Chapter 30
Bliss stared at the lamp on her bedside table as the flame inside flickered and danced behind the glass globe. She couldn’t help smiling tonight.
Clint had fully warmed up to her. She was sure of that now, but it could be that there was more behind that smile of his than familiarity. He had smiled so many times today! It was like he was a completely different person! He had actually laughed, too. Laughed! I was so melodious to hear him actually sound happy. She wasn’t very good at reading people, but she felt that he wouldn’t have smiled like that had someone else been there, like those smiles were for her alone.
Could she be making this up? He probably didn’t even think of her as a friend.
But that smile of his!
She threw a pillow over her face and couldn’t bite back a smile. No one else had ever made her this giddy. Even her encounter with Seth merely days before couldn’t make her happiness dim down. She was completely satisfied with life at this moment.
With Thanksgiving being in two days, she tried to distract her mind with recipes long enough to plan out the day and what she and Grace would make. That only worked for about five minutes.
Every thought she had turned to the man in the room next to her. She suddenly found herself wanting to know everything about him, wanting to be the one he came to when he had a bad day. She wanted to be everything for him that Seth never was to her, someone to help carry the weight of life, someone to always be there even when he didn’t need her, and someone he looked forward to seeing.
At that moment, she knew that the feeling inside of her was endless.
I could be that maybe, just maybe, she was falling in love with Clint Slade.
*****
Clint sighed deeply. Tomorrow was the day that he would have to show up at the abandoned cabin six miles due east at twelve o’clock. He groaned and stared into the darkness at the ceiling. What was he going to do? He had no idea what they wanted or even if the Coopers had it in their house.
He would finally see what those men look like.
He rubbed at the bandage on his right hand and sighed. He wouldn’t even be able to shoot a bullet straight, and there was no telling what kind of men he was dealing with. He still hadn’t mentioned the note to Bliss. Not because he didn’t want her to know, but because he didn’t know what her father would do if he found out that she knew.
He would go to the cabin alone tomorrow, hoping that the men he was up against were interested in being peaceful.
Sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his foot his something soft instead of the floor. He leaned down and made out the shape of the Bible he had found in the spare bedroom closet laying there. He had forgotten about it until now.
Bending down to pick it up, he lit the lamp on the bedside table and studied it.
The Holy Bible, supposedly holding everything one would ever need to know about life. He had never been much of a reader, but maybe tonight it would help him sleep. Cracking open the stiff pages, the book fell open to where an envelope had been placed inside. Clint recalled seeing it before and took it.
While he knew he shouldn’t be snooping in places he shouldn’t belong, he couldn’t help but open in envelope in his hands.
Withdrawing the contents inside, he straightened out the tri-folded paper. While he was expecting it to be a letter or something along those lines, he was mistaken.
The drawings on the paper appeared to be something a kin to a map. Listed below the lines and circles were very precise directions to an unknown area. At the very bottom of the paper was a quickly-written note.
You will find your twenty-five thousand here. Make sure you are not seen if you want to stay alive. Get in and out as quick as possible.
Realization his Clint like a brick wall. He had found what those men were after!
*****
Clint saddled up his horse the next day a half hour until noon. It wouldn’t do for him to be late for the “meeting”. He felt his vest pocket for the envelope he had found the night before, and heard a crinkling noise to confirm its presence.
“Where are you going, Clint?” Bliss asked good-naturedly from where she was brushing down Butterfly Kisses.
“I’m… um… I’m gonna go for a quick ride. Gotta little thinking to do,” Clint lied.
Bliss nodded. “Does Daddy know you’re going?”
“He does,” Clint informed her, cinching his saddle.
“Guess I’ll see you when I get back. Hawk’s supposed to be getting back today, so I’m sure you would be glad to help him unload when you get back if he arrives,” Bliss said.
Clint nodded. “Will do.”
He mounted his horse and kicked him into action. He had to be at that cabin in thirty minutes or he wouldn’t be very welcome. He hoped that he hadn’t given Bliss cause to worry. If she got curious and decided to follow him, it would be all over.
*****
She was curious, so she had to follow him. Bliss hurriedly grabbed her saddle and swung if over the blanket on Butterfly’s back. She didn’t believe Clint for one minute. Daddy wouldn’t have let him just ride off unless something was wrong somewhere.
Was he going to meet Seth?
How did they find out about him?
What if Clint and Seth were in cahoots the whole time?
Bliss shoved away the absurd thought and put a bit in her horse’s mouth. This was no time to be making assumptions. If Clint was in trouble, she would be there to help.
She put the pistol she had borrowed from her father the day before and put it in her saddlebag along with some ammunition, just incase she should need it.
*****
Clint pulled up in front of the cabin. A small billow of smoke coming from the chimney and a stack of wood on the porch were telltale signs of a resident. His heart beat faster as he swung his right leg over his horse’s back to dismount.
This was it.
There was no turning back. He was finally going to meet the men behind this whole scandal.
Suddenly, a shiny barrel poked through the window.
“Who’s there?” A gruff voice called.
A hint of familiarity throbbed in Clint’s mind the minute he heard the voice.
“Sherman Cooper sent me. I think I have what you want,” Clint answered.
