Nate pulled back the worn curtain at the window to look outside. He still hadn't shown up. Nate was getting bored. If this woman's husband didn't show up soon, he would have to do something to pass the time. He looked over Elizabeth with a greedy expression. She was still unconscious. The things he could do to her without her even knowing. Vengeance was sweet. He decided that if the mountie didn't show up within the next fifteen minutes, then he would take her for his own, and then just send her back to her husband, so that every time he looked at her, he was gonna see him. Nate smiled with triumph. Yes, that sounded like a plan.
Jack pressed his mount to go faster even through the thickness of the trees. The rest of the men were right at his heels. There was no way that any more harm, if there was already, was going to come to his wife. He swore to himself that he was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe. He had proved it time and time again through the past years, and tonight, he was going to continue to follow through with that promise. When they reached the cabin, Jack came to an abrupt halt and turned to look at his friends. "Fellas, remember. Our priority is Elizabeth. Make sure she is safe and to get her away from Nate as soon as possible. We have to be patient, and we have to be smart." After everyone nodded their agreement and understanding, they dismounted and headed for the cabin.
Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in. She didn't know this place. Then she inhaled through her nose, and it all came back to her. The stale stench she had smelled while being tied up for hours until Jack had come to her and her sister's rescue. Then she remembered why she was here in the first place yet again. Nate Tolliver had escaped from prison. "Oh no. Please, God. No," Elizabeth whispered to herself.
"Oh yes, missy," Nate whispered behind her. "But I'm afraid you won't find God here. It's just you and me, at least until your husband gets here and I kill him right in front of you."
"I believe you already tried that last time, Nate. It didn't work," Elizabeth said. Nate stepped in front of her and slapped her across the face. She winced in pain, but she could take it. She knew that Jack was coming for her. All she had to do was wait. She watched Nate walk to the window and pull back the ripped up curtain. He smiled.
"Well I guess we'll have to see how it turns out this time, won't we?" Nate asked right before he pulled out his gun and pressed against her throat as he untied her with his other hand. He stood her up, walked her to the door and opened it. Passing over the threshold and onto the porch, he made the gun visible so that if any of Jack's men made a move against him, harm would come to Elizabeth.
When Jack saw the gun pressed against his wife's throat, the color drained from his face, and anger threatened to take over. He raised his hand to his men to let them know to not make a move against him. "Let her go, Nate. This has nothing to do with her. Your quarrel is with me."
"Well, mountie, the way I see it, if I have control over her, it means I have control over you. Although I didn't really expect you to bring so many men," Nate chuckled. "I mean, really. It's just you, me, and your lovely wife," Nate said as he dug his face into Elizabeth's hair.
Jack's hero side threatened to take over and champion Elizabeth and he took a step forward, but once he did, he heard the click of the gun. One twitch of Nate's finger and Elizabeth would be dead. Jack raised both of his hands and took that step back.
"That's better," Nate said. "Now get rid of your men."
"You know I can't do that," Jack replied.
Nate motioned for Elizabeth to sit down on one of the chairs, and Nate took out a cigar and lighted it while still keeping the gun pointed at her. When the cigar got really hot, he took it out of his mouth. "I'm sorry you feel that way," Nate said, and he tore the fabric from Elizabeth's shoulder and plunged the hot end of the cigar against her skin, burning her.
"No!" Jack yelled as he took a couple steps forward, but Nate pointed the gun at him and it made him stop. Jack had never, ever heard Elizabeth cry out in such pain before. When she had delivered their son, she fought it. It was hard to listen to on the other side of the door, especially when he couldn't be there with her. But this.... this was very different. This was torture for both of them. She felt the pain, and he had to watch.
"I'll say it again. Get rid of your men," Nate told him.
Jack turned to each one of his comrades and gave them all a nod to leave. He felt useless. They all had weapons to use against Nate. ONE MAN! But Jack had no idea what he had planned for Elizabeth, so when he saw that he was more than threatening her, what could they do? They couldn't risk it.
"Put down your weapons," Nate ordered. "All of them."
