Chapter 32
Jessie stepped out onto the front porch, a determination in her heart but a nagging fear in her mind. What if Adam actually decided to use his gun? What if someone got hurt?
“What do you want, Adam?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
Adam looked disheveled, with his wrinkled tan shirt and ruffled hair sporting a nasty hat ring. His bloodshot eyes were glazed over, hinting a lack of sleep.
“You know what I want, Jessie. I want you. I… I can’t live without you, honey,” Adam’s nearly begged her.
“I’m sure you can’t.” Jessie laced her words with sarcasm and crossed her arms.
“What do you mean?” Adam narrowed his eyes at her.
“I remember everything, Adam. I remember the fight, I remember the man you sent to find your father and ‘tell him the good news’. I remember everything. You want my money so you can pay off your father’s gambling debts. You never cared for me, Adam Jeremiah.”
Adam stared at her and stumbled over a coherent sentence. “I… you… um… You don’t understand. His life is at stake here. They’ll kill him if they don’t get their money.”
Jessie glanced around for Colt, but didn’t see him.
“I don’t see as to how that’s my problem. I didn’t even know I had this money until a few weeks ago. It seems to me that you know more about me than even I do. Surely you can find some other innocent heiress to peddle your charms on to get their money,” she said.
Adam set his gun up higher and directed it to the other side of the house. “Show yourself, Kidd.”
Slowly, Colt appeared out from behind the house.
“Unarmed, too? My, my, you are a brave one,” Adam sneered.
“I’m gonna give you a chance to mount your horse and ride out of here one more time,” Colt said, lifting his chin a notch.
Fear gripped Jessie’s heart. She knew that Colt was no match for Adam in any fight. Fear for his life caused her breath to catch and her knees to shake.
Adam laughed. “You’re gonna give me a chance? Look who’s got the iron, Kidd. That makes me the boss.”
Colt shrugged. “If I would have thought a gun necessary, I would have gotten one. Put down your weapon.”
Adam glared at him before leaning slightly forward to emphatically state, “No.” He waved his gun around and motioned for Jessie. “You come here. I’m taking you home where you belong.”
Jessie looked to Colt for advice, but he offered none. It was almost as if he wasn’t worried for her at all.
“Move!” Adam yelled.
Jessie walked toward him and stopped a few feet from where he stood. Adam closed the distance and grabbed her arm, shoving her toward his horse. “Mount up. This time I’m gonna make sure you have no one to come after you,”
Adam directed the gun at Colt and drew back the hammer.
“Adam, no!” Jessie screeched.
A shot rang through the air, and Jessie screamed.
Just as she was expecting Colt to fall, Adam collapsed onto the ground in front of her. Relief mixed with sorrow plagued her mind as she searched for the gunman who had downed Adam.
Doc came running from around the edge of the house with a pistol in his hand.
“It took you long enough,” Colt hollered at him as he made his way toward Jessie.
Adam writhed in pain on the ground, blood oozing from his shoulder.
“You okay?” Colt asked as he wrapped his arms around her.
Jessie drew from his strength, unable to speak. His arms held her up as her knees grew weak.
The sound of beating hooves drew their attention away from the scene. While they tried to determine the identity of the rider, another shot cracked through the air. With a ringing in her ears, Jessie turned to see Doc collapse onto his knees, blood leaking from his chest. She tore away from Colt and ran past Adam with a smoking gun in his hand. The world around her faded as she knelt beside Doc.
He couldn’t die.
Not by Adam.
A third shot pierced the air, and this time she whirled around to see Adam with another bullet hole in him, lying motionless on the ground. Clint Slade stood just away from the porch, his smoking gun trained on the rider approaching.
Jessie let all other sounds and sights fade as she focused on Doc. Who would know what to do with a gunshot wound? Doc was the only one who knew anything about medicine around the ranch. Soon, Carby was at her side and the men were carrying Doc into the house. A third man was present, but Jessie didn’t take the time to determine his identity.
Doc couldn’t die. Not after he had helped save her life.
Lord, please let him live. Please. I haven’t repaid him yet.
*****
Colt sighed with relief as he examined the exit wound on Doc’s back. He wouldn’t need to dig a bullet out, but Doc was far from clear. If they didn’t get the bleeding stopped, he might not survive.
“Allow me,” An old, familiar voice said. “I dealt with many wounds like this during the war.”
Colt turned to the man behind him with a snarl on his face. “Get out of here,” he growled at Damian Jeremiah.
“I know what you think, but I had nothing to do with my son’s plans. Please, can I help?” Damian pleaded.
A deep sorrow hovered under the surface of Damian’s eyes, and Colt realized that he had no choice but to trust the man. He had never treated a gunshot wound before. Damian was their only hope.
Colt leveled the man with as hard of a glare as he could muster.
“You better do you very best, you understand? If he dies, it’ll me hard for me to ensure that you don’t meet the same fate,” he warned.
Damian nodded, moved to the side of the bed where Doc lay and began examining the wound.
“You might want to check on that girl,” he said, not looking up.
