real nice and slow. This is Sheriff Musgraves and you're under arrest for murder."

***

Temperance heard the words but knew she had to be mistaken. Murder? Tanner hadn't murdered anyone--at least not just now. That had been self defense!

Slowly the family turned and faced the sheriff who was an imposing character with a thick mustache, broad chest and gleaming badge. "He didn't murder anybody!" Temperance exclaimed with desperation. "It was self defense!"

The crowd mumbled in agreement but the sheriff shook his head and two deputies stepped over from the boardwalks. "You've gotta come with us now, Tanner."

Temperance felt tears fall down her cheek. She couldn't lose her husband again. She couldn't lose him to prison or to the gallows. She was going to jump forward and beg and plead but Tanner reached out and stopped her.

"Temp, take Jackson to the wagon, sweetheart."

"But Tanner... I can't lose you," Temperance whispered, her voice a broken whisper.

Tanner's blue/gray eyes were red rimmed and full of more sadness than Temperance had ever seen in one person before. "Temperance, please, get him away from here. I don't want him to see me led away."

Temperance nodded once and Tanner stooped low to catch her lips in a heart wrenching gentle caress that felt too much like goodbye for Temperance to stand.

Tanner pulled away and managed to smile at a very confused Jackson. "Daddy loves you, son. You make me real proud and I want you to always be a good boy and help out your mama. Alright?"

Jackson nodded and clung to Temperance's skirt. "Okay, daddy."

Tanner met Temperance's gaze again. "You're gonna be just fine, okay?"

Temperance wanted to scream and yell and curse him for lying. She wasn't going to be okay! Not even close to it. But she knew she had to maintain a strong front for her son. So she nodded. "Okay."

Tanner let out a shaking breath and motioned for them to leave. Temperance steps were jerky and stiff as she led her son and Big George away from Tanner--all she could do was pray that somehow, someway things would turn out differently this time than the last he had been taken in for murder.

***

Tanner was cuffed and led down the dusty road and onto main street. He kept his head high and didn't say a word as they walked down the brick street and up the gleaming stone steps of the city jail.

"Franks?" the sheriff addressed one of the deputies as he led Tanner to a seat at a fancy polished desk and had him sit. "Go get the doc to see to Mr. Montgomery's wounds."

Tanner was confused as the deputy tipped his hat to him and then rushed away. Since when were murderers allowed to sit in the main office, given quick medical attention, addressed at sir and hat tipped to?

This building was impressive. High, copper ceilings, polished floors, polished desks, polished shelves--hell everything in here gleamed and shone in the sunlight streaming through the floor to ceiling windows of the two story jail. And everyone here was watching him closely with expressions that didn't fit what he'd come to expect from those looking at a murderer.

Tanner's cuffs were removed and a glass of water was suddenly held in front of him by a skinny man with glasses and red suspenders. "You should drink, Mr. Montgomery."

Tanner took the glass and sniffed the liquid inside. "It's just water," Sheriff Musgraves assured him. "Hell, we aren't about to poison the biggest damn hero that this town has ever seen."