Jack looked to Elizabeth as he took off his gun holster and put down his big rifle. She was crying. All he wanted to do was to take her in his arms and tell her it was going to be all right. After he dropped his weapons on the ground, he pleaded with the villain. "Please, Nate. Just let her go." He watched in horror as Nate pressed the cigar to her skin again. "No!" Jack yelled. Tears were springing up in his eyes. He was failing the woman he loved. He couldn't believe it!
"Let's not talk about your wife for right now, so stop begging for her release!" Nate yelled.
"How good of a shot are you, Frank?" Bill asked. They were watching from a distance. This just couldn't go on.
"Very good," Frank replied. "But if we take a kill shot, Nate might reflexively shoot her. I don't want to risk that."
"Who said anything about killing him?" Bill asked.
Jack held is hands up in defense. "Hey! Look, it's just you and me. I'm not trying to fool you. Let's just talk about this." He had to get Nate's mind off of hurting Elizabeth. He had to distract him. "If you wanna talk, then let's talk."
"I want you to pay for all the years I was in prison because of you!"
"Then take the fight to me!" Jack yelled, hopefully thinking that Nate will want to step away from his wife and make the fight between them, and keep her out of it.
Nate roared with laughter. "Oh, but this is so much more fun. Watching the woman you love get hurt right before your eyes and you being helpless to save her from such pain." Right when Nate was going to burn her again, a gunshot rang out and pierced his arm that his hand held the cigar, but because of the pain, he didn't have any choice but to drop both the cigar and the gun in his other hand and cry out in pain.
"No! Stop!" Jack yelled when he saw Nate was going to burn Elizabeth again, but a gunshot fired and Nate went down, dropping both the gun and the cigar. Now was his chance! He leaped onto the porch and grabbed him by his shirt lapels and dragged him away from Elizabeth. Nate seemed to regain some strength for he was all of a sudden struggling to regain control of the situation. Jack would not have it. Nate would die before he ever touched his wife or anyone else ever again.
Jack pinned Nate to the ground and started laying punch after punch to his face. Suddenly, Nate took hold of Jack's jacket and managed to roll him over so that Nate could stand up to face his opponent. Nate advanced, swinging is good arm at Jack, but Jack easily blocked it, ducking, and then as he straightened again, Jack landed a fist right into Nate's stomach, good and hard.
All the breath seemed to exit Nate's body and Jack grabbed Nate's shirt, righted him, and landed a hard punch to his face. It caused Nate to stumble back and he rolled on the ground until he started reaching for Jack gun holster. Jack dove on the ground as he heard the gun click, readying to be shot and he rolled until he grabbed his rifle, cocked it, paused to aim and before Nate could take his kill shot, Jack took his in one swift motion and fired. A bullet to the head and Nate lay dead in the dirt.
Jack pressed his forehead against the barrel of his gun and exhaled. It was over. He quickly got to his feet and looked toward the porch. Elizabeth was lying down on the porch, unconscious. He ran over to her, and checked her pulse. She was still breathing. She most likely fainted while he and Nate fought. He examined the burns on her shoulder, and winced. These were his fault. All of this was his fault. He should have gone with her on that walk, and none of this would have happened. He heard rustling in the trees behind him, and on instinct, he aimed the gun in that direction as he turned around.
"Easy, Jack. It's just us," Lee called, holding his hands up.
Jack lowered his rifle and passed it to Lee to hold as he scooped his wife up into his arms. "We gotta get her back to town. These burns do not look good." After he mounted Elizabeth up into his saddle, he mounted behind her and they all made their way back to Hope Valley.
Riding into town, Jack saw everyone assembled on the main road, staying together until they had returned. "Carson!" He sighed as he watched the doctor step out of the mob of people and make his way toward him. Jack dismounted Elizabeth from the horse and carried her to him. She was still unconscious. "She's got cigar burns on her shoulder."