Suddenly remembering Jessie and trusting Granny to assist Damian, Colt walked out of the room and saw Jessie sitting at the table, staring out the open door to where Adam lay motionless on the ground, his blood staining the earth beneath him. Tears poured down her cheek, as her shoulders shook, nearly breaking his heart.
He walked to the door and closed it, blocking her view of the scene outside. Just as he closed it, it opened again. Clint poked his head through.
“What do you want me to do with him?” he asked.
Colt looked back at Jessie, but she was obviously incapable of making that decision.
“We’ll let his daddy handle it. Whether he wants to send him back to South Carolina or plant him here, I guess well let him decide,” he said.
Clint nodded and ducked his head back outside and closed the door.
Colt turned to Jessie and walked over to stand beside her.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he knelt on the ground beside her chair.
Jessie sniffed as another tear rolled down her cheek. It hit Colt that she might still love Adam, even though she had broken off the engagement. Colt couldn’t understand all she must be feeling.
“I should be the one who’s sorry,” she said quietly, her voice cracking. “I shouldn’t have come out here. I should have stayed and faced whatever he wanted to do. It was so inconsiderate of me, and now Doc is going to die and it’s all my fault.”
She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began shaking again. Colt reached up and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Listen to me. There was nothing any of us could have done to prevent what happened. Doc’s injury was the product of Adam’s greed and nothing more. Don’t blame yourself for this, okay? Doc’s going to be fine. Damian has dealt with gunshot sounds before. He knows what he’s doing.”
Jessie shook her head. “What if it was you? What if his aim had been a little better and Doc died right there in front of me? I risked all of our lives.”
Colt stood and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “It wasn’t. Okay, those things might have happened if things went differently, but they didn’t. We’re all gonna be fine,” he said in his most comforting voice. He hated to see her like this. It was enough to break his heart in half.
She sat there quietly, sometimes sobbing, sometimes taking a deep breath and trying to compose herself. He just stood there behind her until she had finally calmed down.
Suddenly, a door to their left opened, and Damian came out, drying his hands with a towel.
*****
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul…”
Jessie stood beside the hill of dirt on the ground. She listened to Colt’s words, and tried her best to understand him. While she pitied the man that lay in the ground, she could not muster up any sorrow for him. She knew that he was judged now, whether it be above or below, and she couldn’t be sure of more than that.
She looked to her right and examined the face of one of the bravest men she ever knew. His life had nearly been taken by the man they were mourning, and yet he stood tall and proud by the grave. Doc had a faith and peace in his soul that Jessie envied and hoped to obtain in the coming years.
“The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed… blessed be the name of the Lord,” Colt closed his Bible and bowed his head, the rest of them following suit. “Lord, we stand here today remembering the life that you put on earth. A life that existed to learn, and to teach. Though we don’t know its purpose, we do know it’s Creator, and that alone is sufficient. To you is all the honor and praise that we can give. We ask that you help and guide Adam’s grieving father, Amen.”
Jessie looked up and glanced over at Colt. She knew that performing the service was hard for him, but he couldn’t find it in his heart to deny Damian. Adam had been buried on a rise just off Dottie Belle property, just where Damian loved it most. Though none of the Dottie Belle crew was happy with the arrangement, none of them would reject Damian’s simple request.
Jessie glanced at her father, who was only a few hours behind Adam. He had heard about the man coming after her, and was skeptical of his methods in bringing her back around.
Daddy wrapped an arm around Jessie’s shoulders. “You okay, honey doll?” he asked.
Jessie nodded, looking at the plain grave. “I… I don’t think I ever loved him, Daddy. I think I was just lonely.”
Daddy squeezed her shoulders. “Well, it’s in the past now. Nothing we can do about it.”
Jessie nodded.
“However,” Daddy’s voice took on a teasing tone. “There seems to be someone - in the present - who you seem to get along with.”
Jessie smacked him on the chest, but couldn’t seem to hide a hint of a grin. “Daddy,” she scolded quietly.
Daddy chuckled and they walked away from the grave to join the others.
“How did you two know what was going on out here?” Colt asked Doc and Clint.
“Well, after I saw Adam come through the ranch, I knew something had to be up with the girl,” Doc glanced over and smiled fondly at her. “So I grabbed Clint and we came up to check on things.” Doc touched the sling on his right arm and smiled. “Guess I got more than I bargained for.”
“Well,” Colt put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We’re sure indebted to you for that.”
“And not only them,” Daddy stepped forward and extended his hand to Doc. “Jessie’s mother and I are forever grateful for your bravery on her behalf, Mr. Dawson.”
Doc shrugged and shook Daddy’s hand. “Well, she’s kinda special to all us around here. Reckon we outta keep her safe.”
Jessie smiled at his kindness and felt a growing appreciation and love for the people at the Dottie Belle ranch.
I was going to post this in the morning, but I went ahead and posted it tonight right before I went to bed. Leave some comments for me to wake up to! Did I scare you?
I was originally debating whether or not to take Doc out of the story, but found that I loved him too much.
Tickle that star if you remember Ben :,(
I love you all so dearly and thank you SO much for making me a part of your day!