“Unbuckle that gun belt,” the voice said.
Where had he heard that voice before?
Clint looked down at the buckle of his gun belt. “Really? This is how we’re gonna do this?”
“It is unless you wanna be raked up to be buried,” the voice said.
Clint rolled his eyes and moved his left hand to unbuckle his belt. The gun fell to the ground, along with the bullets lining the belt.
The front door opened, and one boot revealed itself.
Clint held his breath as the rest of the man appeared, the gun in the window still keeping him on edge.
There were definitely two of them.
The man cleared the doorway and all Clint could do was stare.
Short brown hair barely peeked out from under a tan, roll brimmed hat above a pair of sea green eyes. The tall, broad stature of the man could be described as nothing other than intimidating.
Even more so than the man’s frame, the face attached to it was what rendered Clint speechless.
There was no way.
“J-Joe?” He stammered.
The man’s eyes pierced him up and down. Suddenly, is face brightened up.
“Clint! Look at you! All grown up now, I see,” he smiled.
Clint gaped at him. “Y-You died!”
“No, I assure you that I’m still alive. Abel, do you see this?” Joe looked behind him.
Sure enough, his brother Abel’s face peeked out of the doorway.
“I… I thought… How can you two be here?” Clint couldn’t pull his thoughts together.
He hadn’t lost his brothers. They were still alive, standing right in front of him.
“I think the better question is how can you be here? We’ve heard about you as a gunfighter, but I never expected you to work for the Coopers. Why do they have you here?” Joe asked.
Clint stammered a minute before he could form a sentence. “I’m protecting Sherman’s daughter from… from you. Why…?”
“It’s a long, long story, little brother. Why don’t you come inside?” Joe motioned inside the cabin.
All thoughts of the note and why he was even there in the first place dashed from Clint’s mind as he followed his brothers into the cabin.
He still couldn’t believe they were actually alive.
“Where’s Clyde?” Clint asked as they all sat down at the table in the center of the room.
“Well, he died eleven years ago in that bank robbery you came up missing in. We were all beat up pretty badly, but Abel and I pulled though,” Joe explained. “Poor ole’ Clyde wasn’t as lucky. The two of us got thrown in jail but broke out two months later. Been hidin’ ever since. Ain’t never been caught.”
“Why didn’t you hang for murder? You told me about all those people you killed,” Clint grew more confused.
“Oh, those people? We made up those stories so that you would think that we were actually more than gophers for the Boss. We never killed anyone,” Joe said.
Clint looked at Abel. “Why didn’t ya’ll ever try to find me?”
“Well, we knew you were caught up with being a good guy, bringing in all those criminals. We didn’t want to put you in a hard position by showing up, being criminals ourselves,” Abel explained. “Tell us, where did you disappear to?”
Clint gulped and shrugged. “I…I just ran. I heard all the shots and assumed the worst. I didn’t even think about the three of ya’ll. I was a scared kid… so I ran.”
Joe nodded. “Can’t say that I blame you for that.”
A brief silence fell between them, and during that time Clint gathered his thoughts.
“What do you want with the Coopers? Why were you sending those notes to Sherman’s daughter?” he asked of them.
Joe’s eyes clouded over his rage. For a moment Clint was genuinely afraid of his brother. He remembered all too well how easily it was to rile Joe.
“We have an unsettled account with the Coopers, Clint. Now we have you. This will make things a lot easier,” Abel smiled.
Clint looked hard at him. “What are you planning?”
Abel looked to Joe, who looked back at him and shook his head.
“We can’t tell you that yet, little brother. We’ve gotta know if you’re on our side first,” Abel said.
Clint gulped. He couldn’t betray the Coopers.
“I can’t pick a side, Abel. I’m being paid to protect Bliss, not hurt her more,” Clint said decidedly.
Joe’s hand curled into a fist on the tabletop. “Don’t say her name.”
Clint was taken aback by the look in his eye. “What has she done?”
“Never mind that. If you help up, we can split the twenty-five grand three ways. You’ll get an equal share just by giving us inside information.”
Clint’s thoughts turned to the envelope in his pocket.
“I’m getting two grand by simply protecting her,” he said.
Abel groaned. “You’ll still get it. Just don’t let them find out that you were helping us. We’re kin, Clint. Us Slades band together. You’re either with us or you’re against us. There’s not in between.”
“You want me to waltz back into that ranch house and act like everything is jim-dandy while you two take money out from under their noses? Where did they get this money, anyway?” Clint asked, choosing to keep the envelope a secret.
“It’s not theirs. The Boss just buried it on their land before she died,” Seth explained.
“Boss died?” Clint asked.
“Yep. Died years ago,” Joe informed him.
Clint nodded.
“So are you with us, Clint? You deserve to have your share from all those years ago, too. Boss would have wanted it that way,” Abel pressed.
Clint felt himself tense up. He had to either sacrifice his family or his good conscience.
He figured that it basically boiled down to whether he wanted to be on the right or wrong side of the law from now on.
Dun dun!!! So this might have been a little expected, but this is my first attempt at anything remotely mystery! lol. Thanks so much for reading! Love you guys! Don't forget to tickle that "vote" button!