Renegades and Stubborn Pride (sequal to Renegades and Pretty Women)

Chapter Five

“Alright, well lets get a move on. We gotta be getting close.” Jonah said as he swung himself up in Copper’s saddle.

Reb climbed up on his mare and Clayton started toward the other man but Jonah shook his head.

“Hey, kid, ya wanna ride with me on Copper?”

“I sure do!” Clayton exclaimed with a smile and Jonah felt the first real smile he’d smiled in years come to his face.

“Come on then.” he urged. He gripped Copper with his legs and leaned down to pick the boy up and then set him on the saddle in front of him.

“This horse is great. I want one just like this when I get growed up.”

“I think I can probably find you one.” Jonah replied. “Of course it takes a lot of training to make a horse as good as Copper.”

“I’m good with critters. That’s what mama says…. Ya would really get me one?”

Jonah nodded as he slid one arm around the boys waist and felt his heart fill with more love than he would have ever imagined it could hold. That didn’t make any sense. He’d met the boy less than twenty-four hours ago and yet already he would die for him. Already he would do anything just to keep his son safe and happy. Already he was in love with this tiny child that seemed to be all the best parts of Jonah and Joe all rolled together with none of the bad.

“Yeah. Yeah I’ll really get you one.”

***

“I’m startin’ to worry ‘bout my mama.” Clayton whispered that night as he and Jonah sat alone around a tiny campfire. Reb had gone off to keep watch, though Jonah figured the man had really just wanted to give Jonah time alone with his son.

“Don’t worry, Clayton. Your mama is the toughest woman I know, hell she may just be the toughest person I know, she’ll be okay.”

Clayton poked at the fire with a stick, (something he seemed to like to do which was something the boy seemed to have in common with his mother), and then he looked up at Jonah with a frown. “Can I ask you sumthin’?”

Jonah stretched out his legs and leaned his back against the rock behind him. “Ask away.”

“You are the Jonah from them stories right?”

“Yes.” Jonah replied with a sigh. The boy had already asked him that question close to a thousand times.

“So who’s Josephine?”

“Someone that I….. I loved.” Jonah replied, feeling that knot tightening in his gut.

“Cuz I always kinda though that Josephine was my mama. Ya know Joe and Josephine kinda sound alike and Joe ain‘t ‘zactly a woman‘s name.”

“Are you sure you’re only four?” Jonah demanded as he swiped at a spot of dirt on his knee. “You seem awful smart for a four year old.”

“Yeah, mama says I’m near half grown already.”

Jonah just shook his head, laid his hat over his face and then leaned his head against the rock and closed his eyes. Silence reigned for about ten seconds before Clayton poked him in the shin.

“So ya gonna answer my question or what?” Jonah lifted his hat and raised a brow.

“I wasn’t aware that you had asked me one.”

Clayton let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. “Is Josephine my mama? Are those stories ‘bout you and my mama?”

“How would you feel if they were?” Jonah asked cautiously as he wondered what in the hell Joe had been feeding this kid to make him so damn smart and grown up at the age of four.