Hope's Heart

Chapter Eleven

A/N: Chapter Eleven is here! For those of you who read about Hope and Calvin's kiss at the end of Chapter Ten, I've gone back and edited that bit so that the kiss never happened. Sorry! Just to let you know so that there's no confusion as you read this chapter. 

Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

Several days later

"Come on. One step at a time," Hope encouraged, walking on one side of Luc as the young man slowly descended the stairs, his wounded shoulder wrapped in a sling. Maggie was on the other side, echoing her mother with a concerned look on her face that matched Hope so much Calvin, who was watching, couldn't help but grin.

They reached the bottom step and Luc stopped dead. "That's it. I can walk on my own now; it wasn't my leg that got shot."

"No," Nellie retorted, emerging from the kitchen, "but it's your head that'll be feelin' the weight of my hand iffen you don't listen to me and Hope."

Calvin grinned. "Better listen to the doc, 'Doc'," he teased.

Luc tried to glare at him, but the scowl developed into an answering grin. "Okay," he said reluctantly. "Just let me get out onto the porch. I feel like I've been in jail for years."

Hope sighed. "Fine. But no farther, or else you'll have to answer to me and Maggie."

"Yeah!" The little girl echoed, her arms folded in an exact parody of Miss Nellie, making Calvin laugh outright. He glanced up and his eyes caught Hope's. She smiled, a slight hint of colour rising in her cheeks, and then looked away hastily.

Calvin sighed a bit. Even though things were back to normal between him and Hope, he was still conflicted about telling her his feelings, especially in the light of the fact that the men who shot Luc could still be out there. The last thing he wanted was for her or Maggie to get hurt.

"Mr Cal?"

The voice made him look down. Maggie was looking at him, a worried look in her dark eyes. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

Calvin crouched down so that he was on eye level with her, a slight smile on his face. "Sure, kid." He tugged lightly on one of her braids. "Why?"

She shrugged. "You just looked sad for a bit."

He looked away. "I was thinking about somethin' else for a while. But I'm alright now."

She smiled. "Good." She reached out her small hand, and Calvin took it, a surge of protectiveness rising in him as he looked down at her. There was no way he would let anything bad happen to her---or her mother.

~

"Did you find anything yet?" Luc asked a while later. He was sitting on the porch bench, while Calvin was standing, whittling deftly at a piece of wood while his eyes roamed the busy street. With winter coming in, folks were starting to visit the store more often, buying provisions to store up for the cold weather. 

Calvin shook his head. "No."

"I thought you had the bullet."

"I did, but...it was from a Winchester. Lots of men in town and on the ranches own them; I couldn't know whose it was." He'd talked to the sheriff, but Wyatt had waved him away with vague promises and a contemptuous look in his eye. So, Calvin had continued the investigation on his own, but after five days with no answer, he was beginning to think about giving up.

Luc glanced at the boarding-house door before speaking in a lower voice. "Do you think they were after you?"

"I don't know." Calvin stared at his best friend. "But I want to be ready when I find out."