"Right. Let's get her to the infirmary. We have to clean those quickly." Jack, holding Elizabeth, Carson, Faith, and Abigail all ran to the infirmary. Stepping inside, Jack made his way to one of the medical beds. "Lay her on her side." Jack did as instructed. "Faith, get a chunk of snow outside and wrap it in a cloth. Abigail, go to the cafe and see if you have any bushels of cilantro. Jack, on the shelf, I keep a jar of aloe leaves. Bring the whole jar." Upon instructions, they fanned out and brought back everything that they had. When Jack returned with the jar of aloe leaves, he passed them to Carson. As he plucked a few leaves from the jar and grabbed a pinch of cilantro that Abigail brought back, he took a bowl and mixed both herbs in and took a rock and ground them together. "Jack, apply the snow against her skin. That should reduce the pain. We need to keep it cool for about ten to fifteen minutes."
When Jack pressed cloth-wrapped snow against his wife's shoulder, she gasped awake from the feeling. "Shhh, it's okay sweetheart."
"Jack! Jack! Nate... he.... the gun.... the burns..." Elizabeth rambled on.
"No, no. It's okay. It's over. He's dead. You're safe now," Jack said as he pressed his hand to her cheek.
"Ahh Jack, that's cold!" she exclaimed.
"I know, honey. I'm sorry. But we have to keep it here for a bit. We're treating your burns."
Elizabeth began to cry uncontrollably, not being able to stop the flow coming down her cheeks. "Are you okay, my darling?"
Jack smiled and half chuckled. "I'm fine. Just fine. But let's get these burns better, okay?" Elizabeth nodded through her tears. "Come on. Lay back down."
Fifteen minutes later, Carson stepped behind Elizabeth to examine the burns. It was time to clean them. "Abigail, fetch the soap, and Faith, get a bowl of water." Once he had his items in need, he dipped the fresh cloth into the water and wrung it out about half the amount of water. He took the soap, rubbed it into the cloth and once it was good and lathered, he looked up at Jack. "You may want to hold her hand. This may sting a bit." Jack did as instructed. Once Carson pressed the cloth over her shoulder, he started rubbing in the soap, getting all of the bacteria out and ash from the cigar to keep from giving her an infection. He dipped the cloth in the water again to rinse it and continued to rub in more soap until it was all clean. He then rinsed and patted her dry with a dry cloth. Faith brought over the herb mixture and Carson took a brush and dipped it into the mixture and smeared it over her burns. He saw Elizabeth flinch and squeeze Jack's hand for a moment and then she relaxed.
"Oh Doc, that feels good," Elizabeth said.
"Yes, it's cilantro and aloe leaves. Combined will help keep the burns from getting infected and they will heal quicker. Although, you will have scars of course."
"It's a small price to pay in return for my life."
"You shouldn't have had to pay it in the first place," Jack mumbled.
"Hey," Elizabeth said, pressing the back of her hand to his cheek. "This...none of this is your fault. It was just bad timing." Jack turned away. "Look at me." He did, slowly. "This is not your fault. Do you understand me?" He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them back up, there were tears there. "Jack.... I love you. You saved my life. You came for me. I'm alive. That's all that matters." Jack took her hand that was pressed to his cheek and he kissed the inside of her palm.
"All done. Make sure to keep the bandage on over night. It might itch a bit, but try to avoid scratching it." Carson turned to Jack. "I want to keep her here just for tonight and make sure there are no infections." Jack nodded. "I can pull over another bed for you if you want."
Jack nodded again. "Thank you Carson. That'd be great." He turned to Abigail. "Abigail, where's James?"
"Oh, Clara's got him. Don't worry about him for tonight. We'll take care of him."
Long after everyone left, Jack laid with Elizabeth and rubbed her back until she fell back asleep. He had almost lost her. He vowed to himself that he would never come that close to losing her again. He also vowed that she would never be put in that kind of pain ever again either. But she was right. What mattered was that she was alive and well. He thanked God for her returning to him just so. And with that last thought, he found peace as he drifted off to sleep.
A/N: You guys, I had such a great time writing this! My fingers were just flying across the keyboard. I hope you guys loved this chapter. I'm pretty proud of it. And plus, it's nice and long! So as always, leave your comments below and I will post another chapter in just a few days. Thanks for reading!